The stranger, oddly enough, did not back down from the rude shopkeeper. On the contrary, she continued to stand there with that smile painted on her face, completely unfazed. Sekani had to grin at that – if he had been down there, he surely would've socked him in the face by now. The only reason for his sneaking now was that he didn't have the time to ignite a battle. His goal was to get back home, as quickly as possible, before the sun started to set, which would make it wholly impossible for him to navigate through the forest.
Apparently, the girl had just sort of 'found it there,' which made Sekani wonder if she really was a thief with a bad cover-up. But no, that innocent smile etched all over her features said differently. If anything, the girl was probably just passing through, but at a fortunate time for the thief who stalked the trees. As the girl reached behind her back, attempting to grab something strapped to her back, Sekani watched onwards as her ocean blue eyes scanned the trees, almost stopping at the tree he was held up in. Jittery, the darkskinned lad accidentally kicked at a branch, causing the leaves to shuffle. He groaned to himself, wondering if the shopkeeper had seen – or the girl, for that matter.
Out of nowhere, the strange girl pulled out a double-edged sword, inspecting it nonchalantly, as if having such a weapon out was completely normal. The shopkeeper's eyes bulged at the sight, swallowing his tongue as she asked if there was blood on the sword. Obviously, the persistent, beady-eyed man was incredibly freaked by now, and it didn't really help that she flashed the sword around like it was a play thing a little too close to his face. He barely even heard what the girl said about her not being a thief – it didn't matter now. All that mattered to the shopkeeper was living to see another day.
"You... you f-freak! Damn crazy girl, swinging a sword around like that... probably tryin' to play mind games with a p-poor shopkeeper like meself! Damn you! Well, you're not gettin' your filthy mitts on me, no s-sir! You don't come any closer, you hear! Stay back! Crazy sword-swingin' psycho!"
He backed up slowly, before turning tail and bolting out of the forest, only to run deeper to it, and nowhere near the village of Zantaric itself. A shrill cry could be heard into the forest, birds flying off their perches and into the night at the sound. Sekani couldn't help but laugh in his spot amongst the leaves, shaking his head at the sight. He let his feet dangle from his spot amongst the branches, judging how far he was above the ground for his jump. The lad sprung down from the trees, landing like a cat onto the forest floor, flashing a grateful thanks at the girl, even though she probably didn't mean to scare the shopkeeper off.
"Who knew a girl like you could be scary without even trying, huh?" he joked, shaking his head. "Thanks for that, I probably would've been up in those trees all night..." He stretched his arms above his head – tired from the skulking he had done for the day. Although he was curious about this strange girl, he wasn't sure what to ask her about first, or if he should ask about anything really, his eyes drawn to the sword at her side. Sheesh, he could practically feel the power radiating off of that thing! What was she doing, with a thing like that?