Oh, the smell of fish (Dris!)

[hikaru.dream]

The small figure firmly lifted her hood up with one hand and peeked out cautiously. Two golden eyes stared out from the shadows, watching the people of Ceneris go about their way. It seemed to be a busy day in the marketplace.

Kei sighed.
The training dimension was indeed convenient for traveling long distances, but there was the problem of accuracy. It was a different dimension, after all, and therefore difficult to get the correct coordinates to the exact destination. She had hoped to arrive the large city called Arca, but it definitely seemed she was in the wrong place. The town signs said Cerenis and no one had said Arca had smelled so full of fish.

From what she had heard from travelers she had met along the way, Arca was a city overflowing with magic. She found it hard to imagine this. Since she had left those little Isles, she realized how different the outside world could be. She had only known forest magic before, but now she learned that there were countless types of magic. The ice and fire magic she had discovered were one example. If Arca was a city of so many types of magic, it was only wise to go. Maybe she could even find a cure for her father without going to the forbidden. Although she didn't like a the idea of a city, it would never do to shy away from what you disliked. So she had opened the dreaded training dimension portal and gone through for the second time since she had left the Isles. And landed a good distance away from her destination. Probably.

So now she get hold of a map, or at least find someone who knew the way to Arca. This town was way too crowded for her liking, and she wanted to get out quickly. The city was probably worse, but she would think of something when she got there.

Kei stepped into the light and let her hood fall back. Wrapping her dark green clock around her so it would not catch on something, she slipped through the crowd.

[Anonymous]

The day was long, the work was hard, the pay was but a thanks. The young man did not care, his work never mattered about money, how hard to work, and how long the day was. His job was to help others, because he believed that there should not be so much pain in life. He stood over a bed-ridden man and chanted his incantation and held a little stone over then man while he did so. The stone was a clear red, and you could see through it, but only just. It began to glow as the young man reached the end of his spell, then, there was a bright flash of light. In that moment, that only the young healer could see, he could see the sickness leave the man's body and enter the stone. Then the light was gone, and the men in bed opened his eyes. "Thank you . . . " he whispered. Then he returned to his slumber.

He left the room and the wife jumped up. "He is fine, just let him rest for a bit." He said after holding up his hand. He opened the door and was almost gone when the wife finally said something. "Thank you, kind sir!" The young man didn't stop, he kept on walking, but he held up a hand in farewell. He entered the town square and as he was trying to politely get through, a figure in the distance caught his eyes. Well, more the eyes caught his own eyes. They were also golden. It would not be that strange to see another, but he felt something about this one, as if the person - she was uncomfortable . . . and he could feel an urgency to find something. He knew that he should help.

He once again tried to politely get through the crowd, but it was filled with pushy and annoying people. His patients was on end. He whispered a small spell and pointed into the sky. "Look! A flying person!" While everyone looked up, Feyadus burst through the crowd and actually ran straight into the smaller figure. Oh how embarrassing. He quickly stood and brushed himself off and held out his hand for the girl he had knocked onto the floor. "Aah, sorry miss, I was in a hurry . . . " He picked up the map that she had dropped and was about to continue when he noticed them. The eyes again. This was someone different. "Excuse me, but have we met before?" He knew they hadn't, but this was he could get a conversation started.

[hikaru.dream]

Getting the map was not as hard as Kei expected. She had expected traders to have the road down by heart. It seemed they did, but, the merchant she had bought it from explained, sometimes beginning traders and travelers needed it so he kept some on stock. It wasn't a full map of the known world, which was rather disappointing, but it was good enough to get her to Arca.

The crowd was not an obsticale for Kei. She was the larger in her race, but to humans she fit in the smaller category. This proved useful when snaking through the crowd. Despite her height, she was strong enough not to be pushed, and the two pretty much provided her a quick, undisturbed pathway through the sea of people.

