The Wishing Tree

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Gerome sighed in outward frustration as yet another interruption entered stage right and stared down this dwarf who wanted little to do with these street thugs. "Ah, are those the ruffians?" He asked, before getting knocked aside yet again as the largest of the group, a hefty bull-man that Gerome identified as a Tauren, came charging straight at them. Of course, since the dwarf was long gone, that meant the three who stood there currently were about to get trampled. Unless someone stepped forward and did something, and Gerome didn't much feel like becoming roadkill. He quickly flew into an incantation, moving his hands in mystic ways as they began to light up with blue arcane runes that started forming circles around his palms. All the while, Gerome stared hard at the charging bull, never letting his concentration slip once. As he finished his incantation, the runic circles around his hands completed their circuit and glowed even brighter, along with Gerome's eyes. The spell had formed, and Gerome only hesitated to call to the others, "Stand back, it might get a little chilly." Almost too close for comfort, Gerome unleashed his spell, thrusting his hands forward, fingers spread. A howling gust of frigid wind blasted forth, forming a cone that encompassed a wide arc in front of him. Upon being hit by the spell, the thugs slowed to a crawl, giving Gerome and the others more time to escape and be on their way. He would worry about the dwarf later, though Gerome felt he might not extend the same courtesies twice. Not only had the dwarf completely ignored him twice, each time resulting in a painful body check, but he had also abandoned them to be gored by a massive Tauren thug and his compatriots. "Come on, let's get out of here." he said, no doubt echoing the others' thoughts, and led the two away from the source of the blasts and away from the now-chilled ruffians, but in a different direction than the dwarf.

After they had turned down new roads a few times, Gerome slowed his forced march to a stop and turned to make sure the other two were okay. "Sorry for that, but it's best if we don't run into any of those other people again." he stated, glancing at the two. "At any rate, I don't believe we've met." Gerome turned to the newcomer and extended a hand in greeting. "I'm Gerome Stahlbrand, though I'm afraid I've not the time for much other than introductions." He shrugged apologetically, then glanced over at Aspen for a second before returning to the armored fellow. "I really need to bring this lady and her cat to their accommodations. You're welcome to come along, of course, but distractions really must be at a minimum this time." At this, Gerome continued down the road, at a less frantic pace this time, and led his charges to the city gates. Naturally, they were closed, and any attempts to request passage from the guards were met with a gruff "We have inns in town, find one." Gerome sighed once more, turning around and starting back through the streets. "I was hoping it wouldn't have to come to this." he said, somewhat melodramatically. He walked up to an old storehouse and tried the door handle. It was locked, as usual. He pulled out the key and unlocked it, pushing open the door to enter. "This particular storehouse was abandoned long ago, in fear of plague rats and other such pestilences." he explained, snapping his fingers and conjuring a small flame at the tip of his index finger. The room lit up with what little light the flame held, but Gerome made a pushing motion with his hands, and then flicked them sideways, palms facing outward. The small flame flew out into the center of the room from his finger and grew in size until it was a small orb of light. It then split into seven identical orbs and flew outward a little, forming a large circle in the center of the storehouse. The building was significantly brighter now, and faint markings on the ground could be identified as runes for an arcane circle. "This is where I go when I can't get through the gates." He said, a hint of mystery in his voice. Gerome stepped forward a few feet, and suddenly the runic markings on the floor began to light up, a light purple hue mixing brilliantly with the orange-yellow of the magic flames. Once the entire circle was lit up, Gerome looked over his shoulder at Aspen and continued. "The magic written into this circle can be called at will, it just needs the key to unlock it." At this, he turned back around to face the circle and spoke out an incantation, runes lighting up around his hands much like before. The only differences this time being that the rune circle was forming slower, and the glow of the runes was a light purple to match the arcane circle on the floor. He also moved his arms around a bit more, making broad, sweeping gestures that seemed as though he were pulling fibers from the air and weaving them together with his hands alone. Once the final rune lit up in the circles around his hands, they burst into a bright purple light in the exact same fashion as the frost spell, including the glow that enveloped Gerome's eyes. After this, Gerome thrust his arms vertically, at the 12 and 6 positions of a clock, and drew them around in a circle, each arm tracing a half of the circle that formed in the air out of the same twinkling essence that formed his absentminded doodles in the fletcher's shop. Once the circle was complete, Gerome stepped a foot backwards, drew his arms back, and shoved the circle toward the center of the arcane runes on the floor. The runes around Gerome's hands and the glow in his eyes disappeared as the circle contorted into an oblong shape. Gerome staggered to the side and fell over, collapsing to the floor in exhaustion as the oval filled out to display a medium-sized castle on a lake with a bridge to what appeared to be the edge of a forest.

