The Secrets of the Woods

[Lighthawk76]

((Closed to these (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=1074)))

Blank swung his right arm wide, his left thrusting forward. With a twist, he brought his whole body around in a circle, his arms straight out. Finishing the circle, he brought his arms across again, cutting off the head of his imaginary opponent.

With this last maneuver, Alan couldn’t hold it in anymore. His face cracked into that familiar grin, his cheeks puffing as he tried to suppress his laughter. He failed miserably, and soon burst out laughing.

Blank looked over at the old man, sitting on the ground with his back against a tree. “What’s so funny?”

“I’m just imagining… what a real swordsman would do… if he… saw… you…” It’s all Alan could get out before falling into more waves of raucous laughter.

“I don’t see what’s so funny. You won’t teach me so I have to teach myself.”

Sobering up a little and wiping a tear from his face, Alan turned back to the young man. Blank had been practicing religiously since he had gotten the two dulled shorts words. Standing there, with the iron blades held at his sides and sweat pouring from his bare chest, he looked like he may be a great warrior in training. It’s when he actually began moving that was the problem.

“You don’t flail around the blades. It’s not about making the most random cuts. You’re going from a sideswipe, to a thrust, with neither blade in rhythm with the other. You’re turning a circle that looks good, but in actuality just leaves you open for an attack. Then you’re halting, leaving yourself open, before moving into a killing blow that a grandmother with basic training could block.”

The old man’s wide smile had sobered into a small grin, but he still had some bite to his voice.

“I won’t teach you the blade. I only know the basics, anyway, enough to see what is good and bad form, but not enough to really teach.”

“Liar.” Blank put the blades back in front of him, preparing to flail them around again.

Alan got up, and grabbed one of Blank’s dull swords, and threw it to the side. “First off, learn one. You have a natural ambidexterity towards certain things and I can see that this is one of them. Still, you’re not yet ready for two.”

Blank mouth split into smile. “You’ll teach me?”

“No, but I’ll get you enough on the way so that you can learn everything yourself.”

“I’ve seen you use a short sword, when we first met! I know you can teach me.”

It was true. Their first meeting had been a little… awkward. Short story made shorter, it had ended with Blank on a bed and Alan on top of him with a short sword and dagger drawn on him. The old man and his young female friend, sleeping soundly beside them, both being naked at the time hadn’t helped things.

“We’ll deal with this on another day.”

Blank sighed heavily and began putting up the blades, wrapping them in a rough cloth he had found and then into his bag. He just didn’t understand Alan’s reasoning. The old man had been adamant about him learning how to fight and had chosen to teach him how to use a staff. Blank had picked up the basics, but just didn’t like how it felt swinging around an overgrown stick.

That had been going on for the past few months, as they traveled here and there over Althanas. Then the LCC had occurred, and something had happened. Mid-battle, his staff sheared into by his opponent, he had drawn two swords. That’s what his mind had told him. His two pieces of wood in his hands had seemed like blades to his mind.

It had done little for him though. He still lost, and later replaced the broken staff. Along with the staff he had also gotten a set of dull iron blades. Now the two were in Concordia Forest, passing through onto wherever Alan was bringing them.

He was brought out of his reverie by a solid object smacking him in the back of the head. Grasping his head, he looked on the ground to find a bar of soap.

“You are not sleeping anywhere near this camp without a bath.”

Blank turned back to the old man, already pulling out an extra pair of clothes for each of them. “Like you’re one to talk,” Blank responded

“You’ll learn, that as you age, you get used to certain smells. Other smalls will become more poignant. I don’t like the small of sweat when it comes from a man.”

Blank smiled, seeing where this was going. He took the bait anyway. “And if the sweat comes from a woman?”

Grabbing Blank by the shoulders the old man began steering Blank off into the direction of what Blank guessed to be some source of water. “You see, my boy, you learn to love the smell of a woman’s sweat when you’re as active as me. It just means that the nights had been a good night.”

Blank groaned at the old man's perversity and continued on.

