Shade Thatcher. An unusual name, to her Elvin ears at least, but Aeylisia liked the imagery of standing beneath the cool shadow of a tree that it made her think of. She almost smiled. That was, until Shade pulled her arm over his shoulders. She grimaced lightly, ready to pull her arm away from him, but as her weight shifted into his support, she could no longer protest. She probably should have been a little embarrassed by the way her body leaned on his shoulder and side, But the immediate relief it provided to her leg silenced her uneasiness. Breathing a soft sigh that parted her full lips, she had just braced herself for the first step when a low howl drifted through the night.

'Oh, how I wish I could join you brother wolf... The elf thought wistfully, briefly imagining a situation in which she hadn't stumbled into Shade's trap. She would have never had such an urgent need to change back to her current shape, could have vented her frustration by running and hunting with the pack... Thatcher's words had her now impossible fantasies unraveling and she blinked, dispelling the image that had begun to form in her mind's eye and she couldn't help but focus on his face, so much closer now thanks to her current position. With her new vantage point, she once again noticed the difference between his irises, not the specific colors, but that the hues did not match. She had just begun to let herself be curious when his expression turned into a scowl and she had to think back over his words.

it bothers him to admit weakness. She concluded, glancing back over her own shoulder at the dead manticore. She didn't have time to think further on the matter, Shade abruptly stepping forward with her in tow and all of her concentration had to go into not falling on her face.

Her gait was awkward, she stumbled and hopped more than she actually walked, but Aeylisia was silently grateful for the support the human's shoulder was under her arm, the way her hip rested against his and helped keep most of her weight off of her bad leg. Praying that his camp wasn't far off, as he had said, she tightened her eyes and focused on releasing as few pained noises as she could possibly manage. As a distraction, though it came out through her teeth somewhat with the tightness in her jaw, she found herself reassuring Shade. "The beast Will still be there by the time you return. The magical fear they naturally exude will not have dissipated so quickly."

With the elf cooperating and walking along with him instead of resisting, Ryathane slowly led her toward the edge of the clearing, his own posture and pace compensating for the extra weight and Aeylisia’s hopping motion.
Ryathane looked to her as she tried to reassure him through clenched teeth, the closeness of their faces making the tightness in her jaw easier to see. “Uh huh.” The shadows of the trees darkened as they left the small clearing and entered the denser trees. “And you know this by, what, studies, experience, or some sort of connection between you and it?” He glanced down as she half hopped, half walked forward, and smirked. “You’d make a great rabbit.”
Maybe she can be a rabbit, The elf in her wolf form entered his mind. Wonder if she can turn into any animal.
The amount he knew of elves--or, rather, the lack thereof--again set his nerves on edge, making his shoulders stiffen. After all, she had turned a branch, a thing of wood, into a sword. A sword even a peasant would not purchase, but a weapon of metal nonetheless. All the stories he had heard conveniently failed to mention that little ability. Shapeshifting, sure; they were creatures of the earth and nature, after all, but object transfiguration?
He glanced down once more toward the tattered skirt over her wounded leg. He did what he could to both put more of her weight on him and hurry along their odd trek.
Finally, they reached the large tree he had chosen for his so-called camp. He stopped and looked up. “Here we are.” He stopped with a smaller tree near Aeylisia, and nodded to his chosen headquarters. “Tree sweet tree. Since I assume you can’t exactly climb, I’ll grab my pack.” He released the hold he had on her hand and waited for her to remove her arm from his shoulders.

A connection between her and the manticore? Aeylisia couldn't help but release a soft snort at the very idea, very nearly rolling her eyes. "Don't be foolish. I would never ally myself with such a monster." The very idea was so repellant, she felt an instinctual shudder trickle down her spine before she could stop it. "I was taught from a young age to be wary of beasts such as manticores. They are not common in these woods, but neither are they unheard of. To encounter one alone is almost certain death. I had the unfortunate experience to come face to face with a manticore a few years back, one of our city guardians trapped the beast shortly after it began stalking our borders... So many children had already died..." Her gaze grew distant for a moment, the memory of pain and loss echoing within her once more, before she blinked, returning to herself and glancing quickly at Shade, clearly embarrassed. She cleared her throat and glanced away once more into the trees, refusing to say more on the subject and pointedly ignoring his comment about her resembling a rabbit.

Holding her tongue as they continued their awkward trek through the forest, the elf contemplated over her wavering wariness towards the human. Or at least, that was how it was appearing. How disconcerting. He wanted nothing more than to kill her people, destroy her forest... Didn't he? She blinked thoughtfully, biting briefly at her lower lip. She was still lost in thought win Shade finally brought their awkward procession to a halt, nearly collapsing on the spot when her leg gave a protesting throb at having any amount of weight put upon it for longer than a second. Steeling herself, Aeylisia carefully removed her arm from around Thatcher's shoulders, leaning most of her weight onto her good leg after taking a cautious step away.