Which was why Kei was startled when a man barged through the heavy crowd so fast that she could barely react. Where she should have jumped out of the way, instintively she had one of her swords halfway out before she remembered this was not the training demension. Kei managed to stow her weapon and not slice the man into pieces, but she was still in his path. The larger figure came crashing into her, and they both toppled over. Grimacing as her elbow came down hard on the ground, she quickly jumped up before someone stepped on her. It was then she realized the man had his hand out. She supposed she should have taken it, whether she needed it or not. Ah well, what was done was done.

She nodded in thanks as she accepted her map, and looked up. Although she was aware somewhat of what this man could do, she had no idea of his appearance. Appearance never really mattered to Kei. Most people you'd never see again. But this time she looked up intentionally because she knew some people felt more comfortable if they got a reaction. Well, they rarely got her to talk so she might as well look at them.

Without twitching a muscle on her face, Kei was genuinely surprised. It was the first time she had met someone with gold eyes. They were a different glowing gold from her own, but gold none the less. Interesting, she thought, but nothing more. She nodded again politely and turned to leave when the man spoke to her.

Kei turned again to what sounded like the most stupid question she had heard in a week, the last one being 'How old are you? Eleven?'. She stared at those gold eyes.
What the hell was this elf trying to do? Get her to talk? Ask her to tea?
"No," she said. "I would have remembered if I had met a gold eyed man."

[Anonymous]

Feyadus withdrew his hand, which had been turned down. He shrugged it off, it was not like he actually knew this person, he just wanted to help. Probably not the best idea, for there are a lot of people who never want any help. Fey shook himself out of his thoughts and noticed that the young girl, er, young woman had already taken the map that he had held out for her. He really needed to stop going so deep when he thought. It never did him any good. Feyadus straightened slightly and had a half smile on his face, not mocking, just a genuine smile.

Fey almost laughed when the young woman had looked into his eyes. While there was no real motion that she made to look like she was surprised to see golden eyes, he had always been able to read people through their eyes, and he saw that she was surprised. A momentous moment for Fey. He had hardly laughed in his years of healing people, no one believed that they could. Strange that this young girl, ah, woman could without trying.

"Yes, I am sure you would." Fey nodded thoughtfully. "I guess I am wrong, I have not met you before, surely I would have remembered meeting someone as pretty as you." It was not a compliment, but a statement of the facts. Maybe he was being to direct, straight to the point. Too late now, he had already said what he had said. He read more through her eyes, and his smile grew a bit. "I was about to ask your age," Fey said, he took a few steps back. "and I get the feeling you would be pissed off at me if I were to think that you were eleven, luckily I do not."

He glanced around and noticed a tea shop, another read he had been able to get off her. "Well, it seems that I have not asked for a name." Fey bowed slightly. "My name is Feyadus Homura, you may call me Fey, nice to meet you, Miss . . .?"

[hikaru.dream]

Ah, he was smiling, so he must not mind too much that she ignored the hand he offered. Kei inwardly felt relieved. It never was good to make more foes than necessary. Not that she couldn't handle them even if she did, but it made things more difficult. Although she thought most people would not be offended by such a little thing, some were so silly.

Kei was silent for a couple moments after the man spoke. He read minds. Not that she thought anything important enough to be worried, but all the same, she couldn't say she liked it either.

Calmly she closed her eyes and opened them slowly again.
"You don't guess, you know we haven't met."
She ignored the last comment. Appearance did not matter to her. Words on looks went in through one ear and out the other.

"No," she continued. Kei did not return his smile, not because she disliked the man or because she wanted to be rude, but because she never did. Well, that was an exaggeration, but still smiling was not a common expression for her. "I would not be... 'pissed off' whatever age you thought me to be. I would simply think you were an idiot for judging people by their height."

Kei didn't miss the man's glance at the tea shop. She raised one eyebrow at him, slightly amused. Not many people asked scary looking girls with swords out to tea.
"No thank you. I am leaving town, and I would like to do so quickly."

