Suspicious Persons...of a Unique Nature (Mali)

[Lyrt]

Lyrt let her fingers glide over the strings of her lute delicately, her mind drifting elsewhere. Sweet soothing melodies of warm sunshine and lost love flowed from her lips as she sat on the edge of a fountain. She looked at peace, a gentle smile painting her lips as she played, a seemingly innocent woman. Her stomach was plump, the thick dark cloak the she wore only helping conceal it but a little.

There was not much to be done anymore, every day it becoming gradually harder and harder for her to complete an assignment. The little parasite growing in her stomach was becoming an annoyance, more so than before before. Getting rid of it of was an even more of an annoyance, yet only 4 or more months to wait. It was not like she had any time to waste waiting around idly.

She was surprised that there was not a price on her head after what had occurred at the mercenary headquarters only a few months back. There had been plenty of witnesses, and killing such thrill seekers who would seek her out would have been an enjoyable to pass the time. It would have been, but then the little parasites...

The music came to an unexpected halt, and the snowy haired girl rose from her seat and headed off down the street. A bandage was wrapped around her head, covering the marked side of her face in place of the thick leather band she had used before, and had unfortunately lost as well.

She moved unexpectedly quickly for one in her present state, her steps light and silent as she sensed someone watching her. It had been there for a while, the slight annoyance piling up on top of all others. Slipping the lute over his shoulder she headed out of the city and continued off to somewhere secluded to deal with the annoyance in private.

[Mali]

Varden had a valid point, for once. Ever since the day back in a clearing, where the pair witnessed an event that could be considered private, they had a new mission. They had finally found someone who was able to survive an encounter with Solomon Latro.

They knew that one day that Solomon would meet an opponent that he wouldn’t kill, but they hadn’t believed that they would get to watch it happen. Well, they didn’t watch everything. They sort of arrived late and got there just in time to see the woman pretty much dominating the fight as Solomon tried to keep face.

Of course, after they had witness Solomon’s arse being handed to him, they had left, not wanting to watch what intimate acts might have concluded their battle and had lost sight of the woman. It was sad that it had taken so long for the rider pair to find her again. It was especially sad since this was part of their jobs. The council hadn’t cared so much that someone had survived an encounter with Solomon and wished that more would show up so they wouldn’t have such high death tolls wherever he went.

And with that, they had been reassigned to other missions, which took them months away from where they would rather be, trailing this mysterious woman. However, it was break time. With no leads and no missions from the council, they were free to search for the woman and search they did.

“Why don’t we just approach her calmly? Why do we have to spy on her?” Varden spoke mentally to his companion. Taured and Varden were currently hiding behind the side of a large building, with people occasionally casting glances their direction. The woman was sitting on a fountain playing what appeared to be a lute while singing.

“Because, even though she’s pregnant, we can’t scare her too easily. What would a normal person say to being approached by a tall elf and his even taller dragon?” Taured whispered back to his dragon who nodded his head. He saw Taured’s point. And they devised a plan to corner the woman once she got up. Making a short, mental, break, they separated up and started their plan.

As the woman stood up and headed in one direction, Taured followed her by street while Varden was waiting outside the outskirts of the city for Taured to lead her there. He would alert his dragon to any changes in location mentally, should the woman end up elsewhere.

Taured followed her slowly, making sure to stay a safe distance behind her before moving closer. He was following behind her casually as they reached the outskirt of the city to see Varden waiting for her. Clearing his throat, Taured raised a hand to his lips. “Pardon me miss, but I think we have some things we’d like to discuss,”

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[Lyrt]

Lyrt continued to walk quietly a blade clutched in her hand, hidden from view by the cloak's large sleeves. She did not even need to look back to identify who it was, his footsteps had already been committed to memory. Light, softer than a humans, an elf's quite plainly. Why would an elf be following her in the first place? She had not been in contact with the count of Osilon for little over a year already, yet that meant little.

