You come here often?[Rhi-Rhi]

[RimmedGlasses]

Harald kicked in the door to the long abandoned chapel. The building had become overgrown with moss and fungi nature had taken hold. "Gods above and below they weren't kidding." Harald had been told if he needed a place to stay the chapel would be free, he heard it was abandoned but he never asked how long. He trudged through flipping old stones with his boot. "At least it will be quiet." He muttered to himself looking outside it was a clear night. He would need some wood to make a fire.

Turning back to the chapel is was a rather large room the pews still sat there though worn. The gold leaf alter stood like a guard defiant to the wines that looked to entrap it. Harald pulled a few boards from the walls stacking them in a small pyramid. Taking some dry grass he struck his flint and tinder lighting the wood. As the fire began to consume. Harald walked up to the alter a large scroll laid there open, the ink had faded but he could fill in a few words. "I am sure if I took this no one would miss it too much. " He smirked as he rolled it up placing it next to his knapsack.

[Rhindeer]

Night fell, and Zodei awoke with it, her body slowly turning from hard stone to something only slightly softer and a little more fleshy. Yawning as though rising from a deep sleep, Zodei stretched her arms over her head and gave her tail a lazy flick, the bangles decorating it jingling musically with the movement. Night at last!

She'd found this old chapel several days prior and had been immediately smitten. In some ways, it reminded her of home, before home had been destroyed. It was quiet, and she was used to quiet, though it lacked all the scrolls and books that she had spent so many days and years devouring. There was that large scroll, though, and she'd started to read it out of curiosity but hadn't been able to finish it before morning light poured through the window and turned her to stone.

Leave it to her to lose track of the time like that!

She thought she'd set to finishing it now--there was no book or scroll she could resist, as she loved information purely for information's sake!--but froze in place when she heard noise.

Someone was approaching.

Looking back and forth quickly, she finally dove between a row of pews and curled into a tight ball, ears pricked and eyes watching as a man entered the chapel--and started to pull boards from the wall! What?! Why?! Who knew how old this building was! And then he started to burn them! But, unsure of this man's intentions and unsure if he was friend or foe, she remained where she was, silent, watching, waiting, as she was used to doing and had done for ages.

She reached her breaking point when he picked up the scroll. The thought of him burning it was too much to bear!

Leaping to her feet, Zodei held out a hand. "W-wait, sir, please! That's mine!"

[RimmedGlasses]

Harald's head shot up at the voice falling back at what he saw. The creature was silent how did it get past him. It must be someones pet coming to get revenge for some act he had done earlier. He look at the thing with wide eyes. What did she say something about it being hers her what, the scroll? Slowly he stood he notice he had a few inches on the creature slowly he grabbed the scroll with his right hand not taking his eyes off the thing. He clenched his left hand into a fist as it began to glow.

"What is in it? Where did you come from? What are you? WHO sent you? Was it Malacine?!" He rattled of the questions like rain off a rood as he kept beaded eyes on the creature. "If you have come for my head you will die trying!"
He snarled as he paced back and forth. He needed to calm down slowly released his gaze for a moment to think.

If it had come to attack it wouldn't have yelled so maybe this is why the chapel had been left for so long.

But what was this thing it had feminine qualities but it was not where near human or elf. "I am Harland Vanguard of the meek."

[Rhindeer]

Zodei let out a frightened yelp as the man turned on her and his fist started to glow. It was obviously magic, and there was no telling what this stranger was capable of doing. Jumping backwards and away from him, trying to put some space between them, the backs of her knees hit one of the pews and, with a squeal, she stumbled over it and plopped, quite gracelessly, onto her bottom atop it.

She listened to him speak, eyes wide, and grasped her tail nervously, fidgeting with the tufted tip. "Wh-what? No! No. No one sent me! I don't even know who that is! I just came here!" she gasped, pressing her back against the seat. "I just--I just found this place! Is it yours? I'm sorry!"

