The first think Ishka noticed when she awoke was the movement.  Panicked, she sat up, but pain shot through her head and she winced.  Then she remembered what had happened.  She looked around.  From the movement she was in some sort of wagon.  It was rather small, and dark, the only light streaming through the barred window at the back of the wooden box.

There were other people in here as well, all huddled as she was, silent save for their breathing and the occasional movement.  Ishka felt her heart start to pound and her breath hitched in her chest.  She was going to die, or worse, maybe she was being taken to slave camp.  She'd never see the light of day again, she'd spend the rest of her days in a dark mine until she died of exhaustion or sickness.  This was it.  This was the end.

She felt tears starting to well in her eyes, but she bit them back when she heard a quiet sound to her right.  Someone was crying.

Looking over she saw who was sitting next to her as her eyes adjusted to the darkness.  A young woman, probably only a year or two younger than Ishka, crying hard but obviously trying to hold back her sobs.

Immediately, Ishka forgot about the panic that had filled her moments before, and she reached out, touching the young woman on the arm.  The woman jumped, but calmed when she saw the gentle look on Ishka's face.

"We'll be fine," Ishka whispered, drawing the other woman close.  "We're going to get out of this, whatever it is."

She didn't even believe her own words, but even though she didn't, a small spark of hope lit in her chest.  Maybe they would get out of this.  Maybe they would be okay.

"How long have you been here?" she asked the woman, keeping her voice low.  The young woman shook her head.

"Two days," she said. "You too.  We were all taken from Ketra.  No one knows where we're going.  They never open the door, though they give us food through the window once a day."

Ishka nodded. "We will escape," she said softly, to herself as well as the woman next to her.  "We will. . ."

But no opportunity presented itself.  They traveled for days, only let out once where they were allowed to clean up as best they could in a stream, and even then they were shackled together.  Ishka had lost count of the days, but finally they reached their destination.

The Serha Plains.

[OOC: Thanks!  I really like Ipsen's reactions to her!]

She didn't answer for a second.  Not to be intentionally rude, of course, but because she was so interested in the wall that she didn't hear him at first.  When she realized he'd spoken to her and heard what he'd said, she looked at him quizzically.

"What d'you mean?" she asked.  Then smiled at him, as if she understood what he meant. "Oh!  I'm just here because I like you.  I think you're nice." Then her voice changed slightly. "He is nice, isn't he.  Yes, he is, a very fascinating fellow." Then she seemed to snap out of it and grinned back at him. "I like hanging out with people who I like who are also nice."

She looked around the building for a minute before she found him.  He was looking around, and seemed as if he was trying to decide what to do.  She ran up behind him, her footsteps almost silent on the wood floor.

"What're you doing?" she asked.  "Do you wanna go or are you going to just hang out in this dusty building all day.  Though it is pretty interesting in here. . .". Her eyes fixated on to a blank part of the wall that appeared to have nothing interesting on it at all, but she was studying it as though there was an interesting insect or pattern there.

A trip to Adela.

At first, Ishka hadn't known what to think, then her indecision turned to nerves.  She'd never been to another country, let alone through the mountains!  What was she going to do?  Well, she'd do the same thing she always did, do what was asked of her.  The man she worked for had business in Adela, and she was going along.  She would do her duties quietly as always, and there would be no need for anything out of the ordinary to happen.

Then, her feelings started to be mixed with something more than just nervousness, excitement.  Ishka was not a person to push her limits, but she couldn't have helped but to feel a little curious about the trip.

The journey there had been uneventful, no different from the other trips Ishka had been on, though this one was decidedly longer, and the scenery started to change the farther they went.  The grasslands peppered with small copses of trees gave way to flat, thicker forests, which then started to become more rocky and hilly, and then they were traveling through the mountains.  That was probably the hardest part of the trip.  Even on the road, the horses often had trouble pulling the wagons up some of the steeper inclines, and they even once came across a part of the road that had been blocked by fallen boulders.  That set them back a day.

When they finally arrived at Ketra, Ishka was more than ready to be back in a city.  However, it was completely different from any city she'd been in before.  The people looked different, even the architecture was different from what she'd known.

They were to stay at a fancy inn, and after all of her master's belongings had been moved to the room, Ishka was sent out to deliver a message to the man her master had come to meet telling him that they had arrived.

At this, Ishka's curiosity of the new place vanished, replaced by fear.  She knew nothing of this place, and she was expected to go out, on her own, and travel through this unknown city to deliver a message?  But she didn't argue.  She received the address of the place she was to go to and ventured out.