Whomever it was she would dispose of it quietly, she was in no mood for a ruckus of any sort. For some reason it was getting harder and harder to move about with her stomach...her stomach stuck the way it was for the time being. Her only option was to do it quickly and avoid any complications, and be gone by the time the body would be found.

A voice called out to her and she turned slowly in her place, a gentle smile painted on her lips as she looked towards her stalker. It was an elf just as she had predicted, not that there was ever any doubt in her predictions, they were always spot on.

"Harekh fadali oku...ja?" She quickly stitched together some phonetics to sound like a response, her words nonsense to no one, yet nonsense all the same. Eloquently she twisted the words and sounds together to create a melodic accent to finish it all off. Her appearance was unique enough that she would easily be mistaken for a foreigner.

Giving another soft smile and a slight bow of the head she spun on her heel and walked off, taking care to listen for his footsteps behind her. It was not like there was any response to be spoken towards her, his words would be useless against one without the meaning.

[Mali]

Taured knew that this woman had something up her sleeve. He wasn’t sure if it was literal or not, but he knew she was up to something. No one just walked out of town toward the middle of nowhere, pregnant and vulnerable. She was able to protect herself somehow and would probably try to do the same against him. She probably thought something nasty of him, the way he was following her.

When she turned, he hadn’t expected the smile to be plastered on her features. It was a gentle smile but he hadn’t been expecting a smile. A grimace, annoyed look, something, but not a smile.

Listening to the woman speak, bow then turn away, Taured looked confused. Turning around to stare at Varden who was only a few feet behind Taured now, he turned around and quickly followed after the woman. She had said Ja, which was very consistent with Solomon’s native tongue from Empire Nirvana. The chances of meeting so many Nirvanians was slim but Taured seemed to be meeting the best lately. It explained why she was able to take on Solomon at least.

Clearing his throat again, he decided to repeat something that Solomon had said to him in his native tongue, maybe it would be something to get conversation started between them.

“ Ja , es ist mich. Hoffentlich Leben ist behandelnd Sie wohlauf und ich aussehen nachschicken zur folgend Zeitrechnung ich könnt tun Sie in ihrer unterbringen.” he had no idea what he had just said but hopefully it would do something. If she turned around this time, she would surely see Varden standing behind Taured.

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[Lyrt]

Lyrt paused when he spoke again, this time addressing her in turn in an equally foreign tongue. It was not anything like the ancient language, even with her reluctance to speak it she knew enough to tell that the words he spoke were not from it. It was a puzzling dilemma, yet rather interesting to think through.

She slowly thought of a response, turning with a face of pleasant surprise to look at him, as if she understood his words. If he spoke to her in such a language, it was obvious that it was not his first. The first language was always the easiest to recognize, and with him being an elf the most common one would be the ancient language.

Yet it made no matter, he had misread her words and it proved he did not understand the language well. "Šul param wihi, ar čaruk nuisin!" she cried out a cheery voice "noque na ne o wo ejou naka ieru. Feiku?" She slipped the blade back up into her sleeve sheath and clasped her hands innocently in front of her as she babbled on.

Whomever this was, playing with him would pass her wasted time, he had no reason to suspect her of anything. She was simply an innocent pregnant woman wandering about alone with her music. If he became too much of a bother she always had the option to reach into her little bag of vials and off him with that.

"...Dormusi armakhanero isa?"

[Mali]

Taured was confused now. It wasn’t that he knew what she was saying or what he had said to her. All he knew was that it was the language that Solomon spoke and it had sounded similar to what she had first said. However, there was something off this time. Every time that Solomon had ever sent a message to him in his native tongue, there was always certain words in what he had to say that came up again and again and those were ist and ich.

The chance that they were speaking the same language was slim. Taured doubted that this woman was speaking anything at all. She had spoke common well enough when conversing with Solomon, she should understand what he was saying easily. Sighing, Taured crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at the pregnant woman.

