Adrien Rune's Story

"I think that it's time we've come upon this decision now, don't you, Cavis? It has been a long time coming and you, a long time friend. Perhaps it will even help with the unification of our classes, I'd think. A measure in good faith." Radimus said, and wrapped an arm on the shoulder of his 'long time friend'. Quickly, he released, and found himself moving toward one of the lavish couches by the mantle and fireplace. Fondly, he'd taken a picture of Elleanore in his hand, and regarded it as he'd spoken.

"Your daughter is absolutely lovely, and my son is the hardest worker I've seen. Given the opportunity, he would be nothing less of a great man. Unfortunately, with the place he'd been set in life, he had not a chance."

The man set the picture down. Radimus. A poor man, whose only adornments came from the military he served in. He took the effort to wear clean clothes, and present himself kindly, however. He was kempt, though strong from the work he'd been put through. It was of no surprise he'd be in the company of richer men.

Cavis stroked his thin beard, watching Radimus as the man walked around his parlor. Radimus had a calculating gaze, a quick eye, one that assessed a situation and sought for the way that it could best benefit himself. He couldn't help but feel a distinct discomfort when the other man picked up the picture of his daughter, his precious Ellie, and fawned over her like she was some kind of a horse on the sale block.

He let none of this show, however. His smile was thin, but he made sure it was believable.

"I know Adrien." he said calmly, his voice smooth and low. "And it was never a concern that he couldn't make a place for himself in this difficult world. We all had to make something from nothing. Adrien is not lacking in those skills." He glanced to the stairwell, as his daughter in question descended. Her chestnut hair was done up in curls, blemishless face adorned with a blush as she regarded the pair of men who eagerly looked to her arrival.

The dress was her finest, yet still simple. A soft pink thing, as soft as baby's skin. Cavis continued to smile as her eyes met his.

"Papa..."

"Your future father-in-law, Elleanore."

The girl seemed surprised, but took it all in stride. She gave a delicate curtsy towards Radimus, clasping her hands in front of her as she rose to her feet. She knew of Adrien. He was a handsome boy, even though he was poor.

"Where is Adrien?" she asked, looking from one to the other.

--

"GAH! Yah ninny! Why the fuck'd you hit me straight in the kneecap!"

The dark-haired boy was swinging his stick around, lying flat on his back with his long legs sprawled awkwardly beneath him. "I can't feel me toes, mate! Yeh've made me a cripple fer life yeh have!" Then his face melted into the most pitiful expression, as he lobbed his stick at his scuffle-mate with no sense of remorse. He hoped it jabbed the other lad in the kidney.

"Because I very well know how to scrap!" said Adrien, whose hand held a stick of it's own. A juvenile sword, if you will. "Stop complaining! Maybe y'shouldn't've gotten into a scrap with me if you'd think it cripple ye --"

It would be then that the stick hit him square in the jaw, and he whined out while holding his face. His hand came from his face to the line of his eyes.

"Blood! You drew blood! S'at what you're looking for? To kill me, now? Are there any Blakes guards around? Hey, get up!" Adrien chimed, and with a hand, bent over to grab Xander's shoulder. In friendliness, it was, though his own stick was still pointed to the gut of the poor boy on the ground. "I'm a mad animal on the ground and I don't want to choke you out, so lets make it fair, yeah?"

"A'ight mate!"

And Xander's ropey arm wrapped around the back of Adrien's neck, jerking the other young man to his knees as he took his knuckles and rubbed them furiously against the top of Adrien's head.

"Say uncle!" he warbled, grinning like a lunatic.

"Hey! Get off! Y'll make me have bald spots and I won't get anywhere in life if I've those!" Adrien squealed. He swept a foot behind him, locking it behind Xander's, and hurled forward. Hopefully, not to choke himself, and hopefully, to send his scuffle-buddy flying over his shoulder.

By then, the sticks had been dropped. "Y'know y'can't win against me, Sandy. What happened last time, aye?"

"I know last time yeh didn't have a broad to romance, Dree."

This time the grin was just wicked.

"Ah, what?"

And then, the realization washed over his face. Oh, Radimus would kill him. He'd string him up tight by a noose. "Oh, you bastard, you knew, you knew! And I'm all mucked from fighting! By the gods, where's a bucket of water?"

He rushed around the stable. Soon, he'd come upon the delapidated well which sat with bucket nearby. Quickly, he laced his hands around the rope and drew water. In that time, he almost ignored Xander's presence, dedicated on cleaning up before he'd meet at the mansion, late indeed. A bucket full of water would present itself to poor Adrien, who would haphazardly shove himself face-first into it.

"For someone who doesn't like the uptight powdered wigs we like to call 'women' nowadays, yer sure awfully intent on impressin' the young lass." Xander said unhelpfully.

"We all know what you really do with them sheep in the woods, Dree."

"You're a dolt! Not even Ellie I care for, really. You know Radimus! By the gods, he's even tried to rough YOU up a few times for muckin' with me in good spirits! I'm supposed to be at Cavis' manor, for gods sake, and you know how important it is for us t'leave an impression on the powdies. At least, for him." Adrien explained. Then, he approached Xander quickly, as if he were about to collide into him. His face was sopping wet.

"Alright. Give me your shirt. It's not as dirty as mine, and god knows the fact I'm bleeding from the face'll leave a good impression."

"Don't hurt meh!" Xander cried pitiously. "Just don't make it last long, mate. I need my dignity!"

He ripped his shirt off, giving Adrien a shove before throwing the shirt at him. He flexed then, tanned skin stretching over a chest that was more bone and sinew rather than muscle.

"I rival the sun, mate! Lookit!" Then, he seemed to debate that, and added, "Ahh get the hell outta here. Don't buy the cow until yeh get a chance to drink the milk!"

Adrien caught the shirt and quickly replaced his for Xander's. It was a little tight on him, as his frame was a little larger than Xander's, but it fit. He threw the dirty shirt in Xander's direction when he'd gone so far as to flex. "Cover it up, Sandy, y'stringy dolt."

"N'trust me. I'll make it last as little as I very well can."

He looked between the stable exit and Xander, before taking off running.

--

"I don't..." Radimus looked about, as if his son were hiding someplace. Then, he brought his hand to his face and squeezed the bridge of his nose. "Promising as he may be, he's still a boy, and I can make confident bets that he's still hard at work and forgot our date."

Hard at work. Radimus didn't believe those words himself. A hard worker was he, but his free-time was only spent doing menial things. Impatiently, the man tapped at his own crossed arms, his gaze piercing through the door in which Adrien would enter by.

And Adrien had. A bit too quickly. A slam, and the door swung open in an arch to reveal the long-awaited Adrien. He'd looked unkempt, at best. His hair was wild and dirty blonde, and his skin tanned from the sun outside. A worker's tan. When he'd found himself in the staring presence of the others, he quickly adjusted himself, and gave a neat bow at the door. His shoes were left at the mat, before he'd come jogging to meet the three.

"I'm deeply regretful about my lateness. The date escaped my mind." He said, almost earnestly. Oh, but he was putting on a show, if only for his father and 'Ellie'. He bowed toward the lady, and looked to Cavis and Radimus with worry. "Fillin on what I missed?"

"Not a whole lot," Cavis said, clearly amused. Elleanore was staring, her cheeks flushed with sympathetic embarrassment at the way Adrien was presenting himself. When the young man turned her way, she inclined her head stiffly, her lips pulled into a thin, white line.

"Good to see you again." she murmured, clearing her throat for a moment before lifting a hand to touch her knuckle to her bottom lip. "Perhaps we were not communicating the time well enough?"

"I'm sure he had better things to do." Cavis said with a sudden laugh. "Come along now, the lot of you are as tense as if we were at a funeral."

Ellie looked distinctly uncomfortable. She tried not to sigh, keeping her thoughts to herself as she forced a smile for Adrien. Better things to do than meet your fiance? Oh dear.

Adrien, as dense a boy as he might have seemed, then, was not a stranger to Ellie's discomfort. He warmly smiled her way, and perhaps his smile was laced with a little bit of vindiction. They were powdies, after all. What could he really expect? Soon, though, he addressed Cavis.

"Nothing better to do? Nay, I'm simply a miss with times. There could be nothing better than existing in Radimus', yours, and lady Elleanore's presence." He said, with a chuckle. In all actuality, though, he looked for his own father's approval. His father, who stared at the floor and shook his head.

That, before raising it, clearing his voice, and correcting Adrien. "You mean, your father's presence."

"That I do!" Adrien cheerfully replied. "Now, what was it we were to?"

"The Governor's coming back." Ellie spoke up, her voice as soft and delicate as her dress. "There was an announcement he was meaning to make, and he wanted the whole town to come together to hear it."

"She's right." Cavis said with a sigh. "I have a feeling it isn't good news either, just so you're all prepared." And it was true. Colonists who had strayed from the walls of their towns had been brutally attacked. There had been one fatality, and one of the tribesmen had been killed in a previous raid attempt on a pair of hunters who were coming in with fresh game. The violence had increased so dramatically in the last three weeks that it had alarmed most of the more well-informed folk.

"I'm certain he'll have a plan." Ellie added. "He must. Its his job to keep us safe."

"The Governer is coming back, and I plan to aide him. Governer Ormond and I were at the treaty site when the conflict had initially started, and so, I will be aiding him with his speech. He is a strong man, but surely a timid one, and perhaps not the best at speaking. But, at that, I have no doubts that he will keep us safe from the savages in the woods." Radimus quickly added, his tone so regal it would come a surprise he wasn't a high-class man at all. Still, they were laced with poison when mentioning those who lived in the forest.

He continued on.

"I expect Adrien and Elleanore will be attending together, and our Cavis, if he feels the need?" The man asked.

"If only to educate myself." the man replied, obviously bored. He took a deep breath, heaving a sigh before waving a hand to Elleanore and the others. "May as well start walking now, otherwise the crowd'll be too big for us to see."

--

The town square was a spread out, nearly empty section of the town, located near the very center of the collection of houses and buildings. In the distance, the wall that separated the colonists from the tribesmen stood tall, like a grim reminder of the violence that lay in store for anyone who went too far away from the safety the town provided. Cavis came to the edge of the crowd, rising to his tiptoes to peer over a few thicker heads. He smiled, however, relaxing as the Governor ascended the platform.

"Easier for us to see." he explained to the two younger companions. Radimus, as it were, had decided to go to the podium itself.

The crowd quieted as the governer ascended, as well as Radimus. Taking the platform as well was Gerald Mason, whose timid, background position would come to show that he was only there to complete the trio of those who were there on the fateful day that war was waged.

Illiam was a quiet man, now, though his face was wrecked with distraught. He was pale, with a tight bowtie, that of which he loosened rather quickly. On him, he bore war medals, and the outfit of a commander. It was not the outfit he'd worn that day, but then again, none of the three had worn the same. Quickly, Illiam cleared his voice, and fixed his jacket. All eyes were on him. He began to speak.

"It is on this day that I regale to you the news of which you all have probably assumed the worst of. I thank you all for attending, even if it be such a grim spectacle. A grim spectacle this is, though it was not nearly quite so grim as the day I had presented the treaty to the Vanduo tribe that borders us; that we build so high of walls to keep out." Illiam had started. He gestured to the gigantic walls; those which confined the colonists in, and kept those tribemen out.

Suddenly, however, he glanced to Radimus. The man, white as he may have been, grew only paler in the face. He clutched his heart again, as if continuing only made him weary.

"Excuse me for a moment."

He stepped back, to consult with Radimus. Their whispered words could surely not be heard by even the crowd directly in front of them.

Meanwhile, Adrien had taken to the side of Ellie. His face was calculating; a strange look for a boy so rough. He couldn't draw them away from Illiam, and particularly, his father. When they stepped away to speak, he looked to Ellie and Cavis.

"Do you think Governer Ormond is right? I mean -- Right for us. Well, I mean... Well?" He asked, garnering for the opinion of the two.

"He should have killed the tribesmen where they stood." Ellie said, the words unusually harsh for someone so, well, delicate. Cavis glanced to her, his brow wrinkling for a moment, before he turned to Adrien.

"I don't know that any of us expected so much trouble coming here." he said. "Ormond has always been a good leader, even now. Every man has his breaking point, and if what I heard was true.." he sighed. "He has a right to be as upset as he is. What he saw was no easy thing to witness."

"That's pretty easy to say when you're not the one having to brave the forests to feed our people meat, huh?" Adrien countered, though his voice didn't carry a tune of aggression at all. "Even if you kill them, there's going to be more, and starting a feud with a bunch of forest people isn't such a good idea when we need that place to catch game."

"Ahem." spoke a voice, from up front. It was Radimus'. Illiam had stepped back for a moment. "I apologize for the intrusion, but it comes that it would be better if every one of you knew the events that happened the treaty day, gruesome as it is to retell." He breathed in.

"We took our horses to meet them. Earlier on, Governer Ormond had made reconciliations with the tribe leader of the Vanduo. It was brave; we encouraged men to go with him, but he declined, in hopes that he wouldn't come off as a threat to the tribesmen."

And so, he met with the tribe leader. All went well, until the date when three of ours and three of theirs were to meet and sign the treaty. But we did, and Illiam -" Radimus stopped to correct himself. "General Ormond had presented the document. The Vanduo turned it down."

The first lie.

"They were to use a ... rune? Is that what they called it? I expected it in good meanings; they had not shown violence as of then. When our dearest Governer was to accept the rune in good faith, an arrow strung out from the canopies."

The second lie.

"These ... people turned against eachother, for such crude reasons. No; they did not want peace. They did not want to come into terms with ours. It was simple enough; they wanted to be left alone, and they would assault their own kind to do so. It was in their plans. The tribe leader fell, and they put us to blame for such an act, nearly killing us in our escape. It was then that our war had started. We all escaped without harm, but Governer Ormond had taken a threat to his life in the process."

These people do not want peace. They don't want the harmonies of our people. They want to stick to their ways of witchcraft and devilry. It is to Governer Ormond how we will deal with that thus."

Ellie had remained silent, her brow knit together in disapproval as the crowd began to shout, crying out in their indignation at the behavior of the tribesmen. Various calls echoed, anger mounted. The scene began to get more rowdy than it was before.

"Well it was our own damn fault wasn't it?"

Xander's voice echoed louder than the rest.

"We did kinda, y'know, invade their homeland didn't we?"

"Papa I want to go." Elleanore said to Cavis, who glanced down at his daughter, and then to Adrien.

"Begging your pardon, sir." he said, tilting his head before offering his arm to the young lady. She all but clung to him as the pair exited the square.

"We did not invade. We settled." Came Radimus' voice, which grew in anger. "We settled on lands flat and unclaimed, and all we ask is that we use the forest for game hunting. To feed our people! As if the forest had belonged to a single man! And, we stayed in our own. We built walls. Then, when we ask for peace between us all, who mutually share the land, they spit in our faces. Is that not injustice, Xander?"

The crowd roared.

Oh, yes. He would put the boy on the spot. As would he with anyone who did oppose his reasoning. A man powerful was a man frightening. Adrien nodded toward Elle and Cavis as they released themselves, and jabbed Xander on the elbow.

"Just don't." He harshly whispered.

"Yeh remembered my name!" Xander said, his grin wicked. It was clear that he didn't care one bit what this man thought of him. "I happen teh know yours too, so now that everyone's been reminded, why don't yah tell us just what we're supposed to do now? Go out into their forest and kill em all?" He sighed, turning and shaking his head before tossing a hand in Radimus' direction.

"Feckin stupid, the whole lot of yah."

"And this is why we must educate our youth. We came peacefully, but again, they spat in our faces. And we are to take it? Nay, we have not even came to a decision about the tribesmen yet, and yet the youth assumes that we're set on killing them! A violent youth! That is not what we are!" Radimus explained.

Illiam only sat in the background, with wide eyes. These were lies. He knew it, Gerald knew it, but neither of them dared speak up against a man so charismatically powerful. The crowd spoke out.

"That boy'll learn!"

"Those savages'll learn too!"

"Yae, what is it ye'll d', Governer Ormond?"

Adrien grabbed Xander's arm. "What say we get outta here? Let you take out your frustrations on me if y'like. Before the crowd starts taking theirs out on you, or you get a rock thrown at your head."

Xander's look was sharp.

"I'll say what I like, cuz I mean every word. I like you, Dree, but I don't like yer old man. I know a lyin face when I see one, and he's about as slick as the serpent was in Eden." He jerked his arm free of the other young man's grasp, and stormed off.

"C'mon! It's just politics anyway!" Adrien mimed, and took off after Xander as well.

It was the morning, and about the time when the colonists who braved the forests went out to lurk for their game. Rabbits flitted around, leaving tracks for those who didn't care for bigger game to follow. No, though, that would not come suitable for Adrien, the boy who worked hard. The boy who had to prove himself. The boy to which people still referred to as a boy.

On him was a sack and a rifle. It was an expensive one; a surprising thing for a poor man to wield, but every extra ounce that he'd saved had gone into it. Today was the day that he would get to use it. It would become a sad day when the polished, engraved weapon looked worn, but those were days Adrien had not thought of.

So he lurked, and stalked. He took the steps his teacher had trained him to take, and he picked fresh tracks from old ones. Still, they were tiny. To bring a single hare back home, with a bullet in it bigger than it's own head, would be only embarrassing to the poor boy. Still he persisted, until he found himself deep in the Forest of Whispers. Perhaps deeper than any sane colonist would dare to tread. This was important to him.

Finally, upon a tree, something caught his eye. A glimmer, it was, and if he was poor of sight he might think it a jewelry piece. His eyes flitted left and right, making sure he wasn't going to scare an animal away, before he'd rushed to the tree whose bark held it.

It was white fur.

A white hare, perhaps? But the fur was caught high, not low. A hare surely couldn't have caught itself there. It was worth investigating. His eyes trailed to the floor, where he would discover the dusty remnants of a tiger that once treaded there. A white tiger. Unimaginable.

With haste, he followed the prints, until he would come into a bush that blocked his path. He placed a hand on top of it, creating noise, before creeping to hide behind it.

There was a startled gasp. The bush trembled, a mass of soft snow and leaves shifted away from Adrien before an arm flashed out, scattering damp underbrush everywhere. The girl who appeared so suddenly from the small cocoon she'd made for herself looked as pale as the snow that surrounded her, her lips dark from the cold. She scooted back, uncaring of how much noise she made, before a grimace of pain etched its way onto her expression, and she turned away from the boy for a moment to observe something that, at first, he could not see.

But she turned back quickly, pulling a knife and pointing it rather threateningly in his directly. She was still sitting, though, and had made no effort to stand. It was almost as if she couldn't.

Her eyes bore into his, dark with exhaustion, with the knife glinting between them.

"Woah!" Adrien cried, startled. When it wasn't the shape of a fleeing hare or deer he'd come upon, but a hand and a woman, he stepped back. It was only correct, though. He was coming upon tribe territory, surely. They were in the deep woods. It made sense. In an attempt to be unthreatening, he lowered his rifle, and swung it over his shoulder.

He looked to the trees. Perhaps it was in fear of another tribesman being there. They owned the forest; lived in it. What did he have? Stony walls. The colonists knew no master of the trees or the forest, and it was even rumored that these people could control the forest; that when one wept, the forest ached. When one laughed, the forest's light shone through. These were only fantastical myths, however.

And how would it be that such a master of the forest was in front of him, beholding a knife, almost helpless? If anything, it made him curious, but the boy was light on his toes all the same.

He raised his hands.

"You are... From the tribes?" He asked, after a long bout of silence. "I'm not here to hurt you. I'll leave. Y'don't have to try and hurt me either."

One hand gestured for the knife to be put down.

Her hand shook, the steadiness of her gaze faltering. Her eyes flickered over his figure, towards the gun on his back, before returning to his face. The pile of snow shifted, falling away as she moved her legs. At least, it seemed as if she was moving her legs. One remained pinned beneath the other, and every time she tried to move it, pain flickered behind the steel of her gaze.

She sighed noisily, lowering her arm and turning away from the other before she pushed the snow off of her ankles. The ugly, mangling bear trap glittered deceptively, clamped hard on her leg. The bleeding had stopped, the blood staining the fabric of her breeches as well as the snow. She crossed her arms over her chest to quell the trembling in her arms, and looked back to Adrien. There was something like the barest hint of a plea there now.

"You want me to die." she said, in the language he understood. Remarkable, considering the reptuation her kind had received. She looked back to the trap.

"If you leave, I die here."

"Hey, no, don't go assuming anything. I want you to die just as much as you want me to die." Adrien started, and quickly revised himself. "Er, I mean, if you tribey folk ain't in 'kill all colonists' mode like they say you are."

The boy came to the side of her, and took notice of the trap. At first, he grimaced, and then drew a stressed hand over his hair, which he grabbed in tension for a moment before releasing it.

"Hell."

For a moment, he stared. Staring took up a lot of his time when he'd come upon the woman. What would he do? She settled her knife, and he settled his gun. Perhaps it was an unspoken peace treaty of it's own; at least, between the two of them. Still, fear welled in him the closer he'd stepped to the woman. There were tales of colonists being attacked, at least one murdered. Was this the way that it happened?

"I don't know if I can get that open... Looks painful. It's real, innit? You're not just trying to trick me into getting into stab range, are you?" He asked.

She gave him a look that clearly expressed her answer.

"Fine, fine! Alright. In good faith, mind handing me over your knife? I don't think it just looks pretty; I might be able to get the trap open with it. Never tried it before, but I don't set these, either. They're for bears."

The boy held a hand out.

She seemed uncertain. Her jaw clenched for a moment as she stared at the weapon he was asking for. There was a tense moment of silence, and another audible sigh, before she picked up the knife by the blade and handed it over to him hilt-first.

"I would help," she said, her eyes drifting to the back of her hand. "But my fingers are numb."

There was a look of disappointment in her eyes.

Adrien cautiously took the knife, and in assuming that the woman was no longer armed, hastily knelt in front of the leg that had been clamped on. It disgusted him; a surprise, really, for he'd seen the gorey death of so many animals. Still he cringed, though, and he empathized the pain.

He stuck the knife in the opening of the trap. It was pried open by the woman's leg, though as it cut through her skin, only by a little. The idea was stupid. He needed something bigger. Mindlessly, he sat it back in front of her, and reached for his rifle.

She moved faster than he could properly react to. A second knife appeared in a flash, against the pulse of his throat before he could even blink.

"I'm wounded. Not a fool." she hissed.

"Je... Fuck. Big a knife as it is, it's not big enough to pry the trap open. Not without me losing a finger in the process. Do you want to let me jam it open with my stock, or are you going to cut my throat before I can?"

It was a matter of trust. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Numb fingers my arse."

Her eyes narrowed on his face, before moving to the weapon. She seemed to be silently deliberating.

"Tell me what you are doing then." she replied grumpily, before pulling the knife away.

"The stock of my rifle is thicker and heavier than your knife. If I used your knife, I could slip and cut my finger off, and that's not a risk I'm willing to take for some tribelady who almost cut m'throat. It's probably a little bit thicker than your leg, which would give you some leeway to pull your leg out."

Adrien huffed. He cautiously began to pull the gun off of his back again.

"I just bought this, too. Damn expensive. Lucky I'm not my father, hell, anyone else might've just left you here."

She was quiet for a few moments, stubbornly looking away from him. Then, after a minute or two...

"I know. You were...kind...to help me."

She refused to meet his eyes, but she was obviously thinking of something. Her brow was knit, and her lips occasionally parted, as if she wanted to speak, but didn't know what to say. Then,

"Are you afraid of us?"

"I'm afraid of pointy things at my throat, and stray cats, but that's another tale." Adrien said, as he withdrew the gun from his back. He held it in front of him. "But we? Yes. We're afraid of you."

He flipped the gun around, so the barrel faced himself, before he lightly pushed the stock into the opening of the trap.

"This is going to hurt. Say when."

She turned slightly, grabbing a hold of her leg with both hands, just behind her knee. She took a deep breath in, then let it out slowly and said, "Now."

"Take it out..."

Suddenly, Adrien latched his leg to the side of his gun, and shoved the stock into the beartrap. The unforgiving steel would open further, it's teeth unfastening itself from the woman's leg, and now biting into the shiny polished stock of the boy's new rifle.

"Now!"

She pulled the leg out quickly, releasing her leg and digging her palms into the snow to drag her body physically away from the bear trap. Visibly shuddering, she sat forward, her chest against the back of her leg as she leaned over to observe the wound. It didn't look too great, to be perfectly honest.

She looked a little ill, as if the movement had reawakened the pain. She leaned against the trunk of the oak that towered over them, her forehead damp with sweat. She licked her lips, panting for a moment before she softly said,

"We're human. Like you."

Adrien gritted his teeth and shied his face away when she pulled her leg from the trap. Soon, he slammed a foot on it, and thrusted his rifle out of the trap as well. Then, he turned to face her, his eyes taking in her face rather than her leg, now.

"Well, are you afraid of us?"

He latched the rifle onto his back again, and reached to grab her first knife, before offering it back. Hilt first.

Her eyes slitted open tiredly, but she reached for the knife and clumsily slipped it back into its sheath on her hip, regardless.

"Not afraid enough." she said in a tone almost too quiet to hear. Her eyes flickered up to his face.

"What's your name?"

"Adrien Rune. Yours?"

Reflexively, his hand shot up, before he realized who he was conversing with and let it rest at his side again. Then, his eyes traveled to the ultimately unignorable.

"How do you intend getting back to your village?"

She looked ready to answer, but a voice from behind Adrien startled them both. A figure stood, clad in dark clothing, with his face partially obscured by the hood that hung over his brow. On his right hand was a gauntlet, polished to a glossy sheen that glittered as menacingly as the bear trap had. The girl tensed, her hands going for the knife at her side.

"Good job, Adrien!" he said cheerfully, clenching his hand into a fist. Three wicked blades extended from a compartment on the back of the gauntlet as he advanced on the girl.

"It's about time we gave those tribals a taste of what we've been going through these last few weeks."

A colonist voice. Unaccented. It was one of his own. He would be reprimanded for even coming near a tribesperson, if not punished for fraternizing with the enemy. Releasing them from one of the traps would be profound. His father would have brought Aja to Blakestown and executed her himself.

He froze up, unaware of the imminent threat. The voice came from behind.

"This isn't what it looks like - "

Then, he pivoted in the grass and placed a hand on the man's chest, intent on staying him in his place. That was the intent, until he'd seen the man's garb and threatening leer. Almost immediately, his hand shot to pull his rifle from his back, for he did not carry his skinning knife in arms reach.

He gave a startled gasp as he'd done so, and almost yelled to Aja to run, before he'd realized what he'd be saying.

The man stepped back, crossing his arm over his chest before swinging his fist in a backhand across Adrien's jaw.

Crack.

Adrien's vision blurred, and he stumbled backward before falling to the ground, his hands then clenched onto his jaw. The boy muttered nothing more than incoherencies past that.

The man smirked beneath his hood, looking up in time to see the furious slash of a blade come within a hair's bredth of his nose. He ducked back, swooping underneath a second swing of another blade. The girl was on her feet in spite of the injury, her arms tucked close to her sides. She kept her weight on her good leg, watching the other as he corrected his balance. His free hand flashed out, a blade flying from his fingers towards the girl's shoulder. She managed to duck, glancing back only for a moment before turning her attention to her opponent.

She'd let her guard down.

That gauntlet came crashing down on the left side of her face, blinding her, before his foot caught her in the chest and sent her careening to the ground. She moaned, pressing her forearm to the bleeding wounds, her other eye blurred with the blood that seeped over her face. The man knelt down next to her, confident in his victory.

"It was precious, watching you weep over your dead father. And don't act like you can't understand me." He reached for her hair, knotting it in his fist and dragging her closer. She cried out, once, before his boot pressed against her mouth roughly.

"Go back and tell those tribal animal friends of yours that a storm is coming. Do you hear me? And if I see you again, I'll make you wish that knife had hit you straight in the heart."

He let her go, left her lying there, and walked over to Adrien. Without a warning, he grabbed the young man by the arm, hauling him to his feet before slinging him over his shoulders.

Not once did he glance back the girl's way, and she didn't bother to linger. Keeping her arm to her head, she stumbled to her feet, and slowly began to limp into the woods, leaving all but her knives behind.

It had been roughly an hour since the darkly clad, mysterious third party deposited Adrien on one of the sick beds in the make-shift hospital that had been created in one of the back rooms of the town hall. The nurse and the physician collaborated to let Adrien's father know about his state as privately as possible, however, due to the nature of small towns and the fact that whispers spread like wildfires, nearly a dozen of the townspeople were present on the doorstep, inquiring after Adrien's condition and the circumstances surrounding his injuries. The nurse, a portly, aging woman who had seen her husband and all of her children buried thanks to the summer flu, regarded the growing crowd with a simpering stare, her fat arms crossed over her chest in a clear display of passive aggression.

"Will he be alright at least?" Jason Porter called from the back. The cobbler was too nosey for his own good, possibly from the practice of sticking his face into many a smelly shoe. He had a nose for good gossip.

"I'm not going to be deliverin' any information until his father comes 'ere to see him."

"Miss Patsy!"

The woman's piggish eyes turned towards the young, gangly lad who unceremoniously elbowed his way through the crowd, his mop of dark hair sticking up in all directions as he loped up the stairs to stand before her. Even though Xander was easily six inches taller than she, the young man felt intimidated by the glare that met his eyes.

"When I said his father, I meant--"

"Oh I know what you meant. You've always been such a good, dedicated nurse. But, see, here's the thing, if Adrien's dying in there, who better than myself to cheer him up as he slips into the afterlife? Wasn't there some woman as gracious as yourself who suggested that good company always eased an aching soul?" He batted his eyes.

Patsy did not look amused.

His expression withered. "Ma'am, if he was awake, he'd be asking for me. I know it."

Patsy glared for a moment longer, before rolling her eyes and jerking her thumb over her shoulder. With a cheerful grin, Xander bent and kissed the woman straight on the mouth until she blushed, before he danced out of the way of her swatting hands and back on into the sick room.

"But what about--" came an indignant cry.

"SHUT IT ALL OF YOU!" Patsy hollared, her face still a rather distinct shade of red.

As Xander slipped into the room, he noticed immediately that one side of Adrien's face was peculiarly swollen. He knew that sort of blow. It wasn't the kind one received from a fall. It was the kind one got from someone else's fist.

