Grazed Palms are the Least of our Worries.

[Haze]

It was like nothing had even happened. The city had been quiet in her passing through, not a single soul had seemed to notice the small young woman trying to slip through the streets. Her heart beat though, nonetheless, a drum within her chest that threatened to burst through at the smallest fright.

Even now, heading towards the border of Tirial and Atlas Verde, her grey eyes tried to make sense out of all the things she could see in the dimming light, and not freak out at the smallest shadows. Night was going to be the hardest time to keep going. As it was, she had been travelling non-stop for two days, from her father's home on the complete other side if Tirial. She'd managed to sleep for just a few hours, hiding out in a stable, but fear had spurred her on.

This most certainly is not the life of a noble woman, she thought wryly, as her footsteps fell softly on the ground, starting to slow and scuff. Her vision was starting too blur, and she only just hid a yawn. Not now - not when she was so close. Not when she hadn't heard the sound of footsteps behind her, and could finally begin to relax.

Or maybe now was the right time to stop and rest? "No... no no..." The words were mumbled as they spilled from her lips. She was tired though, so very tired. Her eyes looked to the side of the road, and noticed a small rocky outcrop. That, she decided, would be the best place to sleep, if she was going to sleep at all. She had no food, no blankets, nothing but the clothes on her back, which, having been designed for sitting demurely around the home doing nothing, were decidedly unfit for travelling.  So no matter what was going to pass that night, it was for certain it would be a cold, cold night.

She veered off the road, foot tripping on something loose on the road, and the ground came up to meet her at a terrifying speed. Tears sprang into her eyes as she hit the ground. Biting her lip, she brushed her stinging, grazed hands on her light green skirt and stood shakily to her feet. She hobbled off the side of the road, barely fighting back a frightened and frustrated cry. Checking behind her back at the road quickly, her eyes failed to see anyone on the road, and satisfied that she could let herself relax for just a few moments, she crawled into the set of stones she hoped would hide her.

Finally settled, she brought her tender knees to her chest, and dropped her head down, finally overcome with fatigue. Just an hour or so. Just a little... you have... to keep... going...

[Juno]

Well, today was certainly not going very well, not at all. He'd lost all his spare coin in his wild betting today and it wasn't even all that dark yet! His horse? A valiant steed stripped of all his adornments. Those too had been lost. First, the bridle, then the saddle, even the gorgeous little tassels! All that was left was the handsome, dappled beast himself. Well, that and a dirty, old halter and rope he'd found to take him home with. For this, he was forced to walk, and Zane truly wished he were capable of kicking himself for it.

Light was fading quickly, and he still had such a long way to go. Miles to walk, miles to berate himself for his stupidity. Before he knew it, it was practically pitch black. Plodding along, he patted his stallion's neck. The creature just snorted at him before lipping at the hood of his cloak, as if to tell him he had no need for it. "Ugh, fine, fine," he grumbled, sweeping the thing back to rest at his shoulders.

Soon, the road was hitting a bit of a rocky spot and, by the feel of it between the soles of his boots, was filled with little potholes. "Careful, Riley, it's all messed up here," he warned, though he knew the horse was just going to do whatever he wanted anyway.

Suddenly, though, the stallion spooked. Throwing his head up and snatching the rope cruelly from Zane's hand in the process, the horse snorted, huffed, and showed the whites of his eyes as he stared at something just off the road. Snapping his wrist about, wringing his hand in pain, the young man yowled as he reached out again for the animal. "Steady, boy! What is it, hm?" He watched, but the horse didn't move his gaze away.

Turning, he stared intently out into the darkness, but he saw nothing. "Boy, I...I don't know what got you, but, come on. No, come on! Oh, for goodness sake!" The stallion was ignoring him and cautiously walking over the outcropping that Zane had missed. Letting the horse sniff about as he would, he just stood there waiting with crossed arms, tapping away at the packed dirt with one foot. "We don't have all night, can we please get going?"

The stallion sniffled and snorted at the girl he'd found. After a few moments of blowing hot air at her face, he began lipping at her hair, curious if she would move as he nudged at her.

[Haze]

She had been sleeping soundly, blissfully unaware of the sound of hooves on the road, or even the voice cutting through the still night air. For once, her sleep was unadorned with dreaming, and while a desperate part of her was trying to remember that she needed to get going again as soon as possible, the blackness had enveloped her. Even the cold hadn't woken her, though it was chilling her to the bone.

All of a sudden though, there was a difference in cold to hot on her face. The difference was startling enough to shock her out of her sleep. But not entirely, and in a sluggish haze she saw a huge shadow peering over her, and then the nudge.

