The Dark Crystal (Anyone)

Originally Posted by Omentus Anima

The thick leaves and petals foiled even drow infravision, and such spells that showed only truth were useless, as the petals were really there.

(OOC: I think that means they're real. )

BIC:


The leaves and petals we're endless, like a garden some giant made in his gutter. It felt enclosed, as if the plants we're trying to trap you within their leaves, and leach the energy out of you. Even though I knew perfectly they we're just plants some magician had conjured up to confuse us, I couldn't help but feel claustrophobic. I ignored Leonna's question, to worried about the fact that we might have been discovered.

Instinctively, I had some water float over from the room where the bear had lived. I made it worm it's way though the leaves like a snake, until it floated directly infront of me. I muttered the spell to scry, and focused on an image of the watery room. The water wavered for a moment, and then a perfect likeness of what was happening in that area appeared on the surface. I beckoned for the others to look into it. Numerous drow we're on the far shore where we had originally entered the from, along with several magicians examining the room. They appeared to be talking to eachother. I altered the spell to be able to hear too. I listened in to what they we're saying.

"...this room is a mess, something came through here, broke the walls, and killed our Urghra. (I assumed that was the bear) This matches perfectly with the prisoners who had recently broke out and killed their guards. They most likely travelled to the other side of the shore, and I see a feeble attempt to patch the wall." The magician gestured to his collegues.

"Overide any spells holding it in place with force, and seal it up professionally. I don't want our tunnels flooded. That sphere of water that just floated away... I want someone to trace it. One of the prisonners must be scrying us this very moment."

A short drow that was only about four and a half feet tall answered.

"Yes sir, I will work on the scrying right away." He started to focus his mind.

Suddenly, A huge wave of energy hit me and caused me to lose control of the spell. The water fell through the leaves with a resounding splat.

"I do believe we've been spotted."

Khaz gave Leonna’s hand a little squeeze and his thumb stroked it continually, hoping to comfort her as he pushed in deeper and deeper through the fluttering leaves and petals. “Just a little farther, Leonna …”

“Oh, the damn fool. Kuldr Adurna was scrying in the other room. The fool was spying unnecessarily and now they’ve traced his spell back to us,” said Takai exasperatedly.

“Damn it, Kuldr!” Khaz cursed, without thinking or looking back at him. He made a sudden turn, finding another passage to go down but it was still covered in the same enchantment. “Now they’ll know which way we went. At least this enchantment is actually useful now. Come, we all need to speed up. Keep up so you don’t get lost.”

Takai groaned in his head. “Don’t you think he’ll find it odd that you knew that?

Khaz cursed under his breath again but it was too late to regret it too much. They needed to get moving. He speed up his pace to a run and continued to lead them, Takai helping him turn at the right places and whispering directions in his ear. He kept them all running for ten minutes until Takai found a large crack in the wall that the petals and leaves hadn’t slipped into.

The crack was big enough for Rontu to squeeze through if he went in sideways. So Khaz pulled them all through it into a small little cave to rest and hopefully keep hidden.

I scowled at being insulted, especially by Khaz. He seemed too calm to be the type that angered this easily. I shifted around, trying to get comfortable in the tight space. I also tried not impale the others with my sword.

"Anybody could have made that mistake. Besides, you know naught about magic. I doubt you could even lift a pebble to the height of your big toe. Before you question my use of magic, learn how to do it yourself." I let my words sink in for a moment before continuing.

"Besides, by their words I can tell that they were not the ones who create all this foliage. The plants came before they figured us out. Someone else must be also in here. Though, someone I think I don't want to meet. We need to focus on our weapons, not yelling at eachother for magic mistakes."

“Well, obviously,” said Rontu, tucked in between Leonna and Ren. “If it were drow it would have been webs, not leaves and flowers.”

Heh, see, the stuck-up prick didn’t notice.

“Don’t always trust in luck or fools to cover up for you.”

Kuldr’s insult seemed to hardly faze him, of course. He had plenty of that when he had been in the fortress. Back then he had learned to smile and walk away, smile because it seemed to bother them more when he did. But he didn’t feel like smiling in this situation.

