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Kaelen Silverblood

The Thirst Knight
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How did Kaelen find himself in his current problem of several blight orc ships chasing down the scout vessel he was on out in the Blight Sea? The lose of his father and following transition of the family seat had taken a toll on him mentally and emotionally. It took the most toll of any single event in his entire life, and that was including the battles he had fought. His first instinct had been to jump right back into his duties to his family, land, and high king. That didn't go so well as he couldn't get the real rest he needed. So instead he had taken a leave from his previous duties and boarded a scouting vessel on a mission to see what lands were east of the Storm Isles as a consultant if they ran into any problems. Needless to say, it didn't go well once they hit the Blighted Sea.

For several days or perhaps a couple of weeks now the blight orcs had been chasing them. Evasion worked previously, but their relentless pursuit had everyone exhausted. No quarter or chance to breath had been given and supplies were low. It was the worst case scenario. The only good news had been they wanted to raid them rather than sink them, so they just needed to avoid losing their means of travel and boarding actions.

Kaelen kept watch on the orc ships with a sour look on his face. Was it a trial from the gods that this was happening or just terrible luck? Why were these orcs so focused on their ship as well? It didn't make sense to him. This was definitely not the usual actions of pirates or naval vessels. Perhaps something more was going on than he was aware of.

He didn't have time to give it much more thought though before fireballs came flying from the blight orc ships. They had finally decided to just sink the ship. Kaelen cursed and yelled out a warning. The crew began to scramble as orders were barked. Everyone was moving as swiftly as they could but the lack of rest had left them sluggish. One of the balls completely missed them off to the side and one landed right next to the ship causing cold sea water to cover everyone on deck. The third ship didn't miss and struck the ship's side. Some of the wood caught fire but the real problem was it tore a hole into the hull near sea level. The ocean began to flood inside. The ship was doomed.

Everyone was scrambling to get to the boats. Kaelen made his way there as well, but remained until the very last one along with the captain. More balls of fire rained down around them causing chaos. They tried to stay together, but it didn't work. Waves pushed them all apart. One of the worst hit was Kaelen's boat which began to drift far away. Their misfortune did not stop there as a fireball managed to hit their boat....

Kaelen wasn't sure what happened after that. It was all a blur in his mind. All he knew was that he awoke an unknowing amount of time later somehow hanging onto a piece of debris. No one else was around him. It was just him, the chilling sea, and an ever closing strip of beach. Large waves crashed into the sand and rocks making escape difficult. When his time to try had come he had to muster all of his will to fight through the push and pull of the ocean.

Step after step carried Kaelen further up the beach until sand and stone turned into half frozen mud mixed with half thawed snow. He marched through the slush until he found a half sheltering outcropping of rocks. With a heavy thud he fell onto his side with his back to the wall. He was wearing a practical suit of armor that mixed mobility and defense together as much as possible with leather, fur, and cloth designed for the cold climate. A thick, heavy cloak was wrapped around him in the blue and gray of his house. It should have warmed him, but after floating in the ocean it was just speeding up his death to the cold. Slowly and with great effort he drew the Mystmarch rune for "warmth" onto the front of his breastplate using a near by stone. It was temporary and the only thing he could do. As the magic in it took effect and warmed up his clothing and body, Kaelen lost consciousness.

Lost and alone. Kaelen was now in the southern Eretejva Tundra.

Sannoru Sigrith
 
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Sannoru looked fuller, less bony and had since rubbed off some of the earthy smell off the Withereach nordenfiir; nearly replacing San's native sweet scent.
But a new coat is still just a new coat, the flesh within was all the same. Thus their attitude about this land was all but mundane or normal. Namely it was at the same time shocking yet unbinding, this freedom of movement San now had.
This frigid air was welcoming, and with it Eretejva was intriguing... if not a bit purifying.

Perhaps a well justified excuse for a girls day out. Sannoru had joined Sigrith in one of her many excursions, they themselves curious about what the land had to offer.


...


Sigrith told of a whiff she cought: a salty man.
Sannoru would allways be apprehensive to others, but without a word, the dark elf would put in effort to try spot the supposed man the she-wolf scented.

Reaching down the stony coastline, something shattered the dark elf's doubt.