But he determined to keep himself cheerful for the sake of his friend. Walking over to his bed, he sat himself down, before putting a hand on Adrien's shoulder.

"You're supposed to shoot the deer, Dree. Not head-butt it into oblivion."

A figure pushed through the crowd, so very unhappy in his demeanor. He pushed past Jason Porter, the cobbler, who hollered until he'd realized the assaultant. He pushed past Myriam and Gregory, and soon, he sidestepped into the sick office, ignorant even of the nurse's presence. This man's face was red with embarrassment and anger, and he stopped in the doorway to dispel those who insisted on watching.

"Go! The lot of you! Leave!" Radimus hollered, with a flicker of his wrist. The man's voice was maddened, and his eyes, surely wild. A few whispers crossed the crowd. A few dispelled, but the nosiest of them stayed. The man, with no time on his hands to fight the colonists, turned with a huff into the room.

The lean figure that stood over Adrien's bedside was soon enough grasped by the back of the collar and shoved aside with reckless abandon by the angry father, whose words were far too loud for the sick office to bear.

"What is the meaning of this? Have you gathered the townspeople? And what of my son, who I am the last to hear of?!" He demanded, of the tubby nurse.

Xander managed to catch himself before he went careening into a counter, then decided to make rude gesticulations behind Radimus' back while the other man screamed at Patsy.

The flustered nurse was back to being all business. She regarded Radimus patiently, before her shoulders lifted in a heavy sigh. "We've been trying to look for you, Mister Rune. But when the townsfolk decided to come to harrass my patient, your son," she clarified, "I saw fit to stand by his side and keep out the riff raff while he rested."

She glanced to Xander briefly, who immediately stilled with a congenial smile on his face.

"Some figure came dragging him in from beyond the Wall." the nurse explained. "Said he'd been attacked by a tribal when he wandered too far." She sighed heavily. "He'll need your support, rather than your reprimand, Radimus."

It was easy to see that Patsy was somewhat of a mother to all, and there wasn't a single man or woman who escaped her counsel.

"You don't tell me how to govern my son!" Radimus ferociously replied, not keen on shrinking from the woman's intimidating maternal instincts like the rest. He stopped in his tracks, and pivoted to Adrien's bedside, his knuckles white with anger. "And that's it? Some figure? You've not a name, or a face? None of which I can speak to? This care is a shame!"

Adrien emitted a groan; he was coming back to the rest of them. Radimus had taken it as a sign to speak with his son.

"And you! What have you been told about the natives? What were you looking to do, wandering that far? Impress someone? The deer we eat are on the border! I thought you a smart boy. You should know this! Even after my speech!" He exclaimed, slamming his hand onto the bedside. The boy's eyes wearily opened to behold the vicious voice of his own father, who had certainly been getting ahead of himself.

"That's enough!" Patsy shouted, voluminous even for her.

"I will not have you upsetting him while he's still healing. If you do not calm down, I'll have you removed too. My priority is him." She pointed to the boy in the bed. Xander, standing off to one side, looked incredibly pleased at the turnout of the conversation.

"Perhaps you should step out, Mister Rune. Get some fresh air." he suggested unhelpfully.

Radimus regarded Patsy with hate, struggling to keep his own abusive paternal instinct over hers. Ultimately, he regarded her with no other option than to leave, as any words that would come from his mouth would certainly be of reprimand. He pushed out of the room, and shoved a townsfolk on the way out.

Adrien painfully looked between Xander and Patsy, vision still blurry. Even then, he mustered a smirk, though the other side of his face stayed swollen and bruised.

A voice came from outside.

"Well, that's'is father, then! What 'appened?"

"Xander, mind you go close the door." Patsy suggested, tiredly rubbing at her temples before disappearing back into a store room. The sounds of rummaging could be heard, as well as mild cursing. Patsy had never stuck to what her gods had told her, and spoke as she liked. Xander, on the other hand, did as he was bid, closing the door on the faces of the curious townsfolk before returning to the side of his friend.

"You look a right mess, mate." he muttered, showing concern, rather than playfulness, for the first time that day.

"What the fuck happened to you out there?"

"'Ead-butted a deer." Adrien said, with an attempt to lighten the mood. He hadn't the slightest idea why it had come to mind, though.

"W'ad ... 'Ow'd I get here?" He asked, obviously confused. His words were slightly muffled by the swelling of his face. "I got punched, s'what. 'Ow long I been out? Cun't feel m'face."

He brought a limp hand up to touch it.

Xander swatted it away.

"Stop that." he scolded. "One of them tribals got you good huh? Good thing they didn't gut you and leave you for the wolves."

There was no hint of teasing in his tone. "Why'd you go out so far, Dree? You know that place isn't safe for us. Like it as not, y'do have a girl you're eventually gunna provide for."

He paused for a minute.

"That idn't why you went out there is it?"

"W'uh? Nay, not th'..." Adrien hesitated. "Saw some white fur, 'ad m'new rifle. Was jus trackin' a tiger. Bet she was good, tooh. Didn't find'er, tracks were dry..." The hand that had been smacked away went to brace his head again, though not his jaw. He wracked his mind for the memory of the event.

"S'a ... Saw a tribe lady caugh' in a trap, n'I couhdn't just leave wifhout lettin'er free," he recalled.

Xander stared.

"You saw one of them?" he asked, his eyes wide. In the meantime, he wondered what kind of a trap could be set for a human being...

"What was she like? Did she try to gut you? Why did ..." but the sentence trailed off. Adrien was not his father. Adrien would have let the girl go.

That's one thing Xander loved about his friend.

"Shuh was stuck in a bearh trahp, guttin' me wouldn't be good for eifher of ush. She held her knifh up like I was gonna shoot her, though. Dunnoh much abouth her past thath. Think her name was..." Adrien tried hard to recall. "I didn't get her namhe."

No. He was too busy being grounded to get her name, but she certainly got his.

"Ah." Xander didn't seem too enlightened by his explanation. The young man sighed. "Well, next time, try to take someone with yah, that way you won't come back a bloodied pulp, and maybe we'll get her name before she beans you in the jaw."

"It washn't --"

He looked like he was ready to say more, but there was a soft knock on the door, and it opened to reveal Ellie and her father. As usual, she looked impeccable, and embarrassed. She didn't seem to know what to say upon laying eyes on Adrien.

Cavis was there to recover for her poor form.

"They didn't knock out any of your teeth did they?" he asked, smiling good naturedly as he gently touched a hand to his daughter's shoulder to guide her forward. "Has your father stopped by? He was pretty worried."

"Oh, he did." Xander cut in, glancing to Ellie before meeting Cavis' eyes. "Left an impression. He needed to take a walk."

"How are you feeling?" Ellie asked, shyly approaching the bed as she gazed down at Adrien. It was clear she didn't know exactly what she was supposed to do, and she almost looked like she was afraid to touch him.

Cavis and Xander exchanged glances briefly.

Adrien's explanation was also interrupted by the entrance of Cavis and Ellie. He attempted a smile, but only half of his face seemed to raise. "Hope I didn't miss another meetinh at th'manor." He joked, in an attempt to ease the tension of the room. "Don't 'ave t'act all scared."

"Nay, m'teeth're all there, sos m'beautiful smile. S'm'noggin I'm worried about. Yae, as Sandy said, Radimus stopped by. 'E means well, though I didn't'ear half th'words 'e was sayinh'."

Adrien looked toward Ellie as she approached, his smile softening a little more. "Feelin' like I got socked in th'jaw. It ain't as big'a deal as people'rh makin' it. 'Ow're ye? Look right pale."

"Ellie took the news a bit hard. She was very worried." Cavis interjected, putting an arm on his daughter's shoulder. The girl glanced away, towards the floor as she chewed on the corner of her lower lip.

"I'm glad to see you're alright." she added. Her lips pursed tight, and with a slight flourish, she turned from her father and excused herself before hurriedly leaving the room.

There was a beat of silence.

"I'm thinkin the meat on yer face made her a bit queasy, Dree." Xander noted, one brow lifting as the door swung shut behind the lady's skirts. Cavis sighed heavily.

"You'll have to excuse her. She's never done well around the sight of blood, and I think her concern for you is unsettling her." He gave Adrien an encouraging smile. Patsy entered the room not long after, with a draught that smelled curiously of whiskey.

"Alright, the lot of you need to leave so he can sleep." she told them. This time, Xander didn't seem to protest. Especially when Cavis extended an invitation to dinner that evening with them.

"Ah, my pleasure sir. Dree," Xander saluted the other lad before giving him a wave. "I'll see you in the mornin. Rest easy, mate."

And the pair exited the room in time for Patsy to hand over the steaming mug.

"Ignore what you think it might taste like and swallow the whole of it." she said, giving him a look that was not meant to be argued with.

"Well, s'nice knowinh' she wadn't runnin' cause she doesn't like me, huh?" Adrien joked, to Cavis. He watched the trail of Ellie's dress disappear from the room with a frown and a wistful sigh. The girl wasn't at all as bad as they'd made her seem, with their titles. Titles, which he was guilty of. Soon, Patsy ushered everyone else out as well, and Adrien set his head to look at the ceiling.

"Lemme go wif'm, Patsy. I'm well enough to walk. If y'can feed me brews, I can feed myself. I'll just go back to m'house and sleep there."

He took the steaming mug in hand and plugged his nose. Then, he shot back the concoction as well as he could, which wasn't quite well enough. It stained his shirt and sent him into a coughing fit, which took a bit of recovery, before he'd downed the rest.

Patsy smiled.

"Believe me, lad. There idn't too much you'll be able to do once that stuff settles. Y'might as well just let yerself rest for the night." With that, she disappeared from the room again, going away from the sick bay and into the town hall.

Not too long after she'd left, softer footsteps approached Adrien from the head of the bed.

"Looks like someone backhanded you good, boy. Giving your old man lip?"

It was the man in the dark clothing. The pistol in his hand made it clear that Adrien was not to make a sound.

Adrien's eyes, which had slowly been lulling their ways to sleep, softly opened when he'd heard footsteps. Perhaps it was just Patsy again, checking in on him, he thought. When his tired eyes adjusted to dark.

And even though darkness inhibited the room, the man's cloak was darker. The boy's eyes followed his form down, to the glint of the gun.

"I didn't thinkh y'very old at all, actually."

Even with the gun in the room, the boy displayed both a fear and a callous, obvious hate for the cloaked man. "Caught me there."

"I just came to give you a little bit of advice." the man said, a smile in his words. He came around, more to the front so that the gun was clearly visible. "Early this morning you were attacked, rather viciously, by a tribal wench who intended to nail your heart to the wall of her cave. Gave you a good blow to the jaw before a masked stranger swept in to save you." He gestured to himself.

"At least, that's what you're going to tell people, Adrien Rune. Are we clear on this?"

"N'what do you plan on doing if I don't? Acting like a native came here and shot me, too? 'Cause they very well have guns, don't they? Stop showingh that around, and g'out of'ere!"

Adrien looked to the gun, and his hand felt for the lantern at his bedside. He grabbed it, and deftly swung it in the man's direction. It was nothing but a measly lantern, but the point was made enough.

The man blocked the blow with his forearm, before seizing the lantern and tearing it from Adrien's hand. He was fast, frighteningly so.

"There's a few neat ways to kill a boy, but I can think of a few fancier ways to kill his little fiance." There was nothing but menacing promise in his tone.

"You make the choice, Adrien."

Adrien scowled, the swollen part of his face only hindering the emotion little. He seemed to huff, then, and waved the dark-coated man away. His voice shrunk, and his eyes diverted themselves.

"Get out of here, why don't y'? 'Fore I scream, and someone comes running. Leave!" He hissed.

The man chuckled.

"You didn't hear it, but that girl screamed something fierce when I sliced up her face. She's probably the ugliest thing wandering around in those woods now." The man shrugged. "Good riddance. Enjoy the rest of your night, young man."

And before Adrien had a chance to see where he'd gone off to, he disappeared.

Snow had begun to fall more and more frequently, leaving the ground blanketed in thin carpets of snow. At first, it melted to a slush by the time the sun rose to its peak, but today was the first day that the snow had lasted into the afternoon. Elleanore left her father's home, her shoulders bundled in a heavy shawl, with a basket hanging off the crook of her arm. She seemed to be determined, her lips pulled into a thoughtful frown as she traipsed through the snow in thick leather boots, leaving footprints behind as she made her way for the northeast corner of Blakestown.

There was a distinct cough, coming from the young man who soon exited the print's office down the street. Under his arm were three bundled newspapers; one for himself, another for his father, and the last for his friend. His hands clasped together when his body met the bitter Winter chill, and his cheeks, even through tan skin, flushed red. This particular boy was shielded against the cold as well, with worn, fur-wrapped boots and a cloth shawl of his own.

His eyes fixed on the colonists that passed; some ran into buildings for fear of the cold, and some kept the same rigid, steady gait as they had in the August days. Still, he had a place home, and he began toward it.

A girl passed him, of familiarity. Although his eyes were bleary, her chestnut curls and fancy clothes stood out in stark contrast of the other colonists that wandered the streets. Quickly, he opened his mouth, and with a smile.

"Elleanore? I was just about t'ead over n'deliver a few papers to Xander and Radimus. Mind if I walk with you?" Adrien called.

She hesitated, coming to a halt as she turned to look over her shoulder. When she saw Adrien, she couldn't help the small smile that pulled at the corners of her mouth. She turned towards him, hugging her arms and her basket closer to her chest as a bitter wind picked up, tossing her shawl and her skirts around. She ducked her head, her eyes squinting closed before the wind finally settled, and things became quiet.

"I was going away from town." she told him. "I fear it would be out of your way."

She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, to keep herself warm.

"I would love your company, though. It's good to see you out of the sick bed." Her smile grew, warming her eyes.

"Well, for what? I can't think it would be too out of the way, aye?" Adrien tucked the newspapers he had under his arm as well as he could, for fear the ink might run. Still, if Elleanore and himself were to be wed, then he'd put the same amount of work into enjoying it as he did into his duties.

"Face 's healing up well, I'm proud t'say. Gave everyone a good scare, but it wasn't anything to fuss about."

When he spoke of his injury, he had done so with a sort of indignation, and stubbornness to admit it may have been more serious than he'd given it. The boy drew his eyes away, and placed them on the path in front of the two. When he wasn't looking at Elleanore, he watched his own feet kick up snow.

"Let me be a gentleman for once, n'carry that for ye." He suddenly said, and gestured to the basket that the girl clung so closely to.

Her expression softened, and there was a sort of tender appreciation at his gesture. Keeping her eyes down, she nodded meekly, passing over the basket before crossing her arms firmly over her chest. "Thank you." she told him, glancing to the side of his face. She smiled at him, when she thought he wasn't looking, and then turned her eyes forward.

"I never thought you weren't a gentleman." she said after a moment. "And I'm sorry if I seem a bit...out of touch." Her brow wrinkled. She didn't know how to put this. "I'm a bit...new at this." she finally said, her tone breathless as she met his eyes again. She was blushing, and not just from the cold.

"I don't know how I'm supposed to act."

Adrien took the basket under his other arm, and gave the girl the consideration of not peering into it, although the curiosity begged at him to do so. Instead, he shifted between looking to Elleanore when she spoke, and the path ahead when she didn't.

"Is that so? You seem t'be the only one of that opinion, hm?" He rebuttaled, though friendly in his dialogue. "Not sure what y'mean. Arranged marriage? No one's used t'it. What y'think about it, anyway? I'm not to keen on marrying a lady who doesn't like me."

"I like you." she countered, nearly insisting on it. For a moment, she seemed flustered.

She looked at the ground. "It's...it isn't an unpleasant thing, thinking of marrying you. I mean, it certainly could have been worse."

There was a moment's hesitation as the realization of what she said finally came over her. Her eyes widened, and she clapped a hand over her mouth. "I didn't mean it like that, Adrien. I'm so sorry."

Adrien laughed.

"Maybe 'til be a little bit easier t'talk if you aren't so afraid of saying something wrong. 'M not gonna lash out. I get it. I'm not th'most favorable fella to wed, being poor and all, and you a lady with money. Think it's m'father's ploy to hitch a ride into the upper-class, in all honesty, but..."

He shrugged.

"I'll give it my all just as I'd give my duties; if it can turn out t'be something good." He paused. "Say, where are we heading, anyway? Out of town, you said?"

There was a moment's pause, and then,

"The graveyard. I'm going to visit my mother."

She hugged her arms to her chest, and pushed ahead, ducking her chin down as another strong gust of wind blew strongly against her slender frame.

"Ah."

There was a silence, before he spoke again. "Must have been nice, if you're visiting'er in weather this cold."

"I loved her." Ellie replied, her voice unintentionally stern. "Today is her birthday."

She glanced back to him. "The weather isn't that bad when you get into the graveyard. It's protected from the wind." Her tongue flicked out over her lower lip. "You...don't have to come, if you don't want to."

"If y'don't mind, I'd like t'come."

Adrien drew in a tense breath, before looking to Ellie and smiling. "My mother's back in Dallenburg. I s'pose it's not the same, but I miss'er too. Wouldn't let her come on the boat because she was sick. Still is. But I write'r."

"I'm sure she loves that." Ellie replied, her face softening into another one of those tender expressions.

She hesitated for just a moment, before reaching back to take his free hand. Her cool fingers squeezed his hand gently, before guiding him along, between buildings and towards the open pastures where the colonists had started to learn to grow their crops. Nothing grew now. The land was nothing but a soft, white blanket. It was unusually quiet out here, with nothing but the sound of the wind through the trees to accompany them.

"My mother should have stayed." she said quietly. "I wonder, if she had, if I'd be able to write her letters too."

"Still can, if ye'd like. If y'follow the mainstream god-fearing thought-train, she may just be reading'em over your shoulder as you're writing'em. Hell, don't cut yourself off just because she's passed." Adrien advised.

He was led through the buildings, into the pasture that was lush with soft snow. Still, white flakes continued to dot the landscape, and the tracks of their boots had made fresh, autonomous tracks on the landscape.

"W'as in this basket anyway, if you don't mind me asking? Thinking of having a snow picnic?"

"Roses." Ellie replied. "My mother brought over several from home. I dry them during the summer and save the petals." She uncovered the top of the basket, to show him the deep red petals that nearly filled the basket to the brim. There was no smell to it, and a few of the petals flew out as they were caught up in the wind. She quickly covered the basket back up.

"It's...strange. But I like to decorate her grave."

Adrien faltered for a moment. He was at a loss for words; not because it was too strange, but, well... There weren't really words to say. That's nice? After an amount of silence, he opened his mouth.

"Well..." He started. "What are you going to do when y'run out of roses?"

"I haven't figured that out yet." Ellie said, shrugging delicately as she faced forward. She didn't seem to mind holding his hand, so long as he didn't mind holding hers. Her attention was elsewhere, anyway, towards the rise of a hill that extended not too far from where they were walking. On the other side, she knew, the graveyard lay in wait. She gave a wistful sigh.

"What do you think of the tribals, Adrien?" she asked him. The question was so out of the blue that it made it painfully obvious that the subject had been on her mind for quite some time. Either that, or she was desperate to avoid the subject of her mother.

Adrien stopped, and the hand that interlaced with Ellie's fell to his side. For a moment, he frowned, before his lips pulled into a tight line. Instead of trying to regain her hand again, he rubbed the side of his leg.

"What do you think of them?"

She pretended to not notice his hand, and her steps did not falter as she continued forward.

"They frighten me." she replied honestly, her eyes on the snow. "Perhaps, not the people, but the idea of what they're capable of." Her nose wrinkled with distaste. "I mean, I honestly don't know how they could live out here. It's so unpredictable. So...wild."

It was obvious that she missed the comforts of home. She clung to the old ways desperately, as much and as often as she could. It was when she was most comfortable. Ellie liked being comfortable. "Mama never wanted me to be judgmental, and I try not to be, but it's difficult, especially when everyone around you fears them too."

She looked to him.

"Are you afraid of them?"

Are you afraid of us?

The boy looked to Ellie with a sort of zeal, before speaking. "Well, I can't imagine they feel any different. They've killed our people, but we've killed theirs too. They can live out here like we can live back home! I mean, we're different, but we're all human, we adapt, and -"

He stopped himself, and looked around, as if there were somebody behind him. He hushed his voice.

"I mean... It's good not t'be judgemental. Remember that you're hearing from one side of the fence."

It was a strange thing to talk about, as the boy had surely been beaten by one of those 'tribals' a week earlier. He vacantly rubbed the side of his jaw.

"The only things I'm afraid of are being killed, and certain breeds of cats. We're afraid of them."

Her brow wrinkled.

"You almost sound defensive." she said quietly. "They hurt you, didn't they? And what were you doing? You hadn't gone that far, and certainly you hadn't done anything to deserve getting hurt the way you did!"

She sighed in frustration. "I don't understand it. What other side could there possibly be?"

"No,"

was the last thing that Adrien had said, before the two of them had come upon the wrought black fence that surrounded the graveyard. On top of the hill, the wind picked up a little bit more, and the boy wondered if Ellie's rose petals would even stay. He raised his free arm over his mouth, which expelled air that visually contrasted against the frosted air.

"Which one is hers?" He asked. The question was not out of the blue, but it was certainly asked if only to change the subject.

She looked confused, but said nothing further on the subject. In her mind, it really wasn't worth it. Not then, anyway.

"Here." she said, leading him down the few dozen rows that made up the graveyard. The site was eerily quiet, as many yards were, but here, so high above the rest of the town, it was easy to think that you were removed from everything. From this vantage point, you could even see over the wall.

She wondered if they were out there right now.

She stopped when she found the grave she was looking for. Old flowers had been buried in snow, with the top of the stone dusted with the white, powdery covering. She knelt down , right there in the cold, and sat back on her heels.

"Do you think I'll get to meet your mother?" she asked, her head tilting to one side.

"Nah." Adrien said. "They aren't letting her overseas cause'a her sickness. Last I heard from her, it wasn't quite going away as we planned it't. I like t'be optimistic, but if it's th'Velvet Fever we were having over there, you'd have as much'a chance of meeting her as you'd have locking eyes th'big man up above."

He came to Ellie's side, and set her basket down next to her. For a moment, he regarded the newspapers under his arm as well, whose ink had run from the snow that had been hitting them. For a moment, he looked weary of joining on her the ground, but he soon collapsed shins first next to her.

"Unless we voyage out there, I mean. Not sure I wanna see'r if she's got velvet. I like her words a little better. S'at sound cruel?" He asked.

"No."

She was watching the grave, reaching forward to dust the snow away. "Sometimes its kinder to delude ourselves with a reality that's easier to handle. I don't think its wrong at all that you would want to remember your mother healthy."

She wondered, for a moment, about the nature of cruelty in all of its forms. "I like to pretend we're safe here. It's...easier to believe that we're untouchable behind the walls."

"We are." Adrien insisted.

He wasn't so sure himself, but, as Elleanore had said. Perhaps it would be kinder to convince him and herself of a delusion than deal with the reality. Perhaps he'd even come off satirical, given the words she'd just spoken.

"Are y'gonna...?" He asked, thumbing at the basket of rose petals.

She glanced at him, almost irritatedly, and nodded.

She reached for the basket, scooping up a handful of petals before scattering them over the grave. It really was a rather lovely effect, to have the stark contrast of the petals against the pale snow. She didn't have much to say, so she said very little.

At least, until the cold began to settle into her knees.She watched as a few petals drifted away on the wind,

"Probably should head back." she said quietly, rising to her feet. "Thank you for coming out here with me."

Then, without hesitation, she quickly began to walk away from the yard by herself.

Adrien held his breath as she stood up. He'd expected her to wait for him, but she continued on. He lowered his head. Perhaps, in lieu of recent events, he wasn't as socially suave as he'd thought he was.

He'd take his own time at the grave, though, even if it didn't belong to his own.

It wasn't like he'd planned to find himself lying face-first in the snow. That was just how it happened. Then again, that much wasn't entirely true either, if he really wanted to be honest with himself. The events of the previous evening were still ringing in his ears, as sore as the bruise on his face. It stung. It was warm and tender, but Xander didn't think he'd hated his father more than in the moment he was slapping his mother hard enough to send her sprawling.

He hadn't thought, just acted. Even if his mother was a bitter old witch most of the time, there was no reason, none, for any of that to have happened.

What was worse was that Xander was fairly certain that most of the other colonists knew what went on in the Roan household. It wasn't like his father kept his behavior a secret. Sure, he worked hard, he put food on the table. Then he'd throw it across the kitchen in a rage, or scream about how his mother never did enough around the house. Mother would scream back, and before now, he'd never gone so far as to hit her.

Xander had never gone so far as to hit his father, either.

First time for everything.

Anyway, he was bundled up and lying in the snow, an intentional thing. It actually soothed the ache in his face, and made it easier for him to not think about what had transpired. He was numb clean through, and it felt wonderful.

A foot nudged at his side soon, however, surely becoming an obstacle to his bliss.

"What're y'doing, Sandy? That isn't no way t'take a bath. If y'want, I can pull some fresh water out'a the well for you. Just need to crack the ice on top with something hard, you dirty bastard. If you're worried about it being cold, I can always boil it at my house." came the voice of Adrien, who had come to the stable earlier than he usually had to help Xander out.

"Get up, then. I wanted t'help you feed the horses, but it looks like you're a bit busy eating dirt, huh?"

A fistfull of snow exploded into Adrien's face.

"Gotta mighty big lip," Xander grunted, grinning in spite of the swelling as he tackled Adrien at the knees, with the full intent of dragging him into the snow.

Adrien was startled, and soon found himself colliding with Xander on the ground. His hand reached to grab Xander by the shoulder, and his other hand reached for packed snow, which would soon find itself en-route to his tussling-buddy's collar, with full intent to drop it down his shirt.

"Yeah, y'do! What th'hell'd you do, get in a tussle with a guard?"

"Fuckin 'ell!" Xander rolled off of him, getting to his knees and flailing to get the snow out of his shirt. "The, yeah. Guard." he finally managed before turning and throwing himself, face-first, back into the dirt.

"Got in a tiff over a horse shoe."

"Well, that's ripe bullshit and y'know it!" Adrien retorted.

"Gave Nurse Patsy lip again, did y'? When you work that woman up into a tissy, well, she isn't like other ladies, is she? Or maybe y'just got kicked by a horse. I don't know much, but I know y'agreeing with me doesn't come easily. Lemme see it! I didn't get anything of a good look. Or if you're just gonna lay there, I think I got some horses t'tend to."

Xander snorted, lifting himself up onto his elbows so he could look Adrien in the eye. The whole right side of his face was red from the cold, but beneath that, a purpling bruise was forming against his right temple. His eye was bloodshot, nearly swollen closed, and the upper corner of his lip looked like it had been split.

"That ol' codger would dislocate her shoulder and break a wrist punching me silly." he said with a sideways smirk. "C'mon Dree. Horses need teh be tended."

He shifted to his knees, then finally got to his feet before wandering towards the stalls.

Adrien grabbed Xander's shoulder, to stop him from treading over to the horses.

"Fuck-in-hell, that looks bad. Looks like y'need t'see Nurse Patsy, Sandy. Say we go there after tending th'horses? Hell, I could do it for you if you'd wanted me. I got time before I'm going t'hunt, and wrestling a bloke with vision only good in one eye just wouldn't be the same, aye?"

Xander's expression was suddenly stern.

"It'll be fine, mate. Just let Xander take care of hisself. I appreciate the concern, though. Yer a good friend, Dree." He grinned, lopsided as it was. "Ye'll be huntin' again? Hopin to see that tribal girl who beat the shit out of yeh?"

Adrien stopped in his tracks for a moment. He'd heard the same thing from his father, and politely, from Ellie, but there was something about Xander that made him want to pull him by the shoulder and tell him everything.

So he grabbed Xander by the collar before he could pass him, and pulled him back.

"Say y'won't speak'a word of what I'm about t'tell you."

Xander's good eye widened a bit.

"Yer not into boys are yeh?" he stage whispered.

Adrien resisted the urge to shove his thumb into Xavier's bad eye.

"No, y'marmy idiot! Go on, say y'won't, or I ain't speaking a word t'ye."

Xander pouted. "I promise I promise. Dammit yer pushy. What's wrong?" He was still leaning a bit awkwardly, and he was beginning to cramp. "Ak'chully..." He grabbed Adrien's arm and pulled him towards the stables. "Tell me while we brush em down. Looks like we're workin' rather than conspiratorialisn'."

He didn't know if that was a word, but he said it anyway.

"S'better we talk in there, anyway." Adrien agreed, and let himself be dragged along. When they walked, though, he turned his head all ways, to see if anyone had been watching them. "Y'don't tell a damn soul, hear?"

When they got into the stable of one of the horses, Adrien grabbed a brush and worked on the same side as Xavier, as to whisper.

"What I been telling people isn't exactly true, n'it's bothering the everliving shit outta me."

Xander didn't even look his way.

"Tryin' teh say the tribal lass didn't hit you? You saying that just to save face?" He didn't smile. He was serious.

"What happened then?"

"Nay, and that's why it's important y'shut the hell up about it. Y'don't believe me, fine, but if y'tell anyone, I'll smother you in your sleep."

Adrien continued to brush the animal, perhaps a bit too much, as the horse protested with a whinny.

"She didn't hit me. I found'er in a trap. We were about t'go our seperate ways, when a colonial man came by and hit me on the head. Roughed her up too, but the way he'd talked tells me she's still alive."

He breathed in, and anxiously looked around again.

"Came by with a pistol after he brought me t'town and said he'd kill Ellie if I didn't blame the tribal girl."

Xander paused, staring at Adrien for a half-second longer than necessary.

"If yer makin this up, Dree..."

Adrien stopped Xander in his tracks, and gripped his arm.

"- I'm not. And y'damn well keep your mouth shut, 'cause it wasn't my life being threatened."

The other boy was staring Adrien in the eye, searching his gaze, looking for some kind of hint of a joke. It made his heart sink when he realized that his friend was telling the absolute truth. "Why'd he hit you, though? I could see the girl, maybe, if it looked like she was gunna hurt yeh..."

His gaze trailed away, and he walked to the front of the horse to pat her on the nose.

"Yer not jes goin to hunt, are yeh." He stated.