[Lisean]

At long last, Lisean had finally attained a good night’s sleep. Odd that he could rest like an infant in the dead of night, in the middle of nowhere. The cold atmosphere the forest had carried only made it all the more comfortable to the man. The wind’s breeze hitting the leaves acted as a lullaby. Never.. in a million year did the necromancer ever expect to find peace. He did. The only problem was that it was merely in the one land far away from reality. The world in his dreams.

It was a couple hours past sunrise when he had finally awoken. He slept in nothing more than his clothing, without a bedroll or tent to keep him warm. Then again, he was pretty satisfied. Why should he be complaining. He looked down at his sleeping posture: arms crossed over his chest, and his body perfectly straight. It was almost as if he were practicing for his own funeral. One he believed it was necessary to rise, he sat up on the ground, and moved on all fours so that he could push himself up to his feet.

“My, my.. What a morning..” he murmured to himself in the form of a whisper, as he walked over to his bag of belongings and his staff, picking it up in one hand while slinging the backpack over his shoulder. “Never too late to start a day.” He looked down at the small fire he made, now only just a pile of ash and burnt wood, and scattered it about with his foot. It wasn’t best to leave it how it was. Once he was done, he walked over to a nearby log, and sat upon it. He took his backpack off, and pulled out his spellbook, The Book of Lemot, and began to skim through the pages. Perhaps now he’d possess the knowledge to discern more spells. Nope. Nothing.

A sigh escaped his parted lips, and a hand brushed his long purple hair, so as to get the knots out from sleeping on the ground. His other hand flipped through the pages to find the only two spells he knew. Once he did, he’d close his eyes, and mutter a few words under his breath. Preparing these spells became an almost passive habit for him. Lucky he didn’t need any components.

And so, now that the most important thing was out of the way, he could journey down to the lake for a nice refreshing bath. He made sure it wasn’t too far away from the campsite he made. The walk was under five minutes, and it gave Lisean the opportunity to embrace the welcoming display of the sunlight shooting through the tall trees overhead, conjuring patches of light wherever he went. The lake wasn’t all that big, but the body of water did have multiple bathing spots around the border. People were far enough away to not bothering acknowledging another’s existence.

The water was both relaxing and comfortable. Something Lisean could always put up with. The rumors of Fey in these waters was the only thing that made him uneasy. He had read up on stories revolving around the famous nymph creatures, that supposedly carried so much beauty, men were nearly killed just upon staring at them. Talk about drop dead gorgeous. Not to mention the sirens, and satyrs. Nobody knew for sure what crept in the lake, but recent folklore tell of adventurers vanishing in the woods.

Folklore. That’s all it ever was.

After a very deserving wash-up opportunity, Lisean was sitting on the shore of the lake with his things, throwing his clothing back on. After getting dressed, he threw on his backpack, grasped his staff and spellbook, then went to stand. However, just before he did, he realized he didn’t feel like leaving. Something told him to make himself at home. He had days on end ahead of him. All the time in the world. A shrug rolled off his shoulders upon deciding to sit down once again, and open up his book. He read through the early chapters of incantations, trying to find meaning in the language used. Once he could discover this, new spells would be at his disposal. It was the chance of bettering himself that he could never miss out on.

[Striker]

Striker was hunting, which was odd because he was not hungry. He had just made camp for the night when a huge, beautiful stag had just walked into camp and stared at him. It practically called to him. There was no way that Striker could resist. This beast was legendary. If it weren’t standing right before him, he wouldn’t have believed it to be real.

And so, halberd slung over his shoulder and bow in arms Striker had chased the beast, waiting for a good shot. It had been some hours, but all he had were glimpses. Eventually, he reasoned, the beast would hit a clearing, or a river, or something. Eventually he would get the shot and when he did…. well… he didn’t know what would happen when he did. But he kept running, leaping between trees and dashing over woods and tripping over a log and crashing, headfirst, into a small lake.

When he came up, gasping for air and awkwardly swimming with the weight of a steel pole arm on his back, he could already tell this was the best spot in the whole forest. After rolling onto the shore, he had to take a few moments to breathe, but when he could finally stand up it was worth it to bask in the wonder of this perfect piece of nature. The stag was almost forgotten – who cares, maybe he had been hunting this spot all along.