"this isn't what I pictured when you talked of a camp." She murmured, looking up into the branches of the mighty elder of the forest. After a moment, she shook her head, red gold hair swaying with the movement. "normally, I would Skoff your suggestion that I couldn't climb a tree, but..." Again, she shook her head, laughing dryly. "I wouldn't trust my strength after the day I've had to face..." And with that, using the help of one of the nearby trees, she lowered herself to the ground, keeping as much weight off of her injured leg as she could manage.

Without turning his head, Ryathane glanced sideways at the emotion in Aeylisia’s voice when she mentioned the children who had fallen against the other manticore. An emotion he had not expected to hear from her kind.
Guess they do have hearts, he thought, surprise flashing through his eyes.
Ryathane gave a single, snorted chuckle at Aeylisia’s comment about his so-called camp.
“Well, sorry to disappoint.” He smirked, then raised his eyebrows as she continued. “And, you know, it’s not like your leg looks like it’s about to fall off or anything.” He shifted to help Aeylisia lower herself down in what little way he could. He got the feeling she was a bit less likely to try to attack him anytime soon, but that was never reason enough to drop one’s guard.
With her situated, he flicked his head to the side to force his bangs out of his eyes, and turned toward the tree. “I’ll be back.” He leisurely jogged the last few feet to the proud tree. Without stopping, he jumped up to the lowest branches, and nimbly climbed into the thick foliage, the texture of the bark familiar beneath his gloves.
He pulled himself up onto the high branch he had used earlier. His pack still hung on one of the branches. He shifted over to another branch, the leaves ruffling slightly at his weight change, and reached over to a dark lump: the burlap sack he had used to transport his traps.
Careful to not be seen, he pushed aside a leave-covered branch and looked through the foliage to the elf, checking that she was still there and not a figment of his imagination waiting to vanish the moment he looked away.
Finding a good spot, he let the sack drop. It caught on a branch for a moment, then fell to the ground near the base of the tree. He quickly shouldered his pack, then climbed a safe distance down before letting himself drop. He landed cat-like, then quickly straightened and turned back to the elf.
He sauntered toward Aeylisia. He let the strap of his pack fall into the crook of his elbow just above the end of his metal bracer.
“Right.” He stopped beside Aeylisia and let the pack fall to the ground. He knelt beside it and flipped the top of the pack up, casting the elf a wary glance every couple seconds just in case. “Let’s get you patched up.” He reached inside and pulled out a fair-sized wooden box. He sat it on the ground and opened it, revealing a couple bottles and a wad of bandages taking up a good portion of the inside.
He pulled a larger bottle and the bandages out, revealing a set of sewing needles and string beneath. He handed the supplies to the elf. “Need me to get it, or can you do it?”

Her eyes followed the human as he moved away from her, Aeylisia watching interestedly as Shade jogged towards the large tree, climbing into the branches quickly and efficiently. As she watched his steady ascent until the leaves hid him from her view, she silently admitted that he climbed rather well... For a human. Snorting softly, the Elvin woman turned her face away from the tree, silently contemplating the situation she had gotten herself into.

After a long moment, With the quiet of the night punctuated by her steady soft panting, a laugh suddenly bubbled up within her, Breaking past her lips in a breathless tinkle. Closing her eyes against the throb of pain this sent through her head, Aeylisia lifted her hands and rubbed them over the skin of her face, through the ringlets of her reddish hair, and laughed again. Not loud enough to attract the attention of the human, but her tired body probably wouldn't have been able to exert enough energy to do anything much louder nevertheless. "you foolish lass." She managed to get out between bursts of giggles, Shaking her head slowly. "almost got yourself killed helping a human take down a manticore of all things."

But oh, what a thrill it had been. "Fool." She murmured again, continuing to chuckle softly with amusement at her recklessness, her softening, even as she once again lifted her skirts and touched her fingertips to the makeshift bandage. Her calf protested the contact, but only a small amount of blood soaked the cloth. Momentarily satisfied, Aeylisia finally turned her attention back to her ruined dress, contemplating the partially dried stain before coming to the conclusion that there was no saving the material. With expert tugs and rips, the Elf quickly made short work of removing the lower section of her skirts, piling the material on one side. It was a shame to see one of her favorite outfits destroyed, but the relief doing so gave to her leg by removing the weight made the loss a passing momentary twinge.

