Who Knew?

[Anonymous]

The road was dusty and dry, and with every pounding step a cloud of dust was thrown up, so anybody could see and follow the trail of the traveler. However, those that passed the traveler on the lone road crossed themselves, muttering prayers and wards against evil, than went on their way. None dared to follow. The It that people shed away from was actually a wolf, a medium sized timber wolf. However, something about this wolf was different. First of all, it was traveling alone, on a road, not scared of people at all. Second, if you looked hard enough, it had an almost human look to it. Third, crossing over each of it’s eyes, and traveling down its cheeks to its mid-neck, was a streak of bright green. It also carried a pack on it’s back, a light one with a plain staff resting on top.

Some called it a devil, other’s a warrior angel, and though the creature heard it all, her eye’s did not flicker, nor did she give a sign she heard. For this wasn’t a wolf. It was actually a human, a human girl, named Mona. The wolf-girl was a shape-shifter, thanks to her blood, and while she could also Heal, light fires, and talk to beast's, she kept that to herself. Finally, as she passed the sign on the road that said 'Connlaoth' and than entered Reajh, she grinned, a wolf grin. Wandering around, and getting glares and nervous shriks, she sighed and went to an alley, where she began to change. Fur shrank into skin, she rose on two legs, and hair that stayed became black. Finally, she was Mona again.

Mona was a medium hieght girl, 5'6", not puny but not tall either. Taking down the staff on her back and holding it idle in her hand, she brushed the dust from her skirt and walked out into the town that she had no clue dis-liked her immensly, becuase she was a Mage. However, many did not see that, only males looked at her, ignoring the stubborn chin and instead taking in her soft eye's and thick full mouth, the raven hair drawn up in a pony tail with 2 strands framing the face, both lime green, explaining why the coloring of her wolf form had the odd markings. Her clothes, though plain, were made of expensive material, and the boots were hardy. She wore little face-paint, only a faint coloring over her eye's, a tiny bit of kohl. Her orbs were a plain hazel, and though they looked like a normal girls, her's spyed everything.

"Now, where can I get food, and a place to stay?" She murmered to herself, planting the end of the staff into the ground and checking her belt. Let's see; flute, money, knife, herbal bags, charm against pick pockets, everything was there. She drew up her money bag, a thick one, and peered inside. A few jewrely, hurridly taken, was thrown on top of a well stocked pile of gold. At least she was set there. She looked around, than started to walk until she reached a side of a building. Sitting down, and not caring that her dress got dirty, she whisteled. Her horse had been following her at a more leisurly pace, and she needed him here. Inspecting her wrist, she saw a cut made from a peice of stone on the road, and calling up her magic, produced a faint green glow that settled onto it and healed it quickly. Goddess Athena, Goddess Artimes, God Zues, andybody, please do not get me caught when I made it this far, and grant me a safe passage to wherever I am going. She asked quietly. Leaning her pony-tailed head against the roughly hewn wood, Heir Apparent to Sir Duke Caden, and Thrice in Line for The Royal Line of the Rivveton Isles Lady Mona Haridliney Jiinksuii of Tortaliny, kept watch on the capital, waiting for anything.

[Anonymous]

Eyes that may have been able to catch most things couldn't see behind her.  There certainly was something odd about this girl who'd chosen to lean against his house.  He'd leaned his head out of the window she was under shortly after she'd settled.  Watching with curiosity, the man's long wavy hair rustled in a faint breeze as a green glow lit up her hand and wrist.  Shaking his head in consternation as she prayed, he finally said something, "You could be arrested for that, you know."  If he'd startled her, he hadn't meant to do so, or perhaps he had deep down.  Her hazel eyes would probably shift upward to the open window above her where hung the soft, attractive, and oddly feminine features framed in flowing black hair tinged with red that belonged to the rich basso voice who'd warned her of the danger she brought to herself.  Luckily, the side of the house she'd chosen was in a type of alley, so maybe no one else had noticed.  Maybe, also, no one else had seen him talking to her.

[Anonymous]

Hey, she wouldn't call it praying, `zactly, only asking for assurance. Besides, Lady Mona Haridliney Jiinksuii of Sandir was an odd person, so live with it. Your right, she couldn't, though if you were infront of her that would have been a different matter. Even now, as you stuck your head out of the window and looked down at the odd female, she had seen a young boy pick-pocket a rich looking noble with a sneer, a soldier butt aside a helpless old lady in an alley, and a young dog get beaten. But their were good things to the city to. A cat gave birth near-by, a pair of lover's exchanged kisses, and two girl's played doll's outside the small wooden house.