“I know you speak common, I’ve seen you speaking common with Solomon Latro.” he raised an eyebrow to her, smirking down. “So let’s cut the crap and get to the point,”

It was then that Varden approached them and stood beside Taured, staring down at the woman. “We know you speak common so why make things difficult. He could easily take you down...”

[/b] Varden spoke aloud to the woman, briefly touching her mind as he did so. Taured had to wonder why he added the last part in. They weren’t looking for violence. Varden mentally explained that they know she could take on Solomon and he had been a difficult opponent for the brief amount of time that they had been fighting.[/size][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Lyrt]

“I know you speak common, I’ve seen you speaking common with Solomon Latro.”

The innocent farce disappeared from her face in an instant almost as if had never been there in the first place. There was no longer any reason for the farce to continue He seemed to know than what he had originally let on, how curious for him to give her yet another reason to kill him. It was almost as if he was just looking to have his eyes dug out with a rusty spoon.

Her hand rested lightly on her hip as she stared up at him with her usual expressionless face, seeming unfazed when the dragon stepped in as well. “We know you speak common so why make things difficult. He could easily take you down...”

The over sized lizard was challenging her? How curious of them, the riders were already not looked well upon, threatening a pregnant woman would be enough to cause a scene and slip away in the aftermath. It would be foolish to challenge them head on in her current state.

Lazily she spun a knife around, the blade seeming to appear from the air. It was likely he had wards on him, and she was far too tired to even think of dealing with them. After a few moments of thought she took a step forward as if to converse raised her leg to slam it up between his legs. The irony, she had been put in such a situation to use an attack such as this once again.

"And?" she asked while she continued to spin the blade lazily seeming uninterested in his words and his dragon. Spinning on her heel she walked away from him, off away from the city.

[Mali]

Taured watched her face fall as he worked his way through her guise. There was no way that she could continue jabbering away in some fake language. He believed that she had realised it as well for soon enough she started to spin a blade in her hands. Where the blade had come from he wasn’t sure but it was there now. He watched the blade as it spun in her hands, waiting to see if she injured herself. However, he assumed that she had spun the blade so often that the chances of her cutting herself were nil.

That was when she raised her leg and Taured moved like lightning, catching her leg before she could possibly connect with his groin. He had witnessed the hit to Solomon’s nether regions and even had to explain to his dragon how painful that could be. There was no way that he would be getting hit there any time soon.

As he caught her leg, causing her to wobble slightly, she turned to walk away and Taured had to think fast. What, was this woman carelessly reckless? Pulling her foot back behind him, moving her body toward him, he caught her around the waist, although a little difficult with her rather large belly, but managed to prevent her from falling.

Once her feet were on the ground, he let out a sigh of relief and released his grip on her. Varden looked worried for a moment, concerned for the children she carried but also looked relieved now that she wasn’t about to fall on her stomach.

“Are you alright? I know that was partly my fault, but you’re carrying children, you should be more careful,” what they had been talking about previously had left his mind as concern flooded his thoughts. He cleared his throat and thought about what to say next to the shorter woman.

“We’d just like to talk to you, if that’s fine.”

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[Lyrt]

Lyrt blinked once as she was pulled gently back into his chest, yet no other motion showed her surprise at his actions. He had caught her leg, and she was shoved off of balance yet he had focused on her safety first. What a moron, he definitely deserved to be skewered for his naivete. She blinked again, annoyance still flowing through her at his utter stupidity, in the amount of time it had taken she could have easily stuffed his throat with blades.

“Are you alright? I know that was partly my fault, but you’re carrying children, you should be more careful"

Was...was this moronic elf pitying her? This one was...he would die...after she found exactly what he wanted from her to go to such trouble. He seemed to know nothing of her, which left her at a slight advantage for the moment. If he did know it would be troublesome, yet she killed off enough people that it was far too unlikely he knew anything too personal about her.