Aeylisia wasn't one for screaming. And that was certainly a good thing, especially when the thud sounded unexpectedly close by her. Her heart leapt, her stomach muscles contracted with panic, and she dropped the wad of fabric in her hand as she twisted around to face the source, her now free hand flying out to snatch up the nearest loose rock as she did so, but not so much as a whimper escaped her. Half expecting another monster to be creeping towards her with its maw open, she was momentarily confused therefore to see nothing but a large sack resting on the ground near the roots of the tree.

The mystery was solved a short moment later as Shade landed on the ground, absorbing the impact easily before he turned around and started in her direction, dropping a second bag to the ground from his shoulder. Aeylisia Felt rather embarrassed at her initial reaction, releasing her grip on the rock leaving it on the ground. She watched in silence as the human sorted through the contents of the sack and produced a box, Resting it on the ground and opening the lid to reveal a collection of medical supplies. As he pulled out thread and needle, she reflexively took the materials as they were offered, inwardly wincing at the idea of enduring further pain.

Settling The needle and thread on her pile of discarded fabric, she had just reached for her bandaged leg when Shade made an offer to help her with the stitches. The Elf paused thoughtfully, considering the implications that she would be unable to handle her own injury, before she undid the scarf from around her calf. Her leg gave a throb of pain as the extra blood rushed back into it, provoking a small grimace that wrinkled her nose. She imagined attempting to clean and suture the wound herself, rearranging her hands a few times before she finally let out a defeated sigh. "As much as I am loathed to admit it, I am unable to properly care for my injuries. Therefore... I would except your offer of help." Her voice held an edge of resentment, but Aeylisia didn't hesitate as she returned the needle and thread and lay her body onto her stomach, folding her arms and resting her chin onto One of her forearms. She didn't particularly like turning her back on the human, but she wasn't going to be getting very far with her leg in the state it was currently in. The thought made the corners of her eyes wrinkle is she narrowed them.

Ryathane glanced to the pile of fabric that had once been Aeylisia’s skirt as she sat the sewing material down on it. At her pause between his question and her answer, he turned back to his pack and reached inside again. He stopped and looked to the elf when she gave her answer.
He chuckled through his nose at the formality of Aeylisia’s speech.
“At your service, princess,” he said mockingly with a smirk. “Do all your kind talk like stuffy royals?”
He nodded to the box still on the ground when she tried to hand the sewing materials back to him, indicating for her to set it there, then pulled out a scrap piece of fabric cut into a ragged rectangle of a washcloth from his pack.
He tossed the cloth into the lid of the box as the elf situated herself on her stomach.
“I could’ve gone to your other side, you know.” He pulled off his gloves and tossed them into his bag. He reached across her and grabbed his hooded scarf. Finding a spot not damp from her blood, he used it to wipe away what he could from the wounds to get a better look them, being as gentle as he could as he moved her leg slightly.
“Aren’t elves supposed to heal quickly?” he muttered more to himself than Aeylisia. He sat the scarf down and traded it for the cloth and bottle of liquid. With his cleaner hand, he shook the glass bottle, and a gentle blue color spread through the liquid. Unstoppering it one-handed, he poured a liberal amount of the contents onto the rectangular cloth. “This’ll sting a bit at first, but it’ll numb the skin and ease the pain.”
He dabbed the fabric over the wounds, shaking his head disbelievingly. He still could not believe he was helping an elf, of all things. Each time he blinked, he expected the woman to disappear, or to wake up back in the tree, none of his traps sprung.

For a brief moment, Aeylisia had unconsciously stiffened at his use of the word princess when addressing her. Did this man know who he shared the company of?But as Shade continued on to ask her about the formality of her speech with a sarcastic emphasis, she realized that he had merely been using the title as a jest. Her shoulders relaxed, but she worried that he would discover the truth that he had so unwittingly struck upon. "this is the way I was taught to speak your language... My people have not come in contact with your race for so long, we didn't know that there was a more informal way of speaking." She found herself grumbling in response. It wasn't her fault that humans had such a complex language. Her native tongue was much easier to use.

Placing her chin against one of her forearms and unconsciously tightening both of her hands into fists, Aeylisia pointedly ignored the man's comment about his ability to have gone to her other side in favor of giving him easier access to her wound. Moving again would only cause her further pain, Not something she was willingly going to cause, so she stayed where she was. A light flinch jerked through her body as Thatcher finally touched her injured leg, an instinctive reaction she couldn't suppress, but she did manage to bite back the groan of pain that wanted to follow as she felt him gently wiping at the jagged cuts.. His next comment was a sufficient distraction from her pain and Aeylisia willingly focused on it, despite the statement's lack of the feel of being directed at her.

"We do heal quickly. But deeper cuts still take a few days to sufficiently close... I am unaware of the healing rate of humans though, so I am unable to make a proper comparison." She managed to get out, though the words were slightly muffled, having come out through partially gritted teeth.