"He hit me 'cause I helped her, or maybe because I was about to see something I wasn't supposed to. Either way, we were just talking, and even if she looked like she was gonna hurt me, then punching me in th'face would be a little counterintuitive."

Adrien's eyes unlocked from Xander's, and possibly grew softer. He moved to the front of the horse, then, with his conversational partner. "You're lucky I'm not making y'cut your hand and bloodbond with me, Sandy."

"I'm going t'hunt, but... I mean. If I see'r again. She was nice, in the 'might cut your throat if you move at her too fast' sorta way."

Xander was quiet for a long moment. "He really threatened to kill that wee rose petal of a girl? I mean, I could see Patsy, but Ellie?" he gave Xander a sideways glance.

"Shouldn't we warn her? Or Cavis?"

"I think it'd have less an effect on me if'e'd threatened to kill Patsy. Ellie's my fiancée, after all. Patsy, god love'er, is a nurse."

Adrien sharply looked to Xander again.

"I already told enough people t'endanger th'life of someone. If she tells someone 'cause she's worried, or it gets around town, or if Cavis does th'same, then it's Ellie's life in the balance. Plus, he's a colonial. It's dangerous enough t'be talking about it here."

The other nodded.

"I geddit." he said softly, his brow knitting. "Jeez, Dree. What kinda mess are we gettin into here?" he muttered before shaking his head. "Y'best get outta here, mate, 'fore someone suspects. Don't be gone too long a'ight? People got worked up enough last time."

"'M just hunting, after all." Adrien said, nonchalantly. "I won't be gone long. Y'shant worry, aye? I think th'horses'd appreciate you brushing n'feeding em rather than going over the same spot thirty-three times."

He patted his friend on the back and walked to the stable exit. He turned, and gave Xander a smile that he hadn't seen since they'd started talking about the situation. "Think y'stepped in horse-shit. Maybe the snifflies you got from face-firsting th'snow kept y'from knowing th'smell."

Before Xander had the chance to answer, Adrien took off.

Adrien slinked through the wintery forest, his boots making audible, fresh prints in the newly laid snow that blanketed the lands and trees like foam. In the deep forest as he was, the only imperfections to such a landscape were the places the canopies didn't allow snow to pass through, the flowers that clung desperately to a harsh life and peaked out the top of the freshly laid snow, and the tracks of the animals that had flitted by so close to when he'd arrived.

Snow was best for him; he knew where to go. Hares would be fine, but...

His eyes laid themselves onto fresher tracks; those of deers. In all admittance, he still feared going into the deeper parts of the forest, where those tracks lead. The tribal girl he had met was nice, but he was not ignorant, and he knew that perhaps another would shoot him on spot.

But he followed those tracks. If they led nowhere, then he surely would turn back. If they lead somewhere, then he would be bringing home big game. God knows the family could use it.

The forest itself was deathly silent. Adrien's presence was likely the cause of that, but there was something else lurking in the forest, moving so silently that they may as well have been ghosts. Two of them were in the trees, figures dressed in white and grey, blending with the tree bark as the moved along, stealthy as shadows. On ground level, a few more pursued the young man on foot, baring long bone-knives that glinted wickedly as they moved.

Whenever they were perfectly still, they practically vanished from sight, hardly moving, not even to breathe. It was like they were melded completely with their natural surroundings.

And they continued to follow until they were sure that the young boy was too far away for anyone to hear his cries for help. One of the figures in the tree prepared themselves, crouching low before springing. Their trajectory brought them down behind him, before the figure roughly shoved his palms against Adrien's shoulders.

Adrien stumbled forward into the snow and braced himself. Instinctively, he rolled to his back, though what he had expected to see was not a person. His feet kicked wildly to propel him backward and he raised his gun, hesitant to shoot at the white laden wildling that shoved him. It aimed for the tribal's chest, and the barrel moved if the tribal had.

"Who are you? I come in peace; I just want t'hunt the deer, as any hunter would. Leave me be!" He hissed. "Come any closer and, er, I'll shoot you," He warned. As he was unaware if these people spoke his tongue, he gestured as he'd spoken, although briefly, as it had lapsed his ability to hold the gun.

This tribal was not like the Vanduo; or not like the Vanduo that he'd seen, who'd been beaten by the colonist as he.

The figure above him didn't seem to care about the gun. Either that, or they didn't know what it was. The bone knife became clearly visible as the figure lurched forward, ready to stab Adrien straight through the heart. The other three charged as well, knives bare.

In tense fright, Adrien's finger wrapped tightly around the trigger and pulled, when his attacker had gotten close. He stumbled to his feet; his gun was useless when he had to reload it. For then, he was far more concentrated on running. With a tight grip on his gun, he shoved the stock into his first assaulter, in an attempt to pass him and take off running. It would send him deeper into the woods, but perhaps running and hiding was his only option.

It was clear, when the knives came out, that they didn't intend for friendly discussion.

The figure he'd shot was dead the moment the bullet entered and exited his chest. The other three balked, frightened of the sudden noise. After the second had been attacked with the rifle, and their prey escaped, the last two burst into action, running far more quickly than any human dared to try. The first lunged, hooking the knife around Adrien's ankle and giving a sharp slash, intending to cut his feet out from under him while the second once again went for his shoulders to push him to the ground.

They didn't aim to kill, but to maim. Enough to drag him back wherever they came from and deal with him there.

But Adrien fought. His shin was cut fiercely when the knife caught onto it, and he attempted to continue running. The injured leg kept backwards while he attempted to move forwards, and that alone sent him falling toward the ground. Shaky fingers latched onto the skinning knife on his side, which he rushed to slash at whomever's ankles had been closest to him. It was a small thing, however, and couldn't cause anything but a light cut.

"--Away! Get away! Help!" He screamed, his yells echoing into the snowy forest. The birds that stayed for winter fled from their perches. There was a disturbance in the forest. Meanwhile, red blood from the boy's leg seeped and melted the winter snow.

Just as the second figure was about to plunge their knife into Adrien's shoulder, an arrow flew out of nowhere, piercing them straight through the left of the chest. The figure's white clothing became stained with blood, and they staggered before collapsing in the snow next to the boy. The first figure looked up suddenly, before another arrow took them through the eye. Like the first, the now-dead attacker collapsed in a heap.

Footsteps resounded, running, snow-crunching steps. A taller figure appeared, and by the way their white ensemble clung to their body, they were obviously female. She settled her eyes on Adrien, a cowl hiding her head and most of her face. But when she saw the injured boy in the snow, she nearly audibly gasped. The bow in her hand slung up over her shoulder, and she used her free hand to rip the cloth away from her face.

Aja.

"Adrien Rune." she breathed, hesitant only because of the gun. "I wish to help..."

Adrien staggered backward, his good leg kicking to propel him, from the white-cloaked female. He still bore his skinning knife in front of him. He swallowed in fear, and when the female had gone to rip the cloth from her face, he wasn't entirely sure what to expect. He had dropped the near-useless gun when he began to flee from the approaching girl, but then, the knife he dropped as well.

Still, the bitter wind and moisture stung his wound, whose blood stained the fabric of his pants and the snow beneath him. His breaths were shallow, and he regressed his leg to clasp both hands over it.

"Then I'm cut. Badly." He said, in between panicked breaths. His eyes flitted around, as if looking for further attackers. Sweat lined a worried brow. "I can't feel my foot."

She kept her hands free, tearing the cowl away from her shoulders and showing it to him. "I can wrap it. Sit. You're bleeding too much." Her hesitancy dissolved as she moved closer to him, holding out a hand. It was obvious that she was concerned.

"Sit, Adrien. Please. There's only myself and a patrol." Her eyes glanced towards the dead bodies. "They are not with us." she muttered, jutting her chin towards them. "Wildlings. Sit down!"

Adrien wearily held himself up on a tree, as if he were still untrusting of Aja and her patrol. Still, it was not as if he could run away from them. For a long while, he regarded her face, and the scars that tore down her eye. It was certainly a rememberance of the plight they'd gone through, and he could only wonder if she were bitter toward him for the ordeal.

"Fine. Don't... Try anything." He cautiously breathed, before collapsing into the snow and hissing in pain. Still, his hands clamped tightly over the wound, whose blood seeped between his fingers.

She ignored that, kneeling in front of him and taking the cloth so she could wrap it around his shin. Over and over she went before snugging it tightly into place. She glanced to Adrien's eyes before turning to look over her shoulder, and emitting a sharp whistle through pursed lips. From out of the forest, a large draft horse appeared, white in color, with fur that seemed to be overlong and shaggy. It hung in the large animals' eyes, and away from the abdomen, swaying like a curtain with its graceful trot.

"You'll come back with me." she told Adrien when she looked back at him. "For healing."

"Just... Take m'back to Blakestown. I'll say I ..." Adrien started, obviously worried at the concept of returning to a tribal camp. There were not many things that could make such an incision that weren't people, however. "Iannae." His hands shook. "Say a wolf tried t'tear me up."

Still, that presented the complication of how she'd bring him back. Surely, the colonists would not be happy if she had arrived with an injured brethren in tow. When faced with the question if he were afraid of the Vanduo when he asked, he had said he wasn't. His face told a different story.

She shook her head. "Can't. Wildlings poison their weapons, Adrien. Your colonists will not know how to cure it, but we do." She searched his eyes, her own radiating with concern. "You saved my life. I intend to do the favor, and by my life and the honor of my father's life, no harm will come to you."

She held out a hand for him to take. It was her oath. Her promise.

Adrien shared the same concern that Aja had. Being poisoned was not an easy thing to digest, after all. There was a long moment of silence, before the boy looked to Aja's eyes. They weren't dishonest at all. He frowned, before reaching up to clasp her hand and pull himself up. When he did, however, a pain shot through his leg.

"Not by you, but if anything, I worry about your friends. We haven't been the kindest."

"Neither have we." Aja said, grimacing slightly. It shot a pang of anger through her that was misplaced, and for the time being ignored. The horse trotted over, obediently laying down on its belly so that they could mount without issue. She climbed on first, then held out a hand so he could climb over and get settled. "It isn't long. Only a short while to get there. Keep breathing and don't close your eyes."

Adrien hobbled to the beast, and climbed on with the aid of Aja. He clung tightly onto the fabric of her clothing, weary of falling off the unsaddled animal. It stained the pure white of her clothing, but nary of that mattered at the moment.

"Well, I hadn't ..." He stopped, obviously labored in his breathing. "... planned to stop doing that at any point."

His hands clenched the fabric tightly, and his head leaned forward to rest on her back, all in the effort of stifling pain.

The horse heaved itself to its feet before immediately beginning to trot in the opposite direction of the colonists' village. Even though the animal was as large as it was, it still moved fluidly. Its graceful steps made certain that the ride wouldn't be too uncomfortable for the passengers.

Like white ghosts, three more riders emerged out of the woods to either side of them. They spied Adrien, and immediately addressed Aja sharply in their native tongue. She replied back, in a tone that was not only calm, but commanding, and the other three fell silent. They cast Adrien looks though, the entire way through the snow-laden forest.

"How are you feeling?" she directed back to Adrien, concerned that he hadn't spoken up.

Adrien kept his head on Aja's back, and his hands clasped so tightly onto her garment that his fingers were losing circulation. The pain from his leg didn't cease; it only increased. Sweat lined his brow, though he'd long since ceased running. Perhaps it was due to the pain, perhaps it was due to the poison.

"Feeling... Like I got stabbed in the leg, poisoned, and a bit like your friends don't like me, but that's another matter entirely." He spat out, his words coming quickly as to leave his airway open to breathe. "I'm not dead. Suppose that's good."

"It's a start." she replied, quickly and quietly, tilting her head back and giving a short, high-pitched call to a few of the guards who remained posted in the trees. They called back. "Don't look anyone in the eye." she warned him. "Just keep your head down. I'll take you to our healer and we can get you well. I will take care of everything else."

Those in the tribe were shocked to an eerie silence as Aja came trotting into camp. The horse laid itself down, and she eased herself off before getting Adrien's arm and putting it up over her shoulder.

"Vals!" she shouted, putting her opposite arm around Adrien's waist and holding him close to herself. "Vals! To me!"

The elder meandered forward, out of the crowd. He was completely unconcerned by the fact that the boy was obviously a colonist. The other tribals seemed even more confused than before.

"Why is he here?!" someone shouted in their native tongue.

"Are there more? Is he dangerous?"

"He means to kill us all!"

"Quiet!" Aja shouted, knowing and regretting the fact that Adrien couldn't understand. "He was attacked by Wildlings. We will heal him of the poison."

"So he can go back and tell the others where we are?" Nanuk's voice came to her like the sound of a gong. She glared towards the larger man as he stalked forward. "You mean to endanger us all?!"

"This is Adrien Rune!" she seethed, her lip curling. "He saved my life. Motina would have me do the same."

The crowd was silent then, so Aja took that opportunity to let the healer lead the pair to his hut. Aja encouraged Adrien to lay down on the bed of furs, before she took a seat next to the bed. She lifted a hand to run it over her face, her fingertips lingering on the healing scars.

Adrien had done as Aja asked. He kept his head down, only letting his gaze fall on those who hadn't looked to his eyes. As they rode into the village, his gaze fell to the ground. He was a strong boy, but to no means did he look a threat, at least in regardance of his demeanor. He feared the persecuting looks of the tribespeople that seemed to scream and rave at his presence. When his name was mentioned to the entirety of the tribesfolk, his fists curled into balls at the anxiety of what may have been said.

When Nanuk entered, however, he raised his eyes to the man. They were blue and piercing, and worried all the same. Perhaps he spoke the language of the colonists, and perhaps he did not. Adrien spoke, however. "Please." He said. "I mean no harm."

But he was soon led to the hut, and encouraged to lay on the fur bed. He did so, albeit hesitantly. "I hope y're sure on your promise." He said to Aja, with obvious doubt.

"I'll kill anyone who comes near you." she told him, and by the look in her eyes, she was absolutely serious. The healer took a look at the wound on Adrien's leg, before he gestured for the boy to gently roll up his pant leg.

"You helped Ajani. Saved her from an animal contraption?" the man asked Adrien in English. He didn't wait for an answer, simply went to his stores so he could put together a poultice. "Nasty wound it made. I helped to heal it. Now we'll help to heal you. Most others don't know it, but we are greatly in your debt for saving our atstovas."

Aja said nothing, but she was blushing. "Once everything's explained to them things will calm down." she reassured Adrien. She wouldn't even sleep if it meant keeping him safe.

"Killing isn't... Entirely necessary." Adrien said, and a slight smirk touched his lips. He soon stifled it, however, as it was in humor and not in the pride that the woman would kill for him. "Punching, maybe, or slapping."

Suddenly, he hissed in pain. Again, the sharp cut of the wound sent sharp pain through his limbs. His hands gripped the fur bed when it had come, and released when it passed. Pitifully, he looked to Aja, grief highlighting his features. "You know, the nurse in our village gives us some kinda alcohol when we're in this much pain. You don't have any of that by chance, do'y'?"

His breaths were labored. "And sleeping is not good. Got it. Awake I am."

His eyelids drooped, though, and shut for periods at a time. Still, sweat laced his brow, and his throat was dry with dehydration.

At a point, however, he looked to Aja.

"Thank you. For taking care of me."

Her smile was weak.

"Least I could do." she said quietly, looking towards the healer as the man mashed up his poultice. In a moment, he returned to Adrien's side, taking the cream into his hands before gently laying it against the wound.

"It was good that you came so quickly." he said to the both of them. "Likely that the wound will heal fast. The poison has not had time to set in, nor has infection. You will survive." he reassured the boy. Aja looked relieved.

Leaning forward, she put her head into her hands, glancing sideways at the young man before looking back to the floor. "Where did that man take you? The man in black?"

The one who had cut her face.

"I was worried he might have hurt you."

When he was treated, he instinctively pulled his leg back, but returned it when he had found that it hadn't hurt. That was relieving, at the very least. "Thanks, doc." He said. "Surviving's always nice."

When Aja had leaned forward, however, he guiltily turned his eyes from her. He had been lying. Saying that she was the one who hurt him. He didn't think he'd ever see her again, especially not under the guise of such a kindness.

"He was... is one of our own." Adrien admitted. "It's shameful. He didn't hurt me, I think, because of that, though."

Still, his eyes did not stray from the ground. They were laced with shame that he'd brought upon himself. In a ditch effort to change the subject, he quickly looked to Aja and smiled a distraught smile.

"Glad to see you're fine. I... am sorry I couldn't really save you. From..." He gestured at the scars on her face.

Her eyes hardened.

"It took me a little while to convince myself that the sins of a single man cannot be translated to a group of people. After all, you helped me, and you knew who I was." She sighed. Her fingertips traced the scars for a moment before they fell from her cheeks to her lap. "It was nothing I couldn't recover from. I'll be fine."

There was loud talking outside, and it caused Aja's brow to furrow significantly. Muttering something under her breath, she ran her hands through her hair and lowered her chin to her chest. Then, without warning, she stood up and exited the hut.

The healer turned to Adrien.

"Did you know, Ajani is our leader? A very important woman. Touched by Motina. If there is anyone who can keep you safe, it is her. She is like god to our people."

When Aja left, Adrien felt relieved. A deep sigh escaped from his chest, and it would be evident to the medicine man that he was fearing for the conversation that might have taken place. He glanced toward the healer with an apathetic abandon, and rested his head into the fur bed, if only for a moment.

"She makes me tense. I don't know why. Maybe it's all the people outside, probably screaming about me." Adrien confided to the man.

"But knowing that she's the leader t'a tribe probably calling for m'death considering what we've put you guys through is a lot more relieving." He replied, with a sarcasm that was probably inevident to the man. "What's happening out there, anyway?" He asked, with concern.

"It is as you fear. They wonder why she has brought you here. They fear for their safety, as anyone might in a situation like this. But now," he listened to Aja as she began to talk back to the people. "She reminds them that Motina is mother to all, that she would extend grace where it is due. You saved her life, the life of their leader, and in return she is repaying the kindness." A pause.

"They listen to her. She is young, and sometimes impulsive, but she loves her people, and they know that. They know she would never willingly put them in harm's way."

The elderly man sighed. "Nanuk seems to be the only one who is more insistent than the others about this."

"Nanuk is ... the big guy, who kinda looks like he could snap my neck with his thumb, aye?"

Adrien paused.

"Y'folks don't make doors that ... lock, or anything, do you?"

"Nanuk's size is of no consequence. Ajani will not let him near you if he means you harm. You will see." The old man smiled knowingly. He began to wrap the injury with dry, clean cloth, before knotting it off and gesturing towards the wound. "Finished. We will continue to change for a few days. It should heal well by that point."

Aja seemed to be having louder words with the man, Nanuk. The rest of the people remained silent. They'd either left or were watching the spectacle anxiously.

Suddenly, Adrien threw his legs over the bed. He slowly rose to one, and lowered the foot of the injured to the ground before hissing in pain. Before the medicine man could say anything, he hobbled to the exit. With an empty hand, he threw back the curtain, and regarded the goings-on of what was going outside.

First, however, he issued a concerned, "Everything alright, out here? I can leave if it's too much'a problem, Aja. If doc can prep up some kind'a... Er... Anti-poison." He offered, not wishing to cause further concern in the village.

Still, his hands were stained with blood, and his pants no less. He leaned on the good leg, and looked weary and pale.

And that was when Nanuk started for Adrien. Rather suddenly, Aja hooked her right arm through his left, locking it into place before she kicked her leg up high, pivoting on his arm and smashing her foot into Nanuk's face. He staggered back, clutching at a bleeding nose as Aja shook herself loose and stood between him and Adrien. Reaching into the soft-leather boots, she withdrew two wicked-looking knives.

Enraged, Nanuk raced forward, intending to bowl through Aja while swinging an arm to knock her knives away. She ducked low before swinging her arm out to the side, hooking the knife into his calf and slicing clean through the hamstring.

With a howl of pain, Nanuk collapsed to the ground, his blood staining the snow as Aja cleaned the blade against the sole of her boot. His groaning was ignored, and she rose to stare at the rest of the people.

Slowly, and without glancing Adrien's way, they moved back to doing whatever it was they had been doing.

Aja stepped over her opponents legs and stalked off.

Adrien, however, had collapsed backwards at the shock of Nanuk's attack. He regained himself, only to clasp the curtain closed until Nanuk's cries of pain were the only thing he could hear. To him, there was no doubt that the other tribespeople felt the same way about him, and it wasn't a feeling he enjoyed. He slowly opened the curtain again, to see Aja had gone, and Nanuk laid defeated on the ground.

"Aja!" He called after her, with concern. He looked to the medical man, and gestured toward Nanuk, as if it were unbelievable that no action was being taken. The boy had gone to hobble after her, but stopped when she had been long gone. Then, he stood next to Nanuk, whom of which he would find himself cautiously staggering away from.

"M'sorry for this. All of this. I should be at the colonies." He said, still unaware if the man could understand the words he was speaking.

"Your people are filth!" Nanuk howled, unable to much more than lie there and yell. The medicine man didn't seem too inclined to help, at least not that quickly.

"You were promised to marry her, and then you go and defy her order?" he asked, curiously tilting his head to one side. "And how did you think that was going to go over, Nanuk?"

The man muttered curses under his breath. The healer glanced to Adrien.

"Best that you get inside and rest. You can't get home by yourself. You need to heal."

Adrien knitted his brow. He couldn't help but scowl. For a moment, he regarded Nanuk, as if he'd wanted to say something, but bit his tongue.

"Okay, I get the sentiment. Y'tribe leader is dead, and our people have scuffled." The boy said, his scowl relieving a little. "Me, however? I stuck my trophy gun into a bear-trap to help your people out 'cause I wasn't so god damned close-minded to see that you're not all the same. Don't help the stereotype. You may have something to learn from that girl, because she saw me the same way I'd seen her." He said, with a ferociousness equal to Nanuk's.

Quickly, he hobbled back inside the hut, keen to the doctor's orders, and headed toward the bed.

In spite of the rather stressful beginning to the day, the tribesmen settled back into a comfortable routine, only occasionally glancing towards the hut where the newcomer had settled in to rest. They murmured to one another, speculating about what the purpose was, what could come of this most recent decision their leader had made. No one openly opposed her, and they were content to live with the decision for the time being. As such, they went to bed without any issue. The fires were doused to embers, and the guard was set up.

It wasn't until the middle of the night that something changed. It wasn't an unwelcome thing. A presence walked through the quiet village, casting off a dull blue light against the walls of the houses. A shadow, blown up by perspective, showed the sillouete of a young woman.

The soft murmur of Aja's voice lilted in the quiet evening air, as she walked side by side with the massive bobcat. Her hand rested on top of the feline's shoulder.

Adrien hadn't made it to bed quite so easily as the other people residing in the village, however. Thoughts danced around his head; those of uneasiness about the colonial village back home, and uneasiness about his presence in the village he rested in. The thoughts made his heart sink and his chest hurt; what if they had presumed him dead?

And Xander, whose warning resounded in his head. His father, who scrutinized him for going too deep into the forest beforehand. The thought of Elleanore, and the worry that she'd surely have to overcome if he'd gone missing.

These are the thoughts that stirred him from a half-sleep, and caused him to pull back the curtain of his hut. The doctor's hut. Medicine man? Is that what they called them? Regardless, his feet moved forward, bleary eyes trying to get a view of what crawled through the village. His hand rubbed at them, and he stepped forward, before,

"Ff-shit!"

came Adrien's loud cry, as he slipped on the moistened steps that brought him only a small level down to the village floor.

The echoes of his voice faded into the night with little effect. Aja had turned in the same moment, and was staring towards the figure at the foot of the stairs. She was in the same, all-white outfit as before, and looked like a spectre, especially when she stood next to the big cat.

"Adrien," she said, before jogging over to him and kneeling at his side. Motina followed at a slower pace, sitting calmly in the snow just a few feet away.

"Why are you up? Are you feeling alright?" Aja held out a hand to help him to his feet.

"Fine, I'm fine. Meant t'do it." Adrien replied, at first trying to push himself up, and then giving up and taking Aja's hand. He looked to the bobcat, that only rested a few feet away. Instinctively, he'd looked startled, before realizing that the cat may have been something of a pet to Aja.

Still, the day he'd found her in the bear trap, he had found white fur and cat tracks. It could be no other animal. It was game he would evidently not leave with, in the end.

"Can't sleep, feeling peachy, though. Other than th''might have a limp for th'rest of m'life' thing. Sorry, I'll head off t'bed. Y'night patrolling with...?" He gestured toward the cat, which calmly sat behind Aja. "I think that's th'one I tracked t'find y'in th'woods."

Aja paused, her expression blank for a moment.

"Oh, not patrolling." she said quietly, looking to the cat. "Counseling." Her voice was soft, her brow knitting with thought. A small gasp was drawn from her, and she looked to the bobcat with a question in her eyes. Then, curiously enough, she smiled, and looked back to Adrien.

"Do you want to come with us?"

Adrien paused in thought, and his head tipped suddenly. He wore a smile on his face; a sure sign that something had been getting better. "Well, if you don't mind putting up with a wounded colonial."

"Counseling, eh? S'like what therapists do?" He asked. "Though, y'might not have therapists'ere." He considered, and then looked to the two. "Who's doing th'counseling? The cat's counseling you, or you're counseling th'cat?" A grin provided itself to his face. It was obvious he was unaware of MOtina's full presence.

Haphazardly, he bent down to place his hands on the ground. It would only be evident why until he'd pulled up a rather large stick, and snapped it in half with the aid of his good leg. Then, he used it to hobble along with the two.

Aja half-smiled.

"It's what leaders do. Talk to one another. Motina's my source of wisdom." She rose to her feet, looking to the big cat, who continued to watch the pair. It wasn't until they passed her that she finally rose to all four paws that she began to pad alongside them. Aja was consciencious of Adrien's condition, and kept an eye out for any signs that he might be tired. In spite of that, she continued to smile rather easily.

It was almost as if he was talking to a different girl.

"Motina is no ordinary cat."

"I've had m'fair share'a talking t'my rodent catching felines, but I'm not quite sure what you're meaning. What, 'cause she's an albin?" Adrien asked, still oblivious to what Aja had meant about Motina. His eyes wearily looked to the cat as the two of them exchanged words every once in a while, as if he'd felt stalked.

Aja paused, watching him for a moment before her eyes drifted behind him, to Motina.

"Your people know nothing of magic, do they?" she asked quietly. The village began to fall away, leaving nothing but the stoic, silent forest ahead of them. Motina padded ahead of them, her strange, blue aura lighting the way.

Aja looked forward, too. "Our people believe in something quite different from the deity you worship." She smiled softly.

"But that doesn't mean she is no less powerful."

"No, no... Magic is considered witchery in our parts. Punishable by death; if not by the courts, then by the righteous, god-fearing people who go to church on the resting days. Hypocritical, if y'ask me. I think, one'a the reasons that some'a our people're so opposed t'your guys' being here, even if y'guys were here first." Adrien explained. "We know of magic, but t'practice it would be a sin."

"It just scares'm, y'know? I've not seen any real magic, but I swear not all of it can be so horrible, innit? We're a gathering'a people, of all different sorts from the world, but we've all a thing in common, and we'rn't too willing t'change that." He continued. The dull ache of his leg only brought him a pained expression from time to time, but he was far too interested to ask them to stop for him.

"What's it y'believe in, then?" He asked. His eyes fell onto the cat that padded ahead of them, who'd omitted such a strange blue light.

But the creatures of this forest were strange all the same.

"There is a central power that governs this world, a pivotal source of energy that gives and takes. A never-ending circle. It is raw, capable of causing life and destruction." She sighed. "If there was nothing, no one to control it, our lives would be at risk. It is hard to believe that we could even exist at all." Her eyes flickered to his face, then back to the cat.

"Motina is Mother. She is our connection to that power. She's always existed for the purpose of ensuring the continuation of creation. She knows all."

Her footsteps stopped. Motina had paused and was looking back towards the pair.

Adrien Rune.

The voice was like silk velvet against his mind.

A narrow mind does nothing but limit. Yet you seem more receptive than most. She dipped her head, almost as if in greeting.

Adrien calmly listened to Aja's tale, though it seemed nothing more than the spun tale of a tribe who feared death and celebrated life. It was only when Motina stopped and turned back to look at Adrien that he jumped in fright of the voice that seemed to resonate against his mind, rather than his ears.

Perhaps it was due to magic?

Still, his startled expression remained. A new religion was a lot to take in, and certainly nothing he'd accept without consideration. Everything was; to see what happens within the tribal villages rather than the colonial cities, to understand how their culture worked, and to introduce a new understanding of life?

He didn't accept it. Not then. But still, he was curious. Although he hadn't taken another step toward the white bobcat, he opened his mouth to speak.

"Y'know everything, then? Y'know what happened t'us, n'what I said happened?"

The boy did not return Motina's courtesy.

Motina's eyes narrowed slightly.

Does Ajani?

Aja seemed blissfully unaware. It was as if the cat was speaking to him, and only him.

Adrien clutched the back of his hair, and glanced between the two of them. Shamefully, he'd shaken his head, and moved to continue walking. "Think y'd already know that." He said, with almost a quip to his voice.

Motina started to purr, her laughter touching the both of them equally. Then, without another word, she turned and began to pad away into the woods again. Aja watched her walk off, her lips pursing thoughtfully. "She spoke to you?" she asked the other, one brow lifting.

"Hey!" Adrien yelled, as the cat padded off into the woods. He rushed to follow the feline, but his speed slowed to a lumber when he'd realized that he wasn't going to catch up with Motina. Regretfully, he pivoted around, and looked to Aja. Still, he felt guilty. It showed on his face. "She tried t'make me feel bad."

A frown persisted on his face. Something was troubling him.

"I want t'go home. Soon. I'm sure your horses aren't too hard t'ride, so I can do it myself. If I'm still poisoned - and I feel right fine - then y'can make me something t'go."

"Soon." Aja said quietly, nodding her agreement. Her brow furrowed as her steps slowed to a halt. Motina had disappeared from sight, leaving just the two of them.

"The man who hit you," she said. "He lives among you? Do you know who he is?"

She didn't meet his eyes just then, as if she was afraid to.

"No -" Adrien started. "'E's just one'a those nuts who think your people're savages. If I'd known who he was, I wouldn't've..."

He stopped, and turned from Aja. He began walking toward the tribal village, a bit faster than he was walking beforehand. Away from her.

