Of Light, Leaves, and Luck.

[orphans]

This is closed for Massacre.


Harsh gales… chilling, yet inviting. Danger in lands below. The scent of death. Who are these smiling faces? Blood over my hands…

There was a sudden thud and a groan coming from someone who had been in bed next to Azza. Opening her eyes to the gentle caress of the sun, Azza blinked a few times to clear the haze of sleep before crawling over to look at the ground. Seeing the older girl also waking up and rubbing her head, Azza gave out a soft snicker before offering her hand. The other girl smiled back quickly and took hold of Azza’s hand and after nearly pulling Azza onto the ground with her, finally stood up. The other children around the room were also waking up as well. Those who had been up were making their beds and folding their sheets while some of the younger children of the orphanage were jumping up and down upon their beds. Hopping off the bed in a hurry, Azza began to run off with some of the other children to fetch pails of water just as the kindly woman entered the room. The group dodged around her in a giggling mass while the woman only shook her head with a smile. Life was hard, but simple and happy.

At the nearest well the older children drew up pails of water for the smaller children, least they fall in. Azza herself was included among the small children and had on occasion, fallen in. The group of children returned back with enough water for the morning chores while those left behind quickly finished their breakfast of bread to make room for the others. Eating quickly with the rest, the younger children then raced about the rooms with rags to clean whatever they can reach. The kindly woman gathered a group of free children to go with her to the market while many of the older children got dressed in a hurry to leave for their individual jobs or apprenticeships. Azza herself got dressed and as the children all waved and said good-bye to each other, she began to make her way towards the woods. One of the guards at the gate of Underwood spotted Azza and waved her over quickly. Approaching him shyly, she suddenly beamed to see his familiar face. Crouching down so that he was level with her, he asked her if she was willing to try and find some lilacs again for him. Humming a little as her head swayed back and forth with her body, she thought for a moment then finally nodded her head in agreement of trying. Laughing heartily, the guard rose and ruffled her hair some before Azza began her way to the forest again.

The cool shade of the forest was a welcome to Azza while she paced slowly on one of the small animal trails familiar to herself. Walking across a partially moss-covered log that lead deeper into the woods, she hummed to herself softly as she watched a few butterflies dancing in the flecks of light filtering down through the canopy. The ambiance of the mid-spring Concordia Forest always delighted Azza all the same every year. Remembering why she was there, she lips curved quickly into a smile as she ran through the woods. Running from the spots she expected the herbs to be, she ticked off mentally in her head what she needed and what was still to be gathered. A twig of wart wood and wormwood, half stalk of thorn berry, a handful of lamb ear leaf, a pinch of goldstars and the lilacs the guard wanted. Chewing on a palm full of cherry sap, she rattled her memory in attempts of remembering where lilacs would grow. As luck would have it she didn’t have to wander too much before finding a small cluster of the flowers. Pleased with her success, she decided that it was time to hurry back to town. Running back across the moss-covered log she suddenly slipped. Giving out a scream as she fell from the log, Azza stopped her cries as her legs splashed into a shallow brook while the rest of her hit the sandy bank a few feet under the log. Normally she would have continued screaming in pain, but as luck would have it again, Azza managed to hit her head on the only large rock on the bank.

[Massacre]

It was such a pain when slaves ran away after almost getting caught. If A'rei could catch them in their hiding spots in the first place she could surely catch them while they were reckless and on the run. This one was no different. She had made a beginner's mistake, really. Letting them not see you was actually one of the worse things you could do when trying to catch a slave. Tackling them while they ran and presenting the Writ of Capture to authorities if confronted was much less work and they weren't suspicious because they knew they were being caught.

Trying to be stealthy wasn't of much use, you could lose your target easily and that's just what A'rei had done. She knew he went outside of the city. She had seen him near the orphanage in Underwood. It must have been the only building in Underwood that wasn't oriented for use by lumberjacks and tradesmen. Nearly every pub's title had something to do with trees, saws, or lumberjacks. The amounts of wood hauled in were enormous, so much profit was obviously gained with such large amounts being exported. The civil war in Corone that was now happening would probably end up here sooner or later. The Corone Rangers and the Corone Armed Forces eventually clashing for control of the lumber business. It would support a great amount of the cost needed to wage warfare against the opponent for whoever obtained it.

That was neither here nor there however, all that mattered was A'rei making money on this fugative. The man was not as big as she thought considering the crimes he had committed that got him into prison in the first place. A'rei listed them through her head; Rape... three murders... theft... and finally his escape... He was brutal looking though, but the second he even suspected someone following him, which had been A'rei, he attempted to lose her in the crowd. Sadly, he had succeeded, this setback would cost him. A'rei didn't show mercy for criminals like she did for slaves who had done nothing. That meant she wouldn't hesitate to draw her sword upon this one. A cut to the calf would allow him to recover... eventually.

