[the rearing stallion] Well, at least the women are nice.

[Ximal]

Xi looked down at the rather stunning companion he'd found as a guide. The guide thing was a ruse to get her alone with himself for a while but he wasn't exactly untrue when he said he remembered her. it was something that stuck out in his mind quite vividly. Though her comment about being in the arm of a gentle man brought forth another surge from hi instead of taking her arm in tow he crouched down lightly and scooped her up into his arms across the pair of them like one might carry a princess or a baby. Xi mulled over the thoughts and words from her wondering if she was right with either of them running the thoughts through his head with a slow mined tempo he eventually came to a realization. He hasn't seen her in nyka the spires or before in either zeltiva or syliras...no he recognized her from a time he'd rather forget...The next line she'd spoken of though was rather comical considering what he'd just done to her quite literally sweeping her off of her feet and into his arms. Her next words were comforting, having said that he was often easily forgotten despite his height. "Shiress may i ask...Were you ever in sunberth...because i'm fairly certain that's where i remember you from...A very vivid memory much less a dream now...I beg forgiveness for asking but were you perhaps a slave once..." Xi's brow furrowed and he tried to recall exactly how he knew her, no she want from the time he was one which meant..that it was from a time after... Gods dammit X you dumb bastard where do you remember her from? And seriously you just asked a beautiful woman quite literally in your arms if she was a slave...You never cease to amaze with your stupidity." Xi sighed and opened his eyes slowly thinking calmly about what he could have possibly done to remember her face so clearly?

[Shiress]

For the second time in a day, Ximal had caught the barmaid off guard and caused the color in her face to fade from a soft ivory to a brilliant red. Just has the words passed her lips, Xi had scooped her up into his thick arms. With one arm wrapped around his shoulder and a hand gripping tightly at his shirt, she buried her face bashfully in the mans shoulder with a soft laugh.

She slowly lifted her head to see blue eyes looking down at her, he was obviously still mulling over where he had seen the girl before. Shiress smiled and began to speak, but Xi's voice came first and his question caused her smile to fade and her heart to skip a beat. "Sunberth?" She repeated, her voice a whisper. "I..." Before she had the chance to respond, Shiress felt the color drain from her face as her body began to tremble.

Slave.

Gods all mighty, that word, that title. Will she ever really escape slavery? In being, yes! But in mind too? It was looking ever so doubtful. Her green eyes glared blankly at Xi as she tried to process what the man had just asked her. It took a chime, but her actions finally caught up to her thoughts. At length, her lips parted, but she still struggled to find the words to speak. "A slave?...Let me down." She said, wiggling. "Please, let me down."

As her feet met with the ground again, she tucked loose hair away behind her ears and slowly lifted her gaze, a look of curiosity and anger mixed with dread in her green eyes. "Why would you think I was a slave?" She asked, her voice smooth, but hesitant. "Do I look like a slave or is that always your first get to know someone question?"

Great Shiress, get all defensive.

She lifted her hand and slid her fingers through her hair, doing little more than sending many more stray strands falling around her face, and sighed. "I think hope you have me mistaken as someone else."

[Ximal]

The reaction from her was exactly what he had expected, she was annoyed at him for mentioning it and rightly so...He's over stepped a line and mentioned something that was a bit much...Why would he think she was a slave...Did she look like one, or was it something he always asked? Xi shook his head and listened out to her last words maybe he was thinking of someone else..."I'm sorry i didn't mean anything by it and i apologize wholly...It's just i think i remember something and...You seem a lot like a woman who was once a slave..." Xi Brought his hand up to his face and pressed his finger and thumb into his eyes lightly before pressing his palm against his chin. "Yeah, you remind me of her a lot actually...And don't get me wrong i don't man that as a bad thing, i helped her escape...So i'm sorry if i've offended you...I didn't man anything by it...Y'think i'd remember someone that pretty even behind all the dirt..." Xi sighed and slid his hands into his pockets...before looking at the ground. "I'm sorry for that...it was vastly out of line and i apologize...I wont take up any more of your time now..." Xi lifted his head long enough to flash an apologetic smile...Albeit brief it showed he really was sorry for the comment... Possibly more than anyone else he hated thinking about anyone being a slave...Especially himself...Xi began to walk off taking a few steps away from her. A deeply nagging though in his head that the person he'd helped was her...But he couldn't be sure even if the way she'd acted had been a little odd...