However, she wasn't only of good eyesight. She could hear to, after living with family, she had to be on her toe's, which made her realize someone had moved above her, the wind making it give a soft whispering noise. She waited, giving out her prayer while slowly dropping her hand to rest on her dagger. Mona waited, he would be the first to talk. When he did, it wasn't something she understood. 'You could be arrested for that, you know.' Cocking an eyebrow she stood, dusting off her simple dress, and turning around, drawing the dagger and holding it loosly in her hand. "Say what?" She could get arrested for sitting in an alley? "Why would I get arrested for sitting down in an alley?"

She took in his appearence, hazel-green eye's meeting his stoldily. He was cute, in a femine way, and his hair was a black color, much like her's. His voice was deep, not quite matching his face in her opinion, but he was being nice, so she decided to give him a chance, though not to much of one. "Anyway, I'm Mo--Mia, Mia Chandllet... A simple girl from Sandir... Ever heard of it?" OK, fine, it was an outright lie, giving the fine silk dress, beautifully carved flute, and richly made dagger, but she could lie about them if nessecary. "And you are?" Her light, soprano voice was pretty, but trust me, she wasn't as beautiful as she looked. Try looking on her back... But than again, you'll never see it, so what does she care!

[Anonymous]

He got to look up when she stood, which let his hair fall back when he shook it over his shoulder as a casual response to her pulling a knife on him.  "I guess anyone who'd ask that kind of a question truly is an outsider."  The head's shoulders shrugged, "Well, it just goes to show, at the very least, you're a very lucky outsider."  Nice was a debatable term.
"Hello, Mo'mia-mia Chandelier, you've walked yourself straight to a death sentence.  This kingdom, Connlaoth, hunts magic users.  Magic is both illegal and disdained by the general populace.  Simply knowing any form of magic is grounds for execution.  It was pretty noisy outside today, and while I don't have any inside knowledge on it, I'm guessing you were the cause.  No doubt some upstanding citizen has already reported you to the city guard, and your use of a healing spell just now has probably tripped all kinds of alarms meant to detect that kind of thing.  However, I did say you were a lucky outsider, obviously not privy to this information before, and I wasn't just playing around.  I'd be willing to help you, as I was an outsider once, myself.  Someone as pretty as you doesn't seem like the kind of person who deserves to be put to death by any number of unpleasant means, in my honest opinion.  They probably won't have an exact bead on your location at this point, since you've only used one spell to my knowledge, but it would be best if you took me up on my offer to get you out of sight for a time."  He shrugged again, all the while keeping his wry and possibly infuriating smirk, "Or you could always just stay out here and get caught.  Otherwise, I'd recommend you hop on over to my back door so no one sees me letting you into my house," he tilted his head toward the rear of the building.  "After all, people who know about mages and don't report them are added to death row along with the lousy magic user they tried to 'protect'.  I don't make up the laws, but I do so enjoy breaking the annoying ones."  His smirk grew into a full fledged grin that exposed all of his straight white teeth.

[Anonymous]

Well, he didn’t start flipping or acting all macho, so he hot point’s fer being such a good sport when she pulled the dagger. However, his next words made her scowl. ‘I guess anyone who'd ask that kind of a question truly is an outsider.’ He shrugged, and her scowl deepened as she heard the next part. ‘Well, it just goes to show, at the very least, you're a very lucky outsider.’ Of course nice wasn’t a debatable term, idjit. She was just being told by some stranger that she was an outsider, and lucky. It was up to her decide if she was truly lucky, so bite her.
 
’Hello, Mo'mia-mia Chandelier, you've walked yourself straight to a death sentence. This kingdom, Connlaoth, hunts magic users. Magic is both illegal and disdained by the general populace.’ Illegal? Than how do they heal or, protect the city against other magic wielders? ‘Simply knowing any form of magic is grounds for execution. It was pretty noisy outside today, and while I don't have any inside knowledge on it, I'm guessing you were the cause.’ Knowing it? What the freak? And yeah, she had done a little shape shifting, because she was trying to get as far away as possible from home at the time. ‘No doubt some upstanding citizen has already reported you to the city guard, and your use of a healing spell just now has probably tripped all kinds of alarms meant to detect that kind of thing. Screw the upstanding citizen, and damn them to the pit’s of hell! And it hurt! It was much easier to heal the wound then let it sit their, and she had nothing better to do, being very sensitive to wounds because of her back, but you don’t need to know that story. ’However, I did say you were a lucky outsider, obviously not privy to this information before, and I wasn't just playing around. I'd be willing to help you, as I was an outsider once, myself.’ Again, she would decide if she was the lucky one, thank you. And no, she didn’t know, as I said before bite her. Hey, but he’d be willing to help her, so that helped him break away her shield, a bit.