There were some things unseen to most races. Perhaps comparable to how Sannoru felt anosmic around their newly gained nordenfiir company. There were lights too subtle for most to see, but Sannoru could discern the subtelity too well, the radiating, to most invisile light from a fireless heat source that should not be there among the rocks.
»There, behind the rocks.«
Sannoru pointed as they spoke common Eretejvan.
 
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Very little escaped the nose of Sigrith Duvstrih. Having wandered the lands of southern Eretejva for the last several years, she'd come to be quite familiar with the scent of beached whales and men. These frozen waters were unforgiveable on their own, those who tread them in their great ships even less so. The black wolf followed at an easy pace after the swift little pup - her new charge while Vand turned his attention to his new Jornhood.

She wasn't want for company most days, but she found the pup to be agile and a fast learner. Sigrith made no outright attempt to teach her of the lands, but San was attentive and bright. She learned by watching and following and asking questions when necessary. It was probably better this way - keeping the elf away from Withereach. Borvenir's Guard had come to call already and Sigi made certain they were scarce when they did. The new regime had no liking for humans or elves or Nordens or anything much else other than their bearkin.

So it was with a great deal of luck for Kaelen Silverblood that they should happen upon his body and not a detachment of Royal Scouts.

"Stay here," the black wolf said to her charge as she joined her at an outcropping overlooking the shore. Hackles gently flaring, she pressed forward across the stones, following the scent on the air to the body curled beneath the overhang. Dichromatic eyes searched the figure, noting the gleam of armor peaking out from beneath the cloak. No small wonder he'd survived at all with all that metal - should have sunk to the bottom of the sea like a boulder.

He was still breathing, that much she could ascertain by the gentle rise and fall of his resting figure. Bad idea: sleeping in the winter air with wet clothing.

The wolf took several steps away to give herself plenty of space and began digging in the sand, sending it flying backwards at the sleeping man's face.
 
The low thud of thunder boomed in some far off place. An ethereal barrier seemed to keep it at bay. Kaelen found himself surrounded by something, something intimately familiar. It was clear and cloudy. It was solid and fluid. It allowed life to flourish and smothered it to extinction. It was water. It embraced him fully and could not breath. Yet he did not need to. A figure in flowing clothes ever shifting around them seemed to be approaching him. It was female. It was clearly female. She was feminine perfection ever changing to suit his tastes and desires. Her arms were held out wide. She wished to embrace him as the water did. She was already embracing him. What was this place? Who was she? Arms and bosom and entirety engulfed him. Softly she whispered in his ear, "Awaken~"

Kaelen's eyes slowly opened as sand pelted his face. With a struggle his arm slide up to protect it as a pained, exhausted groan left from deep within. How long had he been out for? The rune's magic was nearly spent, but he felt warm. Not perfectly so but enough he wasn't about to freeze. His was still as wet as he was when he left the waters. How could that be? The rune would keep the frost away but it would not stop him from drying. Had he woken immediately back up?

His silvery grays looked toward the direction the sand was coming from. A big black wolf as large if not larger than a person was the one assaulting him. Was he to be scavenged? Yes. There was no other reason for the beast to be here. Everything took his full effort to do right now. Even breathing, the most instinctive of needs, was sluggish and labored. If it was his fate to die here then he had no will to fight it. Better the release of death then the apathetic numbness that had gripped his body right now.

With some effort Kaelen said in a hushed and hoarse voice, "Eat me or leave. I do not care. Just please stop with the digging...." He went back to laying there.

Sigrith Sannoru
 
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San remained on the outcropping as Sigrith passed to deal with the man. From here the elf still had a good enough view over the body.
Standing still and tall, the brief wind rustled their long dusty robe aside.
The body was soaking wet, clad in armour. And the environment alone would do it's due in freezing a body to a corpse.
But it was not so...why?
With armour and clothed in water retaining wear. Under these conditions, a bad combination.

After a second look, Sannoru identified the source of the subtle light they saw...A weird squiggle, a ...rune? Something that produced heat for the man.
What a primitive mage, san thought to themselves.




»So...He's alive, kind of« they spoke out quietly while shaking their head after the body spoke.
 
A snarl was the wolf's reply to the feeble demand of what would soon be a dying man. Rune magic drained energy of the caster and if he thought he was going to keep himself warm by draining his own energy, he had another thing coming. The only thing that was going to keep him warm was a fire and getting out of those wet rags.

