Now she knew what the Adelans had meant when they told her to be careful. She'd thought they were talking about the dragons she'd heard lived up here (and were in fact the reason she came) but, no, it was just people. Big gangs of nasty, violent, thieving people. Why did she have to get beaten up by something so boring? Perhaps she should have taken those men up on their offer of an escort...
Oh well, too late now, Noora thought to herself as she limped her way down yet another rocky slope. She doubted an extra two people could have stopped the raiders from taking what they liked anyway. At least she'd managed to escape with her life and the little finds stored in her pack, even if she had lost all her supplies. There hadn't been much point going after them. She could get by long enough with what was left of her rations to reach civilisation again, but she was pretty sure she wouldn't survive another run-in with that lot. While she wasn't afraid of death, she wasn't suicidal either!
Spotting a crumbled section of a cliff wall, she veered slightly off course. Even though she was trying to get out of here, it was still worth checking any promising areas along the way, and this looked like a place she might come across something good. She crouched to pick through the fallen rocks, holding her other arm carefully still so as not to jog the arrow shaft embedded in her shoulder. If there was anything here to take back to her sister, her wounds could wait. But why did they have to hurt so much? Ugh.
As usual Ikki was gathering new plants and herbs for her medicines and this day she had found an promising Gathering point at some ruins from a long forgotten tempel on a cliffside. She had already found some Black Vine Moss* at the base of the ruins.
"...These are very rare in this type of enviroment... Must be because of the moisture here."
She put down her Apothecary chest and opened it and started rummaging through it looking for a box to store the Moss she had found, After just some second she pulled out a rectangular box in which she put the moss and then put it back into the Chest. She got up on her feet again and picked up the chest and strapped it to her back. She turned around and accidentaly kicked a small rock that rolled to the edge of the stairs down and then fell down the cliffside.
((prolly are some grammar faults here but i'm not that good with english XD))
((Don't worry about it XD So long as I can read it, you're fine :3))
Turning over stones, inspecting them for any sign that there might be an ancient life form encased inside, Noora was totally engrossed in her work, her mind taken off her wounds for now. She hadn't found anything definite yet, but odd grooves and patterns in the surfaces indicated that there might be a couple of treasures secreted away in the cliffside. Even if she didn't find anything now, it would probably be a good idea to remember this place and come back later, when she had the supplies and energy to really go digging. It was just so exciting to find a new site!
And then a rock fell on her. Cracking in half on her hard skull, the pieces bounced in opposite directions as she sat, stunned. A moment later she brought her hand to her head and peered upwards with a frown. "Ow."
The last thing she needed was a head injury. It might be wise to leave, before she ended up trapped in a rockslide or something equally horrible. That sounded about right, with the day she was having. Pushing herself unsteadily to her feet, she shot another nervous glance to the top of the cliff and turned to limp slowly away. The cut on her leg was still bleeding, the blood running down her leg to leave round, dark footprints in the dirt. Thankfully the raiders hadn't used it to follow her yet, or she'd be more worried.
She paused midstep when she heard something other than the stone against stone sound she expected. She turned again and walked up to the edge of the stairs and looked down searching for the source of the sound. She saw a woman limping away from the base of the cliffside and she quickly saw that the woman was wounded and leaned over the edge and looked at the woman.
-Are you okay down there?!
She shouted not to loud and looked at the woman and waited for an answer from her. Ikki sat down om the edge and put down her chest beside herself and looked back at the woman.
Hearing a voice from behind her, Noora froze. Her mind always took a moment switching languages, and until she could work out what was said she was half afraid it was more raiders. The words didn't sound aggressive though, she realised after her initial panic reaction, and she turned to look for the person who said them.
"I'm all right," she called out automatically, spotting the figure at the top of the cliff. From here all that she could really tell was that it was small, apparently female, and probably not going to try to hurt her. Catching her mistake, she laughed and then winced as the movement forced the arrow deeper into her body. "I mean, not really. No, I'm not very okay."
Moving back towards the cliff so that she wouldn't have to shout so much, she remembered her manners. Even out here, it was a good idea to try to be polite to strangers, so long as they weren't trying to fill her with holes. "And how are you up there?"
