"I am. My father moved there when he was just 18 to train and become a knight for the kingdom. He met my mother and settled down in the kingdom with her. While I've traveled to other cities and towns in the kingdom, there's not one I'd rather call home than Gennovia." A faint smile lifted the corners of Ash's mouth as he spoke of his hometown.

As the two came to a stop at the signpost Ash looked towards the seemingly peaceful forest before looking back at Vivian beside him. "There has been word that the forest has grown dangerous lately. Creatures that normally stay hidden and don't bother humans have been causing trouble for travelers. We will have to be weary when traveling these woods." Ash warned Vivian before they entered into the woods. As they began the walk through, the faint melody of birds could be heard in the treetops above them as light filtered in through the thick leaves that created a canopy over their heads. Ancient trees had laid their roots near the path that led through the forest, some growing over onto the path as they stretched out searching for nutrients. Various plants had flourished in the wooded area covering the ground with a thick cover of plant life, most of them not dangerous for the two travelers. "It's been some time since I've been to Fennire, but the woods still feels familiar to me. I used to come here to train often when I just became a knight." Ash spoke quietly not wanting to disrupt the peace.

Vivian smiled happily at his answer, and how he smiled while he recounted the memory of his mother and father. That smile when away when she looked to the forest as Ashton mentioned the animals attacking travelers. She couldn't help but wonder why, but she figured that there was no point in asking because Ashton might not know either. She smiled at his quiet comment about training in this forest as a knight, and at the peaceful scenery around them.

After a while of walking through the forest, the both of them soon came across a man wearing a black cloak. The man smirked at the both of them and he stated to Ashton, "Such a nice day for a walk, especially for a nice couple," He continued, reaching his hand out towards Ashton, "For this fine day, I'm willing to give you a nice deal. Allowing you to continue onwards, for a small special fee of 5 Yukkas, and some time with your girl" Vivian thought she heard a twig snap somewhere nearby and she looked around cautiously.

Ash thought for sure they were in the clear, their walk had been rather calming and uneventful. His hopes were dashed however when the cloaked figure stepped out of the woods into their line of sight. As they approached the figure, Ash moved himself so he was in front of Vivian. When the man spoke, Ash's hand moved to the hilt of his sword; while violence wasn't the first answer, Ash quickly realized this man was lacking in the morals department. The nearby snapping alerted him that there was possibly someone else nearby as well, however Ash didn't let that draw his attention from the man in front of them. "You had best step back and rethink that request. You're not getting any Yukkas from me, and you will not lay a finger on the woman." Ash spoke in a sharp tone as his blue gaze narrowed dangerously. He drew his sword from its thresh and waited for the man to either reconsider and flee or fight him. "Walk away bandit, while you can still walk." Ash warned gripping the hilt of his sword tightly.

The bandit sighed, and answered as he took out his dagger "Ah...such a pity," He then whistled and Vivian looked to see that she and Ash are both surrounded by bandits dressed like the bandit who spoke to Ash, all are armed and ready to attack. Vivian tensed and fished her pepper spray out of her backpack, and raised her arms ready to fight if any of the bandits came after her. The main bandit finished "I'm afraid your tax has increased. Attack!" The bandits all shouted and rushed towards the both of them. Half of the bandits ran for Ashton and attempted to attack him, while the other half surrounded Vivian.

The bandits surrounding Ashton stood around him in a circle at first before the leading bandit that spoke to Ashton before called out "Okay, men! Together now!" They all then bum rushed at Ashton, every single one of them charging towards Ashton and ready to swing their daggers at him.

Vivian glared at the bandits as they chuckled at how she seemed so ready to fight them off, even though they had daggers, and she didn't seem to have a weapon at all. One bandit joked as he slowly approached her, "Now, now, Missy. Come with us quietly, and we won't hurt you. We can show you a better time than that stuck up guy you're with. He probably doesn't know how to show you a good time," The other bandits laughed, but stopped when Vivian raised the pepper spray to eye level, and she growled "I'm warning you...back off!" The joking bandit laughed at her threat and her choice of weapon, and continued approaching her. He reached out to grab her wrist and he cooed "Oh, now don't be like that-" Vivian's glare hardened and she sprayed the pepper spray. After she had done so, the bandit screamed loudly as he fell down and had his hands over his eyes, "AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!! OH MY GODS! OH MY GODS! MY EYES!!!" The bandits looked to Vivian hesitantly, clearly questioning whether they should attack her or not.