She was still braced from the pain of his first contact, so Aeylisia was able to collect her thoughts enough to resist flinching a second time when Shade spoke of something making her injury sting, his words accompanied by the sound of splashing liquid. She resisted the temptation to look back over her shoulder to see what he was doing as he then press something cool to her skin. Additional pain prickled through her leg, The sensation uncomfortable, tempting her to pull her leg away, but the elf fought off the desire, biting into her lower lip as she squeezed her eyes closed, forcing herself to wait for the promised sensation of numbness.

Ryathane glanced up at every slight movement the elf made, his muscles tense and ready for action if she suddenly had a lapse in civility, but remained careful to not put any extra pressure on Aeylisia’s wound. So far, she had not adhered to the lore he had heard about her race, but one never knew. He could feel the tightness of her muscles beneath his touch. He could not help but feel pity for her condition. The wound looked bad, and he could imagine how much worse it must feel. Unless, of course, elves had a higher pain tolerance than humans, which was a good possibility.
He paused and made a gentle “huh” noise at how little she seemed to know about humans, before the healing rate she had given sunk in. A few days? The wound he tended to now would heal in only a few days? A hint of envy flashed in his eyes, replacing most of the pity he had felt.
“Take my word for it. That’s quicker,” he grumbled as he finished applying the liquid.
Satisfied that he had covered the entirety of the gashes, he placed the now soiled cloth on the ground and exchanged it for the needle and thread he had handed Aeylisia. Holding one item in each hand, he leaned back from the shadow of the tree to where a patch of moonlight filtered through the canopy above, and used it to easier thread the needle.
With motions all too familiar, he pulled the thread through a sufficient amount, swiftly pulled a dagger from his boot, cut the thread, and returned the weapon to its hidden sheath. He paused, giving the liquid an extra moment to take full effect and numb the wound more than just skin deep.
“You shouldn’t, but let me know if you feel anything. Never tested this stuff on an elf before.” With well-practiced motions, he slowly and carefully began suturing the cuts, their bleeding slowing faster than he expected. He kept a close eye on her reactions, watching for any signs of pain. “It works as a disinfectant, too.”
Questions ran through his head as he worked: After all these years, why would one of the elven race resurface now? Sure, he had caught her, but after so many years of no reliable reported sightings, it was a bit suspicious. Did the king know, really know, about their existence? If he did, how, and why did he want one? Did the elves know that they were wanted by royalty?
“So,” he said lightly, in part to pose as a distraction for Aeylisia, as well as in the hope he might get an answer to at least one of the many curious happenings of late. “What brought you to this forest, princess?” He smirked at the nickname, the action audible in his voice. “Sniff out a particularly tasty-smelling rabbit or something?”

Slowly, more slowly then she would have liked in her injured state, a sense of numbness began to spread throughout her calf, replacing the sting. Aeylisia resisted the temptation to sigh with relief, instead slowly on curling her hands from their clenched fists and lowering her forehead onto her arm, the absence of pain allowing the fatigue she felt to crash over her.. She hummed in acknowledgment to the information about human's having slower healing rates, But otherwise didn't comment on that bit of information, storing it away for future reflection. Carefully, so as not to draw attention, she watched The part of Shade she could see out of the corner of her eye, Contemplating on his presents almost as much as he was contemplating hers.

trust me human. You will be the first to know if I feel any sort of pain." She responded tiredly a moment before a vague sensation of tugging started in her leg. It was an odd feeling, but no pain accompanied it, allowing her to easily put it from her mind.

Shade was not what she expected a human to act like. Aeylisia had been raised on stories of human brutality, stupidity, and short tempers. She had seen the evidence of this when she had encountered the remains of a group of humans that had been working on destroying part of her forest when she had gone to meet her father. She had heard stories of the wars their people had waged against the elves, So the violence hadn't surprised her as much is a tad in raged her. But here was a human that was doing a very thorough job of taking apart everything she had ever known about humans and was casting The preconceptions aside like leaves in the wind. He hadn't been in the forest to kill the trees, he had been hunting a manticore for the good of his people, he hadn't left her to be slaughtered by the monster, he had saved her life when the creature would have pounced on her unsuspecting back, And then he had helped her to his camp and was now tending to her wounds... Aeylisia blinked thoughtfully, beginning to wonder if all she knew of the human race was built upon lies...

