Finding Meno

[Qit'ria]

Common Text
Xanthean Text
Kashehino Text
Qit'ria could hear the change in the wolves' communication. They'd picked a target, but she couldn't be sure if it was herself or those that were following her. She hoped for the latter, but had to assume the former. To do otherwise was to invite death. But it mattered not to her. She already knew how to lose the wolves and it didn't really change her plans, just slowed them down a little. She had to hope it would work, throw off her scent and send the creatures back toward the interlopers.

So she pressed onward, and increased her pace. She ran with high knees to get through the snow faster, though she could feel the additional strain it was putting on her. She buckled down, focused on her breathing, and kept her head on a swivel as she plowed her way to Kura's cabin. It was fine if the wolves singled her out now, thinking she was isolated and in a panic. It didn't take long for the politician's cabin to come into sight, and she saw no smoke spiraling out of the chimney. She assumed that Kura wasn't home. Perfect.

Pumping her arms and huffing she sped toward the home that really shouldn't be out here. It was just so aesthetically displeasing and anyone could stop by and do as they wish. Qit had thought that the first time she'd come by this house, and thankfully it was, for it was doing as she wished that would save her. Running up to the side of the porch, Qit knew, she just knew, the wolves had to be close, she'd been isolated for too long. She hopped up on the snow covered rail, stabbing into the wall of the cabin with her javelin to help keep her balance. Good thing too, for the rail was slick and she nearly flopped forward off of it.

Using the impaled spear as a hand hold, she set a foot against the wall and pushed herself up from the rail to the edge of the roof. She found a handhold there, and with a bunch kicking and scrambling of legs, she managed to pull herself up and into the snow there. But she didn't stop as she started to catch her breath. She stood up, moving to the chimney, when she saw the bright red light flash in the distant woods. A curious, confused face adorned her visage before she continued her plan. She stepped out of her clothes, removing everything, setting her loincloth aside from the rest. She made a bundle with her cloak for her clothing, shivering naked in the cold, but knowing she'd be fine soon. She then ran her rope through the straps of her pack and tied the bundle therein as well, leaving a long bit of slack. She tied the slack end to a javelin and then lowered the entire bundle down through the chimney. She waited til it hit bottom, then pulled it up a bit, so that it would be seen to be hanging there in Kura's fireplace should she return home. It would be an odd thing to see, but she knew Kura was smart enough to figure out what it was.

Qit, naked as a jay bird used the loin cloth and rubbed at her pits, tits, crotch, and ass to get as much of her own scent on it as possible. She then made a snowball, tying the cloth about it, and throwing it into the clearing next to Kura's cabin. Then she touched one of the only two items on her person now, her aye-aye mouse bracelet. She pulled the essence of the mouse out of it and into her body as she focused heavily on the form she was changing into. It was painful, but she stifled the gasps down as best she could, so as to not be further detected. As the transformation was happening over the course of a couple bits, she realized she could feel both totems, the bracelet as well as her necklace that was her self totem. She reached out to both of them, and absorbed them into the transformation as well, Assimilating them. And soon, atop Kura's roof, was a big eared mouse, rolling in the snow to doubly ensure her scent was gone. And there she listened for the wolves, waiting for them to hopefully find the bait, and then move on.

Choice

Belt

[Freya DuCarinos]