Ash stood straight glancing around as the other bandits dropped around Vivian and himself. In total there appeared to be ten bandits now, five on him and the other five on Vivian. A small smirk toyed with the corner of his mouth; while he was supposed to protect Vivian, he hadn't been in an outnumbering fight in a while. Ash placed his sword in front of him ready to block the attacks.

As the leader commenced the attack on him Ash watched as the five men rushed him with their daggers drawn. Quite obviously outnumbered Ash knew he would have to pay close attention or pay a devastating price. His booted foot suddenly made contact with one of the bandit’s stomach, as he threw a hard kick in one direction sending that bandit to the ground clutching his gut. Ash then brought his free hand up causing it to collide with another bandit’s face as he tried to take advantage of the position Ash stood in. It ended badly for the bandit as he was knocked to the ground as well.

Ash turned his attention to the remaining three bandits but he didn’t have much time to react to their next attack. The leader of the group lunged at him his dagger arching sideways through the air as he tried to slice the knight. Ash shifted his footing to the right trying to avoid a deep slice into his side, knowing that he would have to take a little bit of a hit in order to bounce back. The blade of the dagger bit slightly into him, causing a small slice on his left side just below his ribcage. While he had been expecting the blow and had dodged the worst of it, it was the sharp stabbing and stinging sensation around the wound that caused him to worry. ”His blade is laced with poison! If he stabs one of us… it’s all over.” Ash realized as he looked to Vivian now as the men tried to approach her, she stood in a position like she was going to defend herself, but she had no weapon that he could see. He couldn’t focus on her fight for too long however as one of the other bandit lackeys lunged at him. This one Ash easily stepped back from and brought his long sword upwards, catching the blade of the dagger and knocking it from the bandit’s hand as he lost his balance from the force of the swords blow. Ash took the chance to kick the man in the face and send him back near the other bandits he had knocked out.

Then there were two. The two remaining bandits circled Ash, the leader of the group smirking widely knowing that he had manage to injure the knight a little bit, and the longer the fight kept on the weaker he would become. Suddenly the ear piercing scream that came from the bandit that had tried to approach Vivian drew both Ash’s and the leader’s attention over. Ash watched the man withering in pain on the ground trying to process what the woman had done to him. Deciding taking action was better than asking questions at that point Ash slashed his sword horizontally at the leader’s stomach, hoping his blade would catch the man and leave a somewhat deep slice across his stomach to render the man immobile. As Ash tried to fight back the situation turned worse, as a loud feline like howl echoed through the woods. It was the sound of a Hystop, a feline like creature, similar in appearance to a bobcat, with a spotted coat similar to that of a jaguar. They were quite territorial with other animals but tended to avoid humans, except for lately. Much like the other creatures that suddenly turned violent that Hystop that lived in these woods had as well, and it sounded like the bandit’s scream had alerted it to the human presents in the woods.

Vivian and the bandits looked towards the sound after it resounded through the woods. Vivian and the bandits looked to each other briefly, and the bandits seemed to have a look of fear of in their eyes.
The bandits didn't even try to go after Vivian again. They grabbed their fallen comrades and hurried away calling to the other bandits "Fall back! Fall back!" Vivian blinked in confusion as they ran, before she went over to Ashton, to check on him and to get the both of them away from the area.

However, before she could even ask anything or move, the Hystop appeared. Vivian saw that the creature resembled a hybrid between a bobcat and a jaguar. She saw that the creature was hissing and spitting angrily as it directed its attention to her. Vivian didn't know what to do. It was a big cat, but she had no idea how to protect herself against big cats. She wasn't given much time to think about how either, as the Hystop pounced at her and tackled to her to the ground, causing her to yelp. She shouted as she tried to shield her neck from the bobcat's jaws with her right arm, and left hand.