Bracing her knees for a moment she bounced up the moment he released her, the top of her head smashing up into his chin. Immediately she snapped forward, her arm slung back and slicing high on his forehead. The wound was superficial, and unlikely to scar, but it would be enough to give her the upper hand for a moment to correctly examine the situation.

"So speak" she commented idly, taking the time to examine her nails in disinterest. As much as she wanted to sit and examine the dragon more closely it would be too troublesome to deal with the rider. If she did kill him it would be easier to examine the oversized lizard in its agony anyways.

[Mali]

The woman seemed unfazed by the fact that she had been falling, caught, and in his arms. This wasn’t how he expected to discuss things with this woman, but at least he had found her. He also hadn’t realised that the implications from that night had led to her pregnancy. Of course, he knew how reproduction worked, he just hadn’t realised until now that Solomon was the father. He should inform him the next time they met up.

As he released her, she bounced up hitting him in the chin, causing him to bite his tongue, and slashed his forehead causing him to bleed. The wound wouldn’t leave a scar, but the blood started to flow into his eyes. Dabbing at his eyes, trying to wipe the blood away, the woman spoke again. She really was a vicious little thing wasn’t she?

Ignoring the blood for a moment, Varden looking concerned for his rider, Taured carried on with what he had to say. “We wanted to talk to you about that night you encountered Solomon Latro. We are investigating his bounty. What do you know about Solomon Latro, other than the bounty on his head?” they weren’t investigating his bounty any more, he had already stated that he was fine having it hang over his head. However, this woman didn’t need to know that.

As the blood seemed to have stopped flowing as much, Taured raised his head to his forehead and made a sweeping motion over the wound, whispering, “Heal the wound, stop the bleeding,”

[/b][/i] his hand moved away from his forehead and as it did, the skin slowly started to close and the bleeding subsided. The blood that had fallen into his eyes was still there. Varden dug out a handkerchief and handed it to Taured who took it and wiped at his eyes properly. There was a good handkerchief wasted.[/size][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Lyrt]

“We wanted to talk to you about that night you encountered Solomon Latro. We are investigating his bounty. What do you know about Solomon Latro, other than the bounty on his head?"

"You wish to know what I know of Mr. Wolf? Quite curious" She continued to twirl the blade lazily while she picked through what she knew of him and what she had seen. Every bit of information was analyzed thoroughly, assumptions and facts melding into information.

She ran a hand back through her hair, being careful to avoid pulling at the bandages and loosening them. Carefully she selected which would be the least useful and least private, she had no interest in sharing anything that would create an annoyance. Quite simply it would be the easiest things to notice from spending a moment in his presence. Information was power, and pertaining to her wolf she would not want to share any of it.

"He is not from the coast, nor the south, his accent is unique." She began as she leaned back against the trunk of a tree. "His hair is greying, yet he has not passed the age of 30, it is most likely due to stress, yet there is also a gene that causes individuals to grey fairly early. Greying begins most commonly among humans at the age of 37 in males and 35 in females. "

"Blue eyes are a recessive gene, and such it is more likely that his parents both have blue eyes, next likely is that one of his parents have blue eyes, and the other had a parent who had blue eyes and one that does not, lastly and the least likely would be that both of his parents do not hold blue eyes, yet one of each of their parents did."

If this rider knew of her brief encounter with him, the question stood of how much had he seen, and how long had he followed the two of them. Which led to the question once again what he knew of the parasites in her belly. This one...would be troublesome, and her stamina was not what it used to be.

[Mali]

Mr wolf? Was she referring to Solomon? Where would she come up with the name, Mr Wolf? He wondered what Solomon would refer to her as. It would be ironic if their ‘pet names’ coincided with the other, such as, Miss Lamb. Because a wolf and a lamb were predator and prey. Now he thought that he understood the name a bit. Did that mean that this woman saw Solomon as her predator?

