Back to the wilderness, Continued from the Rekhan Village...

[Avariella]

Avariella knew that there was something going on. If the soldier was captured, whether they beat him into submission or he allowed them to take he, he was in the company once again. Avariella had many things that she would have liked to ask of Luthien but she had not be given the time, and it was a shame, she was so getting used to the female company. Luthien’s comment had only solidified her suspicions, and she shook her head with a coy smile on her face and exited the building, walking to the large wall. She stood there for several seconds, admiring the workings of it before pushing on the heavy wood and leaving the village with her wares. She knew that the soldier would be traveling with them once again, and she had no issue with him at the present moment, but only time would tell.

They did seem to clash with their wits every so often, but she assumed that it was perhaps his way of showing… well affection. She chuckled to herself lightly at the thought, and sought out through her mind to anyone who ever threatened to kill her because he liked her. Well there was that one boy, but that was besides to point, she told him that if he didn’t leave she’d kill him.

All in sport though, Ava did seem to notice a sort of odd and awkward connection between the two that she had stumbled upon in the woods, both exhausted from whatever had befallen them before she had found them. She could only hope that the soldier wouldn’t do anything too stupid.

[Rosko]

Rosko stood silent as the two came back out of the house. He didn't know what to say so he figured silence was his best tool at this moment. He looked looked at them both as they walked past him and he didn't move until they were a little ways away from him down the road towards the gate. He looked back towrds the town once again and the world he had never seen before and there was a good chance would never see again because as was seen already he was not welcome in such a place and not only would the people of the nation do anything to keep him out but so would the jungle about the nation for he would never be skilled enough in it to find his way around because it was such a different way of being then any of the other nations. It was even harder to move through then Makan's tundras which he learned from personal experiences were a challange unlike any other in that you had not sense of direction nor could you see more then a few feet in front of you from the storms but at least you could walk those few feet without tripping on something.

Rosko looked back in the direction of the two women who were now almost at the gate. He then began to slowly walk towards the gate as well looking up at the guards who manned the wall who all kept a careful eye on him. Rosko layed his one hand on a dagger on his back as he stared back at them as a way to not only taunt them but to show that if they wanted another fight he would not make it so easy but he knew nothing would come of his taunts for they stayed where they were, one or two of them with arrows knocked and ready just in case as well though he figured they would be happy to get him out of their town so they would not try to stop him. The gates were opened for the two women and stayed open until he stepped out and instantly closed shut behind him as if the men closed it as fast as they could to make sure he could not come back in. He laughed to himself and continued on with a fairly large gap between him and the other two that was slowly diminishing as he walked at a little faster pace then them.

[Luthien]

She quickly lead the way into the jungle, glancing bacck every so often to look at Rosko, she looked at Ava and smiled sheepishly.

"Do you think he knows?" Was in sort of a whisper to her, since Rosko was walking so far behind.

"He's acting rather strange..." After a couple of minutes the walking was starting to get thicker, the pathes not even as visable as before, though before only the most practiced eyes could see it. Luthien looked up longingly to the tree's, touching a hand to one as she passed it by she let her fingertips trace the bark softly, before her arm fell back to her side. She turned her head slightly so that Rosko could hear this time, her voice raised a little.

"It would be easier to travel from the tree's we could reach the other side twice as fast... but you'd have to take off your armour..." And because she knew he wouldn't she kept moving, and looked at Ava.

"You can follow by tree if you want... it would require a lot less effort..." Luthien slowed a bit, trying to let him catch up with them, though she would know he would have done such on his own accord if he had so wished.

"I'm going to take us on a short cut that isn't shown on pathes, it will cut the time some, but the thickets, and vines will be a lot thicker... so I hope you are good at weaving through them." She was excellent at it, and was sure the other woman would be aswell as the two were rather small, but his armour would hold him back, he had swords but Luthien would be appalled if he used them on the plants. They were, after all, on thier land, not the Earth nations. They simply understood it.

[Avariella]

Ava grinned and glanced over her soldier at the soldier before turning back to Luthien, “I don’t think he knows,” she smiled and trudge ahead further. “You know, maybe you should tell him,” she mumbled quietly, her voice was barely above a whisper, she wasn’t even entirely sure if Luthien heard it, because her own ears strained to pick up her own sounds.

Ava was contemplating this short-cut that Luthien had mention. She really wasn’t in any mood to be swatting vines from her face nor was she in the mood to be swarmed with bugs or any other creatures so she raised her voice and slowed at a tree. “I think I’ll take the trees, I’ll follow you guys from up there,” she said leaping into the air and grabbing the branch above her head, using her feet to walk up the side of the tree until she was hanging onto the branch like a sloth. Swinging her body weight around, she stood on the branch and began climbing a bit higher, only so that she could be out of the darkness and could see some light from the foliage above her. She did so at a quickened pace however, because as she was climbing upward, Luthien and the soldier were still moving ahead, and well Avariella was blind to the soldier’s dislike of her, and she figured he might try to keep them going so that Luthien might loose sight of Ava above them, so she hastened in her climbing.

