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[Faith Augustin]

Faith looked at Niv as her facial expression and she moved over to her, putting a hand gently on Niv's arm "It is alright. It simply is what it is, and I learnt quickly from it. All children are taught, are they not? It is fine and I am very grateful for my life, it has taught me many many things" she assured the little person (she didn't know the name of her race) in front of her. Faith hated the idea that her life might upset Niv, she didn't understand at all why it would but she felt very responsible for it.

The rest of the conversation, Faith surmised, was going to continue with a small squirrel on her head. That was fine as far as she was concerned and she sat down opposite Niv and nodded. "I learnt the other trial that the Moseke Mist is poisonous in large doses. Which is a worry, as it's used as a contraceptive by people. But also, that lavender can fight off infection" she said and then Niv asked her if she'd ever considered running away as a slave. Faith looked at Niv and smiled, immediately, to show her that it was fine that she'd asked. "It wasn't rude, it was inquisitive and caring. But no, I have never tried to escape. Have you ever tried to escape your life?" she asked, thoughtfully. Famula walked over and spoke again "Faith knows no other life, and she is content in her life. So, she does not seek to escape."[/i] the Immortal said and Faith looked up at Famula with a grateful smile. "If I am not a slave, then I do not know what I am. I am nothing else" she said, trying to make Niv understand. "Is there anything that defines you completely and has since birth?" she wondered.

[Niv]

While Faith was convincing with her words and actions, Niv was not so easily swayed. The tunawa did do her best to hear the girl out but everything the goddess had said prior weakened any argument made in favour of slavery. The more Faith tried to convince her the more uncomfortable and irritated Niv became. The Tunawa could barely look at faith as she tried to keep herself from visibly shaking with anger. Her fists were clutched and her tiny brow was lowered but were only a glimpse of the upset in Niv’s head.
“..I don’t know many children who needed to be beaten or starved to learn a lesson.” Niv mumbled under her breath. The tunawa didn’t want to upset her friend but something so horrible would never be tolerated in Desnind.
“I’m afraid Faith didn’t hear that, you should speak up little one” The cold crimson eyes of the Death goddess met Niv’s and the tunawa instantly tensed up.
“I said that I’m glad… you appreciate your life and what you’ve been taught” Niv stammered while making darting places back to Famula.

With the conversation back towards herbs Niv relaxed a bit.
“Poisons have a nice tang to them, I like eating rhubarb leaves they’re sweet but feel the most tingly of the poisons I’ve eaten. “Niv paused a moment before continuing with a question “Whats a Con..tra. septive?

“I have nothing to escape from, If I don’t like my house I leave it, If people don’t like my dancing I dance somewhere else. I stay where I am because I like the people around me not because I’m an object to them. thats silly.” Niv froze a bit after what she’d said but didn’t try to rectify it, she just continued on like it was nothing.
“Can’t really think of anything tunawa, I wish I was cun’ahee but thats not how my people were created. It used to upset me that people wouldn’t listen to be because of my size but I came to realize it was their problem. I may be Tunawa but Cun’ahee can’t even grow their limbs back or eat poison. “

[Faith Augustin]

Niv was upset and Faith didn't like that this was so. She didn't hear what the small woman muttered, but she frowned as she heard what Famula said to her ~ she knelt down in front of Niv and dipped her head so that she made eye contact with the small woman. "I don't know any life but mine, and I am happy in it, I promise you. I'm sorry that it upsets you" she said, most sincerely. "If it helps, think of it like owning an animal and training it" she said, helpfully. Or at least, she hoped it was helpful. "I am trained to serve, to make my owner's life eaasier. But I get a lot from it, and I learn a lot along the way too. Was your childhood very different?" she wondered. In what way were other people's childhood different, she had often considered that but had never really had anyone that she could ask that of. Jamal would consider it a waste of time and a foolish question and, until recently she hadn't had anyone else she could speak to. Now, of course, she was able to go out and talk to others, but even then 'what was your childhood like' didn't come up in conversation.

Except now! So, she was interested to hear and she listened attentively to Niv as she spoke.