'Kei, you were supposed to say 'nice to meet you'!'
Kei paused, and looked up at the smaller girl pouting at her.
'I did.'
'You make it sound like a stick.'
'Like a... what?'
'A stick.'
'What does that sound like?'
'Oh, c'mon!'
The smaller girl began waving her arms around.
'It's manners!'
'Explain what a stick is.'
'A stick is a stick!'
'That's not an answer. Anyway what is the point of the word if you say it even if you don't mean it?'
'Easy! Mean it!'

So she was all this away from the Isles and still her friend in her memory scolded her on courtesy.
"My name is Kei, Kei Sparshin. It was nice meeting you, Feyadus."
She returned the bow elegantly, and turned away.
Maybe Shou was right, it sounded like a stick. A line of words without emotion.
But that Kei's best.

[Anonymous]

"You must think that I read minds, with what I am saying." Feyadus said. His smile was smaller now, too much of anything wasn't good. "But I am not a mind reader, I am just good at reading the eyes, the little movements of the body." Nothing good ever came from reading people. Now was not a good argument to it. He almost laughed at the girl's straightforward attitude. It was certainly someone to talk to, and definitely better than the usual. "I never did meant to "judge" you in anyway, not on your height or anything; I was just wondering how old you were and how you are able to stay so young looking." His mood was all but jovial.

He paused, a slight bit confused about why she was suddenly saying that she was leaving. It quickly dawned to him. "You do know, that you are quite talented at seeing the small movements," Fey said, while he kicked himself for giving such a big glance. "But also, I have not asked yet, that does not mean to say that I WAS going to ask in the first place." A pause. "And you are not a scary looking girl." He shrugged slightly. "As I said earlier, you are quite a beauty, and while you may not think that looks matter in anyway, they do to some degree." He was talking a lot more than he first thought he was going to.

For a small moment, the young woman's eyes glazed over, just for a second, a millisecond at most. Then she finally decided to introduce herself. Kei Sparshin. A nice name. A pretty name too. "Well, it really is nice to meet you, Kei, but I must insist that you call me Fey, Feyadus just sounds like such an old name." His face was completely straight. Time to start off with what he began. "You seem . . . like you are looking for something." It was a long shot, after all, he had read her from across a crowd, and that gave his percentage of being right a quite a drop, but still worth a risk. "Perhaps . . . "He walked to the front of Kei, who had turned away from him and looked into her eyes. "A family member is sick, you think incurable?" He winced. "Ah, sorry, I really shouldn't read you, I do apologize." He bowed deep. This was going to give her a bad impression of her. He really needed to learn to stop talking so much.

[hikaru.dream]

Kei looked down for a moment.
Ah. Nice of him to explain, Kei thought and looked up again. She was good at not feeling anything. If she needed to hide something, whether he read minds or read eyes like he said, she was completely sure she could.

Kei was accustomed by now to the fact that the Silva Tutela were not known to the people on the mainland. The ones living on the mainland lived in smaller groups and kept away from the sight of humans. It was a smart move, for the Mainland had less nature and more people, and Kei could already name a few reasons why they wouldn't talk with the humans and co.. She found the precedure of explaining that Silva Tutela aged differently a pain, and Feyadus seemed smart enough to guess.

"The inability to see small movements leads to death where I come from," she said calmly. He did not look happy that she had saw his glance. Kei was unsure why he would be unpleased, to her it was an absolutely normal thing for her to notice. It was even automatic. Perhaps he was one of those people that thought they could do everything perfectly and therefore shocked when they were discovered in midst of action.

"Now, isn't that a problem,"she replied dryly. "I prefer looking like a scary girl. It keeps off unneeded attention."


She stared calmly at the bowing elf and closed her eyes.
"You are correct. You also believe that you can cure my father. I have no way of knowing whether you can or not, but I do not have the time to take you to my homeland." She opened them again and looked directly into his golden eyes with her own. If he read people through the eyes, than it gave her the opportunity to talk less. That was fine by her. If you winced just now because you thought it would give me a bad impression, I must inform you that I do not have a good impression of anyone. She walked passed Feyadus and wrapped her cloak around her so not to catch it on something.

