Gratidia

Skyla sat on a high branch watching intently at the road below, waiting for any of the humans to go by. She sat and stared, never blinking. Then she heard footsteps. She looked to the right where the road led to Alerus. There a group of humans with there unusual weapons marched yet another batch of elves. She grimaced at the sight of such brutality to enslave another.

As they marched by she gently descended the tree, not letting even a leaf to rustle and soon she was following them, hiding in the shadows and bushes. None of the new creatures knew that Skyla was following them, though she suspected that elves knew.

All day she followed, waiting for them to rest, so that she may ambush them and set her sisters and brothers free. Then when they came by a pond they finally stopped. The enslaved elves were chained to a tree so that they wouldn't escape, while the humans sat down and took their rest. Skyla saw this opportunity and tip-toed over to the tree of the chained slaves. As she drew nearer the elves noticed her and began to rustle in anticipation of being free again. The guards noticed this and looked up in time to see Skyla breaking the chain with one of her knives.

The elves ran back to the road and back to Alerus, leaving Skyla to face the humans alone. She put her knife back and drew her bow, placing an arrow, and taking aim. Readying herself to fight and kill.

April sat on a rock with her fin dangling down into the water. She had her red hair draped over on shoulder as she gently brushed it. While brushing her hair she sand a beautifully haunting song that added to the fog that surrounded the outside of her home. It was a special song that she used to lore human males in towards her, often leading them to their deaths, as long as May didn't get in the way.

She continued singing letting it echo through out the surrounding forest. Hopefully her prey or someone entertaining would come to her.

Avidin was dreading this day it was the day that all mermen everywhere where supposed to find mates which could lead to ether two things: 1 a crazed merman finding his pond thinking that he was hidding mermaids from him and wanting to fight or 2: a mermaid following his smell and causeing the latter to happen but he really would be hidding a mermaid. So obviously if even one of these things happened it would spell trouble for him so today he figured he'd just dive low into the deepest part of his pond and hope no one found his smell. "I mean there are tons of mermen besides me right?" He thought to himself as he swam downwards.

There were six humans all pointing their other world weapons at her. This never fazed her, she looked around searching for someone that looked to be in charge. She spotted him. He was a big guy and the rest seemed to be somewhat randomly placed in front of him. She turned her arrow from one of the others and pointed it at him and released the arrow, having it be embedded in the mans shoulder.

At having been injured he yelled at his men, and they began to shoot. Skyla dodged behind a tree just in time to save her life. She felt a pain her right arm, a piercing pain like a thick needle. She looked down and saw blood streaming vigorously down her arm. She felt rage build up like fire in her chest. She took out her knives from their hiding spots and waited till the thunder stopped. When they did she heard whispers and a pair of footsteps walked towards her. When the warrior came into view, Skyla stabbed him in the and ran out, using his body as a shield.

As she was running, and the thunder recommencing, she was searching for way out. Then she saw the pond again. It was a long shot to even survive from these firings and to survive being under water long enough for the humans to go away. She ran towards it, throwing her human shield towards the others and diving into the seemingly small pond. She had expected it to be at most five feet, but when she was submerged in the water she realized that it was much, much deeper. As she swam down, her arm leaving a trail of blood in the water, she heard the humans' weapons pounding against the the surface, but only floating down gently. She watched them and found what was coming out of the weird barrels were only small, round, metal pellets.

Then she felt a fast movement swim past her. She turned best she could, but didn't see anything except a trail of bubbles.

"Crap!" Was what Avidin said when an elf plunged into his pond with a wounded arm blood everywhere he'd take a fight with another merman over this any day. He swam down faster avoiding the pellets that managed to get past the surface ."Don't hit me! Don't hit me!" But he turned and relized if he left the elf she'd most likely die here so he reluctantly and swam back up and grabed her draging her down through the tunnels towards another pool.

The merman pulled Skyla up out of another pond. She gasped for air, letting the her lungs fill to their satisfaction. She gently swam to the edge with one arm, not wanting to increase the already blood filled pond.

Once at the edge she pulled herself out and laid herself down on the grass. She moved her eyes to the merman's head that was floating out of the water. His wet white blond hair stuck to his face, his eyes passive, but Skyla could tell that he was mad about her being in his "pond". She cracked a small smirk.