As the howls crescendoed around them, Freya hastily took the oil from their only lantern and splashed it onto her blade, making sure not to get any on herself before angling the tip of the blade into the burning flame to light it ablaze. Within trills, a large fire roared forth and with it, bated the shadows back into the wild winds of the snow. As if the darkness wasn’t enough to play tricks on her mind, the shadows from the light of the flame were even worse, flickering here and there, causing the poor Biqaj to jut around and wave her blade like a madwoman. Having not realized it, Freya was gasping for breath as her heart banged against her breast.
“What the sard was that?” She cursed, unconsciously moving closer to the map man as the howls faded almost as suddenly as they arrived. “Karem be damned, fuck wolves.” Freya griped out, turning to the man.
Though, as she turned to confront him, her eyes caught the sight of something red flashing in the treeline, its glow against the offset black of Cylus sent a chill up her spine. As with everything else in that instant, it was gone the moment her eyes laid claim to its presence and with its disappearance, a flock of ravens took flight.
Not paying attention to what the man was doing, Freya reached out and grasped his forearm, “S-Stop.” She breathed. “Wait, stop.” Her eyes were a deep green, a kind of sickly toxic color that spelled fear to the man the moment he looked upon her. “We cannot go into that forest.”
When he’d inquire as to why, Freya’s pale face would look from his and point to where the birds scrambled to the skies, “There was something by the treeline. It couldn’t have been that person, or the wolves, or that little girl…” Her brow furrowed, “I… I don’t think anyways. It moved too fast.”
He seemed not to care as he continued to move where the map took him, to which Freya decided to stand in front of him to block his path. “Look—!” She held a finger up, taking a breath of air, only to come to a conclusion, “What is your name?”
“I’m Aphina and I refuse to go into those woods and die at the hands of some gnarly beast that might have eaten that stranger and that little girl by now!” She pushed him back with her hands to his chest when he continued to walk forth. “What say you? Do you have such might as to take on the creatures of the woods? Why follow tracks to Vri’s door over the well being of a child whom you do not know? This is too much for the both of us, I’m telling you! Take us back to the village so that we might recruit others.” And so she could slip away from the task before her life was put in jeopardy.
“I will not go into those woods..!”

Off Topic

Cloak!

Also Victor, Freya is being a giant baby. Wherever you decide to go, she will follow as she doesn't want to be alone to possibly be attacked by the creatures. Feel free to RP her following you, wherever that is.

[Pegasus]

16th Cylus, 718

Whatever the situation was with the appropriate nature, or frequency, of grandmother's living in woods, they had a discussion needed between them. There were wolves behaving strangely there, and Victor and Freya were in a tricky situation. Freya protested that she didn't want to go in the direction that Victor was taking them in, but she wanted to be on her own far less. So, they went - one willingly and the other less so - into the Sweetwine woods. Meanwhile, at the edge of the woods there was a mouse on a roof. Qit'ria had used her magic and now she was a Scalvoris aye-aye mouse, on to of Kura's house. It was possibly not the normal sort of trial for any of them, in truth. But there she remained.

And no wolves came.

Not as far as Freya and Victor were concerned, nor did they pad past Qit'ria. There was no more howling, but the sudden lifting into the sky of all the birds unnerved the animals, unsettled them and there were a few hoots, woofs and whistles here and there.

Freya and Victor moved into the woods and the sounds around them dropped, muting and making it all seem somehow more enclosed, penned in. The trees hid the sky and as they continued to follow the map, and neither one of them were at home here, so tracking and so on was more or less impossible. But still, they had the map.

Qit'ria, meanwhile, had the developing understanding of the phrase "freezing my nuts off". Had that been a phrase which had the words "little aye-aye- in there, just after the my and before the nuts, it would have been perfect. Hardy souls though the aye-aye were, they still felt the cold and the aye-aye population were largely keeping warm and engaging in cannibalism in order to survive right now. Not on the rooftops of Scalvoris in the open and exposed landscape, especially when the roof was well over a foot deep in snow itself.

After about a half break, maybe longer, when Freya and Victor were deep into the Sweetwine and Qit was really cold, but had changed back to her self-form and was following the two - it wasn't hard, they were not in any way, good at this. But, they were just about to arrive at the place the map led them to. Round a tree and there, in front of them, was a low wooden cottage. Its roof was thick with snow - the white powder covered every surface. Yet, from the chimney, smoke trailed into the sky.

They had trudged through deep drifts in order to get here. It was almost like the woods were out to get them, in fact, with snow falling from branches just at the right moment to slide down exposed backs, once an icicle dropped off an overhanging branch and missed them by inches. The uneven nature of the ground didn't help, either, what looked to be a simple continuation of the terrain was a drift which his a three or four foot drop - the kind you found out about when you sunk into it, sort of thing.

Yes, they could definitely be forgiven for thinking the Woods didn't want them.

But there, with a warm fire causing the smoke and a light in the window, was Grandmother's Cottage. It looked warm and cosy and inviting, just the sort of place a little girl would run to if she was afraid or hurt in some way. Straight into the loving arms of her grandmother....

... in the distance, a lone wolf howled.