The flying sand stopped but the wolf had other ideas.

There was a Norden settlement a day's walk north from here. If he was going to live then that was where he needed to go but it seemed he needed a little encouragement.

Black paws stalked across loose stones, sand, and mud leaving prints that rivaled the size of the man's own hand.

"Your rune is dying and so are you," growled the shewolf as she seized the man by the leg and heaved his body across the dirt, out from under the outcropping. Sannoru would be in full line of sight now as she continued to drag the soggy knight, pausing just long enough to bark new orders.

"Go back to the cover of the trees, Kulaen, get a fire going. We make camp there for the night."

Kulaen, a Nordenfiiri word she'd taken to calling San but not bothered to define it.

Her gaze of northern lights shifted back to the man in whatever state he may have been after being dragged from his spot, "Walk or be dragged."
 
San gazed past the outcropping, streching lightly beyond the edge, the man was well in view now.
But looking can come later.


»Ai,« Sanno spoke, nodding their head after Sigrith, leaving within the blink of an eye.
Only a bur on their spot as it trailed from the rocky outcropping towards the forest edge.


The Dark elf stopped upon a well-sheltered location that lay nearby. The trees were tall, and the location was along an earthen depression. A suitable shelter against the coastline wind. The man was in luck to land here and not on the eastern shore, the wind from Fjirstaf was particularly hazardous.

But the south was a soggy mess in itself. It took good time to find suitably dry wood, but the trees were blessed with tinder on the spot: beardy lichen.

Sanno cleared the area and lined it with stone and wood, but all would not be as easy as this.
»Ki-yo-shimaka,« hissed the dark elf as the tinder went out before being able to spread to the wood.
»Ki kiraase...« The elf sighed as they prepared the second batch of tinder, this time the heat from the previous attempt did well and the lichen went ablaze quickly, spreading over the wood.

Sanno backed off, standing over the fire for a moment to make sure it won't go out.
The dark elf then left to gather more wood. They'll find the spot quickly enough.
 
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Voices graced Kaelen's ears. The wolf could speak. If this was Mystmarch he would assume it was just one of the beast folk playing a trick by being on all fours or a spirit in the form of a man sized wolf. This wasn't home and he had learned the wider world was rarely like it. Guess that meant giant talking wolves were a thing.

The wolf was right about something though. Kaelen needed to end his rune soon or it might drain the last of what energy he had left. A shift of his hands and he idly wiped the rune mark away. The magic warmth faded as quickly as it did and the chill of the tundra rushed back in. He felt like he was in the northern Storm Isles right now.

Without any pause or warning the wolf had Kaelen by the leg and was dragging him away. Looked like it was time for him to be eaten. Joy. This went on for a bit and brought back memories of battle. He had been on both sides when it came to dragging an injured brother to safety. Pleasant times those. The numbness from before was slowly fading away making him realize how much his body ached from all the intense work it had gone through to get him out of the rough waters and up the beach. Every muscle screamed. But it was beginning to fade as well with the chill threatening to freeze his wet body solid.

Some orders were barked, hah, to another by the wolf. This caused Kaelen to find himself free. As much as he had enjoyed being dragged he decided he needed to use his own two legs here. Or at least see if he could still use his own two legs. He began to push himself up off of the ground. It didn't push back like usual and let him sink in. That wasn't great. It took more effort than he liked, but he got himself up finally. It was shaky from numbness but he could stand. He took a step and felt like a toddler. Then he took another. Slowly but surely he headed toward the outcropping of trees that the other seemed to be at.

Sannoru Sigrith
 
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Watching the man bumble about as he found his feet, the wolf stood with an air of slowly fraying patience. Slowly being key here. Sigrith wasn't want to move any faster than the realms bid, reading the signs of the world around her an interpreting them as only the Swamp Witches could. This day was not a day of quickness and even the sun felt sluggish in its descent upon the western horizon.

His footsteps crunched across frosted mud and crisp earth and in what felt like an hour the pair found their way across the landscape and to the cover of trees, wolf silently stalking at the back of the trudging man. Sannoru had the fire going by the time they arrived and was off, Sigrith presumed, collecting more wood to feed the flames. The wolf circled around the stranger and took a seat at the opposite side of the pit, watching him closely and taking note of the defining marks on his armor.