She let out an almighty scream, scrambling away from the beast that was there to consume her. If it wasn't Kajeck that got her, it was going to be this... thing. She was definitely awake now, but in her panic had failed to realise that she was coming dangerously close to being trampled into the ground. She screamed again, flung her hands around her face and sobbed, "SOMEBODY HEEEEEEELP!"

[Juno]

The scream startled them both. Riley flinched away, throwing his head up again as he pranced about in front of her, unsure of where to go in his confusion. The horse let out a strained, panicked whinny to his rider before back away from the girl. All the while, snorting and huffing as he tried to decide just what she was.

Zane, wide-eyed at the sound of another yell, went over to stand between his animal and the cowering figure below. What was a woman doing out here so late? And...had she been sleeping? Actually sleeping?! Leaning over, peering down at her, he was in awe. "Hey! Hey, hey...just...calm down? Um...are you alright? You aren't hurt are you?" He paused, throwing a glare back to his horse. "He didn't bite you, did he?"

[Haze]

Genaaferr was absolutely petrified. First a crazy girl eating animal, and now a man's face was peering at her through the inky shadows of night. What was she thinking, yelling like that? What was she thinking calling for help? She refused to look at him, fearing the worst. She knew it wasn't his voice, but who knew ... maybe he'd sent someone to look for her.

Oh Gena... that's it. You are dead meat. You're going to end up like the rest of them.

The girl pressed herself deeper into the rocks, trying to make herself as small as possible. Whimpering, and teeth chattering was the only sound the fill the air around her. Not wanting to, but hoping to have enough courage to face her death, all of a sudden her arms flung out to the sides, and her tear-filled grey eyes stared up at the man. "Just... make it quick, okay! D-d-don't let me... s-s-suffer! I w-want to d-d-d-die quickly!"

[Juno]

She looked so terrified Zane figured she was either very easily startled or they had somehow given her some reason to be so afraid. Seeing her there, curling up like a cornered mouse and...were those tears?! He looked positively confused now. Just what had her scared so bad?

He could tell she was cold with the teeth chattering, but her words were nothing but a mess of confusion to him. "Um...suffer? Die? Miss, I'm not...we're not going to hurt you, you know." What was wrong with this picture?

Here was a girl, looking quite a mess, scared out of her mind and quite a ways from town sitting in...rocks. His brow furrowed as he crouched to be a bit more at her level. Moving slowly as to not startle her further, he also scooted to the side a bit to allow her space out of her little "hiding spot" if she would be so inclined to move. "As nice as a quick death would be for any, I'm not here to kill you...at least I'm quite sure I haven't gotten that assignment yet." He ended with a grin for his teasing, not giving a thought that it might bother her.

[Haze]

As he spoke, she started to believe him, even in her little frenzy. He wasn't here to hurt her... he wasn't going to kill her. She flinched a little as he crouched down, a new wave of fear washing over her, even though he gave her room. Maybe it was all just a lie. Maybe he was just luring her in.

Aren't evil, nasty killers supposed to do that? Make you feel all safe and warm, and then bam! Next minute, you're dead. Wait ... what ... assignment? Oh sweet ancestors and jelly...

Her face went a stark white, and she felt dizzy and faint. "A...assignment?" It came out in a squeak, and in a flash she was on her feet, running for her life. As if she hadn't learned from just a few hours previously.

The stones underneath her feet were far from stable, and her shoes had next to no grip on the shifting ground. She hit the road with limbs flailing, grazed palms taking another good helping of dirt and tiny pebbles, while her knees were shredded, and her chin copped a fairly decent attack too. That was it then. All sense of cohesiveness left her, and she fainted. At least she was already on the ground, and didn't need to find somewhere soft to land.

[Juno]

"Ahhh, wait! Wait, wait, wait! I was just kidding! Just playing!" He'd followed after the flailing girl, trying to stop her, but she managed to do that easily enough on her own. Stopping behind her as she skidded along in the dirt and rocks, Zane winced. Ah, what have I done?

Calm again, Riley came with soft hoof steps to join his rider, nosing his arm toward the fallen girl. "Well, she's out now, boy! Nothing we can do about it... Guess we should just go...home..." No, he couldn't just leave the poor thing here, she was obviously frightened of something. She even seemed to think someone was out to kill her. Whether that was true or not, he had no idea, but he figured it wasn't a very comfortable place to be.