"'E made me lie about y'. Th'man who hit me n'cut you. Made me tell everyone that it was you who hit me, instead'a him, 'cause he's a colonist. Said he'd've killed my fiancée, if I didn't."

Aja listened, and followed after him a little slower than she might have under normal circumstances.

"He killed my father, Adrien." she said, loud enough for him to hear. "I suppose it doesn't surprise me that he would force you to lie."

She certainly didn't sound angry, and the look she had on her face, a sad, contemplative look, seemed to say everything.

Adrien suddenly stopped. He turned around and stared into Aja's face, as if looking for a sign of deception. After a few moments of staring, he had drawn his lips into a line. A disgusted one, at that. Was he to be disgusted at Aja? Or, was he to be disgusted at Radimus, for his apparent lies to all who'd attended Illiam's speech, that day?

"Killed your father?" He asked. "An arrow killed your father."

Even though the tribes were attractive to him, and his caretaker kind, it bewildered him to think that his own father could give a heinous, lying speech. When the assassin had delivered the message to Aja herself, he had long since gone from the conscious world.

Her eyes hardened, and her hands clenched into tight fists.

"A coward with a colonist's weapon hid in the trees and shot my father in front of me." she said, her voice low. "Just as we were preparing to sign the treaty." The emotion in the statement was nearly palpable, and she wouldn't stop staring at him.

"We do not kill our own."

"My father is the one who had delivered the speech. He is an abrasive man, brutish at times, but he's no liar. His words about th'tribespeople are harsh, and I wouldn't believe'm m'self, but his rage lies in that your father was killed by your own t'make sure peace hadn't come between us. Maybe by a wildling, or... maybe someone like th'bloke y'cut the tendons out'of. My father didn't lie."

Adrien turned from Aja, his face contorting with confusion. Radimus was an angry man, who was keen to raise a fist at his own, who called these humans savages, but to look upon him as a harsher figure of what Adrien should be was what Adrien had done. Still, the girl hadn't decieved him before.

But nor had his father, had he?

The boy took toward the forests again.

"I suppose I shouldn't expect you to think ill of your own father. But I'm not speaking out against him either. I'm merely telling you the truth, as I know it. Those lead pellets you use as projectiles. That was what pierced my father's heart. It was no arrow."

Her jaw clenched, as if she was biting back a rather nasty comment.

"You may believe as you like, Adrien. But if this man insisted you lie about who attacked you...and the fact that our stories of what transpired that horrible die conflict...I don't believe it would be too much to believe that something is wrong here. Someone doesn't want peace, and they're doing a good job of keeping it from happening."

Adrien suffered a glance back to Aja, whose fists were curled into tight balls. His palms rested lightly on his makeshift cane. He suffered two thoughts; one, that his own father had lied, and served only to cut peace between the colonists and the tribals. Two, that his own caretaker was lying; the girl that he'd saved from the beartrap betrayed him.

Thoughts danced in his head. They confused him, and no doubt did they fluster him. He was angry, and not sure who to direct the anger at. It showed in his face and in his hands, when those hands that rested lightly on the cane curled with frustration. He stabbed it into the ground and proceeded on his way back to the tribal village.

"I'll be in doc's hut." He said, to the figure behind him.

The night had grown bitterly cold, so deep that even Aja had wandered back to her own hut to turn in for the night. While she lay there, in a bed of winter furs and animal skins, she stared at the ceiling and contemplated the conversation with Adrien earlier that night. So someone was lying. For what purpose? Who was it who had lied in the first place? Her brow knit, a sigh emitting from deep in her chest as she rolled over onto her side. Someone had sabotagued the peace treaty, and then the events were relayed to the colonists falsely.

Her eyes drifted closed as sleep finally took her into its warm embrace.

Elsewhere, the horses that had been penned somewhere off to the west of the village knickered mildly, their large noses snorting steam as they stomped their hooves in the cold. Nobody was around to tend them, since there was no apparent fear that the horses would be taken.

But they had welcomed another into their tribe; one that they formerly didn't trust. Adrien, instead of resigning himself to the doctor's hut, found himself restless and agitated. The idea that his father - Radimus - had lied echoed in his head again. As he paced through the quiet village, one hand gripped the scruff of his hair and the other gripped the stick-cane, which he jabbed into the ground as he walked. The cane's sound against the ground was soft, and didn't nearly match his level of confusion and frustration.

Ultimately, his eyes laid on the horse stables. Although the condition of his leg and his inability to ride horses in general may have stopped him before, the raw cluster of emotions that passed and interlaced in his mind clouded it, and stopped him from rational thought.

So he approached the stables, intent on taking a horse. Perhaps it would betray the Vanduo's trust. Perhaps he could return it later. Those were thoughts that passed quickly, while thoughts of anger and resentment came to.

He'd come upon a beast that was awake; irritable, even. Whose eyes were covered by long locks of white hair that hung over it's eyes. They were much unlike those horses that he and Xander tended at home.

Do you think it wise to ride through the night in your condition?

Her voice preceded her physical form, and the big cat sauntered forward, completely comfortable amongst the horses. Her blue eyes bore into Adrien's. She sat down on her hind legs, her figure relaxed and obviously content. She didn't seem to be worried about much.

"I don't know, all knowing. What'll happen if I do, then?" Adrien asked, an obvious bite to his voice. He turned sharply around, though his hand still rested on the snout of the white beast he'd approached. "What about you? D'you think it's wise?"

"And me, I'm not quite sure what t'think. Did my father lie? Perhaps he's lied to me a lot. What about the assassin, all-knowing Motina? If y'know everything, then tell me'is name. Tell me where'e lives in Blakestown. Maybe I could do something about it. If you're such a smart ... god damned ... tiger-thing, then why aren't you helping us? Me?" He continued, every word a lash to the big cat.

She sat quietly, patiently, adjusting her footing before lifting a paw and dragging her tongue over it.

If you don't believe the assassin existed in the first place, then there is no reason why I should tell you who they are. Her head lowered to lie down on her paws.

It is ultimately up to you to decide what the real truth is, Adrien Rune. she purred.

Adrien took his hand off of the horse, and approached Motina. Still, he gripped the nape of his neck and pulled in frustration.

"If my father was lying - hypothetically - n'th'same man who killed Aja's father gave'er 'er scar n'knocked me silly, then I'd need a name. 'E lives in m'town, fer gods sake. Even if my father hadn't lied!" The boy said, almost escalating into a yell. "It isn't like'e's living in your pretty little children's territory. 'E's living in mine."

He started to face the horse again, but then abruptly turned around again to criticize Motina.

"N'it's not up t'me to decide what th'real truth is. Truth is truth. If y'know it all, why don't y'tell me it?"

In due time. There is still a purpose to be served. Motina replied patiently. There is far more going on than what first meets the eye. It involves all of us. What you need to do now is prepare yourself for what is to come.

An audible sigh rumbled through her chest. Aja can help you in many ways. Leaving now only puts yourself at greater risk.

"Prepare m'self? By doing what? Sitting around here doing nothing? Integrating with th'Vanduo? I can damn well walk, and by th'fact that I'm not sweating n'drooling anymore, I think th''poison' wore off. N'what's Aja gonna do about it? I appreciate th'girl, I really do, n'hell, she changed my mind about y'natives entirely! What's an ... 18 some girl going t'teach me?"

Adrien's fist curled.

"Then t'morrow. In the morning, I'll leave."

You see everything through the eyes of youthful mortality. Motina rumbled, seemingly to herself. Her attention then returned to Adrien. You are free to leave whenever you like. Just know that a world exists beyond the walls of the colonist village. Dangers, friends, and a new way of looking at life.

She rose to her feet.

The morning, then. she murmured, turning and beginning to walk away.

"Th'morning." Adrien mimicked. "Can't believe a talking bobcat convinced me t'wait until morning." He said.

Then, he jabbed his stick into the ground, and began to walk toward the medical tents again.

His eyes swept over a land that was consumed by greed and anger, whose only linings were that of love, whose love was bound within circles of those who shared it. Whose love didn't proceed to those around them, and those around them were only the recipient of hate.

But first, his eyes beheld a past that was first fine and merry, for what it had been given. People struggled, but they made their way. They laid foundations of stone, and those who dwelled in the forests laid foundations of stick. They were content and happy with themselves, not having to embrace a culture that wasn't their own. Not having to embrace a culture that was terrifying to them. Those in the forest didn't collide or clash with those who dwelled in stone, for they didn't know of eachother. They didn't have to.

But as time went on, people changed. Those who inhabited the lush, ever-changing and ever-spreading forests grew. Tribes became fourths, people bound themselves to different ways. Those who inhabited the stone villages built large vessels, whose metal spheres could destroy and collide with eachother's. These vessels braved the dangerous and vast waters, and through trials, kept the men aboard them alive and well. They made passage to the vast grasslands, whose fertile soil extended as the ocean they braved did. These grasslands, however, bore way to new life; lush trees. They bordered the canopies and timber that were already inhabited by the forest-dwellers. For a time, those who dwelled in stone did not know of these people's presence; these people whose boundaries they infringed upon.

But, as everyone prospered, they would ultimately find out. These people who dwelled in the forest bore a certain affinity to magic, they would discover. Witchery. These were against the stone-dwellers' dull ways. It frightened them.

In lieu of the growing tensions, a solitary peace offer was arranged. Three men from the forest-dwellers would come, and three men from those who dwelled in stone. Set in their ways, however, the stone-dwellers had brought four. The fourth was cloaked in darkness, and walked amongst darkness. From the darkness he bore a weapon of technology, whose silver rounds would mark a scarlet end to the treaty arranged.

But the fourth only brought scarlet and anger to the land, not darkness. He who clothed himself in darkness could bring none. Through his efforts, and loathing of those who were different than him, he only served as a pawn; a small piece to that which would come.

His eyes came to the future. These lands, who now fought and spilt scarlet blood at any opportunity, would soon be bathed in the darkness that the fourth so desired. That the conspirators inspired and wished for. The darkness would not be limited to their foes, however. It crept like Moonvine, it's strands slowly engulfing the world that was once peaceful and harmonious. Innocent lives were wrapped and strangled with such a darkness, as well as lives who begged for the darkness to come.

Still, it etched at the world. It grew, even exponentially. When a settlement was entangled by it's wirey malevolent roots, it passed it's expansion onto three more. At first, it planted roots in those who wouldn't cause a stir; those who took refuge on the mere borders of civilization. It's scope advanced quickly, without moral regard to those whose blood it spilled and affected.

This same darkness overtook and shook the land. Those girls who dressed in ivory and jewels' white dresses were stained by blackness, and those less fortunate succumbed to the darkness ever so easily. The canopies of those pure trees couldn't save those forest-dwellers from the evil that overtook the land, nor the underground safety hulls of the stone-dwellers.

And finally, it crept ever so close to him. His eyes beheld the blackness that overtook the lands, and no longer was he an outside viewer. It tainted the chestnut curls he'd grown fond of, and the ethereal beauty he'd seen ever occasionally. It casted it's grip upon him.

And that's when he woke up.



Light pierced through the slightly withdrawn curtain of Adrien's hut. He awoke, groggily, and threw his legs over the fur bed. His eyes adjusted to the dim light of the hut, and when they had, he'd almost been surprised when the room he'd been brought into was not his own, but the doctor's hut of the Vanduo tribe.Bleary eyes regarded the hut and remembered the events of the day prior; he had promised Motina he would leave in the morning. Remnants of the dream beforehand made him falter in his resolution, however. The state of his injured leg only seemed fresher when his thoughts weren't clouded by confusion and anger about his father.

So Adrien stepped off the bed, leaning on his good leg to hold himself. He drew back the curtain that shielded him from the morning light beforehand, and squinted at the whiteness of the light outside. Soon, however, he would find himself coming out of the hut, and onto the tribal territory.

The camp was alive with morning sounds. People amiably spoke to one another in greeting while they prepared for the rest of the day. A few women ambled off into the woods together, carrying baskets of clothes that needed to be washed. As they passed, they gave Adrien an unsure glance, before one of them, a younger woman, lifted her hand and greeted him.

Oddly enough, he could understand what they were saying.

"Good morning!" She called, and the others followed suit, before dissolving into a fit of giggles and going on their way. The men who remained behind didn't seem to be as certain, but if Adrien met their eyes, they were sure to incline their heads in greeting before turning back to their work.

A smaller child, nearly tripping over his own cloak in his haste, tumbled into the snow at Adrien's feet. He lifted his head, white-blonde hair sticking up in all directions before he eagerly got to his feet again.

"Ajani said you should come watch us practice archery if you're feeling well enough!" he said, his words tumbling off of his tongue in his excitement. "She sent me back to get you! I'm Siska!"

"Good morning." Adrien replied unenthusiastically, though his face showed a feeling of incredulousness at the going-ons of the children, women, and men of the tribe. He met the woman's eyes - the woman who greeted him - and gave her a sure nod and a smile. Perhaps Ajani had talked to them? They shared a different air than what they had before.

Though, the men were different. For the most part, the boy had kept his eyes to the women's or the children's, in fear of being reprimanded as Nanuk had attempted to. Still, the weight of anxiety that had pressed upon his chest beforehand had alleviated, if only some, and Adrien felt more at ease.

And when the little one went tumbling to his feet, he instinctively reached forward, but not before Siska could fall into the snow and regain himself rather quickly.

"Little ones like you, practicing archery? Surely it's a thing I'dn't miss." The older boy replied. He'd resisted the temptation to reach forward and scruff up Siska's hair, for perhaps touching the tribal children - children as they be - wouldn't be a good idea. "My name is Adrien Rune. Where's it, then? Perhaps I can practice with you, Siska."

"Not so little!" Siska replied incredulously, puffing out his small chest and planting his fists on his hips. "Ajani says I'm one of her best students. She says I'm going to be a great warrior soon!" He was obviously proud. The other tribe members looked on, most with a bemused expression on their faces as they watched the interraction. In his enthusiasm, Siska then reached for Adrien's hand, clasping his fingers before beginning to drag him along behind him.

"It's this way! Not far! Ajani was worried some of the others might hit someone with the arrows."

"I believe it. You already have th'look of a warrior." Adrien replied, bemused as well. The young boy bore a resemblance to some of the other colonial children, and it only alleviated the weight of anxiety on Adrien. They were people, just like him. As Ajani said, they were all human.

But as Siska grasped his fingers, Adrien looked shocked, if only for a moment. Shocked that the boy behaved like a normal child? It was, perhaps, a thought that beforehand might be considered cruel. His eyes flitted to the observer's faces, and his smile persisted, though weariness from the night beforehand was still evident in his face.

"I'd be as well. Not everyone's's great at bowin' as you are, Sis. Even seems a mite dangerous..." He said, trailing off. What's the worst that could happen? "You're not practicing with... real arrows, are you?" He asked.

"No." And the boy looked disappointed. "Aja said not until we're Sworn."

As they made their way away from the village, and closer to a wide clearing bordered by a quickly flowing river, the sounds of children squealing and laughing echoed back to them through the cool morning air. Small, blunted arrows littered the snow all around the small group, and Aja stood in the background, leaning against a tree with an amused smile on her face. The children were lined up facing East, each taking turns and loosing arrows. Many of them tumbled to the ground, but a few actually sailed a couple yards before disappearing into the snow.

"Keep your elbows wide!" Aja called, covering her mouth with her hand to hide her smile. The trembling in her shoulders couldn't disguise her laughter, however.

"Ajani!" Siska called, waving his arm over his head. Aja turned, catching Adrien's eye. She waved them over to where she stood, before bending to pick up her own bow and a single, tipped arrow.

"Children," she called, jogging forward so she could stand among them. They all stopped what they were doing to turn and watch. She knocked the arrow, pulling back on the twine and keeping her elbows bent, her knuckle resting at the corner of her mouth.

"Don't close your eyes when you release," she explained. "Aim higher than the target to compensate for the earth's pull, and remember to breathe."

The target in the distance had one or two small arrows piercing the lowest ring. When Aja released, the arrow sang through the air before striking dead center.

"She's really, really good." Siska whispered to Adrien, his eyes wide with awe.

The children burst into applause, then resumed practice with enthusiasm.

With a smile on her face, Aja backed off, having to duck when one of the arrows went straight up, rather than forward, and backtracked towards Siska and Adrien.

"You look well!" she remarked to the latter. "Your leg isn't troubling you too much?"

"That she is!" Adrien remarked, and clapped his hands together as the children did. It was impressive, but not nearly as impressive as the arrows she'd put through the heads of the wildlings that had been attacking him. He regarded her face; it seemed one that didn't shy away from the proudness that'd come from showing the children how to use a bow. Still yet, the blunted arrowheads that dotted the areas around them caused him to smirk as well.

When she approached, his smile fell a little, however. It would be no lie to say he'd been mulling over what she'd told him, and his dream only confirmed the unbelievable words that Ajani had muttered a night before. Still, he couldn't help but harbor feelings of spite, whether he believed her or not.

"No," He said, shaking his head. When he tipped his eyes to the floor, the darkness of his undereyes became evident. "Not too much. Enough t'get... er... Escorted here, by Siska. Who tells me he's on th'fast track t'becoming a great warrior, isn't that right?" He mused, and placed a hand on the boy's back.

"You know, I think I'd make a fine shot just as well, with a bow." He boasted. "I'm rather fine with a rifle. Can shoot buck dead-on from fifty yards."

"I have no doubt." Aja replied, glancing to Siska before bending to kiss the top of his head. "Practice with the others." she instructed, watching as he nodded and scurried off to pick up his own bow and join the ranks. Aja regarded Adrien for a quiet moment before coming up to his side and leaning back against the tree, much like she had before.

"You can understand us." she noted with a small nod. "Or didn't you notice?"

Her eyes were unreadable, but deep. They bored into his when their gazes met.

"I thought you were speaking English." Adrien said. "For my sake. Now that I think about it... I don't believe y'd teach your folks English, would you?" He asked. Then, the thought bewildered him. Living in Blakestown so long had made him grow to expect to understand everyone around him. For a moment, his eyebrows knit, and he looked to Ajani in bewilderment.

"Y've gone and confused me."

She lifted one finger, then reached for his right hand. Turning it over, she gently traced the faintest pale outline of a shape that seemed to be imprinted on his palm. It was a figure eight, the infinity symbol. When she turned her hand over, she had the same, faint marking on her own palm.

"It won't harm you." she reassured him, tilting his hand one way, and then the other. The sunlight made the marking more apparent, but at first glance, it would seem as if nothing was amiss. "It...provides a connection, if you will. We all have one. Motina must have imprinted it on you last night when she came to visit you." She let go of his hand, and kept her eyes lowered. "I know its difficult to understand, but it certainly is a great honor. It's one of the greatest symbols of trust."

She finally met his gaze.

"You may not realize it, but you're speaking to us in our tongue, as well."

"I... am?" Adrien replied. He looked to his hand, which bore the same marking that Ajani's had. His other hand lifted and traced it. It was certainly not there before. Perhaps it was actually a mark of divination. Motina had certainly shown her power beforehand. It would make sense that, upon his request, she had shown him the bleak images he'd had in his dreams that night. Quickly, he withdrew his hand, and rubbed at the faint symbol that it bore.

"For a god-cat, Motina's a talkative one." He remarked. "Y'know that she spoke to me. Do y'know what message she gave as well?"

Then, his eyes lowered to the floor. Again, his face seemed tired and he, withdrawn. The events of last night - those that happened after Motina had convinced him to stay - still labored on his mind. He was confused, and his comment to Ajani was not in snide, but in honest curiosity.

"M'not sure what it meant."

Her brow furrowed in concern.

"I don't, no. Motina tends to reveal things on her own time, to whomever she wishes. If you want...we can talk about it? I could try to help you make sense of it." Try being the operative term there. She was beginning to sense that there was something about her that made Adrien uncomfortable. Perhaps it was what she had revealed to him the previous evening, and maybe it was something else entirely.

She sighed.

"She has been talking to me about preparation. A need for unity, though she isn't really telling me why she's so urgent about it." She crossed her arms over her chest and glanced away, towards the children. They had abandoned their archery and were throwing snowballs at one another.

Adrien looked to the children, who merrily balled and threw snowballs at one another. He stepped behind Aja, so if one were to fly toward them, he wouldn't be the recipient of it. Still, the children made him smile. As he spoke, he spoke not locking eyes with Ajani, but the kids who merrily played behind her.

"Was just a bit'of a weird dream. Dreamt about people - our people, n'your people. How... er... happy y'were before we'd come in. And how th'assassin'd killed your father." He began. "But I think it was insignificant -" Adrien stopped, and then his eyes darted to the girl's. "Nay've your father dying, but everything we're doing now. Where we're killing eachother. In the long run. I think it's insignificant, if it makes any sense. 'CCause something worse's gonna come about."

"So... If sh'spoke t'you about unity, mayhaps she was speaking about us banding together, or, hell, maybe I'm just being a bit too hopeful, aye? It was scary, though. Was like a certain... Darkness. Not the kind when y'flick th'lights off or th'stars don't come out at night. I can't explain it. Th'kind y'd only be able to come on in a dream, I guess. But it was going from tribe to tribe and city to city, taking people down with it. Every time that it hit a town, it'd cross over to the three towns surrounding that town."

He vacantly rubbed his head, and wondered if the words he were speaking had made any sense at all.

"And then it got close t'us, Blakestown, th'Vanduo village, and it came t'me. Before it could come t'me, I woke up."

Aja's brow was furrowed in concern, a distinct shiver traveling down her spine at his words. There was something in her eyes, something like...familiarity. Like she was holding back.

"I'm working to introduce my people to the idea of welcoming your colonists once again." She said in an undertone. "It's difficult, because...even my anger, at first, was great... to the point of foolishly going out on my own in the middle of the night."

Her chest felt tight, and she looked away. "That same morning that you found me, I learned about compassion. Grace...mercy." Her eyes closed.

"I'm trying to show the others that it is the path we must take. Not this hateful violence that seems to permeate the more passionate of my tribe."

"Mayhaps I can help. Even try and talk t'the big fella who wanted t'rip my neck off, given'e's not limber enough t'jump at me yet. I mean... We're not different." Adrien said, and his face showed the stern seriousness of someone far wiser. "Your children play like ours do. I didn't even want't touch Siska's head 'cause I was afraid it was gonna be taboo, er something. But he reached out n'grabbed my hand n'pulled me here like little Tommy Jenkins back at Blakestown."

"N'the same morning I found you, I found out that not all y'tribal folk're as bad as they're teaching people up in th'colonies. Hell, maybe only 3/4ths fit th'stereotype?" He joked, a lightness coming to his face again. He smiled.

"I dannae... How receptive we'd be in coming t'peace with you, though. It's a dangerous road. I could name a few people who'd want t'rattle y'by th'neck if they had th'chance, Radimus included."

Her breathing came a little more quickly, cheeks flushing with emotion, but she nodded, smiling along with him. "My father always taught me that a kind word turns away wrath." She gestured to him mildly. "Thus far, its proven to work quite well. Perhaps, if given the opportunity, we can do something that might establish trust between our people and yours."

Her voice was softer now. "Like I did for you, and you for me."

"If peace is t'be between us, though... I mean, I'm a poor boy. M'father - Radimus - has influence, but he hates th'tribals. Trying t'convince him you're not so bad'd just earn me a black eye or a throttled throat. Someone like... Illiam, maybe. Governer - General, wh'ever th'ell. With'is help... Maybe we could divide the town, and show them peaceful ways rather than propagandate hateful ones." He continued, and his sharp blue eyes narrowed in careful consideration.

"Even then, it's a far fetch. When we moved in, and when we'd come upon y'first, we thought y'were forest witches. It'd take a bit more than a kind favor t'move everyone." He said.

Adrien lowered his head to the ground, almost dejectedly. "But maybe I can start here. Show th'big fella who jumped at me I'm not so bad. Th'men seem a bit weary'a me too, but not so much as him. Who's'e, anyway?"

Aja hesitated, her brow furrowing slightly.

"I'm meant to be bonded to him." she murmured, sounding sick at the thought. "Though, I think the elders have seen that he isn't as equipped to lead as we originally thought. No doubt they'll pick another if his condition doesn't improve." She ground her teeth, but only for a moment. Her eyes flickered back to him.

"Don't you think you should wait until you've healed a little better? In case..." She didn't bother finishing the sentence. It was obvious what she was implying.

"With what y've given 'im, I don't think he's going t'be running faster than me any time soon. Say y'even pitch out right outside the hut. And... I agree with th'elders, but hell, who am I, right?" Adrien combatted, with a grin.

"I got an arranged marriage too, if it makes y'feel any better. But she's a good girl. A high-class one, who... doesn't really understand my own way of life, but ignorance is something that can be fixed, aye?"

She nodded, but her eyes revealed a certain level of confusion.

"If its what you wish. I won't leave you alone with him." And, for a moment, she wondered why she was so defensive of the life of this colonist boy.

I owe him my life. she said to herself, lifting a hand and running it through her hair. Then, she turned back to the children who stood nearby. "Put down the bows! Pick up your arrows!"

A chorus of groans greeted her announcement, and with many a grumblings, the children went about their business, gathering up their things before making their way back to the village. Soon enough, it was just the two of them.

"Now?" she asked Adrien, meeting his eyes.

"Well, I done mustered up th'courage. I think it'd go t'waste if we did it any time else. Just... don't let'm know you're out there, hm? I think he'd be a little careful with'is words if'e knew, and it might be a little counterintuitive that, aye? But if you're so insistent about bein' there, y'can sit outside n'listen." Adrien said, coming to a conclusion.

He raised a hand, as if prompting Aja to lead the way. "This's gonna be a lot harder when I'm not just speaking about doing it, I bet." He murmured.

She seemed uncertain, but did as he asked anyway. Turning around, she began to lead him back into the town, occasionally glancing back to make sure that Adrien was keeping up. In the village, the people went about their business, cooking and fixing up tools while another group of tribesmen organized a hunt. They all nodded towards the pair, right up to the point where they made it to the front door of the hut that was meant specifically for prisoners.

Two large, armed guards stood at the entrance, glancing furtively between Aja and Adrien.

"He wishes to speak with the one who attacked him last night." Aja said, glancing towards Adrien. The guards, who wouldn't have argued to begin with, stood to either side. Aja too, made way for Adrien to pass.

Her lips were pursed, but she said nothing, only nodded.

Adrien felt at unease when the guards eagerly stood to the side. He glanced to Aja, if only for a sign of emotion, but only had gotten approval for him to enter in response. His chest heaved with a sigh, before his eyes glanced to the curtain. He pulled it back, and the strong scent of healing herbs wafted out.

He regarded the room, and the man inside of it. It was pitiful; Nanuk had been chained to a pole, an injured man. Perhaps it would have been the fate of himself, if Ajani had kept to her vengeful ways. Before speaking, his eyes fell to the crevices, corners, and ceiling of the hut, and landed on Nanuk.

"'Ello." He said, in his own language.

The man was like a living, breathing boulder. His shoulders lifted in a great sigh as he leveled a glare towards Adrien.

"What do you want?" he all but spat.

Adrien adopted the tongue of the Vanduo's language then, without realization to the fact.

"T'speak. Maybe convince y'that I'm not so bad. Perhaps get y'to see me in th'eyes of how your wife sees me."

Immediately, he stopped, and realized what he'd said. The boy's cheeks grew flustered, and he quickly shook his head. "I mean - er. How I know that not all'a'you folk're the same, and how not all'a my folk're the same. Shit."

The man's laugh was snide.

"You intend to try to make ammends with me, then? To try to convince me that you invaders are actually here for the common good?" He leaned forward, staring up at Adrien through hooded eyes.

"My wife, my intended, has been blinded by her long walks with the spirit cat. Her own father was murdered before her very eyes, and now she seeks to establish peace between our tribe and yours, the ones who house the murderer." He scowled.

"I don't know what kind of magic is involved in this, but after she met you...she was different, and very eager to have us all believe the same way."

Aja, on the outside of the hut, tensed. The guards looked concerned, but not as if they shared Nanuk's opinion.

Adrien was Marked. He had the trust of Motina. It was enough to convince all of them.

"I'dn't see the need for amends when I didn't do you any wrong, fella."

Adrien cautiously came to the front of Nanuk. He sat down, with difficulty, and his own blue eyes bore into Nanuk's above.

"M'people might not be here for th'common good. Some'of'm are here for th'common evil. My own father, t'be exact. Th'cowardly assassin who murdered your father-in-law. Our people, though... They're as easily persuaded as you are. They believe their leaders, and while they're good at heart, their leaders're telling them t'fight."

"And you're so easily persuaded t'believe we're all daemons rather than people. If I'd known th'bastard assassin who killed Ajani's father, I'd give'm a right stab m'self. It wasn't like he'dn't hurt me either." He explained, a calmness to his voice. Then, his head lowered, and his gaze exacted.

"And there's no magic to it. Our people don't practice magic, like yours do. We consider it witchery. If y'worship Motina, y'd know that she isn't blinding your people. Maybe you're better off considering that it's you whose being blinded, 'cause if I was the enemy and sitting infront of you after y'tried t'throttle me, I might not just try n'sit here."

He took a breath in. His safety and calmness resided in the fact that Nanuk had been restrained. His own hands neatly laced together, and his own eyes scanned Nanuk's face for any sign of anger.

Nanuk chuckled.

"You have a lot of nerve to sit here and talk the way you do. I suppose I deserve the spite, considering what happened last night." The big man did not apologize, however. He was not a man who apologized. "Why are you still here, colonist? Won't your people be missing you?"

Adrien suddenly turned his eyes to the floor.

"I imagine they're worried. I was going t'leave - last night. Motina came t'me n'dream, n'when I woke up, one of your little ones showed me to where they all were playing archery. My people'll miss me, but perhaps getting t'realize your people aren't so bad'll help when I'm trying t'bring peace between us. All of us."

Suddenly, he smiled as well. "Who am I, though? Nothing but a dirty colonist. I suppose my peace offerings aren't mattering for much t'you, n'my words mean nothing, if so."

"You're irritating." the man said, his scowl deepening. His eyes flickered to Adrien's hand, and while the tension seemed to leave him, there was a stern look to his eye.

"Yet you have earned Motina's trust." he finally ammended. "And the trust of my people, as a result. She sees the heart of Everyman." And his eyes glanced away. "I have disappointed her. Fighting Ajani was something I should not have done, and I've received my punishment for that." A heavy sigh.