Faith considered what Niv said carefully, though, listening to her and thinking hard about how she described rhubarb leaves. "So, you are immune to poisons effects? Is that because of your race? I don't know what your race is, though" she added with a smile. "I didn't know that about rhubarb leaf. I use rhubarb in cooking a lot - the taste is sharp and, if you add sugar to it, it makes a very nice taste. My owner likes it stewed in sugar and then with a crumble on top of it and custard. He puts cinnamon on it too - that's a nice herb. It helps to get rid of vomiting and upset stomachs" she said.

But then, Niv's next question and Faith answered as well as she knew. This was not a situation of two knowledgeable women discussing such, that was for sure. "It is something that a woman takes so that she does not get pregnant" she said, and there began and ended her knowledge on such. "I don't mean to be silly" she said, softly, as Niv told her that that was what she was being "I just meant to say that my life is the only one I've ever known. I don't know how to escape from the only thing I know" she said and she shrugged a little "And since I am quite content and happy, I don't know why I would try. But I'm not sure what tunawa is or a cun'ahee? Is that what you are, although not a cun'ahee, are they.. what are they?" she asked with interest.

What an interesting woman this woman was who she had met in work whilst Famula was doing a shift as a receptionist, Faith considered.

[Niv]

“Why is it better to own an animal? I live with the animals, the’re my friends. I would never think to….” Niv heard her voice getting louder and stopped to take a breath. The tunawa had to remember that Faith was a victim to what ever person was forcing her to do their bidding. No matter how much this new travesty was angering her she had to bite her tongue.
“Sorry I clearly live in a much different place than you” Niv left it at that, and didn’t go into detail how she basically grew up in a squirrel burrow and spent her days playing around in mud. Faith clearly didn’t think highly of wild animals so it was for the best.

“Yah it is because of what I am, I eat poison and it allows me to grow antidotes out of my head. Thats what this purple flower sticking out of my head is, I ate a few Daphne berries a few trials ago.” Niv stopped to proudly draw attention to the delicate violet bell flower growing out of her tangled vine hair. It grew to the side of her head and was easily mistaken for ornamentation.
“I don’t do much cooking I just eat what I find, but its nice to know it has uses other than being a nasty poison. I’ll try to remember that rhubarb can help tame angry spirits in someones stomach. Thank you”

“ohhh when a baby grows in ones stomach. Tunawa grow our saplings in the ground, carrying around a baby in the same area you store your food seems strange to me.”
It was certainly a surreal concept for Niv to think about and definitely more painful and inconvenient then to simply plant a seed in the ground. It surprised Niv that any female would want to endure growing something inside themselves for any length of time.

“I’m Tunawa” Niv squinted her eyes and place her hands closely together “ and you’re Cun’ahee” Niv got up onto the tips of her toes and stretched her arms as close to the sky as she could. “Understand?”

“I suppose it would be hard for you, but they don’t beat or starve you still do they?” Niv hesitated at the words, fearing what answer might be returned.

Skret leapt from Faiths head and glided towards Famula, The tiny creature curled up atop the death goddesses's head who didn’t seem to mind the tiny fur hat she’d acquired. The vacant area on Faiths head was replaced with a group of ghostly butterflies and humming birds. The patch of vegetation that grew under Niv had spread over much of the ground, Transforming most of the controlled landscape into an untamed one. An abundance of luminescent mushrooms and beautiful flowers of various colours covered the ground. The odd vegetation seemed to almost sway back in forth in hypnotic Rhythm.

[Kura Wolfsdotter]

Kura groaned and sat up, looking around in confusion. She was....outside. That didn't make any sense, she had boarded a ship, from Rharne to Ne'haer. So how was she...outside. Standing up, she bent over to look at a pool of water, seing another impossibility. She'd had brown eyes most of her long life, it was true. But now they were the icy blue of the wolf she had been blessed with. Her clothes...those were more possible. The black clothes with steel chains as ornamentation, the dress uniform of The Eternal Empire. Her uniform from her job. Looking around, she scowled and turned to walk into the forest, hoping to find something or someone that might explain the insanity that was going on.