Thoughts trickled like molasses, whispering sweet nothings about his life here. He could build a little cabin, live off the land, start a life for himself away from all this fighting. At the very base of his spine, Striker could tell that something was deeply wrong with all this, but nobody higher on the totem pole of Striker’s brain would listen. Shaking his wet fur dry, he grabbed a stone and flung it, watching it skip an arc across the water. Amazing.

Someone was staring at him. He looked over to see a dark young man, pouring over a dark old book. Striker shrugged and waved, dropping his bow and arrows and grabbing his halberd. Usually he would have been content to practice against a tree but something about this place made him feel that would be sacrilege. Instead, he just fought the air, swinging the beastly weapon with utilitarian grace. In his mind, this was perfect. Usually such time was spent with lots of yelling to emphasize each blow but not today. Striker drew countless imaginary men from their horses. He dashed great warriors with the staff end, chopped master generals with the axe blade, and speared the most powerful magicians.

Exhausted, Striker collapsed. He leaned back against the shore and let his halberd come to rest. The idle waves lapping at the earth, the clouds rolling by, the leaves blowing in the wind, he let it all just roll over him. He could stay here forever.

[Reiko]

This was one of those days that Kit had to enjoy fully. She had walked barefoot to feel the grass gently tickle her heels and toes. The slight, cool breeze made her hair sway lightly and made the skin feel more alive then ever. Of coarse a lazy day like this made the vixen take her time.

“Come on Kit. If you keep being a slowpoke we’ll never see the lake before sunset.” Inari had good nature in her taunts as she giggled. To say that the one tailed fox wasn’t excited to see the special lake that has been rumored to have the fey folk, distant cousins to the kitsune and the most beautiful sights in Corone. The blue haired girl wagged her azure tail as she darted ahead and waited like an excited guide dog that would forget it’s duty and suddenly remember coming back to its duty.

“No rush, I can hear splashing and it’s still morning.” Kit kept going at her relaxed pace a she noticed her child yelp in delight as she discarded her Kimono and ran towards the water for a swim. The run was short lived as Inari Yelped again this time of embarrassed cry and jumped in the bushes.

“Mommy, there’s other people here.” Inari called. “I need my Kimono.”

Kit giggled as she picked up the silk Kimono off the rock and took it to her child. “Next time make sure you’re alone before stripping like that.” The mother looked around and smiled while handing the kimono to her daughter. “I don’t think anyone saw you.”

“I hope so.” Inari shuddered feeling a little colder now that she knew people were around being naked felt more naked.

Kadenzaa let her child dress, while the ronin looked about, the place seemed very popular: there was a Neko with a large halberd, defiantly a fighter; two men that she guessed as mercenaries taking it easy and the last was a man reading a book, something was familiar about him. There was something of the hair and his build that Kit thought she recognized and in a moment it hit her. “Lisean?” Kit called out as she wagged her tails. It had to be the young necromancer that she pretended to be lovers with to infiltrate a formal party.

Inari soon came up to Kit, her obi hastily tied backwards (the bow around the front) since it was easier and the fox girl was worried that someone would find her while getting dressed. “Hey that’s Lisy right?”

“I think so.” Kit answered feeling more sure that she knew the man.

[NekoRulers]

Ayano giggled as she ran down a path a full speed, holding her bo aloft with one hand. It was a game she played with Beako all the time. Steal her lunch. Right now, the small creature had her cookie (and was barely floating because of the weight). Beako was hard to understand for some people. The small floating blue ball with two large eyes and a tiny beak just wanted to have fun and needed to be played with. A lot. Well he’d found his partner in Ayano. The neko shook some of her long black hair out of her eyes so she could see Beako better. Her gold eyes had to dart around a little before she spotted her miniscule friend floating off a bit farther through the underbrush in the forest.

And again she began to run as fast as she could, which was quite fast, this time driven by hunger. She wanted her cookie back so she could eat it. The cookie was probably still warm and squishy, just the way she liked her newly baked goods. She pushed herself a little faster, and never saw the root until she tripped on it. The neko went flying, and as she fell, realised she was falling off some piece of land over hanging a lake. Uh oh. The cat-girl landed with a humongous splash, sending miny waves off in all directions.