"I bet you'd rather be fighting other mermen right now huh? Well I'm sorry, but it was my only way out," she said standing up, "I promise it won't happen again". She began to walk away, but stopped mid-step and turned back around as if she had forgotten something.

"I'm Skyla, by the way, Skyla Derak," She, her jaw set and eyes still and cold. She never really liked introducing herself, but for some reason felt like she had to.

Avidin simply smiled he always liked elf's they had a heck of a lot more sense then most being. "My name is Avidin and you can repay me for helping you by not telling any mer-folk that i'm here." he looked around. "They are every where besides seeing as how those human are probably still over there means i'll have some cleaning to do."

Small, devious giggles rang through out the small forest Lillianna was currently tip toeing through. She had a smirk plastered on her small, green face, which could only mean one thing, she was up to something. This little nymph was known around ,by all races,for causing trouble and as she stumbled upon the merman and the wounded elf, she couldn't help but smile cunningly.

"We seem to have hit a small hitch in our operation."

These were the words going through Hanzel's mind as he sat on the bench of the horse drawn carriage, legs crossed and slender, interlaced fingers wrapped gently over his right knee. He looked silently out the pane-less window at the world that slowly passed him by, taking it all in while casually adjusting himself whenever the clattering cart hit a particularly nasty root. In any other circumstances he would be out there, taking in all of the scenery first hand while feeling the pleasant breeze; but this was different, right now he needed to think--contemplate--and while the stagnant, stuffy interior of his ride was almost stifling, it did provide the serenity that he needed to do just that.

"We seem to have started our exploration of this land a bit... hastily. A few reports have come in and apparently there have been some upsets; things have lost stability, gotten out of hand, men are beginning to act a bit... rashly."

Hanzel glances up slightly toward his destination, hearing a scream and a volley of gunshots, then he calmly settles back against the seat. "Indeed...", he mutters.

"You say something, Mr. Icheru?" A voice says, and Hanzel turns his head toward the well armored man next to him, keeping his bright blue eyes still locked on the outside scenery as he says distracted but reassuringly:

"No, Horris, I was just thinking to myself."

"You always did 'think' pretty loudly Hanz." The man across from him remarks jokingly with a nasally tone.
Hanzel smiles and finally turns his head to the young man, who grins at him while chewing a piece of tobacco. "That’s true, Gilfried, maybe you can teach me how to have a silent head like yours one day". He grins back at Gilfried and then proceeds to turns his eyes out the window again, hearing Gilfriend laugh and remark, "You have no idea how easy it makes things, boss." Hanzel chuckles at this as he slowly props his elbow on the large support handle of the door and rests his chin on his slender fist, letting the breeze blow through his shiny, sleek, dirty-blonde hair. His mind shifts back to the conversation he had earlier.

"What kind of upsets are you referring to, sir?"

The man looks up from his desk, setting down his pen and leaning back in his chair. "We have made contact with some forest natives and the military presence that first reported this apparently got into a little scuffle with them; now more and more reports of 'unprovoked' attacks on our expeditions are coming in. The military have proven less than sensible in their ways of response."

Another volley of shots rings through the air, and the man called Horris sits up, looking out the left side window of the carriage and says to Gilfried, "What do you think their doing over there?"

Gilfried looks up as if pondering intently, then looks straight at Horris with a large grin, "Shooting, of course."

Horris rolls his eyes. "Never mind, moron", he says, turning to Hanzel, "Mr. Icheru, what do you think?"

Hanzel waits for a second, as if he didn't hear the question, but then says, "I believe...", he pauses as he turns his head toward Horris; a coy grin reveals itself on his slender lips as the trees clear, shining a bright light on his entire youthful, smooth-skinned 17 year-old face. "I believe that they are shooting." After he finishes he slowly turns back to the window once more, and squints his eyes in the light of the now unblocked sun, smiling when he hears Gilfried let out a well-expected energetic laugh. His smile eventually fades as he goes back into his day-dream.

"What do you want me to do, Sir?"

"I want you to regain control over this situation for me, and get information on all the different secrets that this place has to offer. Introduce a little diplomacy to all of this."

Hanzel smiles and gives a small nod of confirmation, his hair bobbing and shining bronze in the light. "That I can do, Sir."

