How much can one person do? (Draco)

[Anonymous]

Kalli sighed as she sat down in the grass like a child and let it tickle her bare toes. Thankfully it was pretty quiet around here today. Of course it was pretty quiet every day, barring the unusual. She needed time to think. What was it that was missing from her life? She had an independent streak, but even the most independent people sometimes got lonely. She looked up at the sky, at some birds flying with their mates, and sighed.

Not that she'd ever missed not falling in love, but she did kind of wonder what it was like. And just who wrote the unspoken rule that rangers of the forest worked alone? Kalli certainly would have liked some help with that fire the other day. She shuddered involuntarily as she remembered how much of her beloved forest had almost been destroyed. It would have been put out a lot faster if she'd had someone to help.

[Anonymous]

Valerian nudged his horses sides and clicked his tongue before the horse stopped dead and turned to glare at him, her dark eyes accusing and tired. Pushing a hand through his hair, Valerian stretched his arms up, gave a sigh and hopped off of Freya and began to walk, the black mare dwaddling behind him.

They went on for hours, the horses sides were heaving and Valerian could feel sweat drip down his back between his shoulder blades, his face was flushed and his hair was stuck to his face, it was past high noon and they'd been walking for hours.

His vision was blury and he leaned against a tree, watching Freya trod on ahead hovering by a woman sitting in the grass. A person. There was a person. Valerian let out a small gasp before he stumbled towards her, gave her a look and fell to his knees to pass out on the ground his face pressed against the cool ground in the shade of a tree, Freya hovering nearby munching on some high grass.

[Anonymous]

Kalli gasped as she saw the man fall to his knees and then pass out. She ran back to her hut, no more than a few feet away, and grabbed a bowl and a soft cloth. She then went to the lake and got some fresh water, tasting it a little herself before she decided it would be okay for him to drink. Her brown eyes were huge with surprise, and her long dark hair had come loose from its pins by the time she got back to the man, her hair flowing behind her in all its dark glory. The tunic she wore was a dark green velvet one that brought out the tiny glints of green in her dark eyes, though her feet, in her haste, were still bare.

"Come on..." Kalli whispered, bathing his neck. "Come on... wake up." She didn't have the strength to move him so that his face was towards her, or she would have. No one had died in the forest while she was on watch yet, and she wasn't about to have it happen now. She would throw the water on him if she had to. She tried again to roll him over, and though she sweated and heaved,couldn't. Frustrated, Kalli yanked the back of his shirt so the part his head went through was open and poured the water down it. If that didn't wake him up, nothing probably would! Then she immediately felt stupid for using all the water and ran quickly to the lake for some more. By the gods, she wished she had the ability to teleport right now!

Kalli, usually so lithe and in shape, was exhausted by the time she returned. But even though her chest was heaving, she refused to drink any water herself. Not until she saw if the man was all right. His horse, munching on some grass nearby, seemed almost too blissful to care about her owner's mishap.

[Anonymous]

The young runaway knight was panting slightly and his eyes fluttered when he heard a voice, felt cool on his neck, he twitched slightly and moved to draw his hands up. Then, he only felt cold, and he froze and jerked up, gasping quietly. The voice was gone and Valerian slowly got up on his hands and knees, the front of his white shirt sticking to his skin.

"Uh?" Then he looked over, and saw a woman, panting heavily. An angel? Was he dead? "Are you... Am I dead?"  Valerian sat back, eyeing the woman, blinking slowly.

[Anonymous]

"No. You're not dead," said Kalli gently. "Though I was worried you would be if I hadn't poured that water down your shirt. Here, have a drink," she offered, handing him the bowl of cool water. "See, you're alive. Your horse is right over there. My name is..." She paused for a moment. She usually just said Kalli, never her full name, but something about him told her he should know her full name and profession. Maybe so he could believe he wasn't dead.

"My name is Kallirrhoe Aedus. I'm a forest ranger here in Draconi. I have a heal spell, too. I'm half elf and half human. What's your name? Are you lost?"

[Anonymous]

Pressing a hand through his hair, he gave a small smile before pushing his arms into the air in a stretch, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth to call Freya to him, she perked her head up, wandered over behind him then resumed eating. Valerians brown eyes were gentle and slightly glazed as the woman spoke.

"Draconi? I'm in Adela?" Forest ranger? Valerian perked up, that meant she was hired by the country, did she have connections to the king? "Forest ranger, hmm? Do you have any connections to the King of Adela?" Another pause, "Oh! My name."

