Celadine Hills (Farmland)

After a few minutes, Raynor would leave to bring food and water for his guests, who seemed rather bored and exhausted. "Yes, they seem weary indeed. How should I interact with them? Hmm..."

Intaja II watched from the treeline close by. She was excited to meet strangers despite the inherent secretiveness of her clan. But then again her elders did suggest she start developing her mirror self further. The mirror self is the key to growth, and Intaja II was anxious to reach her full potential. Although it was tempting to simply spend time with her brother, who in many ways was her mirror self, she needed experience out there in the world. She needed more chaos and to leave her comfort zone.

"Hmm, should I be brave? Should I be shy? Should I even act at all? What am I really feeling? My heart... it is... heh, rather neutral. Then I am free to do as I wish. I will try bravery. I haven't tried bravery in a while." She pulled out her little papyrus journal and looked at it. With a flash of blue light black runes immediately appeared on the open page, each one representing her thoughts. Hers were especially neat and clearly formed compared to others in her clan, something she took pride in.

With a rustle, Intaja arose from her crouch and began to approach the two strangers at the camp. She wished for a moment that Raynor was closer, as they were good friends, but she thought it was better this way. Fear added a new element to the equation, turning an old experience into a fresher, newer one. A part of her even hoped the strangers were dangerous. After all, one was a half-orc and the other was a... something...

Intaja suddenly felt a surge of excitement and, instead of quietly approaching and announcing her appearance, returned to a lower posture and darted towards the two instead. She was astonishingly fast despite the fact that she was still rather crouched and low to the ground, making her seem like a predatory cat, and she was moving through long grass, making her approach hard to read. But before she reached the two she realized perhaps this would alarm them, so a few meters before crashing into the fire, she suddenly stopped and stood up, almost perfected straight, with her journal clutched close to her heart with one hand and with another hand waving amicably at the two. Her bare little feet pushed up slightly off the ground and her smile brightened.

"Hi friends."

Intaja looked at Vorn up and down. "Hmm, 6'5", muscular build, male, you haven't attacked me on site, weapon drawn, AH, your response indicates you perceive me as a possible threat but that you don't wish to harm me unless necessary!" Intaja excitedly flipped through her journal and magically inscribed some more runes into the pages. "This is fascinating. Oh, I'm being rude by not responding to your inquiry." She looked up, mouth agape somewhat, hesitating, and then looked down again, and then looked up, and down again.

She decided to finish transcribing her thoughts before looking up again.

"Forgive me. My clan calls me Intaja the Second. You could call me that although it is not so much a name as it is a title. We do not have names in the traditional sense. Not to suggest that we don't have a strong sense of identity. We do, but there aren't many of us. Oh, you're probably thinking it's because most of my clan members must be really foolish to walk up to strangers such as yourself and get ourselves killed. Oh no, we don't do that either. I mean, we're not easy to kill. It's just that we're long lived and don't reproduce very often. Er, not that we can't. You're probably thinking we're not human. We are, we're just a little different, kinda like you. UMM, NOT THAT I'M SUGGESTING A FALSE KINSHIP BETWEEN US, I MEAN I WOULDN'T WANT TO INSULT YOU'RE SENSE OF PRECAUTION BY SUGGESTING WE ARE LIKE, UM, NOT THAT WE'RE NOT ALIKE EITHER I MEAN I DON'T REGARD MYSELF AS SUPERIOR OR INFERIOR TO YOU OR ANYTHING. UM... Oi."

Intaja was out of breath. "You'll have to forgive me. This would be easier if I could read your mind. Our clan possesses psionic abilities but mine are poorly developed in some areas. I'm still regarded as a child among my people even though I appear as an adult and my god I need to stop talking."

She immediately started waving awkwardly again. "What's your name?"

Vorn squinted his eyes at the woman and puffed some air out, sighing and shaking his head. "Yes. Having a weapon out and deciding to not bash it into your skull does indeed mean you're a possible threat." He said in an extremely sarcastic and mocking way. He flipped the axe and let it slip back onto the side of his belt. She was clearly no threat to them, even in the state he was, he wouldn't be surprised if he could just snap her like a twig.