‘Someone as pretty as you doesn't seem like the kind of person who deserves to be put to death by any number of unpleasant means, in my honest opinion.’ She ignored the flirting, lifting an eyebrow but saying nothing, letting him go on. And since she didn’t know, why would they put her to death? And unpleasant ways… Food for thought. ‘They probably won't have an exact bead on your location at this point, since you've only used one spell to my knowledge, but it would be best if you took me up on my offer to get you out of sight for a time.’ She nodded, saying she only did one spell, the shape-shifting not counting in her mind, she just listened, busy mind thinking about the offer. He shrugged again, and her scowl, which had begun to slowly shrink deepened again as she noted his maddening smirk. Males, for goodness sakes. ‘Or you could always just stay out here and get caught. Otherwise, I'd recommend you hop on over to my back door so no one sees me letting you into my house. After all, people who know about mages and don't report them are added to death row along with the lousy magic user they tried to 'protect'. I don't make up the laws, but I do so enjoy breaking the annoying ones.’ No, she would rather not. The worst thing she needed was her step-father finding out she was still alive. Glancing back at the way he indicated, she stayed for a moment, her arm’s crossed, fingering her knife and listening. Serves him right for calling her a lousy magic user, if he did get killed, but then again, he was kinda cute. And a trouble-maker. He’s smirk changed to a grin, showing straight white teeth so infecting she couldn’t help but letting red lips part in a small smile of her own.

�I traveled as a shape shifter here, a wolf. My hair stayed green,� She touched her strands framing thin face, �And my staff and pack was on top. I looked weird.� Her voice, unlike before, was quieter, shyer, as she slowly turned into herself again. It wasn’t her fault her step-father made her this way, forced to stand up for herself. Suddenly she remembered Raven. But my horse… He’s still away a bit, `bout half a mile. He knows where I am, but he’ll attract attention to, being a draft horse, big and black…� The smile that had graced her face made her look far prettier than when she did before, with a scowl, but she doubted he would even glance her way. Being as cute as he was, he probably had lady fan’s falling over him.

Worrying about Raven, she slid around back and slipped in the door, being careful to make sure nobody saw her. She wasn’t new at sneaking out of places. Dashing inside, she found herself in a comfortable house, and walked with a cat-like tread down the floor, into a cozy kitchen/living room? Their was her savior, who’s name she still didn’t know. Giving a tiny curtesy, she spoke again. By the way, I still don’t have your name. Mine’s not Mo’mia-mia. It’s…� She paused, not sure what to tell him. Let’s go with Mia for right now, shall we? �Mia. And thank you.�

[Anonymous]

He would have said something about the horse, but she dashed to his back door.  He thought it a little rude of her to just let herself in, he would have opened it for her, but wrote it off as her just being in a hurry to get inside after everything he'd told her.  Noting the pause before saying her name again, he sighed and shook his head, "I'm not sure the reason for your lying about your name, but I'll play along, Mia.  I've never even heard of Sandir, if that's really where you're from, but if it makes you more comfortable to disguise your name, that's fine with me, as you are very welcome to stay here as long as you need."  He really did like it better when she smiled.  "I am Ginjou, Akayama Ginjou, but you may call me Gin, if that's easier.  As for your horse, I doubt he'll attract any attention at all compared to what you garnered.  If what you said is true, it took a bit of magic to get you from wolf to human form as well, so they'll be looking even harder for you.  Wolves wearing clothes are stranger than you'd think around here.  No, I'm more worried he'd attract attention to us.  I don't own a horse, and I'm not the most popular person in the neighborhood, so a horse showing up out of nowhere would point all kinds of unneeded fingers at me.  I will not be happy if it gets me put on the watch list.  Other than that, I've probably managed to single-handedly save you from the authorities.  Aren't I generous?" he asked with a flashy smile as he offered her a seat in his living room.