Reunion [finished]

[Willow]

The distinctive hawk stood out clearly against the white and grey marbled sky, the red tail obvious as the pale sun lit it from above.
Even as it dipped closer to the land it was outstanding against the unmarked snow of the foothills of the Castan Mountain Range, the fragile sun causing most to narrow their eyes in defence, yet the hawk’s red-brown eyes remained wide open, scanning the snow. Scouting.

A dark, swiftly moving shape stirred in the corner of the inescapable eyes, causing the bird to pull up and wheel away, rising higher on the thermals until her starting point came in sight. Here she dived, her wings angling in to streamline her as she surrendered to free fall, snapping out her brown and white-flecked wings to save her from plunging into the snow, instead skimming the crystal dunes as she swiftly glided through a temporary camp, landing gracefully on the shoulder of a sand-blonde man.

Immediately, the bird hopped down to the rough seat the man was resting on, morphing into an olive-toned woman before she touched the rough, light bark that they’d carried along with the camp.
“See anything interesting, love?” The man asked, shifting so that the hawk shifter wasn’t so precariously seated on the strong, hollowed out log.
The woman nodded as she moved onto the seat properly, caught between smiling and frowning.
“A single wolf about a kilometre east from here, running towards us. Not intentionally, I wouldn’t think. Seemed more like it was running for the sake of it than with a set destination in mind. I take it nothing happened while I was gone, Kaz?” She replied; taking her husband’s hand and squeezing it lightly, only a trace of a foreign accent left in her voice. In a way, having only a little of another accent was the accent of her home – they were a mismatch of every people in Rhyallia, with every known dialect represented by at least one family in the village.

“Nah. Ghett lost a bet and wasn’t too happy about it, but it was nothing a drink couldn’t cure,” Kaz said, a little louder than necessary, nodding to the naturally ruddy-faced man sat across the small campfire from him on another log, who just laughed and raised the mainly-empty mug of ale at them.
“What he’s not telling you there, Veraz, is that he’s the one I lost to!” He chortled, hiding his gleeful grin behind the mug as Veraz slapped her husband’s arm.
“What’ve I told you?” She asked sharply, her displeased frown twisting as she fought laughing aloud at Kaz’s ‘getting-out-of-trouble’ expression. “I won’t have the father of my daughter gambling.” She managed to say firmly, before her composure cracked and she spluttered into a short burst of laughter.

“So, what about this wolf then?” Kaz asked hurriedly, changing the subject while he had the chance, smiling hopefully at Veraz’s admonishing glare.



Willow bounded powerfully through the drifts of snow, her plunging, webbed paws stopping her from sinking too far into the snow, although she came to one patch of loose powder and sank up to her stomach, which took a fair bit of floundering, cursing and shifting to get out of.
Finally clambering out of the hole and reaching a safer patch of snow, she sat and rested for a moment, clouding breath catching on the hairs of the fur collar wrapped around her throat. The collar was merely a nose-high neck of the winter shirt she wore, and had rolled down to show the in turned fur.
Yawning, she stretched and, in doing so glanced at her arm, now recovered from the collarbone break. That was just over a month ago now...

A fleeting grin lifted her sore lips as she remembered the hassle with Nightfall, a mercenary band she’d ran into whilst searching. She’d started off on the verbal side of a fight with the leader, Kaye, had been (willingly) bound to avoid making killing her necessary, and had from there been caught up in what was meant to be a routine caravan raid that had turned very nasty when the Emperor’s personal guard had turned up after torturing Nightfall’s whereabouts from the rebels that had hired them. The fighting had resulted in two of Kaye’s people dying, along with around twenty or more of the thirty Riders who’d ambushed them.

Smiling a tad ruefully, Willow shook the coating of snow off her and rolled onto all fours, starting to shift but pausing when she caught sight of the thin column of smoke on the horizon.
’Who the hell would be out here? The route to Tannoch isn’t this far west...’ She thought, ignoring the icy pressure of the snow enveloping her mitted hands, instead looking curiously at the dark smudge against the pale sky, green eyes narrowed against the sun.

’It was curiosity that got me into the mess with Nightfall...’ She thought dubiously, although it had partly been common sense – she’d been waiting for the camp to move on so she could pass by without raising suspicions about being a spy, but had been seen. Then again, she hadn’t exactly been hiding – she’d curled up at the base of a pine tree and had lay watching them, waiting either for them to move or to be seen. Still, curiosity had taken her from there.

’And the same thing is happening now...’ She thought, even as she shifted and set off at an easy, distance eating lope, heading for the smoke. After all, she was looking for someone who was trying to stay hidden, so here would be quite a likely place...
The sudden realisation picked her heart rate up a few beats, though it wasn’t noticeable as it pounded to supply her running body with the oxygen it needed. The emotional, anticipating lurch in her throat was though, as she thought quickly about what she could – should – do if it was the person she was looking for.



Veraz stretched, then stood, waving away Ghett’s offer of a drink.
“I’m just going to go check on that wolf – see if it’s changed its course.” She explained, smiling. She doubted it was anything to worry about – it was probably just a lone animal looking for its next meal. Although...there had been something familiar about it. The way it ran, maybe? Either way, she could find out now.

“Well, Khan’s about to go on patrol, you may as well go with him. Extra back up, just in case.” Kaz said, hiding a frown. He didn’t like the idea of Veraz going alone to investigate a wolf alone, wild or not.
The woman in question tutted, but nodded.
“If it’ll stop you worrying, although I’ll be taking care of Khan more than he will be taking care of me.” She sighed, smiling when Kaz shrugged, looking as if he didn’t care.
“At least all he has to do against a wolf is sit on it. You’re not quite so resistant.” He said, as he waved Khan over. In appearance, what Kaz had just said didn’t seem to make much sense – Khan was a gangly fifteen year old who, though well built, was nowhere near as robust as some of the men in camp.

“You mind keeping an eye on Veraz for me? She’s seen a single wolf east from here heading west, and wants to go and check it out again. Says it looks familiar,” He laughed, making a discreet few ‘crazy’ circles of his index finger above his temple, and earning himself a dead arm when Veraz saw.
“Keep that up and you’ll lose that finger,” She warned, while Khan pressed his lips together to stop laughing. He didn’t fancy getting on Veraz’s bad side.