A nod was given as Feruzia joined that conversation with the newly arrived annoyance, confirming that it was indeed his name. He crossed his arms and looked down on the smaller woman, leaning in on her and staring at her intensely. Another of his common grunts were given before he pointed at her and spoke. "And cease speaking that way. It's annoying."

He turned around, only now noticing that Feruzia had disappeared. Thinking back, he had heard her talk after introducing him and herself. She must of had enough of this girl and ran off to get wood. He slid his large hand across his brutish face. He groaned loudly, not quite remembering how long it had been since he had been this annoyed by someone. "Great... now I'm alone with you."

"Raynor!" Intaja leaped up and hugged Raynor, her thin frame barely able to grasp him properly. "Your friends are good people, but their behavior is not very conducive to welcoming strangers, although this is more than understandable considering they are in an unknown land." Oddly it was only at this point that she decided to let go of him.

"Oh, I bring news. Our chief met with your grand elder. Apparently our people, as in everyone in the Expanse, will begin seeking alliances West of here. There are a great many dangers arising and we will need allies."

She then turned to Vorn. "Perhaps we can form allies with their people too. Vorn is much friendlier than he looks. I can sense than much." She smiled.

Vorn was an outsider to this community, and as expected of an outsider, he had little clue of what the young girl and Raynor were speaking about. All this talk about elders and an alliance. Honestly, he didn't care much. Even though he was slightly curious, he had much more important things to care about. "Rather people earn their respect." He looks between Raynor and the girl, paying little mind to her attempt at reading into him. "Now that she has company, I better look for Feruzia." He turns around without another word, leaving to encounter the beast mistress, likely needing help to collect wood with her smaller frame, he thought.

Raynor sighed as he moved towards the fire to start cooking for everyone. "Well, I suppose that's for the best."

Deep in his heart he thought of his wife and daughter, who were off on their own adventures. He wished he could recall them somehow.

The food would be well on its way by the time Feruzia returned.

"I'll prepare supplies for you and then you guys can go on your way. Like I said, I believe the land you seek is West of here." He thought for a moment. "If either of you encounter a young woman named Jun or an older woman named Ying-Na, and they claim to hail from the Celadine Clan, tell them I send my best wishes and that they are welcome to return anytime."

Raynor would offer the following gifts to them:

-Special seeds able to grow into small edible berry bushes in an hour.
-A magic scroll containing a powerful healing spell, to once again stave off Feruzia's wound or heal one mortal injury.
-Some healing poultices for the wound.
-A few semi-precious stones
-Meat and bread rations

"Oh, you are welcome to bathe and spend the night in the stone tower where I dwell. I can make accommodations for you and offer you warm water to bathe."

Vorn would soon find Feruzia, crossing his arms and noticing that she wasn't really acting that normal, or at least what he considered normal for her. He squinted his eyes, unsure if something was wrong. Not really one for being emotional, he remained quiet, at first. He grabbed a significant portion of the wood in his arms, before motioning his head towards the camp.

"Good work. Now lets get back." Along the trail, his curiosity would become a bit overbearing, and he could not longer resist asking. "What's wrong? You don't seem well."

The half-orc would be rather glad to see the food once they returned, not that he'd ever show this, of course. He'd sit down by the flames, legs crossed and one hand on his abdomen. The scent was fairly good, not that it mattered with how hungry he found himself. He took the gifts without much issue, it would be rude not to accept, and extra supplies will always be welcomed. He nodded at Raynor's request, but for Intaja, he'd instead raise a brow at her. He sighed at the girl, shrugging at her, wondering who she thought they were. "Doubt we'll find either of them. And I further doubt the words of two commoners would matter when it comes to a political situation."

"Can't stay long Raynor, work to be done. I'll leave the choice up to her." He motions over to Feruzia.

(( ^^) Wondering if Raynor is going to post or should Vorn?)

(( ^o^) Back from vacation, shall be posting today!)