Lonely [Open]

The vast stretches of unclaimed land, untouched by the nations of man.  Often considered by many to be wild and dangerous lands.  Indeed, outside of the protection of city walls and the armies of man, the world can be harsh and cruel.  Yet, the wilds also contain a beauty in them unmatched, the beauty of nature.  Those used to the safety of a city might find it harsh, but those who know the land and how to work it can see it.  In one such area of nature, a gentle breeze blew.  The sun was high in the sky, and few clouds dared intrude upon it's domain.  Animals bustled about, and the gentle sound of leaves almost echoed across the land.  Even the plants seemed to move, attempting to soak in the life giving rays of the sun with their bright green leaves.  It was as if nature itself had come to life, all living things as one, as if a single organism, in order to accept the gifts of the sun.  Even the carnivores, which relished the bustling about of their food sources, seemed to simply accept the beautiful day for what it was.  Such was the way of nature on this day, in the forests South of the Black Steppes.  In contrast to the nearby poisoned Weald, which reeked of danger and corrupted energies, this forest bathed in harmonious energies.  Out on this day was an elf.  An elf, of average height with long, silky dark hair, sat out bathing in the beauty of this nature.

From her seat atop a large cool gray rock, she gazed out at a nearby pond.  The gentle breeze caused a slight ripple in the pond as it reflected the sun, causing the water, and even the air above it, to shimmer and almost sparkle.  A light smile lined her lips, a light smile and yet somehow it seemed as if it carried far more weight than it would first appear.  The elf's outfit was akin to a formal school uniform in human terms, a white shirt under a buttoned uniform that was simultaneously a dress.  Her legs would be largely bare if not for the stockings that reached slightly above the knee.  Granted, the outfit meant little, it did not specifically signify anything besides that the girl found it somewhat comfortable.  She looked up to the trees as some birds began to chirp, beautifully entwining with the rest of nature in song.  Even the elf thought that the forest was unusually beautiful today, there was something otherworldly and supernatural about the scene.  She couldn't help but think maybe it was a sign, of what though she did not know.  Occasionally she would look around, hearing some noise and turning to see what it is, but she figured it would just be some animal or other creature of the forest.  If one looked upon the scene they would merely see an Elven girl enjoying the beauty, however they would not truly know what they look upon.  For this was not some random elf, this was Xecty Ein, head of the Ein clan.  And any passerbys would have no way of seeing that beneath the gentle smile, that which swirled around in her head were anything but harmonious.  No, harmony did not make it's home in the depths of her mind.  The waters within this girl's mind were turbulent, violent, and troubled.  Anyone who passed by could never understand the chaos within her mind, not unless they could see past the facade and see the sadness in her eyes.

Still, this young woman was used to having to function under such conditions.  After a time of enjoying the scenery the best she could, the elf hopped up off of the rock and began to walk off.  She came out from the pond and headed back to a lightly traveled path.  This path wasn't usually traveled by her people, so that meant it was more than likely travelers who used it, but it was far enough away from her clan that no one usually found it.  As she came through some brush separating the path from the rest of the forest though, he foot caught on a branch.  "Waaagh."  She called out as she fell to the ground, her foot twisting as it happened.  She face planted right into the dirt, before rolling over and holding her foot in apparent pain.  She had twisted her ankle.  She clutched onto her foot for a bit, hoping it wasn't sprained.  Attempting to stand, she yelped out in pain and quickly fell back to the dirt.  Yes, while the forest was in perfect harmony, harmony didn't seem to have a place in this girl's heart.  Tis a shame.

Xecty was most certainly not expecting to be caught by someone. Her heart skipped a beat for a quick moment. Was it someone from her village? That would only make her day worse, not better. She could tell from the feeling of the hands that it was a woman. Then she heard the voice. "I've got you..." She didn't recognize it, which should have been comforting. Or rather, maybe it was just less stressful. Still, whomever caught her seemed to do it out of kindness, it was not the voice of someone there to reprimand or judge. Xecty attempted to put her weight on her feet so that she could scurry to a safe distance from the strange, but that failed as she let out another small sound of pain from her lips. "Th-thanks." She nervously said before putting most of her weight on her good foot and turning, standing on her own 2 (mostly one) feet. She finally turned and managed to look the woman in the eyes, and get a look at her. She was...kinda pretty. She was dressed oddly, but even Xecty knew she was dressed oddly for what she was, so she wasn't going to judge this woman on it. "I'll be fine th..."

That is when she noticed it, this woman's ears. They...they weren't pointy! They were the ears of a human. "Eep!" She jolted back slightly startled, but it turned into an eep as she accidentally placed weight on her foot and fell to the ground again. "Ow." She simply said. She looked back to the woman. Before she had had a soft smile on her face, of course that smile may have disappeared upon seeing her collapse to the ground. Shy or not, this woman didn't seem like someone to really fear. "I'm sorry, I didn't expect it to be someone like you...I don't mean that in any offensive manner of course." She scratched the back of her head. Smooth Xecty, smooth. That's when she heard someone else, and her head darted in that direction. Xecty sure seemed jumpy. "Don't mind me, just whipping up a salve for that ankle of yours." This voice came from a man...a rather intimidating looking man, at least in Xecty's eyes. Xecty was a little scared now, and as soon as she got a good look at the man her arms wrapped around one of the woman's legs and latched on out of fear. After a moment, she recollected herself and realized that she may have overreacted a bit. "Huh? No need, my ankle is just fine, see?"

