A Different Kind of Puppet (Xalet)

[Aello]

Winter 44, 511 AV Location: Unknown Aello stood with her feet firmly planted upon the uneven terrain. One foot rested upon the bottom of a short, rolling hill, the other a few inches above its side. Her ankle ached as she forced her foot to brace itself against the cold, hard dirt, which was covered in a thin veil of of newly formed frost. The ice crystals dispersed beneath the aurist's boot, and sank into the ground, as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, warming herself up. As she tilted her head from one side, to the other, allowing it to rest on each shoulder for a time before moving it. She heard her neck crack after a fashion, and finally raised her head to a more natural position. Allowed her dark brown eyes to settle on the tree in front of her. It was a tall tree, about four times the girl's size. Its trunk about two times as wide as she. It was covered in a thick bark, which dipped and rose into valleys and hills. Areas which seemed to form tiny crystalline type shapes. Diamonds. It reminded Aello of the pattern atop a rattler's back. If she looked up, the girl would notice the barren branches the tree held. Hundreds of curled arms, reaching for the sky, and for its brethren. Curled fingers beckoning all the forest's creatures closer to it, so that the tree may encase them in its deadly embrace. But Aello didn't look up. She didn't take the time to notice it. Her vision being fixated on one of the wooden diamonds directly in front of her. No more than a foot away. As she stared at the naturally occurring indentation, Aello's hands slid down her thighs. Stroking her cold skin. As she breathed, she watched misty, silver tendrils wind past her chapped lips. She forced her hands to her sides, slid them past the slit in her dress. Forced each hand to find the daggers which she kept so very close, and yet, out of sight. It wasn't a difficult task. Finding the tops of the cool blades which rested against her skin. Within seconds, Aello had wound her fingers around the black hilts of each dagger. Slid them out of their scabbards, filling the air with a sickly satisfying, soft ring. She pulled them away from their hiding place. Into the open. Out to her sides. She let her thumbs dance over the hilt, to her fingers, and then away. Stroking her loyal pets, it seemed. Her traveling companions. All of her fingers, save for the thumb, had been twisted around the hilt, directed at her palms. The thumb, however, was turned towards the blade. The sparkling silver. The blood, which lined her cursed blade. The blade which resided in her right hand. The girl rolled her shoulders, as she took one last, deep breath, in through the nose, and out through the mouth, before bending her arms at the elbow. Raising her blades to a position closer to her shoulders. Held out before her. Like she was lifting weights. A fraction of a second later, Aello swung her right hand out to the side, as far as it would go. Turning her cursed blade on its side, as she swept it back inwards, in a wide arc. It soared, unhindered towards the tree, for but an instant. A flash of silver, before the loud thwack which reverberated through the Wildlands. A woodchip fell from the tree. A slender cut in the tree's bark marked the position it had once held. Aello drew her arm away, and repeated the process with her left arm. Chipping off another piece of wood. This was her practice. She would not be disturbed.

[Xalet]

After what happened the last time Xalet was tasked with carrying a missive to a patrol, one would figure the squire would have just as soon stayed in bed, rather than rose to meet yet another request from his superiors. This time, however, was supposedly different. The path he was to travel was going to be easily navigated and relatively safe, and just as well a secondary missive was to be sent after him, to ensure his arrival and to escort him back afterward. It wasn't supposed to be terribly far, and Xalet's skill with his horse was growing with each passing journey. It was a pity the last one took a crossbow bolt to the neck; the squire was really starting to form a bond with that brown and white colored steed.

This new horse possessed a 'flea-bitten' pattern style, grey and whites mostly, and appeared to be just as hesitant to trust Xalet as his first horse. Typically any horses loaned to the squires were retrieved and rationed out at the behest of the Knights, but if you were lucky you could often request the same horse and build up a repertoire with it, as Xalet had. Now he was starting from scratch yet again, those hoof beats sounding similar enough, but the Akalak could feel a certain tension between he and his equine companion. It was possible the nervousness was not created solely by the purple tinged squire, as his own tapered ears soon picked up a strange thinking sound.

Both curious and cautious, Xalet approached, keeping his reigns firmly prepared to haul off if it was something particularly dangerous. To his surprise, he instead found a small figure near a tree...throwing daggers at it? Perhaps Xuphim could have been considered the more instinctively sensitive of the two, as he immediately made mention of this, "Is that a little girl? I don't like the looks of this, kill it."