With this the man at the desk smiles and hold out his hand. Hanzel shakes it and starts to walk out when he hears the man speak to him. "Oh, one last thing...", the man says.

Hanzel turns his body and inquires, "Yes, sir?".

The cart comes to a stop and Hanzel opens the door, bright and warm sunlight spilling in aside a refreshing breeze, and Hanzel steps out, brushing his hair to the side and pushing his glasses up slightly, then gazing around at the scene before him with calm and calculating authority.

"We need this to be handled intelligently, Professor Icheru. For this purpose you came recommended highly."

April stopped brushing her hair and singing. It seemed that there weren't any humans close enough to hear her song. That was fine with her anyways, today was the day when mermaid and merman started finding their mates, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to start looking for one, plus she thought that she smelled one not too far away. 'I'll let May take care of this first,' she thought. She transformed gaining her legs, "Um.. What's that nice smell?" she asked talking to herself. May wondered around following her nose until she reached a pond and in that pond was a merman and a elf.

She cheerfully went over to the two, putting her legs into the water causing them to transform back into her elegant fin. She then looked at the two besides her. The elf looked to be injuried. "Oh my. You don't look so good," she said looking at her wound. She then looked at the merman and smiled, he smelled so good and his bright coloring showed that he was healthy, however now was no time to think about how fitting of a mate he'd be. "You wouldn't happen to have anything to wrap her wound in would you?" She was guessing there'd be some plants that they could use.

Hanzel steps out onto the ground, looking up and taking in the feeling of the forest through all of his senses, breathing in and out calmly and smiling a very cute and innocent smile as if he is at home. He adjusts his jacket energeticly and then stretches his thin, young, but well shaped body. Finally he lowers his eyes to look around at the situation before him. He stares at the few soldiers running frantically with guns flailing and a big man sitting on a stump with another soldier bandaging his shoulder. He raises an eyebrow and looks to his side at Gabriel, a man of 21 years who stands at about 5' 8" with black, close-cropped hair to the point where it was a bit prickly, and then turns his glance at horris, an experianced soldier of 27 years who stands at about 6' and who's body is built incredibly well; muscles abound with plenty to share, but all of them still kept for himself. Both men set their rifles on their shoulders, looking down at Hanzel to return the look of disbelief and sad disapointment painted on his face. Hanzel rubs the bridge of his nose and then flips his shining dirty-blonde hair to the side, forcibly smiling, and letting out a discontent laugh as he rocks on his heals announces to the group without a care who hears; "Well this is embarassing! No system of protocol or anything! What happened here? Whoever is in charge please do tell!" Horris and Gilfried, wearing dull black-and-red metal-plated uniforms, stand armed next to him chuckling at how he calls out the group of soldiers as two more gaurds walk behind them.

The soldiers all stop and turn in disbelief, the large man stands up fiercly, looking around with a furious expression, completely overlooking Hanzel, and staring at his two gaurds. "Which one of you said that? Which one of you are disrespecting my troop?!" He continues yelling, making quite a loud commotion and actually almost raging, obviously still sour about being shot in the shoulder so easilly and letting the archer escape.

Avidin jumped back in surprise when the mermaid jumped into the pond "Uh... no not really my forte and there isn't really anything in this pond for that last time i checked." He said and then thought "As if that means anything i wouldn't know a healing plant if it was right in front of my nose." He looked the mermaid up and down he had devised a system to rate on how much a mermaid would bring him trouble and she was definitely 9 out of 10 his plan from right here on out was to play it safe and not move a muscle he knew if you ran they take it as a game and chase after you but if you stay still they might think your weird and leave it wasn't the best plan but it was what he was going with... Of course about 8 times out of 10 it doesn't work at all and they just decide to move in this was his last line of defense if this didn't work then he would have no say in the matter if she stayed or not.

Maya heard the noises. She was scared. The noise ringing from ear to ear. Not now, she thought. She was flying alone. Alone again in her exploits. She must have gone very far. She didn't notice the time. She was following a uniquely colored butterfly. She wanted to draw it and show it to class tomorrow. The butterfly was nowhere to be seen. Maybe, it was also scared.

There it goes again. And another.. and another. The birds flew is all directions. The animals scramming at their feets. She didn't see any faeries around. She was very far from her home. Dark clouds are forming. She tucked in her small notebook and pens. It is going to rain. Her wings will not make it. She needed a nearer shelter. Then later when morning comes she will go home. Probably, earning another punishment for this.