Vand would have had a field day with this one. It was probably best that newly appointed Jorn wasn't here.

"You sutherners aren't made for our cold," rumbled the wolf, "get out of your wet clothes before they freeze to yeh."
 
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Kaelen felt as if he had drowned right now and been brought back from the depths. Maybe that was what that weird dream had been about. The gods did strange things and the sister of the Storm God might have taken some favor in him. Just enough to see him beached and not dead from his emergency rune sapping his stamina beyond the point of recovery. The Goddess of the Sea and Water was known to be moody and whimsical after all.

His body was about ready to be done with him by the time Kaelen had arrived at the small fire. How did a wolf, even a large talking one, manage to do that? Perhaps by some means of magic like the one that had nearly devoured his stamina completely before taking his life. It was always so hard to say outside of Mystmarch on what did and didn't exist.

The wolf told him to strip off his clothes or he would die from the cold. It mentioned something about Southerners, but he didn't pay it much mind. The northern reaches of the Storm Isles were similar to the tundra and he did spend some time there back in his tourney days. Course back then he had warm hearths to lay around. Without any hesitation or reply, he was too tired for it, Kaelen began to strip off his wet armor and clothing until he was down to practically nothing. He set it near the fire to dry and then did the same with himself to warm up. His broad, muscular body was covered in the scars and burns of battles fought. This moment sort of reminded him of them a bit. Not the first time he had a large wolf like being across from him at a fire. Usually though it was Blackwall on the other side not some unknown savior.

Sannoru Sigrith
 
The dark elf arrived not long after, bearing only a little wood and dragging behind them multiple sets of fir branches.
But for now the plan was cut short.
Their eyes fell in the clothes that were haphazardly laid over the floor. In this cold, a fire won't dry soaking wet garments within a night.
»Kse- Kse,« Sanno put their hands on their own hips. Sigrith likely now knowing that the cub only spoke such when rather annoyed.
San then strung a string between two young trees so the line lay close to the heat, grabbed the clothes and one by one wrangled them dry before letting them hang off the string. San was not even gentle with the elaborate cloth.

After it, they proceeded to align the fir branches around a tree and fastening them together. Periodically leaving to gather more debree to lay around it as a tight shelter would form.
 
The wolf watched the man disrobe in keen silence, pale eyes noting the layers and the weapons he discarded along the way. They and his scars spoke of his warrior status, though she didn't recognize the emblems of his armor. Given the size of Eretejva, it was entirely possible he was from a place she'd never visited before. Possible he was actually a northuner. But his skin had seen far too much sun for that to be possible and his lack of knowledge on how to properly dry his clothes was the nail in the coffin.

Suthener.

Her ears twitched at the approach of San, moony gaze shifting to the blue elf's movements as she deposited more wood by the fire. They'd be burning bark through the night if they had to, but these trees were old and their branches were high and healthy. Not good for firewood - too much green. She watched, detached, as her charge made the effort to hang the stranger's clothes. A kindness she would not have shared - better to tell him how to do it so it stuck with him for next time.

Signe would have smiled her sweet smile and coo'd at what a nice elf San was to do this for him. Sigrith didn't care for the amusement. Now she would have to put food in an extra belly. The wolf stirred where it sat, the sound of sinew snapping and bones cracking echoing over the infantile pops of the fire. Black fur gave way to cloth, leather, feathers, pelts, armor, trinkets, hair and pale flesh. With a whine of internalized pain that curdled into a soft groan, wolf shifted to woman.

Woman sat prone, hands pressed against the ground as she steadied herself, a cloud of hot breath billowing from her lips. With a deep sigh and a muted grunt, she pushed herself slowly to her feet.

Haw, haw, said a raven from the trees.

Sigrith's leather-bound fingers reached up to undo the strap of a wolf-pelt cloak from her shoulders. She rounded the fire without a word and dropped it over the bare form of the man. It fell heavy and warm like a sleepy lover over his figure.

"I'm going to hunt," she said, addressing Sannoru with a look, "if he tries anything, leave him alive enough to clip."

Needed healthy flesh to make Toadstool, afterall.
 