Valerian stood up, slightly shaky, the front of his pants wet from when she'd poured the water down his back. He bowed deeply, then turned up with a smile on his slightly sunburned face. "I'm Valerian Forseti, I'm a knight of Serendipity and while I'm lost, It's... so no one can find me." A small smile was on his lips and he reached over to kiss her hand. "Do you live out here all by yourself, Kallirrhoe?"

[Anonymous]

Her heart pounded when he kissed her hand. His lips felt so soft and gentle on it. She would remember that forever, even if no one else kissed her again.

"Most people call me Kalli. I have some connections with the king, but not as many as you'd think. My mother was a water nymph, and so I like it here, what with the lake and everything. The king was looking for someone to watch over this part of the forest, and I sort of volunteered, if that's the word. I do live by myself. Most of the time, it's not so bad, but I do wish I had some help. I narrowly avoided an awful fire the other day," she said, shivering. "It would have been so much easier to put out if I'd had help. Just because I'm half elf doesn't mean I can teleport or anything. But very few people even find this part of the forest. I've only met, maybe three others, and they were lost. So don't worry, Valerian. Whatever it is you're running from, no one would probably ever find you here."

Valerian. She did like the way his name sounded when she said it. It was fluid and sweet on her tongue, yet manly, almost like those old-world emperors Vespasian and Hadrian and the like.

[Anonymous]

Whatever was after him wouldn't be able to find him out here.

Well, that was nice.

Valerian stretched up, the shirt stuck to his front and he shivered. "Excuse me, miss. I... Excuse me." In one swift move, his shirt was up and off his chest and up and over a tree branch to dry. " I appreciate your help, really." He smiled looking over his shoulder. "I apologize for.. Being half undressed." His cheeks were a little red, having never been in such a state of undress in front of a woman.

"So... um... Miss.Kallirrhoe Is this work very hard?" A simple smile and he moved to sit down, his back still facing her, not wanting to taint her poor virgin eyes with his naked chest.

[Anonymous]

"It's all right," she whispered soothingly. "You couldn't help it. If anything, I'm to blame for that. I shouldn't have gotten you wet. It's just that I had no idea how else to make sure you woke up."

She paused. The work. Was the work very hard? She thought carefully for a minute before she answered.

"It depends on the day. Most days, nothing goes wrong, but if something does, I can't always stop it. That's the hardest of all... not being able to help people and animals if something threatens their safety, like a fire or a storm or a tornado. It's during those times I could use help. Like another helping hand to get water if there's a fire and whatnot. I swear by the gods, just because I'm half elf, nearly everyone expects me to be able to stop every disaster by sheer willpower!"

[Anonymous]

Valerian paused and rose an eyebrow, carefully looking around before turning around and tilting his head to the side, curious.

Tornado?

"You get tornado's here? But, there are so many mountains around. Oh, of course, mages with wind magic." Valerian smiled sheepishly before rubbing his palm against the middle of his chest, wincing before he sat down. Blinking at her, facing her now as Freya, his horse, wandered back over to nuzzle at his head, his hand went up to pet the black mare and lean slightly. "I'm sure they don't expect that of you, Miss. Kallirrhoe. The Commander of the Adelan Armies is a half elf from what I remember, I don't believe the King expects her to be able to make forest fires dissapear with the slightest hand wave. And if he doesn't expect that from his Commander he surely doesn't expect that of you."

Valerian smiled, an attempt to make the situation one where the poor woman wasn't pitying herself for her situation. The run away knight was almost sure campers weren't stupid enough to let the fire burn into the trees around them, it would spell their death. Trackers could follow fire spots. Lightning? He looked up and around. No it was far too green for that.

"You're just exaggerating." His voice took on a teasing tone and he turned his gaze back to the mare, nuzzled at her nose with his forehead.

[Anonymous]

"Not about the fires, or the tornadoes. There was a fire quite recently, a few months ago. Forty trees and their nymphs died," she said, her voice flat. She really felt like crying, but she could never bring herself to. Horrible as they were, such things were a part of life, even if she had been friends with some of those nymphs. "Not all fires are started by humans. Some are started by ignorant mages who want to test their power, and some are started by lightning, or are brush fires. I may be exaggerating about what everyone expects of me," she admitted. "But some days I really do feel as if I can't breathe. It's an overwhelming job, having to care for a whole forest by yourself."

She turned her attention to happier subjects, like his horse.
"She's very friendly, isn't she?" she asked, reaching to stroke the velvety nose.