She kept her head down as she made her way through the city, speaking to no one and going as quickly as she could.  She made it to the address with no incident and delivered the message, but by the time she was on her way back to the inn, the sun was starting to set.

The streets that had been busy on the way were now slowly becoming more empty, and nearly everyone had dispersed by the time it got dark.  Ishka rushed through the streets, her heart beating in her chest as she went.

She hurried aroudn a corner, only to bump into someone on the other side.

"Oh!" she stumbled back with a gasp, but the person grabbed her arm, stopping her from falling.  She looked up at the man, and he grinned at her.

"What's someone like you doing out in the dark?" he asked, leering.

"Let me go!" Ishka cried out, trying to pull away, but to no avail.  "HELP!" she screamed.  Before the man could even react, however, a shout sounded from behind Ishka.  The man's eyes widened in fear as he saw who was approaching, and he immediately let go of her and rushed away.

Ishka spun around to see who her savior was.  Three men were walking towards her, all wearing some sort of dark uniform.

"Thank you!" Ishka gasped as they neared.  "Thank you."

"Don't thank us," the man in the front said, and Ishka took a step back at the look in his eyes.  He looked at his two comrades. "Serenian," he said to them, then looked back at her. "Right?"

Ishka nodded slowly. "Yes. . ."  this was strange. . .  This didn't feel right.

The man stepped forward. "Good."

Ishka cried out as he raised his hand, and tried to duck, but his fist connected with her temple, and she fell to the cobbled street, unconscious.

"Oof!"

Meerior tumbled through the window, rolling as she hit the ground and quickly getting to her feet.  The guards had her surrounded before she even had the chance to do anything.  They trained their weapons on her, and she laughed.

"Hello!" she grinned at them.  Then she muttered something under her breath.

"Hey!  What're you doing?" one of the guards snapped, stepping closer to her.

There was silence for a moment, then Meerior sighed.  "I just asked a friend of mine to help me out, he's a demon, but he must be busy."

The guards glanced at each other, she was crazy!  People weren't just friends with demons. . .  Though this was Zantaric.

"Alright, you're coming with us." The guard grabbed her arm, and she shrugged.

"Oh well," she said. "I guess I'll just-!"

She stopped when she saw a rat sitting on a pile of rubbish nearby.  "Ooh!" she cried, grinning and clapping her hands together. "Hello, friend!" she beamed at the small creature, who stared at her. "I would love a little help here.  These mean men are trying to lock me up!"

"Just shut up!"  one of the guards barked, and Meerior fell silent as the rat scurried away.  The guards yanked her down the alley, and they had almost reached the end when a sound floated from the gutter.  The guards looked down, and one let out a shriek as rats streamed from the gutter.  Merrior let out a shriek of joy as the rats engulfed the guards, crawling up their legs and onto their faces.  As the guards writhed around in an attempt to get the rats off, Meerior slipped away.  She went back to the window, climbed up, and rushed after 'Lowen'.

Flordia froze when the bullet hit her intended target.  Her eyes widened as he fell to the floor, blood running from the wound.

She had shot someone!  Someone was hurt because of her. . .  She'd defended herself.  She was still reeling when she noticed that Leon had not calmed down.  That his eyes had turned to her.  She gasped as she started for her.

"Leon. . ." she said slowly. "Leon, it's me!"

She stood completely still as he he approached, and she could see the battle being fought behind his eyes.  She could see Leon fighting to push the beast away.  He stopped in front of her, sniffing her, and Flordia prayed that Leon would return.

Then the wolf changed, his eyes widened and he fell back.  It was horrible to watch.  Glad as she was that Leon was returning, it was incredibly hard to see the pain he was going through.  The sheer agony of his transformation.

Then he was back.  Flordia almost burst into tears, but she held them back and smiled at him.  "Thank you," she said, laughing a bit as the adrenaline slowed. "I'm so glad you didn't eat me."

Then her eyes went to the man she had shot, and her expression grew worried.  "What. . .  What about him?"

He wasn't going to make it.  Maybe the previous Meerior personality would've minded, but this one didn't.  It would just make this more interesting!

The guards were just around the corner. . .  Then he pulled himself up through the window, just in time.  The guards hadn't seen him. Oh, well.

She smiled at him, then peered out the window at the men below.  They had passed the window.  Meerior pursed her lips.  They'd escaped.  They'd gotten away from the town guard.  How boring.