The portal was complete, now, but Gerome was out cold. Portal magic was some of the strongest magic Arcane had to offer, and took an equivalent toll on the invoker's body. Luckily, the only magic Gerome had used in close proximity to the portal was a simple Cone of Cold spell, so the toll was much less severe than it could have been.
 
Kassie tossed the body behind the trees in a lump tossing dead leaves over it as if it would ever help the smell or the lump of meat. Maybe they'd mistake it for a dead animal. Maybe not. Either way she had to leave before anyone else came and she ate them as well. Her self control had been shaken.

Kas felt stronger, more awake, less airy. The nutrients flowing through her system was like oil to a robot, it was almost a rush. It also gave her more time to think. Grabbing onto the tree branch above her she yanked herself upwards to climb the tall oak up to it's strongest above branches. It was high enough to see the forest on the other side wasn't as big as the forest she had run from before to get to the pathway. It thinned and came to a clearing, it even looked like there might be a cabin.

"A cabin and a family, Kassie. Well look at that. You had one of those." Her bitter voice kind of frightened her and she lost her step, but was quick enough to catch herself on a branch last second and hop down from the tall, old tree. Her voice, although soft and low, wasn't often used. And now she had spoken twice in a single day. Of all days, why was this one special? She used to speak, there was another vampire whom she had befriended until she found out he had turned her for companionship. She burned him. Before those days though, she found a comfort in his voice, it kept her from going crazy. Primal instinct was difficult. It was also difficult as a younger vampire to speak with the older ones, her ideas were young and immature to the other vampires. To humans knowing her real age, she was too old. Similar problems to the teenage humans, most likely. Mike had given Kassie a safe place without judgement. He taught her self-control. Back then things were more manageable. "What a hypocrite, teaching me self control." She bit her lip, she could smell death. She was as well. "Don't start speaking to yourself."

Slipping across the road her eyes caught a glance of glimmering water. A small pool of it in a ditch, the mud had settled to the bottom. Dipping her hands in it she cleaned her mouth and fingernails, remembering what she had done. At the same time, she could feel her strength come back and she felt a lot worse unfed because she couldn't think about anything but food. Spitting venom and a light layer of blood into the water she stood. Never again. Never again. You got that? Staring into the water a minute she turned on her dark boot to leave, heading diagonally into the woods so she would not hit the group again but she may find shelter.
 
Pwent continued to run through the streets of the city, turning and running through back alleyways in an erratic fashion just in case those street thugs gored and trampled the group that was offering him help. After what felt like a marathon Pwent finally stopped in an alley to catch his breath. He was completely winded, and plopped down on the moist ground right next to several buzzing piles of garbage, too exhausted to notice or care. The longer Pwent sat there, the more he ran the course of events through his head, the more sour it made him feel in his gut. "Maybe I shant be leaving people for dead... especially when it's me own fault to blame for stirring up the trouble." He muttered introspectively, hoisting his bag off his back and into his lap. "Maybe it's their own fault for being out in the streets at this hour anyway, everyone knows that the streets are dangerous." He pulls out several containers and bottles, fiddling with them and checking them to make sure they have no dents or cracks. "I thinks I owe'm some thanks next time I see them... If their still alive that is." Pwent notes as he packs up his bags and continues out of the alley.

He stops just before walking out into the open road, to ponder his next destination. His knees are shaking with exhaustion and his mouth feels like sandpaper. His thoughts immediately turn to the inn, his original destination before the hood rats stopped him. He had come to Loria for the same reason as everyone else that day, to meet the masked man and learn the location of the Wishing Tree.

The thought of the tree made Pwents face feel hot with blood as his anger began to bubble. He immediately pushed the thought out of his head and continued towards the inn. Even if he couldn't meet the masked man, a bed and a drink were exactly what he needed at the time. He worked his way before the inn and before stepping foot indoors he pulled out a small baseball shaped canteen and shook it vigorously close to his ear. When it didn't make a sound, Pwents shouldered drooped a little "Hmm, no food or drink for us t'night it seems. Perhaps a bench seat will do us some good, if we're lucky, they might not decide to throw is out till late." Pwent said with little hope in his voice. Today had been a mess and he was conflicted over feeling sorry for complete strangers.