His questions brought her back to reality and Aeylisia couldn't help the scowl that touched her face at yet another reminder of the attack on her forest, Despite the evident teasing in Shade's voice when he used her title again, making her want to cringe instead. With all that had happened between her begging for permission to hunt down the humans and stumbling into a camp with one of them, She had almost forgotten that she had first stumbled into one of Shade's traps when she had still been in her wolf form. The reminder only Deepened her scowl. But then she really considered his question and the elf had an immediate sense of conflict. He had no idea that her people called this forest home nor that there had been a group attacking part of the eastern border... Did he? To reveal that her people lived deep within the heart of the forest felt like a betrayal, So she carefully worded her response to give away the least amount of information that she possibly could. "... I was informed of an attack on this forest by a group of humans and it was quickly discovered that they were here hunting elves Buy a disturbing parchment they carried with them promising a reward for the capture of one of my kind." She began to explain, her hands tightening into fists once again as some of her anger resurfaced. "those who discovered the men chopping down and burning the trees had already killed the intruders as their axes were turned upon them... I volunteered to run south and check that there were no others attacking the forest." By the time she got the last word out, Aeylisia's voice had grown Sharp with her anger, her face turned resolutely away from Shade.

Ryathane paused and glanced to Aeylisia as he noticed her scowl. “Okay, if you don’t like rabbit, then maybe a deer?” he offered lightly, continuing with his work. “Unless you’re a opossum kind of elf she-wolf.” He quickly finished off the shortest of the gashes from the beast’s claws, rethreaded the needle to be sure he would have enough length, and went on to the next.
He spared her another wary glance at the short silence that followed her scowl, before she finally answered him. He faltered in his work once more and looked toward her face at the first part of her explanation, her features lean and beautiful even shrouded in indignation and the shadows of the night. So, the elves did know they were being hunted. At the reminder of the it, Ryathane resisted the urge to glance to the pouch at his waist where one of the wanted posters was crumpled up inside. How many of those things had the king put up, and how far out from the royal city did they spread?
Ryathane’s back stiffened and he squared his jaw as she continued, speaking of the slaying of those “attacking the forest.”
And there, he thought darkly, we have a glimpse into the brutality depicted in the stories. At least it served as a good reminder to not grow careless and drop his guard around Aeylisia, no matter how many of the human-spun rules of her kind she may have broken so far. He made a mental note to head north once he finished his business in the town to validate the elf’s claims. Though, if truth be told, he would not be surprised to find destruction of the woods by human hands. After all, until he met Aeylisia, he had thought the fables of elves to have been little more than a manifestation of man’s own desire to destroy for the sake of bloodlust, expansion, and personal gain.
A rustling in the canopy above made the leaves sway and shadows around the two dance to the quivering tune. Ryathane’s gaze shot upward and he instinctively reached for his bow and an arrow from his quiver, just in case, before he remembered the sorry state of the weapon. He immediately shifted his grip to the hilt of his short sword.
He let out an irritated growled sigh as a couple bats dove from the treetops. They chased each other through the air, then disappeared into the darkness creeping around his proclaimed campsite. At least they would keep the bugs away for a while. He turned his attention back to Aeylisia’s wound and words.
“And that’s the story of how we met,” he said, a slight harsh edge in his voice despite his attempt at exaggerated cheerfulness. “This is the stuff of legends, here. I’m almost done,” he assured her as he neared the end of the second laceration. “Any idea where your ‘intruders’ came from?”

Aeylisia grimaced delicately at the idea of hunting down animals and eating them raw. True, her people did eat meat, But then, only sparingly, most frequently for special occasions, and always was it cooked. But the brief expression was all that she gave to the matter. She didn't feel any particular desire to get into the specifics of elvin dietary habits. Especially after she finished her brief and somewhat vague description of the attack on the forest earlier that day, the clipped narration leaving her strangely drained. Without giving thought to what the human might make of it, The elf maiden released a heavy sigh and dropped her forehead onto one of her arms, closing her eyes.

The soft, almost indiscernible squeaking of bats penetrated their little space as Aeylisia worked on cooling her anger, breathing in deeply through her nose and releasing the air through her mouth. She wasn't as startled as she thought Shade was by their appearance, but then again, her hearing was probably better than his was... There was so little that she knew about the abilities of humans... They apparently had the capability to be roused to anger at the idea of their own kind and home being destroyed though, if the angry tone in Shade's Voice was anything to go by. Aeylisia fought the temptation to respond in kind with her own irritation, once again tightening her hands into fists that Doug her fingernails into her palms. "indeed. That is how we came to be here..." She murmured into her sleeve. "and no, I do not have the knowledge of who it was that attacked the forest... They didn't exactly announce themselves before attacking."