Well, that could be fixed.

She leaned far out the window.  "HEY!" she yelled, waving an arm.  The guards stopped in their tracks and turned around to see her waving at them, grinning. "OVER HERE!" she shouted.

The guards looked at her like she was crazy, an accurate assumption, and then started back towards them.  Meerior laughed and waved again.  Now it was going to be interesting again!

The alleyway was long and narrow, barely wide enough for one person to walk down.  Meerior followed it for a while, and she could hear the guards behind them, yelling for them to stop.  She laughed, and looked behind her at 'Lowen' as she picked up the pace.

"Keep up!" she called to him.

She stopped running in front of a door to a building.  She reached up, grabbing the top of the door frame and lifting herself up, using the door handle as a step so she could reach up and grab onto the edge of the windowsill above.  She pulled herself up onto it and slipped through the open window.  She peered down at 'Lowen'.  The guards were just around the corner behind them, if 'Lowen' could get up and through the window fast enough, the guards wouldn't know where they went.

Meerior smiled, then her eyes flicked past 'Lowen' to the guards.  They were close now.  A tiny prick of alarm spiked in her chest.  She didn't remember the way out.

She stood there, frozen, for a second, the fear starting to turn to panic, bubbling up, just about to explode. . .

Then her head jerked to the side, and when she looked back at 'Lowen', the sensible, level-headed persona of a moment ago was gone, replaced with someone who was completely different.  Someone who appeared to be completely crazy, but the look in her eyes and the crazy grin on her face.

Meerior laughed, she remembered the way now.  In response to 'Lowen's' comment, her grin widened. "I'm a little bit of both!"

Then she turned on her heel and slipped into a narrow alleyway, not bothering to see if 'Lowen' was following.

Meerior did not appreciate this attitude, and let out a scoff as 'Lowen' took the ring and turned away.

She chuckled when she saw the town guard approaching. "You idiot," she said, stepping up next to 'Lowen' and crossing her arms. "Look what you've done.  Here comes the town guard."

The guards were getting closer, and Meerior sneered at 'Lowen'.  "There'll be a fight if we don't get out of here," she said, turning away.  "Follow me, I know a way to get out of here and away from them.  I don't know about your fighting abilities, but those guards outnumber us 3 to 1.  I'd rather not deal with that today."

(OOC:  I actually don't mind if it's for your character and is important to his personality(which it seems to be).  Since it's part of the story and part of his character, go for it!)

Wow.  Something changed.

Lowen, or whoever he'd changed into, was really getting aggressive.  Meerior was quite shocked by it, despite the fact that she had a similar condition.

She watched as he threatened the merchant, and when he finished talking, she stepped forward, shaking her head.

"What are you doing, you idiot?" she snapped to the man, stepping right up to him, seemingly unintimidated by his aggressive manner. "He was probably going to give you the ring out of guilt any second, and you just had to go on and get all crazy on him?  If someone calls the Town Guard, then what?"

Not that Zantaric was very good with keeping crime down, but it would still be a hassle to deal with any sort of law enforcement that came along. 

Good, he was playing along. . .

But what was happening to him?  He seemed to be having some sort of terrible headache, and the merchant was starting to lose it.  Meerior stepped forward.  She didn't know what was happening to Lowen, or whether or not she should help him, but maybe getting the ring back would help.

"Look what's happening to him!" she hissed to merchant. "He's having a breakdown!  What will something like that do for your business?  Do you want to make a scene?  Look!" she pointed to a few of the people who had been walking by who were now looking at them quizzically. "People are already starting to stare!"

Meerior huffed. "Just give the man his ring back.  He's obviously not right in the head.  That ring probably isn't that valuable, if you were planning on keeping it instead of selling it, so what harm would it be to give it back to him?  You'd really take something that is so important to someone who can't even remember something that happened a few hours ago?"

It maybe was lucky that Meerior was in this 'normal' mindset, as she was able to think logically about the situation.  She really knew nothing of Lowen, but if she could guilt-trip the vender into thinking that the man was in need of pity, maybe the seller would give him back his ring and no money would have to be parted with.

"Do you know how I found him?" Meerior asked, looking at the seller with the disdain that one would look at someone who had just stolen candy from a baby. "He was in an alleyway, soaking wet and trying to get out of the rain.  He didn't remember how he'd gotten there, and if I hadn't shown up, he probably would've frozen to death there.  He doesn't remember anything, except that ring.  He told me it was the only thing that connected him to his mother, who he lost when he was only a child to a terrible sickness.  It is his only tie to his family, and the only way he can hold on to even a shred of humanity."