Ayano closed her eyes as she drifted for a moment, underwater. She released tiny bubbles of air from her nose, only enough to keep the water from coming in because she liked it under the surface and wanted to stay under for as long as possible. When her lungs seemed basically flat for lack of oxygen, she kicked her legs and allowed herself to come up to the surface. She wasn't too far from shore. Ayano walked when her feet could touch the ground and slowly approached a form lying on the shore. Her bo had been carried by the water, to a space near him.

The cat-girl bent over and picked up her bo, shivering a little. Beako floated over to her, and sensing the game was over, dropped the cookie in her other hand. With a friendly smile, she bent over the other neko on the ground and held out her cookie.

“Want it?” she asked

This was the first of her kind she’d seen, and wanted to see if they could become friends.

[The SpellSword]

Max laid down under the forest relaxing after his recent ordeal at home when he drifted off to sleep. He felt tugging at his neck and felt around but felt nothing not even his necklace his mother gave him before she was dragged off and killed. Max quickly opened his eyes and saw a little boy that probably was no more then twelve running down the path with something shiny in his right hand.

“Hey, You! Get back here!” Max yelled as he got up and started running towards the boy. It was slow pace for max considering he was wearing his armor but he was slowly catching up to the young boy.

They boy looked back and saw Max slowly catching up and broke to a path to the right that curved in a round to meet the path on the left. Max knew this for this is the way he had come from. Max took the left path hoping to gain ground on the little boy. As Max saw the young boy turn the corner Max tripped on something and hit the ground hard.

When max finally looked up he saw the young boy jump off the edge of something. ”No! That idiot now I have to go pry my necklace from dead hands!” Max thought as he went over to the edge and saw the young boy make a splash into the lake. “ I never saw this before.” Max thought as he gabbed his sword and jumped. He shaped his body as an arrowhead and aimed just beside where they boy hit.

When Max hit the water he arced his body and flew threw the water like a merman. When he poked his head up out of the water he saw that this was a very popular lake there was a shady person sitting over at a tree reading. There were two people on the beach one soaked and offering the other one a cookie. That’s all max could see at the moment when something hit his thigh he looked down and saw it was his necklace the young boy had token from him.

“Well looks like the little thief couldn’t hold on.” Max said out loud with a hearty laugh as he put on his necklace and headed towards the two that were one the other side of the lake.

[Lighthawk76]

The sun was finally rising as Blank and Alan finished their morning grooming. Blank was pulling on his pack and getting ready to go off on another day of tracking when he saw Alan lie down against a tree, his arms across his chest, and his cloak propping up his head. He seemed ready for a nice long nap.

“Aren’t we moving on?” said Blank, a little confused.

“Eh, maybe later,” the old man replied, “Or we could spend the day here. You don’t see something like this very often.”

The young man took Alan’s cue to look over the lake they had finished bathing in. It truly was breathtaking. The water was a clear and crystalline blue, lapping softly against the gently sloping shore. It was relatively large with the other side probably within swimming distance, and was deep enough to obscure its bottom.

It was an image that reminded Blank of his time in the fishing village. It was his first home that he remembered. It had been a good time, with Blank learning to use and man the smaller sailboats. He had shown a natural talent and love for it, and if he had been there longer, would probably have made a life sailing and fishing. Alan had turned his life elsewhere, towards one of travel. Towards a life that Alan had hinted would reveal his life before.

“Alan?” the young man asked.

“Yes?”

“What are we doing?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know, all this traveling. Why are we doing it?”

Alan sat up from his position, grumbling about being bothered. “Why shouldn’t we be?”

“You brought me out here for a reason, didn’t you? I mean, you saw the book, and saw something I didn’t see, and before I knew it, we were on the road. But why? Are we going somewhere specifically for that, or is it something else?”

Alan glared at Blank, his eyes showing that bothered look. He wasn’t angry, just bothered.

“Thought I might try… It’s, uh, been a week since I asked.”

