Hilde

13th night of the Month of Ice, 23:45, before Walpurgis

She likes to walk home after her duty at the Ogdra. Depending on how late she is, she waits for Nima or Saru to finish so she doesn't walk alone.

The night of the incident, right on walpurgis, when Mani has left the skies to sleep, she waits by the gate of the Ogdra for Nima to finish, Saru staying a while longer as he studies some books that he will later have to return to the Archives. He had waved at her goodbye and Hilde had waved back as she hurried to the exit, happy but exhausted after the long night.

Nima also likes to walk, only riding his nerval when he's in a hurry to get somewhere, but home never seems to be it. Hilde lives much closer to the Ogdra, the Gernot house located off Main street and quite close to the river. And Nima always diverged from his easier path to make sure she got home safe.

It's cold outside, having snowed not that long ago and some of that snow still clinging to some parts of the streets. But Hilde liked it, she liked it even more when she entered a building and felt the heat invade her very bones and warm her entire body. A leaf from a nearby tree falls right in front of her and Hilde cannot help herself and expels a gust of asha powered air, making it float upwards and almost disappear in the dark sky.

"Having fun?" Asks a voice right behind her. Hilde yelps and whirls around. There stands Nima, beaked mask tilted to the side and hands on his waist, make his body look like a vase of some kind.

"You scared me!" Yells Hilde with a nervous giggle and slaps playfully at his much taller shoulder, she even needs to stand on her tiptoes to do so.

"I just walked up to you, I was not even trying to scare you" says Nima, and while the tone may sound mean to most, Hilde can hear the slight tease hiding in it.

"You still did, you should apologize" says Hilde in a fake haughty tone "Don't you know who Am I?"

Now Nima chuckles and they start to walk. It's late and dark, not usually a problem to a Netherian, but Hilde knows Nima cannot see like she is able, that Nomads are diurnal—Nima had explained it once, about the day of the Outside, the enormous star he called 'sun'—and that means they cannot see in the dark. All the tall lamps that shone upon Neth streets and buildings are just for Nomads.

"How was your night?" Asks Hilde conversationally

"Slow" grunts Nima "The Creed keeps insisting on a Nashe"

It's no surprise, a Vyshe must always have a Nashe, but Nima is being extremely picky with the Creed choices for an apprentice to the title of Haruspex.

"You'll have to make a choice at some point" reminds Hilde "There must be one you like better than the others, just pick that one"

Nima grunts but doesn't answer, Hilde smiles and internally laughs, he is so grumpy she is surprised he is her friend, she being so timid and he being so brunt and grumpy about everything.

"Well, my night was great" says Hilde and skips ahead a couple of steps to walk backwards and look directly at the terrifying visage of the Haruspex.

"Did you see a bird?" Teases Nima, an ongoing joke between them, as her job centered on bird-watching.

"Not really" pouts Hilde "Nasaru did his best, but everything was calm today"

"Is that good or bad?" Asks Nima and Hilde stops, allowing Nima to catch up to her. The street is empty, soon they'll have to turn to smaller streets towards Hilde's home.

"It depends"mumbles Hilde. Mind far away, she remembers silence, like the one tonight, as no birds appeared in the sky, but worse. She should try to leave before moonfall, like mother always says. Neth is safe, but sometimes is not.

And she knows that. She knows better than most after-

"Hilde?" Nima's voice returns her to the world. She blinks and forces a smile, it must be quite wobbly, because Nima is pushing his hood back and taking off his mask.

It's instinctual, to lower her eyes, something learned since she could walk and talk. A Vyshe's face is sacred, only inside their home their faces can be seen, but Nima is a nomad. What should be ingrained in his brain is for him just a mere suggestion he sometimes decides to ignore.

He meets her eyes. He's frowning and looks worried. His dark hair is shorter than the last time she saw him without his mask, a mere fuzz at the sides and back and longer and spiky on top, face older and light stubble adorned his cheeks and chin, his scar adding more shadows to his face. Hilde remembers the stupid fight with Anax and how Nima ended with a forever marred face and a lesson learned on how not to fight earth Asha users.