Ryathane paused in his work when Aeylisia moved, but quickly returned to it when he realized she had only dropped her head to her arm. With the way she was breathing, either the numbing agent he had used did not take full effect on elves, or she was trying to calm herself. Either way, Ryathane shifted behind her to give himself a couple inches of an advantage should she turn on him the moment he finished suturing her, and his usefulness to her ran out. He had no intention of taking any chances, even though she did help him earlier.
The boy scowled at her answer to his question. “That isn’t usually warfare etiquette.” He rolled his eyes, the action bringing out his youth for a short second. “Did they bear any crests? Were they royal soldiers--dressed in armor and likely bearing a coat of arms,” he explained just in case, his tone slightly irate, “or just working men?”
With the offered prize for one of your kind, he thought, it wouldn’t surprise me if an entire village was out hunting your like. And again, the question of why the king would want an elf--and alive, at that--crossed through his mind and deepened his scowl. If a royal wanted them, then it spelled trouble, if not because of whatever the king had planned, then for the people who were under the rule of the deranged man. That question, he decided, was one he would find the answer to, one way or another.

And then Shade's observation and chiding tone flared Aeylisia's temper once more, her Tenuis grip on calm slipping. She glared down at the forest floor inches away from her face, resisting a secondary temptation to whirl on the human.

"and you think it would have been better for my father to have allowed himself and my mother to be slaughtered in the guise of etiquette, Waiting to receive names and birthplaces of the men wielding axes?" She asked heatedly, tensing her muscles despite her resolve not to attack. "that may have been proper etiquette in a proper battle scenario, but I bet if you had someone rushing at you ready to cleave your head from your shoulders, you'd be asking no such questions," she growled, clenching her hands into even tighter fists.

A small part of Aeylisia's mind had taken a step away from the situation, despite her temper, and was looking back on her memories of her brief time in the clearing. She pushed through the uncomfortable recollection of the smoke clogging her throat, the blaze of the fire, the worry in her mother's eyes, and tried to focus on what she could recall of the bodies of the humans that had Lane crumpled on the forest floor. She took a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, and then released it in an explosive huff. "... They wore plane garb. No insignias, no armor." The elf finally said in a clipped tone, closing her eyes against the headache that pounded in her temples.

Ryathane felt Aeylisia’s body tense beneath him, saw her muscles clench as if ready to strike. The boy backed away with feline reflexes, his hand hovering over the hilt of his short sword, ready to draw it from its sheath in an instant.
This is madness! he thought with a quiet snort. He was helping someone who could very well turn against him in the blink of an eye. And, from the looks of it, she intended to do so.
“If you want me to finish sewing your leg,” he began in a low growl, “then you need to calm down.” He enunciated the last two words carefully, forcefully. “I take it your kind has never heard of sarcasm? I meant that I didn’t expect them to declare who they were.”
A silence fell between them. Ryathane crouched, still as a statue and eyes focused on Aeylisia, his hand frozen above the hilt of his weapon, wondering what was running through the elf’s mind. She could be plotting an attack--perhaps weighing the pros and cons of killing him here and now--or had simply fallen quiet, lost in other thoughts. Either way, he did not so much as exhale until the elf finally spoke again. As bitter as her tone was, getting an answer to his question was a good sign. At least in part.
“That’s all I wanted to know.” Slowly, Ryathane returned to finish up Aeylisia’s leg. “They were likely peasants. Villagers,” he said more thinking aloud than speaking to the elf. “Or maybe hired hands to expand a town.” He ran a list of the various towns north of their current position. He had not heard rumor of any needing to expand, but perhaps he had missed it.
He quickly tied off the last of his stitches on Aeylisia’s leg, wiped the needle clean, then put all but the bandages back inside his small medical kit. He wrapped his sewing job up with the wad of bandages.
“Done.” Ryathane wiped his hands on a fairly clean part of his hooded scarf, then put the medical supplies back in their box. He would need to pick up more. The thought made him sigh. “Don’t try walking on it for a while. It might feel fine now, but you wouldn't get more than half a step.”
He closed the box, replaced it in his rugged pack, and stood. He looked into the shadows of the forest the way they had come, as if he could still see the body of the manticore they had slain, though even his eyes could not see further than a couple yards ahead of them before the darkness turned into a black wall.
"I have to take care of the manticore before something tries to run off with its carcass." Ryathane looked to Aeylisia, debating on if he wanted to waste time on asking and potentially following through with his next question. "Do you need me to build a fire first?"

Quietly, Aeylisia let her anger simmer beneath the surface, frowning into the utter darkness the shelter of her arms provided for her face, taking yet another deep breath in The hope that she would be able to calm her irritation. Her mother had always chided her on having quite the temper, Something she had inherited from her father alongside stubbornness worthy of a wild ass. As she breathed, she tried contemplating thoughts other than the destruction of her forest and the faults of the human race, focusing on something that Shade had said that she had not quite understood.

Sarcasm.

The word was alien to her, something that the elf had never heard before. It didn't belong to any of the vocabulary she had learned from her parents, nor any of the stories she had read or heard over the years. To her, the word was hollow, meaningless. She wondered if she dared ask for an explanation...