Alan fell back into his resting position and promptly went back to trying to nap.

Blank sighed. The first time he had broached the subject with Alan, the both of them had gotten to a near fight. Alan had refused to give Blank a straight answer and Blank refused to take cryptic message as an answer. Alan had one in the end of course, having a lot more years of experience in stubbornness.

Still, Blank sometimes wished he could get a straight answer. He wanted to know what the book was about, what it had to do with him, and just how it could be read. The little brown book of mystery, sitting so mundanely in his pack. Just what was it?

Blank let the thoughts fall away. Alan had apparently decided to take the day off, and Blank needed some new patches in his clothes. The old man could apparently still sleep, but Blank had slept enough last night, and was ready to do something.

He took out his sewing kit and his shirt, torn after falling through a briar patch a day earlier, sat back against a tree and began working. It was strange, but he found sewing calming. It was a habit he had picked up in the fishing village, and one that Alan had forced him to make into a skill, with the man’s utter disallowing of getting him clothes. Even now that Blank had made a little bit of his own money off a few odd jobs, he still simply patched his clothes rather than buying new ones.

Soon Alan was snoring and Blank was utterly engrossed in his sewing. The shirt needed a lot of work, and Blank was trying to get the patch as perfect as possible. It wasn’t until he noticed a loud splash that he looked up.

He was surprised to see another young man sitting by and reading a book. He was short and slender with long purple hair. Before Blank could comment on the man’s appearance to Alan, another creature burst from the water. Both of the two focused on the creature, some sort of cat like creature. As it pulled it self out, it became apparent that it was more man-like than Blank had first assumed. The cat-creature seemed to fall into some bit of blissful thinking over the lake, and then proceeded to go into a quiet weapon’s routine, much as Blank had earlier that morning.

“Alan, it seems we have guests.”

“Are they cute, young, and female?” the man replied irritably.

“Well, not exactly…”

“Do they look dangerous?”

Blank watched the cat-creature continue its combat moves, seemingly tiring.

“Well, I don’t think so…”

The old man b buried his chin farther into his chest, and fluffed his cloak. “Then leave me be.”

Blank sat himself back, hoping that the two were nothing to worry about.

As soon as he was about to forget them and get on with his sewing, two more folk appeared, taking an interest in the young man with purple hair. Only moments after came another cat-creature flying out of the woods and straight into the lake. It stayed under for awhile, with Blank wondering if it had drowned. The cat-creature finally re-emerged, and made it’s way over to the first one. Maybe they knew each other?

As if the forest was spitting out new people every second, another man flew out of the forest and into the water. Before he surfaced Blank turned to Alan.

“Alan, we have a few more guests.”

“I repeat my first question.”

“You mean if their female.”

“Yes.” The man apparently really wanted a nap.

“Well two of them are, and I think another one is. They’re a little strange.”

Alan was getting up as soon as Blank hadn’t said no. “How strange?” The old man was already trying to get a good look at the girls, apparently sizing them up.

“Well, they have tails, and ears—”

Alan cut him off with raised hand. “Do you hear that?”

“What?”

Alan looked at him quickly, forgetting about the others that had shown up. “Quiet and listen.”

Blank did as he was told. It was faint, but he heard it. It sounded like… pipes.

“What is that?”

Alan had apparently caught sight of something on the other side of Blank, his face an utter mask of annoyance. “I hate Satyrs.”

Blank looked over to see a strange sight. A young man was standing against the nearest tree, a set of pipes, now perfectly heard, in his hands, his lips playing a soft and soothing tune. The strange thing about it, was that the man had a pair of goat legs where his human one’s should have been. His head two, had a pair of sharp, little horns sticking out from his mop of curly brown hair.

Blank was getting tired. He could use a nap. He turned to Alan, his vision a little hazy. All he saw was the old man rudely gesturing at the odd man, then promptly fall straight forward onto Blank’s legs, as if someone had pushed him down like a lever.

“What’s going…” Blank didn’t finish the thought as he fell soundly asleep.