"Now wait just one moment here, she's just a girl, probably no different from us." Xalet replied to his other half, trying to assert his reasoning.

"She's in the middle of the wilds taking daggers to a tree, does that not seem suspicious?" Xuphim argued, but Xalet wasn't going to have any more of it. He had learned to trust his darker half far more than he had in thirty years, but the squire still wasn't about to treat suspicious behavior with aggression.

"Hello, ma'am? Xalet, squire to the Syliran Knights. Is everything...ok?" he asked her with some hesitation in his words. What exactly to add to a statement like that, 'is that tree causing you trouble, ma'am?' Still, Xuphim, while an extremist, did have a point. It wasn't good to simply trust everyone you met out in the Woodlands. For that reason, beneath the armor of his plate the brilliant blue flame upon the back of his neck was flaring up, and his Evantia aura was extending from his body, flooding the area around him. A mystic circle about his person, extending nearly a hundred feet in diameter. Mage's had their ways of reading their opponents, and now Xalet had his. With him he also carried the Deific blades given to him by Wysar, sheathed in an unorthodox horizontal fashion across his upper rear waistline. His shield rested upon it's strappings crossed against his backplate, and his crossbow was slung over his shoulder, clamoring softly against the hard metal surface it bounced against with each step of his horses gait.

[Aello]

Aello kept on repeating the motion. Swinging her arms over and over again, chipping away at the tree. Spilling tiny splinters onto the forest floor, which gathered in small piles. Piles which seemed to grow with each passing minute. After a time, sweat began to appear on the girl's brow. Every sight, save for the tree was lost to her. Every sound, save for the pounding of her own heart, and the hollow thwacks of her blades upon the tree was lost. Everything seemed to stop ringing within the confines of her ears. Her chest rose and fell more rapidly. Her breaths became more ragged. Her eyes began to appear more and more distant, as she lost herself in the movement. The ache of her own muscles. It was strange then, that such a simple set of words could draw Aello out of her concentration. Could cause her to swing her arms back to her sides, as she turned to face the mounted Akalak. She stood silently a moment, raising her right hand so that she may wipe the sweat away from her brow with its back. She thought she could feel her hair clinging to her back, with moisture, as she returned her hand to her side, and sheathed her weapons. Her eyes passed over the sight of his horse, the way its tail seemed to swish impatiently. The way the man's skin seemed to glow in the streamers of golden light that trickled through the barren tree branches. He shone a deep blue, which reminded her of the night. Of Sulavik and Gural. "Hello Xalet," Aello responded, as she took a few steps towards him. When she neared his horse, she paused, and extended her right hand. With that hand, she wound her fingers around the reins, close to the horse's mouth, so that she would maintain more control. With her left hand, she pat the horse's nose, so as to help keep it calm, considering, she was a strange entity to him. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Aello." She paused a moment, taking note of the man's dress, and how he was armed. How he held himself. "I was just practicing with my blades when you showed up. It mustn't seem like much, considering no one was around to practice with, and the tree had to oblige." The girl allowed her eyes to settle on Xalet's own as she pulled her left hand away from the horse's nose. As she tilted her head slightly to the side, allowing her long brown hair to cascade over the length of her shoulder, and settle on the far reaches of her back. "What are you doing here, then? You seem to be a bit far from your castle, for a knight."

[Xalet]

Xalet had only gotten to test his Evantia Aura on a handful of people after obtaining it, most of them Knights or squires, similar to he. Though his eyes usually served him well in determining whether or not a person knew which way to hold a sword, everything from their stance, their grip, their plane of attack, the Evantia Aura gave him so much more. It wasn't just a tool for combat, but for intelligence gathering as well. Wysar bid him to use it, practice it, and hone it as much as he could, and thus Xalet would follow his creator's directions. Xuphim could sense things as well, feeding off of the knowledge that connected both of their Souls. It was a long road to travel, understanding how to form a truce between the light and the dark, and he and Xuphim had only recently stepped foot upon it.

"That little girl knows how to handle a dagger. Say your hello's and get the petch out of here, she can handle herself." Between the two of them, Xuphim was quick to dismiss any pleasantries. The selfish, survivalist instinct to go along with Xalet's prideful, sacrificial tendencies.