But then he leaned forward, staring into Adrien's eyes firmly, almost angrily.

"Motina loves her children. She avenges them in their time of greatest need. For reasons I cannot begin to fathom, she has chosen you, who do not worship her as we do, to be welcome into her embrace. If you should ever betray that, Adrien Rune..."

His lip curled into a snarl. "You will know Motina's vengeance. Do you hear me?"

Adrien leaned backwards as Nanuk leaned forward. His warning dropped like a block of lead onto the boy's chest. Even through his passive aggression, the man was no less intimidating than when he had rushed for Adrien upon the boy's exiting of the doctor's tent. Regretfully, he slowly nodded.

"Motina need not avenge on someone who isn't keen on attacking those who only want t'bring peace." Adrien said, and a half-scowl grew on his face as well. He stood up.

"Sounds familiar t'me." He continued, and then turned for the exit.

"I'm done." He said, to the guards who waited outside.

Off in the distance, a good ways away from the village, Aja was kneeling in the snow, her brow knit in concern as she stared at the ground. Her shoulders were tense, her hands clasped tightly in her lap as she closed her eyes. Fear gnawed at the pit of her stomach, a discomfort so profound that it nauseated her.

"Aja,"

She looked to Adrien, immediately alert to the tone of his voice, the ponderous look to his gaze.

"What if y'came back with me t'Blakestown?"

What if she did?

She felt the liquid-like warmth of Motina's breath brushing over her shoulders before she even saw the big cat appear. Shifting forward, she put her arms around Motina's neck, the shaking in her hands more pronounced as she folded her fingers into the cat's thick fur. Motina's large forepaw curled around her back, pulling her close as she turned her muzzle to gently lick the side of Aja's face.

"They'll kill me." she whispered, pressing her face against Motina's fur. "Adrien's so different. The others won't understand...and that man, the cloaked one..."

I will be with you, Ajani. I am never far.

That wasn't a promise that she would be safe from harm, however. Aja shivered.

"Should I go though? Would it help?"

It is a stepping stone, one of many. Adrien had risked his well-being to stay here, and Vanduo has accepted him with my Mark. Now you must go. You must reach out as your father did.

"They killed him..."

And if they hadn't, he would have returned to try again.

She closed her eyes, her arms still tight around Motina's shoulders. Indecision warred within her, right up to the moment where she saw her father's face hovering before her very eyes. That was when she knew.

"You'll stay with me?"

Forever.

That said, her arms dropped. Motina gave her shoulder a comforting lick before she stood to all fours, and turned to disappear into the trees. Ajani waited for a moment, before standing herself, turning and walking back to the village with a sort of steely resolve.

--

Not a few hours later, Aja emerged from her hut in a soft brown, woolen dress. The sleeves reached to her wrists, with the neckline looping below her collar bone and high along the back of her neck. Beneath the bodice, she wore a white, starched collar, and she'd carefully wrapped her hair in a white cloth, disguising the scars on the side of her face with the illusion of modesty. A forest-green cloak was fastened to her shoulders, the hood up to partially obscure her face in shadow.

She fidgeted with the sleeves for only a moment before striding out of her hut, and on towards the stables.

"Adrien?" she asked, hesitating as she sought him out amongst the horses.

Adrien had already chosen his horse. It was white, as a few of the other ones were, and it bore the same shaggy features that the others had. Almost gently, he brushed the shaggy mane away from the horse's eyes, and wondered if he was to tie it back. They were much different than the city horses he tended, after all.

But soon, his name had been called out. He drew himself out of the stable, and looked for the source. When his eyes had set upon Aja, who'd dressed herself in delicate colonist clothes, he'd almost reeled back in surprise. It hadn't looked like her, but...

She'd fit in. Even though her features were unique to their own and she, beautiful, there were many other beautiful women that roamed the street. Not quite as -

The boy gave a brisk palm to his own temple. "Ajani!" He replied, albeit late. "Y'look... Normal. For a colonist, anyway. Good job hding your..." He gestured to the place on his own face where Ajani's scars had been. "I'm right sure that th'cloaked man lives in Blakes."

I s'pose this means you're taking me up on th'offer, then?" He asked, though the answer was rather obvious. To his face, played a slight smirk, and perhaps, he didn't see the situation as gut-wrenching as Ajani had.

But he was not the one in hiding.

She nodded, forcing herself to maintain a sense of calm as she came up to his side. His mentioning of the cloaked man caused her to tense, but she didn't let it come to her expression. She kept her eyes averted, attempting to adopt that shy, evasive demeanor that seemed to captivate many of the colonist women she'd seen.

"Hey may recognize me." she said, and her voice, to her consternation, trembled slightly. Eyes wide, she met his gaze.

"I don't know if he would attempt anything in front of so many others."

"He wouldn't, if'e's so damned concerned with keeping th'blame on th'tribals."

Adrien raised a hand - the one that bore Motina's mark - and placed it on Ajani's shoulder before giving it a tight squeeze. "Y'can still stay back if you're scared of it. I'll make sure nothing happens t'you, aye? Like y'did for me, here. I promise it. Y'just have t'be brave."

Uncertainty showed in his face, however. Blakestown was big and sprawling, and he didn't manage it. The Vanduo tribe was smaller, and Ajani was able to keep him safe simply by being in authority.

"Don't think he'd recognize y'. Not with y'scars covered. Our people look all different types, but I'd be lying if I said they weren't mostly white with fair features, like y'are."

She lifted her right hand, to cover the back of his, and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"It's alright." she said quietly, heaving a sigh. "I trust you, Adrien. You were brave enough to come with me here." She looked up to the horse, stepping up to its side, and arranging her footing so she could mount and hook her knee over the horn of the small saddle.

Then she held a hand down to him.

"C'mon then," she said, grinning as a nearly impeccable lower-class colonial accent slipped through. "D'yeh need me t'get down there and give yeh a boost?"

With a sudden grin, Adrien imitated the same lower-class accent, to which he hadn't fully bore beforehand. "I think I can'andle m'own if it comes down t'it, wee lady. I don't need help mountin' an'apless horse like this." He slapped his own hand into Aja's, and mounted it behind her. "But I'm not opposed t'ye steerin' th'thing."

"I sound like Xander." He mused, to himself. "Th'guards'll let you in. If you see Radimus, or I warn you of'm, then hide. No questions asked, hm? He was at the meeting, and in all honesty, my father's rage is five-fold that of the cloaked man. If he weren't... my father, I couldn't imagine'im any less dangerous."

For a moment, he hesitated.

"We're off, then?"

"Better hold on," she warned him, reaching back to take his hand so she could rest it at her waist.

"Best mind yer hat if yeh got one. I know how to run these poor beasts." With that, she took a firm hold of the reins, leaned forward to whisper something into the animals ear, and then drove her heels into the flank. With a sharp whinny, the large animal reared, before tearing off into the woods in a thunder of hoofbeats.


--

He was leaning against the side of Adrien's house, his eyes on the ground. With his hands shoved roughly into his pockets, Xander sighed audibly, wondering to himself just how long it would take before he came to accept that, perhaps, Adrien wasn't coming back.

By now, the town was well aware of his absence, that he'd gone to hunt and hadn't come back. Days had gone by. Elleanore was distraught, Radimus was furious, and Xander had turned into this awful brooding mess than he didn't even begin to recognize.

He was about to amble off when he heard a pair of snow-laden footsteps coming his way. Turning to the side, he saw that Elleanore was coming his way, her cheeks rosey, eyes shining, hands clasped in front of her in the way he knew her mother had taught her to be.

She came up to his side, and without warning, folded herself against his chest and began to cry.

Xander froze, his teeth grit as he put an arm around her shoulders to draw her in. Her pain tore through him, echoing his own, and he found himself holding her for the same level of comfort that she desired. Without thinking, he bent to kiss the top of her head, and in that same moment, she tilted her head up to look into his eyes.

He supposed he could have called it an accident, when their lips gently brushed, but then, quite suddenly, her arms were around his neck, and his hand was knotted up in her hair, and they weren't just innocently pretending anymore.

It had been far too long.

"Dree's gunna kill me," he mumbled against her mouth, swearing under his breath when she suddenly pulled away. Her whole expression reflected a horror he didn't want to see, a desire that he did, and he found himself wanting to hold her so badly that it very nearly physically hurt.

"He didn't know," she replied, brushing at her eyes and putting a few feet of space between them. "How could he? How could any of us know that this was what would end up happening?"

The fact that Adrien had been arranged to marry Elleanore, a girl Xander had loved since elementary years, was a god-given wound that the man bore on his heart. The fact that she had returned the feelings? Was like salt, and lemon juice, mashed in with a dirty hand...ten times over.

Xander swore again.

"Should probably go before I do something indecent to you." he told her honestly, and the look in his eye was something feral, and passionate.

Right up until the point he thought he heard footsteps. His eyes widened visibly, and he shooed the girl away.

"Ellie, leave!"

"No, Elleanore. Stay." Had come the voice of Radimus, whose face bore a scowl. "I would like to ask both of you a few questions, and the fact that you're here, together, only helps in the process, does it not?" He continued, and approached the two children. The man resisted grabbing a hold of Xander's collar, and tearing him away from the girl. The feeling was passed through a snarl, though Radimus' expression seemed to lighten upon laying eyes on Ellie.

"I've been speaking with the guards." He said. "I imagine your father wouldn't be happy to hear you've been trying to go beyond the walls."

Radimus turned his gaze to Xander. "Your father wouldn't give a bloody shit, but that's not my point. What were you two doing, gallavanting beyond our borders?"

"Thanks for the reminder, suh." Xander said with a small salute. Ellie was standing off to one side, glancing between the two with a nervous expression on her face. Radimus frightened her, truth be told, even if he was Adrien's father. Adrien was nothing like him.

And thinking of Adrien made her sick to her stomach for more than one reason.

"Please, sir," she began. "We were looking for Adrien. We thought, maybe...he was close by? Neither of us could stand just sitting around doing nothing."

"And we found those bodies." Xander said, ignoring Ellie's flinch. "So's not like it was all for nuthin. We beat our way back just as soon as we tripped over the stiffs."

He spread his arms out to either side. "No harm done, mate, and I'm curious as to why its any of yer business in the first place."

Radimus approached Xander, perhaps making the distance between them uncomfortably close. His hands were folded behind his back, but oh, how did he want to grab the boy by the neck and shake him. "It is my business, because if you are fraternizing with the savages and know the location of my son, somehow, then you are to tell it to me."

"Additionally," He said, glancing between Elleanore and Xander. "If you know information that could lead to my son's whereabouts, you are to tell it to me. You may not like me, but I can guarantee that the safety of my son and your friend depends on the information that I know you have been keeping from me. Your petty quarrel with how I go about my ways shan't have a deciding factor in this matter. My son is my business, why you think it is yours befuddles and astounds me."

His eyes laid back on Xander.

"Do I make myself clear?" He continued, his words laced with poison.

"Fraternizing?!" Xander laughed loudly at that. "I'd sooner fraternize with one o'them tribals as I would one of the horses."

Ellie's face turned a rather bright shade of pink.

Xander planted his hands on his hips, leaning even closer to Radimus and nearly daring him to get him around the neck. "Listen to me. If I had any idea of where Adrien would be, I'd be riskin' my neck goin' out teh find him. As it stands, he's disappeared, and I haven't the faintest idea of where he might be."

Ellie was focussed elsewhere, her eyes squinting a moment as she stared towards a space between a few of the buildings.

"Oh my goodness!" she suddenly exclaimed, bursting forth in a flurry of skirts and snow.

"It's Adrien!"

Xander stared after her for a moment, before turning to glance at Radimus. His grin turned smug.

"After you, then."

"You're the type of swine who'd fraternize with a horse, you marmy bastard of a child." Radimus harshly whispered. "Do not act so smug about the disappearence of my son. He is your friend as well. If we weren't in the company of a lady, I'd grab you by the -"

Radimus' reprimand had been interrupted by the shrieking of Elleanore. He turned to the direction in which she ran, and his clenched jaw only seemed to clench tighter. Rather than joyously accepting his son into his arms, as a concerned father would, his hands curled into balls at all the possible implications that raced through his mind. He grabbed Xander's collar and harshly pushed him aside, before sternly walking toward his son.

But Adrien did not appear uninjured. He bore a walking cane, which he had gotten from Patsy. The boy's eyes flitted to Radimus', and his brow twitched. He had not the same apologetic stare toward his father as he had beforehand. Only anger. When his eyes fell on Elleanore and Xander, however, they softened.

"What have you been doing?!" Radimus demanded, before any of the two kids could approach the boy. He took him by the hem of his shoulder, and gripped it so tightly his knuckles turned white. "Have you any idea how worried you've made the townspeople?! And you're with cane. Did you trip in the woods? You could've very well crawled back in the amount of time you had kept us waiting."

"I was injured. I couldn't move, Rad-"

"Father! I am your god damned father!" He screamed.

"And NOW that everyone's all happy to be together again," Xander said loudly, watching as Elleanore made her way cautiously forward. Her eyes were for Adrien, only, but she wouldn't approach him while Radimus had him by the shoulders.

Townspeople were coming out of their homes, people exclaiming to one another as they began to gather in a wide circle. Xander glanced around, hoping Radimus might behave himself now that they had a larger audience.

"Y'had us goin there for a lil' bit, Dree." Xander said, his brow knitting for a moment. "Say we go somewhere together and talk about it?"

"Say we go somewhere and talk about it." Adrien agreed. "And I'll meet my father when he can behave properly, yeah?" The boy continued, looking to Radimus in near-disgust. Something had changed about him. It was evident. The same subservient respect he'd had for his father beforehand had dissipated into thin air.

Radimus took a step back, displaying a scowl on that ever-angry face. "Is it so wrong that I had been worried about my son?" He asked, his eyes turning to the faces which seemed to come out of their homes to observe. "Is it so wrong?" He asked, again. His grip released on Adrien's shoulder, and he took a step backwards. His face turned stony.

"Then you are dismissed. God forbid a man have passion about his own offspring. Since you have dismissed my worry about you, you can only expect emotionless reprimand from me now, Adrien Rune." He continued, in spite. With a hand, he waved the children off. He, himself, dispersed.

"Well, if I weren't in for it before, I'm in for it now." Adrien said, a slight hint of fear to his brow. "I'm sorry, Sandy, Ellie. I'dn't meant to worry."

"Don't worry about him. He's had his knickers in a twist since the moment he woke up this mornin'." Xander reached for Adrien's shoulder, dragging him forward into a tight embrace.

"Should kill yeh m'self. Worry didn' even begin t'cover it."

When he let go, Ellie took her turn, ignoring the proprieties she'd been taught and eagerly embracing Adrien.

"Shall we?" Xander asked, looking vaguely uncomfortable, but only for a moment. He held out a hand to lead the way, away from the prying eyes of the rest of the town and off to somewhere secret. "Where's a private place around here?" he suddenly asked.

"I think I know." Ellie said with a quiet nod. "Follow me then."

And she began to lead the way.

The graveyard was set in the Northeast corner of the town, nestled at the very corner where one wall ended and met the other in a wide ninety degree angle. This place was the one spot in town where the young people could be sure they wouldn't be watched. Ellie lead them between gravestones, to a corner of the yard where plots had yet to be filled. The darkness was not complete. Starlight hung overhead like thousands of small lights, giving the area an ethereal look. A large, leafeless tree shaded this particular corner, and left the ground somewhat clear of snow.

"Will this work?" she asked softly, turning back to look at the other young men.

"It works, unless my following friend's found someway to perch on the wall up there." Adrien noted, and nodded up at the wall. "But I doubt even he's that desperate, aye?"

Adrien moved under the leafless tree, and tossed the cane to the base of it. It rolled down the roots, and met at his feet when he'd gone to sit down, with his back against the trunk. It only accentuated the fact that he was not badly injured, then, as he seemed to walk to his place just fine.

"I guess I've a bit of explaining t'do."

Ellie and Xander both glanced at one another, before taking seats around him, sitting in a small circle. "What happened?" Ellie immediately asked. "You left and you didn't come back. Xander and I, well..."

"We found a few bodies out int he woods the day after you disappeared." Xander explained. "Didn't get a chance to get a good look at them before we went running back into town." He rubbed at his face, suddenly folding himself over so his elbows rested on his knees.

"Saw some other things out there too, on my own y'see. Somethin's happening around here, Dree. Somethin' bad."

Ellie was glancing between the two of them, her hands balled into tight fists in her lap.

"I know." Adrien said. His voice came to a whisper. If there was anyone around, they'd certainly have a hard time hearing him without being in their circle. "M'dad's involved. He lied t'the people about what happened with Governer Ormond. Th'tribal leader was assassinated by one'a us. Not one'a them. If I were t'start at th'beginning."

"And..." He brought a hand to the back of his neck, and vaguely rubbed it. His eyes fell to the floor, and his mouth displayed a guilty frown. "M'sorry about disappearing. I really am. I was uh... At one'a th'tribal villages, but if you let me explain..."

He glanced to Ellie.

The girl was tense, but she didn't look like she was ready to bolt. She did, however, have a question or two. "Should I say something now? Or wait until you're finished."

"Shoot." Adrien said.

"Why should we believe what they say?" she asked. Her tone was not confrontational, merely concerned. "They told you one thing, our leaders told us another. How should we know that it isn't the tribals who are lying to us?"

"I'd been threatened not t'tell you, by one of th'leaders that you're talking about. Dy'ou think I'd be forced t'say it was a tribal who attacked me, when I'd come back th'first time, instead of a colonist, if my father and who-else weren't trying t'hold them down? Th'same colonist that murdered th'tribe leader, and injured th'tribal girl that bloody well saved me when I'd disappeared from here." Adrien said. He attempted to keep his voice unaccusatory, but his defensiveness of the tribals prevailed through.

"And, Ellie," He continued, and placed a palm on her leg. "Don't speak a word of what I'm saying t'anyone else."

His tone hadn't carried the proper severity, and the warning was late. He piped up rather quickly after that. "It sounds a bit crazy, aye? But it's a matter of life'n'death."

Her life.

There was a tense hesitation as the words sunk in. Ellie turned to Xander, who sollemnly nodded. "Dree ent makin' this up."

She swallowed, glancing down at the hand that Adrien laid on her leg, and, after chewing on her lower lip, she nodded.

"I won't. Promise."

Another pause. Xander cleared his throat.

"The same man who attacked yah, Dree. Dark cloaked figure?" He glanced to Adrien's eyes, feeling a strange tightness in his chest.

"Illiam's second. Gerald. I went out into the woods yesterday mornin' tryin teh see if I could find those bodies again. Hid down by a tree trunk and watched the pair of them come out." He glanced to Ellie hesitantly, gritting his teeth a moment before he continued.

"He shot him, Dree. Shot him and put an arrow in him."

Ellie gasped, a hand clasping over her mouth as her eyes flew wide.

"What?"

"Dark cloaked figure." Adrien confirmed. His eyes fell to the ground again, and he frowned.

"And I s'pose th'last person who could honestly tell y'about th'truth of the treaty day is dead now, Ellie." He raised an eyebrow. "Thanks t'the tribals, of course."

"We're not speaking conspiracies, Ellie. We're speaking honest t'god truths. I don't know how far I'm getting, or will get, but I'm trying to stop it, here. The tribals are good people. They don't deserve t'be ran out'a their home. They took care'a me. I would've died without'm."

She was constantly looking back and forth between the two of them. "So the treaty was sabotouged by one of our own...and the witnesses were...they were killed. Except Illiam, and your father, and..." She looked to Adrien suddenly.

"The girl who saved you?"

"There was another man. I don't know his name, and I'dn't seen him at the village, but he was there as well. One of the tribals. Other than that... Just Ajani." Adrien said. His eyes were focused on Ellie, and there was a long lapse of time before he opened his mouth again.

"I brought her to town with me."

Both of their eyes snapped to Adrien.

"Are you crazy, Dree? If yer father gets even an eye on her she'll be dead for sure!"

"I don't plan on letting that happen." Came a soft voice from behind. Ellie turned sharply, staring up in slight confusion at the woman who stood just a few yards off, looking for all the world like another colonial who had come to pay respects to a lost loved one.

Xander's breath caught, his eyes squinting for a moment.

Aja's eyes flickered to Adrien, her lips pulled into an apologetic frown. "I didn't mean to sneak around." she said softly, her eyes shifting from his, to Xander's, to Ellie's.

"I am Ajani."

Ellie, at a complete loss, rose unsteadily to her feet, staring towards the other woman with an incredulous look on her face. "You...you don't look like..."

"A savage?" Aja supplemented with a sudden smile.

Xander smirked uneasily.

"Ah... Shit." Adrien said, and shot up, then winced at his leg.

"Ajani, Xander. Xander, Ajani." He said, and moved to the space between them. One of his hands lightly touched Aja's arm, and the other pointed to Xander. "Xander is m'friend. Confidante. And..."

His hand came palm-up, then, as he nodded and gestured to Elleanore. "This is Ellie. She's m'fiancée. Ellie, Ajani. Ajani, Ellie. N'without Ajani's help, I'd be dead. It's th'same way around. That said, I don't plan on letting m'dad have a wiff of'er, n'e I'd stand between'im if he tried, the lying bastard."

Ellie glanced to Adrien's hand, where it rested near Ajani's arm. With a nod, her gaze downcast, she quietly moved to sit again.

"Why'dje decide to come?" Xander asked. "Kinda in a pit of rattlesnakes aren't yeh?"

Aja shrugged, coming a little closer, but still hesitant to sit. "Learning." she said quietly. "Because if we're going to have any hope of possibly coming to an accord...its easier if you have an understanding of how others are." She gestured towards the town, behind them.

"I won't stay long, but I can promise there's no malicious intent behind my being here."

"Maybe it'd learn you all well t'know colonists all aren't horrible n'tribals all aren't savages, aye? N'just as well, Ajani, Ellie n'Sandy aren't going t'cause y'any harm, so go on n'sit if you'd like." He gestured to the empty space between Xander and Elleanore.

Then, he took his place against the tree again. He looked to Elleanore, then. "I have a favor t'ask."

She avoided his eyes, but only for a moment. When she met them again, her expression was unreadable. "What's that?"

Xander had noticed the change in her demeanor, but said nothing about it. Aja quietly moved to her knees, her brow furrowed as she stared at the ground. Her hands, her he lap, were tight in the fabric of her dress.

"Would y'convince your father t'give Ajani a place t'stay in your home? Mine's too dangerous, and, well, Xander's..." He faltered. "Please."

The tension was palpable. Xander averted his gaze, running a hand over his rough chin before looking back to the women. Aja was watching Ellie, and the latter was staring at her knees.

"Of course." she said, nodding to dispell any kind of edginess in her voice. She looked over to Ajani, and, surprising them all, reached to grasp her hand.

"You were brave to come here, and your father was brave to extend his hand in a peaceful gesture too."

Aja, wide-eyed, stared for a moment, her eyes burning. Then, in a soft voice, she said, "Thank you."

Suddenly, Adrien stood up. He was eager to relieve the tension that'd come upon them, even if it meant dispersing the group.

"That's th'story." He said, mainly to Elleanore, who hadn't recieved news of any of that beforehand. "M'sorry I took so long t'tell it, Ellie. I didn't want t'put anyone in danger. But... I think we all have to go to bed at some point, yeah?"

"Yeah." Ellie stood too, and then Xander. Oddly, Ajani was the last to stand. Ellie looked to her, trying for a smile, and held out a hand.

"I'll take you there. Papa won't mind. But we should go before the evening gets too cold."

Aja hesitated, looking to her hand, and then reached to clasp it too, and together, the women walked off through the snow, looking for all the world like they belonged together. As they disappeared, Xander emitted a breathy sigh.

"Both a them girls are in more trouble than they know, aren't they?" he asked, looking to Adrien.

Adrien put both of his hands in his face as they left, happy to their descent, and gave a woeful nod. "Ajani knows. Ellie doesn't. Couldn't tell'er. I tried."

His hands fell from his face, and he too, sighed breathily. "Me, too. Seems like you're th'only one scot free, Xander."

Xander looked uncomfortable. He put his hands on his knees, and stood to his feet.

"C'mon, mate. We'll freeze if we sit out here anymore." He held out a hand for his friend.

"Jess hope we can survive the fuckin' winter."

It had been a long time since Aja hadn't felt safe in the place she was trying to sleep. The day of her arrival, she'd spent most of her time avoiding contact with others, trying to mingle without drawing attention to herself. She watched and listened to the colonists as they went about their day, talking about Adrien's return, and the recent murder of that man who had been present on the Treaty day. Overall, she'd noticed nothing different, nothing significant anyway. The colonists existed just like the tribals did.

Meeting Adrien's friends had been the next big step, and somewhat of an impulsive move on her part. She was happy that she had done it, overall. Xander and Elleanore seemed like good people, and she was happy that they had accepted her as well as they could. She sensed tension from Ellie, something she didn't really understand, but it wasn't something that neither of the girls directly acknowledged. As a result, they fell into a pattern of polite exchanges, right up to the moment where Ellie was introducing Ajani to her father.

Cavis Rawls was a pleasant man, a ponderous figure that reminded her of her own father. He welcomed her into his home without question, showed her to a room, and wished her a good night's rest.

She couldn't sleep, though. She took off the scarf, let her hair fall around her shoulders, and combed her fingers through the knots in an effort to soothe herself. The small room had a bed, a window a table off to the side and a looking glass. Oddly, she tended to avoid that. The idea of seeing her own reflection was disconcerting.

Ellie knocked on the door the next morning, peeking her head inside, only to find that Aja was sitting in a chair by the window, her hair undone, with dark circles under her eyes. At the sound of the entry, she turned, fixing Ellie with a wide-eyed gaze.

The latter tried for a smile, noticing Aja's scar, but not paying it any attention. "Hungry?" she asked.

Quietly, Aja nodded, reaching for the scarf in her lap and beginning to wrap it up around her face, knotting her hair to make sure everything was artfully covered.

Breakfast was an uneventful affair. Aja barely ate, too exhausted to have an apetite. Then, when it was deemed appropriate, she helped Ellie clear the table, and then excused herself to walk around outside. She took her cloak from a peg by the front door, and swung it around her shoulders before disappearing to walk around outside.

"Quiet girl," Cavis noted, looking up from something he was writing. Ellie looked out after Aja, her brow furrowed.

--

She avoided contact with others, as she had the day before, simply meandering and learning like she promised she was going to. Eventually, though, the warmth of the sun, and her lack of sleep made her incredibly drowsy. She moved away from the town, towards a copse of trees that grew near the public stables. She sat down at the base, removing her cloak and covering her legs with the fabric, before leaning her head back against the bark and closing her eyes.

She hadn't intended to fall asleep.

While dreams pulled her away from reality, a figure emerged from the trees behind her. He walked casually, his hands slung in his pockets, red hair glinting in the early afternoon sunlight as he paused to look down at the deeply sleeping young woman.

His brow furrowed as he noticed her face, the small edges of a scar poking out from underneath the scarf. In his pockets, his hands gripped into fists.

Adrien's morning had been uneventful. His father had kept to himself for the most part, apart from a few leery looks from beyond a book. His eyes had done the same so many times before, when he was plotting what to speak to Adrien about. The boy made sure to get out of the house quickly, before Radimus' gaze could fully pierce him, the vindictive wrath that the man had harbored.

He was unkempt, that said. His hair was hardly brushed, and his eyes bore dark circles. Still, he used the cane around town, as if he had still been injured. His eyes mostly stuck to the ground, until the familiar form of Ajani had come upon him, sitting beneath a tree, leagues away. Even more concerning was the man standing over her, whose figure seemed so familiar...

"Milly!" He yelled, hoping to catch the man's attention, rather than Ajani's. He paced in her direction, an arm upright and a large faux smile.

The man turned, scowling a moment as the girl beneath him began to stir. He turned, stalking away from where Aja had fallen asleep, until his figure disappeared between the houses off to his right. Aja's eyes opened, and she slowly sat forward, grimacing slightly as she reached to rub a crick out of her neck. Sighing, she adjusted the scarf to cover her scars, drawing her knees up and lowering her forehead to rest against them.

It seemed as if she was entirely unaware of what had transpired.

When the man turned away when Aja awoke, Adrien had sprinted after him. When he had gotten to Aja, however, the man was long gone. Between the direction he disappeared and Aja he looked, with an alarmed look on his face. His chest heaved. Adrien looked upon Ajani as if she were an innocent child, ready to stick her fingers into a fire.

"Hey, Milly." He started. By the look on her face, he knew she'd had no idea. He lumbered to her, and collapsed next to her. "Y'know, it ain't bright t'sleep out here. Did y'sleep last night?"

She lifted her head, glancing over to Adrien with a tired look on her face. "No." she said quietly. "Not at all, actually. First time I've had that problem in a long while."

She stretched, stifling a yawn. "I didn't mean to fall asleep," she managed before letting her arms fall into her lap. She leaned back against the tree and closed her eyes again. "You look pretty tired too. Did you sleep?"

"Not well. Radimus has been burning holes through me with'is eyes. Think he suspects something about me."

Adrien let loose another wistful sigh, before his head laxed and he looked to 'Milly'. "I don't know if it's a good idea, but knowing me, I don't think I could not yell at'im about it. I might just end up socking m'own dad. That'd be a riot, aye?"

"He worries me." she said quietly, her eyes still closed. "Not as much as the cloaked man does, but your father..." She glanced sideways to him, then let the comment fall flat. "I suppose I just wish I knew what he was thinking."

"I know what he's thinking." Adrien said. "He believes the tribals are savages and witches. He wants land. Above all, he wants Blakes t'thrive. It'd be a good cause, if th'man didn't care who he stomped on in the process."

He frowned. "When we came here, we'dn't know that you lived here first. N'it scared us. It wasn't part of th'plan. I wasn't alive during that first time, but... People like m'father act like th'only solution t'making peace is destroying th'people who have th'potential t'cause harm."

She watched him, her eyes half-lidded with exhaustion, and contemplation.

"It was certainly a surprise to my father when he rode the coast and discovered that a wall had been constructed." she said with a small smile. "Yet, no efforts were really made until it became clear that there were people beyond the wall. That frightened us too. To an extent, it still does. We had seen game that had been injured by your weaponry, and it was foreign to us, something we couldn't stop no matter how hard we tried." Her brow furrowed.