He was squeezed between Leonna and Kuldr. Unconsciously, he was still holding her hand. He pulled his bag and leather bundle up onto his lap. Pulled out some dried jerky from it and a water skin.

“Anyone hungry?”

"Well, who knows, it could have been a drow trying to confuse us to think it was another race. But here we have our proof."

Khaz drew out a waterskin and some jerky, and offered it to everyone. I couldn't stand the sight. An innocent animal killed so some meaningless person could stuff his face with it's dead body. It disturbed me greatly. Eating another animal was akin to eating yourself.

"No thanks, I would rather not ingest the flesh of a fellow animal... How can you eat that sort of thing?! Don't even suggest that anymore, less you want your hands lopped off just before they reach your mouth to devour the animal..."

I was about to start trying to convince him to stop eating meat, but then suddenly the harsh clang of metal boots clacking on the floor, and the sound of machetes cutting through foliage rang through the hallway. Several drow we're shouting orders to eachother. The same mage I heard in my scrying was commanding them. He gave out orders like a river gives out water into the sea.

"Keep your minds open! If anyone senses anything nearby, report to me straightway! You, over there, stand here to make sure they aren't hiding and planning to sneak away!" Immiediatly I heard a soldier run in and stand still as a statue just outside of our cave.

I gulped, if any of them sensed our minds... We we're doomed.

Goodness, how can even Khaz think about food at a time like this? My stomach was rolling convulsively after being scared so badly, and now I was trapped between two men in a hard place. I knew very little about the drow's intelligence, save that they were supposedly more devious than an average human. The only thing I did know for certain was that if we were found, we were as good as dead.

We were lucky that Khaz knew this was here. He was so quick to respond to Kuldr's incident. Wait. Kuldr had not even said anything before Khaz reprimanded him. All I heard was a slap of water and the rustle of the all too insect-like leaves. So Khaz must have had some sensitivity to the magic that revealed us, yet another strange secret that had revealed itself. And that food...Khaz had been thinking ahead, too. I have seriously underestimated him...

I smiled slightly at Kuldr's remark about the meat. While I was not fond of killing animals either, I had learned to eat them out of nessesity. I had mostly killed fish, which I never cared much about, but from the smell of the food, it was a different kind of animal. The smell of something that had once lived was actually comforting, reminding me that there was still a world outside of this dark hole. "The meat is fine. That was very thoughtful. Who knows when the next opportunity to eat will be?"

Despite the cramped state which we were in, the warmth was actually comforting. It was all too obvious to me that Khaz was still holding on to my hand, but it made me smile. This was probably the closest I would ever get to a human being.

Once I heard the sound of feet, I reflexively went stiff, knowing all too well that we were entirely vulnerable should we be found so tightly squeezed together. Oh Goddesses, have mercy on us...

Omentus walked quickly through the stone corridors of the drow, stepping around one guard or the next, aware of their presence through the opaqueing petals and leaves by the wisps of green fire that surrounded them in his vision. Though the sea of foliage was impenetrable to normal vision, Omentus had designed this ring for just such use... literally everything was hidden from him, and thus it was literally everything that the ring revealed. It was a powerful trick, but why shouldn't it be? One needed the blood of a very specific dead god, a magical ring, and a spell that makes a person ignored in order to pull it off.

Omentus' mind was wandering again. He walked through the tunnel of lambent green flame, only peripherally aware of his surroundings, turning corners almost randomly as he went. He only stopped when there was no way around a group of drow standing in front of him. Unable to progress and yet trying to, Omentus was forced to focus on what was happening. Slowly, he dredged his mind out of its deep fog.

"...prisoners have escaped, there's no way they'd make it this far. The tunnels teem with our sentries, and as they sit before us here, we know they haven't any weapons," a male voice laced with arrogance was saying.

A female voice answered him, "If they could escape in the first place, we must assume they can make it here. Thus, your master has been ordered to ward this room and the weapons themselves. It would take days to analyze their properties in full, and we can't afford that kind of time. If these weapons make our prisoners - who escaped only due to your own incompetence in the first place - more capable than they already are, then I will not be punished for it. That is why they must be guarded with your precious magic." She huffed, "As if you only had so much to spend in the first place. You will learn your place, apprentice. Your magecraft does not protect from the will or the way of the Spider Queen."

