Cat's Outta The Bag[Lyrt, Ell, Mu]

[Mali]

Mali was tired and hungry. She had left Osilon quite some time ago, how long ago she wasn’t sure. It had been fun finding out what a count did for a living. Even though he got to find out about werecats, she didn’t mind so much. Partly because she could do whatever she wanted when she was there aside from entering his study and his bedchambers.

However, her fun had come to an end and she had decided to leave. She had lurked around the castle in her feline form, not addressing anyone before slipping off into the forest in the dead of night. However, it would have been smart if she had taken a map with her. She was now lost in the forests, wandering around with no sense of direction.

How was she supposed to get back to Ilirea if she had no way of knowing where she was? She should have taken Count Ravnson up on his offer a while back to have a soldier escort her back to Ilirea. She had been stubborn however and decided that she would find her own way back, which was what got her into the mess in the first place. Besides, even if she did have a map, she didn’t know how to read, so it would be of no help to her anyways.

Having caught a few birds to eat over the past few days and finding water in the forest, Mali wasn’t living too bad on her own. She hadn’t found any cities to provide her with stolen fish, but she was doing all right.

Sitting in the bushes, Mali found a tree that smelled awfully good for some strange reason. She hesitantly approached the tree to find hidden and stashed food inside. Wondering where it came from, Mali looked around cautiously in her feline form. She was the cutest and smallest black and white speckled cat to be found wandering around the forest alone.

It didn’t surprise her as she had started to eat some of the food, that someone was coming up behind her. Not wanting to leave the food she had found, Mali decided that she would hiss at the individual should they try to take the food from her. However, what came next surprised her.

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[Lyrt]

Yren whistled softly as he moved smoothly through the forest the leaves crunching underfoot. It was quickly getting late, the sun already starting to set beyond the clouds. Yet he had to return to his little forest workshop before the day was up even if it lost him a few hours of precious sleep.

He had recently been working on a variety of small pots focusing more on the construction than the intricacy of the details. The designs were simple, soft and smooth curves flowing gently across the surface like ripples running across the water. He had spent much time and effort working diligently on the piece. From just simply preparing the clay he had spent so much time on just perfecting the texture of the clay.

Over the last few months he had been making a variety of different pieces and bringing them to Josk for his opinion. It was hard to judge one's own work and Josk did seem to have an excellent eye for it.

There was one in particular that had just finished cooling from a glaze firing and he was simply swelling with pride at the craftsmanship. This one without a doubt would earn him some praise, which came in the form of a lack of criticism from the elder Elf. There was not a single fingerprint left on its glossy surface, not a single distortion of the shape.

He smiled catching a glint from where the vase sat in the calm stream he had set it in to cool. It was a deep blue highlighted with pure whites like a frozen pool reflecting the moon on one side and the sun on the other. One side night, and the other day neither crossing over into the other. Gold flecks looked natural forming a dragon that curled up around it its wings spread in flight. It was his best work he had ever done, and without the slightest magic used.

He was now allowed to use it having his work reach to his master's standards and was often told to use it while helping it. Yet he insisted that he was unable to use it at most times only using it on occasion in private.

A soft scuffling drew his attention and he moved towards the tree where he stored his things. He blinked blue eyes filled with confusion as he stared down at the small kitten gobbling away at his food storage. The creature was rather small, and hungry by the way it was gobbling it down. Slowly he reached into his bag and pulled out a small cake holding it down to the kitten with his palm as he stroked its head softly. "That food is old little one, this is far better..."

It was one of the berry and honey cakes he had made to give to Josk as a gift for putting up with his endless pestering. He had no idea what the Elf did with them, if he ate them or tossed it out. Yet he did not toss them out in front of Yren, and that did make him happy. They were all intended for him, but the kitten seemed to need it more.

Gently he lifted the kitten up and stroked its head holding out the cake to it. What was a cat doing wandering about the forest? It had to be lost, cats this small were not native.

[Mali]

Mali felt something soft and warm touch her head, immediately responding to the touch. Meowing casually, she looked up; licking her lips from the current meal she had been eating when something else was placed in front of her. The person said something to her which she didn’t understand. He must be speaking in that language, the one Niko knew and spoke to the guards in. What was it called again?

The name of the language was on the tip of her tongue but it was lost to her as she felt the petting become heavier and softer.

Before she knew what was happening, she felt her small body being picked up from the ground. Climbing around the large hands that held her close to the warm body, Mali noticed that the better cake had been moved up to her level as well.

Biting into the cake and nibbling on a piece, she had to admit that it was very good. It tasted far better than anything she had had in the last little while. Considering everything she had eaten in the last while she had caught, this was delicious.

She mewed lightly as she felt her head still being pet, the gentle and soothing stroking motion calming her down. Whoever was holding her knew how to handle and hold a cat though. She had never felt so comfortable in a stranger’s arms before. And the cake was so good. This person had to be a good baker, although, she did wish that she understood what he had been saying. Did he even know the common language? If not, this would be a little hard for him to understand should she change forms.

She wasn’t going to change forms just like that, but she knew she’d have to at some point. She finished the cake up with a tiny burp afterwards before she mewed again, nuzzling her head against his palms. She liked the attention that he had given her. It felt nice to have some contact again. Maybe she would be taken home with him if she played a nice kitten. She had chosen a kitten form this time since it was smaller and harder for things such as hawks to notice her. She was glad to have chosen the kitten form now.

“Merow,” she didn’t sound overly humanoid in the simple noise but was just cute enough that she hoped he would take her with him. It would be nice to have someplace warm to sleep tonight. Deciding to seal the deal, she started to lick his hands, also wanting to get the last bits of flavour and crumbs from his fingers.