"You were raised amongst people who feared and hated us." she said softly, glancing towards the town.

"Why didn't you leave me to die?"

"Because I'm not a monster. At first, I thought that there were no other colonists who'd go'n shove their rifle in that trap, but now...? I think that most colonial men'd do it, if y'd put down your knife. We're not all bad people. We have women in our town that're just like you, too. And, like y'said, we're all human. I s'pose I didn't leave you t'die 'cause I've got a conscience." He said.

"I mean... Our weapons're nice. A bit loud, but they're nice. They shoot well, and they shoot though. But y've got magic. And that's just as scary t'us, if not scarier." He continued.

Adrien looked weary.

"N'why'd y'save me? From th'wildings? Y'didn't know who I was; not at first."

"It was the first thing that came to mind. Regardless of who you were. The Wildlings are horrible creatures. I wouldn't wish a death by their hand on my greatest enemy." She looked away.

"I couldn't...wouldn't stand there and watch them hurt you."

"Well," He started. "Thanks for that. Hey," the boy nudged Ajani on the arm. "Sleep in Ellie's manor from now on, alright? It... isn't safe t'sleep out here. Burglars n'all that. No one's gonna get t'ye in th'manor. Promise."

"It's just strange having walls. And the looking glass..." she shuddered. She pulled her knees in tighter to her chest, gazing forward through half-lidded eyes. "But I'll try, Adrien."

"Think of ah... Th'looking glass as seeing your reflection in th'water, hm? Could always cover it, if y'like. Having walls around us is comforting t'us, though. Keeps th'nature out, which, ah, I suppose, is a bit different than how you folks operate."

He rubbed the back of his neck, and then offered a hand to Ajani.

"Promise y'will."

Hesitantly, she glanced his way, before looking down at the offered hand. His right hand, the symbol that glittered against his palm waited for her agreement.

Lifting her chin, she took up her right hand and firmly clasped his, too familiar with the warmth the rune brought to be surprised.

"I promise."

Elleanore, admittedly, had spent most of the morning looking for Aja. The idea of losing the poor tribal girl in the midst of her townspeople was not something she liked to think about, especially when everyone was so hot-headed over the issue. In light of Gerald's recent murder...whoever may be the cause of that, it had stirred everyone up, putting all on edge. The town was not a peaceful place like it had once been. Something was poisoning it from the inside, turning it into a destructive, angry place to be.

But Aja had done a good job of hiding herself amongst the people. Ellie didn't see her once. So, she decided to make her way off to the tailor's shop, with the intent of getting a few bolts of cloth so she could sew something together for her father for the Winter Solstice.

Not too long after, she came out of the store carrying a couple of things in her arms. She was going to head back home, to sort through her purchases and hopefully wait for Aja to return. On the way, she was meandering her way down the road, her eyesight partially obscured as she shifted her grip on the packages.

She thumped rather solidly into a man's chest.

"Hey now," he said, taking her by the shoulders before snatching a few things off the top of her pile. Ellie glanced up into a dusky pair of blue eyes, his face wreathed in rose gold curls. She blushed at her mishap, and averted her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she said, grimacing slightly. "I didn't mean...sorry about that."

"Not at all!" he said, rather cheerfully. "Here, mind if I help you walk your things home?"

She thought about refusing, but the idea of running into someone else mortified her, so she was forced to agree.

Adrien had strolled down the street, leisurely as ever. He'd woken up rather early, a contrast to his usual schedule. He was eager to get things done, however, and eager to see what was of Blakestown after his absence. An absence that everyone seemed to perpetuate felt like forever.

He was on his way to the print shop, that day. It was early, and the newspapers hadn't been picked up. To busy himself, he'd bring one for his father, himself, Xander, and Xander's family. It was an occurrence that happened every week, for possibly years.

His eyes were turned upward, and as always, they met the features of the people around him. If they'd met his own, he'd smile, and nod.

The shopping district was a rather small center, with a fountain in the middle that shut off by nighttime. Then, however, it whirred with life, spouting a clear and elegant stream from a cherub's mouth, only to meet the bottom. That was not of concern, then, however. The very same print shop Adrien had visited was across from the fabric shop Elleanore had.

The glint of red-golden curls caught his eye, from the day beforehand. The same figure, to whom it belonged to eluded him. Perhaps, perhaps it was a family friend. But the same man had been helping Ellie with her fabric.

Something wound in Adrien's chest, inexplicably so. He quickly stepped to the fountain, to observe the events that transpired between his fiancée and the red-golden haired man.

And then, almost like in a dream, the man looked back over his shoulder, meeting Adrien's eyes firmly, and without hesitation. He smiled then, a dark look to his eyes as he gave him a brief salute, before looking back to Elleanore and gently guiding her forward by the elbow.

--

Adrien slammed the door behind him, and dropped the papers that belonged to his household at the door.

"I don't know how to deal with an unruly child. Spare the rod, spoil the child. They say, they say. What do I do with you, Adrien Rune? Tell me. My fatherly passion for you has been dismissed by petty quips, after days upon days of wretching abscence. I thought you were dead, and you could not show me the least bit of compassion or empathy when I'd set my eyes on you again, a dead child walking. Have I done something to deserve this treatment? Have I wronged you in some way, other than providing a roof over your head? Other than providing you with food, and a place to sleep? What have I done, Adrien?!" Radimus violently quipped.

He had folded up his book, then. It had taken a day before these words could collide and interact in his head. His actions were violent, even though he'd harmed none. They were quick and jagged. His hands slammed into the arms of the chair he'd been sitting in, before pulling himself up.

Adrien stopped in his tracks. He was on his way to his room, an already worried expression on his face. His eyes fell to the floor, and no doubt did they seethe in the anger and resentment of Radimus' lies.

"Stop acting like you care that I was gone." The boy said.

"I have a responsibility!" Radimus hissed. "Have I not been appeasing it th'last... What, twenty years? And you're still in my house. I still support you, even as an adult. But you, you're still nothing but a boy." A snarl came to the man's face.

"And how much'ave you lied? In the last twenty years, Radimus. How much'ave you bloody well lied? D'ye expect me that y'only lied when y'took th'stage, with Ormond, and dictated what y'knew was wrong? What you knew would not only cause war, but destroy peace between us and th'tribals? 'Ave y'lied about me? 'Ave y'lied to me? Gods, n'y'can't even fathom what being a father is like, can y'? It's just all business with y', isn't it? Believe it or not, putting a roof over my god damned head doesn't make you a father!"

Adrien's speech had come like a poisoned knife to Radimus. For the first time in a long time, he had felt attacked, rather than being the attacker. He reeled back, and his features showed a certain disgust that rattled throughout his entire body.

"How did you know about that, Adrien?" He asked, his breaths becoming short. Radimus approached the boy then, though he'd kept his distance. "Do not get yourself involved in the business of people higher than you. That isn't a suggestion, child, it's a warning."

An uncomfortable lapse of silence came between the two. The man's hands gradually balled into fists, and a wave of understanding washed over him. Adrien kept his silence, and his fists were balled. His eyes concentrated on the woven, red rug beneath him. When Radimus jabbed a finger into his chest, he flinched.

"You've been communicating with the savages, haven't you?"

"No." Adrien said. "They aren't savages. They're people, Radimus -"

"I am your father."

"Father. They're people. Humans. Just like us."

"They're humans who've traded their human qualities to the devil. They communicate with only lies and treachery, and their witchcraft comes from palpable evil. Do you think that is human, Adrien?" Radimus asked. His finger was still implanted into the center of Adrien's chest.

"Yet you've lied th'same way."

"I lied to protect our people! There is no peace from communicating with savages, and if I find that you've been fraternizing with them, Adrien..." Radimus stopped. "Do not get yourself involved with the business of adults. You will sorely regret it, child. You are not only endangering us, but Blakestown in it's entirety. It's unfathomable how you could do so with such ease, and play into their lies. How am I to trust that you won't do the same next time you go into the woods to hunt? Is that where you were? At one of their ... hovels?"

"No." Adrien replied. His eyes, which formerly rested on the ground, were fixated on Radimus' shoes.

"You're lying. Never were you a good liar. You will show me where it is."

"I will not." Adrien said, his eyes suddenly coming up to meet Radimus'.

"You keep behaving this way, child, and you're going to lose everything of a blessing that's come to you. You will lose this house. You will lose my trust. You will lose the opportunity to write those shitty letters to your mother. You will lose your pretty little wife, perhaps, to a marmy streetchild!" He retorted, a slight smirk coming to his face. It was as if Adrien's discontent were a comfort to him, then. "And if you do not give up these ways, I will see to it myself that it happens. Am I making myself clear enough to you, son?"

Son.

The word was laced with enough hatred to turn Adrien's cheek.

"You are forbidden from going beyond Blakestowns' walls. I will see to it that every guard in the city knows. Consider it a blessing, because if I were to reveal that you were fraternizing with the tribals, then much worse would come of you, and not by my own hand."

"And how am I to hunt? T'bring food t'our tables, father?" Adrien rebuttaled, an incredulous expression upon his face.

"I will see to it that there is food upon our tables like I saw to it there was a roof above your head for twenty years, and a bed for you to sleep. It is a disappointing, wretched shame that I have to do so, but you've forced my hand like no other man. Consider it help from me, you disgraceful swine."

"Help? You're helping me? From forbidding me beyond th'walls? I'm an adult, Radimus."

"You are a threat to Blakestown's safety. If I find you betraying my trust that you will stay within city limits, I will have you thrown in our jails. My influence over this town is far greater than you know, and the slop there is far less forgiving than what I will supply for you, and the beds stone. Fit for a criminal."

"You'll not."

The palm of Radimus' hand met cleanly along the side of Adrien's face. Barely controlled anger emanated from the man's body. When the boy reeled, and held his cheek, Radimus had only gotten close. His then-red palm laced around Adrien's collar, and jerked the boy forward.

"You act as if you're deaf. If you don't follow my orders, you will find yourself lame."

He released Adrien's shirt. Adrien staggered backward, a hand still rubbing over the jaw which had been sorely reddened. For a moment, he didn't know what to think. Quickly, his palm placed against Radimus' chest and pushed, which had sent the man a few steps backwards.

Then, the boy climbed the stairs, and retired to his room.

Aja hadn't really had a chance the first night to really stop and ponder the stones that the colonists had placed in the ground. She stood there now, reading the epitaphs, the names and dates of dozens of people who had lost their lives to age or wilderness or illness. Still wearing the same dress that she had come to town in, she quietly kneeled amongst the stones, feeling a little bit strange. Why were they marked? Was it for the purpose of being allowed to visit a loved one after they had passed?

She'd seen some come to lay flowers at the graves. That concept Aja found to be the most curious of them all. They tore flowers from the ground, and laid them on top of the dead so that they, too, could die.

Why not give them something living?

With a soft sigh, Aja lay her hands against the ground at the base of one of the graves, the grave of Elleanore's mother. Though the ground was cold and hard, Aja spread her fingertips across the dirt, digging them in, closing her eyes as she paused to feel the pulsation of the earth beneath her palms.

A never-ending flow.

She could feel herself reaching deep, her consciousness lingering, connecting with the power that flowed through all things. Like dipping her hands into the current of a powerful river, she felt it ripple across her hands, flowing into her, through her, her spirit united as a part of that endless power.

With a soft sigh, she called it forth, and at the base of the gravestone, small vines began to poke out of the ground, steadily reaching, gently carressing the rough edges of the epitaph. They laced together at the top, forming a wreath around the headstone as the leaves unfolded, magestic blooms of impeccable white roses bursting forth, their faces turned eagerly towards the sun.

The crunch of snow beneath boots came clear across the graveyard. Adrien was not one to sneak about, and certainly not behind the form f the one he'd brought to the village himself. By his face, he was discontent, but if Aja had turned to look at him, he'd bear a smile. A smile and a wince, for the bruise on his face had caused him a bit of pain.

When he'd arrived at the grave, without hesitation, he knelt into the snow. He beheld the white roses that bloomed from the unforgiving headstone, and he knew that they weren't brought upon by hand. They were far too alive.

"Doesn't seem like witchery t'me."

There were tears in her eyes.

"Why do they lay flowers to die on the graves?" she asked, gazing towards the roses. "I don't understand."

Then, in an act that might have seemed odd to Adrien, she laid down over the grave, the scarf coming undone as her hair spilled over her shoulders. Her eyes closed as she seemed to listen.

"This place... it's so sombre. Death is another phase of life. And that life, however spent, should always be celebrated... not grieved over for having been lost."

"Grieving happens here. That's not th'only thing that happens here, though. We lay flowers t'die in th'graves because we don't think of th'flowers dying, we think about how pretty they are when they're picked. We take roses out of th'ground, n'give'm to eachother, too. They'll die, but I s'pose we like t'focus on the beauty of when they're living."

When Aja laid down, he dropped his other knee, and sat with his legs under him. The girl was strange. He was used to it.

"We all have ways of dealing with th'loss. Some people like t'remind themselves they still love th'person by crying over it."

She picked up her head, resting her chin on top of her hands as she gazed at the flowers. "I hope Ellie likes them." she said quietly. "She comes here nearly every day. I know she misses her mother."

A sigh. Gently, she pushed herself back to her knees. She seemed to pause for a moment, thinking on something that caused her brow to furrow rather intently.

"Do you love her, Adrien?"

"She'll love'm. She puts petals here, but I'm sure y'know that. Maybe it won't be necessary, but..."

They're her mother's petals.

Ajani's question hadn't evoked much of a response in Adrien. He pulled backward, and rested his head on his fists, and his elbows on his knees. For a long while, he stared into the white rose petals of the flowers on the gravestone. He reached forward, and his fingers grasped a petal. It was almost as if he were to pull it off, before his hand fell, as well as his head.

"She's my fiancée."

"Nanuk's my intended." Aja replied, tilting her head to one side. "By most accounts, a good choice for a husband." She looked away from him.

"I don't love him, though. I doubt that I ever will." How could she, after everything that had happened?

Adrien nodded, seemingly in understanding.

"Y'can't... Change your intended?" He asked.

"No one's come along." she said, then, under her breath, added, "Not until recently."

Shaking her head, she stood, holding her hand out to him so she could help him to his feet. When he put his hand in hers, she helped pull him up, not letting go, and standing somewhat close as she looked up into his eyes.

"Could you? If you wanted to?"

Adrien looked away from Ajani's eyes. They set upon the bland graves of others, some who bore vibrant petals at their bases, and some who bore decaying ones, whose blackness sunk into the snow.

"If I wanted to. I could."

Her smile came then, soft and gentle.

"Good. So long as you have that freedom."

A pair of eyes watched from a distance, holding tightly to the fabric of her cloak as she observed the closeness of the pair standing at the top of the hill. She was frowning, her brow knit, and before they had a chance to see her, Elleanore turned and quickly walked away.

She felt a welling sense of insecurity bubble in her chest, an anxiety that she couldn't place. Conflicting emotions tormented her, ones of guilt, ones of anger, and ones of feeling legitimately injured by Adrien's obvious intimacy with the tribal girl.

What on earth had happened out in the woods? What was so special about Aja? Was she not good enough?

Ellie looked down at herself, frustrated beyond belief, and immediately made her way towards the stables. Xander was there, brushing down a horse, but he looked up the minute Ellie walked in. He was surprised to find her in the state that she was in.

"'Ey, lass. Yeh look a bit...downtrodden."

"I think!" Ellie suddenly exclaimed. "I think he likes that girl, Xander. Aja. I think he actually prefers her!"

Xander blinked. He never did understand women.

"Now, Ellie..."

"I saw them just now! Standing alone, close together like a pair of lovers mi-"

She'd been cut off by Xander walking close, and pulling her into his arms. He soothed her by running his fingers through her hair, twining them up into her ringlets.

"Dree's a good lad." he told her quietly, knowing that Xander could never amount to the kind of man that Adrien was going to be. "M'sure his intentions were honorable."

That didn't seem to make Ellie feel better. "What about ours?"

Xander stiffened. He refused to meet her eyes.

"Tha's different."

"Is it? Is what we're doing honorable only because we loved each other before all of this happened? Being here with you... can I really count it as something innocent?" She was looking at him, her breath warm on his neck. He couldn't look down. If he did, it'd be the end of him.

"Xander, look at me."

"It'd be a mistake, lass."

But then she grabbed his chin, forcing him to turn to look at her, and pressed her mouth to his. It was all over after that.

"I need a horse, and I imagine you'll hand it to me rather quickly. A group of civilians have someone injured in the woods and -"

Radimus looked up from his dark leather boots, to the couple, whose lips interchanged. A twitch at the corner of his mouth signified his response. In his gut, his muscles pulled tightly, and the hands that bore papers inside them curled into fists.

"I thought kindly of you, Elleanore. I cannot begin to describe how disgusted I am."

The girl nearly threw herself away from Xander, who looked equally as flustered and even a little annoyed.

"Yeh don't need teh be talkin to her," Xander said defensively, putting himself between Radimus and Elleanore. "Whole thing's my fault aneway."

"Because you like destroying everything that I've built, yes? It's just as much her fault as yours, Roan. I cannot, for the life of me, fathom why a girl such as herself would lower herself to a street rat such as yourself. Perhaps I've thought wrong about her."

Radimus gestured past Xander's shoulder.

"Horse."

"Y'got two hands. Get it yerself." Xander said, his tone dripping with disdain. Without another word, he began to stalk past Radimus, intending to bypass him to leave the stable.

"Then don't expect the pay I give you to put food on the table for that pitiful household of yours."

Xander's fist came flying out of nowhere, connecting solidly with Radimus' jaw with the full intent of sending him sprawling.

He shook out his knuckle, grimacing a little as his nose wrinkled.

"Yer a right, slimy git, Radimus. Its a wonder Adrien's of the same blood as you. He's twice the man you'll ever be."

Ellie simply looked on in horror, her back against the wall of the stable.

Radimus reeled, his feet scrambled to catch themselves, but they did. When his face turned back, ever slowly, and with passionate seething rage toward the situation, Xander would have seen the bruised jaw he'd given the man. He spat out a bloody hock, and a tooth included.

"You couldn't be more wrong, but now I see you're twice the bloody scoundrel. I'll lame you for laying a hand on me, you fucking swine."

The man, with full intent to pin him against the wooden support behind the boy, rushed Xander. One hand was aimed for his gut, and the other for his neck.

"Stop it!" Ellie shrieked. "Stop it both of you!"

Xander attempted a kick for the side of Radimus' head, intending to send the man sprawling sideways.

By the time Xander had kicked Radimus, Adrien had rushed to the stable. He'd only intended to help tend the horses, but the cries of his fiancée had sent him running. And he came upon an inevitable scene. The calm that Ajani had put him in suddenly laced with anxiety, and he came to the two of them, pulling Radimus away.

"Get off, both of you. Stop it! What's this about!?"

Radimus had again been assaulted, and he held the side of his head. By then, he'd regained his posture. A callous grin swept across his face, and blood lined his teeth.

"You're going to love to know, Adrien. How about we discuss it back at home?" The man offered, his gaze pointedly on Xander.

Ellie turned and rushed from the stables, going out the back way while Xander stared back at Radimus.

"We'll see if you can tell the truth for once, Radimus." he growled before he, too, turned and walked away.

It had taken everything in him to just not kill Radimus. Not only was it bad form, but it probably would have frightened the dickens out of Elleanore. Still, the altercation had left the young man so wound up that he just ended up walking the perimeter of town, waiting until things cleared out and settled down before returning to the stables. He wore a grim look on his face, his jaw set as he walked to wear a bale of hay lay in wait. Plopping down on it, he picked at the straw, beginning to braid a few stray pieces as he simply thought.

Somehow, he knew that nothing good was going to come of any of this.

Nothing good had come around the corner, when he'd seen who he was waiting for come into the stables. The person who'd he'd been mulling and sulking about ever since Radimus had told him why they'd gotten into such an altercation. He told Adrien with that big, bloody smile on his face. As if relaying the news was a pleasure to him. Because, after all, he got to spite someone, and if it wasn't Xander, then it was Adrien.

Naturally, this left the boy very, very upset. Not only had his fiancée been locking lips with Xander, but the news was delivered in such a way that Radimus had acted as if it were karma. Karma for whatever he'd done wrong.

So Adrien followed Xander into the stables, and knocked hard against the wooden support with a white knuckle.

"S'it true, then?"

The young man looked over to Adrien, his expression wan.

"Wasn't done to hurt yah, Dree." he said, and he really did sound apologetic. Looked it, too, even as he stood to face the wrath he knew was coming.

To Adrien, it figured that the only time Radimus had told the truth, he'd be facing the blunt end of it.

"Was it 'cause I was gone? Y'presumed me dead? Figured y'd ... I dunno, cheer'er up 'cause her bloody well spouse is gone?!" He brought a hand to his face, and vacantly rubbed at his temples. "It's good t'know my fiancée's been kissing on m'best friend. Oh, and it's so much better t'know that my best friend didn't do it t'hurt me."

Xander's words were obviously dismissed. They were meaningless, then. "I can't, for th'life of me, understand why y'd do this t'me, Xander. I love'er, for gods sakes. Hell, and I've got t'come t'terms with maybe the fact that Radimus is right."

His other hand alternated between balling up and anxiously rubbing on his leg.

"It's no easy thing, teh turn off the feelins once they started, Dree. I kept myself away because I knew I'd fuck up, and now this happens." He put his hands behind his head, gripping his hair between his fists. He didn't want to know what Radimus was right about.

He grit his teeth and looked away.

"Changes nuthin' unless yeh toss her, mate. She's been promised to yeh."

Xander's words came like a knife to Adrien.

"You're setting claims on Ellie." He said, with a nod. It was a statement of consideration. "You had her first, is what you're saying? That she never loved me anyway, so I should just bugoff, yeah? Because she's promised t'me is th'only reason why I'm with'er."

His jaw slacked open. A slight, incredulous smile touched his lips. "Un-fucking-believable, Xander. What th'ell is wrong with you? What the stark-raving hell is wrong with you?!" He yelled. For a moment, he stepped forward, before crossing his arms over his chest and withdrawing himself.

He wouldn't succumb to the same rage that Radimus had showed him.

Xander's face turned red, all the way to his ears.

"Yeh haven't the slightest fuckin' idea what I've been through!" he shouted back, his hands balling to fists at his sides. "I never said a word, Dree, caught in carin' for her and you, wantin' what can't be had and watchin' while yer best mate goes dickin' around in the woods all the time, worrying the hell out of the girl he says he loves."

He was livid.

"I never shoulda touched her, Dree, but I'm not sorry for lovin her. No one can make me sorry for that."

Adrien laughed a spiteful laugh.

"No idea what you've been through? Well, I'm very damn well sorry y'got t'sit here, safe in th'village, n'be with Ellie while I was off near dying, Xander. I'm sorry y'had t'go through such a thing, aye? I'm sorry y'had t'bite your tongue while I'm nearly being killed, knocked unconscious, my fiancée's life threatened, all because I tried t'help another girl, in good conscience." Adrien retorted, his words flying off his tongue like a snake's hiss. While he spoke, he clutched his chest, and he inched toward Xander.

There was a moment of silence, before Adrien spoke again. His words were laced with a certain tone that implied that all of this could be a joke. That it wasn't serious. Perhaps he was in a dream.

"And I'm damned sorry that y'had t'take away from me th'only good thing that's come out of this, you marmy dick. I'd think y'were on Radimus' side, th'way you're treating me. He damn well loves taking away everything I hold dear."

"Can't take away what was never yours in the first place." Xander growled.

Adrien's fist met the temple-area of Xander's face. He'd thrown it in a rage that he couldn't control. Whether Xander had fought back or not, he struggled to shout at him.

"You bloody bastard! You enjoy seeing me in pain, don't you?! You're just like everyone else! Gods, how I'd considered you my friend!"

The man stumbled sideways, taking the stable wall with his shoulder and going to one knee. Grunting, he lifted his hand and pressed it to the side of his face.

"The fuckin' most ridiculous thing I ever heard come out of you!" he seethed, getting back on his feet.

"Can't take away what's never mine in th'first place? I never had a chance with'er, right? Please, enlighten me on what I'm supposed t'be thinking, Xander. I thought I'd come back n'have, at th'very least, you two supporting me. Radimus, th'cloaked fellow, you, Ellie. I can't come back here to a single comforting thing, can I?! Maybe I was better off in th'woods, aye? 'Least you n'Ellie could have a future together!"

Adrien stepped back, unremorseful for what he'd done. His fists balled, as if he were restraining himself to throw another.

"You're pathetic, Xander. Kissing on another man's fiancée. Tellin'm he was never good enough for'er in th'first place."

He spat at Xander's shoes.

And Xander threw a punch for Adrien's face.

"Puttin' words in my mouth!" he hollered. "I never said a single thing, Dree, about you not bein' go--"

"What's going on?!"

Ellie's sharp, raised cry cut through the conversation, distracting Xander for a moment. She was staring between the two of them, her brow knitting. "You both need to stop this now."

The punch cleanly hit Adrien's nose. He stumbled backward, and his eyes squeezed together in pain. His nose had been broken. He slammed a hand over it to try and cease the blood-flow.

"She never loved me in the firsth place, then. My bad, you lecherous, back-stabbing bastard!"

His eyes turned to his fiancée. Through a muffled, nasally tone, he cursed. "Hypocritical words comingh from th'lady who's the cause of this! I thought you were right, Elleanore. Y'know I loved y', but god knows y'don't return th'feelings, much obviously! Y'could've told me, instead of embarrassing me! Puttingh me through th'pain!"

Aggravated eyes passed over the two of them.

"I've not got t'talk t'you bothf." He said, shaking his head. It was obvious he feared the scrutiny of two. His feet took him backwards still. "I was better off in th'woods anyway. Everyone's eithfer a bastard or a whore, here."

Ellie was stunned to silence, her face unusually devoid of color. Xander grit his teeth.

"Y'don't mean that, Dree."

"I think he does." Ellie suddenly added, her expression unreadable. She was watching Adrien. "I'm sorry it came out like this...I didn't know how else to talk about it. I thought I could work through it. When you were gone, though, I was afraid and things happened..."

She looked to the floor.

"I'm sorry."

"Happy as hell t'get ridh of me though, right?" Adrien asked, an incredulous smirk still on his face. "Gods, if thaht's what y'wanted so badh, don't let me keep y'from havingh a happy life. Only a hinderance, I am."

Still, blood came from his nose. Adrien tilted his head back, and winced. "As much as I'd like t'stay, I don't think m'presence is needed, aye? Geth back t'makingh kissy faces withf eachother."

It took a long while for him to speak again, and a covered grief-filled frown spread across his face.

"Weddingh's off, Ellie."

He turned, to exit the stables. His feet carried him quickly, and his eyes shamefully turned toward the ground. The others made no attempt to stop him, or follow.

On his trek to wherever his feet took him, there was a single figure who noticed his demeanor, and went to him out of concern.

"Adrien," Aja said as she approached, her skirt held in her hand to keep herself from tripping over it as she moved quickly towards him. "Adrien wait!"

Adrien gritted his teeth, and sidestepped to pass Aja. With a bothered look back, he continued on his way.

Adrien came into his house again. His hand was clasped firmly over his nose. By then, the bleeding had mostly stopped, but the pain still remained. The embarrassment warded him away from Patsy, who'd surely ask prying questions. The last person he had to deal with was Radimus, who, as ever, had sat in the living room under lamplight. His eyes were in a book, but they turned up to meet the disheveled figure of his own son.

"What have you done?" Radimus asked.

"The wedding is offh." Adrien nasally replied, a hint of newfound apathy in telling the news to Radimus.

"I suppose that is karma. It's such a shame, though, I imagined it would help tie the higher and lower class bonds a bit, wouldn't it? And you'll have trouble finding another on your own." Radimus replied.

Adrien had no energy to fight with the man. He supposed that, perhaps it was karma. Still, Radimus' words slid like glossed paper, and hardly seemed to garner the same response as the biting words had beforehand. What seemed to stop Adrien released itself, and he crawled up the stairs to his room, an obvious fatigue overtaking him.

The blood loss hadn't helped.

He'd shut the windows of the room, whose cracks bore a bitter cold to the air he'd intended to sleep in. Surely, though, sleep would be hard to come by. So he collapsed on the bed, a hand still clasped over his face.

Just as he'd begin to settle down, however, a shadow was cast across his floor, from the moonlight being obstructed by a rather familiar figure. She was dressed in slacks and a duster, her hair hanging in loose tendrils all around her shoulders. She wasn't so much crouched as she was reclined in the sill, one leg dangling lazily over the edge. She reached out to tap the window.

"Adrien," she said, low enough so as not to be heard, but loud enough for him to hear.

Adrien groaned. The calling of his name had only brought upon weariness. At first, he hadn't stirred, assuming the devilish pranks of a distraught mind had been cast upon him. When the tapping hadn't ceased, however, he sat up, and looked to the figure in the window. At first, it excited a jolt of surprise out of him, before he'd realized who it was that sat upon his sill.

Breath escaped him. Quickly, he grabbed a wooden chair and lodged it under the door knob, before hitching his hand under the window and pulling it open.

"Why are you hereh? M'dad is downstairsh. He'll shoot you if he sees you."

The girl was undoubtedly allowed passageway into the house, though, as the window was wide.

"I was worried about you." she replied, climbing inside the room and quietly sitting down on the floor. No need to risk making the floorboards creak and groan. She decided not to mention the fact that he'd ignored her. "You seemed upset, I just wanted to check to make sure you were doing okay."

She was also having trouble finding sleep, but she didn't mention that for obvious reasons.

Adrien let his hand slack from his face to his side. His nose was swollen, bearing shades of red and purple. The nasally sound he bore would become of no surprise, then. "Peachy."

"Th'only people I talhk to now hate me, n'I cancelled m'weddingh. And... I think if I go t'sleep, I might choke t'death." He collapsed on the floor beside her, his back to the bed. It seemed he was less concerned with making noise than she.

She pulled her knees up, eyeing him curiously. She had no idea what had transpired, and if she had, there was the possibility that she wouldn't know how to react to it. So she waited a moment, watching him, and then she reached to grasp his hand, squeezing his fingers for a moment.

"What...happened? May I ask?"