[Victor Amielle]

As Freya grasped his forearm, Victor stopped abruptly and turned to her, a look of mild irritation on his face. She had appeared to be quite brave before, when she had almost challenged him to a fight, but apparently, he realized, it had all just been for show. “We have to go!” he insisted. “If we don’t, the little girl might die! I don’t want to have to tell these people that she died because of us – because we were cowards and turned back! Come on, help me! I’d like to set my sword on fire as well!” he told her and held his sword out towards her. His heart had begun to beat a little faster as well – he wasn’t particularly keen on being ripped apart by a pack of wolves – but unlike Freya he would never show his fears openly – or let them get the better of him.

“Maybe it was another wolf”, he remarked dryly as Freya pointed to where the birds had scrambled to the skies and continued to walk towards their destination, until she moved in front of him to block his path, at least. He looked at her, more annoyed than before. For a moment he actually considered pushing her aside, but then he chose to answer her instead. “My name is Victor, and I’m quite a competent swordsman and a Blessed of Delroth on top of it”, he informed her, as if he were quite sure that he would be able to handle any threats that they came across. “If we don’t continue and find the girl, we’ll never be able to show our faces in that village again. People will hate us, and I’d like to stay on Scalvoris a little longer. My research isn’t done yet”, he pointed out.

“If you are so worried about the wolves, I’ll go first so that they kill me first”, he offered. With that he continued through the woods, briefly furrowing his brow as he noticed that he couldn’t see the sky anymore. The trees seemed to enclose them from all sides now, and for a moment he felt a hint of paranoia, but he refused to give in to it. He had faced the living dead and sea monsters – and stood before an Immortal – a forest, no matter how dark and ominous it was, was nothing compared to that. He walked on, occasionally looking around to check if Freya was still nearby. The woman had become a bit of a liability, but still, he didn’t want to leave her to the wolves. He didn’t want to have her blood on his hands.

After what seemed like an eternity, a wooden cottage finally came into view, and Victor stopped for a moment to take a breath before he turned to face Freya, just in time to avoid an icicle that dropped from a nearby branch. For a moment he had the feeling that the forest had something against them, but that was of course nonsense. Forests didn’t have feelings. “Since we haven’t seen the girl anywhere, she has probably reached her grandmother’s house safely”, he said and shook his coat in order to get rid of the snow that seemed to have fallen into every opening and onto every bit of exposed skin. His neck was wet, and there was snow in his boots as well from when he had stepped into a snow drift which was why he moved more carefully now. He had no interest in catching a cold or falling over something that had been hidden by the snow and breaking a bone.

In the distance another wolf howled. “Come on”, Victor urged Freya and waded through the snow, towards the cottage, sword still drawn. “We are almost there. We’ll likely be safe inside that house, and when the wolves are gone, we can return to the village and tell people that we have found the girl and her grandmother!”

[Freya DuCarinos]

Freya didn’t entertain a facade unless she needed to get into or out of certain situations, and while the goal here had been to sway Victor to reconsider their venture into the forests, the biqaj was hardly breaking face from her earlier confident demeanor. She was steadfast with things she knew she could handle, yet supernatural entities and mysterious red flashes spelled more for her than she thought to take on and, in that instant, flight was surly winning over fight. Still, the irritation she glimpsed on his features saw that he would not budge from their mission and, begrudgingly, she allowed him to walk from her.
“She might already be dead and you’re just leading us into a trap that will have us torn to shreds by wolves. Then what? We died because some foolish child decided to run off in the sarding middle of Cylus!” Her irritation was palpable as she glowered at his back, ignoring him when he held his sword out for oil and fire. Of course, Freya would give him neither… at least for right now.
“It wasn’t another wolf,” Damn him, did he hear nothing she said? Fear clenched at her ever beating heart, causing it to rush with haste against her breast. Her attention was glue to the shadows of the darkness around them, that was, until Victor mentioned something about an Immortal.
“Delroth..?” Freya knew of the name, having been raised in Ne’haer’s religious environment. However, she knew not of what the Deity supposedly presided over as his worship within the city was very limited, almost nonexistent. “A Blessed of Delroth?” Freya echoed, her voice evident with disbelief, “So a magic map and a blessing from some lesser Deity? That’s what we’re betting on against those… things in the woods?!”
If she was honest with herself, it was definitely more than what she had to offer currently, but fear didn’t allow her to see things that way. Instead, it perpetuated the anger within her, boiling it so that insults were spilling out of her mouth in her native tongue before she had time to consider their weight and meaning. It was the only way she knew to cope as she dredged on in the snow with Victor. Finally, she paused the spilling of her words to gripe out a final sentence in common tongue before falling silent, “Regardless of who goes first, we’ll both be dead!”
Freya stuck close to Victor as he ventured on into the abyss of the forest, having not the slightest care, it seemed, for the eerie gloom that hung around them. The tree closed in and, as if it couldn’t get any darker, the light from the burning blade reach out only as far as her arm. Cursing, the biqaj took the time to finally light Victor’s sword, throwing the remains of the used lantern onto the ground.
“This will only last us a short while.. Let’s hope this grandmother has a lantern for us to return home with.” She muttered, igniting his sword with hers. As they strolled through the snow, Freya couldn’t help stare around the darkness, her instincts screaming at her in ways that begged her to run. Something wasn’t right about this place and yet here she was, following someone into the mouth of the predator. She bumped into Victor when he stopped and jumped when a rather large icicle fell just in front of him. Again, Freya took it as an omen to leave and reached out for Victor’s hand when he began to move towards a structure off in the shadows.
“Victor, wait— please.” She pushed on his shoulder so he was made to look at her and pulled the hood of her cloak from the top of her head as to show him plainly the fear and concern in her eyes. “You’re not thinking this through. By the Immortals, it’s obvious we’re not supposed to be here..! Why would a little girl venture out where people rarely go? This forest is strange, that house is strange, this whole… thing is strange! Wouldn’t she see that?” Her eyes darted between his before she sighed. “If you still mean to go to that house, then don’t just strut up to it like some common fool. You yourself said it’s odd that an old woman would live out here. Let’s scout out the perimeter of the place first, then… check in the windows to see what’s inside. It’s best to be safe than regret not taking such precautions when everything goes sideways. Don’t you agree?”