Ash watched as the lead bandit took off running as well not wanting to tangle with the Hystop himself. He would consider it a saving grace as that man's blade was more dangerous right now then the creature. As Ash watched Vivian turn towards him, it was in just a split second that he also saw the feline creature jump between them; he mentally gave a growl when rather than attacking him, a weakened target, it turned it's attention towards Vivian to go after her. He rushed towards them now with his sword drawn as the Hystop raised it's big paw to attack her and get at her neck. Ash's sword arched upwards to meet the Hystop's paw before it could land on her arm. The creature was thrown off of her from the impact, quickly rolling back over onto it's feet hissing and spitting at Ash now as he stood over the woman, his sword held in front of him to block the creature.

With his breathing slightly labored Ash watched as the Hystop began to circle them, it's cold yellow eyes glaring at Ash as he stood between it and it's prey. It lunged at them now as Ash slashed his blade in front of the creatures face to push it back again. He felt the blade connect with the creature, as it howled in pain and jumped back. Ash saw a small gash across the Hystop's nose arching up over it's left eye. Ash stepped forward now from where he stood over Vivian, as he put himself between her and the feline which growled angrily at him. Hopefully the bites of his blade would be enough to drive the creature off, he didn't really want to kill it but if it gave him no option then he would.

The cat paced back and forth in front of him before lunging at him again, Ash brought his sword up to block the leap, he felt a single claw connect just by his right eye but it wasn't anything to phase him as the cat was thrown sideways, the sharp blade slicing across it's underside. The feline slumped slightly on the ground before getting up slowly. It roared weakly at the human who had injured it before bounding off into the woods. Ash listened for a few moments to make sure it had left, then quickly threshed his sword making his way quickly over to Vivian kneeling down next to the woman. "My lady Vivian are you alright? Are you hurt at all?" he asked in a worried tone as he looked over her, looking for injuries and waiting for a response.

Vivian widened her eyes and gasped as she saw that the paw was going to come down and slash at her neck. Before she even knew it, the large cat creature was knocked off of her, and she looked to see that Ashton was the one who saved her life. She sat still, shocked and still in a bit of a daze from the attack as she saw Ashton fight off the large cat. Soon enough the creature was driven away, and the scenery around the both of them was silent for a few moments. She looked to Ashton when he approached her and she answered after he asked "I-I'm okay, I think..." She noticed a few stings of pain, and she noticed that she had a few scratches, but she didn't think that they were anything too serious.

She looked to him and she asked, noticing that his breath was labored and heavy, "What about you? Are you alright?" She stood up and she looked at him to see if there were any wounds.

When she gave an answer Ash felt himself release a small sigh, he hadn't been aware he had been holding his breath waiting to hear her speak. He stood to his feet as she did and felt the small gash near his right eye that the Hystop had managed to give him. It wasn't deep but there was blood flowing freely from it as he pulled his hand away to see his fingertips tinged with blood, but it didn't appear serious. As he winced slightly the thing that really worried him, although he tried not to let the worry show on his face, was the small thin gash on his left side. The wound stung with every movement and there seemed to be a dull throbbing coming from it, the skin felt heated and tender.

"It's nothing too serious my lady. A small injury from one of the thieves blades and a gash from the hystop, the creature that attacked us. I should be able to get healed once we make it to the temple in Fennire. Neither one of them appear serious though." Ash tried to assure Vivian he was fine as she looked him over. The knight tried to keep his breathing steady, just to keep up the facade so Vivian wouldn't know he was probably more injured than he was letting on. "If you're certain you are alright, we should get moving. With the hystop gone, I'm worried the bandits might return here looking to finish what they started." Ash spoke as he started walking again.

Vivian noticed the small gash and how it bled, but she didn't panic over it. The wound on the side of his abdomen had her attention, which was red with irritation. She couldn't help but get the feeling that Ash wasn't alright and that he was lying about how he really was. She looked to him after he spoke, and she nodded in agreement answering "Yeah. Let's hurry then," She held his arm and made sure it was around her shoulders, just in case he was going to collapse to the ground. After doing so, she hurried off down the path with Ashton.

