Chaos And Healing, An Odd Encounter {SanctifiedSavage!}

[HeartOfFlame]

Kanimir moved with quick efficiency, striding through the rows of clothing to select a few shirts like what he was already wearing, trousers, and a spare cloak. He stuffed all of the items into another bag he had collected on his way through the door, pausing as he turned to return to Keithia and pulling another, dark brown cloak off the rack. It was an earthy colour, only slightly darker than his skin. Keithia might need it, depending where and when their travels took them.

Returning to the entranceway, he had to smother a chuckle as he saw the nymph holding up a pair of tunics alike to what she wore, more dresses than shirts on her small frame. He held out the bag he carried, letting her tuck them in with the other clothes, before tying it shut and hanging it off the opposite shoulder as his other bag, positioned to fall behind his back rather than across his hip. Their supplies set, he reached for the circular holster strapped to his lower back, unbuckling the simple cinch with a deft movement of his fingers and drawing the silver disc from it.



His Chakram caught the light, sunshine reflecting off the polished silver metal and throwing reflections on the walls around them. A smile pulled at his lips, something warm and fuzzy in his chest at the sight of the trusty blade. It, more than any sentient being, had been his trusted companion and confidante almost since he left La'Marri. It, he could trust not to let him down. With vigilant care and a little love, it never would.

Ignorant of how it might appear to the innocent nymph at his side, he held the weapon up, letting the light catch it at different angles, and ran a feather light touch over its edge, searching for scratches, nicks or bends in the smooth metal. It was flawless, the circular blade as smooth as the golden grip beneath his palm, and he slid it effortlessly back into its holster and clipped the cinch, turning his gaze to Keithia.

"Ready to go?" Most likely a redundant question, but some small sliver of the manners his father had taught him still held on these thirty decades later.

@SanctifiedSavage

[SanctifiedSavage]

Keithia watched him shove more things in the bag, idly wondering if she should have her own. The nymph didn't want him carrying things that were specifically meant for her if she could carry her own – but she also didn't want to ask for something to carry them in if it was easier to bring one bag.

She'd have to see how it went and maybe she could carry it sometimes. Share the load, as it were. With her second apple gone while he was picking up the last of his things, she idly licked her fingers clean while he studied some weird metal circle... thing. Keithia didn't have much frame of reference for what it was, only that it seemed important.

Not wanting to bother Kanimir while he did so, she didn't ask. Just watched. The whole point of this was to be as unobtrusive as possible not pester him with every thought that popped into her mind. When he asked if she was ready to go, Keithia nodded as she took a bit of the pear. The where didn't matter to her. One destination was as good as any other right now. Knowing nothing, she literally had no opinion. Even if he were to describe a place, she only had two points of reference.

Well, three now. Her home, this city, and his house. Unless he was going to start comparing things to her time during captivity, being hauled away from her home to the city. Most of which she'd spent bound and blindfolded.

So, new experiences to create new references would be the best course of action. She offered Kanimir a small smile, to appear encouraged. It didn't match her dark gray eyes and didn't linger, but the nymph was excited to go, even if she was also a little anxious. She was placing an tremendous amount of trust in a person she'd only known for a day – but he'd also freed her. It wouldn't follow that he'd only do so to sell her off again.

At least, that wasn't the feeling she got from his home, either.

@HeartOfFlame

[HeartOfFlame]

Kanimir moved back through the house with the ease of someone who knew the layout well, walking at a leisurely pace that was somehow still brisk. A few members of the household were beginning to rise, passing them in the hallway, and he made sure to offer each a brief wave or word of greeting. They were used to him coming and going like this, little more than a shadow some days, flitting in and out in the space of an hour, or alternatively staying for a week or more. By now, they were used to it, and yet they still greeted him just as warmly when next he returned.

A smile playing on his lips, he stepped out into the courtyard, squinting as the sun, now risen above the city skyline, shone in his eyes, bright and bold. Lifting the hood of his cloak and hefting the straps of the criss-crossed packs over his shoulders, he started walking, the soft patter of Keithia's footsteps just a foot behind.

He didn't have a specific destination in mind, though he had heard things about a developing situation in Adela between a few high lords. Could be a source for his more exotic work. But there was always a call for mercenaries, be it as a bodyguard, turf war soldier, or some other mockery of a decent cause. Perhaps, it would be better to start with something like that. He did have a companion to consider now, and as much as he told himself he didn't care, never had, there was something in him that was reluctant to expose Keithia, sweet and innocent as she was, to the true world he lived in.

For now, he just wanted to get out of Connloath. Technically, both of them were magic users, and the state of things for mages of any description had hardly improved in the last ten years. If anything, it had gotten worse. So; to get out of Uthlyn, then cut through the Sirantil Valley and cross the border through the mountains.

Simple.