Adrien looked to their hands. He frowned, and gently withdrew his own. He crossed both his arms against his chest, and leaned forward into his legs, so only his eyes peaked beyond his knees.

"M'fiancée kissed m'friend. M'friend also said m'fiancée never loved me anyway. I hit him, n'he hit me a bit harder. Maybe I was overreacting, but..."

He shook his head and looked toward the ground.

"End result's th'same. Ellie doesn't love me, whether she was making kiss facesh withf Xander or not. That much's evident, n'my father's right, as far as predicting m'love life goes. N'I thought I could help bring unity t'our people, but I'm just some 20-some bloke with a broken nose fighting over ivory-studded ladies."

Aja didn't seem bothered by his withdrawal. In fact, she didn't pay it much mind anyway. Looking towards his eyes, she traced the lines of his face, emitting a soft sigh.

"The situation's unusual for me, but I don't know that you were wrong for feeling the way you did." she told him, her eyes now looking to the ground.

"I know it isn't easy to hear, but, in truth, it's almost good that you know now...instead of when its too late."

"I s'pose I can't be mad at'er. Or Xander. I s'pose I just feel like I'm the butt of some cruel joke they'dn't gaven a ratsh ass t'tell me abouth. Gods, if I knew, I wouldn't've..."

His hands gripped the top of his head, and he dug his eyes into the tops of his knees.

"Ajani, I can't even achieve keeping a spouseh, let alone helping us, th'colonists n'your people, t'get alongh. Maybe this entire thing should just be forgotten. Nothing's going t'come of'it."

"Now you just sound like an idiot." Aja glowered, her eyes boring into the side of his head. "I refuse to believe that my father's death was for nothing. Listen, I know this is difficult for you, but you can't just...give up on everything because one part of your life doesn't go as you expect it."

The glower turned to a soft frown.

"If I'd done that..." she shrugged, glancing away. "It wouldn't have ended well."

"Thanks for th'words of encouragement." Adrien chimed, sarcastically.

"You're not seeing th'big picture, Ajani. Radimus disallowed me from even venturing outside th'walls. Th'man doesn't even pretend t'like me anymore. Half th'townspeople think I mingle with 'savages', n'the other half're too busy easting caviar n'fine wine t'care. M'marriage is gone, and th'lady I love is threatened because I was stupid enough to go out into th'woods and -"

He stopped.

"I don't see any progress, is all. All I see're th'side effects."

"What is the alternative?" she shot back. "With giving up? Your people will continue to hate mine. Contentions will grow, and who is to say that the man who threatened Ellie might not threaten you? What if your father, as passionate as he is, leads a march?"

Her frown deepened. "And if my people were to respond? Bloodshed. The resistance we meet now is only an encouragement that what we are doing is right, and not without struggle."

Adrien responded with silence, for a long while.

"I'm nothing but a man, Ajani. All it takes is a bullet. Or an arrow."

"Which is why we should do all we can to make a change." she replied quietly.

"At the risk of -"

BANG. BANG. BANG.

"What're you doing in there, Adrien? Perhaps it would be better to see Patsy before you attempt to fall asleep. As much disdain I bear for you right now, I can't say having my son die in his slumber would be anything but counterintuitive." Came the voice of Radimus, from beyond the door.

The door handle rattled, and with a push forward, the man had found he couldn't enter the room.

"Come now. You've barred the door?"

Adrien looked to Ajani, almost in panic.

But she was gone, the window open, and the barest flash of the edge of her cloak disappearing with a 'snap' as she ascended the roof.

After he'd seen that Aja left, Adrien went to remove the chair from his door. It was only to be seized by the arm, and herded downstairs.

"Put your coat on. I'd like to drop you off so I can retire as well." came Radimus' voice.

Fascinating wooden and metal machines worked to print and stamp the newspapers for the day. They worked far faster than the people had, whose gloved black hands fought to stack newspapers into inked towers, and other hands worked to sell them outside. Workers shuffled in and out of the print shop, handing and speaking to the worker outside of it. The busy scene was the usual, and the headline was grim as ever, but Adrien never stopped to read it until he stopped.

"Four - er... No, make that two." The boy said to the worker, who ushered him papers and held out a hand for the money he'd owed. He placed it into the worker's hand, and she continued dealing with the plethora of customers that seemed to crowd around the shop in the morning.

"S'cuse me." He said with a still-nasally voice, as he pushed through the crowd. It was only until he'd gotten to the fountain that he could relax, under the stony cherubs. He sat upon the stony lip and let the papers rest, before taking the time to watch the crowd.

It was no surprise he was hesitant to return home.

And though he had been working to avoid her...well, they had both been working to avoid each other, it just so happened that Elleanore was also on her way to the print shop. She had volunteered to go for her father that day, of all days, because, secretly, she was hoping to get a chance to see Adrien. Perhaps to apologize. Having Aja sleeping in the house didn't allow for her to mutter about the confrontation the way she may have liked, and while the other girl was pleasant enough to be around, she unnerved her slightly. It was something about her eyes, the intensity of her gaze and her stoic expression that made her uncomfortable. She'd worked to ignore it, giving herself time to think on other things as she purposefully kept herself away from the house, away from the tribal girl who had blended so well into the colonist's settlement.

Trying not to dwell on how disturbing that was, she continued forward, walking towards the print shop wiht her eyes on her shoes.

She looked as lovely as ever, dressed in soft blue with her cloak wrapped tightly around her shoulders. At one point, she happened to glance up towards the door, and that was when she saw him.

She paused, her lips pursed in a tight line as she gazed at him.

"Adrien..."

The sound of Elleanore's voice came to his ears. Normally, it'd be a sound that, perhaps, was kind to him. Then, it was only the reminder of what'd happened between the three. He pushed his temples into the palms of his hands, before his eyes looked up to confirm the bearer of such a bittersweet tune.

"Gods," Adrien muttered under his breath. "Only want t'know why y've cursed me so."

"Yeah?" He continued, louder in his pursuits. His face seemed to be apathetic, and it was the emotion that he certainly tried for. He didn't know if he was supposed to be apprehensive about talking to the girl, so he'd addressed her as if he'd addressed a complete stranger.

She hesitated, her hands knotting together nervously. Those eyes had once been kind, she remembered. She'd ruined all of that.

"I wanted to apologize." she told him, stepping forward. "Not that words could ever be enough for what I did..."

She glanced to the ground, taking a deep breath.

"You shouldn't be angry at Xander, though. It wasn't his fault."

"It'd'a been mighty nice t'know y'two were loving eachother before I tried t'put any effort into th'relationship, Elleanore." Adrien said, his eyes lowering to the ground. "M'not mad anymore. At Xander though, maybe. M'just embarrassed that I was so blind to it. If y'never loved me, y'should've damn well told me. I'd make it so th'wedding didn't happen in th'first place."

No longer was Elleanore a stranger to him. His words flew off his tongue as if he'd gone over them many times. He cupped his hands over his head, and pulled at his own hair. When he opened his mouth to speak again, the words choked in his throat. It would be a few more moments before his eyes met Elleanore's again.

"Why'd y'bring it out so long? Was it happening th'entire time, or just when y'thought I was dead and gone?" He asked, suddenly. While he preached that he wasn't angry at the girl, his questions seemed to contradict his statement.

She swallowed.

"I...I do love you, Adrien, I just...I was getting used to the idea. Growing more comfortable with you, and when you were gone, I..." Tears. Heavens she hadn't meant to cry. "I wanted to do what I was supposed to, I just didn't know what the right thing was."

She brushed at her eyes momentarily.

"And everything's ruined now, so I suppose..." she shrugged, squeezing her eyes closed.

"Damn well don't love me." He retorted, rather poisonously. "That much's obvious. Running away from me at your mum's grave? Hell, y'act scared t'talk t'me. I loved you, is what. But you love Xander. Maybe you're not afraid'a using words around him. Maybe I'm just gone too much."

The hands that gripped Adrien's hair soon dug into the corners of his eyes. Losing the wedding was devastating to him.

"So you suppose what? Nothing else t'do? You're not contesting calling off th'wedding, are y'?" He asked, in honest curiosity.

"Don't you tell me how I feel and how I don't feel!" Ellie very nearly shouted, suddenly heated. "You think you have everything figured out! It isn't as easy as you've put it in your head. There is no black and white here. I didn't pretend anything, Adrien. I cared about you, and I still do."

She crossed her arms over her chest.

"I don't want to call off the wedding, but if you really think this is how I feel, then I'm not sure what to do."

"I don't want t'be bound t'someone who doesn't love me, and neither d'you. I'm not here t'make your life a living hell, Elleanore. N'y'know what?"

His hands curled over the lip of the fountain he'd sat on. His frown turned into gritted teeth.

"I do know how y'feel. Because if y'felt anything for me, anything at all, y'wouldn't be kissing my best friend after I'd gotten back. That's not th'person who you'd be kissing."

"And what of the girl?" Ellie said, her voice low, eyes boring into his. "You seem to be awfully familiar with her, Adrien. Don't think I didn't notice. Perhaps you weren't kissing her, but it certainly wasn't necessary to be as close as you were in many cases."

"And what of th'girl? Ajani? Th'one who saved my life? Th'one who I wouldn't be standing here without? I'dn't lay a hand on her, let alone a lip. Did y'see what she did for your mother's grave? We both care for y'. T'blame it on her..." He rubbed his face.

"Is that why y'did it? Because y'were jealous of a girl, Ellie?" He asked, in obvious, incredulous confusion. "You're just unbelievable. Th'lot of you. I don't know what t'think, El. Y'just enjoy seeing me in as much pain as Radimus does, is that it? I'd thought when I'd come back I'd come t'welcome arms, at the very least, from you."

"I'm unbelievable?" she scoffed, shaking her head. People were beginning to stare. "You think the whole world is against you, Adrien. Maybe if you weren't so miserable all of the time!"

She glanced to the side, freezing for a moment when she caught sight of Aja. The other girl was wide-eyed, confused, and then suddenly embarrassed that she'd been caught. She turned and swiftly began to walk in the other direction.

Ellie looked back to Adrien, her cheeks flushed with color. "Go on and follow her then, like I know you want to."

And she abruptly marched off.

Adrien stood.

"You damn well know why I'm miserable! You can't complain about me being miserable when you're th'god damned source of it, Elleanore!" he yelled, as she'd marched off. In his fluster, he'd barely noticed Ajani, but Elleanore's words had caught him by surprise. His eyes quickly turned the other direction, to Ajani's leaving figure. A weight had been dropped on his chest.

He glanced between Elleanore's leaving figure and Ajani's, before starting off after the latter. Perhaps his fiancée would be upset, but Elleanore would stay in the village.

He wasn't so sure about Ajani.

He raised a hand, and called for her to stop.

She didn't, though. She kept moving, rapidly walking through the crowd with every intent of making her way to the stables. She was horrified to discover that she was at least partially responsible for the tension. Why on earth was this happening? She couldn't stay, not if this caused so much trouble for her friends.

Feeling her heart twist, she ignored his call and pushed forward, ducking between people and keeping her head low.

"Ajani!" He called, and pushed through the crowd. "Stop, will you?"

He ducked through the crowd as well. Eventually, they would both meet the stables, though she far quicker than him. He held onto the wooden support of the exit, panting as he'd done. It was never his intent to cast the blame on the girl, and it was a wretched feeling to know that it had. She was supposed to see that colonists bore the same soft side as the tribals, not the tense layer that seemed to cover the town.

"You mean to tell me," Ajani nearly shouted as she suddenly spun to face him. "That half the reason why things are so horrid between you and your friends is because I'm here?!"

Her chest was heaving, face flushed with an indescribable mix of emotion. "I need to leave. You don't need this. No one does."

In her haste her scarf had fallen from her head, and she ripped it off, the tumble of white-blonde hair falling around her shoulders.

"No! Elleanore's misunderstood. It started long before you'd come, they'd - Xander n'Ellie - had a relationship. They didn't tell me. I beg y'don't leave. I'm not willing t'lose two good things. I'm not willing t'lose th'tribe."

Adrien cautiously approached her, hoping to close the distance between the two and lessen the tension. "Y'don't need t'leave. Gods, you're th'only thing keeping me sane around here, whether Ellie misinterprets it or not!"

"I don't understand," she said, holding her ground as he approached. Her hands gripped the scarf tightly, her jaw tense as she met his eyes. "I keep you sane? How..."

Her head was starting to hurt.

"Th'town thinks I'm practicing witchery. My father won't speak nay but a horrible word t'me. Elleanore hates me, and Xander's taken away my fiancée. Maybe Elleanore's right when she says I'm believing th'entire world's against me, but right now, you're th'only one who's even given me a kind word. If I lose that, I might just give up, Ajani. Regardless of what some symbol on my hand says, 'er what 'future-dreams' your god-cat was talking t'me about."

"Just... Stay until I can get something resolved, aye? You're th'only friend I have, right now."

She stared at him, her brow knit in concern. She wasn't sure what to do, or what to say to comfort him, and she didn't know how her presence would help. But, because he asked, she acquiesced. She looked uncomfortable, glancing away from him before reaching to tuck her hair behind her ear.

"I don't know that I can go back to Elleanore's home," she said. "I'll...make due though. It's alright."

Adrien stepped backward upon seeing Ajani's uncomfortableness, and realization began to set in.

"...Nay. No, nevermind. If it's going t'be horrible'ere, I don't want y'to go through that. It's just selfish of me. M'sorry."

"Adrien please!" She was ready to rip her hair out. These colonists operated so intently upon the way they related to one another. Secret emotions, social construct, all of it was so incredibly different. "I never said it was going to be horrible. I want to stay with you. Understand?" She stared at him.

"I'm not afraid of these petty squabbles between people. Where I come from, matters were settled quickly because the good of the entire tribe depended upon it. There is so much wasted energy in all of these emotional exchanges, and nothing good comes of it!"

She huffed a sigh, a bit embarrassed at her outburst, but she meant every word. "I'm not disregarding how you or the others might feel. I'm simply saying that it's pointless to just...be upset, I suppose. You move on or change the situation you're in."

"I s'pose y'make sense. Know that my and Ellie's words weren't because of you, though. N'I won't try and force your hand; I'm sorry for that. I'dn't wanted your stay here t'be so wracking, n'I'm sorry for that too."

He crossed his arms over his chest.

"We don't operate like your tribe, though. If something needs t'be talked about, it will be, whether y'like it or not. We can't cut our spouses' legs if they don't obey our orders, we can only try n'work it out." He said. It hadn't meant to be a jab at Ajani, but his words still carelessly tumbled out of him.

She looked affronted.

"I was implying that we settle our matters quickly, not with brutish physical combat." she said her voice suddenly like ice. "Dragging it out for days on end, arguing publically, tossing insults and making assumptions. That was the sort of savagery that I was alluding to."

"S'not savagery, Ajani! If you're hurt about something, shan't y'have a voice t'say about it? Insults happen when people get angry, n'people get angry when their trust is broken."

His chest heaved, and his arms uncrossed. He turned from Ajani, then, and rested his hand on the fence which closed the stable in.

"If y'decide t'take a horse out, I'll pay for it. It's up t'you, though. Forget what I said."

She pursed her lips, dragging the both of her hands over her face before letting her arms fall to her sides. A heavy breath rattled from her lungs before she walked over to his side, resting a hand on his shoulder before pulling back.

"I'll stay."

Adrien reached for her hand, though it had come from his shoulder before it'd landed. His hand fell, before he'd turned around to look at her.

"I'll... Try t'make it less painful t'stay then, aye?" The breath that he'd taken in before seemed to release itself. "Thanks, Milly."

Suddenly, the tension was shattered when she laughed.

"Oh it's such an awful name." she said emphatically. Turning, she lowered herself to a seated position, and rested her head back to close her eyes.

"Adrien? Do you mind if we sit for a few minutes? You told me not to sleep in the open and, well..." her smile was almost sheepish. "You're here, so..."

"We'll sleep in shifts, then." Adrien replied, a slight smile touching his face. "I could use a little rest as well."

The morning dawned, oddly frigid. Ajani had awoken out of an uneasy rest, her eyes staring at the ceiling as she sat up from the mattress and moved to rub at her eyes.

She froze, suddenly finding herself staring at Cavis, who was standing in the doorway watching her intently. She was thankful she'd fallen asleep in her clothes. Both of them regarded each other, the tension in the room mounting until Cavis finally opened his mouth to speak.

"You're from the tribes."

Aja's face paled significantly. Dizzy and suddenly frightened, she gently eased the blanket off of herself, putting her feet on the floor as she continued to stare. "How did..."

"The news is all over town." he told her, making no move to get closer. His eyes were gentle, but concerned and intent. "About how a girl's sneaked in. You need to get out of here, young lady. I don't know that you're safe anymore."

Aja struggled to think. She had no weapons, nothing at all, just a knowledge of the inside of the town. They'd never let her out, not if people were talking about her. They'd be immediately suspicious. Cavis stepped closer, and she flinchingly stepped back. The man froze.

"They're saying Adrien brought you here."

It hit her like a blow to the chest, as realization began to dawn. "He's in danger... "

"Not yet. But if you go running to him, he most certainly will be, but not nearly as much trouble as you will be." Cavis paused, glancing towards the window before looking back to her. Aja continued to watch him, hesitant.

"You're not going to turn me in?"

The man let that hang in the air for a moment before he slowly shook his head.

"I saw what you did for my wife's grave, young lady. It was incredibly meaningful to the both of us." He held out a hand to her. "Let me get you something else you can wear so you won't be as recognizable, and then we'll work on getting you out of here and back home in one piece, okay?"

She nodded, letting him lead her back to his own room, where he handed off a pair of slacks, a dress shirt, a hat and a cloak.

--

She had to fight to keep herself from running like mad to Adrien's home. It was even worse when she got there, because she didn't know if Radimus was inside. If that was the case, she was dead for sure. But as she came upon the home, she did some quiet investigation, listening around for any signs of him being there.

When the coast was clear, Aja ran in the front door, closing and locking it behind her.

"Adrien!" she called, her voice laced with panic.

Radimus hadn't been inside. Adrien had. He'd been vacantly rubbing his forefinger over the bandaging of his nose, and pacing back and forth. He'd heard the news as well, and the vacant, accusing stares from those he passed on the streets had forewarned him. They whispered and gossiped, and he had been the blunt of it all.

The entire town.

His thoughts traversed his mind and mingled. The tense air that lingered among the colonists, his friends, and himself, had risen to it's boiling point, and absolutely no good could come of that. The train of miserable thought had been interrupted by Ajani.

Adrien jumped at her presence, his eyes stricken with fear. He shook his head. "No, you can't be here." He said. "Radimus may be home any moment, and if he does, y'just hide like y'ran out my window, aye? What's coming over y'?" He asked.

"They're looking for me." She was breathless with fear. "I can't leave. They have guards posted everywhere and I feel like everyone's on the lookout, and when I heard that they knew you brought me here, I was concerned. I wanted to make sure you were okay."

In Cavis' oversized clothing, she looked incredibly small.

"Now I don't know what to do."

He seemed to reciprocate the same sense of panic as she did, when the news was relayed to him. He shook his head, and stared at the floor. He'd bitten down on his thumb so hard it nearly drew blood. For a few moments, he stared, in vacant consideration of what should be done.

"There are places y'can hide t'wait it out." He said, suddenly looking up to her. "It won't take more than a night, then... Agh..."

He held his head. He couldn't leave town with her. The guards wouldn't allow it.

"You'll need someone t'help you out on horseback, or you'll need t'get over th'wall."

"The way I can get over the wall takes too long, and it'll attract to much at--" Her eyes widened as she suddenly turned to the doorway. In a sudden burst, she raced for the stairs, disappearing around the turn just as the doorway opened.

"Just who I'd been looking for." Came the voice of the man who'd come through the doorway. "You come here, you marmy little -"

Radimus paced to Adrien, and violently snatched him by the collar. His dry hands yanked the boy forward, to look into Radimus' eyes. "You brought a tribal into our city? It's the very last straw, Adrien Rune. I'm certainly done dealing with your complete and utter bullshit regarding those tribal savages. You're fortunate that I haven't broken your legs yet, and yet, you defy everything, everything that I say. What has that gotten you?"

Aja watched from upstairs, her eyes wide, hand clapped over her mouth as she stared. Radimus scared her. The way he was treating Adrien was awful. She was as tense as a drawn bowstring, clearly unsure of how things were going to turn out.

Adrien's hands grabbed onto the cuffs of Radimus' sleeves, though he hadn't gone any further than that. "It was someone else." He lied.

Radimus shook him again, before gritting his teeth and replying venemously. "And you accuse me of lying?! You didn't heed my warnings, and so I'll do something with you. You'll be outcasted, if the fall down the cellar doesn't crack your dense skull open."

Suddenly, Radimus' hands jerked forward, and he piled his knee into the boy's gut. He moved away from Adrien, to open the cellar door. Adrien had no strength to move past that, and soon, he'd been taken by the collar and shoved into the dank, stony wine cellar. The door slammed, and from beyond it, it locked with chain. He'd caught on to the railing, however, and had soon regained enough of his consciousness to lash back and slam at the door.

"Radimus! Let me out of here, you bastard!" He screamed, clutching his stomach.

"I'm going to give a speech to calm the townspeople down." Radimus' voice came, from beyond the door. It sounded unnaturally business-like, though his face contorted with disgust and anger. "Tell them what happened, in full detail. I imagine that your escapades will cease past then."

It took a moment for Radimus to withdraw from the door, but he had, soon enough. His footsteps echoed against the wooden flooring as he'd exited, and the door slammed behind him.

She waited for a few minutes, until she was absolutely certain that Radimus had left the vicinity, then she all but flew down the stairs, racing for the door and bursting out of it before running around to the back of the house. The cellar door was chained firmly, and she gripped at it in an attempt to break it loose.

"Adrien!" she said loudly, trying not to draw too much attention. She slammed her fist on the door. "Adrien are you okay?!"

"I'm fine. Caught m'self." Adrien weakly said. His breaths were audible through the wooden door, and they certainly were labored. "Y'need t'leave. Er... Hide. I was going t'hide y'down here, but y'need t'find somewhere else." He breathed.

"Wait it out, 'til no one's looking for y', then come find me again."

"I'm not leaving you in here." she replied quickly. "Not with what's going on. Help me break the door." She began to tug again, gritting her teeth as she braced her foot.

"Come on!"

"No, Ajani. You need to leave. Hide! I'll get th'door open, alright? Staying in my house is not a good idea!"

He'd stopped his banging by then, in fear of drawing attention to the house. Attention was what Ajani didn't need, nor he. He continued.

"The neighbour always leaves their cellar unlocked. Y'can access it behind their house; it's two doors that y'just pull open. Go in, bar th'door, n'hide!"

She was about to respond, her lips parting with the start of a sentence, but then someone roughly shoved her forward, so that she landed hard on the cellar doors, emitting a short cry of pain. The man who stood over her now was wearing that dark smile, his red-gold curls hanging around his brow.

"You're the little bitch trying to ruin everything for us." he said with a small laugh. Aja scrambled, trying to get to her feet, but the man lunged, seizing her by the calves and dragging her closer, before he backhanded her so hard that it made her head spin.

"Thought about giving you to the colonists," he said, grasping her neck and choking off her soft moan of pain. Blood had begun to seep from her nose.

"But I think you and I are going to have a little fun before I drag your body back to them to tear apart."

Adrien stepped back, his foot missing the stair below him. When he'd caught himself, he pressed his ear to the door to hear who'd come behind her. Upon his heinous, familiar words, Adrien beat violently against the door.

"You creepy bastard! Get off of her! I'll break down this door and kill you clean!" He screamed, so loud that his voice had cracked. He stepped down, and slammed into the door with a shoulder. A twinge of pain shot through his body, but at the very least, the door had emitted a dangerous creak.

There was nothing here, no one that could help. The man still had her by the throat, furious tears burning at the corners of her eyes as she heard Adrien screaming. She kicked out at the other man, catching him in the stomach before turning and giving the door another tug.

"No, please," she murmured under her breath as the door held fast. When the man grabbed her from behind again, he pulled her roughly from the cellar door, barely giving her a chance to cry out Adrien's name before he clapped a hand over her mouth and roughly dragged her towards the stables.

"Ajani!" Adrien cried. Furious tears rimmed his eyes. He stepped down again, before slamming himself into the door. It happened once, twice, then thrice before the wood paneling of the door bore veiny cracks. It was not without consequence. Adrien's shoulder had given a slick crunch when it'd hit the third time, and moved out of socket. He cried out in pain, before regaining a semblance of conscientiousness of the situation.

With a few more slams of his hand, the door had split in two, and haphazardly broken off it's hinges. The boy thrusted himself out and tumbled to the floor, clutching his shoulder and breathing shallow breaths. It took a moment to regain himself, but he'd crawled to his feet again, and made for Ajani's voice.

He had thrown her to the ground, pulling a cattle whip from a peg on the wall and bringing it down hard against her back. She went rigid, groaning in pain as she dug her nails into the dirt. A second time, it came down on her side. She hissed in a breath, struggling to get to her feet, but then the whip snapped out, the man's smile just as sharp as it wrapped around her neck. He jerked her closer, synching it tight and holding her there, ignoring the pain as she dug her nails into his hand.

Now, they had fallen silent in the moment Adrien had burst out of the cellar, making it difficult for him to immediately locate them. Even still, she struggled as best she could, feeling her consciousness slipping from her, her grip becoming less firm. The man was smiling the whole time, touching the scars on her face tenderly.

"That's right. Die."

Adrien had come out of the house, only for his feet to take him in the direction that Ajani's voice had come from. He ran to the only place he'd known to; the stables. He rounded the corner, only to see the cloaked form of the assassin over Ajani's. He treaded carefully, then, and grabbed the skinning knife that laid against the wooden support of the stable.

Then he treaded quickly, to the back of the cloaked man, and grabbed him by the collar. In fear of pulling Ajani with him, he laid the knife against the man's throat, though his hand sorely shook. "Let her go." He demanded, voice quivering as he'd done so. "I'll cut your throat. Let her go!" He yelled.

There was a dark, resonating chuckle.

"Alright." the man replied. His hands released the girl, and the whip that was wrapped around her throat. She collapsed in a heap, lying deathly still. She wasn't breathing.

Quick as the whip he was wielding, the man drove his elbow into Adrien's abdomen, spinning towards his arm and knocking the knife right out of his hand.

He put himself between the two, and he was smiling.

"You made a mistake bringing her here." he said darkly.

Adrien stumbled backward, and landed on his side. For a moment, he clutched his abdomen and cringed in pain, before looking past the cloaked man to see Ajani's still body. He'd attempted to cry her name, but breath escaped him.

His heart thudded against his chest, and he scrambled at his feet to nearly toss himself at the man, intent on getting him to move. His dark words mattered not, as the blood that thudded against Adrien's skin bore a loud enough tune to drown him out.

The man was ready to meet him half-way, but he suddenly staggered, eyes glazing as he stumbled forward and collapsed. A horse-shoe clattered to the ground beside him.

Beyond them, Xander stood, eyes wide and his face pale.

"Fuck," he hissed, moving forward and skidding to his knees at Aja's side. He unwound the coil from her neck, rolling her onto her back, only to find that she still wasn't breathing.

"Dree," he said, his voice laced with worry.

Adrien had met the collapsing man, and violently shoved him to the ground. He collapsed to his knees again, still clutching his shoulder, and looked to Ajani. His face was stricken by grief and terror. After a few seconds of silence, he brushed the hair from her face, and his lips met hers in resuscitation.

He'd given her a breath. Then another. Another still, before he'd withdrawn, and looked for any sign of motion in the girl's face.

A moment passed, seconds that felt like hours, and then her hands clenched, eyes flying wide as she suddenly gasped for breath. She made a sound, a gasp cut off by a choked sob, immediately lashing out at the closest thing to her, which, coincidentally, was Adrien.

"N-no.." she murmured, obviously disoriented.

Adrien caught her by a wrist, though gently, and attempted to keep it from hitting him. Her arms were weak, however, and his grasp served no purpose other than reassurance. "Ajani." He breathed, relief washing over his face. "Ajani, it's Adrien. You're safe, hear? Breathe."

For the first time in a few days, Adrien locked eyes with Xander. They were apologetic, but his nod had surely thanked the other boy.

"Need y'to take'er out'a town, Xander."

A tear slipped, followed quickly by a second as she lay there, all but gasping for breath, her free hand coming up to gently lay against the raw skin of her neck.

"Where is he?" she asked, mistakenly slipping into her own, native tongue. Xander's brow furrowed in confusion.

Adrien unsurely looked to Xander, before he looked to Ajani and bore her native tongue as well.

"Gone. He's gone. You're safe. My friend is going t'take you out of town." He said. Then, he looked to the horses, who'd kept quiet in their stables. "Xander. Please. If I'd a last favor t'ask of you, it'd be this." He said, in his own native tongue.

Xander stared between the two of them, finally coming to when Adrien directed his question towards him.

"Don't even need t'ask, mate." he said. Aja was too weak to walk. He was going to have to put her on the horse himself.

"Wait, Adrien," she grasped his hand, her grip firm, but not nearly what it could have been. "You, what about..." She met his eyes, more tears slipping through what composure she had left.

When will I see you again?

"I'll be fine, Aja. We'll see eachother again when we're s'posed to. Y'need t'heal." Adrien said.

He gritted his teeth. Once his heart began to slow down, the seering pain that'd shot through his body earlier came back in tides. He stood up to brace himself against the wood support, and released Aja's grasp to clutch his hand to his shoulder. He nodded to Xander.

"If she can't tell y'where t'go, follow th'big white cat."

Xander nodded, standing a moment and making his way over to Adrien. With a sigh, he threw his arms around his friend, pausing a moment before quickly popping his shoulder back into place.

"Thank me later," he muttered, pulling away quick, and bending to scoop Aja into his arms.

A crack had resounded throughout the stables, and Adrien doubled forward, cursing under his breath. The shoulder that he clutched had been righted by Xander, though, and he couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt at his friend's dismissiveness toward him.

"Get back t'town safe." Adrien said, and his eyes flitted to the cloaked body on the floor. "But shove off now, aye?"

Xander nodded, giving him a small smile before sweeping Aja up into his arms and carrying her towards one of the horses. One had already been saddled, or had remained that way due to his own lack of viligence, and that was the one they mounted together. He easily set her up front, before climbing on behind her, and he gave Adrien one last look before easing the horse out of the stables and kicking it into a canter.