Thinking to herself, she sighed in contentment at being in fresher air and more open space. A breeze hit her face, cooling the sweat droplets that had formed on her ascension, and she smiled slowly, figuring that finally those two had some time to themselves.

[Rosko]

Rosko's mind was no longer anywhere near the jungles of Akamu. Rather they reached back to whenever he was young and still living within the life nation. More specifically the the day that was one of the reasons he ended up where he is today. It was the day he decided he would not go into priesthood and become a healer and rather joined the army so that he may protect those he cared about. It wasn't long after he joined the army though that those he cared most about were the one he stood beside and no matter how hard he fought they all seemed to die. All those he had ever cared about left his life one by one in all sorts of manners until he almost joined the majority of them but as he remembers the first words Gruldw spoke to him, "You are unlucky that you lived this day." At that time Rosko had beleived he meant that he was now to be taken prisoner by the death nation which were known for their brutality but he had learned that was not what he meant. He knows now what was truly meant by that comment. He lost his chance to be with those that he truly cared about and has been deprived such an honor for more then a thousand years. The more he cared for others the more loss he came to care for others the more sorrow was brought into his life. Even Gruldw who is still to this day the greatest warrior to ever walk died leaving him to only grieve.

Rosko's thoughts were interrupted though as he heard a voice ahead of him. He quickly looked forward somewhat confused for his eyes were the only part of him that knew how he got here for they had just been following the two in front of him with no though needed. They had been whispering about something he recalled but that didn't matter and he quickened his pace to catch up to them though he was still a little confused on where he was. Before he got to them the water nation women had found her way up a tree which was probably for the best because he still didn't fully trust her but he didn't mind her as much anymore as he did before mainly because he returned his daggers to him which were the only things in his life along with his armor that have yet to fail him and he knows the first time they do he will be with those who he lost again. His armor being his protection as well with his wall from the world so that he would never be put in the same situations that he has been so many times.

Rosko had caught the gap between them in half and continued to come closer waiting almost for her to start leading the way again. She knew as well as he that he would never take his armor off for he very rarely ever did and only if it was of some ergency and even then he would not let anyone see very much of him. He never really knew why he was so guarded about himself and taking off his armor but he had been this way for most of his life with very few people seeing him in any cloths other then his armor and he hasn't let anyone see his face since the day it happened.

[Luthien]

Luthien smiled shyly at Rosko, holding her hand out to him so she could help him along, and for the simple fact that she wanted to touch him, she contemplated on what Ava had said but mentally shook herself, it was against her nature to be forward, and blunt like that, she could never do it, she would surely die from embarassment if she tried. Her smile widened as she paused, looking at him wondering what was behing all of his armour, if he was so vulnerable he had to always protect himself mentally with physical walls. She wondered if she could ever breach them... She felt a frustration, and great sadness fill her. What had happened to him to make him this way? Could she help him.. or better yet would he let her? Her smile didn't fade, but her eyes showed the turmoil in her mind.

"Youi're quiet this morning..." Hopefully that would break the silence that had consumed them, and atleast if anything it would keep her mind off of what was his business, and although she wanted to know, she really shouldn't be thinking, if he wanted her to help he could ask... right?

[Avariella]

Avariella climbed silently from tree to tree, traveling above her two companions, well, one friend and one very suspicious soldier. Who was she to call him suspicious though? She had no right because of the way that she had treated him when they had first met. She shook her head laughing slightly as she leapt from branch to branch, keeping her balance as if she were on the mast of her own ship, which her heart yearned for at the moment. The open waters, the elements bare to her.

Then her mind thought back to the soldier, clearly he was from Elghinn, and he was the first that she had ever traveled with, let alone the first that she had not truly attempted to kill, but she shook her head simply imaging the disappointed look on Luthien’s face if Avariella simply “dropped” a fairly large green exotic fruit that she had been eyeing through this particular set of trees onto the soldier’s head. Ava would shrug and smile sheepishly, claiming it an accident. Well the fruit may have not been a accident, but the hurling of a dagger or two that could have possibly followed certainly, and without a doubt would have been an accident.

She laughed grinning and dismissed the thoughts from her head, allowing those that she had harbored earlier to return. Who was she kidding? Her thoughts had been blatantly insane, who was she to think that she and… no, she wouldn’t even imagine it, she decided and discharged the thoughts before she permitted them refuge, wiping them away with a wave of her hand. Glancing down ward, she tried to acquire some reference as to where Luthien and the soldier were, yet she could not see them. So as she walked along, she did not see the patch of fresh droppings in her path and when she stepped on them her foot flew ahead of her and she soon found herself reeling toward the forest ground, reaching for anything in front of her for her to grip onto. A vine found itself in Ava’s path and she grabbed it quickly, only to hear its fragile root snap from above her, allowing her to pause only for milliseconds before sending her to the ground just as quickly.