“You ready then?” She asked him, getting a serious nod immediately. “I’ll see you soon then. Ghett, I expect you to report any instances of him gambling to me once I get back, if it’s not too much trouble?” She said; her voice stern as Ghett saluted with his mug of ale in hand.
“Aye, Veraz. You can rely on me,” He chuckled while Kaz stuttered in complaint, barely getting his bearings before Veraz kissed him on the cheek and turned, waving as she went with Khan jogging alongside her.



Willow’s tongue rested between her lower canines as her breath rushed over it, making dense clouds of steam mist her muzzle, green eyes focussed on the trail of smoke rising into the sky.
Something else caught her gaze, a dark speck rushing towards her. A hunting bird, she realised.
She saw the bird’s trajectory dip, and traced the invisible path to land a few hundred metres ahead of her.
Huffing, Willow’s pace slowed as she watched the bird fall to earth, landing on a mound in the snow, now only a hundred metres away and closing as Willow approached, trotting now.

When she was only a few bounds away, she stopped and sat, watching the bird curiously. Definitely a shifter – red tailed hawks didn’t live in territories with this much snow and so few trees.
As she looked, the bird raised its neck, peering at her with her tawny eyes.

Willow blinked in evident surprise. She recognised that bird...and, clearly, it recognised her as it spread its wings and glided across the snow to her, shifting at the last instant and bowling her over, confusing the startled wolf with an excited hug.

“Oh, I thought I recognised you! How’ve you been? Why’re you here, of all places? Oh, I’ve missed you!” The dark haired young woman squealed, while Willow yipped and squirmed, trying to point out that the hug she was bestowed with was cutting off her air.
When she was finally released and saw who her exuberant welcome had come from, it was Willow’s turn to shift and hug.
“Veraz! HA! What the hell are you out here for?” She shouted, virtually throttling the older woman before drawing back and looking at her, beaming, rattling off questions without answering the ones she’d been asked.

Before either could answer or question further, however, Willow felt a blow between her shoulders that was meant to be gentle, but knocked her face-first into the snow, squawking as an impossibly heavy weight landed on her back for an instant, before reducing dramatically and giving her room to roll over and see who had squashed her.
“Hiya,” Khan said, grinning down at her while Willow gawped for a second, then sat up and promptly butted heads with him whilst wrapping her arms round him in a hug, laughing.
“Khan! How bloody tall have you gotten now?!” She laughed, while the boy flushed red and tried to pull away, looking extremely embarrassed.
“There’s only me and Veraz here,” Willow laughed, refusing to let him go while she teasingly ruffled the ice bear shifter’s dark hair, realising that the ‘snow drift’ Veraz had landed on earlier had in fact been Khan’s shoulder, his dark nose hidden behind a smaller mound of snow.

“Right you, shift, let’s have a look at you.” Willow ordered, whacking Khan’s shoulder lightly to emphasise her point.
Grumbling, Khan did as he was told, shifting into the large white bear.
“Flipping heck, you’re as big as a horse!” Willow said, amazed. The last time she’d seen him he’d just turned fourteen, and still weighed just over two hundred kilos as a bear. Now, the white bear in front of Willow was well over five hundred kilos, was taller than her, and was looking pretty pleased with her reaction.
“What’ve your parents done, threw you in a grow-bag?” Willow asked as Khan shifted bag, grinning broadly and helped her up.

Giving up on waiting patiently, Veraz strode over and grabbed both their elbows and started frog-marching them towards camp.
“We can ooh and ah over each other when we’re sat next to a warm fire and have a mug of ale in hand. Water for you,” Veraz added at Khan’s hopeful face.
“Yes auntie Veraz,” Willow sang like a primary school child, smiling pleasantly when Veraz realised she couldn’t hit her without letting go of one of them.
“If my Sofia answers back like you, I’m holding you entirely responsible.” She muttered instead, instantly getting Willow’s attention.
“How is she? How old will she be now, just over two years, won’t she?” She asked, all cheekiness evaporating.
Veraz laughed and shook her head.
“Careful – you’re showing how long you’ve been away. She’s now two and a half, and is constantly asking when you’re coming back.” Veraz clearly enjoyed Willow’s stunned expression.
“Heck...how long have I been away again?” She asked, frowning, though looking pleased at being so popular with the toddler. She hadn’t expected Sofia to remember her.
“About eighteen months,” Khan replied, anticipating the question.
Willow shook her head, amazed had just how badly she’d lost track of time.
“I think I’ve got a lot of catching up to do,” She grimaced, as they picked up the pace and ran towards camp.



“Pay up.”
“Give us a minute, would you?”
“Sure you don’t wanna join, Kaz?”
“You know Veraz would skin me if I did,” Kaz winced, looking on at the game ruefully, pondering if he could knock Ghett out and gamble for a bit before Veraz returned. Not that Ghett would know anything – he was so drunk he’d just think he’d passed out and had been thrown in his tent to sleep it off.
That option was looking very attractive to Kaz when Khan ran into camp, his grinning face ruining any chance of Kaz betting tonight.
“You’ll never guess who we’ve met,” Khan gasped as he jogged to a stop next to the men’s game, gaining curious looks.
“Well, don’t hold us in suspense mate, who is it?” One of them asked, while Kaz elbowed Ghett awake.
“Three guesses, she’s a wolf, has one hell of an evil streak, and we haven’t seen her for, say, eighteen months?” Khan stalled, grinning at the momentarily confused faces.
Surprisingly, Ghett got there first.
With a drunken roar, he staggered up laughing.
“That bloody girl! Willow?” He asked, rocking back on his heels laughing when Khan nodded. “Well, where is she then? Bring ‘er in!”
“She’s coming with Veraz right now – they sent me ahead.”
By this point the crowd around the fire had dispersed and were either heading back the way Khan had come or were ducking into occupied tents or running to tell the few sentries they’d dotted about. Everyone in the camp knew Willow, and most were good friends with her. As a result, she was virtually mobbed when she came into sight of the crowd, and dragged back to camp. Everyone was eager to hear what she’d been up to over the past year and a half, since all the news they’d brought with them had long been discussed to death. New things to talk about had given the camp an excited air, and a round of drinks. Usually, they wouldn’t be this lax, but seeing as they were deep into the heart of the Castan Mountains, the sentries were minimal and they could afford to have a drink or two each, unless they were Ghett, who spent the best part of his life semi-intoxicated, with or without drink.