It wasn't long before she did stumble across someone...or rather, three someones. A girl who appeared to be human, a short wooden creature she vaguely recognized as something she had seen in the homes of the rich and vain, and what looked suspiciously like an Immortal. Famula, she guessed, by the pseudo-chariot of crimson souls she rode on. Setting herself, Kura approached the trio warily, seeking in her mind for the unfamiliar bond of the wolf.

"Hello, there. Uh...can anyone tell me h-how I got here, I...I boarded a ship, and I don't know how I came to be here." she said, looking a bit nervous before she stopped to take another look at Famula, suddenly standing up straight. "And who are you, bold enough to take that form? You match Famula's description, but...you have no power like that which radiates from true Immortals." she said, somewhat bluffing. She knew Raskalarn and her own mother, Karem, had such an aura, even if they usually suppressed it, but she wasn't sure how if Famula was such a one.

[Faith Augustin]

Faith really didn't want to lie to Niv, but equally the very emotional little indivudal seemed to be very upset by the truth "I am not starved, no, I am fed once a trial, you don't need to worry" she said, most sincerely. She didn't answer the bit about whether she still got beaten because she didn't think Niv was going to like the answer the very much. Maybe keeping silent was the best ting to do then, she thought. So that was what she did. Kept quiet on the next bit and simply didn't answer about the beatings. Because the last thing she wanted to do was upset this tender-hearted soul next to her.

And it had to be said, keeping quiet got easier when someone else wandered over. Faith turned and smiled a dazzling smile of greeting at the newcomer. "Hello. Welcome. I am Faith, and this is my new friend, Niv" she said, looking around "I'm... not sure how we got here. I think I walked from Athart. Or maybe Jamal's shop. It's nice here though, isn't it?" she said looking around quite contentedly.

But then the new woman spoke to Famula and Faith frowned deeply "This is our receptionist. It's... I love Famula, so I think she looks like her to make me feel better. Or maybe I look like me to make her feel better. I'm not sure" she said, with a smile first at the new woman and then an adoring smile at Famula. Famula seemed, however, to have turned into a statue, beautifully carved from wood.

"Ummm... has she turned into a statue for you two, too?" Faith asked with a raised eyebrow. Her voice was usually quiet, but this time it was just a whisper. "So tell us about yourself, we've been talking about our childhoods and our lives. They're very different" she said, with a grin at Niv.

[Niv]

“Wait you only eat once?” Niv exclaimed with wide eyes. “I eat like..” she stopped to count her tiny fingers “8 times a day and I’m a tunawa! you better get a large plate of all kinds of tasty bugs if you’re only going to eat once a day!” Niv didn’t know much about international food, especially since eating insects was a pretty common practice in Desnind. In the tunawa’s mind all she could picture was Faith being fed one solitary cockroach from the back of a dusty cupboard for an entire trial.

Before Niv could interrogate the slave any further a blue eyed wolf walked up the three and began speaking. The tunawa let Faith introduce her self before the tiny creature let out a light and welcoming howl.
“Hello I am as Faith said, a tunawa by the name of Niv. I’m not really sure who I go here ether.” a cloudy image of the landscape below as Niv soared through the woods with big strong wings. That was all Niv could see when she thought of how she had arrived at her location. There was also a familiar face that she couldn’t place, speaking words she no longer understood.
“Actually I flew here as a bird, yup I was definitely a bird.” Niv added confidently despite how silly it sounded. “I had big wings and I came here with a friend.”

“Hrm she is a statue, how did that happen?” Niv turned her head in awe at the caved wood before her and a bizarre conclusion entrained her mind. “hrm maybe she's afraid of Wolves.” Niv turned to the wolf after registering the words that had come from her lips. “Oh sorry I just know that some people are afraid of your kind, I meant no offence.”

Niv smiled faintly back at Faith not wanted to bring up the issues they had talked about to the wolf. Niv didn’t want the innocent hunter of the woods to learn the unsavoury practices she had just been exposed to.