Once inside Pwent found an empty bench seat behind a table in the far end of the bar. He pulled off his pack and positioned it in a way that looked like he was diligently piecing or fixing something within it, and fell asleep.
 
Ginseng tripped over a root that stuck out of the ground, silently cursing as he stumbled. It was dark, and he was tired. He was coming towards the edge of the woods. He heard his younger companion snicker, wide awake. "Shut up." He muttered, stopping to rest near the base of a large tree, pulling the hood of his cloak up before he began to climb the large oak with difficulty. Once at a branch that could easily support his weight, he yawned before leaning back and slowly drifting off to sleep.

Pain watched him for a moment, before climbing a tree next to the one his friend occupied. He sat there, watching over the other with amused gray eyes that seemed to glow faintly from the light of the moon. He continued to watch the other until the sky began to become just a bit lighter. Pain then decided to let himself sleep.
 
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Though it was there, the child would not see, for the apple of his eye lay into dreams free.

The inscriptions etched into the enchanted tag began to fill with a dimly light, and the small object then broke away, as though brought to life, from the bark of the branch where it had rested since the season had begun. Slowly, it fell with a twirl. Then, guided by phantom fingers, its edges folded inwards to produce a single, sharp point. In this form, the paper charm glided away from the oak where Pain sat watching his friend - sailing the invisible winds towards a prey in the distance.

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The man's blood boiled. From the nose, a few bits found skin, and consequently, lip. Julius tasted what could only amount to the dirt as he wove himself in and out of the shadows of the trees and soundlessly as is possible for a man in a long-coat. Not the best choice for an outing like this, he'd admit, but he did only wake up today expecting the red-haired guy and a trip or two to the post office. He definitely never expected what's to come, but suppose that's life.

Finally, his eye rested on the goal of this nightly stroll; a figure actually shorter than the glimpses of whom he'd seen from the images his paper charms had fed him. He can tell it was moving carefully (understandable), but somehow without the satisfaction most others of its kind should be feeling after a meal like that. It seemed lethargic, even, and Julius came to the conclusion that it's not very experienced an undead, especially if the work done on hiding the body was another thing to go by. Hoping it was simply an infant, though, was definitely wishful thinking. Julius waited for a few more seconds until he felt the wind unable to mask the sound of his moving any longer.
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At that time, to the vampire, there would be no sound nor smell - not from the paper nor the man. Suddenly, from 63 different sides, objects only discernible as to being white blurs (to an untrained eye, at least) would strike. The paper arrows dove in on Kassie's lithe figure without warning, their edges holding unto her with grievous intent. Under however much light the moon could grant the denizens of the woods that night, the weapons did gleam. Any attempts on the girl's part to avoid getting hit would portray an otherwise graceful dance amidst falling snow, seemingly as cold as the one predatory gaze that oversaw the attack. The paper arrows would turn around for another attempt whenever they miss.

One of them would turn, and in a slight mishap, run front-first into an especially low branch. The branch is cut off cleanly.
 
Warm wind blew in-between the trees with force, Kassie figured to the humans it may be icy. She walked slowly, obviously. She let her steps fall over sticks and twigs so those in the area could run or hide if they heard her, specifically children and teens sneaking out into the night, as she had enough run-ins with humans today. Enough bad memories. It wasn't normally she was in such a bad mood, as often shiny distractions of natures were easy to keep her happy. Mike taught her how to get her mind off things, how to deal with them. Ugh. Get your mind off of it already.

With a deep breath she cast her eyes upwards, the moonlight was pretty in tonight stars twinkling brightly. Just a moment ago she had thought of them to be judging eyes, but now they looked more like twinkling dew drops like at dawn. Nights like these she'd lay with her mother in the meadow and talk about her dad, how much her mother loved him, and even though he was gone he had promised to come back. Remembering it she stopped by a tree and slipped out a leather wallet and piece of paper inside with a bad drawing in bled ink of her little family. A little spot of dried blood on the corner was left from at least a decade ago. She rubbed the fuzzed and almost brown shade of ink of her mother's face. You wouldn't be proud of me n-

-What the...? Out of the corners of her eye soft white somethings? With a wide-eyed turn she felt something- Fuck! Adrenaline ran high and made words choke in her throat. Covering her face with her hands and arms she felt her own paper slip out of her hands. "No!" Why today? What kind of karma was this? She reached out to catch the picture while turning back around but it didn't reach her fingers. In her attempt to run away, blind, she forgot the tree and slammed face first into bark and slid down it. "And they dare spew shit at the pews of merciful gods!" She screamed in anger, if she were to spend an eternity in hell you would think they'd have the light to kill her quickly and without white- whatever the hell they were.
 