After an hour or two, Willow finally found out why a mission camp was this far from their home village in the Kanat Highlands.
“That psychopath Vice sent us out. Some informant of his guard brought him some info that got him really excited. He dispatched us straight away, something about a rock. Oh, no, sorry, a stone a very special stone that we’re to find, that is supposedly up here in the Castan Mountains, that we will know as soon as we see it.” Kaz scorned, looking bitter.
Willow raised her eyebrows, disbelieving.
“So, he sent out an entire mission party to get a rock from the mountains? A rock?” She shook her head, disgusted. “That man’s losing it. He’s running the village like a tyrant, but the council won’t vote against him for some reason. He has them eating out of his hand.” There were murmurs of agreement. None here were part of the council – the ruling party of the village, and so spoke freely.
“If the old head were still in charge, none of this would be the case.” Willow growled, taking an angry swig of her drink.
“It’s even worse that Vice took over when it was him who did the old man in,” She snarled, her eyes dark green slits.

A few uncertain glances were exchanged in the sudden pause. The circumstances surrounding the old Head Councillor’s death were unknown – it had been four years ago now, while Willow was in hospital still, recovering from nearly dying of her rib injuries. The head – a grandfather figure to pretty much everyone in the village – had been visiting Willow when he’d died.
Willow had always maintained that the vice-councillor; known as Vice coincidentally his family name, had come into her room during the Head’s visit and had slammed the old man’s head against the bottom of Willow’s bed. However, she had been under heavily pain killers and was only semi-lucid at the time; her version of the event had been passed off as a hallucination due to her delirious state, while Vice had said that, while he had entered the room, the Head had tripped and fallen badly, smashing his head against the bed. People were still uncertain of which version they should believe.

“Willow,” Veraz said hesitantly, trying to diffuse the suddenly dark atmosphere. “There’s no proof that what you saw happened. And you were delirious at the time, are you sure it wasn’t your brain jumping to conclusions that weren’t really there while you were confused?” She asked gently, trying to hide her own suspicions. It was without question that the old man had been the more popular of the two recent leaders, but people were reluctant to believe one had killed the other. In their tight-knit community, it just didn’t happen. Another voice from the crowd said as much.

Willow laughed, humourlessly.
“Do killing sprees ‘just not happen’ either, then?” She asked quietly, succeeding in causing utter silence.
“You weren’t the only one who lost someone in that, Willow.” Someone said, causing Willow’s cold eyes to slip up to their fire-lit face.
“I have never once thought that, Taka, but I will say that I feel as if I suffered the most for it.”
Taka started to protest, anger marring her small face, but Willow overrode her before her voice grew louder than normal. “And I only say that because I was the only one who was attacked and survived it.” She paused, clenching her teeth together and with exaggerated control set her drink down before clasping her shaking hands together, not trusting herself not to break the cup she had held.
Taka had fallen quiet, but now asked in her more normal, soft voice;
“Have you found anything?”Willow shook her head, sighing out as she slowly gained control over her hands.
“Not really. I thought I’d started to catch up around Tyapa, but it turned out to be a false lead.” She laughed. It sounded unusually brittle for her normal bravado. “I sure gave one guy a shock though. Came running up behind him and grabbed his cloak and spun him around after following him from one side of the city to another. Poor bloke, he must’ve thought he was being followed by a psycho. His face was so funny...” She trailed off, grin more heartfelt now. Sensing a chance to get out of the gloomy atmosphere, someone asked what had happened.

And so it went back to an evening of tales and laughing, until everyone was ordered to bed. They’d be starting at the usual time tomorrow, so no excuses. Willow found herself setting up her tent next to Veraz and Kaz’s chatting to them as they helped her. Apparently Sofia was at her grandmother’s, much to the child’s delight as her maternal grandmother spoilt her first grandchild rotten. Neither parent was too happy with the arrangement, but both had been ordered out on his treasure hunt in the snow, so Sofia was to spend a few weeks having her every whim seen to.
As Veraz said, “there’ll be no living with her after this. It’ll be, ‘Granma let me do this’ and ‘Granma let me do that’.”
“Ooh, just wait til she gets her Willow back,” Willow teased, getting a light cuff over the head from Kaz.
“You can bloody well forget it. If my daughter ends up like you I’ll be in that hospital permanently.” He said, wincing.
“Right, sleep! We’re up early tomorrow, we need to move another few kilometres by sundown.” Veraz ordered, aiming a gentle kick at Willow’s leg as the teen dived inside her tent to avoid it.
“Aye, ma’am,” She called sarkily, then held her tent flap shut while Veraz swore at her and half-heartedly tried to open them.

Exchanging good nights, Willow settled down, still buzzing after finding her adoptive home and family so unexpectedly. She’d agreed to come with them on this search, seeing as everyone doubted they’d find anything, and were planning on searching the area then going home. The last leg of the journey should be completed tomorrow, then they could search for a day or two, then head back.
Willow entertained the idea of going home with them. It’d be good to see her other friends again, and to see her home, show everyone she hadn’t gotten herself killed yet. Join her wild wolf pack that lived around her home, and see if they still remembered and accepted her.
For a while she imagined that future, but, when she was only half-awake, sadly pulled back the memory of her own personal search.
One of her quiet, steady breaths deepened in the ghost of a sigh, and she turned her head, a slight frown pulling at her brow and mouth.
Still, she could think of them, and fell asleep as she did.

[flippedside]

{MATTHEW: HUNTER}

Sweat pricked against his skin. He ran his bare arm across his forehead, smearing water and wiping away the burning chill. He created his own aura of heat, so that his sweat didn't instantly freeze to his skin, but it still felt cold. Like ice. Wet ice.