She seemed to think about what she knew about Solomon for a short while. Was it that she knew a lot about Solomon or was it that she knew practically nothing about the man? Maybe that was why she took so long to answer him. When she did answer him however, he believed that she was continuing to play with him. She had had her fun injuring Taured and was now continuing her amusement with her answer. Of course he wasn’t from Alagaesia, anyone could tell that by the way he acted and conducted himself.

As her answer continued to sound like a joke to him, he started to become irritated. Why did he even do this for a living? Following leads and searching information for the rider’s council? Even when he had time off he was still pursuing information that was related to what the rider’s council had sent him after previously. Did he ever get a real break?

When the woman stopped talking, still twirling the blade in her hands, Taured sighed. He shouldn’t release pent up anger on this poor woman but she had asked for it.

“Why is it that I always spend my free time running errands for you people? First a man joined in union thought to be a shade, having to kill a siren, and now investigating the second only person to survive Solomon Latro, what's wrong with me?" He crossed his arms over his chest and raised one hand, elbow resting on the other crossed arm and hand holding his face. He was frustrated. Why did this woman have to go around what he asked and give him simplified and obvious information?

Sighing again, he lowered his hand, placing it over the other crossed arm and looked down at her. “I’m sorry Miss, I shouldn’t place my frustrations on your shoulders. I am Taured Doenning, head of the Council of Resources. And you are?” Hopefully she would at least provide her name. He didn’t want to continue referring to her as the woman.

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[Lyrt]

The rider began to rant in frustration, and she turned a deaf ear to him having little to no interest in his personal dilemmas. It was still unclear what he wished of her, more so what interest he had in her in any sense. If he was not interested in confronting her about the recent killings, or in her personal services there was no reason to stay. Turning on her heel she walked off towards the trees, a hand running back through her hair and tying it up out of her face. Yet...she paused, a single word in his endless rant catching her attention, and her interest in the elf.

"Shade."

Slowly she turned back to face him, keeping her distance as she looked him up and down slowly. He was obviously frustrated at her lack of interest towards his pointless inquiries. Solomon was her prey to hunt, and every little tidbit of information was her treasures to use at her disposal, not this one's.

"Taured...a forest...a constellation...many other meanings lie behind it..."

It was unlikely that he would hand over the information she wanted easily if she showed too much interest in it. Like bartering in a marketplace, bartering for information was much the same in the way it was conducted.

"Lyrt...A shade? Where?"

She stared up at him with a dull eye, looking utterly disinterested in the topic that she inquired about.

"Where is there a shade?"

[Mali]

Taured shook his head as he thought about his rant. He really shouldn’t have ranted to her. But as she spoke about his mention of a shade, Taured couldn’t help but smirk slightly. So now she was the one wanting information.

Her name was Lyrt, an odd sounding name. “Well there’s one just a few hours outside of Ilirea, in a small, dismal town,” he paused crossing his arms over his chest.

“The second isn’t a shade, he was called a shade out of ignorance, but still, a vastly knowledgeable man. He comes from a far off land with much we don’t know of... Why the sudden interest in what I’m saying?”

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[Lyrt]

"That is....interesting....a far off land though? You just mean another culture of people I assume. A far off land just sounds like you are some child caught up in an endless fantasy. Is there anything of importance that you are bothering me with? Or you just as useless as you seem."

She stared at him quietly with a hand resting on her hip to support the slight pain in her back, the parasites were getting far too comfortable in there. The change in her weight was causing aches in places she never even dreamed would ache her before. "If that is all..."

Shrugging her shoulders she walked past him and continued along her way.

[Mali]

Taured sighed and shook his head. This woman frustrated him, he had no idea how Solomon could have possibly done such things with her. Whatever the reason, he would rather not think about that now.

“No, I mean a far off land. He comes from a continent known as Empire Nirvana.” As she asked if he were useless, he couldn’t help but getting angry with her. She injured him, angered him, and when he mentions something of interest to her, that’s the only time she cares. But as soon as what he said holds no interest to her, she leaves? Who did she think she was?