Avariella didn’t have any time to scream.

[Rosko]

"Queit?" He repeated softly not really as a question to her but as to make sure he understood the question in his own mind. He was very quiet this morning for he had been thinking the whole time about what had led him to this very point in time and not just within this jungle but how had he become what he was along side the death nation and no longer beside what he was born to be. Why was he even still alive now for there have been so many times in his past that he should have died, that he wished he had died for that would have been more honorable but with each year that goes by he knows he will never echeive what every soldier he stands by and has ever stood by, even whenever he fought along side the life nation. He will never get an honorable death in which he beleives what he hopes has bee an honorable life so deserves. He would admit to himself now in his mind that he was more scared the day before as he layed wounded and ready to die more then he has ever feared on any battlefield because both places he was faced with death but only one death would have brought him any honor which is why he and every other soldier he has ever seen fought or continues to fight for honor alone but there are many types of honor. The life nation sees honor in protecting the lives of their loved ones while the death nation finds honor in killing as many as you can before death consumes you as well. People would thinks this honor soldiers have is foolish but to those any soldier would, 'Your name will die with you, but your honor will live forever in those who stand where you once did.'

"Sorry, they must have hit me pretty hard because I am still trying to figrue out what exactly happened." He lied. It wasn't like him to lie to somebody over something so small but he didn't have the heart to tell her what he stood for because he knew like all they would not understand what it is like. To her, him wanting death would have been the most foolish thing he thought but to him and to many other they know that same feeling because they think they are being denied something through life that others have already had. So to tell her the truth would accomplish nothing.

Before he could open his mouth to say something else a crack was heard echo through the woods. He looked quickly ahead and saw at the top of his eyes a slight thing falling. He smirked as he realized what it was but did not flinch at all for it. Rather he turned to the women next to her, "How much farther until he are out of this place?" He asked not really caring but rather to try and draw her attention away from the women who was now falling. He would much rather see her fall to her death now then anything for she opposed him earlier and he had let it slide for too long. She disgraced him with every breath as if she taunted him again and again thus as he knew she was falling he could only hope that this was her last fall because that would be the end. He figured now that if she were to walk out of these woods this day he would dishonor his entire nation and all the training he received so he did not flinch to help her but only tryed to pull the only person who could save her away.

[Luthien]

Luthien was listeneing and knew something was up with him other than the reason he had given her, she frowned though she stepped closer to him, looking up at him with one of those 'I know there's something else' looks, before she too heard the crack, she never heard what he had said after that she was diving torward the ground, to try and catch the woman, she fell, sliding into rocks and dirt atleast providing a cusion for the falling woman even if she didn't exactly catch her. What a shame, if they were both to die now, especially if the soldier were the only one to survive, the one of death would witness two beings who Wanted to live die, and the one who stood for death would live. A tradgedy if that would happen but surely, if one could fall out of a tree as many times as these people they wouldn't die this way. Though what irony that would be.

[Avariella]

Avariella hit the ground with a loud smack, her body landingn not on top of her friend Luthien, but into a large murky puddle of mud. The air was thrown from her lungs upon impact and suddenly she had wondered if she survived the fall without so much as a pain.

Well there she thought too soon, when the air gushed back into her lungs, the numbness that had covered her body vanished and the pain lit up her body in massive amounts, blinding her in the amounts that swarmed behind her eyes, searing through the back of her head and down her back, making her toes tingle like needles were pricking her everywhere. Her mouth was gasping open and closed, like a fish on dry land, trying desperately to breathe and concentrate on the pain, letting her know that she was still alive.

Finally, when her labored breathe slowed to a steady intake, the numbness had returned over the pain, and she wiggled her fingers in the mud, then her toes, starting to slowly awaken her body and allowed the dull throbbing to return.

She hesitated, pulling herself up and out of the mud, as the her head felt like it had split open her brains had mingled freely with the dirt beneath her. The splintering in her back increased as she pulled herself up, and when she went to finally push herself to her feet, she at least yelped, as her shoulder cracked and popped under her weight. ‘The vine,’ she concluded and whimpered as she stood at least, holding her right shoulder with her left hand.

[Rosko]

Rosko had not seen the women hit the ground for long before she struck he had dissappeared into the jungles. He moved his way through the jungle alone and would eventually find his way out from which point he would make his way back south and to his own nation which he had been away from for far too long. He did not expect to be followed by the two because he knew they would have more complications with the women's recent accident unless death was what followed her fall which he could only wish though something in him told him that she would end up just fine which angered him almost. He would not forget how she disgraced him this day and planned upon killing her himself someday though there would be no honor in killing her now for she was surely at least hurt from her fall and to defeat a wounded individual took no skill and this had no honor that accompanied it so he would meet her again someday and then there would be no one who would stand between him from bringing her to her knees before him.