Wings swept downward, dragging against the air and propelling himself forward and up. He caught an air drift and floated on the swirl of wind, massive wings spread in an indigo and silver triangle. Shapes wandered below and Matt stilled, spun, and then studied them, briefly stalling himself in the air. He hadn't the skills to hover, though, so he was soon drifting again. His eyes adjusted for the blinding brightness of sun on snow, picking out the tiny figures moving about a small camp a thousand feet below. More than a thousand feet.

He took his time examining them, too high for his shadow to appear against the ground. From below, he would have been no more than a black mark against the clouds.

Why was he here again? The proximity to the Northern Wastes made him uneasy, and he felt his muscles twitch and contract with an instant awareness of danger. Matt forced himself to relax. There was no immediate threat of danger and staying tensed for a fight would only wear him out. Matt drew down onto a ridge, lighting easily on the icy top, the thick pine trees closing around him as he landed. Silence greeted him, and Matt jogged down the slope, his wings snapping shut behind him and then melding into his flesh.

The icy wind stole his breath, but cooled his skin, raising goosebumps along his bare chest and arms. Somewhere down here was a cabin with a stockpile of necessities for traveling as a human...Clothes for one. He was only wearing loose trousers and tough leather boots. Good enough for clothing as a wyrdragon--the lack of a shirt allowed him to stretch his wings with ease--but awkward to explain to shifters.

There it was, poking between the massive pine trees. He breathed deeply, catching the sharp tang of pine on the back of this tongue, and feeling the cold wind rough and numbing against his skin. It felt refreshing...and good. He realized that he missed his home, missed the pine trees and aspen and the cold lake water...Enough. Matt shut his memories down. He was here for a purpose, and that had to be completed first. He let the feral hunter side of him flare back into existence.

Wariness slowed Matt considerably, until he was easing up to the ancient log structure. The cabin was little more than a rundown wooden structure with a half-decayed porch. The roof, he noted, was still intact, which was something of a pleasant surprise. He hadn't been here in...Well, more years than he cared to count.

The door dragged against the floor, pushing pine needles and dirt out of the way. Matt flared fire on his hand, glancing about. Some decaying furniture lay in a corner, and he could see where some animal had made a nest...Never mind about that. The chest, he was pleased to see, still sat against the wall. Matt stalked over to it, running fire off his fingers to light the dimness. They key was a circular pendant on a chain around his neck. He quickly pulled it off and fitted it against the matching structure on the chest. The pendant sunk back into the metal lock, fitting itself neatly. He pressed the locks, twisting them in a specific pattern, and the lid sprang up. Warm clothes and the faintly musty smell of cedar mixed with metal polish greeted his nose.

Matt dug through swiftly, finding warm clothes and then belting on twin short swords across his back. It wasn't as familiar as his customary hand-and-a-half straight sword...But it would work. Shutting the lid, Matt pulled the pendant back and slid it around his neck, below his shirt. The pendant, a silver dragon bound in a circle, felt cold against his skin. It was an oddly refreshing feeling, though. Satisfied, Matt returned outside.

He didn't think he was too far from the camp he'd spotted by air. Wryly, he wondered what they would attempt against an outsider. Well, he had skills that they couldn't compete with, and in this case, he was willing to kill. Still, a camp full of people would put all of his skills to the test if he wanted to survive. For all that, he was willing to face them in hopes that they could help him. He needed more information to finish his hunt, and it was rare to find anyone out in these parts. The thought made him pause from striding down the slope. What would shifters be doing out here? He felt certain that that's what these people were--shape-shifters--but he also knew that there were no villages in these parts. What could they want? Matt shrugged and continued on. Well, he'd find out soon enough.

The sun was already low in the sky when Matt saw the strangers in the snow, and by the time he'd reached the ridge stretching to the left of their camp, it was full night. Had been for some time, in fact, though the darkness had never bothered him. He could see quite well at night. Now, his eyes easily picked out the camp below, along with the faint movements of the sentries as they went about their business. It was clear the group did not fear an attack, though they still guarded themselves well. Matt mentally ran off a number of ways that he could storm or assassinate the camp, but gave them no serious thought as he needed living people to talk to--dead ones weren't usually too good at providing information. He settled down for the night.

Sunlight ghosted the horizon when Matt awoke, his head aching faintly with the lack of sleep. He groaned and sat up, aware that his clothing was damp from the snow. He wasn't too surprised to see that he'd burned something of a hole in the snow where he'd been sleeping, though he found it annoying all the same. After digging over his puddle to disguise it, Matt strode down the hill. He ran a quick mental checklist over the weapons he carried, satisfying himself that he was prepared. Hunger beckoned faintly, but he pushed it away. He'd eaten part of an elk yesterday so he knew he still had some time before hunger started truly bothering him.

The white snow made a shocking contrast against Matt's loose, dark clothing. He was aware, as he came down the hill, that he would be sighted quickly. He measured the distance as he approached the camp, waiting for a sign that he'd been seen. Even though it was early, he'd already seen signs of life in the camp, and he wanted to catch them before they left for...Wherever it was that they were going.

The thought again brought to mind the strangeness of the group's choice of camping spots, but that didn't directly affect Matt--not yet, at least--so he left it alone, waiting for a call or a threat from the camp to let him know that he'd been sighted.

[Willow]

The hazy sunlight filtered through the slight gaps in the tent, and through the thick weave of its fabric, imprinting itself on the back of Willow’s eyelids as she slowly emerged from sleep.
Scrunching her face up against the harsh light, she eased one eye open by a margin, the rest of her face following suit as she grew accustomed to the light.

For a moment, she just lay listening to the sounds of the mainly sleeping camp around her. Ghett’s rumbling snore sounded a few tents away, the sound of a tent flap being pushed aside and a brief splashing sound heralded the abrupt ceasing of his noise, only to be replaced by spluttering and cursing.
“Sorry Ghett,” A soft, laughing male voice said. “I couldn’t stand any more of that thundering – you’d attract anyone from within ten miles of us!”
“You lousy son’uva...” Ghett trailed off, sounding hazy. A long pause stretched out, before the quiet voice laughed.
“Only you would fall asleep mid-sentence,” It muttered good-naturedly, as the tent flap rustled into place again, leaving Willow grinning at the canopy of her own tent. Typical Ghett. Good drunken-fist fighter though.