There was a pause, however very awkward and brief, before Omentus saw one green form subtly elbow another. Suddenly, the form that had been struck bowed low, stammering, "Y-yes, my Lady of Malstra. I apologize for my indiscretion, it is only this foul magic in the air."

The form beside the bowing one winced.

"Excuses," the female hissed. She moved like a blur, though that could have just been the green flames shifting. She reached forward to touch his chest, and stepped back. She didn't make a sound, and it was entirely possible that none of the drow present had even noticed it. "...are not acceptable."

The bowing figure stumbled, clutching at his chest. He made a strained, choking sound, and some liquid splattered on the ground. He shook, still bent over, and then promptly hit the ground.

Omentus blinked, turning his eyes pure red. Inside the green wisps of each drow present, distant red flames shimmered, but the flame of the drow on the ground stilled, becoming a glassy, bone white orb. He was dead.

The drow-shaped green fire beside the corpse spoke, "The wards will be completed within twenty minutes. I'll then summon the guardian demon for the weapons' protection, my Lady of Malstra." There wasn't even a hint of remorse in his voice, but there was no reason there should have been. No true drow bore any affection for another.

"See to it. Use his blood and body for the summoning, if you think it will help you to summon a stronger demon." The Lady of Malstra turned and left the room, and Omentus found a way through the crowd of soldiers and sentries to follow her. Anyone in drow society who can get away with murder in front of that many other drow, female or not, held a position of power.

The female walked down the corridor confidently. Despite the fact that she couldn't actually see anything, it seemed to Omentus that she had probably memorized the layout of every passage in the mountain. She didn't need to see. A right turn at the next intersection, straight through the one after, a left at the next, and then up a flight of stairs to the right of another corridor. They turned 180 in the stairwell, walked down a stone corridor, left, left again, right, straight through, and eventually left the span of the leaves. Omentus blinked, returning his eyes to their normal teal color so that he could see through the darkness, as much was possible. His vision in the dark was not perfect, but his tiger's eyes could pick up even the faintest of lights to see by.

The drow woman turned right at the next intersection, a T, and then set her hand against a door. She held up her other hand, and an orb of very dim, deep violet fire sprang up from it. The light was brighter than whatever found its way here on its own. Though the flame only shed light around itself by a measure of inches for human eyes, it was more than enough for necromancer and drow alike.

A short cape, falling down as far as the small of the woman's back, bore the insignia of her House. Malstra. It was not a noble house, but the woman was of noble bearing. Her platinum white hair was arranged into a multitude of braids, and her immaculate skin was marred only by the rare scar, indicative of her long service to the drow. She wore many earrings, rings, bracelets and a pair of pendants, each of which was either the pale silver white of mithril or the starry lustered steel of adamantite. She moved without making a sound, despite the loose rocks on the ground. This meant that her boots were enchanted for that exact purpose. A single bladed, nekode-like weapon adorned her left hand. It appeared to never leave her wield, and she was very comfortable with it. Malstra was a house of ambassadors and diplomats, which was synonymous with a house of assassins to any drow with half a brain.

Using a combination lock with colored letters - a sort of lock especially clever among the darkness loving drow - the assassin of Malstra opened the door, and walked inside. She started to close the door behind her, but Omentus held it open and slipped himself through. It was bizarre, as if she had thought she'd forgotten to close it, but paid the mistake no mind. After Omentus was inside, the lady assassin closed the door. She looked about the room, then extinguished her fire and looked again. After that, she locked the door with two separate mechanisms - one of which was only present on this side of the door, and latched it with a bolt on a chain of tiny silver bells. Only then did she seem to relax, and begin to remove the clothing indicative of her station.

Omentus folded his arms and popped his back leisurely, yawning. He walked to a tallow candle on a shelf, one adorned without webbing, and lit the flame, while dropping both Penrimaglos' and Nymru's Ignore Mes. The filled with enough light for the apothecary to be quite comfortable, and turned around to face the drow woman.