As Niv talked blood red vines sprouted from the ground beneath her and a face appeared beneath them. The face was of another tunawa, with a similar face to Niv but with a more mischievous look to her. On the temples of the other tunawa sprouted dark purple vines that grew in length. The second one of the other dreamers spotted the strange apparition it flared out its horns into wing like leaves and smiled a twisted smile before dissipating into a puff of ashes.

((Ooc: I hope it isn't confusing if Niv sees Kura as a wolf, I just thought it would be neat))

[Kura Wolfsdotter]

Kura had caught the end of the girl's talk with her plant-like companion, the comment about only being fed once a Trial. There were only a few situations where someone would be feeding her, and in any situation it was abusive. The mortalborn tramped down on the sudden fiery rage that filled her, only to feel the suddenly comforting presence of Phelan, her wolf familiar, in her mind. Kura closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them, they had changed from deep brown to icy blue.

At Faith's introductions, Kura nodded and smiled, then turned to look at the one who wore Famula's appearance. Indeed, she was now a statue, but to her it was of a black stone, the same kind used in the building of the Imperial Palace at Korlasir. For some reason, that fact comforted the Mortalborn immensely and she smiled at her companions, noting that the smaller one seemed to see her as a wolf. Fitting, she supposed, the she wondered how her body language would translate.

"A pleasure to meet you, Faith and Niv. I am Kura Wolfsdotter." she said, bowing as she spoke. "My childhood...honestly, I don't remember it very well. It's been over a century since I was a child and many things fade over such time. The only thing I remember with clarity is my father, who taught me how to hunt. But I was raised in a palace, so...not the most exciting childhood compared to either of yours, I imagine." she said, smiling warmly at the both of them.

[Faith Augustin]

Faith smiled at Niv as she spoke about eating her diet "I have never, in all my life, eaten bugs. I think that must be something specific to your race" and frankly, sounded vile but she would not say such because that would be rude. But on what she ate, Faith kept quiet because she thought that might be another of those things that Niv would get upset by. She didn't like to upset people, so she focused on what the other two were saying instead.

Famula had become a statue, but no one seemed to really mind. That was odd, but Faith simply shrugged at Niv as she wondered and asked "Was she always? I don't think so I thought she spoke to me, to us, but... I'm sure she did and statues don't speak" although Famula seemed to be both unaware of, and unconcerned by, that fact. Faith grinned and shrugged, Famula was well within her rights to be whatever she wanted to be and if, right now, she wished to be a statue, then so it was.

"A palace?" Faith asked, wide eyed and amazed. "And over a hundred arcs ago?" Faith considered that she hoped she looked that good when she was that old with a crooked grin at Kura. "I don't know how old I am exactly, but it's about seventeen or eighteen arcs. But yes, our childhoods were different, all three of us. To me, a palace sounds exciting. Very much so" she explained and then glanced towards Niv. How might the small woman feel about hunting, she wondered.

[Niv]

“What's a palace? is that what you call your wolf den Kura? I don’t have a name for my burrow.” Niv looked to Skret who had made a comfy home in the crevice of the death goddess’s eye socket.
“What do we call our borrow?” Niv asked the flying squirrel who quickly chirped back. Niv nodded her head in affirmation and tuned back to the others.
“tunäwä slosneppe hawng kókó ar duro laiyara.” Niv replied casually in Xanthea. “It probably could use a shorter name but it works for what it is.”

“But yah it seems we all have lived very different lives, everyone where I live eats bugs. It’s hard to resist the delightful popping sensation you get when you first bite into one. I just wish they weren’t so delicious, I try to apologize to them but it just doesn’t feel like enough after you’ve eaten them.” Niv frowned and slumped her shoulders.

“Is it odd for a statue to speak?” While Niv would certainly call into question such a thing if it happened in everyday life, in Emea the occurrence seemed perfectly natural. Even the Tunawa’s memory of the goddess as anything but a statue was beginning to fade as the new reality set in.

“Wait..over a hundred years old!” Niv’s eyes bulged out in shock. “I’ve only heard of trees that live that long, I’m only six arcs old but I can only expect to live a hundred years.” Niv paused and scratched her temple. “so…are you a god wolf?” It seemed like the only logical conclusion since Niv new for a fact that a wolf only lived for a few years.