Before she could consider the matter much longer, Shade was wrapping her leg in a proper bandage and advising her not to attempt walking. Skipping over the waspish response that she had no intention of walking that night that was her first reaction, Aeylisia carefully maneuvered herself into an upright position, sitting back against her tree once more, avoiding jostling her freshly bandaged leg. She studied the white cloth for several seconds before she glanced up at Shade's back. She resisted the instinctive reaction to look away when the young man glanced in her direction, keeping her violet eyes focused on him as he explained his intention of securing the corpse of the manticore. She nodded her head once before her eyebrows drew together with a look of annoyance as he continued his statement with a question. "I can start a fire just fine by myself." She snapped, finally looking away with a soft snort. Almost in the same motion, the elf began collecting nearby stones and sticks, piling the wood together in one spot and beginning to create a ring with the stones. After several seconds of angry silence, purposefully hitting rocks against one another and snapping a few sticks, Aeylisia slowed to a stop and finally whispered in a soft voice, "Thank you for helping with my leg." She cast one quick look from beneath her eyelashes up at the human before she returned to her task, crawling forward on hands and knees to reach A few scattered branches and purposefully turning her back on Shade.

Ryathane raised his brows doubtfully when Aeylisia said she could build her own fire. He stood there for a moment, arms crossed, and watched as she did her best to collect what she needed from around her.
“Fair enough.” He gave a one-shouldered shrug, then collected the empty burlap sack that created a dark lump against the grass. He could come back later for his traps, if any of them still remained intact. He looked to the elf when he heard her soft whisper. “Yep,” he answered laconically. At least she had bothered with a thanks.
He quickly put his gloves back on and collected the still damp hooded scarf.
“I should be back in about an hour or so.” He slung the burlap sack over a shoulder. He started to head toward the edge of the forest, but paused, realizing Aeylisia had no weapons. He bent down and removed one of his stiletto daggers from his boot, then stuck it in the ground within the woman’s reach. “Just in case. But I want it back.” With that, he headed off into the woods toward the manticore.
Once the elf was well out of sight, he stopped to glance back.
“What am I going to do with you?” he muttered to himself. With a sigh, he hurried to where they had left the manticore. As he emerged into the area, a couple foxes scurried away, but the motionless mass of the offending beast’s body was still there.
Ryathane gave a sigh of relief. Though there were few monsters in the woods that could have run off with a carcass of that size, he was in no mood to contend with a hungry wolf pack.
He let the items he held drop to the ground, then reached into the pouch at his belt. He pushed aside the crinkled wanted poster and pulled out two small, empty glass bottles. He paused, glancing to the paper, then scowled. With an irritated snort, he went to the monster’s tail to collect as much of its venom as he could. That would fetch him a pretty penny.
He worked as quickly as he could, careful to not poison himself as he handled the deadly tail. Despite his careful attention, his mind wondered again to the question he had posed to the night. The elf would take a couple days to heal, which would provide ample time to find a means of dragging her to the royal city. Crazy or not, the reward the king offered was enough to make even an honest man question his morality. And she could provide the perfect ticket to get him inside the castle, to ferret out the truth of what was going on behind the closed castle gates.
She saved your life, you nitwit, a small voice whispered in the back of his head, and you’re thinking about turning her in?
His face stuck in his scowl, Ryathane did his best to push aside all thoughts of the elf, focusing instead on the task at hand. Once he had one glass filled to the brim, and the other just under that, he carefully placed them back in his pouch, drew his sword, and stepped to the beast’s front.
It’s eyes were glazed over with a milky film, staring unseeingly at one of its murderers. Blood dripped down from where Aeylisia had shot it beneath its left eye, the liquid dried in its matted fur.
“You really could have done with a bath,” Ryathane told it as he swung his sword a couple times. He could smell the feral stench of it from a yard away. “Off with your head.”


Ryathane knelt down by a small stream that ran through the woods, his sack, sitting on the bank beside him, now bulging with the manticore’s head. Though it had taken him longer than he would have liked, he had managed to attain his proof of the beast’s death.
Ryathane took his time cleaning off his gloves and the scarf in the water, then, picking up his prize in one hand, he headed back to the camp, weariness weighing at his eyes. He saw the fire Aeylisia had managed to make and somehow maintain long before he entered the area. Without a word to the elf, he dropped the sack on the ground across from her, red soaking into one side of it. He sat the wet gloves and scarf near the fire, then collected his backpack. He plopped down on the hard ground, leaned against the pack like a pillow, and stretched his arms out over his head with an exaggerated yawn.
“So, who’s got first watch?” he asked, crossing his legs at the ankles in front of him. He doubted he would be capable of getting to sleep with her nearby, even if he had planned on it. “You or me, Princess?”