"What...?" Julius came to, the slight rising of a bloodlust in his eye dying down. With it, the onslaught at hand seemed to lose focus, and the arrows, some stained slightly red on their edges, careened off their flight paths and flew mindlessly in wider circles - around, rather than towards, the vampire girl (her voice alone told him that much). Unconsciously, Julius came to give her some space to gather herself back up again - at the same time, granting the same benefit for himself to gather his own thoughts. A leveled hand, readied for a precise strike to the heart, now seemed to droop in the blissful dim of the forest nighttime. In the other, a palm-sized hardcover was released from its cage of fingers. Not precisely; of course, it wasn't let go. But they wrapped around it much less harder than when this fight began.

What he was going to do was hardly the most intelligent course of action in this situation, but Julius perhaps felt a twisted obligation to at least help make sense of her need to perish. It was only fitting for the humanly in mind to be killed humanly, rather than be put down like animals like the rest of the undead were.

So Julius took a step, then another, until he was out and fully showered in the rays of the moon.

With a quick swipe of the hand, the bark just above the vampire's head became split, sending pieces of it splintering into the patches of shadows on the ground.
"In all the bloodsuckers I've met... and dealt with, not one of them still stood so low as to acknowledge something like a god." Julius spoke, his fingernails shortening. In as little movement as possible, he wanted to show her that finality of his intent. "You might as well start praying... We know neither of us are any semblance of mercy." he may have said this, but looking at her small, downtrodden figure at the base of the tree... perhaps he was wrong...?

Only hers was proof.
 
For a moment her head was filled with nothing but white-noise, in her own desperate fear, she was curled up at the base of the tree face into bark with her arms over her head. Although there was pain, and anger... And fear. She felt alive, as if maybe her heart would beat again.

But it didn't.

It took her a second, deep within an almost meditative state to wait for death, to realize the painful white blurs had stopped. Am I... Am I dead? I mean... Really dead? With the sound of footsteps she slowly turned around her back to the tree. A man stood tall moonlight illuminating his figure. Kassie's hands left from the shielding position to she held to the ground. Her eyes were a steamed ruby color, less milky than they once were from feeding, but still not to the normal depth and shine of most. In the moonlight her wide eyes would probably be the most noticeable feature on her face. She was past the days where kids would comment on her beautiful straight black hair, or small heart shaped lips. In irony, her eyes used to be a soft brown boring shade she used to despise, she thought if only her eyes had been green or blue... She'd look just like the queen used to.

Kassie would never be a queen. Nothing more than a leech. Even so she felt threatened, and angered by the man. She had tried hard, and even though she hated herself for some reason the words to defend herself spilt out easily. "Neither of us? What have I done to you? What even are you?! And who are you to tell me I don't try when I starve for weeks, months, until my thoughts don't make sense and I can take it no longer and then I-!" What Kassie? Rip the heads off the innocent before they can realize it so they die quickly and you can feed even though you don't even deserve to? Even though you have no right to? What, Kassie, can you say? Her eyes flicked to the dark, then back to him dully, her voice much calmer. "I atleast try. My body takes over after awhile though, because it's self preserving. I can't... Control... It."

The last words that fell from her lips were weak, as if they were unwilling to come up, her body slumped. Maybe because she wasn't sure if those words were true, maybe because she didn't want to believe them. Running her tongue over her lower lip she looked up to the man. Kassie felt empty hiccups boil in her throat. Tears that could not exist burn at her eyes. But she wouldn't cry at her death. Although weak, she wasn't going to be pathetic. "Can you control it? Do you need to kill to live?" She decided he must be an assassin from somebody else. Someone she must have hurt. Some family who she must have teared apart. ...Her family. Her eyes flicked to the paper of her family laying on the ground.

"Maybe you do, for money right? For your own family? I have no money, I won't pay you off. I can say though, if you have many vampires on your hit list, then you are on the wrong side. Once I find that wishing tree, vampires will wipe off the face of the planet. And I know I will find it, because mine is the purest wish out there for the sole benefit of others." As she spoke her hand slowly wandered although her eyes stayed up at the man, her fingers reaching for it. She'd be damned if she didn't have that on her at her death. The sentimental value it had was unlike any of her other possessions. "Not selfish money, or looks, not a cowards way out of a quick and painless death. The true riddance of a pest on all."
 