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[Lyrt]

The small creature curled up in his hands and Yren let out a soft sigh of relief it not seeming frightened of someone unknown lifting it up. It seemed to relax and he smiled softly down at the kitten stroking its fur softly. "Are you alright little one? Full?"

He chuckled softly standing up and cradling the kitten with one arm as he reached out and removed the cloth he had tied around his head to keep his hair back out of his eyes. Working carefully with one hand he tied it around his waist making the fabric still out at the opposite hip of where it was tied. It made a small hammock like form and he softly set the kitten in it making sure it was comfortable and unable to fall out by accident.

A cat...it had been a while since he had anything to do with one. Every now and then there was a were cat but. They had short lives compared to his own, only living at the very most sixteen years. Werecats popped up every once in a while, yet they kept to themselves. Cats, regular cats with nothing magical about them were soft and kind.

Once in Ilirea he had found a small kitten yowling out in the pain its paw injured somehow. He had tenderly lifted it up wrapping it in his cloak to keep warm and skittered off to the library to find some medical books that would help him fix what was wrong. Yet by the time he was done wandering about the shelves to find the right book the kitten had grown bored of sitting idly and its fur had dried.

The small creature had hopped away and scuttled about the shelves yowling loudly. Yren of course pursued it trying to catch it before he got himself and the kitten in trouble. Yet as always the librarians of the great library responded at once to such riffraff the boy receiving an earful for his actions and the kitten being taken from him.

He smiled softly at the memory letting his fingers run over the kitten's small head softly moving to clean up the small mess the kitten had made in his food storage. If it was left like so animals would come and wreak havoc in the hollow ruining his glazes. Yet if they were hungry...

Picking out some of the old food he scattered it about the other end of the clearing carefully before wading out into the river. He held the kitten carefully making sure not to get it wet as he lifted the vase out of the river and hugged it under one arm.

Yren began to sing softly stroking the kitten with his free hand as he bent his head to avoid the branches and slipped out of the clearing. He took a moment to brush himself off knowing that Josk would frown in disapproval if he looked disheveled. Then he was off walking through the trees back towards the city.

[Mali]

Mali loved being pet. Was that far too domesticated of her to enjoy such a mundane action? She didn’t care if it was, she enjoyed being pet so much. It felt so nice that she stared up at him as soon as he stopped petting her. What was he doing?

Tilting her head to the side, meowing quietly, she pawed out toward his other hand, wanting him to bring it back to her head, while he did something with his hair. Watching him earnestly, she had to admit that she didn’t know if she liked being put in a pouch. She wasn’t a kangaroo’s joey.

Her front paws rested on the top, front rim of fabric, her head sticking out to watch what the man had to do. Wait, was it a man? He smelled like a man, but looked awfully close to a woman. Deciding to leave him as a he, she continued to think of how much she wanted his hand to return to petting her.

Shifting in the hammock he had made for her, she decided to go to sleep. Maybe he would pet her again later. She really wanted him to pet her. Her head was still visible and above the fabric. If she were to open her eyes, she would see around her perfectly. But now wasn’t the time for that. Yawning, her cute little muscles moving as she licked her lips a bit, she stuck her front, right paw up and started to clean herself. She hadn’t stopped to clean herself for a long time. But then again, she had to find food before she could take a break and clean herself.

Feeling the position switch from gentle breeze to brushing against his leg, Mali watched with half lidded eyes as the man picked up a jug of water. As soon as they started moving again, she felt his gentle fingers move back to her head. Meowing in reply to the action, she looked up at him with a satisfied look. He was petting her again.

They moved quickly toward the city. She wondered where the man was headed exactly. To leave the forest and then enter the city, she wondered where his path led to. Maybe he lived in town. She wouldn’t mind being an overnight house pet if it meant she got affectionate petting and food.

It wasn’t long after they had left the river and food tree that they were coming up to a clearing where Mali could hear more noise. She looked ahead and had to take a double check on what she was seeing. It was Niko! He just ran past them! From what she knew, he lived in Ilirea, but for some reason, he was here. She knew that she was far from Ilirea, but that didn’t matter since it was him!

Scrambling around in the hammock, Mali eventually freed herself and jumped down, running after Niko quickly. She meowed a few times, trying to get his attention before she took the initiative to shift forms. What if he didn’t remember her feline form, that was why she had to change to her humanoid form.

“Niko!” she cried happily, running toward him, her ears dominant, tail and cloak flying out behind her as she ran.

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[Elloria]

Josk cursed to any and all gods that exist, ever existed, will ever exist. Damn everyone and everything to whatever unholy abyss exists on the other side of death! First, he was rudely awakened a mere three hours after sunrise for some sort of emergency at Malakian Headquarters. Apparently his assistants were still insufferably incompetent, despite the great pains he had taken to cure them of their idiocy. At least he had been able to salvage his work from the damage they had caused. The test subjects had all been lost causes, but that was hardly an issue. He had merely to say a word and he could have all the subjects he wanted – it paid to be the foremost expert in poisons, venoms, and toxins that the Hive possessed. No, he wasn’t concerned about the test subjects at all. The tragedy would have been in losing all the progress he’d made thus far and that was just inexcusable. So he had disciplined his assistants and left to get some more sleep. He really didn’t want to be in the most foul of moods when he had to go teach Ace that afternoon. It was hard enough not ripping the kid’s head off when Josk was well-rested. Sleep deprivation just made the urge worse.

