OOCSorry for the delay! I had a really rough day yesterday and took a break from writing altogether.
Nya nodded. Her moss green eyes were clear of fear or judgment. "I have not seem or scented Leo in quite some time. It may be that he isn't even in the city any longer, though I hope he is. I have enjoyed his company in the market on occasion. He is very... interested in justice to the point of being somewhat .... I know there is a word for it, but it escapes me. He focuses on it and everything else seems to fade. He sees people as either right or wrong, and does not strike me as the type to see people and accept their flaws and beauty as a mixture of what makes them human." Nya suggested gently. She didn't know a whole lot about Leo Varniak, but she had sent enough time in his company to understand he had some issues and obsessions. One would have to have been blind to not see it. But Terminus would see that surely for himself if he met the man.
"Ivak was fortunate to know love. It is a rare thing, as far as I can see. My parents have a very strong bond of love, and I know that if one was injured or killed, the other would not react well at all. In fact, the Kelvics age so much faster than humans, love can be hard for us as well. I think that is why there are those that bond lightly so they do not get too hurt when their partners pass forth. My mother is a mage. She's working on finding a way to lengthen the lifespan of one of my kind, though I do not know if she will find a way. She cares deeply for my father and does not want him to die as many horses do, in their twenties." Nya said gently, picking up a bit of cheese and nibbling at it. Truthfully, she hadn't really thought about the age difference nor how quickly she would age and die. It hit her, all of the sudden, why Abashai was perhaps as restrained as he was - why he showed her affection and care, but never the passion her mother and father showed each other. He was protecting himself. He had to be. And it made her sad. Plus, she was not benshira, and Nya was certain her bondmate would take no less than a benshira as a true mate.
"Which is sad, because life is short. A full human can be killed by disease or arrow or accident just as easily as a kelvic can die of old age." Nya said softly, and turned to look more fully at Terminus. She kept up with his thoughts, nodding though she stopped him at his statement on Rhysol's followers. "Every day is a choice. They choose to follow evil. They are evil. I will not ever understand such devotion. They take my kind and use them for their pleasure... fighitng them to the death in pits while betting money, or strapping them to tables and breeding them like Kiparons. We are not prized pets. We are people. Yet rape and murder is fine to them... part of their culture. I would hunt them at eat out their hearts if I knew any were around. Because they do not teach acceptance of such things... of cultural differences. They teach domination. I will not suffer them to live because they will not suffer us to live as we like." She said fiercely, a hint of a growl in her voice. Nya had experience with such evil... evil that had nearly destroyed her. She'd seen whole rooms of children slain, men suspended from ceilings with wires coming out of them powering magical things that should never existed. Evil was evil. She'd not suffer it to live if she had a choice.
As he kept talking though, she calmed a little... and while her posture was threatening and upset, it was never directed at him.
"Yes. I will go visit my family again someday soon." She vowed, meaning it. At his further question, she nodded. "Yes, I am a forest cat." She nodded, deliberately omitting the talderian title that she sometimes used to reference herself. It was bad enough that everyone knew a forest cat was a large cougar-like brindled black and brown overly large predator, but one infected with the giantism that plagued Taldera since the Valterrian wouldn't be as accepted. "Yes, I can take both forms. I was born human, but found my trueform at six months of age. I am far more... comfortable as a cat than as a human, but I am learning. Sometimes being in the city is hard. Which is why I like to find grassy places like this. I would stay in the woods a great deal longer, but I have bonded to a Benshira man who has a job here and he is frequently needed." Nya said softly. "There are a lot of rules in the city to follow. Often they are hard rules....no changing, no stalking, no eating raw meat, no walking around without clothing. Sometimes easy.... be nice, treat everyone the same, do not mark your territory." Nya smiled, and then prompted Terminus with a question of her own.
"You follow Ivak, so your elemental Reinmancy is fire? Is that the only one you know? Or do you know air or water or earth too? And what are your favorite kinds of potions? Does Philtering help in making soup? Mine tastes bland..." She asked, grinning suddenly, glad to have the spotlight off her.