1st of Summer 521 A.V. Elias stared down at the water of the small stream that he and An'un Dui followed from the Jungle. The Jungle seemed cooler this day than what he was used to. Maybe that was just hopeful or wishful thinking on his part because that would be perfect for his purposes. This morning it had rained and everything was wet. That was one thing about the jungle he couldn't deny was lovely, the smell of everything after a morning of rain. It was starkly different than the frozen world he hailed from, ice and snow weren't without scent but the fragrance of a jungle environment was another thing entirely. "I'll be fine, I just won't look anyone directly in the eye for now. The hood we got in Lhavit will be enough to cast my face in shadow, and we can mix some berries and mud in order to create a black paste to line my eyes so it will hide the color. As long as I keep my emotions and check and remain calm it shouldn't matter anyway" Elias nodded to himself. He didn't know if he was more trying to convince himself or An'un Dui of this plan. He could tell she was nervous, he was as well. Carefully, he applied the liner to his eyes after he crushed and ground it into a paste onto a large stone lying on the jungle floor made of berries and minerals from the mud and soil. He looked at his face in the water of the stream. It was the same green eyes he always had but the thick black paste offset them enough that they appeared slightly more pale. Lifting the hood over his face he was satisfied as he looked at his reflection that his eyes were at least heavily obscured if not completely unnoticeable. The only thing he was worried about is the paste melting off or him sweating the black paste away from his face due to the humid weather that wasn't unusual around here. "It might just work," An'un Dui said in a tone that revealed she was still unsure of this whole idea. "It has to work," he said with firm resolve as he turned with his hood up and his eyes obscured to follow the stream An'un Dui promised would lead them to Syka. It was bells of time following the stream before they came across a structure. It was a small structure suspended over the running stream with a thatched roof and it seemed pretty open. It also had some sort of platform suspended below this structure but still far above the stream. Curiosity overtook Elias as he made a move to go toward the structure and felt a hand on his shoulder "What are you doing? We want as little contact as possible in Syka until you can be sure that you can safely mingle amongst people." Elias turned toward the worried voice of An'un Dui, "I don't want my first trial run to be amongst the people of Syka. That seems foolish when a perfectly good opportunity awaits us here. I can ask whoever lives here directions to Syka, we must be close by now. In doing so I can practice remaining calm and test this disguise out on them. If she suspects I'm a Vantha then we aren't in the city proper and we can just return to the wilds once more and I can practice morphing until I am at a level which I can fool even the most discerning gaze". Elias thought it was foolproof logic, what could possibly go wrong? An'un Dui sighed and nodded. They put their bows away, he didn't think anyone would talk to them if they displayed a show of force. He hoped this would prove a wise decision. As they approached the structure they paused when a young, but still looked significantly older than Elias, a beautiful woman with blonde hair that seemed to catch the sunlight peeking from the trees and illuminating her. She bent down to observe something on the topmost structure of the building when Elias took a deep breath and prepared himself for the first real social encounter he had in the span of years. He raised his arm and waved it back and forth and shouted, "Hello there, we seem to be lost. Any chance you know the way to Syka?" WC: 734 |