[Lisean]

While the morning was still growing ever older, for what seemed like hours Lisean read and let reality slip away from him. Of course, he managed to remain attentive and wary of his surroundings, but more-so on the meaningless words he wished to decrypt with his own knowledge, which was vast. Images acted as hints, but not good enough ones. All they had depicted were different, grueling ways of killing animals and human beings. Some he smirked at the sight of, taking the rough sketches to memory incase he came across a man he really wanted to gut. Imagining such a bloody corpse, surrounded by its own organs, brought a smile to his lips. Many envisioned it as a macabre story with wishes not to delve too deep into, while necromancers such as Lisean saw it as an opportunity to further study the concepts of death, tagged along with a treasure chest composed of valuable ingredients for some beneficial ritual. It was art.

The first thing that drove his pink eyes out of his personal humor, was a hand in the air. Lisean looked up and slowly blinked. It seemed there was a neko, armed with a halberd. A formidable weapon, but in the necromancer’s opinion not one a agile specimen should wield. Maybe he could have seen the man with a short sword or kama, but a polearm? A small shake of his head was the last fraction of his response, before he dove straight back into The Book of Lemot.

The second sight would grab any man’s undivided attention, let alone his. He didn’t see looking at a naked woman as a sin, especially if she willingly removed her clothing in a public area, as if thriving to show off her beauty to attain profit in the form of gold pieces, or perhaps a man, if she was dazzling enough. His eyes widened upon taking note of the blue hair, and the tail. “It can’t be..” he muttered under his tongue, swallowing hard once he caught sight of the girl’s companion. One just like her, only with red hair, and multiple tails.

The sound of his own name caused Lisean to shudder a bit at first, feeling it being a disgrace to himself, before finding a guarantee in knowing Doji had called him. One hand slipped from the book, and rose, waving to both her and Inari. A hint of a blush formed but quickly faded, and his lips made a heart-lifting smile. Something he didn’t pull out on an everyday basis. Sure, he may have been full of joy and happiness when Kit, Inari, and himself spent time together undercover.. but that was only a mere identity. He wasn’t Lord Lisean anymore. He was simply Lisean Lemot, the runaway slave and no account bookworm. “Hello.. Kit and Inari..” he said quietly under his cold breath, knowing they may not hear him. His smile alone could dictate an easy meaning, so words at this point did not prove of any sentimental value. He tucked his head back into his book, and shuddered a bit, reflecting. Perhaps if they both looked, they’d be able to see him pat the ground next to him twice, inviting them over to sit with him before going back to his spellbook.

A few more things had driven his eyes away from the book. It was almost as if the Gods were telling him not to dig too deep, but he couldn’t help it. The ideas of what could lay inside his book caused him to fall almost bedazzled, and protective. After a huge splash erupted and almost doused him with water, he groaned, and fastened his book to the inside of his long black cloak. Parting his long purple hair out of his face, Lisean rose up to his feet, taking his staff into one hand, and leaned against it as he looked back to the two whom he shared a few memories with in the recent past. The sound of soft, soothing music he had thought was just his mind setting the mood for when he was trying to look into the eyes of the two nekos at first made him smile once more. Once it grew louder, things became clear there were more than just who he saw about.

Peering off to the right of him, just down the lake he noticed two men passed out on the shore, and a creature unknown to him with pipes. It hit him after taking the time to think things through that the satyr was infact a creature only rumored to reside in the woods. That meant the stories were true. The fey did exist. Rendering in a quick verdict based on the outcome of the stories, having been that those who encountered the fey were never seen again, Lisean picked up his backpack, and began to hog around the lakeside to meet up with Inari and Doji, who were either on their way to him already after being invited to sit with him, or didn’t notice and were tending to their own matters.

“You two have to leave at once!” he shouted, stopping abruptly upon a creature’s unpredicted welcome. A short, slender woman emerged from the water, wearing only traces of gold coral that fell down her shoulders and ran just over her breasts along with the last lengths of her radiant blonde hair. Gleaming blue eyes gazed upon Lisean as the lady moved with such elegance in her steps that it could not be rivaled by any mere elf. Lisean took a cautious step back, and shivered.. feeling himself fall weak just from gawking towards the radiant beauty that could not even be described in a poet’s greatest verse.