She wasn't surprised in the least. Or, if she was, she didn't let it show. She had crossed the room to a cupboard and was taking out a pair of delicate crystal wine glasses. "I have to admit that I'm impressed. It's not possible that you were waiting here for me, or my alarm wards would have been triggered. You must have followed me in when I forgot to close the door the first time. Please tell me, demon, for how long have you been stalking me? And if you don't mind me asking, which House wants me dead?" she asked him colloquially, as though she and Omentus were longtime friends.

Omentus watched her pour the wine into the glasses before answering, "I'm not here to kill you, and I haven't been hired by any House, but I have been following you. Since you left the room with the escaped prisoners' weapons in them. I watched you kill the wizard's apprentice."

"You mean to say that I was followed by a man that hardly knows who I am?" she asked. "Goddess, I deserve to die."

"It's not your fault. My spells did exactly what they were designed to do - allow me to walk around in here without being noticed."

"So then, if you aren't here to kill me, are you trying to destroy the dark crystal?"

"On the contrary. I want a piece of it for myself, and I want you to help me get it, but for the nonce I'm more interested in your escaped prisoners." He sat down at the table across from the drow assassin, his posture eloquent.

She passed one of the wine glasses to him, and took a sip from her own. "You must now, if you've made it this far, that I'd never speak a word on any of that, nor would I help you acquire a piece of the dark crystal."

Omentus sipped from his wine. The bottle must have been at least sixty years old, made from a kind of fungus that grew in the drow caverns. The taste was excellent, even though it was poisoned. Between excellent flavor of the wine itself, Omentus could taste two different kinds of poison. He wasn't completely familiar with them, which probably meant that at least one was a drow specialty.

“So then,” the woman began, “since I won’t be telling you any of what you want to know, why don’t you tell me a little about yourself. You are about to die, anyway.” She thought for a moment, “Why don’t we start with, why did you want a piece of our crystal? And what manner of creature are you?”

It was as good a sort of conversation as any that could be had with a drow woman, especially such a clever assassin. Omentus shrugged, “The crystal calls to me… it brought me inside the mountain to begin with.”

“Oh, then you’re the one who cast those leaves in the first place? The disturbance in the crystal chamber?”

“I am the same. I have to admit, it was a bit of a silly thing to do. As you can see, however, I made it out of there in one piece. My sword was not so lucky, she’s a little burned and probably dying right now, but if worse comes to worse, I can just make another one. As for my manner of creature, however… it would not be a mistake to call me demon. Neither would it be to call me man, but I am not a thing of two red rivers.” Omentus spoke freely, feeling secure in the room. He thought for a moment before going on, “By the way, which poison was it, that made you so sure that I am about to die? Was it the black lotus extract, or the other one?”

“A distillate of brown recluse venom,” she answered him.

“Oh, then you’ll be disappointed.”

“Are you enchanted, then?”

“Not at all. I’m simply not the sort of man that responds just so to poison.” Omentus smiled at her, but it was not a devious one. Not completely. “I am afraid though, that one of us does only have a little time left. The candle I lit just recently? I sprinkled udelat over it… you’ve been breathing the fumes for the last five minutes.”

Ren quietly reached over and took the jerky from Khaz’s fingers. He stuck the edge of it in his mouth as he listened closely. His training days back when he had been in the empire reminded him to keep his thoughts calm and clear at the moment. He couldn’t count how many scars the drow had given him from not concealing his presence. He listened to see how many were close to them. They were spreading out it seemed and now only the one soldier stood near their hiding spot. He counted the pairs of feet as he chewed the meat in his mouth slowly.

Twenty, not including the one giving orders. Probably a mage of some kind. A wolfish smile graced his face as he stared at the drow near their hiding place, jerky still sticking out of the side of his mouth. He was on the other side of the crack, Kuldr opposite him.

This was just too perfect.

Before any could stop him, he stood up soundlessly and then in a blur his hands shot out to the man’s throat before he could make a noise. His eyes widened because he saw them, but then he became very limp after the cracking of his neck.

“Stay here,” whispered Ren, and slipped out into the leaves and petals just as noiselessly.