The noise again blared in the darkness. She will be home tomorrow, right?

"Down here, tiny", Hanzel states sarcastically at the 6'2" behemoth in front of him, waving his arm in the air to gain the attention. As the man looks down at the 5'5" Icheru, he starts to chuckle, then grin, and then lean his head back laughing out loud and pointing as Icheru just smiles calmly. Eventually all the men are creating an uproar of laughter that can be heard from far off in all directions. "I would refrain from laughing until you understand the situation your in, you brute." The man looks at him, still laughing and points at him in disbelief that Hanzel is talking so boldly. Hanzel sighs and turns his head to the side ever so slightly, glancing back at Horris. "Horris, will you help him understand the situation?", he asks. "Certainly", Horris replies, grinning and jabbing the butt of his rifle right into the shoulder wound of the large man, who quickly falls to the ground screaming, and his men shut up very quickly, staring at there commander on the ground as Horris points the end of his rifle at the man's face. Hanzel steps over to the man and bends his knees, lowering his face almost to the level of the man's. "Now do you understand?"

Maya flew faster but her wings were already tired of her long trip. Leaves whooshed past her as she try her best to find a safe place to take shelter. She was scared to be eaten by the other predators in the woods. Why haven't she thought of that earlier. The wind is getting colder. She heard some noise nearby. She gasped, "Predators." She stopped in mid-air. The forest is getting darker. She realized she had ended up in the Troves. The others called it the slums of Gratidia. What danger she has put herself into? She was brought back to reality with the sound of the flight of birds. She looked up and saw black ones in the sky. "Scavengers!" She crept into the nearest tree. It had a hallow part in its trunk. She snatched some leaves thinking it might help covering her. She can't summon magic now, she was too tired. She decided to hide there. It was going to be a long night after all.

The merman looked stiff as he spoke, as if he was afraid of her. "Uh... no not really my forte and there isn't really anything in this pond for that last time i checked."

"Oh... well I'll go and check just in case. It's better to be safe then sorry." Then she turned around to dive under the water, but stopped first and then turned her head to look back at him and smiled sweetly as she said, "You don't have to be afraid of me, I'm not like most mermaids." She then dove under the water and gracefully swam to the bottom. It was a lot deeper then she had expected a pond to be and there weren't tons of plants like she had expected, however she did manage to find some. She looked at the plants until she found one that could be used to wrap up the elf's wound. It had a long, flat, thick yet flexable leaf the would be prefect. She pulled out one of the leaves and swam back up to the surface with it.

"This should do the trick," she said as she wrapped the elf's injury. "It should help stop the bleeding, plus since it's a water plant it'll absorb all of the blood surrounding your wound to keep it clean."

When the mermaid left he still didn't move he could have made a dash for it but he had long ago decided against that plan of action it was already too late she had been in close proximity of him and now could follow him anywhere if she wanted. It wasn't that he didn't want a mate he was sure she was nice it was just dealing with the mermen that came looking for a mermaid just like her and if he lost he'd lose her along with this pond and he had already gone through that before and he didn't want to do that again. But of course right now he has no say in the matter if she wanted him she'd take him pure and simple he'd be bound by a code of honor from his tribe that would have him stay and if that happened he'd go dust off his trident.