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"You're-" there was a rise, a wash of new, different emotions over his expression when the girl gave way to her pain. Her red eyes were like blood amber, barely flickering yet not at all to die. As much as Julius tried, he could not pull himself away from her eyes. He listened to her as she spoke, and when she was done, he felt himself no longer a looming reflection of death. For death did not hesitate like he. Julius raised a hand, and its finger bared its nail where her lifeless heart lay. The cold gaze draped over the man's features again once she seemed to have accepted her fate, and yet, it still only hid his hesitation.

He was a hunter, and she was his prey. Thus was how the night played out, like many other nights before. After so much time, has it finally struck him that he was never inclined to think so? Was it hate? Looking upon the girl, an image dyed deep in white, from tens of winters ago, called out in the back of his head. Julius' lone eye twitched, and his felt his skin shake. There was just something about her. What was it?

"...You're... assuming." Julius spoke, not once looking away. "I... live to protect." he paused, eyes narrowing as if his tongue had let slip the wrong thing. "To whenever I am granted, hunt your murderous ilk down. I walk only in the steps of you vampires, closely behind. Only once the last vampire on the face of this earth dies, so will I. And I don't need any fairy tale to complete my task." he stepped closer to the girl, and in his approach, the paper arrows in flight shied away into the darker forest, as if giving way.

Now, he was merely a short lunge from the foot of the tree. His one eye burned a tireless light against the ceasing of the moon's rays. As firm as it was, his voice came with recoil, and it pushed him back every word of the way. What was calling out to him, to spare her? There wasn't any doubt left to turn over; he didn't want to kill her. But why, though? Maybe the question itself was enough for an answer, but he was not desperate for it right away. His one finger remained hounding, but the man had put his book away at last, and his papyrus circled the heights of the tree overhead the duo.

"Nothing... born out of hatred can be pure. It's too human to be deluded like you are... To assume like you are doing. I just can't look away from all of it. Do you, all this time, also hope, then?"
 
Kassie knew if she were young and still alive the flesh on her cheeks would burn, her eyes would narrow and she'd be crying in her anger. She was still young but not human, so nothing showed. "It's not a fairytale. I'll do it. I made a promise." Kassie gritted her teeth then loosened her jaw. You also made a promise to protect your family while father was away. You also made a promise to never, never do what you did again. You also made a promise to- In a sudden attempt to stifle the voices within her head her hand flew up and slammed into her forehead. It was so fast she decided her actions after to be slow, to not make the man think she was being sketchy. Her head drooped and she stayed there a moment, eyes cast downward and gleaming raven hair curtained over herself. Slowly rubbing her hand down her face and sighed. Stop being spastic.

Her eyes fell forward and she watched the man take another step towards her and she straightened her back against the tree. "Who doesn't hope? Hope for something. Why would you live if you had no hope? I mean... I'm... I'm young. So, maybe I'm stupid. Sometimes I take a step, dizzy from weeks of nothing and the air feels warm and the fireflies flicker and I hope to wake up... Other times I go to an empty church of whatever denomination is nearest and I pray for repentance and pretend that god or goddess will talk to the likes of me and pet me on the head and say 'you didn't ask for your race, not many get to chose, it's not your fault'. Even I wonder if this is hell, and eventually my soul will crack and crumble after going through the pain I deserve and then I'll just..." She grabbed her photo and pulled it close to her chest. "Fade away." At that point it really didn't matter, she had her photo of what she wanted and her only regret of that moment would be that she hadn't made him see how possible her plan was.

Running her fingers over her poorly drawn mothers face she smiled. "I'm not insane or anything, I promise. When you are alone a lot you pretend lots of things. I suppose they are all just theories knocking around in there. I've never killed out of spite. Except Michael, but he turned me because he was lonely. Right in my house where he knew I'd wake up hungry. I had a family. He knew that. He wanted them gone. He wanted me to himself. He deserved to die." Her eyes hardened and her fingers folded up the paper quickly. She looked back up to the man and her anger wavered. "Didn't he?" Her eyebrows knit together. Or are you just a monster? You know you enjoyed murdering him, right? Her fingers slipped the paper in her pocket. It hurt to do it, but it was nice, wasn't it? You needed someone to blame. Because you can't take responsibility for your own damn actions! "I'm Kassie. It used to be Michaela, which means 'gift of god', but after I slaughtered my own fucking family and realized I had to chose my life over others to live, I certainly didn't feel like a gift. Plus it was too close to Mike's name, so I asked him to change it. He wanted to change it to Mia at first. Guess what that means? 'Mine.' I didn't know that at the time, but I didn't feel like it was a fit so I said no to it. I'm glad. When he called me Cassandra though, it reminded me of our Queen. I had always wanted to be a queen. I'd randomly pick citizens who didn't have to pay taxes for a year, and give out lollipops to kids and dog treats to pets. Now I can't even be around them without suffering. Wanna know what Kas means?" She smiled sarcastically, not giving any room for answer "It's a protector of humankind. What a joke huh? I can't live up to my own. Damn. Name."

