Rune

Amrunela located the owner of the voice threatening her best friend rather quickly. She was standing in the shadows of a large tree, half-way hiding behind of it, a bow in her hand. The girl had silver hair that hung over her face before it was tucked into her grey cloak. That was about as much she could tell at the moment.

Jaekel took a step forward, "Easy. We are just looking for our horses and bear no ill will to you, miss."

She kept the bow trained on him, and her voice was steady, "That does not explain why you are in Nix'Ryl. You people never come here peacefully."

Her voice may have been calm but there was an underlying wariness in it. Amrunela could not help but feel worried watching this exchange. A slight smile came to her face as she realized she had the perfect way to deal with this and began an incantation. She saw the way the girl snapped her eyes to look at her, the one eye that Amrunela could make out widening in fear.

And then a shape lept out of the tree overhead, tackling Jaekel to the ground, a low growl permeating the air. The tussle did not last long, before the shape sat up, one hand pinning Jaekel to the ground and the other raised as if to hit him.

This new person was a man. He had gray hair that was twisted up with feathers and beads, with a small braid laying against his cheek. He had orange eyes and a frown on his face. Slightly pointed ears, not elven, but more like a faun's were – even though the rest of him looked human. His clothing was made from the skin of some kind of animal.

He showed her his teeth, "Don't finish that intonation, little lady, or else your friend here will have a hole the size of my fist in his head."

She dropped the spell, ignoring the way it gave her a splitting headache to do so, "It was just a charm spell, nothing that would hurt."

"I know what it was. I don't care." He lowered his fist and watched her with a detached expression on his face, "No one messes with Princess though."

"Umm…" Jaekel was frowning, "Can I please get up? We won't harm….Princess."

The man scowled at him, "You can't call her Princess. That's my name for her."

Hearing the childish tone of the man's voice was unnerving and she heard the woman sigh, "Let him up Wind. He seems… kinda civil."

The man quickly scrambled up, "As you wish, Princess." He then walked over and pulled the arrow out of the tree and tossed it over to her.

"So. You really mean us no harm." As the girl spoke, Amrunela noticed that the man seemed to perk up happily at the word 'us'.

"No. We don't." Jaekel managed to smile, as he massaged his bruised arm, "We are on a quest that is all."

"Well, Wind did not just immediately punch you so you must not be too awful." She shrugged, "He is a surprisingly good judge of character for…" She trailed off and frowned suddenly, "Never mind, isn't any of your business.

Amrunela smiled softly, "Um, sorry about almost putting a spell over you. I panicked when I saw you pointing a bow at my friend. What is your actual name? I gather your companion there is named Wind – "

"Only Princess can call me that." The man was frowning.

"Niliah." The woman actually smiled now, "And you can call him Talon. Ignore his… weirdness."

At this point Amrunela was rather confused as to what was going on. Everything seemed strangely civil.

"May I ask?" Jaekel asked calmly, "Why did you point the bow at us in the first place?"

"If you knew just how many people have randomly attacked me in the past you would not ask that question."

"Fair enough."

No one seemed entirely sure where this conversation was going. After a long while of silence, Talon finally broke it, "What quest are you on? Perhaps we can help in some way to make up for attacking you?"

"….How do we know we can trust you with the details?" Jaekel had come to stand beside of Amrunela. "I mean, just a minute ago you were all ready to punch me in the face…"

"…Your point? Your companion was about to cast a charm spell on my Princess." He smiled, "So we are even. As for how you can trust me… I suppose right as now you have no reason to, but if you are here on a quest then you might need a guide and I know these lands like you know the back of your hand."

There was a point to what the man said, and so Jaekel paused, glanced at Amrunela and she shrugged. (They did not actually seem to be too dangerous. Just Talon was a little eccentric.) He turned and looked at the two, "Well, if you help us find our horses then I can tell you I suppose…"

"Fair enough." And that was how they ended up with two very odd people following them around. Or leading them through these lands to be more precise.