Yawning, Willow grimaced at the stale taste of ale in her mouth, then sat up, dragging the heavy travelling furs from last night on before stepping outside, the top of her hair resembling an eagle’s nest, with the rest of it a confusing tangle of dark strands.

The sound of her tent flap slipping closed already forgotten; Willow glanced about and saw she was one of the first up.
Taka was trying to resuscitate the remains of the fire; thin ghosts of smoke showing sign of her efforts. The small doe-shifter gave a quiet smile as Willow came over, any instinctual desires from their animal counterparts suppressed by long-standing bonds of trust.

“Morning,” Willow said, hunkering down next to her and glancing at the smoking fire, the last few embers flickering feebly as they dithered between going out and flaring back to life again. “Who was it that woke Ghett up? I couldn’t tell – they were too quiet.” She asked in the soft whisper of early morning as she started stoking the fire too; trying to coax the embers into catching on fibres of tree bark.

“Oh, that was Kino. Remember him? He’s a couple of years older than you; younger than Kaz and Veraz though.” Taka grinned, kneeling up to look around the campsite. “There he is – he’s just came off dawn sentry duty. He had his breakfast a while ago, so he can sleep. That’s when he woke Ghett up.” She pointed him out, then ducked down to take over the fire as Willow knelt up to see the brown haired robin shifter stooping into his tent to catch up on an hour or two’s sleep while everyone else woke and had breakfast.
“Aye, I remember him. He was part of Kaz’s crew when we were kids. Haha, remember that time we nicked a load of drinks from the New Year Party? He was on the Diversion team, if I remember rightly.” Willow laughed, then joined Taka’s quiet ‘ah!’ of triumph as the fire suddenly bit into the tinder and flared back into life.
“Yeah. He smacked his father right on the ear with one of the raspberries. Old man thought he was bleeding because he felt the juice dripping, and in the dark it looked the right colour. Still, Kino only got five hits – I got about eight off before I had to leg it,” Taka added a touch smugly, tossing a few more sticks onto the fire while Willow crawled on her knees to the woodpile and hefted a larger stick of wood over. Sparks cascaded upwards as it landed on the fire amidst a series of soft, sharp crackles and scraping.

A few strips of meat hung from the wooden skewer, already cooked and quickly reheating under the attention of the powerful flames. Deftly, Willow slipped a few from the stick, then stood and turned towards the southeast face of camp, explaining to Taka where she was going before she strode off, tearing a chunk of meat from one of the strips with her teeth as she went.
Though the snow was well trodden by now, it still failed to be slippery as the ice was several feet under the layers of more recent snow.
As she got closer to the sentries patrols, the trampled snow gave way to mainly unmarked powder, marred by only one or two sets of footprints.

A half-frozen figure turned at the sound of her approach, holding up a hand in greeting.
Willow waved back, then tossed one of the whole meat strips at them, able to identify the figure as Khan, his nose looking rather pink despite the muffler he’d wrapped around his face.
He slung this aside now, eagerly ripping into the snack he’d been brought while Willow closed the gap between them, laughing at his hungry enthusiasm.
“I’ve been up since daybreak, and I’m bloody freezing. I didn’t have time to eat much before coming on duty.” He explained defensively between mouthfuls, a scowl only half-visible on his face.
“Ah, don’t worry. I know what it feels like,” Willow smiled, finishing off her own cooled breakfast and swiping her tongue across her lips and teeth, tugging mitts out of her pocket and pulling them on.
“Anything interesting happen?” She asked, nodding to the expanse of snow while Khan finished scoffing his meat down.
He shook his head, plucking a second strip of meat from Willow’s pocket and earning himself a cuff over the back of his head for the trouble.
“Nah – an arctic fox hunting a hare about half an hour ago. That’s about it.” He replied, shrugging, turning his gaze back to the snow, chewing more slowly now, paying more attention to the landscape.

A few minutes passed as they both watched the snow, walking the length of Khan’s patrol at a slow, almost meditative pace, eyes scoping the land for anything threatening or unusual as the sun strengthened in the east.
Just as they were about to turn around and start strolling back to their starting point, Khan lightly clamped his hand on Willow’s shoulder, not restraining, but it made her glance up at his face in time to see the slight forward tilt of his head as they started their slow pace again, indicating towards the snowy slope of pines to the west side of camp. A lone, dark-clad figure was walking out of the woods towards them down the slope, definitely heading straight for the camp.

“Just keep walking,” Willow said normally, lifting her hand to squeeze the one on her shoulder. “Once we get near the main fire, you go in as if you’re finishing patrol. Alert the others, but don’t cause a panic. I’ll go and determine his intentions; stall him until we’re ready. He's alone for the moment, but he could be a scout.” She instructed, eyeing the nearing path back to camp, and the distance to the approaching figure.
Khan frowned, clearly not happy.
“Shouldn’t I go? I’ll shift, so even if he sees me, he won’t give me any hassle. Not if he wants his head to stay attached to his shoulders, anyway,” He reasoned, concern showing clearly on his young face, giving way to a stubborn frown when Willow shook her head, smiling.
“Thing is, if he does give you any hassle, and you find fighting as a human easier, you’ll be at a disadvantage, probably. He’s got the high ground, and from what I can see is older than you. He’ll have more experience. Just do what I say, yeah? Besides,” She cut across his automatic defiance. “It’s about time I did my part. I’ve been absent for eighteen months – I need to start making up for it. Now, scram.” She ordered, shoving him roughly down the path towards camp as they drew level with it, propelling herself into a shift and loping towards the newcomer. Khan cast a mutinous, worried look after her, then turned and set off towards camp, jogging easily. Like Willow said; the less panic; the better; they’d be more organised should this person prove to be the scout of a hostile force.