But of course sleep had not been an option. Upon returning home, there had been some relatives waiting who apparently required his attention immediately to deal with…who knew what. He still couldn’t quite remember that part. All he knew was that it had taken up several more hours of his time and it was after five before they had left. Josk had thought that would be the end of it and he would be able to at least get a nap in when Vencari herself had arrived to talk to him about his assistants. He had been terse and irritable and a bit defensive (he would never openly admit that) but it had not been enough to get rid of her in a timely fashion. She was there for nearly two hours – apparently there was other business to discuss; the unrelenting bitch – so it was already nearing sunset before he could finally leave the manor. And of course he couldn’t risk leaving through the front, which would have had him at the clearing a lot faster. No, he stuck to the usual routine and just bolted out the back door, sprinted up the winding path, and barely even paused to open the back gate before he was off through the woods. Hell, he hadn’t even changed into more suitable clothing for the excursion. He was still in the same loose grey silk pants and sleeveless tunic he had been intending to sleep in – a style he never wore outside of the house when he was thinking rationally. But he was tired and late and just didn’t want to bother.

It was probably the irritation, being late, and exhaustion that caused him to be somewhat less cautious on his run to the clearing. He had not noticed any energies on his run that would constitute a potential threat to Ace or Baldur, so he simply ignored those same energies. Had he been more alert, he would have recognized Yren’s energy long before passing within sight of the boy. Instead, he was only feet from the clearing where Ace and Baldur had been living when he heard someone cry out “Niko!” Startled, Josk skidded to a halt and spun around to be greeted by a very strange sight. There was what appeared to be a half-transformed werecat running towards him – and he didn’t recognize her at all. “Who the hell are you?” he loudly demanded in the Ancient Language, pointing an accusatory finger at the figure still running towards him.

[Amur]

Ace was bored, after all the time he had spent making sure that he was able to get himself ready in a timely fashion his efforts had all been for nothing since Mentor Josk was late. The length of time that Ace had been kept waiting wasn’t important –though he was aware that he had been waiting a long time.- the fact that Mentor Josk was late was all that mattered. It was completely uncharacteristic of him, sure, Mentor Josk may have never had a set time where he came and tutored Ace. But he was always at the clearing before a certain time and the present time was so far past that time.

Ace groaned.

“No.”
Baldur said simply, not even bothering to let Ace ask his question. Ace just groaned again and sat on the ground, his back resting against the trunk of the tree he had been leaning against... Words could not express his frustration right now, he was bored and he couldn’t do much to alleviate his boredom. He looked over at his brother, Baldur, whom as usual was simply sat in his usual chair intently reading the book he held in his free hand. While his other hand was occupied by the sword that Baldur had always called “Findinokhind”, his hand directly beneath the cross-guard as he used his thumb to partially flick the blade from the sheath before putting the tip of his thumb on the top of the cross-guard and returning the blade to its original state before starting again.

Ace rolled his eyes and then sat in frustrated silence. How his brother was able to find reading a book interesting Ace would never know. He needed things to do; otherwise he’d end up just going out of his mind... With a frustrated grunt Ace conjured several orbs of fire into existence and started juggling them. Fine, if Mentor Josk wanted to be late then Ace would simply occupy his time by doing better things than simply waiting for him.
---

Baldur was only half reading the book he held in his hand, the other half of his attention was of course on Ace. He had to make sure that his brother didn’t decide to make some kind of stupid decision, especially now that he was bored. Baldur had repeatedly told Ace that Josk was a busy man and not to get impatient during the odd occasion he did have wait. But today, Josk was clearly busier than usual. He was never normally this late... He fully expected to hear Ace complaining about the wait whenever Josk did arrive, which would likely mean it would never happen again... Most likely because his complaining was likely to get him beaten, he didn’t particularly like to watch his brother get beaten, however, that had been the issue with his brother’s former Mentors, they had all been far too soft.

And that is where Baldur strongly suspected that his brother’s attitude and arrogance had stemmed from. Soft mentors were often poor mentors.

It was as Ace started his usual way of passing time that Baldur’s attention shifted, a greater amount of it now being diverted from his book to making sure that his brother didn’t do something stupid. Time seemed to slow to a crawl the longer Baldur had to make sure his brother wasn’t misbehaving, and then-

Baldur heard Josk’s voice.
---

Ace stopped what he was doing the second he heard Mentor Josk’s voice. And while he didn’t understand what he had said he knew the tone-of-voice well enough to know that someone was getting their ass kicked. Ace perked up at the thought of that, someone was getting their ass kicked and it wasn’t him! He dissipated the fire in his hands and leaped to his feet, if that was really what was happening he just had to see it! He ran from the clearing.

“Someone’s gettin’ their ass kicked, and that ‘someone’ ain’t me!”
He exclaimed excitedly, he distantly heard an odd noise –it almost sounded like annoyance- from his brother and then he found himself looking at something... Odd... He stood in silence for several seconds as he heard Baldur draw up close-by.

“Have we been discovered?”
He heard Baldur ask firmly, and then noticed out of the corner of his eye that his brother had taken his usual “ready for a fight” stance, by bending his knees slightly and lowering his free hand to the hilt of his sword. Ace blinked once more and then followed suit, conjuring up flames, however, instead of his usual orbs he simply allowed the flames to conjure in his palms, allowing him more unpredictable use of his Pyromancy.

“Wait, what’s goin’ on?”

[Lyrt]

Yren walked slowly careful not to jostle the kitten about in the little hammock he had created for it. Would he be able to care for it? Even more importantly was if his master would allow him to keep the kitten around? Such a small creature in the workshop would possibly be dangerous, especially for it itself. The glazes could be harmful if consumed and the the clay would as well.

What to do with the kitten, where had it come from even more importantly. Kittens did not come around the elven forest themselves often enough that it was accepted as a normal occurrence. "where are you from little kitty..." he mumbled stroking its head for a moment before shifting his grip on the ornate vase. He would not drop it! It would be intact when Josk saw it, to have it break would simply be cruel to all the time he had spent blending colors and painting it on with a fine brush.