Taking a few moments, weighing his options, Zane huffed a deep sigh and stepped closer to stand beside the girl, tiny thing that she was. Well, we're just a little ways from town...and home is still far ahead.... Guess I'm not going home tonight. And with that decided, the young man scooped up the scraped and battered woman before depositing her on his horse. He wasn't about to strain himself carrying the girl when he'd already decided to be gracious enough to care for her for the night! No, that was asking too much of this spoiled man.

Leading Riley to head back where they'd come from, he had to resort to putting them all up in a spare stall at the local stable for the night since he'd lost the money on him already. What horrible timing. After doing what he could to patch her up with some spare horse bandages, Zane settled the strange girl into a bed of hay at the corner before humbling himself enough to join her. Riley guarded the door.

[Haze]

She came too with the hazy light of day starting to spill into the stall. What? Hay? But I thought ... I left that... sweet ancestors, I'm so confused! Her hands came to her head, but they were stiff and sore and swollen. She peered at them slowly, trying in vain to remember what had happened. I must have dreamed the whole... monster... man... thing.

Her eyes looked up to the stall door, and she readied herself for a quick getaway. She'd have to check the road was clear and wait just a second. Her eyes narrowed as they lighted on the horse standing at the door. Her head swivelled, looking for the assassin. There he was. Sound asleep. Else, he looked like he was. Gena knew full well that these folk were tricksters.

Trying to move as quietly as she could, she struggled to her feet. Every single part of her body hurt, and she staggered across the little stall, trying to get around the horse and head first into the door. As she rolled around for a second she yelped, "oh sweet JELLY! Why can't this just work!"

Her hands came up to her mouth with a little gasp at her explosion, and she picked herself up from the ground. Hoping that the man wasn't a light sleeper, she peeked over her shoulder, a sadly hopeful look on her face. "Shh... go back to sleep Mister... shhh!"

[Juno]

Jelly....hm, what, jelly?! His eyes flickering open, he looked over to see Riley and the girl. The girl. Ah, good, she was still here.

"Is there a reason you want me asleep?" he asked, yawning as he sat up. Riley snorted in surprise at her, nudging at her hair and lipping at her collar.

[Haze]

Gena started at his voice, pressing herself flat up against the door, and momentarily ignoring the horses nudging. Her lips flattened into a tight, scared line and her eyes darted about for something, anything she could use as a weapon.

"Just... you... just stay right there! Don't come any closer! I ... I know magic! And I can ... can... um... I can make your head spin around like crazy!"

[Juno]

He ignored her words as he got to his feet. Stretching his arms high for a moment and cracking his back a bit, he eyed her with curiosity. "I'd like to see you try, that sounds terribly amusing," he returned, cracking a knowing smile as he stepped closer. "But you know I'm not going to hurt you, right? I am truly, truly sorry about our little mix up last night. You see...I'm not really the sort to, uhm, hurt anyone?" Zane looked to Riley, as if he could help him somehow in this.

"I really wasn't out there to get your or anything," he explained, gesturing to the horse as he went. "I was honestly just passing through when he noticed you there...sorry he gave you such a fright."

[Haze]

"Don't!" She squeaked, paling as he stood and edged towards her. Her eyes clenched shut, and her hands thrust out in front of her, as if she was about to summon a great catastrophe on him. But then he was apologising, and he sounded to genuine.

One grey eye cracked open a smidgen, and she tried to still her rapidly beating heart. "You mean... you don't know... who I am? You weren't sent... you don't... you're not..." Her voice trailed off as her legs gave way and she slumped to the ground, shaking her head.

"You have no idea, mister. But where are we? Are we in Tirial still? If we are, I need to get out. Now. I need to... leave. Thanks and all... but..." She scrambled back up to her feet, and swung the door open. Leaning cautiously out of the frame, her head swung to and fro as she checked that all was clear.

Chucking another rueful "thanks," to the stranger, she darted, or rather, hobbled out of the door, slinking along the side of the building. She was trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, but in all honesty, just looked ridiculous.

[Juno]

It was certainly interesting, how she tried to squeeze herself out of this situation. Simply shaking his head at her attempts at subtlety just in exiting the stall, Zane nudged his stallion and watched as the grey beast trotted off after the girl.

Nickering once he'd found her, he pranced from side-to-side as he waited for Zane to round the corner and jog to join him. Yes, the young man was certainly curious now. This girl was far more interesting than anything else going on at home. "Hey now, why are you in such a rush?" he asked, suspicious of her now that she'd brought up someone being sent for her again.

[Haze]

Genaaferr rolled her eyes at the horse. Why couldn't it just leave her alone? Didn't it know she had to escape? Had to get as far away from here as possible? And there was the tall stranger back again. Starting to feel frustrated now at her foiled attempts to get free without being noticed, she placed her hands on her hips and sighed.

