[color=9e0b0f] [h3]Alarand[/h3] [b]The Reaver[/b]
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“Ah, but it is the perfect place to find some peace and quiet- Can’t you feel the solitude soaking into your soul?” Alarand felt his the muscles in his legs and arms relax when the red-haired woman lowered her bow, part of him wondering how much control he really had over himself. It was hard to separate instinct and [i]the beast[/i] from eachother, and the two often acted in concert when danger was involved. This pleasant conversation was enough to sate the monster, for now. He twitched when she moved suddenly, turning sideways to make himself a smaller target, his hand twitching. The smile on the woman’s face at the death shriek of the animal made him slightly less sure of this working out. 

[b]“Would you care to join me for breakfast?”[/b]
 
A decent offer, if dangerous. She had already passed up a chance to plant an arrow in his back though. On the other hand, he was cutting the meeting date close. They were supposed to gather at the entrance tonight. Though, as far as he knew, not many had been sent. His orders were to explicitly avoid combat unless strictly necessary. For good reason, [/color][i][color=ed1c24]of course.[/color][/i][color=ff9999] He wouldn’t be doing much unless things went very wrong. It shouldn’t hurt to risk being a bit late to the party. They could leave early to get there directly after eating, with half a day to spare. “We’ll see if you think the same when I tell you where we are going.” Alarand shook his head at her smile. She was going to be stuck with them, at least until the mission was over. It wouldn’t be good for word of Inquisitors to hit the area, just before they went in.[/color]

[color=0072bc] [h3]Asha’ren[/h3] [b]The Guide[/b]
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Asha shrugged. "As long as you have coin I don't much care where you're going." She put her bow over her shoulder and drew a dagger, crouching to quickly field dress their breakfast. "For now the Coast is my home, such as it is. So as long as you'll pay me for my help, I'm happy to get you wherever you need to go." She wiped the gore off her hunting knife onto the wet grass and buried the entrails in the mud before similarly cleaning off her hands and slipping her knife back into her boot. "But let's discuss this over a hot meal, that's how business is best discussed, in a warm room with a full belly. My cave will have to suffice."[/color]

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"If you say so, then I have no qualms with that." Alarand shrugged, spraying a bit of water. "Lead the way." There were going to be consequences with getting her involved though. It wasn't something he quite wanted to decide in the moment though. Uprooting another's life wasn't a small matter, [/color][i][color=ed1c24]I of all people have to respect that.[/color][/i][color=ff9999] This wasn't exactly a safe mission either. A good part of him was turning towards the option of just getting some pointers and heading off. The clearing was near one of the larger entrances to the cave systems, so he should only have to follow the forest along the mountain one way or another to find it. "I am afraid you might have to wait a bit on the pay though, since my last trip I have avoided taking much more than a handful of coins in my purse at a time." He had thought she was a bandit at first, and it was still a possibility now, though she seemed genuine. Best to make it known before it was a problem, anyway. "But I can make sure you are compensated, if we rejoin my companions later on."[/color]

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Asha frowned slightly then turned and led the way to the cave. "I can't say I like the idea of working on commission." The frankness of her words seemed not to match with the calm tone she used. She could see him tense slightly and shook her head. "I won't roll you for whatever coin you have and leave you dead. I won't even leave you out here to fend for yourself. I'll help you, but that doesn't mean I have to like it." She led the way through the tall grass, leading them on a circuitous route just in case he attacked and she had to flee. While she was willing to help someone in over their head, she certainly wasn't stupid enough to lead them to her cave without taking [i] some [/i] precautions.[/color]

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“Bring me to a fire, and I’ll cut off my pockets and [i]give[/i] them to you.” Alarand brushed his wet hair out of his face. It was becoming long again. He eyed the trees around them, an intermixing of pine and spruce. Next time he set out on a journey, he was going to pack a spare set of clothing. His long clung to his arms, restricting movement, and his boots sloshed with each step. Occasional, he could even feel some suction. [/color][i][color=ed1c24]It feels like pulling a mace out of a corpse.[/color][/i][color=ff9999] In all honesty, even if he had arrived at the clearing, if no one had been there the rest of the group might have met around a grave at nightfall. Alarand jerked to a stop, blinking. He needed to avoid negative thoughts. [/color][i][color=ed1c24]It[/color][/i] [color=ff9999]was slowly embracing his mind, insidiously. “Well, it could be worse.” He spoke a bit louder than was necessary. “At least it isn’t snowing!” [/color]][i][color=ed1c24]Yet.[/color][/i] [color=ff9999]Alarand quickly switched topics, weather was a bad one. “It’s good to see another free elf. There aren’t enough of us around.”[/color]