Suddenly the kitten began to shift and Yren stopped in place, had it been his fault that it was bouncing from side to side? He was so focused on making sure the kitten was alright that he did not even notice Josk dash past him. Yet moments later the kitten jumped out and after him somehow shifting up into a... A werecat! It seemed...she seemed to be one yet not one in a form that he was familiar with.

As she cried out in common to Josk, Yren finally noticed the older elf's retreating back. "Jo-! Josk..." he began to call out after him loudly but faltered as the man turned and jabbed a finger at the girl. The man seemed rushed, his clothes not any that Yren had ever seen him leave his home in. He stood in place unsure if he should let him be and just drop the vase off at the mansion for him and bother him the next day.

He watched the two quietly for a moment before glancing about his eyes being drawn towards the night sky. It was getting late, and he had to be going back soon enough or face his master's daily wrath. something rustled in the trees and he immediately was drawn to a foreign face. The facial form it was...not elven, not at all. It was human! Human...how was a human here? He had seen a few in Ilirea yet never conversed with them due to his lack of knowledge in the common tongue.

His eyes swam with endless confusion and stepped back uncertain with what was happening. Slowly his mind mulled over, there was nothing he understood of what was happening. Breaking into a bright smile Yren leaned his head to the side trying his best to hide that the cheery expression did not meet his eyes. He set the vase down tenderly on the ground and turned on his heel sprinting off into the woods and quickly disappearing from sight.

[Mali]

Mali ran as fast as she could to catch up with Niko. He had rather long legs and moved quite fast compared to her shorter and stubbier legs. It would have been faster to run on all fours but this body wasn’t made to do that gracefully. She would look like a deformed animal hobbling quickly as it moved in a fashion that appeared to be painful. So she ran as fast as her two legs could carry her which wasn’t as fast in comparison to Niko.

As soon as she called his name, the figure stopped and turned around. Mali was too happy to have found Niko again to realise that he wasn’t Niko. First thing that was different but she didn’t take notice of was the features about his face. He didn’t look kind like Niko but appeared angry and frustrated. The second thing that went unnoticed was what he was wearing. Even when rushed, Niko always made sure to make himself presentable. This man could be said to have been in his pajamas still.

Mali was confused as a finger was pointed her direction and the man spoke in that foreign language again. It was like when they first met, Niko had used the ancient language to speak to her. However, he had come to realise that she didn’t know the ancient language and instead spoke common to her. If this was Niko, he would remember that she didn’t speak the ancient language, wouldn’t he?

She approached him slowly now, feeling shy and nervous about running after this man who looked like Niko but wasn’t who she thought him to be. As she got closer, she noticed that this wasn’t Niko at all. For some reason, he looked very similar to Niko, but it wasn’t him. Feeling sheepish to have dashed after him without thinking, she stopped short in front of him and fidgeted.

“Um, I don’t speak the ancient language.” She trailed off, looking down at the ground. Hopefully he knew common and could speak to her in it.

“I thought you were someone else, mister. I thought you were a man I met before. His name is Niko.” she looked up at him as she spoke now, trying to be polite and look him in the eyes as she addressed him.

Tail twitching around her, she looked up at him a little more closely, trying to figure out how he could look almost identical to Niko but still look different. Remembering the conversation she had had with Niko and Arashi their first day after meeting each other. Niko had mentioned that he had a brood mate as Arashi called it. Brood mate meant brother, right? But brother wasn’t the right term either since Arashi had brothers and sisters somewhere out there too. Arashi said that dragons don’t have brood mates, that they were one per egg. So this meant that Niko his brood mate were twins, right?

“Are you, by chance, Niko’s brother? He said that he had a brood mate, but I’d never thought that I would meet him.” she leaned up a little closer to him, inspecting him more closely now that she knew who he was, or, who she thought him to be.

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[Elloria]

“Um, I don’t speak the ancient language.”

Dammit. Damn the whole world to whatever infernal abyss might exist on the other side of death. Josk had to think fast. He needed to get this werecat far away from here in the least obvious manner possible. Werecats were not beings to be trusted with any information that might prove interesting and of any sort of value. They were just as likely to keep the information secret as they were to spill everything to just the wrong people. And worse, he could sense that Ace and Baldur were moving towards him – leaving the relative safety of the wards around the clearing. He was going to kill that boy. He really, truly was. He didn’t give a damn if Baldur was there. The mage needed only to speak one of the twelve words of death and both of them would be taken care. Well…he could manage it with Ace, at least. Baldur might be a tad trickier but not by an unreasonable amount.

And while he was noticing energy, was that Yren behind the werecat?!

“I thought you were someone else, mister. I thought you were a man I met before. His name is Niko.”

“Have we been discovered?”

He was going to kill them all. One way or another they were all gonna die. Ignoring the werecat’s questions, Josk watched Yren closely. The youth was his primary concern right now. Ace and Baldur would probably intrigue the werecat. But Yren…Yren was an unknown variable – one that needed to be dealt with in an instant. The mage’s body tensed as cheery smile that did not reach Yren’s eyes appeared on the youth’s face. The boy was going to run for it. And sure enough, the vase he was holding was set down and he was turning around to take off. “Don’t move a muscle,” he snapped at the three people still near him before darting past the werecat and sprinting after Yren.