Ikki sprung a slight smile when the woman answered her and got up picking her chest up and started walking down the stairs in a slightly hurried manner. She was somewhat worried about how extensive the womans injuries was and wanted to make sure the wounds was not infected.
-More worried than before!
She shouted back and looked down to the ground and decided that the height was safe for her to jump. She took a leap from the stairs and landed onto the ground with a somewhat gracefull manner. She cursed a bit silently to herself and began walking towards the woman limping a bit with her left leg.
"I need to stop doing that my legs will break if i keep this up"
She thougt to herself and clenched her teeth and tried to walk normally without showing any pain.
Surprised and impressed, Noora stared at the girl walking towards her as if she hadn't just jumped off a cliff. After her transformation, she'd tried an experiment to see if being so much bigger meant she could fall further and found out that it was quite the opposite. Even first-story windows made her nervous now, and she couldn't imagine what kind of useless mess she'd be in if she took that kind of a fall. Shaking her head to chide herself for her rudeness, she put on a cheery grin despite her pain. "Wow! That was very high!"
Tired now of the position she was in, she shifted slightly and then back with a wince. There was only one way to stand without irritating any of her injuries, and it just happened to be a really uncomfortable one. Leaning awkwardly on her good leg, she noticed the other girl limping too and felt a twinge of sympathy pain. Still smiling curiously, she asked, "Are... You all right now too?"
Ikki smiled somewhat painfully and walked up to the woman and looked at the wounds she had with a worried expression.
-I've survived worse but not thinking of me, what happened to you?
She asked and put down her Apothecary Chest once more and walked closer to the woman and looked closer at her wounds not touching her or the wounds. After she had made a full circle around the woman she stood in front of her and looked at her with a worried expression.
-Do you think you could sit down?
She then asked and looked up at the womans face and gestured at her Apothecary Chest.
"Um... I was in a fight. I didn't start it," explained Noora, feeling the need to point out that she was really a peaceful sort. There was something about her, and she was pretty sure what it was, that led people to expect her to be mean. Being big and horned and Thanati – especially that – didn't mean she was a bad person!
With the same faint, curious smile, she watched the girl circle around her. Not that she wasn't used to being stared at, but usually people were a bit more covert and less thorough. This girl was practically studying her, and not just the dinosaur bits either. She was sure there was a perfectly good reason for it, though.
"I... Could?" she ventured with a surprised blink. This was kind of confusing and she wasn't totally sure what was happening, but she could go with it. Eyeing the girl's box, she limped over and seated herself next to it, whimpering slightly when contact with the ground jarred the arrow again. She wasn't sure if she was meant to sit on it, but she'd rather not try. After all, she might end up breaking the thing, and then she'd have splinters in her butt, and that wouldn't be any fun at all.
-It's bullying if you dont fight back you know...
She said with a somewhat sarcastic voice and sat down before the woman and looked at the front of her body and tried to decide if she could lie down on her belly without it hurting her to much. She then Opened her box and reached in with almost the whole of her arm and then pulled out a blanket which she unfolded and put donw on the ground beside the woman.
-Do you have any wounds on your front?
She asked and gestured with her hands at the womans chest and belly. The box was still open and if you looked into it there would be a large room in it filled with boxes vials on stands and much equipment you would have in a Apothecary.
"Oh, I did," Noora pointed out cheerily, flipping her shovel over to show a large blood stain dried onto the back. She'd clubbed a couple of raiders in the head with it and managed to gore another with her horns, but there had been too many of them for it to make much of a difference. Even she, with her size and toughness on her side, couldn't help being outnumbered.
Idly watching the girl as she waited, she leaned slightly to try to get a view inside the mysterious box. She didn't know what it was for but it had to be something good, with the way the girl was fishing about in there. Didn't look big enough for her to reach so far in... Okay, whoa. That was a weird effect, and Noora jerked back when she saw what was in there. At the same time, she found herself wondering where she could get one of them... Sure seemed useful.
"My ribs will have bruises," she replied. "The rest is fine." There were a couple of minor scratches on her stomach, but they'd stopped bleeding a while back and weren't bothering her at all, so she was happy enough to leave them. From the few things she saw in the box, she guessed that the girl was some kind of a doctor. Apparently good luck was coming back her way!
-Good then can you lay down on this blanket, I want to remove the arrows before they cause more harm than they allready have.