The drow had taught him everything he knew about assassination. He had been their best tool. Their attack dog. But they didn’t like it very much when he finally turned on them and bit back.

He crept through the leaves, singling out the ones that drift away from the rest by the sounds of their feet and breathing. Ren would creep up behind them, his hands reaching through the obscuring leaves and flower petals, grabbing their necks and then slowly lay them down on the ground to sleep forever. It was in this manner that he cut down their numbers quickly. Before getting through half of them, he took out the mage from before. He was their leader; by the time they started to panic he wouldn’t be able to give them orders. He chewed his jerky as he worked.

OoC: Would Ommy accept a peace offering of ramen? (helps clear out those evil sinuses)

BiC:

"He is going to get himself killed." I hissed quietly as Ren ran off to whatever bloody buisness he was attempting to do. It was certain enough that Rontu and Khaz trusted Ren to run off like that, but I was getting tired of always being the one left to trust whatever it was they were doing.

It just keeps getting worse and worse the farther we go in! How long is it going to be before we are entirely trapped? Even as I thought this, however, I realized that I would not want to be the enemy, either. These four men were obviously capable of great destructive power, enough to simply break the necks of all who stood in their way. Without them, the chances of my escape would have been close to nothing...

I shifted around uncomfortably, starting to feel like a caged animal. Unlike Ren, I knew that I would not be able to leave to wreck destruction upon the enemy. Perhaps that was for the best, seeing as my energy weakened with each passing moment. Energy!

Despite the fact that my stomach was not inclined in the least to digest anything, I knew that I had to make some effort to maintain what strength I had left. With great care, I silently took some meat from Khaz, using my free hand to grab it. Its smell was slightly familiar, though the spices used to preserve it were foreign to me. I bit into the tough meat silently, trying to be as quiet as possible. Ren may be killing everything that moved, but we were still in a risky position nontheless.

With Ren gone, there was more space to move around, but I did not move from Khaz. His warmth was almost protective from the dark pull draining my energy, and though I did not want to admit it, his presence was a little more comforting than it should have been. "If Ren does manage to kill everyone, do you really think it possible to find our weapons without any more of these incidents?"

Khaz rummaged through his bag again, pulled out a piece of bread, offering it to Kuldr instead of the jerky. If he didn’t like meat he should have just said so and let them eat what they damn well pleased. He then stuck some jerky in his mouth and chewed, looking to Leonna on his side, not really noticing how there was more room now and not feeling the need to move away from her. Though he wished he had some space between himself and Kuldr, because the high elf was glaring at him as he chewed the meat.

Rontu drank from the water skin but kept his eyes on the crack to their cave as he whispered, “There’s nothing to be sure of. As for anyone recognizing me or any of us while we’re disguised is not likely. The farther in we go the less likely any would know our faces. Only the lower ranks would deal with prisoners. And it doesn’t matter if they can sense magic users among the slaves. It’s actually very common, makes more useful slaves. Trust me, I’ve used this tactic countless times.”

Khaz stared at Leonna while Rontu talked. He already knew everything he was talking about, so he sat there, chewing his jerky and wondered about her. What was she doing here? Did she have family? What was her life like? Did she have a lover? They weren’t really in the right place or time to really get to know each other. But he allowed himself the one question. He probably wouldn’t get another chance.

He whispered to her, close to her ear, “Leonna,” his heart always did flips when he said her name with no honorary suffix. Where he was from in Hyrule, that was something only close and intimate friends, family, and lovers did. “I was wondering … how did you get captured?”

OoC: Just out of curiosity, what is this honorable suffix Khaz mentioned?

BiC:

It took me a moment before I was able to answer Khaz's question, trying to come up with something reasonable to say. My skin was tingling where his breath had touched, never having felt anything like it. The strange pressure in my chest was back, too, brought on by the gaze of his deep blue eyes. For a reason I could not explain, I felt blood rush into my face. I did not look back at him, knowing that my eyes would get stuck again if I did.

"Well...I was ambushed on my way to the elves." What point was there in lying? There was nothing important enough for me to conceal, as long as they did not know what manner of creature I was.