Xalet watched closely as Aello drew ever closer to his horse, trusting in the animals instincts. Indeed it did not draw away, but seemed satisfied when she touched it's large snout. It would figure such a creature would be satisfied dealing with Aello's delicate, feminine stature rather than a muscled, plate wearing Akalak. Xalet noticed that delicacy as much as his mount did, his polished chrome eyes falling down to her tiny frame. She had to be possibly one and a half, or even two feet shorter than Xalet, and perhaps one third of his weight, even without his armor. The Akalak imagined she would be categorized as a 'cute' or 'dainty' female, given his knowledge of Human culture.

"Just a squire." he always seemed quick to correct people on that. Being called as such, but not truly receiving the title as of yet sat in an unsettling way in the pit of his stomach. "The reach of Syliras extends past it's walls, in an attempt to bring peace as far as resources allow. On this day, I am just a messenger, bringing my missive as directed. It is also training in order to further understand the geography and develop a...more trusting relationship with my horse. I've a history with them, and they tend to be slow in relaxing about me."

OOCI apologize for any inconsistencies, I've got the super flu at the moment!

[Aello]

Aello smiled weakly, as she returned her hand to her side. "You're not all that far from knighthood I'm sure. You'll get there soon." Her smile brightened as the horse continued to swish its tail, and wiggle its nostrils. Releasing warm bursts of air onto her wrist, which seemed to wind around her pale skin as though they were some sort of bracelet. "Although, I wouldn't rush it. With a greater rank comes more responsibility, and with that, comes the ability to pull another's strings just as much as you have your own pulled. Guided along by forces no one seems to truly understand." The girl shook her head lightly as her eyes flashed. She couldn't help but think she had encountered a new sort of person. Someone she could tolerate yes, for they loathed the ones who chased her. Someone she could trust for the same reason. But at the same time, Aello felt Xalet was no different than the 'stryfe. Sure, their ideals may differ in some ways, but in the end, they were strikingly similar, in the sense that each group fought a war of old. A war Aello felt they scarcely understood in the name of the god or gods they favored. A war in which they were being controlled by something considered far greater than themselves. For in the end, they were all puppets. Aello considered the rest of Xalet's words for a time, as she pushed past thoughts of her own history, and what she felt about everything that had occurred up until this point. Something seemed a bit strange to her, but she could not quite put her finger on it yet. "A missive out in the middle of the Wildlands?" Aello asked. "Don't you think it a bit odd? There's nothing out here but the trees and forest critters. Surely, I'm the first person you two have seen in quite awhile." Aello paused a moment, "either someone is pulling your strings, and keeping you out of their way, or you are hopelessly lost." Aello shrugged, "unless you came from somewhere. Although, that seems unlikely. The closest city, as far as I know being Ravok." Aello shook her head. "But you wouldn't go there. The guards would shoot you long before you arrived at the docks." The girl sighed. "Maybe it is as you say, and they merely want you to grow close to the horse... does it have a name?" she asked, as she pressed her forehead against its nose and stared into its eyes. They seemed bright. Dark. Open. So very young, and innocent. If only she remembered what it was like to feel that way. To see the world in a child's light, perhaps Aello would not be so cruel. OOCDon't worry, it was a fine post.

[Xalet]

Xalet felt strange carrying on a casual conversation while atop his horse. It was polite to lower yourself down toward a more common leveling when doing so, and simultaneously it would give his horse a chance to rest it's back, and perchance detest him a bit less. He continued to listen to her of course, quite diligently. Xalet could be called many things, but impolite wasn't one of them, at least never by his own intent. His sollerets were simply enormous, befitting someone of his stature. As they landed upon the ground, even with any attempt to appear light-footed or graceful, it still sounded like a pillar of iron striking the frozen soil beneath.

Hooking both thumbs of his gauntlets beneath the outer most indentations of his full helm, he pulled the obstructive piece of equipment from his head, letting his straight, stringy locks fall down upon his head. Xalet took no true pride in his appearance, at least not upon a vain level. He was notably muscular, as such was his training. He was clean shaven, as such was the direction of his Patron. He had sharp features, as such was the traits of his ancestry. He retained a youthful appearance, as such was the reality of his age. His hair was still greasy from the sweating and drying he did beneath his helm, and his scent was a mixture of metal and oil.