She said with an friendly tone and reached into the box again and pulled out some wooden ointment boxes. She also pulled out an light red cloth and wiped her hands with it, Though the cloth had some white spots on it indicating that the cloth probably was white a long time ago.
"... All right..." Noora nodded, hesitant. She was a little nervous to trust such a thing with a stranger, but the girl seemed to know what she was doing and it'd be nice to get some proper medical attention, like the stuff they had back home. Healing magic made her wary, with the way even deep wounds wouldn't leave a scar. Oh, some mages could make it work like it should but they were too few and far between for her liking. Give her a needle and thread and a rag soaked in ether any day!
Moving carefully so as not to jog her injuries any more, she settled onto the blanket with her arms folded under her chest for support. She'd have to brace herself, because this was probably going to hurt. "I don't mean to be unfriendly. Usually I talk more than this, but you know..." she apologised, with a sidelong glance to the girl. "Oh, I'm ready."
-Good but this wont hurt much at all... by the way what's your name?
Ikki said calmly and kneeled beside the woman and grabbed hold of one of the arrows that stuck out of the womans back. Ikki took a deep breath and swiftly without any resistance or pain removed the arrow in the blink of an eye, then tossing it to the side before placing a wet cloth over the wound to keep it from bleeding. The cloths were soaked in an antiseptic to ensure that the wounds did not get infected, it did sting a bit but not as much as it would if the wound were left unattended.
-Relax some more... if your muscles are relaxed i can remove the arrows without any pain.
She said with an focused expression and pulled out another arrow in the same manner as before and putting another wet cloth over that wound. Her hands were moving with great dexterity and swiftness when removing the arrows almost as she had done this for hundreds of years, which of course was not too far from the truth considering her two centurys of experience.
"Noora..." she replied, stopping abruptly when the first arrow was tugged out of her shoulder. She reacted with a hiss, lashing her strong tail violently from side to side and kicking up small clouds of dust. Even so, it wasn't quite as bad as she was expecting. It only hurt about as much as it had going in, without the added force of being knocked to the ground by the blow.
It still wasn't nice, though.
"That's easy to sssssssssss!" she hissed again, the second arrow coming out just as smoothly as the first. The girl was pretty good at this, she reflected in between jolts of pain. She'd have to have been training since she was practically a baby, from the looks of her, and Noora could respect that. It was best to find a calling early in life. Breathing deeply despite her bruised ribs, she turned her head and smiled brightly. "Are you done now?"
-My name is Ikki, and no not yet i'm goin to put on some ointment to help the wounds heal faster first.
She said and opened the ointment box she had and started applying the ointment on the wounds ever so carefull. She got the job done quite quickly and put the ointment box away and smiled at Noora.
-There we go Noora, You should still lie down for a while though.
She said and sat down beside her so that Noora could look at her without wringing her own neck. She leaned foward and looked on top of Nooras head to look for some more injuries.
-Any other Wounds or Injuries that i should know of?
She said and looked down on Noora with a friendly smile. She reached out and pulled her apothecary chest closer to them so that she would not have to stretch out to far to get the things she could need from the chest.
"Oh, all right," Noora nodded, bracing herself again. The worst bit was over, but the ointment might sting a bit if it was anything like any other ointment she'd ever used. She was pleasantly surprised, though, that it was actually quite soothing and she imagined that she could feel it doing some good already.
"My leg had a cut," she mentioned, awkwardly lifting her left foot off the ground in demonstration, "But I think it's already going away. It should be all right." There was no point tampering with anything that didn't need it, after all. The arrows would have had to be dealt with by someone eventually, so she was grateful for that, but she'd rather leave the rest of them to heal on their own. They'd leave more interesting scars that way.
Shifting onto her side to take her weight off her arms, she smiled at Ikki. "Thank you very much. I feel a lot better now."
-You feeling better makes med feel better to..
She said with a friendly smile on her face and put her hand on Noora's shoulder lightly and looked at her. she shifted slightly herself and also closed her apothecary chest at the same time.
-So how did you end up fighting... whoever you were fighting?
She said and tilted her head and looked at Noora with a calm expression and leaned againts her Apothecary Chest letting out a great big Yawn and rubbed her hand over her left eye.
-Sorry... i have not slept for days..