He couldn’t afford to play nice or safe right now. Honing in on Yren’s energy signature, he murmured, “Shift the earth beneath him and bind his legs.” He was rewarded with a surprised cry not too far distant and a sharp drop in energy. He ignored the fatigue, adrenalin kicking in to help increase his speed. It didn’t take long for the older elf to find Yren wriggling on the ground trying to break free from the magic that was binding his legs. Ignoring the boy’s protests or cries or whatever noises he was making, Josk firmly grabbed Yren by the hair and jerked the boy to his feet. Releasing the binding spell, he said, “You will follow without protest and without attempting to escape. Or you will regret the day you met me.” With that, he dragged the boy back to the clearing at a brisk pace.

It was a relatively short journey and Josk paused only to pick up the vase Yren had set down. With elf and vase in hand, the mage strode past the human, humanoid, and werecat. “Get in here,” he snapped at them as he entered the clearing. He maintained his tight grip on Yren’s hair as he carefully set down the vase and waited for the other three to join him. All he had wanted that day was to take sleep before coming to train the brat he called an apprentice. And now he had a veritable clusterfuck on his hands. Someone was going to pay for this. It was just a matter of finding an acceptable target.

[Amur]

Things so far most definitely weren’t within the regular routine that Baldur had observed since his stay here had started. Josk arriving within the general radius of the clearing late was already proof enough of that, but it was by far the least confusing event occurring at present. The younger Elf and the... Creature; were both definitely out of the established “ordinary” as far as this place was concerned at least. The state of Josk’s current attire by far was the strangest thing of this ever increasingly sequence of random events... The Elf seemed to be unusually underdressed and somewhat more irritable than usual.

Baldur wondered what must have happened for Josk to allow himself to slip so drastically, there must have been quite the list of chores. Baldur dismissed the thought, it quite simply wasn’t his place to ask, and he highly doubted that such knowledge would offer him much in the way of satisfaction.

There was a sudden –very palpable- tension in the air as silence fell before the second Elf put down the vase he was carrying and bolted off in the opposite direction. That was the only signal that Baldur needed, Ace was in potential danger and Baldur needed to make sure that danger was neutralised before it caused his brother any harm. However, before he could take more than a single step Josk told them all to stay where they were, in a tone that sounded dangerously close to an order.

And then he was running.

He heard movement from his brother and immediately moved and grabbed the back of the neck of whatever plain shirt he was wearing. Ace didn’t immediately notice and choked before collapsing to the ground as the neck of his shirt tightened around his neck.

“Ack! The He-”
Baldur silenced Ace’s protest by dragging him back to his feet by the scruff of his shirt and then drew him close, lowering his head to his brother’s ear.

“What do you think you’re doing?”
Baldur asked in a measured tone. At once Ace froze and seemed to think very carefully about his answer.

“Someone is gettin’ their ass kicked and it ain’t me.”
Ace muttered meekly. Baldur kept himself silent for several seconds, allowing Ace to hear the stupidity behind what he was saying. This was the primary reason that Baldur despised leaving Ace by himself here for just about any length of time. He loved his brother without a doubt, but the tendency Ace had to make less than intelligent decisions was enough to keep Baldur worried for the duration of his time away.

“Think hard for just a moment, my brother. Right now, his obvious irritation is directed at someone else. If you chase after them you’ll be put right back in the focus of that irritation, is that what you want?”
He asked calmly, leaving Ace a long moment to consider what he was hearing.

“... No...”
Ace admitted.

“Then stay where you are.”
He instructed calmly, releasing his grip on his brother’s shirt. As instructed Ace stayed where he was, and moved to distract himself by juggling several orbs of fire. At least for the time being Baldur didn’t have to worry about Ace making any further idiotic decisions.

As it turned out they didn’t have to wait much longer for Josk to return, and when he did return Baldur couldn’t help but be silently amused by what he was seeing. The younger elf that had run off was being forcefully walked back toward the clearing by Josk using the boy’s hair as leverage... He didn’t allow the amusement to break through his usual demeanour, that just simply wouldn’t have been “him”, but he found the sight amusing nevertheless.

Josk stopped to pick up the vase that the younger elf had set down before running and then –once more, in a tone that sounded dangerously close to an order- instructed everyone into the clearing. Ace hurried to follow, Baldur’s words only moments ago clearly still taking their effect on his brother, that was good, it may very well stop him from making any less than intelligent decisions while Josk was this irritable.

Baldur moved at a slightly more relaxed pace, it was something of an unspoken agreement between Baldur and Josk; they didn’t get in each other’s way and listened to what the other had to say. They both respected each other, that much Baldur was certain of, so, it must have taken something akin to a proverbial “act of God” to get Josk irritated enough to treat Baldur in the way he was currently treating him... For the time being Baldur would take the more tactful approach and simply inform Josk later that he did not give Baldur orders.

He entered the clearing and immediately returned to his seat, picking up his book as he sat down. He did not immediately open it; however, he was certain that he would need to keep a close eye on this situation to prevent it from escalating too far. His gaze flicked once more to Ace, who was at this point trying to make himself as small as possible as he juggled several orbs of fire... Clearly he had realised just how idiotic his earlier decision to run and see someone else at the focus of Josks rage was. With luck, he had learned enough to avoid making any further mistakes... At least for today anyway...

[Lyrt]

Yren sprinted back towards the city his eyes wide and expression unreadable. There was no point in forming an opinion of what he had just seen, his mind was racing through the new information and far from rational. Yet somehow he knew that he had seen something he shouldn't and that alone was worrisome. A human, so close to the elven capitol, he had no idea what to think or assume.

In his haste to retreat he did not even notice the brief disturbance in the air as a spell was cast. Yet as he leapt smoothly over a small mud puddle lingering from the previous week's rain that his legs stiffened up the boy falling straight down into the pool.

It took his frantic mind a few moments more than it should to figure out that it was magic and not simply a cramp. He grimaced at his stinging knee and stared at his feet concentrating hard without blinking. The magic's shade was familiar, he would never forget any color after he had seen it. Yet where...