[RimmedGlasses]

Harald dropped his guard with a sigh. "I am sorry ma'am. I am on edge I was told this place was empty." He offer her the scroll with a smile. "I was going to take this with me but I am no thief." He sat down by the fire leaning back keeping his grimace in the shadows. "What brought you here milady? Not many people would go Hey that overgrown chapel looks like a good place to rest." He leaned forward looking at her. She wasn't human but he didn't feel right asking her bluntly. "Well it is a pleasure to meet you any way."

[Rhindeer]

Zodei couldn't help but breathe a loud sigh of relief when the man seemed to relax, seemed to drop the hostile act. She slumped backwards against the pew, shoulders slouching. Oh, thank goodness. For a moment there, she'd been afraid things were going to get ugly.

After a moment's breather, she straightened back up again and opened her eyes in time to see him offering her the scroll. Blinking in surprise, she reached out and gently took it, then cradled it on her lap as though it were some precious child--which, in a way, it was, at least to her.

"Oh, thank you, sir," she said and finally managed to crack a smile--which, coming from her, looked a little scary no matter how well she intended it, all sharp teeth and jagged angles. "I, ah...well, I suppose I came here for the same reasons you did. I just...I've been lost a while now, and I needed somewhere to stay for a night or two, and then...well...I just got a little distracted."

She tapped a claw against the scroll and gave a sheepish laugh, ducking her head. "I sometimes lose time when I get absorbed in my reading. But, ah...anyway, right! Now that all that's behind us..."

Rising to her feet, she sketched a curtsey far more graceful and flowing than seemed possible for a creature her size and shape. "I'm Zodei! Ah, I apologize for all the confusion and I'm sorry if I startled you, sir. I didn't know anyone would be here."

[RimmedGlasses]

A slight feeling of happiness was given when she grabbed the scroll he knew it meant more to her then it would to some dusty tome master. He sighed leaning back why was he so jumpy why would he care he could take on anything he faced he was born to defend. "Do not think of it. I was just startled by the way you exposed yourself." He thought on what he said shaking his head. "My apologies. I did not mean that in that sense."
 
He scolded himself as he chewed on his lower lip. "You said you had been lost?" He leaned in. "Is there anyway I could help you fix your problems as peace offering for my brash attitude." He sighed running a hand through his hair.

[Rhindeer]

Zodei tilted her head, confused as to how he could have meant that--but then it clicked and she let out a startled, embarrassed laugh. She couldn't actually blush but her expression was both sheepish and scandalized and she quickly looked down at herself to make sure she was decent. But no, her loin cloth was firmly in place--not that there was anything to expose if it wasn't. Her creator had been detailed but not that detailed and had never given her a sex.

Still, she crossed one leg over the other and settled her hands in her lap. "Oh, it's okay, sir!" she said, tail flicking, and at his next question she blinked.

"Oh, well..." She frowned and chewed thoughtfully on one wicked thumbnail. "That's...the problem. I'm lost, but ah, see the thing is..." Zodei lowered her eyes to the floor. "Well, the thing is, I don't know where I'm supposed to be."

[RimmedGlasses]

He gave a puzzled look rubbing his chin. "You must have someone out there who needs you?" He gather some warmth from the fire and leaned back. "Wisdom is always needed and I am sure you have a endless depth of that." He smirked as he stood and began pacing he grew lost in thought for a moment as he turned back around. "Where did you come from Miss? What are you exactly if I may be blunt."

He rubbed the back of his head as he smiled sheepishly. "That is rather rude of me I am just a curious fellow as you might have guessed." This was true and something he had never seen before was like a drug to him he needed to know all he could about her.

[Rhindeer]

The question would have been rude (because really, who asked what you were?) if it wasn't one she was used to being asked. But Zodei got the question often and no longer minded it, so she simply gave a light laugh and shook her head.

"No offense taken, sir. I'm a gargoyle," she said. "A being crafted from stone and given life. I guarded a library for ages, you see, but when it burned down..." Zodei frowned and have an uncomfortable shrug. It had been daytime when that had happened. Daytime when she was stone and unconscious, when she could do nothing to prevent its destruction or save any of those tomes. She had woken up alone and among burnt rubble, free from the spell that bound her to that place but hopelessly lost and aimless.

"Well, now I'm just trying to figure out what to do with myself."