She said and yawned again and looked at Noora with a very tired expression and ran her fingers through her hair tog get her bangs out of her face.
"That's probably sensible here," Noora laughed, wincing slightly as the action jarred her bruised ribs. "I was sleeping when they attacked me. They thought that I had something valuable." Someone wandering around with a big cart did tend to look like they were transporting things worth stealing, and she probably should start taking more precautions when she was out in the wilderness, she realised now. Sleeping out in the open, at least, wasn't a mistake she would make again. It wasn't easy to hide a seven-foot woman, and even more difficult when she had a collection of massive bone-rocks too, but she'd have to at least try.
And if there wasn't just her, it'd be possible to make sure she didn't get taken by surprise again. She did quite like travelling alone, as it meant she didn't have to worry about not using her magic all the time, but she had to admit there were a lot of advantages to having a companion. Apart from anything else, it could get awfully lonely on the road. Remembering her manners, she smiled and offered, "If you want to sleep, I can keep watch."
She yawned once again and rubbed her left hand over her eyes and then looking at Noora with a friendly smile.
-Thanks but i have some more hours left before i have to sleep.
She said and scratched the back of her head with her left hand and looked at Noora with a friendly expression. The wind started to pick up speed and blowing up clouds of sand.
-I think it's best we move somewhere protected so that we do not become trapped in a sandstorm.
She said and got up on her feets and stretched out her hand to Noora to help her up.
((There is sand around here right?))
((Well it's all rocky and dry so I'd say it's more likely to be dusty/gritty, but close enough! :P))
"Oh," Noora replied, disappointed at the rejection, but put a cheery smile back on her face. "I can keep watch later then." She'd like to repay the woman's kindness somehow, and this seemed like a good way. There wasn't much else she could do, but she could at least help her get a good night's sleep.
She shook her head, politely declining Ikki's hand and pushing herself to her own feet. She had to weigh at least twice as much as the skinny girl, and doubted that taking the help would do much more but pull the other woman down with her. Besides, she was feeling a lot better now, even if her wounds did still hurt. She could handle the injuries that were left.
"Is there shelter up there?" she asked, pointing back at the ruins Ikki had come from. She couldn't tell from here if any of the building was intact enough to protect them, but it was possible. Even a single wall would do if it was the right size and positioned correctly. Unlikely but, well, the other woman would probably know already what was up there. And if it wasn't usable, there were still caves scattered everywhere throughout the mountains. They'd just have to find one that didn't have a dragon in it.
Ikki retracted her hand when Noora got up by herself and then looked at where Noora pointed and then bakc to Noora again.
-"Yes i had set up camp there a while before you showed up, so it should be safe enough."
She said and picked up her large Apothecary chest with one hand and strapped the chest onto her back and began walking towards the weathered stairs and looked back at Noora.
-"So Noora where are you from?"
She said and looked at Noora with a friendly and interested expression while walking towards the stairs.
"Oh, good," breathed Noora with a sigh of genuine relief. She didn't really want to take her chances with any of the caves around here. Sure, taking some dragon bits back to Thanatos would make the church very happy indeed, but actually getting them off the dragon first would be quite an ordeal. She didn't feel like going through another one of those today.
Picking her shovel from the ground and slipping her own smaller pack back on, she followed Ikki up the stairs, picking her way carefully up the narrow, crumbling steps. Her feet weren't made for climbing. Concentrating as she was on not slipping, the woman's question took her by surprise and she paused as she considered it. People generally didn't trust her when they knew she was one of the necromancer people, and proud as she was of her heritage, she tried not to admit it. Still, she also didn't like to outright lie, especially to someone who'd been so nice to her. "I'm from north east of here," she replied diplomatically, turning the subject around with a bright smile. "And you?"
As they reached the top of the stairs, a strong gust blew toward them and Noora found herself moving between it and Ikki, using her mass to stop the wind from possibly toppling the smaller woman. The force of the particles against her skin stung a little, but it wasn't long before they reached their shelter. Just in time, too, as she felt the grit in the air scrubbing at even the tough scales of her tail when she pulled it behind the wall. Soft human skin would have taken some real damage. "I don't like it," she announced, cleaning dust out of an ear with her pinky finger. "Storms should be wet."
-"Oh i'm not really from anywhere i have no home not anymore anyways... and i do not even remember where it used to be..."