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The chill of his wet undergarments in the air had caused Kaelen to quickly remove it after he had the rest of his clothing and arms. Storm's Edge, his family sword, rested by his side as did his short arming sword and daggers, one combat and the other general use. He wore no jewelry. It all was resting next to him. He didn't mind losing some armor, but he couldn't do without his weapons.

It had only taken Kaelen's eyes to close shut after he had gotten sat back down. His head was bowed forward to face the slush of ground. He had kept himself steady despite his sleep thanks to the habits of his soldier days. His legs were spread out enough to create a wide triangular base while his elbows rested just behind his knees. His bulk was allowed to fall over so his arms and legs could hold him up indefinitely. The only issue was he could get stiff joints if he stayed like this for too long. His body was desperate for time to recover and heal.

Kaelen found himself surrounded by mist and fog. Lightning seemed to dance all around as thunder boomed from everywhere and nowhere. Heat and cold both seemed to assault him at once. It was uncomfortable. As if his very essence was under threat of being torn apart, destroyed, and then remade. A figure marched towards him. It was infinitely tall and infinitely broad. A halberd with both sides of the tip being made from axe blades. Every step caused lightning and thunder to burst forth. Flurries of rain and snow were whipped around by wind in its wake. It stopped as it got close and crouched down.

Before Kaelen stood a man taller and broader than him. Age was unknown as he seem to shift endlessly between youth, prime, and elder without any warning or explanation. One of his eyes was missing and the other seemed to glow with lightning. A beard of dark and white and gray clouds curled down from his face for some length. His hair of the same was tied back in similar fashions to how Kaelen often kept his own. The man just stared at Kaelen wordlessly for some time. Anger or frustration or resolve had control of his features. It was impossible to say for as active as they were they also seemed static.

A rumble came from his throat. Words thundered out of his mouth as misty rose from his breath, "Awaken!"

Kaelen's eyes suddenly opened and he jerked back. A wince and soft groan followed as muscles screamed in protest. He felt as if he had been on the wrong end of a storm's fury. He did not know where he was or what was happening at first. Slowly he remembered and looked around. A thick pelt had been draped over him at some point. Who had done it? Last he remembered he was with that large talking wolf. He looked around the fire. His clothes and armor had been strung up properly, something he had no energy to do himself before, and a shelter was being built. He did not recognize who the elf doing the task was.

After perhaps too long of staring at Sannoru his mind finally cleared enough he could get some words out. He said in a hoarse, exhausted hush, "Thank you." With that done he made the incredible effort of getting a little closer to the fire so that he might warm up some more.

Sigrith
 
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»Ay,« Sannoru nodded their head at Sigrith. For now San would calmly steady the shelter so it would be robust before gathering more burnable things, but this time from the vicinity. Letting it dry nearby the blaze. The man was knocked out cold it seemed, or at least shifted from weird states of consciousness, but the moment he snapped wholly awake, San's gaze was on them.

Motionlessly standing there with the pale robe obscurring most of the figure. Any skin shown was of a blue that could only be atained with the most exotic of dyes.
Their eyes like dark pits, encircled with poisonous green iris while the pupils flickering cyan at the fire light as if they belonged to some kind of animal.
Elves might have been known to look odd, but these shared only scant liking to the sarathi or sidereal elves of the west.
Their eyes were set on Kaelen.

The elf was forcing kindness where there was none. It was perhaps apparent that they cared little for those that looked 'important' and were generally distrustful of people as a whole if they were not of their own free minds. Past events breaking individuals their own way, and san was not naive or blindly loyal anymore to hand their trust freely.
»Seeiri ne Kisaren,« the elf would not grace Kaelen with words to understand, at least not for now.

Muttering later as san ucovered some undergrowth leaf from the snow.
»Thank Sigrith.«
San's tone was softer now.
 
Getting closer to the fire was working. Kaelen felt his bones warming. His eyes drifted over to the person who was sharing the fire with him. What little of their skin he could see was a shade of blue he had never seen before. Interesting. Where there blue elves in this land? He began to silently study them as they went about their work. Whatever they had said to him earlier he couldn't understand. Seemed they spoke a different language than the large wolf who had disappeared.