[Qit'ria]

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Kashehino Text

Aye-aye'ria flinched as what sounded like every bird within the woods all took off at once in what appeared to be a panic. And the aye-aye mouse within her panicked with them. Compelled by it's nature, Aye-aye'ria ran toward one edge of the roof, only to stop, change directions, and run to another edge. This repeated a few times before she managed to get a hold of herself and come to a stop. Her heart was racing, her adrenaline pumping, her lungs heaving. Deep breathes through her mousy nose before she scurried back over to the protection of the chimney, carving through the snow once more. Once there, she continued to focus on her breathing until she could no longer hear her panicked heart beating. Then she changed back.

Changing in such succession made her wobbly, and she fell against the chimney catching herself, feeling the edges of her vision blur a bit. Freezing her rump off, she righted herself, and pulled the rope up, retrieving her belongings. She dressed quickly, minus her loincloth, and hopped down off Kura's roof. Pulling a javelin, she set off in the woods, toward the direction of the red light that had flashed, remembering to grab her undergarment and stuff it in her pack as she went. It didn't take her long, with only a mild cut back, to find a mild, fresh trail of footprints belonging to two people. That had to be those following her. She'd lost the speed advantage, but she could stalk them at least.

And followed at a quick pace she did, staying off their path herself, running parallel to it through the trees and foliage, keeping her eyes on it and her Echoed ears alert for the sounds of their talking. For if there was anything city people did, it was constantly talk. Qit'ria bounded over the unusually uneven ground. This wasn't a part of the woods she knew that well, but the terrain felt off... something just wasn't right, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. And yet, she found herself enjoying it, leaping from tree roots to a rock to plopping tits deep into an unexpected snow drift. There was a strange mirth in the woman. Perhaps it was just the comfort of being back in her woods. Or maybe it was because she was seeing a different side of the woods she called home. It was something new, that was also hers. As if the woods wanted her to see a newer side of it that was private before, accepting her into it more. There was actually a broad smile on her face.

As she heard talking in the distance, she slowed her roll, moving to more of a stealth approach. She stowed her javelin to keep her arms free using the lower to grab the lower branches of the trees to better pull her forward through the snow drifts. As she neared the couple, too far to make out individual words, even with improved ears, but close enough to see them, she heard a wolf howl. Again. She sighed. She really didn't care for wolves, or pack hunters in general. Hunting alone was much more preferable.

Kashehino slinked around her, "There's no need for you to be on a roof this time, darling. Do take note, the house is quite cozy and will protect against the wolves. Look at those nasty little people, city dwelling little folks, they won't stand against you. We all know their sort. Weak and fearful, darling. Not like you, not one jot like you. You are strong and you take what you want."