She said and smiled wryly and opened her mouth to say something more but were interupted by the strong gust and the sand that got into her mouth. She reached out and grabbed Noora's arm to stand up and followed Noora in behind the old walls that were in the ruins. She spat a couple of times on the ground and tried to get out the sand from her mouth.
-"Thanks, i would have fallen down the stairs if it were not for your help."
She said and smiled friendly at Noora and then walked forth to a bedroll that were placed on the ground further in the ruins. there were some pieces of wood that laid besides the bedroll for making a fire. She walked up to the bedroll and put down her Chest besides the bedroll and the wood pieces and looked back at noora with a slightly worried smile.
-"Um have you possibly some food or something alike? I do not have any..."
She said and smiled apologetical while scratching herself on the back of her head. At the same time a loud cracking sound breaked trough the sound of the storm and a large boulder fell down from above and landed on top of the stairs crushing them beneath it's massive weight.
-"...Did this situation just get worse?"
She said and looked to where the stairs once had been. She put one of her hands on her forehead and sighed loudly.
((Sorry this took so long >.< I haven't been feeling too good))
Noora felt a pang of sympathy for Ikki's rootlessness. Sure, it was nice to have the freedom away from the islands, nobody comparing her to her mother or her sister, no pressure to succeed. But she always enjoyed going back too, to the familiarity and comfort of home. She couldn't imagine what it would feel like not to have that. It had to be kind of lonely.
"I have some food," she replied, setting her pack down and digging into it to bring out a loaf of stale bread, some dried salted meat and a couple of apples. For her, that was two days' rations at best, but she'd just have to make them stretch a little further. Perhaps there were some rabbits or birds she could hunt later, when the dust cleared. "I'm sorry it's not more. Most of it was in the things that were stolen..."
"Hm?" A loud crash cut her off and she glanced in the direction of the noise, where a huge rock had smashed down onto the stairs and now lay in a pile of splintered rubble. If it had fallen a few moments earlier, they would have been under there too. Well, at least some good fortune had come their way for once, even if it was rather a perverse kind of luck. She laughed nervously, looking up to see if there were any precarious ledges above their heads waiting to fall on them, before smiling optimistically back at Ikki. "I'm sure there's another way down. Though with this storm, there's no reason to think about it now!"
Leaning against the wall, she stretched out in an attempt to relax but stopped with a whimper when the movement pulled on her injuries. Ugh, she couldn't even lay about properly like this. And just when she had the perfect opportunity to be lazy for a little while, too! It was just sad.
-"Ah it's good we at least have some food"
She said an smiled at Noora and then looked at the place where the stairs used to be before looking back at Noora. She laughed a bit and smiled widely at Noora before opening her apothecary chest an the pulled out an metal tea pot.
-"Do you like tea? Ah! Are you okay?"
She said when Noora whimpered and ran up to her placing her hand sofly on Noora's left arm while looking up on her face with a worried expression.
"Yes, I'm fine. I only pulled my wound, it's nothing to worry you," Noora reassured the woman, looking back at her with a faint smile. She wasn't the best at remembering her limits and taking care of herself, never had been – and her transformation had only made her even more overconfident. Accidentally hurting herself was a normal occurrence, and that was when she didn't already have injuries to work around. It was kind of sweet that Ikki was concerned, though, even if she didn't need to be.
Wincing slightly, she sat herself back up, carefully moving herself into a position that didn't aggravate any of her wounds. Her smile widened, and her face once again wore its usual cheery expression. "I think I will have some tea! Thank you very much!"
They may as well make themselves comfortable, after all. It would be a while until the sandstorm died down and until then they weren't going anywhere. At least they wouldn't have any more raider attacks to contend with. Nobody would be out in this. She'd be surprised if even the dragons that supposedly lived in these mountains would willingly deal with it. It was a blessing in disguise, she thought, giving them time to have a quiet rest away from any dangers.
-"Ah... Okay"
She looked at Noora and examined her posture and movment with her eyes to see if there were any other sources of pain besides the wounds she already had. After just a second she stepped back to her Apothecary chest and pulled out an small box containing tea leaves before picking up the metal tea pot she had and then walked up to the "Fireplace" with both items.