A'rei walked by the orphange and saw a few small children playing and smiled under her navy blue hood. If only she had been with other children during her childhood, she might have turned out a normal person.

A'rei took a left to go out of the south gate. The guard there looked as though he was humored by something or another. She had just got in earshot of the guard.

"...girl, I hope she brings some good flowers back." The guard chuckled lightly to himself.

A'rei was now almost right next to him, "Excuse me!" A'rei took down her hood and nodded to the guard as he turned around, "Have you seen a rough looking man pass by here recently? Here, I have this," A'rei handed him the Writ of Capture for the fugative.

"Well, I think so, he had brown hair, was in quite a hurry. I was going to stop him but he just ran past. He just kept running down that path yonder." The guard pointed to a small foot-beaten path.

"Thank you, your help is appreciated." A'rei turned down the path and gracefully put her hood up. After about twenty minutes of walking down the path looking for clues A'rei saw a glimpse of blazing white in the corner of her eye. She turned and saw a small girl laying on the ground. It looked as though she had hit her head on something or another. She also had a bundle of flowers in her hand, she was probably that girl that the guard had been chuckling to himself about.

Despite the chase's importance she couldn't help but see if the girl was dead or if she was simply unconcious. As she walked through the brush near where the girl was A'rei was amazed by the looks of the girl. White hair was quite odd for someone so young. A'rei bent down and felt for the child's pulse, there was one. It was slow and steady like a mule carrying lumber back to Underwood.

A'rei sat on a log near the girl and hoped she would wake up soon, she couldn't just leave her here but didn't want to waste energy carrying her. She would wait and see.

[orphans]

Such a familiar feeling. Aching muscles, the strangled cries of different voices. Chaos. The gaze of Tenhali. A sudden blow to the back.

The small girl could hear a roar growing steadily louder within her mind and though she was quiet unconscious still, her left hand lifted slowly as if trying to grasp onto something.

A blur of images and then suddenly, they stopped. The monastery in midwinter. The receiving of her first blade. Severing of her wings. The great wars of the Dodorians, Eremaeli, Aranketis…

By now, Azza was sitting up with her eyes open. Her left hand seemed to have grasped onto something of her vivid imagination. Her mouth began to move as if trying to shout something but all that escaped was her soft breath. Then finally, one word, “Tenhali…”

Limbs soared to and fro, blood painted the grass and soldiers alike, and then she saw him. So crazed was the blood lust inside her mind, she lashed out with a brutal swing from behind and then-

Her arm dropped limply to the ground by her side and then her body soon followed suit. Hitting her head again, she gave a sharp out cry of pain before bolting back up into the sitting position she was in before. This time, however, tears threatened to welt up from her eyes while her hands rubbed furiously at the spot she had just hit again. Quite oblivious to the woman watching over her, it took her a few moments before suddenly she realized there was someone or rather, had a feeling someone was. Turning about until she saw the figure, she wasn’t sure if she should cry because of the pain in her head or try and run back to town and away from the stranger. The features of the woman didn’t seem to be a savage one and if she had meant her harm, would have done it already, would she not? After what seemed like eternity (in reality, about 10 seconds), Azza made up her mind that perhaps the woman wasn’t someone to be scared of. Still holding onto the back of her head with both hands a little, she managed to blurt out softly with a small grin, “Hello miss.”

[Massacre]

A'rei watched in mild amusement as the girl woke up, apparently having a bad dream. She had been knocked out by a large rock from the looks of it and as she sat up she did it again but this time she sat straight up in pain. A'rei could see the tears coming to her eyes but the girl had wiped them off in a hurry. She turned and warmly greeted A'rei. She was a cute girl A'rei had to admit.

She reminded A'rei of her remote farm. The cat her father brought home one night for A'rei had the same warm attitude despite its inability to speak. Every night she would come in from milking the cows or some such chore and pet the cat for hours on end. Such soft, sleek, white fur was lovely. The girl's hair reminded her of that. She wondered if she was even a human, that white of hair wasn't normal.

"Hello there, are you okay?" A'rei smiled warmly at the girl, getting up and then bending over and grabbing the small girl by her arm to help the cute child up. The smile on Azza’s face seemed to stretch the entire length of her face as she began to nod her head in a vigorous manner in answer to the lady’s question. Brushing her dress off of the sand, she stooped down quickly to retrieve the bunch of lilacs.

“Thank you, Azza is fine now.” Her free hand continued to rub at the back of her head as she tilted her curious eyes to look up at the woman again. The girl referred to herself by saying 'Azza' where most people put "I", what an odd way to talk. Regardless, the girl looked distressed like she was almost lost or some such thing.