Yren let out a soft squeak of surprise, it was Josk's color. Which meant that Josk did not want him getting away with the knowledge of the Human's existence. He let out a loud cry as long fingers grabbed his hair and wrenched him roughly to his feet.

“You will follow without protest and without attempting to escape. Or you will regret the day you met me.”

Josk sounded angry, and a soft pain stabbed him in the chest. The older elf would get frustrated at him every now and again and let him know very clearly. Yet it was the first time that Josk was angry at him, angry at something that he had done, something he had done wrong.

Yren wrapped his fingers around Josk's wrist trying to make some slack for his scalp not to burn so. Yet he did not protest the treatment not wanting to make him angrier than he already was, the words might fall on stone ears anyways.

His vision blurred from the pain Yren did not even notice that Josk has stopped to pick up his vase before dragging him a little farther. Once they had finally stopped the young elf looked up at him with wide eyes still hanging on his arm. "Josk...a little looser...please...it hurts..." he gasped trying hard not to grimace from the pain.

[Mali]

Mali was confused. She didn’t know what was happening around her. The elven man who looked like Niko, looked like he was getting angry. She couldn’t tell exactly what it was that told her he was getting angry, but there were a few key things that told her off. The way his brow seemed to furrow and the lines around it, the crease marks in his perfect skin just kept getting deeper and deeper. She thought that they could go on forever if they were able to.

Another thing was the way his jaw appeared to set. It wasn’t jutting out, but it was doing something. At least, in Mali’s opinion it was doing something. She watched as he ignored all that she had to say, run after the nice man, and chased him down. She continued to look back at the retreating form before turning her feline eyes over to the voices.

There was another two people, not too far off, who were talking quietly among themselves. They didn’t really catch her attention as they were just speaking. Turning back to see the Niko impersonator dragging the kind man after him, carrying the vase that he had been carrying while they had been walking. He marched right past her, telling her to ‘get in here’. Not wanting to anger him anymore, she skittered over behind him, following closely behind his heels. She looked down at her feet, making sure not to step on his feet. She moved over to where he stopped and waited for something to happen.

The nice man said something in the ancient language again and looked like he was in pain. The position that he was in told her that he was in some kind of pain. She had no idea what he was saying and felt like asking, but knew better than that.

This reminded her of the time she’d been taken home by a little girl. She was in her kitten form and trying to find someone to take her home for the night and feed her. She’d found a little girl who took her home with good intentions and bad results. Her father was so cruel and mean; he dropped Mali out the window and told the little girl to go to her room, and never to do it again. For some reason, this reminded her of that time. Why was he so angry?

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Elloria]

Josk took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He had to calm down if he was going to figure out a way to handle this mess. Now that he had Yren, the problem of having anyone else in Ellesmera discovering the existence/presence of Baldur and Ace was probably neutralized. The potter’s apprentice seemed to idolize Josk, frequently seeking the mage’s opinion on the vases and glazes the apprentice worked on alone. So all Josk really had to do was swear the apprentice to secrecy – which he knew would not be difficult – and that was the end of that. But for good measure and a little stress relief, he tightened his grip on Yren’s hair in response to the apprentice’s reasonable request. “Be still, Yren. When I choose to relinquish my hold, I will do so and you will stay put. I will deal with you momentarily,” he muttered in the Ancient Language.

Josk then turned his attention to the other three individuals in the clearing. The werecat had quickly obeyed his order, which made the mage think that perhaps she would not be so great of a problem after all. Werecats were not known for their unquestioning obedience. They were known for their cleverness and ambiguous statements. But this one…this one was clearly raised in a different manner. He would probably have to tread very carefully with her and do his best to not alienate her too much. And she knew Niko…she had thought he looked like Niko, which was not unreasonable from a distance and at the speed he had been moving. So…was she that Mali character his brother had mentioned in letters? What was she doing so far from Ilirea? More importantly, why had Niko not mentioned that she was missing? Actually, Josk probably already knew the answer to that – Solomon.

Well, he would deal with that in a moment. Baldur had moved back to his usual position and held the latest book that Josk had gotten for him. The mage probably shouldn’t have ordered the humanoid into the clearing. The two of them had a very clear understanding of one another – they did not order one another around. Josk gave a mental shrug. He would deal with that after this mess had been attended to. That left Ace. His idiotic apprentice. He turned his full attention on the boy who was currently trying to avoid the mage’s attention by remaining as unobtrusive as possible – juggling those annoying flame orbs, per usual. This whole mess was the boy’s fault. Had Ace simply remained in the clearing, Josk could have rid himself of Yren and the werecat before they noticed the human and his brother. But no; he had to pick an apprentice who possessed absolutely no common sense whatsoever. And Josk could probably guess why Ace had come out to see what was going. “You were expecting to see punishment meted out, Ace?” It was phrased like a question, but clearly was not one; a question would imply uncertainty as to the reason. His tone was very matter-of-fact, as if he were merely mentioning the weather – as if the matter was of no greater importance than that. The implication, of course, was that Ace expected someone else to be punished. His apprentice should have known better, of course. “How unfortunate for you that such an event will never occur,” he added sarcastically, again implying that it would never occur in the boy's presence. Though Josk supposed that his current treatment of Yren might be considered punishment, it was nothing compared to how he frequently reprimanded the pyromancer.