-"I hope you like Herbal tea then"
She said with a wide smile and then started to prepare the fireplace and tea pot. Just a short time after Ikki had gotten the fire started and placed the tea pot on top of the fire with water and some tea leaves in the pot.
-"Oh i had forgotten to ask, What are you doing around these parts Noora?"
She said and looked at Noora with a wondering expression while putting the tea leaves back into her apothecary chest and taking out two rather large tea cups and placing them besides the fire.
"That sounds great!" Noora nodded, her smile even brighter. She hadn't had a good hot drink in quite a while, and if ever there was a perfect time for some soothing tea it would be now. The wind strengthened outside of their little shelter, huge grey clouds blowing past them and obscuring the landscape – even the boulder that had fallen nearby was gradually fading from sight. Thankfully, the old walls would prevent too much dust from getting into the water. It'd be a shame if their tea got spoilt.
Ikki's question caught her slightly and she had to pause for a moment before answering, tapping a finger idly against her lips as she remembered past attempts to describe what she did, and the wording that people had understood the best. "I was digging for special rocks," she explained at last, patting the shovel that lay on the ground beside her. "There are stones in the ground that used to be living creatures, and I hunt for them."
"How about you?" She knew the other woman was a doctor of some sort, but it was unlikely that she was out here for doctory reasons – there weren't any patients, for a start. Well, none that weren't a chance meeting or that wouldn't attack on sight, anyway. So whatever she was doing had to be interesting, not that there was any answer she could give that Noora wouldn't find interesting.
-"Oh you mean fossils? Are you mayhap a Archeologist?"
She said and looked at Noora with an interested expression and sat so that she faced Noora, Even out here she did not forget to be polite and look at the person she talked with. When Noora returned the question she smiled and reached into her Apothecary box and pulled out a rectangular box with the Black Vine Moss she had picked earlier and opened the small box showing the content.
-"I were collecting some reagents, For medicine and Potions. I'm an Alchemist too you see"
She said happily and closed the little box and put it back into the Apothecary box while looking at Noora. After some seconds she looked back at the fire to make sure everything were in order, she tilted her head and then nodded to herself in confirmation that the tea were done and started to pour the tea into the teacups she had placed at the side of the fireplace.
Noora frowned gently and her gaze drifted up to the sky as she worked the words out. She hadn't heard them before, but Ikki had said them with such certainty that they had to be right. So there were actual words in Common for what she did? Which meant there had to be other people here who did this too... The idea was intriguing, and she wondered just where she could find them. It sounded like something clever and official like the Church would use, which meant they probably came from the big cities in Serendipity or the fancy schools in Connlaoth. It was something to look into, certainly. She blinked the thought away and looked back at the other woman with an expression of mild confusion. "I might be?"
Well, at least one of them knew exactly what they were doing in the mountains. The other woman answered her question by bringing out an ugly black plant which Noora didn't totally understand at first, but it all made sense after the explanation. "Oh yes!" she nodded at last. "I can see how a travelling doctor would need to make her own medicines. Though I'm surprised you found anything out here!"
The Thunderblacks weren't the most fertile of places, she'd heard because of the magic and the dragons up here. Of course, that meant anything else living here had to be extra hardy because of it, and probably full of magic itself... So it might not have been such a weird place to hunt as it seemed at first glance. Sure, you wouldn't find much but what you would find was going to be worth it. Noora smiled again. Ikki was a smart lady!
-"Yeah i were a bit supprised i found this plant around here too, But i guess it's because of the humidity in these caverns"
She explained as she poured the tea, Ikki had a very refined manner when pouring tea as she sat on her legs(seiza) and poured the tea in a very gracefull motion. She then put down the teapot and placed one teacup nex to herself and the next she held out towards Noora holding it so that she could grab it easily.
-"Here you go my own special recipie Herbal tea"
She said with a friendly smile as she held it towards Noora. Ikki had a very calm uppbringing and many of the things she leared as then were similar to this, all from manners towards strangers to how to make tea like this. Of course this tea were Ikki's own recipie and all that had tasted it this far had loved it so much that they had begged her to teach them how to make the tea, it had a very soothing taste while still being hot and as it got colder the taste becomes sweeter. Of course the tea had some healing properties as well but they were minor and would only help to heal minor wounds like bruises and small cuts.