"I thank you for your consideration to cure my father. However, I'm sure you can save many more lives if you simply go to the city. I would like to get on the road before it gets too late. Have a nice day."

Kei did not mean to be cold, but to an outsider it may seem as if she was extremely rude. A very sharp observer may realize that she wanted to get out of the crowd, and was not very comfortable talking to others. Noone would know, though, that she wanted to get out of the damn crowd, and that also the elf Feyadus reminded her very much of the friend she had left behind.

[Anonymous]

"The inability to see small movements leads to death where I come from." That was what she had said. Oh how she was right. It had been a while since he had met someone worth talking to. He was always alone, because of his talents that ended up being a curse. His gift, his genius to know how someone did something and almost instantaneously able to repeat it was his downfall. "Yes, that is true," Fey said, he had straightened. "But while you may indeed see the small details that may save you from life, in other situations, you may miss the bigger design, and end die a death worse than having to die because you missed a small movement."

He could tell that she was coming to the conclusion that he a know-it-all, someone who thought they could do everything perfectly. How could he know that? Because he was a freak of nature was why. But he was not able to do everything perfectly, and while he wished he could, and others may believe that he was, he knew truly, that perfection was impossible, and it pained him so to not be able to do somethings to help others. For a moment pain flashed across his eyes. But just for a moment, and it was gone.

"Now, isn't that a problem,"he heard her say. "I prefer looking like a scary girl." He knew why she said so. Scary looking was sometimes better then pretty looking. It kept away unwanted attention. But it also ended up attracting the attention of those that like strong, and of course, scary women. And in this time and age, that wasn't that uncommon. "Is it truly impossible for you to admit that you are pretty and at the same time, scary?"

She had closed her eyes now. She had come up with what she had thought every person thought they could do. Heal her father. Yet he had not said that, he had not even acted arrogant when he read her to find this out. He did not speak for a while. She had brushed past him and said in her mind about bad impressions. Fey rolled his eyes as she acted so cold. He had once been like that. He was still for the moments that he brushed passed him.

He was the reason that he DID NOT care what she thought. Feyadus was going to help her, for her own sake. So that she did not become what he had almost become. He snapped his fingers, and it was a sound far louder than a snap could have made and all of a sudden the crowd vanished, and they were at the city limits. "This is the road is it not?" He said to her, who still had her back to him. His voice was cold now. "I never said that I COULD heal you father, nor am I one to go about healing random people because I feel like it." He scoffed. "If you believe that I am such a . . . whatever you think I might be, or whoever you might believe me to be or be like, you cannot know that!"

Fey's eyes were sad. Yet his face remained as hard as stone. His voice grew in volume as he spoke. "I am here, not because I believed that you were a pretty girl, or someone in need, I am here because I wanted to be here with you, because I sensed pain rolling off you, because I fail to see why you should stay all alone when that would only make the pain worse." It was no use, she was too cold, her normal self was just too . . . matter-of-fact to care about what he was saying. He reached out and touched Kei's shoulder, lightly, trying hard not to disturb her. "I am here because you called me." And it was true. Her pain had called to him, and while she may not have wanted him, he would stay.

[hikaru.dream]

"Thank you," she said softly as she swept her eyes over the landscape, her back still turned. There was a forest nearby. That was good, it made traveling easier and a lot more comfortable.

The elf was saying something behind her. His persistence was beginning to get annoying, but Kei kept herself in check. Being irritated was not a desirable state. It called to anger, and anger kicked out common sense. She patiently listened to his speech, sensing the anger rolling off his essence. Kei had no telepathic powers so she had no way of knowing his past. She didn't need to, it wouldn't kill her not to know. In fact, it was better not to know too much about other people; sometimes information was deadly. However, she could sense what he was feeling now, and despite the anger in his voice, he seemed hurt. Something she had said or thought in the past minutes had apparently struck his weak point. That was a thing to remember, since it seemed he would insist on coming with her.