Then it struck me. Here I was, in the presence of a high elf, a drow, a half dragon, and a human, and none of them had immediately recognized what I was. Could it be possible that they had some sort of insight as to what I was, if I allowed them to truly see me? While I had not left my village before now, surely these strangers had traveled. At any rate, they would know more than I did...

OoC: It's the Japanese honorary suffixes "san" "sama" "kun" "chan" and more. They're kind of hard to explain. In my story, I like to make Hyrule's language culture like the Japanese because the games were made in Japan. It's their true origin. And I'm an anime and manga geek so I like using them ^^

BiC:
Rontu narrowed his eyes as he watched the girl’s face burn brightly in his vision. Khaz wouldn’t be able to see it in the darkness. So far he had been keeping his mind open to both possibilities that this girl was either just as she appeared to be or a possible assassin sent by the Dark Lords via Sheinron. The latter seemed to become less and less possible, but being a paranoid drow he’d never completely forget it. For now he sighed. He’d need to have a talk with Khaz later. They both really needed to keep their minds on getting out alive.

Leonna’s simple explanation was teasing. Khaz wanted to ask more about it. He opened his mouth to ask why she was going to see the elves, but—

“So you have them, right?” inquired Rontu. “The clothes.”

Khaz took his attention off the girl and back to Rontu. “Oh, yeah, I do.”

“I’ll change once Ren gets back, and don’t worry. They’re all sitting ducks out there. Our heat vision is blocked by all that. They’re as blind as he is in there … except he doesn’t really need sight very much. They’re all fools anyway. Should have been expecting an ambush in all this—” He was caught off by some yells. It seemed Ren had been found out. But it mattered little, because just as soon as the cries for alarm came, they were just as soon silenced. The half dragon was just much too strong and fast for them, and their numbers had been cut so drastically before they realized it was happening. His skill was rather impressive as well for being so young. The boy learned faster than any he knew. He applied all that he learned in training expertly when faced with real situations. And then he adapted quickly with all that came unexpectedly.

It was no wonder the empire wanted this child. He was the perfect warrior. Give him more years to grow into his prime and gather even more experience and he would be rather unstoppable.

There was one last scream that was choked short and then silence.

Shortly after Ren appeared, sticking his head through the crack. He didn’t want to come in completely. He didn’t like being so close to others when he didn’t have to be.

“You guys haven’t eaten all that yet, have you?” he asked, eyeing the jerky in Khaz’s hand that was on its way to his mouth. “Once we’re done eating, Rontu should change in here and then I’ll start stuffing all the bodies in here.”

I sighed, finally letting go of Khaz's hand to move out of the cave. There was no need to explain my sudden departure--Rontu could change just fine without an audience. The leaves felt no better than before, but at least I knew what to expect. Ren, of course, did not seem bothered by them in the least, even after all of the deaths he had so quickly caused.

It was almost amusing to imagine how the people of my village would have reacted to him. Him will all of his bad temperament, red eyes, and the ease with which he killed...I imagine he would have stolen a large part of my glory. Ren obviously enjoyed being so strong, but I found it hard to believe that he loved to kill things, even if he did not hesitate to do such things. How could anyone enjoy taking the life of another creature? When I saw the life of creatures fade, the light in their eyes disappear, I felt horrible, empty. Who was I to steal life from what the goddesses created? All life had a purpose for existing, no matter how miniscule it was, and taking that life went against the whole idea of living in the first place. Why live to destroy?

But that was why I had been born. Fire was second nature to me, something I did not even have to think about to release. In fact, it took much more concentration to keep it within me. All of this energy always wanted to come out, to not be contained. It was like living in a furnace with no air escape, as if all of the ugly smoke created by it would surge until the furnace could no longer hold it, finally releasing its toxic innards to kill everything around it. And that was how I was.

There was nothing that touched my flame that did not die, no person that could see me and not scream. The people of my village knew what I was: a creature of destruction, and that was all anyone needed to know. Creatures like me did not have feelings, we were freaks of nature. Things so inhumane that we did not belong in the same world as the creatures who called themselves human. Those like me were meant to be alone, to be where they would hurt no one else. This destructive power, this curse that gave me an everburning flame…it made me no different from creatures like the drow.