It started slowly at first but slowly, steadily grew. Low rumbling mixed with shallow rapids. They were not in sync like some kind of natural song. They were bickering, fighting. An argument of the elements was going on and by the time Kaelen had noticed it he was having a hard time ignoring it. Could his current companion hear it as well?

Kaelen watched Sannoru to see if they were acting off in any way. From what he could tell at first they were not. Perhaps they were better at ignoring it than he was right now. In the same hushed, hoarse, drained voice from before, "What happened to the wolf?" Then an idle thought crossed his mind and he spoke it before considering it. "Are you the wolf?" No that couldn't be it.

Sigrith
 
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The dark elf kept standing there, their body swaying, shifting weight left and right...but subtly. They generally looked at the human before them, but not directly.

As the human spoke, Sannoru's gaze focused on Kaelen's eyes, and with a single motion, the elf's head shrugged, his face and gaze turned to point at the forest, then back at him, tilting their head slowly.
 
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The other person, Kaelen couldn't make out their gender at all, just motioned with their head towards the woods. Guess that meant the wolf had run off to find some prey. Now who was this person? They clearly weren't human or from the parts of the mainland he had been to. Their tongue was unfamiliar to him and they didn't seem to speak the common one even if they could understand it. Let him with some questions. Wasn't the time to get answers though.

His eyes drifted up. He had no idea what time it was. He didn't even know what time of day it was that he found himself on the beach or how much time he was out for after. Despite the sun being covered by clouds he knew it was day time due to how bright it was. He studied them for a bit as he searched for where the light across the gray white blanket was the brightest. It took him a bit but eventually figured it out. It was half way into the evening on its way to twilight. How long had he been out for?

The rumbling of thunder and rushing of water continued in his ears. Kaelen frowned as he tried to make it stop. He popped his ears and rubbed around their base. Nothing seemed to give him any results. If anything their intensity grew. He turned his gaze back to Sannoru and said in that drained, hoarse whisper, "Can you hear thunder and rushing water?" He hoped they did. If they didn't then he didn't really want to think too much more on what that could mean. Especially not after those strange dreams.
 
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San tilted their head only slightly, observing the odd mannerism. Too much frantic movement. Seeiri ne Kisaren, they had little faith that this man was truly right in their mind as they asked about the weather. Thunder?

Briefly the elf closed their eyes. The soft rustle of the treetops, the gentle ebb and flow of the water, and the clouds moved quickly over the southern Eretejvan dreary sky. And the salty smell of the sea the wind drafted up towards the forest. Oh...
The elf opned their eyes, staring down the man before gazing at the woodlands.
Sigrith better return before sundown. The golden disc was closer to the edge of the sea than the the centre of the heavenly globe. And Sigrith should know by now that Sanno's vision gets poor at such great light changes, as well as being hit by increasing lethargy.

»You hear the throes of madness before doom.«
San then sat down, taking out their ink and a fine brush, inscribing over an underbrush leaf that was found before Sigrith anounced the smell of the soggy almost-dead.
 
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The response was a clear no. That was not what Kaelen wanted to hear. He frowned to himself hearing it and began to consider his next step. He was hearing and seeing things. That either meant he was going insane, under some kind of illusion, or the gods were in his head right now. All of those options were possible, even if the last one was rare. It had happened to one of his silver blooded ancestors in the past. He hoped that wasn't the case here. It started for them shortly before their death. After everything that happened it was possible he could be dying as well....

Instead of focusing on that, Kaelen began to sort out how he might figure out if it was an illusion. If it was then the other person would be the most likely suspect. They didn't seem to be doing that though as they pulled out a bush and ink to start doing something to a leaf. Looked like boredom to him. Could have been the wolf. Or maybe the wolf wasn't even real either. If that was true then this blue skinned person wasn't real and he would have to question if any of this was real.

Kaelen sighed a bit to himself. He was starting to suspect he had just lost his mind finally. But if he was questioning his sanity could he truly be insane? Sounded like a conversation from the philosophy courses back at the University in Stormhold. It was better to just forget this whole business altogether and focus on what he was sure of. There was a stranger before him that was as mysterious as they could get and a giant, talking wolf out there somewhere. Both of them had also saved him. Where they after a ransom? Unlikely given he was sitting there rather unsupervised. If not for the fact he was naked under the fur and the person across from him was keeping their eyes on him at all times despite what they were doing he could have run off without any worry. Something else was going on and he just needed to figure that out before making his next move. That and recovering enough he could use his body properly.