“Why so interested in shades?” it was an honest question. At the mention of the word shade, she immediately stopped being uninterested and wanted to know what he knew. There was something going on with her and it had to do with a shade, that could be the only answer. But it was rude to ask such personal things of a woman he’d never met before and barely even knew.

“People believed the man I speak of to be a shade because of something they have called union. It is quite fascinating, their level of magic surpasses that of the ancient language. They don’t even require words to perform their magic. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were capable of doing far more than the ancient language allows us to,” Taured began to follow after her and ramble on. Even if she didn’t want to listen, it was only fair now to annoy her as she had done to him. It may not be the right thing to do, but she had angered and frustrated him, it would make him feel better.

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[Lyrt]

A continent called an Empire? Rather curious...and possibly incorrect. Yet if the languages were different it was likely just to be a simple mistranslation. Curious enough, and common enough, dwelling on the name would prove to be fruitless. The nature of the land the it represented though, that would be far more fulfilling.

"Shades. There is only a thimbleful of information on them known, and not widely. Anyone of a decent level of intelligence would hold an interest on such a subject." She did not even spare him a glance as he followed after, not finding any reason to pay him much mind. He was feeble, weak, emotional, and would hesitate touching a hair on her head because of the parasites inside her. Many of the same men had pranced before her, and time after time she had cut them down with ease.

"Magic is a unique force of the world. If the being that you speak of does not require words as you say then there are other ties that he must use to call upon it. Like a contract with a spirit. The price could be anything to lives, hair. Even more beings to join it....and where does such a being reside then?"

Lyrt continued walking along, content on not letting on how much he had piqued her interest with that particular tidbit of information. It could be the solution that she had been searching for, and she needed to know more.

[Mali]

Taured rolled his eyes at the answer to his question. She was more interested in the shade aspect of what he had to say and that intrigued him. She wanted to know what he knew about the shades for a reason. And he knew a lot more than what was in books. Thanks to his encounter with Elaniver, he knew a fair lot more than he should. He hadn’t even reported his findings to the rider’s council, which was something he never forgot to do. But then again, his findings about shades wouldn’t be of any use to the council and they most likely wouldn’t care anyways.

“I see, so what would you like to know about shades?” it was an easy question, one that would hopefully keep her interest. He wasn’t particularly fond of giving away information for free, but if it kept her around longer and gave him a higher possibility of finding out more of what he wanted to know, then he would give the information away for free. The fact that he seemed willing to answer what she wanted to know, should keep her interest, if only for a little while.

“If that is the way their magic is performed, I did not witness any cost. They harness the purest form of magic and use it to their will. It leaves devastating outcomes, but using pure magic is so powerful it’s to be understandable. It merely requires knowledge and practice to be able to perform magic without words. Practice, which this being has had.” That was an understatement. Even though Morona hadn’t given Taured his exact age, he had mentioned that the war was around eight hundred years ago and that he was in it. So for Morona to be in the war, which meant he was at least eight hundred years old. So he had plenty of time to learn how to perform magic without words.

As Lyrt asked where he resided, Taured couldn’t help but shake his head lightly. She expected him to just tell her willy-nilly? Of course, he was playing a risky game here. If he gave her the information, there was no guarantee that she would give him anything in return. He had already offered her the knowledge he had on shades for free, he couldn’t give away the location as well.

“I’ll tell you where to find him, if you’ll tell me what I’d like to know. I’ll even take you there safely if you cooperate.” that sounded like a good deal to him. The added bonus of taking her there would surely appeal to her. Having to walk such a distance while pregnant was not something she should desire.

“The only thing I want to know is if you know of Solomon’s hideouts. I know you’ve been following him for quite some time before you encountered him.” It was easy enough information. As Solomon had stated, he would be getting off the map soon and Taured wanted to know how to find Solomon. As long as she could honestly give him an answer, then he would hold up his end of the deal.

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