He wasn't sure what was the real reason for leaving the two of them. He figured that it mainly had to do with the women who fell for he wanted nothing to do with her and now that he was thoroughly healed from his fall and Luthien seemed to be alright he figured he had no reason to stay for each second he was here he defied his nation and his master which was something he could not handle for long. His superiors would hear nothing of what had happened here for he would surely be punished in some way for it rather he would tell them some elaborate story of what delayed him and he still had the whole trip home to think of such a story. He knew this would not be the last time he would be within the Akamu nation nor would it be the last time he saw either of the women he met or even the being he had met when he first came into the jungle. He knew not what lied in the future for them nor for himself which was uncommon for he always figured he would forever be fighting under the command of others but for the first time he saw something greater in his own future but for now all he had was the long ride home.

(sorry that kind of stinks but this is my last post in this thread.......)

[Luthien]

After Weeks and weeks of traveling with little sleep or even rest people to tend to become tired, and it was one of those times, Luthien was exhausted and didn't have the strength in her to heal the woman without killing herself... the woman didn't seem Too hurt, and so she simply picked the woman up and continued on through the forest. ::. "I can't heal you Ava..." She was breathing a little harder than she had been. "We arn't far from the ocean, your ship shouldn't be far... this is one of the only places that ships can get close enough to the jungle to unload... It's less than a day's journey if we keep walking... your ships quartermaster can help you from there."

[Avariella]

Ava nodded her head and grimaced slightly as they continued their walk towards the jungles end. Looking around, she said to Luthien in almost a whisper, “Where’s your friend?” a small smile appearing on her features as they hobbled along. Luthien seemed to be struggling more and more with each step they took and it concerned her greatly when she said that she couldn’t heal her. Luthien was probably the most powerful healer that she had encountered in her entire life, and if Luthien could not heal her now, then something was seriously wrong.

“Luthien,” she struggled to say, gasping for breath that burned her lungs, “if you want, you may come with me on my ship, there is enough room and supplies for you if you would like to join us for a time, rest up, heal yourself. We’re simply traders really, we only battle those who attack us, and well, only the abandoned ships we raid. We’re good people just trying to help our families,” she finished before spewing into a coughing fit, seizing her body until it subsided in a few moments, leaving Avariella’s throat raw and rough.

[Luthien]

A smile from her, though it was a strained one. "I wouldn't think anything else of you, dear.... the thing is though, I have some business I would like to take care of..." She was of course speaking of the soldier. She let out a strained sigh before lapsing into silence for only a few more minutes, coming around a rather large tree, the ocean could be seen, and heard, but not yet smelled but to only those of the keenest smell. She walked further, making her way down to the beach carefully choosing a slightly longer but easier path, so she wouldn't risk slipping down the slope. As she got closer she paused looking for Ava's ship, sighting it she let out a piercing whistle, hoping to get thier attention. She let out a cough of exaustion before setting Ava on the beach and waved her arms back and forth, letting out another whistle before she let herself sit on the beach, more out of the fact that she couldn't stand than the fact that she wanted to sit.

[Avariella]

Avariella smiled as she finally laid back into the warm sand once again. Resting her sore arm across her stomach, she tugged on Luthien’s leg, requesting her to recline in the sand as well. “No worries,” she grinned allowing her tired body to soak itself with the warms rays, “they will send a small boat in, I’ll be back in more waters before long,” she assured her.

Of course she knew that Luthien was not joining her because she wanted to find her soldier, but Ava hoped that she wouldn’t be going on a wild goose chase, to which she might completely exhaust herself to the point where no one will be around to help her. This cause a small worry wrinkle to appear across Ava’s forehead, but she quickly dismissed it, knowing that Luthien was a wise one; no body could take advantage of her easily. And with that happy thought, the first sight of boat came into view, and soon was at the shore.

“Ava!” a woman yelled hopping out of the boat as soon as it beached upon the shores. She rushed to the younger woman lying spent on the ground.

“Natalia, I’m fine,” she said sitting up and shooing the older woman away from her. “I’ll just need to lay down whenever we get back to the ship,” she commanded and stood and ungracefully placed her belongings in the bow of the small boat and turned once again to Luthien.

“Thank you so much, for everything that you have done.” Smiling she pulled her into a hug and then drew back smiling once again, “whenever you want, you are welcome on my ship. Now,” she said patting her shoulder, “go get him.” And with a wink she turned and boarded the boat and cast back off to her ship, waving back to the girl on the shore.