The Wild

Night fell across the forest, tree by tree. A rising moon shone through the tangled branches, and one by one the creatures of the day slipped into their silent beds. Rei walked silently through the dark forest, her ears alert, but all she heard were the natural sounds of countless animals going about their business. Her feet were covered in soft, warm boots, treading silently over the layer of leaves and plants under her feet. In her peripheral vision, she caught a bright light coming from her right, and quickly angled herself behind a tree and pulled her black hood lower over her face and her cloak over her dress. She peeked around the tree, resting her hand over the scarf that covered her mouth and looking and listening for signs of life. Instead, she saw a large clearing just beyond the dense trees where she stood. The light she saw was caused by a large white rock, catching the bright light of the moon. She sighed in relief and made her way to the clearing. The night sky never ceased to amaze her, with all its glittering wonder. Rei gazed up, lowering her hood and pulling her scarf down around her neck. The woman was a noble, beautiful creature, with all the most bewitching outlines of a woman. Beautiful wavy copper brown, shaded with veins of gold, a brow which seemed to be chiseled marble, her milky skin unmarred. Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it, bright green eyes and a bright passionate mouth, where lie an expressionless look upon her exquisite lips. Rei looked for the proper constellations to see she had been heading in the proper direction. The canopy of trees hid the sky from her in the forest, but she had an excellent sense of direction.

Rei settled on the grass in the clearing, placing her small black bag in front of her. She set her bow and quiver down at her side and gently touched the small knife on her thigh. The bag contained her medical equipment, which took up very little room, a waterskin, a sack of money, bread, cheese, and dried rabbit meat. Rei nibbled on the meat, bread, and cheese and drank some water, enjoying the view of the sky. She suddenly felt very angry her father kept her so separated from the other Kassik. The only companions she had her entire life were human. At least she knew how to act like a human, dress like a human, and hopefully be mistaken by a human by the ship she would take to Salave. Salave was the only place she knew the Kassik lived, though she doubted whether or not they would actually be there now that the King was planning on destroying them. Rei was frustrated with all the information she did not and could not know until she found other Kassik. Not only would she have to find them, but also convince them of her loyalties, which were sure to be questioned since she had never been to Salave in her life. Not to mention that her dear father was one of the King's most trusted Kassik loyals. Perhaps she could lie? Tell them her parents wanted to hide among the humans instead of living in Salave? A weak lie, one that could be easily seen through. If nothing else, she would hope they would be desperate enough for more soldiers that they would allow her to help them. The promise of her healing power would undoubtedly be her trump card once she had to convince them to trust her allegiance. Rei sighed to herself, surprised to find she felt much better having come to a solution to her problem. There were still many 'ifs' but she was confident they would at least see her sincerity.

With that she repacked her bag and replaced her bow and quiver on her back. Standing, she pulled her scarf back over her mouth and nose and pulled her thick black hood low over her head. Heading in the direction of the docks, she set off at a brisk pace. Her boat would leave a sunrise with or without her. It was a small merchant's ship which brought goods to the outer islands and left with a more exotic supply that fetched a good profit on shore.

As she reached the outskirts of the port town, and hesitated, considering her bow and arrows. She removed them and hid them in a tree. Rei wasn't sure how women traveled, but she was fairly certain they probably didn't carry obvious weapons. She had been to court a few times as a girl, and none of the women carried weapons. None of them even seemed to know anything about combat. She supposed they were always safe in the castle and had no need to learn.

Rei made her way to the ship she had reserved, "The Arctic Storm," and approached the sailor swabbing the decks.
"Excuse me, sir, but can you point me in the direction of your captain?" She asked politely. She had a thrilling voice that held a kind of fleeting compulsion. The sailor stared at her stupidly for a moment, studying her clothes with obvious confusion. His eyes then settled on her bright green ones and he quickly looked away, propping his mop against the mast and walked off, mumbling something she couldn't make out. Rei wasn't sure what to do, so she walked aboard and started to look for someone else. Then she heard the loud footsteps of an uneven gait and looked up to see a large man walking towards her. His face was tan and somewhat wrinkled from a lifetime at sea, though his age was probably somewhere around thirty. He approached her, a small smile curling his lips, revealing his uneven teeth.
"Ah, ye' must be the lass that wrote askin' fer a ride to Salave. If ye pay me now, I'll show ye yer cabin." His voice was rough and gravely, but his rough talk didn't match his expensive clothes or clean shave and hair cut. She dug in her bag and brought out her purse, parting with five gold pieces. She replaced her purse while the captain deposited the money into his own. Rei pulled down her scarf and looked out to the ocean, the cold wind biting at her nose and mouth. She looked back to the captain who was regarding her curiously.
"Where be yer escort, lady?"
Rei fought back a wave of panic as she realized it must seem very strange for a girl her age to travel alone. She carefully hid her panic from her face, putting on a confident facade, narrowing her eyes and looking at him with what she hope was annoyance.
"I require no escort. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself." She announced, giving him a challenging look. He laughed and turned, beckoning her to follow him.
"A girl wit no escort headin to Salave. That be mighty strange." He said quietly. Inside she was panicking, but she kept her face carefully controlled. She reached back into her bag and took five more gold coins. Rei reached for the captain's hand and pressed the gold into his palm.
"I can handle myself." She said severely. His eyes brightened as he smiled again.
"Whatever ye say, girl. But if I wer ye, I'd lock me door at night." He laughed again and led her to her very small cabin.
"We sail as soon as the cargo loads. Don't ye leave the ship." He said, still laughing as he left. She sat down on the small bed, fighting back a shiver. Rei knew it wouldn't be long before she got to Salave, she dearly hoped they would see her as an ally, not an enemy.

( sorry about the length... my other posts won't be this long ^^; )

The towns were always crowded with people it could get annoying seeing people stare at you. Everyone constantly bumping into me, Evan asked for a boat to Salave at a market like he always did everyday but he always got the bitter reply no. Until today he finally was directed to one named "The Artic Storm" which was a silly name in his opinion it was at the docks and was going to Salave it wasn't far from where he was but he had to get through a forest and the ship wasn't for him so he knew exactly what that meant. He headed for the docks outside of town with the sun following right behind him a constant reminder of the time. He started to get aggravated he needed to get to Salave in hopes of finding some other Kassik maybe they could teach me a thing or two. It was quiet now he didn't hear much of the chatter those people spoke of. He treaded through the damp forest listening to insects make strange noises while he read his makeshift map and managed to get to the outskirts of the town with the port he was looking for.

The sun shined down brightly on the port and only one boat was insight with a few people on top swabbing the deck he knew they wouldn't let him on their ship unless he paid, he reached in my pockets feeling nothing he had absolutely no gold in his possession he figured he would have to resort to sneaking onto the ship. He walked up to the boat crouched low to the ground and quietly snuck on deck avoiding the sight of the crew sliding past when they weren't paying attention. Evan knew he wouldn't be able to sneak below deck so he settled for the crows nest figuring no one would be up there.

He quickly climbed the mesh of ropes with little difficulty getting his foot stuck every now and then, hoping no one had spotted him and grabbed hold of the edge of the crows nest and pulled himself in. The view was inspiring birds circled high above him eyeing him suspiciously like something foreign had entered their presence, the waves pushed lightly against the boat and the wind stinging his cheeks every now and then. It was only a matter of time before this boat set sail and he got to Salave and he would soon meet others like himself and he would hopefully learn something new and get stronger.

(Sorry for being late was busy :()