Kei resisted the attempt to shrug off Feyadus's hand and inwardly sighed. She knew this type of person. Very well indeed. She'd spent half her life with one. He probably wouldn't give up easily, no matter how many times she told him to bug off, so it seemed she was stuck with him.

Despite his soft way of thinking, she figured fairly talented in many ways. He said he could read the eyes, and it seemed he could teleport. Taking him at least part of the way couldn't hurt, as long as she didn't pay too much attention to what came out of his mouth.

She tuned slightly to face him.
"Do as you wish," she replied keeping her face strictly immobile. "However, if you cannot keep up, I will not hesitate to leave you behind."

Her dark green cloak swirled as she turned, and began walking briskly down the wagon track covered road. It would be a while before they would reach a forest where she could move more quickly, efficiently and comfortably.

[Anonymous]

"Anything to help you." He almost added "Milady" or "Lady Kei" to the end of his sentence. Strange. Was it because he felt drawn to this young woman? His mind was working hard to figure out why he wanted to be with her.

He could tell that she was a bit annoyed with him. But he had to get his point out. The truth was, she was the one that had called him. Indirectly. Kei seemed like one of those people with stone hearts. This would be a long journey. But he would stick to it, he was just as stubborn as her, if not more. Well, actually, she wasn't as stubborn as just plain cold. She didn't let people into her heart. He sighed quietly. While she might have heard him and considered that it had struck his weak point. It was but good acting. Better to let them think that to be your weakness then to have them know you true one. Fey decided that his mission, besides helping Kei, would be to break down her defenses around her heart, and let people in again. There it was again. What kinds of thoughts were in his head? Damn them all, his thoughts.

Feyadus sighed inwardly almost at the exactly same time that Kei did without either of them knowing. He could feel her resisting shrugging off his hand. He probably reminded her of someone. Someone stubborn.

Just as he was about to shout Kei turned to face him. "Do as you wish," she said, her face completely straight and cold. "However, if you cannot keep up, I will not hesitate to leave you behind."

This brought a small smile to his face. His missions, both of them were starting. He would stop of nothing to accomplish them, even if her were to die. His mother always did say that he had a heart for extremes, even for someone that he did not know well. He began to follow, easily keeping up.

"Miss Kei," Oh damn he said 'miss'. "Sorry, er, Kei, why do you insist on shutting your heart to everyone." He winced inwardly at the way he said it. This might not go well.

[hikaru.dream]

He kept up easily, as much as she had thought. Not that it really mattered to Kei. She was true to what she said. If he wasn't able to keep up, he would be left behind.

She took a deep breath of country air as her feet carried her quickly down the worn dirt road. It was so much nicer to be out here than to stay in that crowded, smelling village. She did not mean to insult the human way of living in that aspect, but it simply wasn't the place for her.

Feyadus called to her.
"Miss Kei."

He paused. She could think of the reason why he paused, but she couldn't understand it.

"Sorry, er, Kei," he continued. Had she told him not to call her in polite forms? Was that why he was repeating himself? She vaguely wondered this for a few seconds before letting the wind gently take the thoughts away. It gave her no pleasure to be called "miss" or "lady" but it also gave her no negative emotions.
What gave her emotions, now, after all these years? She knew she had them, she could feel them. But this man continued on to say that she was shutting her heart to everyone. That was fine by her, so far that had kept her alive and well. Even now, these thoughts were small, and far less important than the other practical thoughts, like that it would probably rain tomorrow or that the sun would set in a hour, running through her head.

She also found it amusing that he would ask such a question. From what she had seen, if one had a reason to shut their emotions away, it wasn't a question they would, or could, easily reply to. Kei herself didn't mind telling someone, but Feyadus would probably go on and on about something or another that just wasn't important to her.