The last thing he saw before blacking out was the nymph pressing herself up against him, and wrapping a single leg around his own. Her delicate fingers traced under his chin, tempting him to lean in for the kiss she was intending to give him.

Folklore. That's all it ever was.. he thought, once.

[Striker]

Striker managed to open his eyes half-way to glance at the baked good, and the woman behind it. A cookie? Not part of his diet, no thanks. He yawned, almost to the point of unhinging his jaw, and staggered to his feet. He felt... well... not tired, just so damned comfortable that he could just lie on this beach for aeons.

With droopy ears and tail, Striker mumbled for a moment before warming up to actual speech. "Thanks, naw. Not hungry right now, y'know? Just..." Striker shook his head quickly, and his eyes came back into focus. "Just gotta get a swim in. Wake up, y'know. Day hardly started and I'm already dozing off." He cracked his neck and unslung his bow and arrows, walking past the neko lass to the inviting waves. A bit of cold water would wake him up, no problem.

He heard someone yelling, but it seemed like someone was always yelling at him. It could wait. He walked into the water at a no-shame pace, feeling it rise above his shoulders, above his neck, and above his head until the cat-man simply... disappeared.

[Reiko]

The reunion was over before it even began. Kit thought it would be nice to sit and talk with Lisean but apparently the invitation was canceled with a harsh order to leave at once. Kit stopped dead as she watched the events unfold; it looked like the necromancer had another lover.

“Wow she’s pretty…” Inari sighed as she locked her eyes on the nymph as it took Lisean into a lover’s embrace.

Kit felt burning jealousy rise through her body as she watched the beautiful sprite simply take the necromancer with her slender body. Why did she, The lover aspect between them had been a mask to hide the intentions of destroying the slaver lord in Salvar and Kit had other men that she went further with, so why the hypocritical spite to the water sprite. Maybe she felt more than budding friendship towards the young wizard.

Inari too was jealous but for another reason. The way that nymph’s beauty was so captivating that she could have anyone she ever wanted. “I wish I was that pretty.” Inari found herself sighing once again.

“You’re prettier than that fairy.” Kit wrapped her arms around her daughter. Yeah Kit had gotten more attention from men but that was because she appeared the age that the taboos mating a girl would no longer apply and Inari was younger than she looked and had the features that would make a man guilty for even thinking of courting the girl. “You don’t want to be like the nymph, they lie a shallow life.”

“I guess.”

“My lady! You are the most radiant jewel I ever seen.” The voice was of a high octave of someone small.

Kit turned to see a little man kissing a hand of Inari who giggled with surprise at the cute little man, decked in armor and riding a bunny rabbit, his face would be a handsome elf id he was bigger, much bigger.

“I the Spriggan, Tizzletop of Sun Water ask you marriage.”

Kit looked with a shock. “She’s not marrying you! You just met and you’re not her type.”

Inari giggled at Kit liking the Spriggan’s attention. “You’re being too mean he seems nice.”

Kit could not imagine such a small man for her daughter’s husband. How could a man that’s one tenth of a woman’s size please his mate.

Tizzletop smiled as he looked to Kit. “You’re evil mother is out to stop my love. A woman from the far east with skin like white jade and eyes of sapphire…” The Spriggan stopped and looked to Inari. “They have sapphire where you come from, right?”

“You’re not marrying her!” Kit asserted again.

“What a cruel woman to keep her daughter’s love from me! I challenge you to a duel and will prove that I am the one who will have your daughter’s heart.”

With that the Spriggan spurred his bunny mount to charge with a battle cry that might scare a cowardly ant. But Kit merely gave a playful kick and sent the knight and bunny sprawling backwards. “I have not lost yet!”

“Yes you Have!” Kit yelped and yelped as she was pulled head over heels to an upside down hanging position.

“Mommy!” Inari yelled as she went to her mother who was blushing with the blood going to her head and was struggling to keep her kimono from hanging indecently.

“Do not worry, I won’t hurt her, I still have to prove my worthiness.” And with that Kit and Inari fell and were not where they were supposed to be.

[Letho]

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