Kaelen watched Sannoru as they messed with the leaf. After a bit he asked, "What are you doing? Art or ritual?"
 
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»If you talk too much I'll slit your throat,« the elf sneered sharply and quickly, without even looking at him. »Kse- Kse- Ikeri na Kiraseen Seei, « the elf quietly repeated to themself as their tone went down, which went quiet further.
»But that would be a waste of flesh... mei mei,« They shrugged their head at the end, as if they talked to themselves.
Sannoru had the capacity to be relentlessly cruel without even a thought under their frail, calm facade. Perhaps it was the weather, maybe the time, maybe something else entirely... or perhaps their patience for all living had degraded significantly, now reserved only to but a few.
 
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The immediate threat of a response was not proportional at all for Kaelen's questions. Well he didn't think it was. Could have been some kind of important ritual that required silence and he accidentally broke some rule of this land. Someone slitting his throat didn't frighten him too much though. Death was just another part of life and his fear for it had left long ago. If it was his time then it was his time. He might just welcome it right now too.... The sounds in his ears had gotten quiet though.

It would have been better to keep quiet in this moment, but Kaelen couldn't help himself. He smirked a bit as he said, "So art then. Making a pretty image for me? How sweet of you." Well whatever happened next would be his own fault. He knew it and accepted it. He shifted a bit under the fur as he continued to feel warmth slowly return to his body.

Sannoru
 
In a flash of a moment, Sannoru waved their hand, something quickly flashed dangerously close to the man's ear and lodged itself directly behind him on a tree... A long needle like dagger, red in colour.
After a while it slowly turned liquid and stained the soil beneath red.

»Next time I'll aim for the eye,« their voice tried to be calm, and their gaze piercingly set to stare at the man's. It was hard to hold back on silencing this man for good.
 
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The throwing of a weapon was not the response that Kaelen had expected. Instead of looking at it though he just kept his silvery gray eyes locked with Sannoru's eyes. If they were looking for any kind of fear from him then they wouldn't see it. Instead they would see a faint glow take over them from the light of the fire reflecting on them.

"The shy type I see. Don't worry. I'd never look down on another's hard work." Kaelen responded back. He didn't move and just continued to keep his eyes on their eyes. They were quick in many ways. Their temper seemed to be one of them. If they wanted to make a show of force then he didn't feel like playing into it. Instead he decided he should show some more gratitude.

"Here." Kaelen said as he slowly reached down next to him and pulled his combat dagger out of its sheathe. He took the blade in his hand and held the hilt out towards Sannoru. He said as he held it out for them to take, "As thanks for saving my life even if you hate me."
 
»Know who to thank, I am not one of them. Now let me be before I cut off your tongue instead.« Sannoru huskied out, leaning back slightly and slouching-shoulders dropping. Their stare annoyed but now half closed.

San resumed writing. Cramming as many letters on the small surface as possible.
 
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Haw HAW!

Before Kaelen could respond or react, his proferred blade was snatched from his grasp by the claws of a great, three-eyed raven. It left his hand with such suddenness that it very likely caught the flesh of his palm.

HAW-OOO speaks thunder in a barren sky. said the raven as it winged off into the trees above.

A large silhouette moved through the wood, quiet despite the apparent size, shapes of white dangling at mid-height. As it drew nearer the figure of Sigrith materialized from the growing darkness, several snowhares dangling from ropes and an armful of dead wood for the fire hoisted over her shoulder. She said nothing as she arrived to the camp, setting the wood off to one side and tending to the small campfire first. With some patience, effort, and a little bit of time the flames licked and flickered strongly in the still night air.

A sword of admirable quality was lifted, scabbard and attachments, over her head to be set against the tree where San had built a shelter.

She settled wordlessly on the ground near the elf and across from Kaelen where she set to work skinning the hares and preparing them on a wooden spit. A sideglance was given to San's current project, and though Sigrith knew very little of her companion's methods to magic, she'd made an effort to observe the elf's work, usually without comment.

But this time... "It's better than the last," Sigi remarked quietly in a tone that betrayed her fatigue, "should get a few more of those leaves."

The last one had been too dry and deteriorated before San could make use of it.
 
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