"When it is time, it will be time, Madam Aello. I've not always been good with Human metaphors, but I trust in my superiors just as they trust in me." he seemed as serious as any Akalak. Typically they weren't ones easily swayed one way or another, too much time was spent solidifying their willpower against their other side. As stern as Xalet's expression was, it broke shortly with a slightly embarrassed smile as he admitted, "Though perhaps I am a bit lost."

"GAHAHAAA! A little bit? If we're closer to Ravok, from our patrol you over shot that secondary patrol by a couple days travel, way to go." the booming laughter of Xuphim just wouldn't stop echoing, ruining Xalet's attentiveness for a moment with it's boisterous prominence. Xuphim was correct, however. Attempting to circumvent time by shorting the route hadn't exactly worked out. Or perhaps, instead it worked out far too well. Which crazy Human was it again that said the best way to learn the land, was be become lost within it?

With a soft exhale Xalet removed his satchel and let it drop against his abdomen as he set to unfastening it's buckle to get at it's contents, Parchello. That is his name. He only recently started working with me, as my previous horse of many seasons passed away this fall." the squire added, sifting in order to find his map of the geography so he could attempt to decipher just how grievously he was in error considering his poor navigational abilities.

[Aello]

Aello smiled weakly. "It's alright, we all come to be sometimes, especially when we're foolish enough to forget to buy a map before leaving a major city." She laughed a little as she stared up and in Xalet's eyes. He was rather tall, towering over her, just as Gural and Sulavik had. It was a bit intimidating at times, but, she had to remember that his height meant nothing in battle. For all she knew, her agility, and skill with a blade could signify her having the upper hand. Aello listened, her eyes never leaving him as he drew out his map, and began to pore over it. "Parchello," Aello whispered, trying the sound out on her tongue, "that's an interesting name." She smiled weakly as she raised her hand a little higher on the reins, and scratched the underside of the horse's chin. "He seems nice enough. Sorry though, about your other horse. Hopefully though, your bond with him becomes just as great, if not better." Aello's eyes seemed to shimmer in the sunlight as she continued scratching to the sound of a pleasant whinny, and the gentle shake of a horse's head. It reminded her of a cat, purring, when someone scratched behind its ears. She turned to the horse for a moment, marveling at the joy its eyes seemed to contain for several moments, before turning back to Xalet, who was still busying himself studying the map. "You know, I left last season, and haven't seen civilization since. We could be closer to another city by now, but it'd be difficult to tell. There doesn't seem to be much to determine the area by- a stream or a lake. A rocky outcrop, or mountain range." Aello shrugged. "We're at least a week's journey out of Ravok though. The woods here are unfamiliar. I haven't hunted in them before." Aello paused, as she continued to scratch Parchello's neck absently. "That probably doesn't help too much though." Aello paused, "your best bet may be watching the forest animals. Letting them guide you to a water source, and going from there." Aello smiled. "It may be the only way to get back to your beloved castle, if that's what you truly want, and your missive is over."

[Xalet]

"It took a long time for my previous horse to trust me. Since I can remember the creatures have not been at ease around me. I suppose I started becoming a bit wary of them as well." he replied, unfurling a rolled strip of parchment. Inside he also felt more of a sting than simple loss. As it was taught to every squire and Knight, one must protect their horse as they would their friends. When Xalet's horse died on that day to a crossbow bolt, there was a level of failure the squire had never felt. Failure that led to death, which superseded any previous feelings of incompetence. The fifty-some days that had gone by was long enough to know that Xalet would be regretting that day for some time.

"But thank you. That is kind to say." the silvered irises of Xalet's eyes moved up and down, left to right, trying to gauge an approximate distance for his time spent mobile. He hadn't gotten far with his internal calculations before Aello said something that he clearly found surprising. "You've been away from civilization? Simply out in the wilds? Since last season?" his hands lowered just as his head turned toward Aello, trying to read the truth in her response. Was such a thing even feasible? There was the occasional woodsman or hunter that kept to themselves in the wild, but even then life wasn't meant to be lived in such solitude.