And the longer I stayed in the mountain, the clearer their voices became; the voices of my injured people, their cries as my flame burned their flesh. Even in my attempts to save them, I had hurt them all, nothing more but a force that would destroy every good thing it touched.

And yet these people treated me like a human, even called me weak. But they had not seen my true form. They had not seen the wings that burned to be released, the full extent of my power. I did not want then to know, these people that had accepted me despite the strained circumstances. They deserved to live through this, to make it back into the arms of the people who cared for them. These people had a kin, a reason to live, and I was not going to let them die. If things finally came to their worst state, I would use all that I had. Because death had no meaning to me. A creature born to destroy should never have been created in the first place.

Ugh…now is not the time to be dwelling in such things. I need to concentrate on conserving my energy in case we need to use it. If my moment comes, I will not be unprepared...I stared determidly into the foilage, waiting for everyone else to get ready for our next move.


OoC: And there it is...one of my rare long posts (though compared to Ommy and Shrub, I guess it's really not).

Khaz’s eyes followed her out. He was starting to get that strange, sad and empty feeling from her again. He didn’t want to let go of her hand when he felt that. He was about to stand and leave with her to give Rontu more room and privacy to change, but Rontu had locked those gold eyes that often seemed as cold as frosted metal.

“I need to speak with you,” said the drow. Khaz looked to him. He had the strange feeling it had less to do with their plan than it sounded.

“Ah, right,” he responded and stayed inside with him.

Ren grabbed a fist of jerky before leaning back out of the cave again. Out of the corner of his eyes, for just the tiniest moment he thought he saw wings on Leonna’s back. They seemed much thinner and more translucent than his own when they were out. What kind of wings he thought he saw was hard to see. But it seemed similar to an insect's. He turned his eyes onto her to make sure, but they were gone. No wings.

Huh, must have been a trick in the dark. All these leaves and crap everywhere.

But really, this girl felt strange to him. Rontu wasn’t the only one to notice that she could do magic when Adurna couldn’t. Ren had noticed too. Which meant she might be something closer to him. Not quite human or elf. He stared at her without her noticing. In fact, she seemed deep in thought. There was a strange expression on her face.

Ah, this was absurd! But for a moment he couldn’t help but be reminded of himself. A younger self from what seemed like forever ago. Like some kind of past life. It brought old memories to his head from that other life he had lived. He remembered when he was nine and he had just struck Gaewn Fleix in the face because he was calling him a drow’s bastard son again, because of his white hair. That was the first time he had hit anyone other than his older brother, and he only hit Tasuki while they were training. He had often forgot how strong he really was compared to others because he spent so much time rough-housing with his brother who was the same as him. But it had been painfully and shockingly obvious then. He had broken the other boy’s jaw and nose.

And he remembered how he felt then, staring down at the boy on the ground. He knew that the other kids were staring at him then. They had just been playing a minute before. Shocked and horrified, the silence beat into his ears. He had been just as terrified as them.

Because he knew then that he was never going to be normal like they were. He was never going to be like them. He had always been told by his mother what he really was, but for some reason it hadn’t been so real until that moment.

But he didn’t let it frighten him for long. How could he when he was a Nevisu? His clan was always proud of their strengths, their differences. If Elohim had made him so then he was to honor it by being proud. It was his fate to be so. So proud he was after that.

That was before his father took him away to the empire.

So as he stared at her, somehow the strange urge to speak to her rose inside him.

“You’re not human, are you?”

OoC: I hope this isn't too much talking for ya, Sticky. They are moving along, aren't they? Just sorta chattin' while they prepare ...

OoC: Talking is good...it eh...keeps us from moving too fast? (And it's kind of fun to make Leonna freak out)

BiC:

I snorted softly at the question, amused that he had some interest in what I was. "Well, it is obvious that you are not." While I knew it would only be a matter of time before the others would start to wonder, I was not about to root myself up now. Besides, there were more important things to worry about, right?