Kassie's fingers resting on a rock picked it up and chucked it. It hit the bark and splayed out, gouging the tree. For a minute she huffed, then glanced at the man, then back at the tree. "Take that tree. Fuck you." She shook her head. "I bet you can't even tell I'm young right, with all that self-control I'm oozing."
 
A good half of a minute passed without any signs of life from beyond the door to Room Five. Sudarshan held his breath as he waited, but he heard nothing, not a footstep, not the rustle of clothing, not even a dying gasp. He allowed himself to breathe quietly once more and tentatively leaned forward to press an ear to the door, but nothing changed. Well, of course, moron, he scolded himself. If anyone's alive in there, it's the party that won the fight, and there's no way they'd come answer the door for you. He straightened up and put a hand on the doorknob, but the door proved to be well and truly locked. Dying person in need or not, it wasn't his business to bust through a locked inn room door. He hooked his thumbs on his belt and turned back towards the stairs with downcast eyes. He'd had no good reason to come up here, nothing but an empty, implacable regret. His mind once more formed the image of a certain bloodstained breast against his will, but he furrowed his brow and tried to shake the picture from his mind, a snarl on his lips. No. He didn't want to see that again.

He'd just turned at the end of the hall, right at the top of the stairs, when he felt himself bump into someone. The collision yanked him from his thoughts, and he automatically muttered, "Ah, excuse me," and raised his hands in apology before his vision had even returned to processing his surroundings. He then saw that two men had been walking up the stairs, one a good bit younger than the other but both clad in drab clothing. He would normally have shuffled to the far side of the staircase and continued on his way without a second thought, but he paused in his tracks to look a moment longer at the younger male. His face seemed familiar, but Sudarshan couldn't place it for the life of him. Where have I seen this kid before?
 
Pain's eyes opened at the sound of his name being called repeatedly. He gave a small grunt of disapproval. What did Ginseng want? There were times when he wondered if the other was really younger then him and just had the advantage of being taller.

"What?" He mumbled, looking toward his friend tiredly. Ginseng was giving him a rather hard stare. "Seriously, what?" He growled out in annoyance. It was still a little dark out, Pain had fallen asleep just a bit earlier then usual this time around.

"Were you watching me sleep again? 'Cause we both know that it creeps me out." The oldest boy responded, looking a bit uncomfortable.

"I can't help it. Anyway, now I can't go back to sleep. Since we're both up, why don't we do something with our lives?" He sighed, turning so his back was to Ginseng. Then he began to fall back and was now hanging from the branch by the crook of his knees, arms crossed as he glanced at his companion.
 
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The young goblin gave a small start at the young woman's voice and quickly cleared his throat. "Ah, um, yes, I heard there was a Mr. Vito Al-Terezia here... I would like to speak with him about some... business." The goblin was part of a ring of magic sellers, usually the magic was used for simple things like small tracking spells or a potion that would help you sleep. However, they didn't have a license to sell these magics. That was why he was looking for this Vito. If he could find him, he could sell his magic and maybe even get protection from this man with infinite connections. That would be very helpful to the blond man, if he could get the help. He had heard rumors of Vito being a hard-headed man. But, they could be just that. The goblin couldn't be too sure...

The prince was a bit startled to see a naga in a small hall like this, but nevertheless shook his head. "No, it's fine... If I might ask, what are you doing in a fine establishment like this?" He was curious as he heard that nagas were a secretive kind. From the looks of this one, he was a fighter, soldier of some kind. Interesting...

"Your highness, you know you aren't suppose to be talking with the citizens-" Lukas tried to tell his prince, who only held a hand up, silencing the older man. Lukas looked between his prince and the naga.

"Just like how I'm not to worry about my sister who conveniently enough has not sent me a single letter despite promising to send me one at least every single day?" The prince glared, worried about the girl who was acting so unlike herself. "If I want to ask the man a question, I'll ask him a question." Such a stubborn one, the prince, however Alexei looked over to the naga, curious if maybe he could get him to help get him to look while he went on his little 'journey'.