"You came from Underwood? Do you want me to bring you back, or you could come with me. I'll keep you safe, it's quite a trek back to town."

Rocking back and forth on the soles of her sandals, she rolled the thoughts about in her mind before nodding again. “Azza can come with you? Azza has chores to do at orphanage but Azza doesn’t want to. Azza stay with you for a little longer?”

"Yes you can come with me, my name is A'rei, nice to meet you Azza. Let's walk shall we?" A'rei began walking deeper into the forest and beckoned Azza to come along with her.

Dialogue discussed via IM.

[orphans]

Giggling out in glee, she quickly followed A’rei but nearly slipped and fell on the same rock. Recovering her balance just in time, she looked rather pleased with herself before hurrying after A’rei once more. The lady seemed almost familiar in a way, but foreign. Still, it felt as if she was being taken care of now by an older sister. Of course, being that much small in comparison to A’rei, Azza was forced to walk or skip that much faster to keep up. Not that it mattered to her the small girl was more used to chasing figments of her own imagination through the woods. “Is A’rei going to come to orphanage with Azza after? Lots of empty beds and Azza thinks Tessia would let you stay.”

“Oh, probably not, I’m a traveler of sorts. I won’t be in Underwood for long.” The reply to her offer seemed to satisfy her curiosity, at least for the moment. Running up ahead of A’rei, she skipped up in front for a brief moment before returning to her side again.

“Azza wondering, what miss A'rei looking for in Underwood? Azza can help if looking for herbs.” It was easy to see how her innocent mind would connect things so simply. At the moment in Azza’s life, a forest meant shade, and shade meant herbs while traveling deeper into the forest meant higher quality herbs. In the case of Azza’s speech, “Old people herbs.”

"Oh no, I'm not looking for herbs dear. I'm looking for a person. A very bad person. I think he ran in here from me," A'rei looked down at the small girl, "would you happened to have seen a big man come by before you got hurt?"

Her young face was quickly the home of a frown as she sifted through her memory. Shaking her head from side to side, her hair only became more messy as she did so, followed by a rather jumbled response of, “Azza hasn’t seen big man. Big man not usually come to this side of forest. Many big man on other side cut wood though.” Stopping quite suddenly, her face brightened with a grin once more before pointing behind them. “Azza did see foot print not belonging to Azza near one of herb patches though.”

dialogue discussed in IM :D

[Massacre]

Azza reminded A'rei of her childhood. Despite the repeated beatings from her father A'rei had remained optimisitc and cheerful like this girl. The newly dark haired woman hoped that this albino-looking child wouldn't slow her down or cause unnecessary danger. After watching Azza skip all over the place A'rei smiled a bit to herself as the girl returned to her side.

She had asked to help out, that was kind. If A'rei had been looking for herbs though she would have simply bought them at the market. They were expensive, true, but they were high quality and you didn't have to waste time looking for them. Azza seemed more helpful than A'rei had anticipated at first, the girl had noticed footprints that weren't her own. How hadn't A'rei noticed them? Regardless she was thankful that she had a lead rather than walking around blindly trying to find this stupid slave.

The man had been jailed in Radasnath for nearly three years apparently orchestrating a plan to escape all the while. He behaved well and the guards took a liking to him eventually, making it all the easier to escape when the time was right. The guards were soft and sentimental, A'rei wasn't. There would be no mercy for making her run all this way just to catch him. Following him out of Radasnath was easy, he had left an easily followable trail. This one was a bit more charismatic than most of the fugatives she went after and convinced countless people to give A'rei false information. Regardless, A'rei followed him to Underwood and now here. This girl, Azza, wasn't corruptable like the previous "informants." She was honest.

"Would you show me where these footprints are?" A'rei kneeled down to Azza's eye level.

[orphans]

Swaying back and forth at the question presented to her the small girl eventually began nodding vigorously once again. Running a quick hand through her messy hair to brush the strands away from her face, she dashed in a small circle about A’rei before looking up into the canopy of leaves. The forest was almost a second home to her but her bearings and sense of direction was possibly worse than that of a drunken mule. Instead, she had simply memorized parts of the forest to help her find her way from herb patch to herb patch. How she was able to memorize anything clearly in the forest was beyond her and she didn’t quite care. To her, she just simply, could.

Finally deciding on what seemed to be an entirely random direction in an unmarked path, but towards the direction they had recently came, she gave a wide smile. “Azza saw foot print there. It on lamb ear leaf.”

The little girl seemed quite pleased with herself before she suddenly rushed off into the direction she had just pointed. It was another animal trail, one of the many ones that she was familiar with. She was oblivious to the obvious dangers of the situation and to her young mind all the events happening simply seemed to be a game of hide and go seek.

Edit: You can bunny my character if you need next post. My msn isn't working for some reason.