Like how much more of this I could bear. The mountain was a problem, yes, but these strangers were much more unsettling, Khaz being the worst. If they had simply treated me as all others had, there would not be this doubt, this strange warmth that was drawing me in. I would not be questioning my actions, wondering what would happen once we separated. It would all be over so much more quickly if I just had revealed myself as a monster from the beginning. They might have even killed me, and then death would have finally brought me peace. What was I fighting for anyways? There was no point in me living...

But Khaz...and Ren, Rontu, Kuldr...what if they need me? If I can help them, that is some good reason to live, something a good person would do...

But what if I hurt them? What if this becomes the next Bren? I would not be able to bear it! At least my death would be quick once the drow would come...no more pain...only darkness...

OoC: While I want to say that the 'dark aura' of the mountain is really starting to affect Leonna, a lot of it is mostly her own fault. Just thought ya'd like to know

Ren smirked at her retort and stepped closer, leering at her. “Of course I’m not. I’m ****ing dragon spawn, but oh, right, I’m also a murder, ne? What are you so afraid of? Hiding what you are, how pathetic. If my friends didn’t hate me for what I am, what makes you think they’ll hate you for it? You are stupidest woman I have ever met.”

Again, without meaning to he found her real thoughts. He could always just sort of tell what others were thinking.

“You think I’m bad now? You should have seen me a few years ago. Then you’d have a real reason to burn me to cinders—well, try to at least. I’d kill anyone anywhere. It was fun, a game to me. They had all the reason to cut my head off when they finally caught me. But they didn’t. They kept me captive, instead, and gave me a chance when I didn’t deserve one.” Gods, he couldn’t believe he was talking about this with her.

“So stop tormenting yourself for nothing. It’s pissing me off.” And he bit off some jerky. What could he say? He liked Leonna better when she was being a cheery smart-ass to him.

I stared stonily back into his red eyes, far past any sort of anger that might have sprung up. "The only thing that needs hiding here is your abhorrent language. Would your past be surprising to anyone? It is just about as irrelavent as everything else you have said."

Who cared if Ren wanted to throw sparks again? It would not be long before Rontu stopped us anyways. Arguing was a somewhat effective way to waste time, and if it made Ren happy, why fight it?

Ren just kept smirking the more insults she threw at him. They rolled off him like water off a duck. "Do you think you're clever? Avoiding everything I say that relates to you? It just makes it more and more obvious. So what you're not human. You think I can't tell that you've been standing here, torturing yourself over that fact? What you are isn't who you are. And who you are is what your intentions are. It doesn't matter what you're capable of doing, what matters is what you do. Your choices. I guess you're right, people are only heinous because they choose to be so ... I know I did. But the neat thing is ... you can also choose to be otherwise."

He wasn't sure why he cared enough to argue with her like this. But he just couldn't be satisfied until something changed.

I lifted one eyebrow, allowing my disbelief to blatantly show. "How touching. Perhaps if you shut your mouth now, you could have the result you desire."

He would probably laugh if I told him how much he sounded like Hemanias. So vigorous about choices, about the good people choose to be... and Ren was the last person I wanted to hear it from. Pretending like he knew everything, like the whole world was in his grasp...such a place was much happier than mine. What on earth made him think I was supposed to care? That was exactly what I was trying to avoid; first Khaz, now him!

Khaz walked out of the cave as Leonna said this. He wasn't looking very happy, angry even, but then his eyes widened and he stared from her to Ren, and then frowned at the half dragon.

"What are you saying to her?" he said sharply to Ren.

"Oh, so I'm always the bad guy?" Ren retorted, still holding his uneaten jerky.

"No, you're always an ass. That's why I assume you're up to your usual insulting of others," replied Khaz, folding his arms over his chest. "Leave her be, would you?"

"And you're always a dimwit. Speaking of your clumsy ass, how did you get back here alive?"

The words seemed to ring in his ears as if Ren had shouted them. Stupid and clumsy were things his uncle told him he was all the time. For a moment it was as if a shadow passed over his face, something stirred in the depths his very dark blue eyes. Khaz closed them and breathed in and out once. This was Ren, not his uncle. Just Ren trying to get under his skin as always.

"None of your business." Was all he said. "Now stop it. You've insulted us enough for the day."