"Some people have," she began, and stopped abruptly. Gesturing at Feyadus quickly to be silent, she cocked her head and listened. There it was again. Someone ahead was screaming, calling for help.

Kei narrowed her eyes and took off at an incredible speed. She was good at moving fast. Otherwise she would have been meat long ago.

[Anonymous]

She did not seem to understand what he meant. She believed that closing her heart to everyone kept her safe. But in truth, it ended up making her that much more vulnerable. He was a doctor after all, a healer, and he had to make sure that she was able to deal with letting people into her heart, even if he had to be the villain and break her down. There was much more to this then just . . . traveling the world, searching for a cure for someone important. If Kei kept her heart closed, she would eventually die like every living must, and it will be a very unsatisfactory life. Not only that, she would die without anyone. That was not anyway to die.

He did not say anything for a while, gathering his thoughts and taking in the countryside smell. Much better than cities. Less . . . pollution, more . . . well freshness. He kept Kei in his peripheral vision, taking her form in every once in a while. He had to figure out a way to break her down.

Just as she began to speak, he heard it. Then all of a sudden Kei motioned for him to be silent. Feyadus sighed, she was going to rush in again, like all those with their hearts closed. They believed that since their hearts were closed, they had nothing to lose and could fight until death without regret. How wrong they were. Those that close their heart have the greatest to lose because while she may not want friends, she may not believe in opening her heart for friendship or love, others had already grown close. She was the type that he liked, because she had that aura of . . . well . . . magic almost. It was something that Fey felt was more important then anything. A head-strong woman, but a weak heart.

She took off in a run and Fey rolled his eyes. What she had done was within his predictions. Following Kei a few dozen meters behind, he heard the scream again. Then he heard other sounds, sounds only he was able to hear . . .because someone was using his power. That shouldn't have been possible, to be able to do what he did, but what was the sound but the usage of his own power? Then it finally dawned to him. Kei was headed straight into a trap and she wouldn't even know it. There might be a person in trouble, but Kei would be in much worse danger if he didn't get there in time.

"Shit!" Feyadus muttered and took off at impossible speeds, only possible for him, because . . . he was a genius of all races.

[hikaru.dream]

Kei was fast. She knew that she was fast. Her race was faster at moving through the forest than animals and she was now among the swiftest. She was confident in her speed and strength. Not many could out run her.

Therefore she was surprised to find that not only was Feyadus keeping up with her, but moving even faster. But she was quick to push her emotions away yet again. There were more important things to think about than the man's abilities. At the moment anyway. Maybe later she would ponder it.


Her destination seemed to be a traders caravan surrounded by thieves. There were about fourteen traders and many more thieves. She smelled blood, and sensed some auras becoming faint. Some were dying or had died minutes before. The trees warned her that there were many of the thieves, though still a far distance away, and she nodded, before leaping up into a nearby tree.

The traders were parked far from the main road. It was a small clearing, with a stream trickling nearby. Perhaps the traders had been in desperate need of water to wander so far from the common route. It seemed strange to her that so many people were called just to attack this one caravan, but she was confident that she would leave the clearing with everything in one piece, even if it were a trap.

A woman was bent over her child, weeping as man brandishing a bloody sword drew close to her. A man lay nearby in puddle of red. He was not quite dead but almost there, and there was nothing Kei could do to help him. She had few healing skills, which she sometimes regretted. Most of it consisted of knowledge of herbs, with some magic too. She just was not made for healing magic, which was rather surprising for her race.

Something silver glinted in the sun and Kei dropped on the man. He did not expect her. Neither did the woman on the other side expect a dead, yet very large tree branch to fall on her soundlessly. The man yelped and dropped his sword as Kei's foot came down hard on his wrist. Seconds later her black sheathed sword smashed into the back of his head, and he collapsed. Quickly she turned around and smacked one person on the forehead before grabbing him by the neck and throwing him into another.

She had incredible strength for such a small build. They probably had not expected she would have so many options in beating them up. She liked it that way. It made things easier.