Xecty went to stand, stamping her injured foot on the ground a few times before an exaggerated look of pain overcame her face. "Who am I kidding..." She said as she took the salve as the man offered it. She sniffed it first, making sure it wasn't poison. That was when the man reassured her she had to put it on her ankle, not drink it. "I see..." She said as she crouched down and did her best to apply it, granted applying it herself was a little awkward. It might have helped if someone helped her. However it got applied though, after a short time the pain did start to die down. "It seems to have worked, thank you very much." Xecty stood on her feet, it still hurt but not nearly as bad, and did a polite bow, hands in front of her body. She was incredibly nervous right now and didn't want to offend anyone, and while part of her wanted to hide in a hole another part wanted to learn a little about these two. "My name is Xecty Ein, nice to meet you." She did the polite thing really well, though the combination of politeness and extreme shyness was an odd combination.

As Xecty attempted to escape to a safe distance the woman told her to calm down as it would make things worse. Well she was right about that. When Xecty accidentally said the potentially offensive comment, she did cause the woman to inquisitively repeat the words. "No, I swear that isn't what I meant. I wasn't expecting to see a human....ahh, that sounds bad too." Xecty took a moment, bringing her hands to her chest and lowering them to her waist as she breathed out. "Lets try this again." Before she could regain her composure completely though, she got startled by the scary looking man. Thus, the leg cling. Though the woman's reassuring words once more calmed her down. It felt strange, words of comfort weren't something she ever had directed at her. She recomposed herself upon hearing the woman's words. "I'm sorry, I'm just a little on edge I suppose." From there she did the foolish test on her leg. That was a bad idea. She proceeded to take the salve, and when she had trouble the woman actually actually got down and helped her. Help...this is what it felt like to have help. She got it from both this woman and the scary looking man, it was nice to have help for once and not be expected to deal with everything on her own.

From there, the woman introduced herself as Melinda Laurence. Definitely a human name, but she kinda liked it. Melinda went on to ask the man his name, to which he responded with a strange sound. "Begging your pardon, are you okay sir?" The man went on to introduce himself as Drake Grimm. What a...fitting name. Appearance-wise anyway, from what she had witnessed he was much nicer than his name and appearance would indicate. As Grimm bowed, Xecty bowed as well, though she went deeper and longer than his bow, as a sign of politeness. He promptly asked what they were doing in the forest, noting she wasn't equipped for hunting or...bush-crazy. "I'm sorry, I don't know what you mean by bush crazy. I can't speak for Madam, but I live here. Or rather, I live near here. Actually...I've never left." Xecty left it at that and allowed Melinda to explain herself, or not explain herself, she didn't know yet. Xecty...well to be honest she was still a nervous wreck inside. Now however, it wasn't fear of being judged or harmed, but rather fear of doing something really stupid. She only hoped that the politeness would hold up and not collapse in on itself making her look like a fool. "Once again, I'm sorry I got so startled. Thank you Sir Grimm, Madam Laurence."

She was sorta temporarily happy, though she had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. Things seemed to be going well, except the ankle but even that didn't turn out THAT badly. Yet she couldn't shake the feeling that SOMETHING was going to try and ruin it. Unfortunately for her, those feelings were usually right. Granted, her life was just a string of misery so it wasn't hard for bad feelings to be right. Maybe she was just being pessimistic. Yet throughout the conversation, she couldn't help but keep glancing towards the direction of her village, which was to her left. If something bad was to happen, it's source was rather obvious to her. She glanced back to the two she was currently interacting with. "Am I to assume you are a hunter sir? It seemed implied by your previous statement, and the weapons on your back, forgive me for jumping to conclusions." She actually sorta had a lot of things she wanted to ask, but she didn't want to scare them away asking too much. She'd never left the forest, she didn't know much about the outside world. This was a pleasant start though.

Melinda went on to describe bush crazy, and "Sir" Drake went on to describe savagery. "Oh my." Was all she could say, hand over her mouth. Of course, if they only knew. They'd probably want nothing to do with her. She shook that thought from her mind quickly and moved on. She thanked them both, but quickly there was a rather strange response on "Sir" Drake's face. He corrected her, asking her to call him Drake. "Oh okay...D-Drake." Calling someone by their first name was something she had little experience with.
Melinda moved on to explain what she was doing out here, and it was something that didn't make much sense. Why would someone be out in the woods for no reason? Of course the world as she understood it was a much more restricted place, and in her head people weren't supposed to leave a village unless they were hunting or gathering. She wasn't sure if she should be frightened or curious, in her head probably both. Melinda asked about Xecty's home, but then quickly went on to ask not to be called Madam. Did she offend them? They both preferred using their own name, was she disrespecting their culture by being so polite. "O-okay...M-Melinda." Now she was a bit flustered and had forgotten about the question as to where she lived, at least for a moment.

She blinked a few times. "Oh right. I live in a village. Xecty Ein, h-head of the Ein clan, at your s-service." She stuttered a bit, bowing as she gave her choppy full introduction. It was quite obvious something was very wrong. Xecty was timid and generally easily frightened. She didn't seem strong enough to LEAD anyone. Coming up from the bow, her hands began to sort of play with each other, in the way someone does when nervous. After the introduction, Drake informed her he was more of a Ranger, which she had NO idea what that meant. This is where the strangest thing happened. Melinda randomly asked if anyone had died in the area. "Umm...has anyone died? My mother did somewhat recently...within the past month...why?" She was a little fidgety now, though she was fidgeting even before the question came up. She felt like she was making a ton of colossal blunders. Her body language wasn't helping, as she seemed slightly condensed, like she was trying to look small and less noticeable. She merely listened as things continued on from that point, unsure what to make of the situation anymore.