@SanctifiedSavage

[SanctifiedSavage]

Keithia followed him dutifully, her eyes trained on him. Not because she thought she might lose him, but because the house itself held no interest to her. One mortal home was much the same to her and, since they were leaving, she didn't see the point in attempting to remember any more of the layout. If, or when, they returned that would be something she'd worked on then.

The nymph was more of a in the moment girl.

As they stepped out into the courtyard, Keithia stood just off to his side. A step behind him. She finished her pear, stem, seeds, and all. She peered around, as though hoping to find they were just somewhere else. But no. The city was beyond.

She quietly licked her hands clean of the fruit juice while she pattered after him. Her attention remained on Kanimir, now more so in the hopes no one else would look at her. Trusting him to take her wherever. Some place better than the city.

@HeartOfFlame

[HeartOfFlame]

The streets were still mostly empty at this early hour, and Kanimir moved with confidence through the relative maze of Uthlyn's middle district. He glanced back every so often to ensure Keithia was keeping pace, but it was more out of reflex than an actual worry she would not be able to keep up. Something told him she was tougher than she appeared.

They moved through the city easily, little to bar their way, and were nearing the gates by the time people began to fill the streets. A soft noise of annoyance escaped Kanimir then, as they neared the exit from the city and the noise of the mob of comers and goers that seemed to congregate around the gates hit his ears. A frown pulled at his features as well; apparently they had missed the window of opportunity for a clean getaway.

Resigned to their fate but still determined to get out at that moment, rather than wait for the mob to thin, he sucked back a step and stretched out his hand to Keithia, looking back to meet her gaze with his own solid one. "Take my hand, and don't let go till we're out." He said simply, before stepping out of the side street they had been travelling on and moving into the crush of moving bodies.

At the very least, the crowd made it easy to slip through unnoticed, the pair of them blending in as nothing more than a pair of travellers going on their way. Which, at this point, they were. But, Kanimir hadn't gotten this far in life, in this line of work, by being reckless. It was a slow grind, pushing through the sea of bodies and smells and the occasional traders' wagon, the itch to just Riven them all racing beneath his skin more than once, but eventually, finally, they emerged in the open air of the Sirantil Valley. Paths and roadways stretched out before them, a dozen different directions converging on the gates, while in the distance forests rose up from the valley of green and brown and, beyond that, mountains poked their heads towards the horizon.

Kanimir breathed in deeply, letting his eyes close briefly and inhaling the clean air.

"Welcome back to the outdoors."

@SanctifiedSavage

[SanctifiedSavage]

Keithia wasn't excited to get into the press of people. It reminded her too much of the travel in the slavers wagon, pressed up against so many bodies. No room to move, the overwhelming smell of... of well, everything. Surrounded by people drenched in fear and sweat and unable to relieve themselves for the entire journey anywhere besides where they were.

It'd been a nightmare.

Much like all the other terrible things in Keithia's past, though, it only resurfaced if she thought about it. So, promptly, she focused on what was happening now. On the feel of Kanimir's hand wrapped around her own and how best to navigate the crowd without getting her feet stepped on. It still happened, but that was a nice way of keeping her from dwelling too much on anything.

Her free hand lifted to try and keep her antlers from snagging on anything or clipping anyone. That still happened too. Every time she bumped someone, the snapped at her and Keithia winced. Not because their voice bothered her or that she was sorry, but because the antlers were sensitive and it hurt her when it happened. Not enough she couldn't go on, but it was a stinging pain through the top of her head.

By the time they were out of the crowd and beyond the gate, there was a headache blossoming along the top of her skull and she gingerly rubbed at the top of her head, between her antlers. She missed the first part of their freedom, the thinning of the people just outside the gate and the eventually branching of the road out into the valley beyond. It wasn't until he expressly said something that Keithia slow blinked to take it all in.

Something beyond the city, where she wasn't in shackles. Chained up. Confined.

The rank of the city still swelled and pressed at her back, but it was still nice to see space beyond. To have the world open up before her. Compared to how oppressive the city had been since she'd been in it – rooms, cages – this was... Keithia rubbed at her eyes and smiled, glancing at Kanimir. A sky with no buildings to block it, a horizon with no structure to obscure it.

Keithia wasn't sure she'd see it again and hadn't realized how much she'd missed it. It was an effort not to run from him then and just lose herself. That'd probably result in her being caught again. The nymph needed to be smart now that she was in a human country, but even so... It was nice. Beyond that, lovely.

@HeartOfFlame

[HeartOfFlame]

Kanimir returned her smile with one of his own, the look of pure joy on her face at being back in the freedom of the open world somewhat infectious. He hooked his thumbs under the criss-crossed straps across his shoulders and hiked the bags they held slightly higher on his frame, before sweeping one arm out towards the path they would follow to reach the border.

"Shall we?"

@SanctifiedSavage

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