Back near the Smokey Oak, a pale man with red eyes and red hair walked in, a bow and quiver of arrows along his back. He smiled, fangs shown as he walked over to the pair sitting away from one of the pair's usual spot. "Ello Garret. I see you're busy as usual." The man, Elliot Brow, quipped as he moved over to the pair. "Ello Draso, Daelin. Haven't seen you two for quite some time." He didn't ask for permission as he sat down near the two. "You know, the forest seemed to have a fair amount of blood in it. A person's injured." He had kept away for obvious reasons. "There also seemed to be another red eyes in the forest, though another man was with her." He layed his chin on the tops of his fingers, interested in what they would say.

The forest was definitely full of things as different people did their different things. With Yuki and the others, a caw of crows scared Ledinia out of the area, forcing her out of the forest. Thus it was the two siblings dealing with the knocked out informant. The two seemed to have a little trouble with carrying the informant, since her various hidden weapons were weighing her down. They were easy to find, since there was a trail of blood the right person could follow to get to them. For now though, they were trying to get the girl home.
 

Daelin had hardly sat down to speak when another patron had entered: one Elliot Brow, a fellow Ranger with whom Daelin had never seen eye-to-eye. However, the vampire did have a knack for knowing exactly where Daelin was at exactly the time he was needed. As inconvenient as it was to have to drop what he was doing whenever those blood-red eyes turned up, there was usually a good reason Daelin was needed. In this case, it didn't matter what the reason was; the mention of an injured person in the forest meant that the informant still hadn't been tended to, at least to his knowledge. Daelin was the only Ranger who could use healing magic, but it was still mildly annoying that no other Ranger felt the need to check on an injured person in the forest, or even a vampire that was probably attacking that other man. "Thank you for telling me," he said with an edge to his voice. "My apologies, Draso, but it seems my services are needed." He gave Elliot a pointed look at this, and then got up out of his chair, his cloak swishing behind him as he strode out the door into the night.

The sounds of explosions drew his attention for all of half a second, but his attention was focused solely on the informant who may or may not be bleeding to death at this point. Daelin made his way back to where he told Ledinia to take the informant away, and knelt down to inspect the road. They were faint, but he could see depressions in the dirt and dust between the paving stones that looked vaguely like paw-prints. As he touched two fingers to the dirt and brought them up to his nose, Daelin focused on his sense of smell, and the trace of a fox's scent mixed with human danced around his fingers. With his eyes on the tracks and his nose on the trail, it wouldn't be too long before he reached the hideout. Along the way, however, he heard the frantic footsteps of a fleeing man.. No, Dwarf. The footfalls were too short and too heavy to be a human's. Daelin froze, standing completely still and allowing nature's gentle wind to envelop him, turning him translucent. In such a dimly-lit alley, the Ranger was night invisible. In broad daylight he wouldn't be completely visible, but perceptive folk would be able to see a shimmer in the air. As it were, the dwarf turned in a different direction, and Daelin was free to pursue the trail once more. He soon arrived on the scene, to a fleeing Ledinia and two children who looked to be dragging the now-unconscious mystery informant off. Something immediately smelled foul, and Daelin trotted up to the pair. "Pardon, but where are you dragging her off to?" he asked, the stern tone of his voice doing nothing to conceal the accusatory bent of his words. Daelin was already frustrated enough, and the last thing he needed was a couple of teenagers dragging around an injured rogue. He hoped it wouldn't have to come to blows and that they could settle things peaceably, but with the day's events, his trust was wearing thin.
 
Sudarshan tensed at the young man's question. It was innocent enough to ask him what he was up to. Nothing more than small talk. But it had been a very long time since Sudarshan had been in the mood for any small talk, and the question asked was one that struck right to the heart of him. It was a private matter he would have rather not discussed given the choice, not because it was anything he needed to hide but merely because it was uncomfortable to think about.

This thought was interrupted by the dialogue between the two men. The older one had addressed the younger with a certain title, and immediately something clicked into place in Sudarshan's brain. Oh, this is the prince! I knew I'd seen his face somewhere. When the two strangers finished speaking and turned back to the naga, he bowed at the waist. "Please forgive any impropriety on my part, sir," he said before straightening up. "I did not recognize you at first. And I am sorry to hear about your sister, the princess. I hope for everyone's sake that all is well. As for why I'm here..." He trailed off, swinging his head sadly to the side. The prince deserved an answer to his question, no matter how uncomfortable Sudarshan was with the topic, but the further thought of the topic only darkened his mood. "Same as half the town right now, it seems," he growled. "I seek the Wishing Tree. Just like any other poor sap trying to fight fate." He looked back to the prince. "Might that be why you are here as well, Your Highness? If I may be so bold as to ask, I mean."
 