As Willow beat the snow beneath her paws into flurries of snowflakes, she felt a familiar nervous energy thrumming through her veins with the adrenaline that came with running and the prospect of a fight. Each beat of her heart came separate and distinct; a wave breaking against a cliff face.
She made no attempt to conceal herself, instead heading straight for the figure, watching him for any sign of attack or a signal being given as she started up the slope.
Nearing him, she started to slow, but recognition slowly formed in her eyes.
Coming to a complete stop, she shifted and stood, one hand half-raised towards her swords should she be mistaken.
“Matt?” She asked cautiously, taking a few steps forward. “That you? What’re you doing here?” She was pretty certain she was right, but people weren’t always as friendly towards you on a second meeting. Plus, the fact that there were people other than herself to worry about made her a little more wary than before. It was fine to be a tad reckless with your own life, but not with others. Definitely not with the lives of people you cared about.

[ooc: if you want to put words to some of Willow's thoughts, feel free ]

[flippedside]

{Matt: Hunter}

A lone figure broke off from the camp and came towards him on all fours. Matt continued to slough through the snow, listening to the crisp crunch of it under his feet. He was looking at a wolf shifter, though it was impossible to make out any more distinguishing features at this distance.

Behind the shifter, he saw another figure slip away into the camp. That, he guessed, would be the one going to warn the others of his approach. Funny, he wouldn't consider himself to be a threat...But, then, the camp didn't know that. For all they knew, he was heading a rebel gang or a mysterious, invisible army...He tried not to laugh.

The wolf drew nearer and he picked up disjointed thoughts. {Who?} and {Fight} seemed be the clearest thoughts, the rest were muddled: {Got to protect the others, not just me} and something about a scout...He decided that must be what they expected of him. Matt studied the gray and brown mottled fur of the approaching timber wolf.

{Not a scout,} he thought, though it wasn't directed at her. He reconsidered that. Maybe in a sense he was, though "Hunter" would be more accurate in this case than "Scout." And he was hunting something no shifter would understand. Well, not yet, anyway. The creatures of the north seemed to draw nearer to the south lands every year. There might come a time when the humans were torn from the world they knew and accepted and forced into something larger and more frightening. What would they do, then? Turn back to their walled fortresses and hide? Hiding might be the best thing, he thought bitterly.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sudden surprised recognition from the wolf. She shifted and spoke the word a moment after thinking it. "Matt?" She was understandably confused to see him. "That you?" Matt grinned easily in reply.

"Nice to see you again, Willow." And apparently I'm about to meet your friends, too. He eased his hands away from his sides, picking up on her wariness. He tried to show that he meant no threat and wasn't about to attack her.

{I recognize him, but...That doesn't mean he won't decide to attack me.}

"I'm not here to attack you...Or your friends." He nodded to the camp behind her. He had heard her direct thought about protecting her friends. Better to go carefully. "I--" shit, he couldn't mention flying "--saw you, from up on the ridge. The camp, I mean." Not Willow individually. He hadn't even recognized her until she shifted into human form. "Odd place for anyone to be visiting , I know, but I'm hunting someone...Thought your camp might know something."

{And your camp is in an odd place, too. What humans come out here?} Best not to mention that thought aloud, though. Willow might take offense, especially in her protective mood. Better to go easy than to question the camp, at least at the moment. But for himself...

"I'd be grateful if you allowed me to visit your camp. I'm pretty sure I won't be raining harpies on your head again." Matt paused, considering that. "Then again, I seem to attract enemies like flies, so it's hard to say." Amusement laced his voice, and he didn't think Willow would feel threatened by that, judging from what he knew of her and her excitement over a fight. Then again, her sense of responsibility for the protection of the camp might change things around a bit.


OOC: The parentheses mean something like a spoken thought, or like mind speaking...I guess. Makes it a little different from regular thoughts. I put Willow's "thoughts" in red to match her speaking color...Versus Matt's, which are in black (including his thoughts that could be mind spoken--even though Willow can't hear them).

[Willow]

Willow relaxed slightly at his greeting, hearing no aggression or tension in it. She dropped her hand back to her side, though her fingers hung millimetres away from a dagger strapped to her thigh.
She listened curiously to his explanation, eyebrows twitching up when he mentioned seeing the camp from the ridge, a half-smile agreeing with him as he acknowledged the strangeness of his location. Then again, she was here too, so perhaps it wasn’t that unusual.

She nodded briefly. Apparently her individual task and his were the same, even if they weren’t after the same person.
“We’ll need a few more details, obviously, but we’ll see if we can help. In turn, you might be able to help us on this fool’s errand we’ve been sent on.” Willow agreed, rolling her eyes at the thought of Kaz and Veraz’s task. The Councillor was losing his mind.

She glanced back at him as he mentioned the harpies, his words drawing one of her free grins and laughs, albeit slightly shorter ones than usual.
“Tch, no worries on that quarter. Us lot-” She jerked her head backwards to indicate the camp, “-are magnets for anything that falls under the category of trouble. Enemies included, though up here they’re surely thin on the ground.” She smiled, though her tone had the faintest edge of uncertainty. Stranger things had happened than running into a battalion in the mountains.

She turned to face camp, holding one hand behind her, palm vertical to tell him to stay put for the moment.
“Speaking of which, no need for them to think you’re one.” She said, shifting quickly and tilting her muzzle up above the horizon, jaws parted as a high-pitched howl echoed out of them. It ended quickly, her teeth snapping mutely together after only a couple of seconds.
A small pause ensued, only to be broken by a responding howl, slightly longer and with a lower pitch.

Content, Willow shifted back again and beckoned to Matt, before heading off downhill.
“It’s fine now – they’re not going to try and shoot you full of arrows the instant you come in range...if you aren’t already.” She mused, eyes narrowing as she judged the distance again. They were probably just coming into range. Around the camp, she saw the extra sentries withdrawing, the glint of metal vanishing as weapons were put away.
Closer to them, three people had broken away from camp and were running towards them. Kaz, Veraz and Khan, Willow realised. She recognised each of their gaits, though a stranger wouldn’t be able to distinguish them yet.