He finally released Yren’s hair, his body finally relaxing, and turned back to Mali. Squatting down to her level, he smiled kindly at her. The expression felt somewhat foreign on his face without the context of an ongoing interrogation. The kind tone he spoke to her with was also foreign outside of the interrogation room or dealing with favored subordinates – of which there were very few. “I apologize for my earlier behavior, my dear. You must be little Mali. My twin, Niko, has spoken of you before, always with great fondness.” He reached out slowly and gently scratched behind one of her ears, trying his best to not spook her. “What brings you to Du Weldenvarden, which is so very far from Ilirea and my brother? Niko has been terribly worried about you.” The last was a little lie, but Josk knew that Niko would feel concerned once he was informed.

[Amur]

Ace tried to make himself as unnoticeable as possible, he had sat himself down on the ground with his back resting against the trunk of a nearby tree... He had made a stupid decision; Baldur had already made him see as much. Now there was just the little matter of trying to avoid Mentor Josk’s rage... Perhaps if he just sat quietly and did something he normally did Mentor Josk would forget that Ace was there and deal with those other two... People... Things...

So, he conjured several orbs of fire into existence and set about juggling them in silence, he did that often enough to be confident that the action would help him simply blend into the background. He distantly heard Mentor Josk speaking in that language that he didn’t understand and for a brief moment Ace allowed himself to relax... Only to flinch when Mentor Josk spoke to him, nearly dropping the orbs of fire as he made the reflex action...

He corrected himself and quickly resumed juggling the orbs of fire as he ran Mentor Josk’s question through his mind, how was he supposed to answer that? Mentor Josk clearly already knew why Ace had left the clearing in the first place. He sat in silence for a long while, his eyes darting in every direction as he best tried to consider how to answer the question.

“It.... Woulda’ been nice to see someone else gettin’ their ass kicked for once... That’s all, Mentor Josk.”
Ace said cautiously, wincing as Mentor Josk seemingly informed him that such a thing would never happen. Ace didn’t rise to that, no, he had already made enough stupid decisions today, he wasn’t about to make any more. So he remained silent and continued juggling the orbs of fire he had conjured earlier, still very wary of Mentor Josk... That had been far too relaxed for Mentor Josk, especially when Ace took into consideration how angry he had been only moments ago... Best to keep quiet and avoid enraging Mentor Josk any further, Ace simply let him turn his attention to the other person-thing and remained where he was, sat in silence.

[Lyrt]

“Be still, Yren. When I choose to relinquish my hold, I will do so and you will stay put. I will deal with you momentarily.” The older elf tightened his already iron grip on the boy's hair and he bit back a cry of pain. Any tighter and his hair would be pulled out in one large and certainly painful clump. Yet he stayed still, careful not to move in any way to create more tension within the fragile strands.

As Josk began to speak in the common tongue Yren's mind strayed pulling his focus away from his painful strands. Humans...Josk must have had a reason to bring them so close to the capitol. As grouchy as he was when woken unexpectedly, and as thin as his patience seemed, the older elf was still a good person. Even if grudgingly he had never injured the young apprentice, never harmed him in any way. Josk had always been kind to him, healed his wounds, showed an interest in his work even if only mild.

Yet they were friends... weren't they? He enjoyed the older elf's company, and he trusted him. That made him a friend in his eyes. Whatever reason that there were humans about it would be a good one, probably one he would not be able to think of from jumping to conclusions. Anyone who could smile so sincerely talking about someone they cherished could not be a bad person.

He relaxed once his hair was released letting the hiss of pain he had been holding in quietly drift out into the air as blue eyes watched Josk intently as he spoke to the werecat. The kind expression on his face was not one that he liked, hate was a strong word but hate it he did. He would far rather Josk be cross and grouchy and himself rather than a smile pasted on that was not genuine.

"I have to get my bag Josk...I don't want to lose it or for anything inside to be damaged...I would get into much trouble if it did" he mumbled standing up and waiting for the elf to give his permission for him to go

[Mali]

Mali watched the interaction between the Niko impersonator and the kind food man. He was still speaking in the ancient language and she still had no idea what was being said. She glanced around at the other people in the clearing and noticed a boy, juggling fire? She shifted a bit, her stance moving to look right at him. She watched as the balls of fire moved about his hands. She followed the balls of fire with her eyes, her tail starting to swing around her as she started to get excited. She wanted to chase the balls of fire. They interested her deeply.

She was about to reach other to try to swat at the orbs when the boy stopped juggling the fire and addressed the man in front of them. He responded back but didn’t look too happy with what was being said. Mali wasn’t too happy now since her form of entertainment had disappeared. It was then that the Niko impersonator addressed her. Turning back to face him, she noticed that he was now down at her level. Now that she could see him clearly, she could tell that there was a great difference between him and Niko. He looked very similar to Niko, but they looked very different as well. However, this man had the same eyes as Niko. They were the same colour and made Mali want to reach out and hold onto his face just to make sure that she could stare at his shiny eyes longer.

As soon as he started talking, Mali perked up, hearing common tongue coming from him. So he did understand what she had said, thank god. This would suck if there were a language barrier between them. She looked into his eyes as he spoke, feeling the gentle hand behind her ear, she felt like purring at the touch. She was being pet a lot today. As he continued on, telling her where she was, her ears pinned down a bit, feeling guilty for leaving Niko. But it hadn’t been her fault.

“A lot of things. I kind of got lost trying to get back to Ilirea.” she was glad to hear that Niko was worried about her. Had he gone looking for her while she’d gone missing? Her mind raced at the thought before she was reminded of the shiny eyes and the orbs of fire. She didn’t want to look away from the shiny eyes but couldn’t help but glance in the boy’s direction. She wanted to play with the orbs of fire!

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Elloria]

“A lot of things. I kind of got lost trying to get back to Ilirea.”