And Qit'ria agreed. And so, she took off in a half trudging run through the snow, snarling loudly, at no one in particular. She ran toward the door of the cabin, head on. She saw the door handle on one side, and picked that one. She didn't know the intricacies of locks nor doors, but she assumed that was the side she wanted. Nearing it at full sprint, jumped, kicking out both her legs forward, heels first, aiming at the wood right next to the handle, hoping to kick the door open, with a loud feline howl, and then scramble in.

[Pegasus]

16th Cylus, 718

With strong and rugged determination in their attitudes, and the ability to set their swords on fire, Victor and Freya made their way forward. It wasn't entirely Freya's direction of choice, but the pair of them seemed to be inseparable. At least, for the moment. Victor offered to go first so that he was first to die and Freya pointed out that they would remain united. Even in death. So, together it was. Their trek through the woods was spooky, the snow and the wind and the behaviour of the animals all adding to the eeriness they both felt. The darkness of Cylus didn't help, of course and so the intrepid pair found themselves moving through an atmospheric, spooky place. Every noise twisted and echoed and even Victor's flaming sword only cast odd-shaped shadows on the ground.

The constant battle against the woods was something which both Victor and Freya fought, although Qit'ria, who knew these woods well and who was a huntress and predator, experienced no such thing. Where Victor and Freya felt that the woods were fighting them, Qit'ria had no need to fight that she had already tamed. For Qit'ria, the sounds and the sights were normal - but for Victor and Freya - they very much were not.

Perception, of course, was everything.

And so, they got to the Grandmother's Cottage and, there, Victor and Freya disagreed about what they should do now. Should they go in, should they be cautious? It was a cause for them to pause, to consider and discuss, maybe even to argue. They simply couldn't seem to come to an agreement on what the best way forward was.

Although they probably would have agreed that they weren't going to do what Qit'ria did.

Because Qit'ria charged forward and jumped at the door. Both feet out she jumped and she hit exactly where she aimed with a feline snarl which reverberated through the woodlands.

And she bounced.

It was a strange sight and an odd sound. She literally bounced as her feet hit the sturdy wooden door and did not break it - didn't even really seem to dent it - but instead just stopped dead. Of course, because of that pesky law of physics - the one about actions and equal and opposite reactions - Qit'ria felt the shock jarring through her entire body and she literally bounced off the door and landed in a heap. She didn't hear anything snap, but the pain was enormous, absolutely enormous.

And after a moment, Freya and Victor (not Qit'ria, sadly, she was simply in too much pain and on her back) saw a twitching in the curtains of the cottage. A small voice, the voice of a child called out. "Who's there? Who's out there? Go away! I've got grown ups an' weapons an' you can't come in..."

[Victor Amielle]

“I don’t know of any other animal that howls like that”, the Transmuter replied dryly as Freya insisted that what they had heard had not been another wolf. She was truly starting to get on his nerves now, and he could barely stand that she had insulted his chosen Immortal and called him a lesser deity. If it had not been for the fact that a child’s life was at stake, he would have shown her exactly what kind of abilities that so called lesser deity had afforded him, but as it was he bit back a scathing remark and simply turned away from her, wondering if he should walk off on his own and leave her behind own after all.

Freya didn’t seem to have anything to offer – besides a multitude of insults that he didn’t even know the meaning of. It was just then that she finally deigned to light his sword though, and he inclined his head in order to let her know that he appreciated the gesture. Maybe she was finally getting her act together, against his expectations … or maybe not. As she beseeched him to wait, he turned to face her, narrowing his eyes as he did so. She appeared to be completely out of her mind now and nearly mad with fear.

“Why wouldn’t she?” he asked as she wondered why a little girl would venture out where people rarely went. “Children often do things that no adult in their right mind would ever do, they are curious, they aren’t aware of the dangers that lurk in a forest such as this one, and they don’t think things through. You are right though. Maybe we should scout out the perimeter first”, he admitted somewhat reluctantly. He was about to do just that – or call upon his familiar – when a sound attracted his attention. He spun around abruptly, just in time to watch a woman land on the ground in front of the house.

He exchanged a glance with Freya, and then he hurried towards the woman. Apparently, he realized, Freya’s fears hadn’t been entirely unfounded. That house was strange. He knelt down in the snow beside the woman, trying to check if she was still alive, and his eyes widened. “I know her”, he informed Freya. It was the savage that he had taught how to use a whetstone and how to properly greet somebody. Their meeting had been so strange that he had been unable to forget it. What was she doing here?