The large man was looking up at Icheru, but glancing at the barrel, sweating nervously, and Hanzel cooly repeats his earlier question, taking advantage of the soldiers suprise; "What happened here? Why are your men in such disarray?"
The man on the ground slowly calms himself, and then asks, "I will not answer any questions until I know who you are and why you are attacking us." He looks up at Horris, "get that barrel out of my face!"
Horris keeps still it until Hanzels soft hand pushes the barrel away from the person's head, and brushes his hair behind a smoothly curved ear, still looking down at the man through his bronze-framed glasses. "It's okay, Horris. We are civilized men here, and I think we can move on without having to resort to intimidation." He holds a hand out to help up the soilder. "Here, let's talk", he says, a soft smile spreading on his face as his eyes widen kindly. The soldier nods and grabs his hand, standing up tall and looking down at Icheru. Icheru looks up and pulls out a document. "I am Professor Hanzel Icheru," he states, "and I believe I am the man who you were waiting for when you decided to stop here."
"And when we were attacked." The soldier adds.
"Oh? Why were you attacked?"
"Hmm? Well I have no clue, 'Professor Hanzel Icheru', if I knew I wouldn't have let it happen!" He started to get flustered again at Hanzel's comments.
"Somehow I doubt that... Gilfried, follow me; Horris, watch this man." Hanzel walks to the tree where the elves were chained up, and picks up a pile of the metal links with his hand. The large soldier shifts nervously but Horris puts a firm hand on his shoulder, and the man returns to stillness. "Hey! Where are you going? What are you doing?" He yells after Hanzel.
Hanzel ignores the man and turns to Gilfried; "Gilfried, what do you make of this?"
"Well I reckon those to be shackle-chains, Sir." He says, his trademark grin spread over his face, showing he knows exactly where this is going. He almost always knew where Hanzel was going with an idea.
"Exactly what I thought, now... why do you think there would be collonial shackles on a tree in an uncharted part of this forest?"
"I have no idea sir; probably to hold something i would assume." He says with a strong slurred accent, which often made him seem unintelligent, but he was more sly and understanding than he led others to think. As he speaks he smiles widely in the direction of the large man, holding back a giggle.
"Interesting...", Hanzel says as he turns the chain in his hand, then he looks up as if an idea suddenly made itself apparent to him, and he turns to Horris and the Behemoth, yelling back to them. "Soldier!" He says, "Are any of your men delinquents?"
The soldier looks at him questioningly. "No..."
"Troublemakers?"
"No."
"Just plain dumb?"
"No! My men are experianced soldiers, and all are well dissaplined, now I will not tolerate you insulting-" He is cut off as Hanzel nods at Horris, who grabs the man's shoulder and glaring into his eyes.
"Well..." Hanzel eventually responds. "That's confusing to me... because if your men didn't do anything worth punishing... then who..." He holds up the chains, with a suddenly very serious glare on his face, "are these for?"
The Soldier goes white and slowly stutters out a sentance. "W-well... we came across some natives... and they... well, we didn't want them causing us trouble, so we captured them."
Hanzel smiles forcibly, walking toward the man, one foot in front of the other, as the soldier grits his teeth in anger at Hanzels apparent smugness. "So you came across some natives... you captured them... and you are suprised you were attacked?" Hanzel finishes with a high pitched, condescending, and questioning voice, standing very close to the soldier and looking up into his face.
The man exploded in rage. "Listen! You have no right to come here and insult my authority! Just because headquarters sent you here to speak nicely with the savages, doesn't mean I answer to you!" Horris struggles to hold him back, and Hanzel begins to back away calmly.
"Actually, that's exactly what it means." He begins to count on his fingers; "Irrational reasoning behind actions of great consequence, no permission to execute said actions, and an unstable source of authority; Gabriel whats that spell?"
"That spells evidence on which to suspect a lack of stability in the expedition."
"And that spells?" Hanzel says, sounding sincere.
"A situation in which personal takeover of the expedition by the designated authority figure is authorized by headquarters and Sir Franaco himself."
"Your two for three, Gilfried! One last thing. Who is that designated authority figure?" He turns back to look into the eyes of the almost raging man a few steps in front of him."
"That would be you, Sir!" Gilfried says, the wide smile now permenantly pasted on his face.
"You see, soldier... your incompetence has upset Sir Franaco, and he sent me to relieve you of your position; now, your men answer to you still, but you answer to me. I apologize but this is in the best interest of your men as well, you are simply not qualified for the situation we are in."
"You little twirp!" The soldier bursts in rage, knocking Horris's gun out of his hand and charging at Hanzel, who is between Gilfried's shot of the man. "I will not let a kid like you jeprodize my mission! I answer to General Cohr! Noone els-"
A shot rings through the forest, and the man falls. Hanzel stands only a few feet from the fallen body, a smoking revolver in his hand. He quivers and drops to the ground as his gaurds get the drop on the soldiers men, who had started to take aim at Hanzel and the rest.
"You idiot..." Hanzel mutters, quivering with wide eyes of a near traumatized youth.

Skyla thanked the mermaid, and got up.

