Foolish Mistake (Closed)

[Talhar]

Talhar merely watched in amusement at the restlessness of the girl. She couldn't sit still for over 5 seconds it seemed. He just crossed his arms and lowered his head to give him the illusion of feeling warm. The cold ground under his behind was enough to nearly nullify the flames that send waves of warmth across his front.

Suddenly the woman vanished into the woods, not knowing where she went or why she went Talhar remained seated. She was a big girl and should be able to hold her own, especially if she's callous enough to wander off into the night of the forest.

She appeared again before him and the fire with an armfull of red apples, one of which she threw at his face. He shook the impact-pain off and took a big bite out of the apple. His eyes stared fiercely into the fire, any other person or beast that treated him so without even having the courtesy of apologizing would have received a punch in the face but he still felt like he owed this woman.

So he just stared at the fire and ate, it didn't take long for the anger to fade and the drowzy embrace of sleep to surround him. He tried to minimize the area where his body met the cold ground so he tried to sleep in the same position as he was sitting in.

The cold night of the Sylira Region was nothing like the cold weather in Avanthal. But neither were the clothes, he had learned how to survive in cold weather and he would be damned if he'd let the weather get to him anywhere else in the world. Morwen taught him well.

[Iris Dove]

Iris sat down on the drape Talhar had set on the ground beside him and watched him eat his apple. He ate quickly, as though he were racing her, the masticated apple bits swirling around in his wide-open trap. Gross, she thought to herself. I should have simply let him fend for himself, she thought. Oh well.

She finished her apple a few minutes after Talhar, and watched him curl up in a ball and drift off to sleep. He seemed strangely peaceful, and his color wasn't quite so dark when he was asleep. She looked at him thoughtfully for a while as he shivered throughout his slumber. Men, she thought, always trying to act tough. They're so... strange.

Unlike him, Iris didn't feel cold, so she got up, picked up the drape, and wrapped it gingerly around his sleeping body. He didn't even stir. He seemed to be a heavy sleeper. Since the fire was dying down, she blew on it a little and fed it a few more twigs so it wouldn't go out. When she was satisfied with it, and certain that Talhar was asleep, she stood up, and slipped out of her clothes, forming them into a sort of nest by the fire. She untied the bandage around her arm, knowing that it was going to have to be replaced in the morning anyway, and then she shifted back into a dove, walked into the soft nest her clothes made, walked around in circles until she found a comfortable spot, and fell asleep.

[Talhar]

Fast asleep Talhar dreamt that he was being pursued by a large shadow. In his dream he couldn't see what it was that cast the shadow but he felt like its eyes were constantly burning into him. It caused him to flee, dropping his belongings and even his Morwen's Cloak as he ran for safety. No matter how fast or in which direction he ran, the eyes were branded onto his back. In the end he had turned to face the shadow head-on, but as soon as he turned around to make a stand, he woke up.

It was still dead in the night as he woke up, shivering and confused. For the dream took place in a forest, where he was in reality. It took him a second or two to realize he was back to reality when he stared in the flames that had dwindled in power and couldn't see Iris anywhere. As he stood up he finally noticed he was wrapped in the blanket he had spread out for her.

He smiled as he got up and walked around the fire to see her clothing piled up into a nest and a dove sitting comfortly in the middle of it. He stared, stared and stared some more 'till it finally hit him. The woman was a Kelvic.

He smiled again as he walked back to his spot and put some more wood on the fire, softly, so he didn't wake her up. He decided he wouldn't mention seeing her in her animal form. If they became friends she would tell him eventually, he thought to himself. If not, then so be it. He resumed his seated position and wandered off into the Sandman's Realm again.

[Iris Dove]

Iris slept soundly, which was unusual for her. Not only did she have a nasty tendency to wake up numerous times throughout the night, but she had trouble falling asleep in general.

Even so, she dreamt, as she had so many times before that she was carrying a heavy bag of sand on her back, along a riverbank. The bag had a small hole in the bottom, and the sand would spill out and onto the ground, leaving a long, sandy trail behind her. Despite this, the bag never seemed to get any lighter, it only seemed to grow heavier and heavier, and the task of doing so only seemed to get more and more difficult, as she grew more and more tired. Just before she woke up, she would always drop the bag before collapsing from exhaustion. She always woke up in a cold sweat, her heart pounding in her rib cage, and that's how she awoke now- with her heart pounding in her rib cage.

When she awoke, Iris' vision was blurry- and it took her eyes a moment to adjust and for her to see clearly again. When she looked around, she wondered where she was for a moment, since she saw a pond, and a fire that had gone out, and then she had remembered, she had been flying through the Wildlands when she had been shot by a dark-skinned man named Talhar, who was still sleeping soundly next to her.