Soon enough they reached the town of Fennire, without much incident after the incident with the bandits and Hystop. After entering the town, she asked Ashton "Where can we find the doctor....er, healer?" She had no idea as to whether this place had doctors here or not.

Ash watched as the woman eyed him, taking in his injuries for herself. Trying to make himself seem alright as best that he could he was surprised when Vivian wrapped his arm around her shoulder letting him use her for support. He was extremely nervous and more than just a little uncomfortable but he let her continue to support him without argument.

Thankfully Fennire was close by once they exited the forest. Even the short walk to the area outside the forest seemed to sap his strength. Taking a deep breath he focused on walking trying to ignore the heat creeping into his cheeks, not sure if it was from the poison or if it was from Vivian supporting him. As they walked silently Ash felt the hair on the back of his neck prickle with awareness. Glancing back behind them he didn't see anyone but he still felt as though they were being watched by something. He passed the feeling off for now, attributing it to the fact that he was trying his hardest to fend off the poison.

By the time they had entered the city Ash was allowing himself to lean a little bit more on Vivian his side actually giving him a little bit of pain at this point as he tried to ignore it. The color of his face had also paled but only slightly. When Vivian spoke, he looked at the woman before looking around at the small city. It was very small compared to Gennovia and the temple should have been easy to find. As Ash's eyes scanned over the buildings he paused on one before raising his hand to point at it. "Do you see that building?" he said in a tone barely louder than a whisper trying to conserve his energy, the building he was pointing to was a white brick style building that was just about the tallest building in the city. It had a cathedral type feel to it from outside appearances. "We need to go there, you can talk to the Elder Sage there... and the sage's helpers should be able to check me out." He murmured pausing in the middle of his sentence as a lightheaded feeling washed over him, before he forced his words out.

The two of them made their way towards the building. Ash watched as it came closer into view and felt himself relieved that they were almost there. Once they made it to the dark wooden door that was the entrance to the temple, Ash used his free hand to push the door open with all the strength he could muster as he and Vivian entered the sacred building. The entry room they entered was rather spacious but it was nothing in comparison to the room in front of them. The high vaulted ceilings seem to reach up to the sky and the single glass window in the room allowed the sunlight to filter in, the window itself decorated with an image of the priestess who led them. A small alter was located in the center of the room, there in the middle of meditation sat an older woman. She was probably in her late 30's or early 40's, her ebony black hair was long and straight, and held up in a half bun on the top of her head.

As the two entered the woman stood in a quick, graceful motion to her feet before looking over at who had decided to enter into the sacred building. Her light green eyes fell onto Vivian and lingered there, but it seemed as if she were looking through her and not at her as her gaze appeared distant for a moment before returning to the present. They then shifted to Ash who was trying to force himself to stand straight, she noticed the pale color of his face, his labored breathing as he tried to keep his mind clear, and the faint bloodstain that came through the leather vest he adorn. The woman bowed her head in greeting to her guests her arms opening up in warm welcome. "Welcome to the temple of Fennire my guests. Please allow my humble assistants to tend to the injuries the young man has... and I sense you have business with me." She directed her attention to Vivian her green eyes glittering with ancient knowledge as she took note of the woman's appearance, quite sure that she didn't belong here. "Rura... did you really succeed where most have failed?" the woman thought silently to herself as she could sense the man's aura near, even if he wasn't there.

Two of the temples assistants came and gently took Ash from Vivian's arms. He looked back at the woman and tried to give her a small, reassuring smile. "I'll be ready to go soon, don't worry." He called out in a low tone. The two assistants escorted him out of the room, into a side room where they could tend to his wounds.

Vivian looked towards where Ashton was pointing to see the large white brick building, and she strained her hearing to catch what Ashton whispered. She nodded and said "Got it! Hang in there..." She hurried over to the building and before she could open the door, Ashton already did so for her. She entered the building and she saw the woman at the alter in the room. She took in the beautiful details of the temple that reminded her of Notre Dame. She looked to Ashton when his breathing became even more labored, and she looked to the woman when she stood up and welcomed them with open arms.