"Well I think that it's past time since I should've left," she said before turning and running into the forest back to her cave for the night. As she ran she heard voices raising in volume. 'An argument,' she thought and turned her direction toward of the voices, curious as to why they were yelling. She found a bush to crouch behind, then she parted some of the branches to see. What she saw made her skin crawl with anger. There, standing and screaming, were the same men that she had just attacked, and also three others, two were extremely big men and one that looked young and small. The men from the group she attacked were all yelling at the younger one, then a shot went off. Skyla quickly made an intake of breath at the sound. A man fell to the ground, getting everyone's attention to him. 'Now why would the humans be fighting with each other?' Skyla thought. She crept a little closer, careful not to make any sound, but a crack came from behind her. She looked to see a small squirrel climbing up a tree when she turned back around she found all of the weapons were pointing at her.

"There something in the bush!" A man yelled. Skyla held her breath and dared not to move, hoping that the men would give up, humans' attention span is pathetically short. But no one gave up, then a command came for someone to go and check. Knowing perfectly well that she would be discovered even if she killed the man, Skyla took flight.

The thunder of the weapons rang from everywhere, so much that Skyla realized the danger and stopped running, hiding behind a rock. She sank to the ground calculating a plan of escape, and a back up plan of fighting and killing as many as possible.

Skyla thanked the mermaid, and got up.

"Well I think that it's past time since I should've left," she said before turning and running into the forest back to her cave for the night. As she ran she heard voices raising in volume. 'An argument,' she thought and turned her direction toward of the voices, curious as to why they were yelling. She found a bush to crouch behind, then she parted some of the branches to see. What she saw made her skin crawl with anger. There, standing and screaming, were the same men that she had just attacked, and also three others, two were extremely big men and one that looked young and small. The men from the group she attacked were all yelling at the younger one, then a shot went off. Skyla quickly made an intake of breath at the sound. A man fell to the ground, getting everyone's attention to him. 'Now why would the humans be fighting with each other?' Skyla thought. She crept a little closer, careful not to make any sound, but a crack came from behind her. She looked to see a small squirrel climbing up a tree when she turned back around she found all of the weapons were pointing at her.

"There something in the bush!" A man yelled. Skyla held her breath and dared not to move, hoping that the men would give up, humans' attention span is pathetically short. But no one gave up, then a command came for someone to go and check. Knowing perfectly well that she would be discovered even if she killed the man, Skyla took flight.

The thunder of the weapons rang from everywhere, so much that Skyla realized the danger and stopped running, hiding behind a rock. She sank to the ground calculating a plan of escape, and a back up plan of fighting and killing as many as possible.

April May watched the elf leave. She hadn't been expecting her to run off like that. "I guess she had somewhere she had to go..." May said to herself and then she looked at the Merman. He still seemed to be afraid of her. She swam closer to him, "Is something wrong?" She then swam around him slowly to continue to determine how good his genes might be. She then stopped in front of him. Her insticts told her that he was a decent male amd seemed like he may be a good match for her. If they did mate it seemed as if their children would have a good chance of surviving, he seemed strong. However, she wasn't sure if he was the strongest merman around. Could he defend his family? His home? She wasn't sure if her could, but his home seemed well hidden from the majority of their kind, so there may not even be a need to worry about that.

She smiled at him, "You seem as though you don't want me here."

"You seem as though you don't want me here."

And when he heard that he decided he didn't want to play this game any longer. "No. No. don't get me wrong i want you here it's just that i'm a little rusty at this... it's been a long time." He relaxed a little bit. "So whats you name?" He asked curiously he was really interested in this mermaid and he'd be the first one to admit it.

Hearing him say that he did want her there made she feel better, she giggled a bit when he said that he was just acting that way because he was rusty. "Well I'm new at this, so your better off then I am."

"So whats you name?"

"I'm May, but everyone calls me April or April May." She paused for a moment before continuing. She wasn't sure how to go about introducing her other half. "You see April my more agressive side and May is my sweet side." She wasn't sure if she had explained it well enough, but hopefully she did. "So what's your name?"

"So what's your name?"

"April may huh? And two sides? well thats a lot less then most people have." He said chuckling "My name is Avidin and i hail from warrior clan Nor'iskor if your wondering." He decided to let her know now then later that he hailed from the warrior clan most renown for being masters at fighting with tridents he was adept at it but was far from being a master. "Where are you from?"