Iris looked over at him, at the drape that he had begun to kick off his body in his sleep, it only covered half of his body now. She walked over to his face, standing before it, her body level with his eyes. Yup, he's fast asleep, lazy bum, she thought to herself, before walking back to her pile of clothing and shifting back into a human.

The crisp morning air hit her body like a smack in the face, and she shivered slightly as she bent down and put on her necklace and dress before sitting down on the cold ground and slipping on her boots. When she had finished, she looked up through the trees. The sun was just beginning to rise, and it was dyeing the sky various shades- deep reds, yellows, oranges, and purples. It was so very beautiful to her, and she sat back and enjoyed each moment of it as Talhar slept next to her.

When it was over, Iris glanced at her wounded shoulder. It had scabbed over, the blood that caked it, a deep red. Well, at least it's looking a bit better today, she thought to herself, as Talhar mumbled in his sleep and appeared as though he was about to stir. "Morning?" Iris whispered in his general direction, as she grabbed one of the spare apples she had found the night before, and bit into it, making a loud crunching noise. It was rather juicy, crisp, and quite sweet. Better than the one she had last night.

[Talhar]

' Mornin' ' he mumbled as he blinked rapidly for a few seconds while waking up.
Groaning at the loud munching noises that came from next to him he stretched and yawned. Finally getting up to splash water in his face from the pond and sipping a few scoops up aswell.

He suddenly remembered what happend in the night and he glanced over his shoulder at Iris before turning fully around and walking back to the 'camp'.
' Slept well ? ' He asked with a smile at the blonde.

The flowing wind whistled through the trees as he sat back down next to his belongings, he stared at the babyblue sky ornamented with white puffy clouds for a moment as he shifted his balance back and rested on his two outstretched arms.

[Iris Dove]

Iris watched as Talhar got up and helped himself to a drink from the pond, as she munched on her apple. When she finished eating it, she threw the core over her shoulder using her right arm, and it landed in the trees behind her. By the time this had occurred, Talhar had begun to walk back from the pond, and was asking her how she had slept last night. "Well enough," she responded, as she threw him the second red apple she had left over, and he actually caught it in his hands this time.

Iris felt as though she should ask Talher how he had slept as well, just to be polite, but she already knew that he had slept far better than her, he had managed to stay asleep for a longer period of time after all. Even so, she asked, not truly listening to him when he offered her a response.

She ran her right hand through her long blonde hair, teasing it a little. It felt soft beneath her fingertips. She watched as Talhar approached her, he seemed so tall now that she was sitting down. He was only a little bit taller than her when they were both standing. As she watched him, she realized that she didn't know what she should say. Should she suggest that they make a new fire? Or try to forage for food, or hunt for something more substantial for apples to eat? (And this time, she was certain she'd stay in her human form in the hopes that Talhar wouldn't hit her). Or should she suggest that they get to another city? Of course, she was ignoring the soft lingering pain in her arm, even if he didn't want to come, certainly she could get herself out of the woods, and safe and sound to the nearest town or city without him.

[Talhar]

A long time passed without a word being said, Talhar didn't mind it since he was enjoying the relaxed atmosphere in the woods. He lazily turned his head over to the left, in the direction of Iris when he saw the wound he caused. That bandage wasn't great and he had no disinfective ointment on him.

" Let's go to Syliras and get you some proper treatment before that wound gets worse. " He stated before standing up again. Without waiting for a reply he started to gather his belongings together.

" I'll go with you. I'm not in the mood to train my hunting anymore anyway. " He lied, he just wanted to get back to Syliras because he hadn't eaten a proper meal for days. His reasons were slim and thin but they mattered to him nonetheless. He had been in this godforsaken woods for too long he thought.

Biting into the juicy apple he waited for Iris to get ready for take-off.
It was then that his ear caught hold of a noise coming from the trees.

A large boarlike creature was sticking its head out of a bush's foliage and its dark, beady eyes stared straight into Talhar's.

' Don't make a sudden movement, there's a creature right behind you. '

Talhar slowly but surely took out two of his javelins out from his quiver and held one in each hand, waiting for the creature to make a move.

[Iris Dove]

Iris' eyes bore into Talhar's dark skin as he told her that they should go back to Syliras together so that they could take proper care of her wound. She smirked, as she heard his stomach rumbling, realizing that he had only said it because he did indeed, desire something more nourishing than a few apples. But then again, who could blame him? Because so did she. Of course, she really did love apples, and they were great an all, but they weren't exactly satisfying.