She allowed the assistants to take Ashton off of her, and lead her to the side room. She nodded to Ashton when he called to her in a low tone, before she turned her attention back to the woman. She said to the woman "Thank you for helping Ashton," She then said as she started fishing out the letter and crystal Rura gave her, and she continued "You're right...Rura sent me," She handed the letter to the woman as she told her that Rura sent her.

Once Ash was sure he was out of her sight, he felt himself slump slightly against the two that were carrying him. He heard voices but couldn't tell what they were saying, although he could tell they were male and female at the very least. He jerked slightly when he felt a hand press against his forehead. "He's definitely got a fever, and judging from his sudden collapse, probably fatigue too." the woman's voice spoke in a soft tone as she and the man adjusted how they were carrying him. The two placed Ash on a cot to see just what was afflicting the man. "It was a bandits blade...poison..." he murmured trying to help their efforts glad for the opportunity to lay down. One of the two was trying to take off his vest to get at the injury better.

---

The woman watched as Vivian began digging through her bag for something. She gave a puzzled look at the Soul Crystal wondering just what Rura had planned, looking at the letter the woman presented to her she took it and opened the envelop looking at Vivian's name written on the parchment as well as the symbol. The woman passed her hand over the symbol and her eyes seemed to glaze over for a moment as she attained the information hidden within the symbol. Blinking her eyes a few times the woman looked over to Vivian and gave a small smile. "I am the Elder Sage Elvira. The symbol on this paper contains a lot of information, most of it pertaining to you and your situation here Vivan. I suppose Rura wanted to make this easy on you so you wouldn't have to explain your story every time you came to us." Elvira spoke in a calm tone as she looked back down at the paper.

It seemed that Rura didn't tell the woman everything, Vivian felt a little guilty sending the woman on a journey she assumed was just to get her home. Mentally debating with herself the woman was interrupted when one the assistants that left with the man returned to the room to speak with her. He walked over and looked at the Elder Sage before bowing his head and speaking in a low tone so that only Elvira could hear him. She gave a nod of her head before looking back to Vivian. "I understand you need me to transfer my energy into the crystal for you so you can continue. However before I pass on my energy I would ask that you stay here for the night, your companion probably didn't let on how injured he was in whatever fight happened before you got here. My assistants have been able to help him with their healing skills, but he still needs a night of rest to recover from the fatigue." Elvira spoke as she returned the envelope to Vivian. She needed time to prepare to transfer her energy anyways, just so Vivian didn't know what the price was for the energy transfer. She had a feeling Rura had done the same thing in order to protect the young woman from guilt.

"If you would follow me, I can show you to a room you can use. If you are hungry as well I can have some food brought to you." Elvira offered as she led Vivian off down a hallway that branched off from the side of the main room. Down the hallway were some rooms used by those who visited the temple and needed a place to stay over night. The rooms were very simple, each one containing a cot to sleep on with a simple blanked and pillow. A basin to wash up with, and two lanterns in opposite corners of the room. As Elvira showed Vivian one of the rooms she looked at the woman. "Would you like me to have something to eat brought to you?"

---

Ash sat up on the edge of the cot where the assistants had left him. His side was bandaged up, they hadn't bothered doing more than putting a salve on the gash on his head from the hystop. It had taken a lot of their energy and magic but the man and woman assured him that the poison from the blade should have been drawn out of his system. The fatigue he felt however was not something they could heal, and he would have to rest in order to help with that. Hearing that made Ash feel guilty. He knew they would have needed to rest and get food somewhere tonight but if he hadn't gotten hit by the blade they could have kept on moving and rested at a nearby inn.

Ash hesitantly tried to step on his feet, not sure just how fatigued he was. He stood and felt okay at least to stand and walk. He moved around the room a bit to make sure that he wasn't going to collapse. Moving over to the door he opened it hoping he could at least locate Vivian and apologize to her for making her have to wait on him.