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"I'm not an elf. Not fully anyway." Asha said. "My mother was human." She stopped speaking suddenly, not sure why she was sharing her life story with this elf she'd just met. "Don't ruin our luck. I've seen snow out here on the Coast, and if you think this is miserable, you really don't know the meaning of the word. Here we are." Asha pushed aside a few branches and revealed the entrance to a cave. She went in first, and immediately started tending the fire, feeding small pieces of dried wood that she'd set inside several days ago. Once she had the fire going again she turned to Alarand. "Make yourself comfortable and I'll be right back." Without waiting for him to respond she left the cave and disappeared into the surrounding trees.

Asha took a small hatchet from her pack and cut several branches of varying lengths before cleaning the bark off the smaller ones and splitting them halfway along their length. The larger four she sharpened one end of and then hurried back to the cave, hoping that he had been canny enough to keep the fire going.[/color]

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Interesting. A mixed blood was rarer than an Elvish merchant. Alarand let conversation die off. Neither of them were much in the mood for it anyway, forced or not. The trees had thickened considerably since she had lead him away from the animal trails, but Asha’ren seemed confident enough, though the pine needles felt harsh whenever they had to brush past a pine, the needles felt especially cruel to numb skin. He had resigned himself to the idea that trudging after her was some sort of purgatory- punishment for unforgivable crimes committed that he would never remember. His mind barely registered the entrance to the cave. To him, it appeared as if the forest had suddenly gained a ceiling and walls. [i]I would die out here.[/i] It hadn’t occurred to him on previous missions, but there was a true difference between a city elf and the elves of old. Nature wasn’t a friend.
 
The moment he was in the cave, he didn’t pause for her to finish speaking before dropping his pack and fumbling with his belt, stripping off the outermost layers of robes, leaving a plain white linen shirt and the black pants on. When she left, he immediately moved to the fire, careful to avoid dripping over it. He took three pieces from the stack she had gathered and used one to collapse the fire in on itself, raking it into a tighter pile and then sandwiching it between two of the logs on the sides, placing the third piece across the two logs and up against the side of the pile of embers. He was definitely not a woodsman, but he knew how to set a cookfire. Living in an alienage hadn’t been an easy life.
 
The heat was addicting, and he leaned in, the moderate heat from the fire feeling almost as intoxicating as [/color][color=ed1c24]blood lust[/color][color=ff9999]. He eventually lay out his over-shirt and outer robe to dry, his pack had done far better than he had, the thick wax coating on the canvas had kept most of his sleeping roll dry. He had resisted the urge to wrap himself in it though, piling his meager gear away from the drips and wetness outside, leaving only his sword strapped to his waist. The clothing he still had one was still soaked though, and every moment away from the fire was agony. Alarand crouched next to it, trying to coax it larger without using too much of wood pile, rotating from time to time to warm his back.[/color]


[color=cce5ff] Asha stepped back through the entrance of the cave and found Alarand huddled next to the fire. She quickly drove the stakes into the ground a foot or two away from the fire and then immediately pulled her boots off and put them over two of the stakes. “If you don’t dry your boots you’ll be miserable for the rest of the day.” She said, motioning to his boots. She pulled the canvass of the rock she’d laid it out on to dry and used it to block the bit of wind coming through the doorway and soon the cave had warmed. Seeing Alarand still shivering she put her blanket around him, the wool warm from the rocks around them. Once he looked a bit better, Asha put the smooth piece of slate over the fire and dropped the skinned rabbit onto it, smiling as she heard it hiss. “Shouldn’t be too much longer and we’ll be warm from the inside out.” Asha smiled, feeling her linen shirt begin to dry as she wiggled her toes in the warm sand that covered the floor of the cave. “Now, where are you going?” Asha asked, wanting to know just where she was taking the strange elf.[/color]