Artemis paused in her petting to look over her shoulder and see Oseely apparently having the time of his life. A small, almost shy smirk found her and she felt a bubble of pride at his approval. Nura bumped Artemis' hand with her beak, a small complaint that she was no longer being showered with affection. Artemis shot the gryphon an indulgent look and sat down as Oseely tried to control himself. She patted the ground next to her and Nura plopped herself down obediently. With one hand scratching the gryphon's neck, she looked down at the staff, finally losing its glow. Her own, ugly little rune sat in the middle. She glanced up when Oseely started his exposition, before turning back to the staff, her mouth pursing in thought. 

That lightning trick had been a good show of power – but the power wasn't [i]her's[/i]. Oseely's words washed over her, and she absorbed his explanations as she placed a finger in the dirt on the cave floor. She moved it, drawing a small, swooping rune. When she finished, she lifted her finger and placed her palm atop it. There was a tiny glow from under her hand and then dirt poofed up into the air in a cloud around her hand. Artemis frowned down at the dirt, raising a hand to wave the cloud away. Ok, so her runes on their own weren't that impressive. Not yet, at least. If she wanted a proper runic defense, she'd have to rely on the skills of others until she managed to build up her own, which meant… more petty theft. Artemis wasn't one to shy away from a little B&E, but the people she stole from usually didn't have the ability to fry her on sight. Of course, there were probably other ways to take care of herself. But having something reliable wouldn't hurt.

(The idea of stealing from the Witch again made her hesitate though. The first person that tried to help her, and Artemis had run, a disappointment once again.)

She looked up when Oseely paused in his speech to see him looking in the distance, eyes slightly narrowed. Artemis raised an eyebrow and looked over her shoulder to try and spy whatever had him preoccupied. But before she could process more than the ever-present blackness of the night, Oseely had pulled his attention back, apparently dismissing whatever it was. She pulled her eyebrows together a bit in suspicion, glancing over her shoulder one last time. Oseely went into an explanation about the Kith and Pirates.

Artemis, not quite relaxed, but deciding to let whatever it was go, looked down at her feet, still stuffed in the Witch's heavy boots. Reckley had said she'd need to be barefoot to ride Nura. That was probably well enough – the boots [i]technically[/i] fit her, but they weren't quite the right size. It wouldn't be long before blisters formed if she tried running through the forest in these things. And so, she yanked them off, letting them clatter to the cave floor. Nura's head shot up at the sound, and Artemis scratched at her feathers until she coaxed the gryphon to lay down again. 

Artemis looked down at her bare feet in thought. Then she lifted her hands to untie the rust-colored scarf around her neck (one more layer lost to the island). She shook it clean of the ash and charred branches that had been caught in it when she'd crash-landed into the ground. A rip sounded through the cave over Oseely's voice as she tore it into two long strips and laid them side by side on the ground. She listened to the Lord of Flame and looked around for some sort of drawing implement. Artemis ran a hand through her hair as she looked around. Her eyes found a charred-black twig that'd fallen from her scarf and she picked it up to draw two identical, almost star-like runes on each strip. Then she took one and began wrapping it around the ball of her left foot, stringing it once through the crook between her big toe and the next one over to secure it in place, and then did one more wrap around the sole of her foot before tying it off at the top. She did the same with the other strip around her right foot. When she finished, she pushed herself to her feet, and gave a few experimental stomps – which landed in complete silence. Nura jolted up to a sitting position, alert at the action. Artemis gave a satisfied smirk. These would certainly help with sneaking around. She'd have to find some more permanent way to mark them, like burning or dying them. The charcoal would only last so long before rubbing off, unless runic magic somehow kept them from degrading.

She looked up at Oseely just in time for him to tell her how she was a force to be respected with a wink. Artemis had to force herself not to look away and roll her eyes at that – an old habit. She'd been told since birth how much [i]potential[/i] she had and [i]opportunity[/i] if she just [i]took advantage to it[/i] and [i]lived up to it[/i].  

But instead she forced herself to reach down and grab her staff. Straightening up, she placed one end on the ground and leaned on it, looking up at Oseely. Nura tried very hard not to nip at the overgrown throwy-spinny toy, but couldn't help leaning over to it, with an open beak. Every few seconds she seemed to try and pull herself back, closing her beak a bit, but then the inescapable urge to play pushed her back towards the staff. Artemis let her be and thought about all Oseely had told her.

Ok, so the logistics about the Pirates and the Kith kind of made sense, but the masks just… grew? [i]What[/i]? If they grew from the trees, and the trees were one, and the Lord of Wood was the one… did… did the Lord of Wood make the masks? Did he just make them for the heck of it, or because he wanted the Kith to use them? If he made them, he must've wanted [i]someone[/i] to use them. Though of course, that was [i]if[/i] he made them.

And then there was this one, the Lord of Flame, being ever so informative and helpful. Why was that? Because he was interested in her? Because he wanted to use her? Because she was an entertaining outsider in an otherwise closed environment he'd been living in for the past few centuries? She [i]had[/i] made quite the show of herself, screaming and flailing into the earth like an ungainly comet. Maybe he was hoping for a second viewing.

[color=darkturquoise]"And how exactly do the Lords and Ladies work into all of this?"[/color]