This was a complete fabrication and lie, of course, as far as Meerior knew, and she hoped that Lowen would play along with it.

Well, this was just great.  Meerior turned to Lowen, her hands on her hips.

"Did you really give it to him?"

If he had, in some lapse of memory, or dazed confusion, it was going to be hard to get it back, short of buying it back.  She didn't know about Lowen, but she knew she didn't have the money to do that.
Or, this merchant could be attempting to scam them, perhaps he had noticed that Lowen seemed a little confused, and ws hoping he could get him to believe he had just handed over the ring, when in fact the merchant had found it on the ground, or, worse, swiped it off of him.

During the time they had been talking, the sun had started to rise, and the streets were starting to fill with people ready to go shopping for the day.

As they started to leave the alley, Lowen seemed as if he was unsure of where to go, and was fighting some kind of battle inside of his own head.  After a moment, he seemed to decide, and motioned for Meerior to follow him.

He seemed preoccupied as they traveled down the streets, but soon they reached a stand.  It seemed to be the right one, indeed, the man was selling jewelry.

Meerior looked around, quickly scanning the ground in case the ring happened to be there.  It was unlikely that if it had fallen on the ground, someone wouldn't have picked it up  This was Zantaric, after all.  Thieves and criminals lived here, people who had trained themselves to find anything of value and snatch it up immediately.

"Is this teh correct stand?" She turned to Lowen.

OOC: (Out Of Character, if you didn't know) O.o    It's been four days. . .  And I didn't notify you. . .  Sorry!

IC(In Character)
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He didn't seem to remember anything.  Maybe he was kind of similar to her.  Of course, she's never met anyone with her exact powers and 'skills', you might call them, and she didn't think she ever would.  But that didn't mean that she hadn't already met some very interesting characters on her travels.  And she supposed that this man was one of those characters.  The more she traveled, the more she realized that there was no one who was boring.  Everyone had something interesting about them.  A secret, maybe.  Or a great personality.  Not necessarily a nice personality, but an interesting one, and eccentric one, a strange one.

He didn't remember much, but he said he remembered the location of the stand.  Meerior nodded.
 
"What are you waiting for, then?" she said, her hands on her hips. She waved a hand at him.  "Lead the way.

"Jewelry?" she raised an eyebrow at this.  "You lost it near a jewelry stand?"  She shook her head, exasperated. "It'll be hard to find a lone ring among hundreds."

She waved a hand, dismissing the thought.  "We'll worry about that later.  You said you were helping the merchant.  Was he selling from a stall that would be packed away by now?  Or a storefront we can go to?  Or was he traveling and would be long gone by now?"

She spoke swiftly, and as she did her eyes darted over Lowen's form, taking in whatever information she could about him.  Her previous personality was not really the type to take in information and carefully catalog it.  This persona, however, was intent on getting every bit of knowledge she could about the situation and the man standing before her. 

Her manner, now, had completely changed.  Her silly and childlike demeanor had disappeared, replaced with a quiet calm and sharpness.  She stood straighter, and her countenance was more of a shrewd soldier or stern teacher than that of the child she had been not moments before.

"When and where did you last have it?" she asked, and her voice, too, was alert and sharp. "If you can remember, we should go there and look when we're done searching the alley."

"Very precious?  Hm," she said. "And don't worry, I forget things all the time."

When he asked her name she grinned. "Hello, Lowan!  I don't quite recall my name right now, but I'm sure it'll come to me.  I don't bother myself with worry about such small things."

She looked back up at the rain, opening her mouth to drink some of it.  Then after a moment she looked back to Lowan. "Oh, I remember.  Meerior.  I'm Meerior Shlakae.  It's nice to meet you, Lowan.  Are you going to look for your ring?  I can help you look.  I'm very good at forgetting things, but also good at finding them again.  Most of the time."

"I'm from somewhere," she said. "I appeared in a big city one day, there was sand all around at it was really hot.  I don't know really what happened before that." She shrugged, this matter wasn't upsettig to her at all, and it wasn't very interesting. "Maybe I was spawned from an egg right there?"  She shrugged again.

"But I do like rings!" she held up her hand and wiggled her fingers.  She wasn't wearing any rings. "I don't have any that you can see, but they're there."  She looked back at the man. "Why'd you lose yours?"