Aja barely had time to say goodbye before they were gone, and her voice was so raw that she didn't think Adrien would hear her anyway.

Adrien nodded toward Aja and Xander, and raised a hand in goodbye.

After a long lapse of time and rest, he began to regain his senses. His arm ached, but it felt better. Better than it had before. In the seering pain beforehand, it seemed that the boy had forgotten about the cloaked figure. The one that dangerously stirred near him, perhaps ready to wake again. The one whose face laid in the dirt.

His face.

His face.

The thought struck Adrien like a dagger, and with a surprising quickness, he staggered to the cloaked man's body. He hovered above it, then violently grasped his arm and turned the body over. Adrien grabbed a hold of the dark cowl that shaded his face, then pulled it back.

Golden red ringlets glinted against the moonlight.

Adrien had spent a few days after Radimus' speech stuck within his home, wracked with fear of the townspeople's vindictive stares, scared of what Xander, Elleanore, Patsy, and Cavis thought of him, then. After some days of seclusion, he'd drawn himself out of his home, if only for small duties. As he'd expected, he'd met the persecuting gazes of nearly all, but after days, he learned to ignore them. The guards still didn't let him beyond the walls, and he was met with a hasty shove if he'd approached.

Then he'd withdrawn himself into his house again. Radimus had run out of callous words to speak to him, and that was certainly a blessing.

Every day, however, after Elleanore had long since been gone, he'd visit her mother's grave. He didn't know why. Perhaps it was the white flowers that still yet bloomed. He'd bring paper and quill to write a letter of his own to his mother, whose own letters had been growing short.

The graveyard was a peaceful place, if he didn't think about what laid underneath them. The trees which normally bore healthy green leaves were shaken bare, and casted a creeping, veiny shadow over the yard. The townspeople's whispers and shouts didn't reach the gravyard, and if they had, they soon dissolved into nothings as they went along their way. A thin blanket of snow and frost covered the area, though it hadn't bothered him by then.

Adrien had written his letter to his mother for the day; they'd been coming more frequently to her, as he'd nothing else to do, and if he'd found solace in anything, it was surely that. So he stood to leave, but hesitated as he passed the bare trees.

Suddenly, a ball of snow plopped in front of him. In any other moment, it would have gone unnoticed, if not for the second ball of snow that landed directly on top of Adrien's head.

Adrien's hands flew up to knock the snow off of his head, and his letter clattered to the ground. Quickly, he picked it up and shoved it inside of his jacket, before looking around. To his surprise, there were no children about, only graves. His eyes flitted upwards, while his stepped beyond the shade of the frosted tree.

Another plop of snow landed right on his upturned face.

Aja was perched on the wall, crouched as she gazed down at him. A cowl was wrapped around her face, but there was no mistaking who it was. She waved to him, holding a finger to her lips before turning to grab a thick, long length of rope.

It was dropped over the edge, and the girl disappeared from sight.

Adrien's eyes, after they'd been wiped of snow, landed on the rope. His heart thudded, and he glanced around, before quickly latching his hands onto it. Even if it hadn't seemed like a fantastic idea, the concept of being able to go beyond the wall appealed to him like no other. Thoughts of the forest beyond overwhelmed him. He began to scale the wall, though it's surface was sleek and frost, and it was no easy task.

A few times, his boots gave underneath him, and he'd struggled to hold his place. Not before long, though, he was peering over the edge of the stony walls that kept him imprisoned for so long.

"Adrien," she whispered, though her voice carried in the quiet evening. She was holding the rope, part of it looped around the branch of a tree she was standing in, and held tight in her hands. Upon seeing him come to the top, she released the rope and walked out to him, standing on one branch and holding to another above her to keep her balance.

She held out a hand to him.

"Pull up the rope then step over to me."

Adrien mounted the wall and quickly ravelled the rope he'd come up upon. He passed his wrist through it, wearing it on his shoulder, before his hand clasped Ajani's. Ever slowly, he stood up, and placed a foot on the branch Ajani had stood on. He slowly looked to her, fear lacing his eyes.

"This doesn't seem like such'a good idea, now."

They were a dangerous height above the floor.

"I won't let you fall." she replied. "Don't look down." She took a step back, encouraging him to come closer.

"To me, Adrien."

His other hand firmly clasped the other side of Ajani's wrist, and he had quickly brought his other foot onto the branch. It croaked underneath their weight. When he'd found that he wasn't falling, however, his eyes unstuck from his feet and came to Ajani's eyes again.

"This is going t'kill me."

"If you keep talking like that, it might." she warned, taking another step back. "Reach up. Grab the branch above." They were both close to the trunk. "You can do this."

It was either that, or go back down into the town, and she knew that he didn't want to do that.

He slowly let go of Ajani's hand, and held his arms to his side, as if to balance himself. His eyes fixated themselves on Ajani's, awkwardly, but he was heeding her warning not to look down. One hand slowly raised to grasp the branch, and when his fingers met bark, the other grasped the branch above as well.

"I think this's just about th'worst time'a th'year t'go tree climbing, Ajani." He breathed, his words quivering. Still, he looked to her for advice, while his arms were hoisted above his head.

"I know you aren't complaining." she teased, easing back and encouraging him forward. "We can always go back, of course."

He'll get used to it, she told herself. She would make sure he was as comfortable climbing trees as he was walking on the ground.

Adrien grinned, a challenging grin.

"Tch. If y'd have me, I'd live in your tribe instead'a this shoddy town. Lets'ave at it, then? If I fall, y'damn well better catch me." His eyes fell to the ground for a second, before whipping back upwards. "Following you."

She tossed him a smile.

Turning, she released the upper bow and easily walked back, her balance second nature. Once she reached the trunk, she lowered herself to sit, before tentatively reaching with her foot for another nearby branch that sat lower.

"Just watch for ice." she told him as she turned back to wait.

Adrien, however, used to branch above him to keep himself from falling. When he reached the trunk, he let go of the branch above and slowly lowered himself as Aja had. His boot slipped out from under him, however, and he'd only nearly wrapped his arms around the icey branch to catch himself. Shaky breaths rattled from his chest.

His foot felt for the branch underneath; the one Ajani had been waiting on, and he slowly released himself to rest on it. When his hands were free, he hugged the trunk.

"If I die, take th'letter out of my pocket, n'mail it t'my mum for me."

But she'd already made her way to the branch. In fact, she was making it look far easier than it probably was. Moving swiftly from one branch to the other, she finally came to a distance where she felt safe to jump, and so she did, landing in a crouch, then rolling onto her back so she could look up at him.

"Not so bad!" she said, only slightly raising her voice.

Adrien let his arms release from the trunk, and slowly stepped onto the branch behind him. His eyes caught sight of Ajani, who had swiftly made it from branch to branch. The thought unnerved him. He looked to the ground.

Then he transitioned to the next branch. He was moving at a slightly faster speed. His feet tok him from branch to branch, until he slipped, yet again. His feet came out from under him, and he tumbled to the snowy ground below. Thankfully, it'd been just a bit higher from what Ajani had descended from.

He laid on his side in the snow, groaning from the aches that falling had brought him.

She sat up, moving to her hands and knees and crawling over to where he lay. She lay down next to him, smiling the whole while as she rested her head on her arms like a pillow.

"See?" she said. "Now you've fallen. You won't be so afraid next time." The look softened as she, too, rolled to her side,and looked up at the wall. "You're free for a little while."

"M'not so sure that's how falling works." he groaned. He wiped his eyes, which were blinded by the snow. When he beheld the wall in front of him, he couldn't help but ecstatically smile. "Free for a little while. Hell of an effort t'get out, though. Blakes feels like a prison now, and th'only reason they haven't put me in jail is 'cause I'm Radimus' boy."

He rolled onto his back, and stared up at the trees he'd descended from. One of them merrily dropped a pile of snow on his face. He shot up, spat out, and wiped his face.

"I'm guessing y'don't want t'meander around here, then?"

"Not even a little bit."

She balled up a wad of snow, launched it into his face, and then burst to her feet, sprinting off into the woods with a wide smile spreading across her face. He was free. They had hours. She didn't have a single idea what they were going to do, but at the moment, it didn't matter. She'd been so worried for him, constantly watching out, listening for news that something might have happened.

But nothing had. She'd rescued him. It couldn't have been more perfect.

Skidding to a stop as her horse came into view, she eagerly threw herself up onto its back, looking back to wait for Adrien to catch up.

"Come on!" she called, knowing that the woods would swallow her voice now.

Adrien's face had sorely reddened by the amount of snow that had been dropped in his face, by then. Again, he wiped the snow with a red hand and climbed to his feet. His hands firmly tied the scarf around his neck, before he'd took off right after Ajani. When he'd reached her, he placed a hand on the horse and bent over, obviously out of breath.

For a moment he recovered, and then hauled himself onto the horse as well.

"Where're we going?"

"You've never been outside the wall except to hunt," she told him. "And I don't know that you went that far to begin with." a smile began to spread across her face.

"So we're going to go a bit farther this time. Hang on tight."

She drove her heels into the horse's flank, leaning forward as the animal burst into flight, its hooves kicking up a flurry of snow as they began to fly through the trees. Aja didn't guide the horse with touch so much as thought, her fingertips pressed against the animal's neck as they moved. The animal's canter was fluid and comfortable. It practically glided across the ground, carrying its passengers as though they were riding a cloud.

On either side, dark trees stood like frozen sentinels, each of them snow-laden and quiet. The forest was asleep, but for the shadows that errupted all around them from the flickering moonlight.

Adrien's hands laced around Aja's waist as they glided across the frosted and snow-covered grasses. At times, he'd resisted reaching out to touch the dark trees and their stony appearences. He hadn't come to these woods in a while, and he'd certainly never ventured that far. The vapor of their breaths left behind a trail like dissipating smoke, which lingered only momentarily, before leaving the forest to it's slumber again.

Too soon, the trees began to space out, until they disappeared altogether, leaving nothing but a vast expanse of snow-laden ground. Overhead, the sky stretched like a glittering dome, millions of stars pricking through and giving the landscape a heavenly haze. In the distance, the sound of moving water could be heard, a glittering black river lacing its way through the valley.

His eyes flitted upwards, though through the bitter cold, he'd trouble keeping them open. When he couldn't behold the night stars above, his eyes traced the winter blankets, and his ears, the black rivers which cascaded and sloshed.

Still, Aja didn't slow. Now, more than ever, it felt as though they were truly flying.

It was late after they started when Adrien spoke up. He nearly shouted, for the wind that glided past their ears made it difficult to hear eachother.

"What about th'wildlings? Are they out this far?"

"No!" she called back, leaning a little so she could turn to put her lips at his ear.

"They hunt in the day. Even still, they're not going to bother us. Not while I'm here." She pulled her face away, looking down towards the ground, where the horse was kicking up snow. Her eyes widened suddenly.

"Adrien watch!" she said, pointing towards the ground. What looked like, at first, the wind kicking up sloughs of loose, powdery snow, occasionally shaped itself into the form of...people...all in the wild turns of a dance. Aja finally reigned in, smiling so wide she knew her cheeks would be sore.

All around them, in gentle spurts, were those same, strange figures, disappearing from sight as soon as they were noticed.

"The solstice is coming." she whispered, the sound nearly deafening after the roar of the wind in their ears.

"So the sprites are coming to celebrate."

"Is that magic?" Adrien asked, his eyes focused on the dancing, snow people. They scared him, at first. Then, the fear subsided, and a slight smirk played to his face. Then, an incredulous grin. "That's amazing. S'like nothing I've seen. If Blakestown saw these..."

He shook his head. "They'dn't be able t'think it was witchery!" He yelled, trying to raise his voice over the wind.

"Sprites?"

"Spirits." she clarified, her brow furrowing as she looked out across the field of snow. She dismounted, smiling to herself as the bursts of snow periodically tossed themselves her way. She held out her hand, palm facing forward, watching as a sprite formed to briefly touch themselves to her fingertips.

"Come on Adrien! They don't hurt you." she explained.

The horse simply stood, its teeth rolling together amiably.

Adrien dismounted the horse as well. The bitter cold that overtook the both of them was combatted by the friendliness of the spirits, who threw their bundles of snow his way as well. He instinctively jerked back, and placed himself between the horse and Aja.

"Spirits? Like... Dead people?" He asked. Slowly and cautiously, he withdrew from his hiding place. "What d'they do, then?"

"You know...I don't know who they are." Aja mused, glancing back over her shoulder to look his way. "We're all so interconnected...I don't know if I'm looking at an ancestor or a reflection of myself." As she turned forward, a burst of snow swatted her in the face.

Puffing out a breath, she dusted the snow off of her face and smiled. "They're not very helpful in letting us know either." As she continued to walk, one sprite came at her from the side, and she quickly pivotted on her left leg, swatting clean through what could have been the sprite's torso with her right.

"They play." she said as she came to stand on both feet again. "I come here to spar."

"Dunno if you n'I have th'same definition of play, but -"

A block of snow splashed against Adrien's face as well. Both hands raised to wipe the frozen water out of his eyes. His still-swollen nose, cheeks, and lips were a blood red. He took a moment to tie his scarf tightly around his face.

"Getting a little tired'a snow being in m'eyes." He mused, though a slight smirk had come to his lips. The forms shaped themselves in the snow like waves when they'd come to him, only forming like humans when they'd come closer to him. He jerked back when another had come, and swatted his hand through it's form.

It scattered, and fell formlessly back into the snow beneath his feet.

"How'd y'find these guys? Aren't you afraid'a what, uh... Y'might find? If y'keep exploring like this?"

She'd taken a knee, smoothing her hand over the fine white snow. "I've lived here my whole life. Motina's been teaching me Mateja's secrets since I was old enough to understand who she was." She glanced back over her shoulder at him.

"There's very little I need to be afraid of here." She looked around, murmuring something under her breath. The wind slowed, finally stilling, and the sprites calmed. Everything became quiet.

"There's more power here than your people realize." she told him. "But it isn't hostile. Not in the slightest. Not unless we decide to use it that way."

"I hope y'won't have to." Adrien said, his voice calming. "Maybe y'can show me th'things Motina showed you. If that'd be alright. If they're all anything like this."

He smiled to Ajani.

"It seems like th'only place where anyone's afraid of anything is Blakestown. I want t'calm it, but I'm nothing but a boy. A man, even. And no one's been looking at me th'same way since Radimus gave his speech. Xander, maybe, and Cavis, but Ellie..."

His smile faltered.

She held out her hand, showing him the infinity symbol that was painted to her palm. "You have everything you need here," she explained. "I'll just have to teach you how to ... see. Really see. And when your family learns to see, too, they'll understand."

She stood, walking over to him and grasping his right hand, turning it over so she could lay her right palm flat over his. "We're connected. All of us. You'll be able to do everything I can do, and the sooner the colonists realize this...the sooner they realize that we're not as evil as they seem to think," she met his eyes.

"We'll have a chance."

"Th'colonists won't listen t'me anymore. Radimus made it so they won't listen t'you. Xander doesn't want involved with'it. Elleanore doesn't want involved with'it. I don't know that we do, Ajani. No one's speaking for you, er, us. No one that anyone'll listen to."

Adrien lowered his eyes to their hands. Although his eyes were sad, but he'd repeated the same scenario in his head so many times that his words came off apathetically.

"I don't know that we do have a chance, but I s'pose I've got nothing else left t'fight for anyway."

She shoved him.

It was light, not intended to hurt, but to wake him up to what he was saying. "I know I didn't hear you imply that you're giving up. This was never meant to be an easy task. We're trying to change the minds of two very different groups of people." She tilted her head to one side, reaching up to pull the cowl away from her neck. The skin was bruised in a ring, scapped in places where the whip had lanced her skin open.

"I'm fighting, because I don't want this to get worse than it already is. People are going to die, Adrien, if we don't do something."

"I'm not giving up. I'm not going t'lose more good things than I already have. If I've a chance of making them better then I'm for it, 'cause they're at their worst now. If things continue like they are in Blakestown..." Adrien faltered, then smiled. "Y'might have t'make me a hut back at your village."

His eyes fell onto the bruise around her neck. He couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt when she'd shown it to him. He never had the chance to apologize about how things had gone down beforehand.

"I'm sorry for that. I didn't expect Radimus t'know. I didn't expect him t'alert th'town, and I didn't expect him t'shove you'n'me under th'bus. I couldn't protect you like you'd protected me at th'village. If there was any way I could make it up t'you, I'd do it."

"Let me push you around a few times and we might have an accord." she said, lifting her shoulders in a shrug as she sighed. "It certainly didn't happen the way any of us were planning, but..." she paused to look around the clearing.

"I'm sure an opportunity will arise that'll let us show the colonists what we're truly like. I don't know what, or when...but Motina's told me to be ready when it comes."

She chuckled, then. "Speaking of." Turning around and jogging back to the horse, she pulled out not one bow, but two, and a quiver of arrows that had been slipped into a saddle-bag. She passed one over to him, then took up her own.

"You said you could shoot." she told him, a small smile forming.

"Now you can show me. You want to learn what Motina's taught me? Tonight's your first lesson."

In the distance, a whirlwind of snow blew to and fro, until a pile hand formed in a half-circle. She knocked an arrow, loosed it, and watched as it plowed into the center.

Adrien looked to the arrow and bow he'd been handed, and his shoulders shrugged in a laugh. "I can shoot. Guns. Your folk use wooden instruments. We stopped manufacturing bows n'crossbows back when we started making metal shooters, Ajani."

It was nothing but an excuse. Adrien looked to the bow, almost in confusion. He'd no idea how to work it, so he looked to Ajani for assistance. She hit the pile of snow that'd formed, almost flawlessly. So, he held the bow, attempting to mimic her posture. He put the arrow to the string, and then let it fly.

A whole foot.

"See, now this isn't fair."

Her lip twitched.

"You're not pulling back far enough, see," she explained, grabbing the arrow he'd dropped and coming up behind him, she encouraged him to take his position, before she lined up her hand beneath his on the bow, her opposite arm coming around behind him.

"You have the strength. Pull back as far as you can, hold steady, and then release." The close proximity didn't bother her, even though she was essentially tucked up next to his torso.

Adrien kept the arrow between his middle and ring finger, and then pulled it back with the string. It was difficult. Far more difficult than pointing and pulling a trigger. Ajani was right, though, even though his strength had diminished the last few weeks, it was still there.

He relaxed for a moment, and pulled the arrow back again. An odd smile twitched at his lips, before he'd released the arrow.

It flew farther that time, though certainly missed the mark.

"Looks like y've got competition," He said, turning his head to the side to look at the girl behind him. "After this, I'm teaching y'how t'use a gun."

She wrinkled her nose.

"Maybe."

They spent hours practicing, working with the bows until Adrien could shoot as far as the target she'd created. He had picked it up pretty quickly, which pleased her, though it was obvious they had a long way to go. After the long session, she was surprised to see that her fingertips were raw, and she felt tired.

It was a good kind of tired, though. Satisfying. She picked up snow between her hands, rubbing the cold over her sore fingertips. "You did really well." she told him, looking up to meet his eyes.

"Work on your strength and balance. Key to handling such a prestigious, wood-made weapon." She gave him a teasing smile.

"Do you want to go home?"

Adrien was happy to be done. After hours, his arms ached with every motion. He certainly didn't show Ajani up as his pride had made him expect to. Finally, when Ajani had seemed satisfied, he released a breath of relief, and wiped the sweat off his brow.

"I think I'd have to, right about now. 'Lest someone think something. Radimus' got me on tight lock, y'know."

Home. It wasn't a word that soothed him anymore. Not then. His expression contorted from disgust, before it resolved to a quick faux smile. "And I s'pose that you've got t'head back too. Don't want t'worry th'tribe any more than you already have, hm?"

"They don't." she said with a mild shrug. "So long as I'm away from Blakestown, they have no reason to worry." She took up the bows and arrows, walking over and slipping them into the pack on the back of the horse.

"When do you want to come back out?" she asked, turning to look at him. Then, her expression faltered just a little.

"...if you want to, that is."

"Well, y've got t'show me around, don't you? Got t'learn what Motina's taught you. If I'm not coming back, how's that s'posed t'happen?" Adrien replied, with a reassuring smile. "'Ow about two days? Let m'muscles rest a bit before y'put me to any more manual labor."

"Shall I push you into the saddle?" she asked, tilting her head to one side before reaching for his wrist and tugging him along to the horse. She climbed on first, helped him up, and set the animal off to a comfortable canter as they moved into the woods. All too soon, the wall began to rise up in front of them, like a looming warning. She looked to the top, reining the animal in as she pondered what to do.

She glanced to a towering oak, just off to her left, and dismounted to make her way over to it.

Coming to the base of the trunk, she smoothed her palms over the rough bark, her brow furrowing in concentration as she leaned closer, pressing her ear to the tree for just a moment. Murmuring softly, she turned her face to rest her forehead against the bark, palms pressing more firmly into the wood.

Then, silently, the tree began to bend towards the wall, not like it was falling...but like it was made of something softer than wood.

Adrien stayed with the horse, and curiously looked on to Ajani. When the tree began to bend to the wall, he grinned and laughed, perhaps in astonishment. Slowly and cautiously, he came to the oak tree, and hitched his fingers in a crease in the bark. Before he'd ascended, however, he looked to Ajani.

"When we're on our next course, can y'teach me how t'do that?" He asked, humor still lacing his face. "Thanks for th'easy climb. I'll rope it back down. Y'can get out of here, don't want guards seeing you, anyway."

With a last look toward Ajani and a rope over his shoulder, Adrien began to scale the wall that lead him back into Blakestown.

It had been roughly a week since Adrien had started his escapades out beyond the wall. Xander and Ellie had taken care not only to avoid him, but to avoid each other. For Xander, it was possibly the worst couple of weeks that he'd ever experienced. Both of his closest friends wanted nothing to do with him, and if he were perfectly honest with himself, he wasn't sure that he'd know what to do or say if the time came. He spent most of his time these days in the stables when Adrien wasn't there, doing what needed to be done and then leaving as soon as he could. He couldn't even enjoy it anymore, which was totally ridiculous.

He'd come out the night before, unable to sleep, and deciding that the best thing to do would be to just walk around until he was too cold or too tired to do anything else. After coming upon the stables, he noticed something rather odd.

Someone had been climbing down the wall.

He'd ducked behind bales of frosted hay, watching as Adrien came across the snow-laden ground, looking every which way before disappearing into his house.

So, tonight, Xander sat and waited for Adrien to show up. He knew that he would. It was only a matter of time.

As he'd done other times, Adrien scaled down the wall. He ravelled the rope, and then threw it back over the wall. A strange tactic, if he'd been going alone. When his feet touched snow-laden ground, he placed his palms on the wall, looked about, and then backed away from the wall. As per usual, he'd looked about, before starting off.

But he stopped by the lumbering old tree, this time. The one that, in the springs and summers, provided a cool shade, in a contrast to the humid, warm air. It was bare, now, and in the moonlight, it had no shadow. It's thick bark bore the dimensionality of thin paper.

Adrien moved passed it, after running his hand over the rough bark. He took slowly toward his home, but it would be quite a walk from the graveyard.

He came into sight as soon as Adrien drew close enough to hear him. Xander's arms were crossed, his brow furrowed in concern as he looked from Adrien to the wall and back.

"Dree..." he started, coming to that awful moment where he didn't really have any idea of what to say. "It's a bit late."

"Yeah. T'is. Shan't you be sleeping, Xander?" Adrien asked, his brows furrowing to Xander's sudden appearence. He'd quickly moved past the other boy, seemingly intent on retiring, and seemingly intent on certainly not speaking to Xander. Not out of spite; their relationship had slowly repaired itself over time, though it certainly wasn't what it usually was.

"That's what I plan on doing." He said, as he passed.

Xander reached out to snag Adrien by the arm, his grip gentle, but firm. He didn't look at him as he spoke.

"Ye've been goin over the wall." It wasn't a question, but a statement. He looked back over his shoulder to the other. "Not gunna rat you out, if that's watcher thinkin. I think what Radimus is doin' to yah is downright shit." He let go of Adrien's arm, letting his own fall to his side. "What're you doin' over there?"

Adrien spun around when Xander gripped his arm, and withdrew his sleeve.

"I know y'know I've been going over th'wall. 'Else y'wouldn'ta camped out n'popped out at me like that. I figure y'wouldn't tell." The boy raised his arms, in a half-shrug. "M'not allowed beyond th'wall, and I miss th'fresh air."

"Mhm, and is the fresh air gunna throw that rope back to yah when you go over again tomorrow night?" Xander said, lifting a brow.

Adrien stared at Xander for a moment, before crossing his own arms.

"N'why y'wanna know, you said?"

"Is it that girl? Aja?" Xander asked, his expression softening. "Yer goin' to visit her?" He hesitated a moment.

"Y'know that Radimus'll sooner kill her if he finds out."

"Radimus won't be seeing'er. It's not like she's hoisting over t'Blakestown with me. N'Radimus' threatened t'break m'legs if I don't stop being rowdy, but I'd sooner break his than he break mine."

It was an answer enough, though Adrien opened his mouth again. "I'm hoisting over t'see th'tribe. N'the area. N'everything, really. Kind of opens your eyes, when y'move past th'forest." He smiled as he spoke. "N'I know I seem like a lunatic for doing it, but it's better than being cooped up in this chicken pen of a shyte town."

Xander considered that, quietly thinking over what Adrien had said.

"Y'know, I saw the tribe. I saw how worried they were for Ajani...and they didn't seem teh mind me too much. I knew I believed yah before all the shyte happened a few weeks back...but after seeing them...I could understand them too. Aja made sure I could..." He looked back to his friend.

"I want teh help. However I can. If you'll let me."

"Nay. No, Xander. I already put Ellie in danger. I can't put you in danger, too. N'..." Adrien swallowed, and raised his scarf. He looked down to the floor, then up to Xander's eyes. "Y'should stop avoiding Elleanore like y'do. Just'ave it normal, will you?"

His hand raised, and patted Xander on the shoulder. He began to turn away. "Don't think I could stand y'getting hurt, no matter how much I don't like y'right now."

A slight smirk came to his lips, before it disappeared again.

"I'm a big boy," Xander said with a broad smile. "Can handle m'self. Besides, ye've got me all curious about the tribals now. Yer hoggin them all for yerself."

He hooked his arm around Adrien's throat and dragged him into the snow. "I still like yeh Dree. Missed talkin to yah." he grunted, putting his knee on the other boy's chest. "And like it or not, I'm sick to death of the way things are goin' around here. I'd like teh change it."

"Only thing y'missed is trying t'toss me around!" Adrien shouted, though for once in a long while, it wasn't out of anger. His hands wrapped around Xander's knee, andhe pushed himself forward, intent on dropping the other boy into the snow. For a moment, things settled.

"S'pose y'did conk assassin-man over th'head, but that was just luck, innit? But, hell, Xander. Y'don't wanna risk your life over this shyte. Wasn't it you who was hollering about leaving Ellie here all alone?" he teased.

Xander's cheeks flamed, but he flopped into the snow amiably, and laid there. "S'pose I did. But I know yah didn' do those things on purpose. Didn' do anything, in fact." He sighed heavily.

"M'done silent treating yah, Dree. Dun need a girl of any kind to break us up y'know? Hell maybe we could get Ellie to go with us too." His lips were pressed into a thin line. "Couldn't hurt to get her away from all of this too."

Sitting back on his knees, he reached to brush the snow out of his hair. After a second, he fixed Adrien with a firm stare. "Another thing, too. M'parents are shit, majority of this town and the way they act towards people like Ajani is horrid. Why not try to risk my safety if it means bringin' about ... peace. At least a state of business where people aren't sittin' around hatin' each other?"

"If anything, I'd like t'get her - Ellie - out of this place, if assman's threatening'er like he is. He's not done anything yet, but..." Adrien looked toward Xander, his brow furrowing. "I know who he is. 'E carried Ellie's bags home, looked straight at me. 'E's th'one who tipped off Radimus about Ajani being in town."

For a long while, he drew in a breath. His eyes met Xander's, then drew away from them. He looked toward the bare tree in the distance.

"I s'pose y'have a point." He said. He leaned forward, placed his elbows on his knees, and his head on his hands. "Could use someone who actually has a voice around'ere."

Then, he shook his head and looked to Xander again.

"Y'sure?"

"Nah. I'm gunna flake on yah righ' when things get tough." He winked, stretching his arms over his head before emitting a heavy sigh. "I think yeh have more supporters than y'think though, Dree. Nobody'll say anything to you, but I know you at least have a friend in Cavis, and in Patsy."

He gave a slight smirk at the mention of the old nurse. "But, at any rate, I'll be with yeh through the thick of it, mate. S'wat friends are for."

"Alright, but..." Adrien sighed. "Tap out when things get too tough for y', aye? Don't want y'breaking your wee bones." He smiled again, then swatted Xander on the shoulder. "I been sneaking out to practice, y'know. Notice any change?" He flexed. "Y'won't have t'sneak out, but I don't think Ajani would mind th'support. Hell, th'tribe."

"I'm going back t'morrow, then. You up for it?"

Xander squeezed his bicep, before emitting a terribly effeminate giggle.

"Gods, Dree. You know I am. Anythin' specific I should bring with me?" He looked back towards the wall. "Perhaps a pair of wings?"

He frowned.

"Well, y'ain't th'one barred from leaving, but I s'pose it'd still look suspicious."

He paused, then looked to Xander, a big grin ever-present in his face.

"Nay, but y'ever climb a rope? Hope y've not got sweaty hands. S'a big fall."

"I'll pull you with me." Xander said, giving the young man a look. He moved to stand, offering out a hand to help the other up. "So ye've been training then? Aja fights? Is she any good?"

"Well, y'wanna see? I'm sure she'd happily oblige. Loves sparring about, that one." Adrien said, grinning.

"Then, tomorrow. Night. Y'might want t'just say y'threw your ring ball over th'wall t'get over, this time. We'll start using th'rope before things get suspicious. Right now, I think Radimus may be getting a little suspicious, if'e gives a damn."

He looked behind him, to the road that'd lead him home.

"Say we retire?"

"Sure thing." the young man replied, stretching languidly before beginning to make his way back to the stables.

"Sleep well, Dree. I'll kick your arse in front of Aja. So prepare yourself."