He didn’t have a lot of time to ponder that question. It was just as he was about to turn back to Qit’ria that he heard her voice. It was Meno. It had to be her – and she seemed to possess some sort of magic, judging by what had happened to the savage that was lying in front of him. For that reason, he decided not to come closer – he didn’t want to suffer the same fate as Qit’ria - but simply exclaimed, “I’m Victor, and this is Aphina. We mean you no harm, Meno. We’ve been looking for you. People are really worried about you. Is your grandmother with you? Do you think we could talk?”

[Qit'ria]

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The feline howl was brutally cut short being replaced by a dull thud of the impact into the ground as a heap of person, followed by mewling moans of pain. Her knees were on fire from the impact. The bones in her thighs were immediately aching and she laid there making sure that she hadn't broken anything. She slowly moved each leg, not feeling any of the sudden fire that she'd experienced with breaks in the past. Looking up at the door, she knew she'd struck the door, she'd felt the wood beneath her bare feet. But damn, it was much more sturdy than she'd thought it to be. She'd not heard the little girls words, but could now hear the man speaking to her in response.

She knew that voice. It was the man who had taught her about the wet stone and sharpening her sword. She leaned her head back in the snow and looked up at him. Yup, that was him alright. With some woman. Named Aphina. Weird name. She caught his name too, again, for she was bad with names. Wiktor. Seemed he was trying to lure the girl out with soothing words and voice. A baiting tactic. She'd done that before with some animals, though not nearly to the proficiency that her mother had been able to manage.

Her own plan hadn't worked, so she made no move to sabotage Wiktor's. She pulled her legs beneath her, wincing at the pain, but knowing she'd be fine, albeit sore, for a while. She pulled herself up to a crouch, and pressed close to the house. She looked out toward Wiktor, catching his eyes, nodding at him, urging him to understand that she was going along with his plan. She made a few hand signals to him. First she pointed with two fingers to her own eyes, then she pointed to the house, then using the pointing finger to gesture circling around it.

Once she was confident she got her message across, she began to crouch slowly along the wall, keeping her eyes ahead of her, her ears open. She went beneath the window, to continue unseen to the corner. She peered around it, and when not seeing any obvious danger, went around it. She continued along, sticking close to the wall, always at the ready, and always avoiding any windows. If she couldn't force her way in, both by the strangely strong door, and the fact that Wiktor's plan was underway, she could at least secure the perimeter, look for any other ways in, and keep an eye out for potential threats or points of note.

[Freya DuCarinos]

Freya was at a loss with the man, his demeanor queuing her in on the obvious fact that neither of them could much tolerate the other in the given moment. She was a self-preserved person, only having ventured into the Woods because a kind bar hand beseeched her to and, idiotically, she had listened.
Children were curious little spawns of disaster. The biqaj wholeheartedly agreed as Victor explained away his guess on why Meno had traveled so far. Freya wondered if he had any kids of his own, being so aware of the way their minds worked. Of course, she was as curious and wild in her youth as he claimed children to be, but she was only as such because of the torments at home. Her adoptive clan saw her as an unwanted outsider and made her feel every bit as such during her time with them.
Meno was different, or so the woman thought. She had parents to raise her, to teach her right and wrong. To never go into the woods alone, unaccompanied and cold. Meno was a child with an upbringing, wasn’t she? Freya was adamant in her thoughts, something didn’t add up here.
She jumped when a loud bang sounded from just off to her right and back away from the direction, as if that would help her. Sharing a glance with Victor, she followed behind him as he approached the sound, only to discover a woman moaning in pain just outside of the door to the cottage. Freya kept her distance, watching the strange woman tilt her head back towards Victor as he claimed to know her.
"Who's there? Who's out there? Go away! I've got grown ups an' weapons an' you can't come in..."
Brows flying up in surprise, Freya turned towards a curtain in the window that moved ever so slightly. It was the voice of a child, surely, but where exactly was she? The fire blazing against the metal of her sword was growing low and, at any moment now, it would extinguish itself once it ate up all the oil. The darkness closed in, causing the biqaj to step closer to her male companion as she saw the savage woman signal that she would scout the perimeter of the house.
At least there was one person who understood the importance of such a task. Thus, Freya kept an eye out behind the group while listening to Victor attempt to sway the child from the security of the cottage.