A short laugh slipped past her teeth, before she threw herself into a flat-out run towards them, blending into the blur of grey and brown fur of a hunting wolf.
The older two evidently realised what she was planning, and hastily stopped and started running backwards, yelling deterrents at her as she ploughed into a shocked looking Khan, bowling both of them to the ground as the married couple approached again, deeming it safe from a wolf ‘hug’ as Khan complained and pushed the heavy animal off him, only to get whacked in the face by her tail.
“You mad bugger,” Kaz said, holding back a full-out laugh as he hauled the younger, scowling teen to his feet.
’Mad? Obviously,’ Willow thought, rolling her eyes as she shifted back and repeated her sentiment.

Veraz glanced over the wolf shifter’s shoulder at Matt, probably wondering what in the world he thought of them.
“And? No immediate danger, I know, but can we trust him? Who is he, anyway?” She asked; voice quiet and questioning.
Willow tilted her head, thinking through her answers seriously.
“For the latter, he’s a friendly acquaintance; I would go as far to say friend – we both got into fights at the same tavern in Bethany, ended up helping a girl called Aspen – a healer – and got attacked again by...hell, I don’t know what they were; they looked like small vultures, but their scent and appearance...” She shook her head, worried and bemused; her tone quieter for it. “Definitely weren’t vultures – I’ve never seen them before. They didn’t smell like any animal I’ve ever come across, not even close.” She shrugged, brow puckered into a frown again, before she sighed and straightened again. “As for the former...well, there’s been a few instances where he could have killed me and didn’t. I don’t know him well enough to judge, but from what I know I’d say we can trust him, just don’t go giving him the ins and outs and secret passageways of the village,” She said, smiling a touch. She’d trust Matt not to kill her for the sheer sake of it, and would trust him entering a strong camp full of experienced fighters, but past that, she wasn’t so sure.

The others nodded, cautious but willing to relax. Besides, there wasn’t anything important in camp to hide or protect from strangers, apart from each individual’s life. They could allow him entry.
“Well then, introduce us.” Kaz said, friendly demeanour in place as they turned to the approaching newcomer.
Willow tutted at him, laughing. If it wasn’t for the axe strapped to his back, Kaz could just be a friendly next-door neighbour.
“Wait for him to get here, impatient Ivan.” She grinned, while Veraz linked his arm, rolling her eyes at her husband.

[Yes, they are all mad in this village ^ ^ Sorry their conversation took so long, but yeah. Let Matt make of their thoughts what he will.]

[flippedside]

Matt was pleased to hear Willow's offer of help, but more intrigued by her comment about possibly helping the group that she was with. He hoped to get a fuller explanation of what the camp was doing out here...In the middle of nowhere...He wasn't getting a clear picture from Willow, but her words and emotions said clearly that she thought it stupid. Probably for the best--humans don't really belong in this area.

Matt listened intently to her words not to worry about attacks out here, but underneath it, he heard her uncertainty and more than that, a brush of...unease at the vultures that had attacked him before. It wasn't outright fear, but he was fairly certain that she didn't truly trust him. Just as well--his whole appearance before her was a lie.

She shifted and warned the camp of his approach. Out of the corner of his eye, Matt had been aware of the others lining the edge of the camp with the glitter of sharp steel. They appeared to be attempting to be unobtrusive...With his keen eyesight, it was a futile exercise. They might have managed if they were further away...or had the use of magic...Honestly, Matt was rather grateful at his hawk-like vision because the camp was too far away to catch thoughts, so he had no other warning ability. And it was nice to have an ability beyond that of the shifters.

Three people broke the line of the camp and jogged through the snow towards them. Matt could see that one was very young while the other two, though still young, were slightly older than Willow. He could also see the others putting away their weapons--or at least, no longer holding them in plain sight. He relaxed slighty. He had never been good at avoiding arrows, though he had managed to deflect knives out of the air on a few occasions. The time that he hadn't...He didn't want to particularly remember the pain of a collapsed lung.

Willow broke into a full-out run, and Matt heard her excited thoughts as she rammed into the approaching trio. Sheesh. Glad I'm not the kid, Matt thought. Braced, he might not have fallen over, but he wasn't much for that sort of mad exuberance. Or was he? He realized he had no true friends, and so couldn't understand the genuine laughter and affection of the group. He felt like more of an outsider than ever as he approached. The feeling was multiplied by the dark, untrusting thoughts of the man.

{Who's he? Willow said it was safe, but...Might be better to just take him out. At least we could tie him up before bringing him back to camp...}

{Not likely,} Matt thought dryly. He said it loud enough that had the man been sensitive, he might have heard it, but he didn't. Instead, the man was focused on Willow's answer.

Matt perked up to hear her answer. It was a little jumbled, since not all the words she thought she spoke aloud, and sometimes they overlapped each other, but he was both surprised and pleased to see that she basically trusted him. He noted her confusion again over the vultures, and Matt began to wonder if, given enough time, she wouldn't begin to unravel certain things that were usually considered best hidden from the shifters. She wouldn't be the first human to understand...But he didn't know or trust her enough to feel safe with allowing her to know anymore. Dangerous, then, to stay in this place too long.

Matt was amused with her final thoughts. True, even he would be leery of picking a fight with a band of experienced fighters--and he had skills that they couldn't even begin to imagine. Though truthfully, he avoided using said skills unless he was alone. Except for the thought catching--he had no qualms about hearing the thoughts of others. To Matt's mind, if they didn't want their thoughts heard, they shouldn't be so noisy about them.

Approaching their group now, Matt decided that the most amusing but useless bits that he picked up from this group were two secret passageways into their village. Willow had pictured one, and the man had clearly envisioned the other when she joked about not showing Matt the secret ways in and out...It was hard to keep secrets from a wyrdragon. He shoved the information away as useless junk, though, since he had no desire to visit their village, let alone raid it.

By now, he'd more or less picked up their names from the thoughts that they directed at one another. Still, thought catching tended to be fuzziest on names, so he always prefered to hear them in person. The one called Kaz was pretending to be friendly while considering possible ways to injure him without actually killing him, thus being potentially able to extract information as needed. While Matt understood his basic need to protect the village and that his thoughts were just a precaution...Jerk.