"I just got to get away, okay?" She didn't want to involve a stranger in her personal affairs, and he'd certainly done enough already. "I'm headed to Atlas Verde. I'd be there now, if it wasn't for your horse... and now I have to spend the whole day getting back to where I was... and... and I have to be serious now! I have to watch where I'm going!"

She was beginning to feel herself crack again and she bit her lip, hard enough to draw blood. "You... I said thank you, for finding me somewhere to sleep, and for these -" she lifted one still bandaged hand toward him, "but I really really need to go."

How can I get there faster? I could run, but I've never been a good runner. I suppose I could just walk but that's too slow... Oh! Gena! You ninny! Take the horse! All her thoughts showed clearly on her features, eyes flickering from the horse to the road to the horse and to the man. With a sudden rush of movement, she darted for the horse, and jumped, as if she could just leap on, like she'd seen her brother do. She almost shouted in frustration, but then with another caged look, she tried even harder, jumping about like a bullfrog.

"I need to borrow your horse!"

[Juno]

Get away? Get away from what, exactly? He didn't have much time to wonder about this, though, as he realized she'd gone quiet. Too quiet. Watching her, his eyes widened as he began to realize why she was looking at Riley so much. He lunged for her, ready to grab her up, but she'd already flopped herself onto the horse's back and was bucking about like he wished so dearly the horse would.

"Just what do you think you're d...doing?! DOING?!" As she exclaimed her nonsense, though, Zane couldn't help but notice the glorious view of her ass this position afforded. And what a view, indeed.

Rolling his eyes for her attempts to mount the horse, he quickly tucked his hands around her to drag her down, tugging her away from the animal. "Now just calm down!" He told her, not trusting her enough to release her once he'd gotten her to her feet. Who knew, perhaps she was a horse thief! "Just what are you going on about, hm?"

After a moment of thought, he added, "And if you need a ride somewhere, I will be taking you, I'm not having you just borrow one of my family's most prized stallions."

[Haze]

"Hey! Stop it! Don't touch me!"She almost died of mortification as his arms went around her. All her plans were being foiled by this man. She scowled up at him, slapping him once hard on the chest, and then crossing her arms. She realised she really wasn't making things better for herself, being all frantic. But then, she was desperate to get away.

His offer, well - it wasn't really an offer now, more of a statement of intent "Fine. But I'd be fine borrowing it. I'd bring it back, I swear! Maybe not straight away, but I would!" She huffed, and leaned as far back from him as she could.

"Okay. Fine... fine. You take me. But we need to go now."

[Juno]

Zane loosened his grip on her at her complaining, and a bit further when she started leaning away, but she was trapped between him and the horse so he didn't much care anymore. Slipping his hands from her, he just rolled his eyes. "And again, even straight away wouldn't be soon enough, I'd have to walk home! And just how did you plan on returning him to me, hm? You don't even know who I am," he pointed out as he led Riley aside so he could vault onto him much smoother than she'd managed...or tried, rather.

He was cautious of the stallion, what with only having a flimsy rope lead as a single rein, but he figured he could manage him well enough. Offering his other hand to her, he followed up with a simple, "Zane Verot'dess...and take your pick, front or back."

[Haze]

He's right... I don't know who he is. He says he's not going to hurt me, and I guess he would have had the perfect opportunity last night. Still... She eyed him suspiciously as he backed off, and mounted the horse, still warily calculating her chances of escape, even now. He had a point of course, she didn't know who he was, or even if she should be accepting help from this stranger. The name he gave sparked a trigger of memory, and she realised that she knew of his family. And if she knew about them, then they'd know about her.

Her hand reached out hesitantly, and she shrugged to his question. " Gena ... Gena Faire. Nice to meet you, Zane," she lied absurdly, still down on the ground and craning her neck up at the sight before her. She felt the bravery that had spurred her to try and mount the huge thing was trickling away from her.

"I ... I've never ridden before. What's best for you? Don't you need to... steer it, or something?"

[Juno]

Gena...Gena... He didn't know of many Genas from around here. She'd said she was on the run, though, so he figured she might be from further away. Her clothes, at least, looked quite the part of beaten and worn from rough travel.

"Oh, you haven't? We can take it slow, then," he offered. "I guess you back here" He gave a pat to the space near the horse's hips for effect. "would be better for...steering and all. You can just hold onto me if you feel unstable." Again, he offered her his arm, ready to help lift her up.

"Atlas Verde, you said you were headed?"