[Shiress]

Shiress couldn't think, she could only listen as the man spoke his reasoning behind the mistaken identity. It all made sense though, every word, but she couldn't remember him or even her escape. Only bits of terror, etched and carved into her memory, remained of her journey to freedom and even those memories, tattered and broken as they are, were first revisited when a wolf Kelvic found her working in the Stallion last season and recognized her as the one he had found injured and near death deep within the trees of The Bronze Woods.

This man could be right and offer more pieces to the puzzle, but the puzzle was one Shiress both wanted and didn't want to piece together. Sighing, she turned just as Ximal stepped away. "Wait!" She called out, letting her curiosity get to her tongue before good reasoning. "Mistaking me as someone else shouldn't ruin a nice walk." Shiress glanced around as if taking in the night air. "It's a beautiful night, at least walk me to my door before you leave. Besides." She smiled and stepped forward. "A man that would help a slave escape her master wouldn't leave a woman standing all defenseless in the middle of the street, would he?"

The barmaid took several steps to meet up again with Xi and wrapped her still trembling arm tightly around his and lifted her face. "Slavery." She began again then sighed. "It's a sensitive topic, I guess you can say. I have family that...you know, has fallen victim to chains and I'm sorry if my reaction was harsh."

She pulled her arm tighter around his in a possible attempt to contain the trembles running through it or maybe an attempt to remain on her feet, but either being truth or not, Sunberth, slavery or anything else that may bring back memories of a time and events that her mind thought better forgotten frightened the girl into a sick state. Still, the once slave girl knew if she was to over come her past, she would have to remember it, all of it, first.

"Lets finish our walk as you tell me about this girl in um...what city again?"

[Ximal]

As Xi started to walk forward there wasn't much of a passing moment before he heard her call out the word "wait". He turned his head lightly to look over his shoulder and glanced back at her...Mistaking ehr as someone else ? Maybe he had but still he felt rather...guilty about the whole situation...He'd blurted something out without thinking as usual and it was and had caused a major issue. He should at least walk her to her door? He he probably should, after all even the nicest city still had criminals...Even nyka still had criminals with a full fledged nykan monk force policing the streets at night...Xi smiled lightly knowing she was full well right, Xi offered his hand to her but instead she closed the gap towards him and warped her arm around his. It's ture that it was a sensitive topic...Yeah...It is...It's difficult dealign with someone whose been through it...It's easier to find solace with those who have, and know what the feel of shackles is like. Both physically and mentally..." He could feel her arm shaking lightly against his, perhaps it was really difficult for her... she wanted to discuss about it? It might have been one fo the better moments he'd had in that city but still...He sighed and began to talk. Alright if you really want to know..." Xi took his cloak off and hung it around her shoulders the entirely of it's size now fully swamping erh and keeping the cool night air off of her. "It was, a bleak day, greyed over sky with the ever looming threat of rain...It broke once or twice but nothing heavy. I was well...I was runnign across the roof tops in sunberth...I prefer it up above the streets especially in that city where around every corner there's someone looking to stab you and take everything you have...I headed out towards the docks...As much as i hate saying it that's where the slavers market was...Something mus have happened that day becuase ther were more than the usual..." Xi stepped forwards and slowly slow enough to keep walking in stride with Shiress. Still that's only what the day was like..It wasn't long untill i spotted an opportunity to be nuisance to the slave trade there...I leapt down and started to secretly open the cages...I'pd gotten the key to them and the shackles earlier from one of the slavers...i pulled him into an alley and..."knocked him out" for a while...I slipped the keys into the cages and set free a few slaves...At least that's how it started." Xi sighed lightly he hated tryign to remember abut a time he'd rather forget...he'd of rather forgotten about every single thing within that city. "A while later a spotted a young woman such as yourself, brown hair, and piercing green eyes...She caught my attention, and the master she was with caught my ire, chaining someone like that up was not so much cruelty as a sin to any god he followed...So i followed him and her..." Xi paused a moment and then began to explain. "I'm not a...good person in a lot of senses...I need you to understand that now, but everything I've done...I'd do again...When i followed that master and that girl, he lead her off into a series of alleys, and I...Killed that master...I wont go into how but...He didn't even look human once i'd finished." Xi chewed his tongue lightly for a second..."I set her free of her bonds by the key he kept on him...Then i fled with her...I took he to a safe spot out of the way, but ...after that id don;t remember much else...The slaves i let out earlier caused the disturbance which lead to the escape of me and her...That's how we got away without raising suspicion..."