Josk nodded his head sympathetically. He had gotten the impression from Niko that Mali was a rather innocent individual, despite the fact she was a werecat. Worse, she was still cursed with a cat’s curiosity. She had probably seen something shiny and was thoroughly distracted by it. Rather like she was distracted by both Josk’s eyes and Ace’s juggling flame orbs. “Sometimes things happen and we just get distracted and turned around. There is nothing wrong with that.” He would have to figure out some sort of arrangement for this. He couldn’t very well let Mali stay at the clearing, but he certainly wasn’t going to allow her to just wander aimlessly through either the forest or the city. For all he knew, she might spill this little secret – and there were plenty of elves in Ellesmera who could understand Broddring Common. “What shall I do with you in the meantime, hm?” he mused quietly in the Ancient Language while he continued to scratch behind her ear.

“I have to get my bag Josk...I don't want to lose it or for anything inside to be damaged...I would get into much trouble if it did.”

The mage paused in his thoughts as Yren spoke quietly to him. Pulling his hand back from Mali, he turned slightly and looked up at the boy. The boy had an uncanny habit of leaving his possessions in an unsafe location for a variety of reasons. And he always whined about having to retrieve the bag as soon as possible or else there would be trouble. Well, there would be trouble indeed if Yren just disappeared from the clearing. But now that the boy wasn’t leaping to conclusions, it would probably be safe to allow him to leave, if only briefly. “You may go and retrieve your bag if you swear that you will return here right afterwards. We need to have a little discussion about what has happened today. Do you understand?”

[Amur]

Now that Ace was actively trying to avoid making any further idiotic decisions Baldur allowed himself to take stock of what was happening, they had seemingly been discovered by another Elf and... Well, Baldur didn’t know quite what to make of the girl, he had absolutely no idea what she was and Baldur himself was one of the more outlandish creatures from Empire Nirvana... He dismissed the thought for the time being, whatever the girl was, Baldur had little doubt that he would find out sooner or later.

His attention turned now to the other Elf; he had noticed that the other Elf had earlier called Josk by name. Judging by that and by the fact that Josk had not killed or at least maimed the boy –an educated guess on Baldur’s part- the two of them must have known each other to some degree. Baldur narrowed his eyes ever so slightly as the thought occurred to him; he had never known The Elf to be so careless.

“I apologise for startling you, young Elf. Both myself and my brother mean you no harm, my name is Baldur and my brother’s name is Ace.”
Baldur said flatly, building bridges always started with telling the other party of his name... At least in Baldur’s mind it did anyway, he looked at Josk, raising an eyebrow slightly moments later. He was sure there was something about this he was missing, after all, in the last two years Josk had not seemed like the kind of person to find people in general tolerable.

“The boy doesn’t seem like your type, Josk. He seems far too optimistic and good natured for you... Or is that why he’s still alive? Do you genuinely enjoy stomping such characteristics out of people?”
Baldur asked curiously, genuinely perplexed that Josk would stop to get to know someone well enough to be on first-name terms with them. And being the one to crush such values out of people was the only conclusion that made sense that Baldur could think of.

[Lyrt]

Yren looked up at Josk quietly waiting patiently for an answer while the elder elf continued to stroke the werecat's head softly. He tapped his cheek absentmindedly as the blue eyes became unfocused, staring off into space. And then Josk was finished, his head slowly turning to look up at the younger elf the kind expression he had put on for the girl wiped from his face.

“You may go and retrieve your bag if you swear that you will return here right afterwards. We need to have a little discussion about what has happened today. Do you understand?”

Yren gave a broad smile and nodded taking a moment to think of a safe wording of the promise before vocalizing it. "I.." he hesitated for a moment rethinking the sentence again just to be sure that it would be acceptable. "I swear that once I retrieve my bag that I will return to you immediately, and if I am unable to find it I will return immediately to your side before the sun finishes setting."

“I apologise for startling you, young Elf. Both myself and my brother mean you no harm, my name is Baldur and my brother’s name is Ace.”

He turned ready to move off and grab the bag as one of the humans called out to him in the ancient language. Brows raising in surprise and eyes widening he spun around staring at the taller of the two..Baldur. His expression of astonishment was rather rude... Yren quickly shifted and a kind smile and gave a soft nod "It is nice to meet you Baldur, and Ace as well. I am Yren Îdhion..." He shifted taking a few steps closer to Josk nervously and glancing away from the larger human, it was rude to stare.

“The boy doesn’t seem like your type, Josk. He seems far too optimistic and good natured for you... Or is that why he’s still alive? Do you genuinely enjoy stomping such characteristics out of people?”

He blinked unsure what the human was meaning by his words to the elder elf, he was alive because he was alive...why was he still alive? He was always supposed to be. He was not making any sense, and the elf was slightly frightened that he would embarrass the human by asking. "Josk and I are friends" he chirped cheerfully before heading back into the trees.

Careful not to stray from the path from before he jogged along, rapidly glancing from side to side searching for the familiar form int he growing shadows. Where had he left it? where had he last had it? The sun quickly set as he scrambled about combing the area that Josk had pulled him along.

---

He hung his head in shame the bag nowhere in sight, slowly he began to make his way back towards the clearing. His cheek was already feeling sore from the beating that was looming in his immediate future, yet he had promised to return and it was nearly time.

Yren turned and dashed off back towards the clearing quickly as the time he swore he would return by drew closer. Had an animal carried the bag off? He would have to ask around after Josk had finished speaking to him, it would have to be a larger animal than a rabbit...maybe a fox?

Catching sight of the small cleaning he slowed his pace and placed a small smile on his lips trying his hardest not to seem as worried as he was. Moving quickly he slipped behind Josk "I have returned~" he said with a cheery smile, making no mention of his missing bag. It was his dilemma and his alone. It had only been a few minutes since he had left, no more than ten and no less than five.