"Forgive my shock...but do you not wish to be getting back home? If you desire you can travel with me, once I meet up with the patrol I'll be off back to Syliras." he offered his services to her, but there was a secondary meeting within his words. Seeing this girl now, up close, listening to her voice, experiencing the softness of her tones, and observing the slightness of her body Xalet had mentally put her closer to approximately twelve or thirteen years of age than her actual late teens. In his mind she should have been with her parents, playing or studying or whatever young Human's did.

[Aello]

Aello chuckled as a mischievous glint made its way into her eyes. She nodded in response. "Well, yes. I couldn't very well stay where I was. That would have landed me in jail. Or ensured a swift delivery into Dira's embrace." She paused a moment. "That would have gone over terribly with Alenias, and Nex too. Alenias would have taken it the hardest though. She has been traveling alongside the two of us longer," Aello continued, thinking of Yune, who had gone off to stretch her wings earlier in the day. "My sparrow and I. Don't know where she got off to. Anyway... we've been together for a good portion of our travels, but we go off on our own sometimes. You know how people can be, they grow tired of each other." Aello paused. "Sometimes, they simply need to stretch, and remember that they're still free. It's scary to think about what could have happened to them, should they have stayed behind, simply for association." Aello shrugged. "But we're out now, and safe as can be. They're taking better to the forests though. It comes more naturally to them, being out here." Aello fell silent, smiling at the rest of Xalet's questions, at his shock. Her eyes glimmered as the song of several birds reached her ears. "We have no home anymore. I made sure of that. The place we once were is no longer safe. Going back would ensure our destruction, for by now, the Ebonstryfe have put a price on my head." She paused, thinking about his offer. "Although that should make us allies, for the knights and the 'stryfe have a long history of warfare with one another, it doesn't make travel necessary. Especially when each of us has our companions. Besides, they're bound to find your city as stuffy as I am. They especially need a place far more open, where they can be themselves. Perhaps going back to a place of old would be more suitable for them. Avanthal maybe. Lhavit, although, a great deal of discipline goes on there too. Perhaps then, going back to the very beginning, to childhood life in Zeltiva would be best. Life surrounded by the mountains and the sea, areas always suitable for the hearts of explorers." Aello glanced down at her feet as she forced herself to stop scratching Parchello. "Although, there's nothing left there. Nothing, and no one will be there when we all arrive." Aello's smile vanished as she recalled the day of the fire. The smell of the flames. The way she ached for many moons, long after they were all gone. "It may simply be best to find a new place to be, perhaps outside of Sylira. A place where we can seemingly run from our past, at least for a time. I owe them that much."

[Xalet]

"Ebonstryfe...I remember them well." Xalet recalled, it wasn’t that long ago, after all. Beneath all that mail, beneath the chain that sat below it, and beneath the gambeson that rested even below that, keeping out the cold and allowing the skin to stay well enough from the chaffing of the metal was a large, fresh scar made by those villains. If there was a distinction of evil, the Ebonstryfe were it. He had seen their ambush, their torture, their cruelty, and their magic. "They're the ones that killed my horse and ambushed one of our patrols. They were looking for something, but I never found out what it was."

Xalet felt the inside of his jaw clenching subconsciously, and quickly he willed himself to remain calm, taking a bit of a breath, the soft white vapor leaving his mouth and disappearing into winter's embrace, "Well, as difficult as they can make life, Syliras is always open to those that wish to live in it's embrace. It has it's rules, and it may be a bit crowded, but it's people are dedicated to making it the best civilization there is. People can say what they will of the Knights as well, but compared to Ebonstryfe the difference is night and day. And it does make us allies. Any enemy of the Ebonstryfe is a friend to Syliras and to the Knights, if through nothing else than by principal and an understanding of right and wrong."

Of course there was an interest as to exactly what kind of past Aello was speaking of, but Xalet didn't wish to pry. All things considered, he, despite being an Akalak in the Human dominated Syliras, had lived a mostly uneventful life. The people he knew were mostly still around, some having died of natural causes and some having simply moved on to other things, but the great walls of Syliras had protected him from any true horror. Instead, now as a squire he was beginning to see just how harsh things were outside of those walls, and what could be done to ease the harshness. "The past eventually catches up with everyone. I suppose the best you can do is prepare yourself. Someone your age should spend some time having a proper childhood though, so the offer will always stand."