Brynne sighed as she stared at her rippling reflection in the flowing waters of the river, glimmering softly in the moonlight. She slowly turned her head, inspecting all angles of it. In particular, she stared at her short, pointed ears. They were so different from her mother's long, furred ears. She must have gotten them from her unknown father. Perhaps he had been... a human?
"No." Brynne murmured suddenly, disgusted at the thought. "I am not the spawn of such destructive beasts." Abruptly, she stood, taking one last glance at herself. She reached up and ran a slender, clawed finger along the markings on her face, then turned and left the river. Her beaststone bounced gently against her bare thigh from the pouch firmly tied to her soft fur loincloth-like garment. She wasn't sure where she was going, but she was so disgusted with the river that she didn't care.
Her feet treaded softly over the leaves and dirt of the forest floor, trained from years of being a huntress, and the hunted. She was large enough to scare most potential predators off, but bears were not on that list and seemed to enjoy chasing her. It was thoroughly annoying.
Her pointed ears moved slightly as she keened in on the sounds of the nighttime forest. Carelessness was for fools and those with a death wish, and Brynne was neither. She heard bats chittering quietly in the skies above her, the occasional owl, and some medium-sized rodents skittering across some leaves. Nothing out of the ordinary.
With no plan in mind and no desire to sleep, Brynne kept walking, near silent.
 
Ginseng rolled his eyes at Pain before making his way down from his perch. He looked up at Pain, watching as he let himself fall before twisting and turning until he landed on his feet in a crouch.

"Well, now what? Because the thought of you watching me sleep...just makes me just not wanna go back to sleep." Ginseng sighed, shuddering a bit. Pain scowled lightly at the other before his ears tiwtched, he thought he heard something. He stayed silent for a moment, trying to pick up the sound again. He sighed quietly to himself.
 
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Brynne froze as she heard the sounds of something considerably larger than regular forest critters land, although the sound was quiet and hard to hear. She slowly treaded forward, one hand in her beaststone pouch, ears keened. What if there were hunters in the woods? What if they were hunting her, as had happened to all the others in her warren? What if she died?
She pushed the thoughts out of her mind as she heard a voice, thick from sleep. So there were at least two. She could probably handle two, unless they were skilled taguel hunters. If they were skilled hunters, she'd probably have to shift and run.
Brynne kept her eyes and ears alert as she slowly moved forward, visually picking apart the forest before her for anything out of the ordinary. She heard a sigh, considerably closer than the thick voice. Was its source looking for her?
She tensed her muscles, getting ready to shift and run. She thought she saw a figure, but it turned out to be a stump. Her heart hammered against her ribs.
 
"Ok, we can just wait until morning and go into Loria for whatever is supposed to happen tomorrow..." Pain suggested to the older teen, his ears twitching slightly as he spoke. Ginseng nodded, stifling a yawn.
 
Brynne decided to take the element of surprise and use it. She suspected that the voices hadn't found her yet, so now was the perfect time to try and scare them off.
Nimbly, she leaped out from behind the cover of a tree and squeezed the orb in her pocket. A gray translucent shell formed around her as her body twisted and changed. Brilliant colors flashed from the shell as it burst, revealing a giant rabbit-like creature where Brynne previously stood. In less than two seconds, the process was over.
Her ears caught the sound of a voice and she jerked her head in that direction, red eyes glowing. Her rabbit-form eyes were much stronger than her humanoid-form ones. As she peered through the darkness, she saw the source of one of the voices.
A human.
Her heavy paws padded lightly on the forest floor as she moved closer to the human, puffing up her fur in an attempt to scare it off. She bared her sharp buck teeth in a silent snarl, then stood up and balanced on her hind legs, paws ready to swipe. On her hind legs, she was about eight feet tall, if not slightly taller.
Brynne noticed the human was armed, but hoped it didn't want to fight her. It would be easier for everyone if it just ran off. Perhaps it would notice her armor and realize that she wasn't an ordinary animal... maybe it would try and capture her? I can take a human on. She thought, tensing her muscles.
 
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