"What's wrong?" He asks and Hilde realizes they have stopped and are standing close to the river—they normally walk alongside it until they reach a parallel street to Hilde's.

"It's nothing" says Hilde and then laughs "Just thinking about how cold is!"

It doesn't seem like Nima believes her, and he fiddles with the mask's leather strap in his hands for a second, eyes moving from it to Hilde's face as he does.

"Let's just get you home" he says, sighing with finality and Hilde breathes in relief. Smiling widely at him

"I should get you some pastries, you know? I made perb-" she doesn't finish saying, because it's then when a great pain touches every nerve in her body and she drops to the damp and freezing cobblestone that makes the streets of Neth.

She barely hears Nima yelp in pain and realizes she is paralyzed, lying on her back on the street, vision fuzzy as her body tries to restart itself in a painful process Hilde remembers going through before in her life. Her eyes can only see the blurry starry sky and the lamp lights that line the streets.

What happened? She chokes slightly as she tries to talk. Where's Nima? She finally is able to turn her head, just a bit, just enough to see the blurry figure of Nima on the floor, something—no, no, someone—on top of him.

Her vision clears. She recognizes that silhouette, dark clothes and bright white hair-nothing like Hilde's, with its black streaks all over it. It's Mikhe, great uncle Mikhe, strangling a paralyzed Nima. He had electrocuted them both.

He was going to kill Nima.

And then, he was going to come for Hilde. Like he had done once upon a time.

The panic that takes over is enough to give back some life back to her body. Hilde trembled as she slowly starts to get up, every move her body makes is a tortuous process, but she is on her knees and thinking on how to stop whatever is going to happen next.

She can see clearly now. Nima is not completely gone, one hand is clawing at the stone under him, trying to reach a small leather case on the floor closer to Hilde than to him. She recognizes it, it's his tool kit.

Filled with knives.

Hilde reaches and takes it, Mikhe has not noticed her. He is more concentrated on his task. He also smells heavily of alcohol, the overly sweet smell clogging Hilde's nostrils. She cannot hear anything, her ears ringing, but Mikhe's mouth is moving, saying something just for Nima.

She grunts and sobs, but finally opens the kit blindly, eyes locked on what's happening in front of her. She doesn't see what of the many small knives Nima has she ends up grabbing, but she is sure it's a knife.

Because it pierces nicely Mikhe's lower torso.

He screams in pain and Hilde hears Nima gasp a breath as Mikhe falls to the side, hands off Nima's throat.

Hilde scrambles towards him, ignoring Mikhe's shrieking body not far from them. Her hands hover Nima, not sure how to help. He rolls over and coughs, his hands grasping at the stone and trying to get up. He makes it to his knees before Mikhe is again on them.

"You bitch! You stabbed me!" He screams at Hilde as he pushes her down and climbs on her.

She doesn't scream, she goes numb, like her body is preparing for what's to come. But with a scratchy howl, Nima throws himself on Mikhe and they both roll around trying to gain the upper hand.

With some effort, Hilde gets up, unsteady on her feet, dress teared at the bottom and the knees. Mikhe is again on top of Nima trying to reach his neck again, and Hilde decides that she is done.

Mikhe is not going to hurt them any more.

Her body moves on it's own, a loose stone tile on her hand—when did she pick that up?— and the crunching sound it makes against the back of Mikhe's head it's as satisfying as it's horrible.

Mikhe drops to the side and Nima pushes him off completely. His throat is purple, with the shape of fingers stained on it like dye. It looks terrible and Hilde chooses that moment to start hyperventilating.

He is not moving. Mikhe is not moving. Not even a twitch.

Nima moves, breath heavy but no words to accompany it. He grabs Mikhe's foot as he goes and drags the body—did she kill him?—to the steep drop that leads to the river, and he just…drops Mikhe in.

They both stare at it as it's dragged along by the currents. No word is shared, just breathing and sobs.

Finally, Hilde speaks up, her whisper loud to her own ears.

"What now?"

She doesn't get an answer, but maybe Ayth themselves is the one to respond when a splash sounds in the river, right at the spot where Nima had dropped Mikhe. Her body goes cold and her heart stutters.

A nomad had arrived.