Out of Character:
Closed to Christoph. Bunnies approved.


Snow crunched under Karuka's boots as she walked along the edge of the forest. There had been a road here a few months ago, when she'd last been in this area. The last time, though, she'd been escorting a child. When she'd taken little Meg to Knife's Edge to find her aunt, she'd succeeded, but the woman hadn't been willing to take in her dead sister's orphan. It was too dangerous, she'd said, and there wasn't enough food.

Karuka didn't have the assurance of safety for the child on her travels, but still wasn't willing to leave her alone and friendless with winter settling in and her barely able to walk yet. She also couldn't leave her in an orphanage. Too many people in Salvar were too superstitious, too afraid of the church, and besides, care of orphans was a low priority when ordinary citizens couldn't find anything to eat.

So she'd found a woman in a small town that was willing to look after the child - for a price. Karuka had been more than willing to pay it. She'd sponsor the child either until she was old enough to travel, someone adopted her, or tragedy pushed this far south. She hoped that the child would be spared in the darkness of the days to come - little Meg had been such a lonely, charming little thing, and Karuka couldn't help but feel for her, since her mother was dead.

Pausing, she adjusted her boots, stretching her toes to make sure there was still feeling in them. Her fingers were only kept from freezing by the pair of gloves she'd bought in the port town, a nice warm pair that still didn't hamper her movement too much. She was also glad of the sturdy fleece-lined oilskin that kept the cold out and her own warmth in. She'd almost frozen in Salvar two years before, and didn't wish to repeat the experience.

She resumed her course, contemplating the swirls of her breath in the air and reminding herself that it was too cold to press on too fast. To sweat here was to die, after all, and then she wouldn't be able to make it back and pay for the next three months of Meg's stay. That would be a real shame, since Karuka had worked hard for the money, at risk of death sometimes.

It will be nice to get into town...

As she thought that, an ear-splitting roar shattered the frosty air, and the red-head whipped around, hearing heavy footsteps pounding toward her. It was a massive reptilian thing, charging from the sinister shadows of the dead woods toward the only living thing in sight. She wanted to stop it without violence, but its head was swinging about s so that she couldn't get an eye lock with it.

Gripping her staff, Karuka dug deeper into the snow, ready to move, ready to fight back. As it came within striking distance, she lashed out, hitting it solidly on the nose with the prevalida end of her weapon. A satisfying electric spark ran through the lizard's nose as she jumped back, tumbling once and then coming back up, casting snow from her cloak in a great flurry.

She saw it come around for another charge, but this time she charged back, hitting it again, harder. She expected a growl or a roar, but instead it backed up, rubbing its burned nose into the snow and looking warily at her.

"Malchadan...now, who do you think you are, running at people like that and then thinking they won't hit you for it?"

If the lizard wanted to, it could probably still take her out, but it was a predator, and Karuka knew from experience that predators didn't like prey that could injure them. It was strange, though, to find so large a reptile still active, as cold as it was out. She'd never seen a reptile in the winter; they all holed up.

"What are you doing out this time of year, anyway?"