A deep breath through her nose as the sounds of the human walking away finally faded saw a mild cooling of Aeylisia's temper and she took A moment to rub her fingers against her temples as her headache throbbed within her skull. She then sighed heavily through her nose, pursing her lips as she looked over what materials she had already gathered. Casting one more quick glance in the direction that Shade had gone, the elf finally continued with her task of starting a fire.

Dry wood sorted out from the damp or green, A handful of kindling placed within a tent like structure of some of the sticks, and a ring of stones encircling both of them, Aeylisia finally sat back down with a huff, thoroughly exhausted and ready for the day to be over. Stifling a sudden yawn, the elf concentrated on using the least amount of magic and effort to call forth a small spark that leapt from her palm and into the kindling, coaxed into a small flame by a few gentle puffs of air. Breaking into a smile, Aeylisia worked on feeding sticks into the ever increasing flames until she had A decent enough fire going, the clearing illuminated by the flickering light and chasing away the chill that had begun to settle over her.

Releasing a second longer yawn, Aeylisia finally laid down on her side, curling one of her arms under her head as she watched the firelight dance. What a mess she had gotten herself into. The day had started out pleasant enough, time on her own to enjoy the quiet of the forest and the melody of bird song... But then the humans had gotten involved, had set her forest aflame. And now she was here with Shade, Her leg torn by the claws of a manticore and her Energy and magic spent... And now the fire was in the forest around her once again, her body naked and ravaged by cuts and slashes, shivering uncontrollably while tears streamed down her cheeks. A half consumed branch fell off a nearby tree, slamming into the ground Close to her, sending up a shower of sparks that bit and stung at her exposed skin. Aeylisia sobbed as she heard the heavy footfalls of an approaching monster, her heart slamming into her chest at the inevitability of her demise. With a roar, A creature that was half man and half manticore burst free of a burning bush, grinning wickedly as it spotted her shivering in the middle of the clearing. With triumph on its face and murder in its eyes, the creature leapt upon her...

A stick suddenly popping loudly in the fire startled Aeylisia to wakefulness, A half strangled gasp escaping her lips. Her entire body seized with panic as her heartbeat erratic against the inside of her ribs. Hot tears leaked from her eyes as she panted into the quiet of the night, expecting every moment to feel the ripping of claws into her flesh... But no... The manticore was dead. She had shot it with an Arrow in the face, had seen the sword sticking out of its neck... With a quiet sob, The Elven woman pushed herself up into a sitting position, her feet on the forest floor, hugging her knees close to her body. She put her head down upon her knees and began to cry in earnest. What am I going to do?

She wasn't entirely sure how long she had been sitting there, cheeks and knees wet with her tears, but she felt her stomach flutter with panic as she heard the sound of approaching footsteps. Head jerking up, Aeylisia stared into the forest with wide Red rimmed eyes, terror freezing her joints. But then an unfortunately familiar figure stepped into the light cast by the fire and then her fear melted away into inevitability and embarrassment. Hoping that Shade hadn't glimpsed her tear stained face, Aeylisia dropped her head onto one of her arms, using the motion to wipe at her cheeks with a sleeve.

She listened as the human settled down onto the ground, giving quite the show of yawning, and then asked her who was going to take first watch, adding in the irritating nickname he had adopted for her. She sighed, Not really in the mood to have another argument, and lifted her head to place her chin on her arm. "I am willing to take the first watch of the night..." She mumbled, her voice sounding as if she had a bad head cold, which only added to her embarrassment.

With his fingers laced behind his head, Ryathane looked fully to Aeylisia at her sigh. When she lifted her head from her arms, he took in the slight redness and puffiness that still marked her violet eyes, the firelight glittering wetly in them.
She had been crying. In the short moment the elf gave him to contemplate her appearance, he glanced to her wounded leg, momentarily wondering if it had been bothering her, but she showed no other signs of pain. He had seen his share of tears through the years, and these, he was certain, were not from any physical hurt. It had to be from something else.
When she answered his question, her voice denasal, he noticed a flash of embarrassment cross her face for a split second. She was proud, he figured, perhaps as proud as him.
The part of him that hated seeing women in distress made his gaze soften slightly, but he gave no other indication he had noticed. He gave a nonchalant shrug and looked ahead of him, toward the forest. He opened his mouth to give his agreement, but closed it again, changing his mind.
“Know what? That was an inconsiderate question.” Despite the general kindness of the words, his voice held an unconcerned air. “You’re hurt. You need your rest. I’ve got first watch.” He pulled a leg up toward him and draped an arm over his knee. “Oh, I don’t suppose you still have my dagger, do you? Or did you manage to break that?” He raised his eyebrows with a smirk.