Iris watched as Talhar bit into his apple, and could have sworn she could feel two little beady black eyes on her back, and hear the underbrush rustling behind her. Something, or someone, was approaching. She didn't need Talhar to tell her that, however, since she didn't have eyes on the back of her head, she was going to need him to tell her what exactly, was behind her. Of course, it just so happened to be a big, scary, boarlike creature, well according to Talhar anyway. Perfect she thought, as she watched him pull two javelins out of his quiver, and heard the words, "don't make any sudden movements."

Of course, that is all Iris wanted to do, considering Talhar had shot her before, and didn't exactly trust his aim or his judgment just yet.

She could hear the creature behind her snorting. She imagined that his breath must be flowing in and out through his nose, forming tiny little wispy swirls beneath it, as it pounded the cold earth beneath its feet. She could feel her chest getting tighter, was she holding her breath? Yes, she was careful to let it out slowly, so it wouldn't startle anyone, and so she began to slowly let herself breath in and out. In through the nose, slowly out through the mouth, over and over.

Please oh please, she thought to herself, please don't let Talhar get me killed. It was then that she looked up at Talhar, her dark eyes making brief contact with his own. Without using words, she silently said: don't be an idiot, don't mess up, and please oh please don't get me killed.

[Talhar]

Talhar's eyes shifted back from Iris's to the largetusked boar. How that such a large boar with large and thick tusks like that managed to sneak up on them was beyond Talhar's comprehension. He didn't dwell on it too long though, the current situation was dire and death was only 10-15 feet away.

He rotated the javelins slowly in the palm of his hand and with his fingers so that they ended up with the sharp end away from the boar and in the right position to be thrown overhead with the most force Talhar could muster. He was certain that one javelin would not be enough to kill the enemy and he was unlikely to have enough time to throw the second one before he was impaled on its tusks.

' Don't ask me how I know but...after I throw my first javelin, transform and fly away. Hopefully it'll distract him. '

He said without looking at her, he felt the anxiety creep up on him and his flexed muscles started to ache, he was very tense and suddenly very aware of his tongue. The boar started to breath heavier and faster, he was pumping himself up for something to come.

' Get ready. '

The bush trembled as the boar launched itself in the direction of Talhar and came stomping down hard on the ground towards him. Talhar swiftly balanced himself so that he was able to throw with the largest force and minimum time.
The boar growled at the impact of the javelin who was now pierced deep within the heavy furr and thick meat of his upperleft foreleg. He stumbled midrun by the sudden shrieks of pain through its body as he let its massive weight fall on his wounded leg but was nearly instantly back on its legs. The pain wouldn't cause it to fall a second time and he had chosen a new target.
Iris.

[Iris Dove]

Iris kept trying to concentrate on her breathing- not only making sure that she actually did so, but that she kept it fairly steady as well. Even though only a few seconds had passed, it felt like it had been eons before Talhar told her to shift and fly away after he had thrown the first javelin. Wait, he knew she was a Kevlic? Oh please don't tell me he watched me shift last night, she thought to herself, as her heart began to pound in her chest, and she felt her cheeks grow hot.

Of course, Talhar didn't know that she couldn't exactly shift with her clothes on, unless she wanted to risk harming herself. Perfect, she thought, I have 10 seconds or less to come up with a plan to keep myself alive. As soon as that thought had raced across her mind, the boar charged at Talhar, and he threw his javelin, and it hit the boar's upperleft foreleg. She smirked, he actually hit what he was supposed to. The boar stumbled a bit, and turned on her as soon as she had gotten to her feet. Again, just perfect.

Iris stood, slightly bent over, and reached swiftly for the eating knife that was strapped to her calf, and held it blade out to the boar. Why was that the only sharp pointy object she had on her person? Talhar must think that she was crazy for brandishing a blade as small as that, after all, what was it, like 3.5 inches? What on earth was that going to do?

Steady Iris, she thought to herself, as she and the boar stared each other down for a brief moment, before it charged her, it must have sensed the animal in her, or something, because it charged with an intensity she didn't realize that it could muster. Although, it did favor its front legs. She dodged it by jumping to the left side of the boar before it could hit her. She landed roughly on her wounded shoulder, the hard dirt clinging to her dress. Her breath coming in slowly, heavily, as the boar ran past her, turned abruptly on its heals so that it could face her and Talhar once more, and prepared to charge again. Its front right hoof pounding into the dirt as it snorted angrily, having missed it's target. "Shoot it now!" Iris screamed at Talhar.