“You can’t blame a child for their parentage.”Naya would have liked to be able to say that the strange voice had not startled her in the slightest, but the abrupt squeaking noise that escaped her mouth gave away just how much he had caught her off guard. She reached up instinctively to grab at the hilt of her spear, but stopped when her eyes landed on the skeletal form of an apparition. She’d always liked ghosts for the most part, except for that wraith. “
Oh,” Naya sighed in relief, lips quirking up into a slight smile. “
You startled me, skeleton friend. Your sneaking skills are most admirable.”
She watched curiously as the specter waved a hand over her satchel. For a moment the bag was blessedly silent, but then whatever spell he had cast faded and the clamouring returned with a vengeance. The witch couldn't say she was surprised, every potion the bag held had a bit of her blood in it and that didn’t often mix well with other magics.
“Tell me,” he began as his hand arched over the satchel once more, encompassing it in a shimmering bubble that quieted the noise for the most part and held fast against her contrary blood magic.
“Why are a demon, fairy, and human walking peaceably in the middle of the Deathwood?”Naya’s gaze flickered back to Aurora and Uriel, who still walked together closely, speaking in tones low enough that the witch was unable to make out what they were saying. “
That one and I have a contract,” she explained, nodding toward the faerie before she turned her attention back to the phantom. He was quite a bit taller than her, but then again most people were, and had a few arrows sticking into him. Naya pursed her lips at the sight of them. Did they cause him discomfort? How sad. “
She has my grimoire and I her axes. We’re keeping them safe for one another until we can get to Linore.”
There was a beat of silence between them before the spirit said,
“A bond was broken here, recently. These woods were never safe… but some bonds should never be broken. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, after all.” Naya didn’t have much time to process the stranger’s slightly ominous words as the temperature dropped and a sheet of slick ice formed on the ground beneath her feet, causing the witch to flounder and lose her footing. The frost disappeared as quickly as it appeared, but the damage was done and she had already begun to fall. Blindly she reached out, firmly grasping the apparition's forearm to steady herself--
Wait..what?“
S-Sorry,” she apologized, letting go of his arm but not moving to step away from him, instead reaching up to prod at his cheekbone. Her finger didn’t pass through and instead came into contact with the cold bone of his skull. “
How curious. I’ve never been able to touch a specter before,” Naya admitted, looking up to where his eyes would have been. “
...you are a phantom, aren’t you, skeleton friend?” she asked, leaning up onto her tiptoes to better inspect his eye sockets. There was no trace of the flames that were the tell tale sign of necromancy. “
You talk too well to be a summon,” she laughed faintly as her fingers trailed down to grip his chin gingerly, turning his head left and right to study him at different angles.
What a fascinating development.
@Gate Keeper @RiverMaiden @Polaris North 
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