"Hello. I'm Matt, if Willow hasn't already said." He was only a few paces away when he called out cheerfully. Best to always pretend ignorance, though in this case Matt was fairly certain that his name hadn't yet been given. "I guess we just met up accidentally, though Willow and I have met before." He grinned and shrugged as if to say, "What are the chances?" He was doing his best to appear harmless. Always better to have people underestimate you.


OOC: I guess Matt had a lot of thoughts...I'm not really sure how I made this one this long.

[Willow]

Veraz – taking the role of spokesperson for the group, per usual – introduced herself and the others. Kaz nodded politely, while Khan gave a sheepish grin then, while Veraz quizzed Matt on what it was he needed to know, and would he like to come into camp seeing as the conversation might take a while, nudged Willow and flicked his eyes pointedly from her to Matt and back again at her questioning glance, then gave her a broad, cheeky grin, his eyebrows raised meaningfully.
Willow returned the smile pleasantly upon catching on, then cuffed him around the back of the head so powerfully Khan staggered a few surprised steps.
“That answer you, ya cheeky swine?” She asked cheerfully, ignoring Kaz and Veraz’ blank looks of shock at the pair; Khan now holding the back of his head and breathing curses under his breath at her.

“Come on, then,” Willow said innocently to the rest of the group, nodding to camp. In the movement, she caught Kaz’s eye, the brief contact showing her his reservations about allowing a stranger into camp. Willow just widened her smile a notch to show she understood, but wasn’t too concerned. ’I’ve not lost it while I’ve been away, you know.’ She thought as she led the group back to camp, aware of Veraz’s wondering glances at her back, still wondering at what Khan had done, no doubt.

Unconsciously, the four had fallen into a rough square formation around Matt as they led him towards the now apparently unthreatening camp. Their training kicking in, along with three quarters of the host group’s reservations about the stranger.
Kaz and Willow held the two foremost places, and purposefully walked a few paces in front of everyone else as Veraz kept up a conversation between herself, Khan and Matt; mainly questions about the details needed to help Matt, and when that topic ran dry, pestering Khan about the usual task around camp.
“You’re worse than my mother! Everything’s taken care of, nothing’s been left behind, no one will have died in the past ten minutes unless Ghett’s drank himself into a coma, so calm down, would you?” Khan eventually burst out, torn between exasperation and irritated amusement.
“Well, your mother’s not here, so who else is going to stop you running riot?” Veraz retorted tartly, providing an ideal cover for her husband to hold a quiet conversation with Willow without anyone else hearing. Well, anyone who was a shifter.

“You sure about him?” Kaz asked in a low tone. It was rare to hear anyone in camp whisper, as the hissing sound carried more than speaking quietly.
Willow spared a glance at him, rolling her eyes but answering seriously at a similar volume.
“Yes. From what I’ve seen he really is trustworthy. I don’t see any reason to be concerned, unless there’s a part of this wild goose chase you haven’t told me about?” She replied, a slight edge to her soft tone. “You really are too suspicious of others.” She remarked to him before he answered, casting him a slight scowl. Make no mistake; they were good friends, but like all others, they had their disagreements.
“And you seem to be too trusting!” Kaz growled, irritation spiking at the comment. “How can you trust him? You said yourself; you knew him only for, what, a day?” Both of them were frowning now, flicking angry glares at the other as they walked. Camp was only a hundred or so metres away now. Noticing this, they mutually calmed down and restrained their tempers.
“Kaz, the only things we have to defend here are our own lives; something everyone here is able to do. This isn’t a high-priority task – if we deem anything too dangerous we can up and leave. You know everyone at camp will be armed – we’re all cautious. It doesn’t mean we’re suspicious, though. Just trust me, okay?” Sensing he was about to object, she held up her hand, cutting him off. “I’ll take responsibility for this. If anything bad happens as a consequence of allowing him into camp and helping him, I’ll take the blame. That satisfy you?” She said, sincere but still challenging.
Sighing, Kaz glanced at the first sentries the returning group was approaching, metres away now, then nodded, worry still showing for a moment in his eyes.
It was at that minute that Khan had his little outburst, causing Willow to glance over her shoulder, taking in the scene, then cast Matt a sympathetic, ‘sorry about them’ look.

“Oi, you'll scare him off!” She called back, grinning to show her jest. Willow was positive Matt had faced things weirder and scarier than Veraz and Khan. Then again, he hadn’t seen Veraz angry...She stepped back to join them as Kaz greeted two on the sentries, quickly explaining the gist of things. They nodded, one running into camp to alert the rest of what had happened, the other resuming patrol.
“I’m still technically on duty – I’ll see you at mid-morning.” Khan told them, then jogged off to relieve his temporary stand-in of the usually boring sentry patrol.
“Later,” Willow waved, before turning to Kaz and Veraz as they nodded Matt through to camp, the trail of deep footprints marking the way from the sentry ring to the tents and fires.

“So, have you figured out whether we can help you, or vice versa, or was all that jabbering just Veraz chin-wagging?” She asked Matt cheerfully, falling into place between the two. It was easy for her to act as if the low debate between herself and Kaz hadn’t happened; so used to these types of situations as she was. If she wasn’t so good at fighting and killing, she could have easily taken up acting, or so she’d been told on the numerous occasions she’d tried to talk her way out of trouble she had blatantly caused.

[flippedside]

*OOC: Sorry for the long wait! It's been so long, I had to re-read the thread. lol. Hopefully, this is good enough to make up for it...*

The woman named Veraz gave the introductions for the group, and Matt took a moment to look for any thoughts about himself. The two adults were wary, though Veraz seemed less concerned than Kaz. The youngest one was mostly just curious about who he was and why he was there. Matt broke away from Khan's disjointed questions to focus on the actual questions being asked by Veraz.

"I'm tracking a man...You might call him a sorcerer, I guess. Certainly, he's almost uncanny about covering his tracks, so it's taken me some time just to track him this far. He's apparently disappeared into the mountains around here...I'm hoping not too far into them. Anyway, I'm hoping to question him...He works for one of my enemies."

Khan suddenly staggered forward a few steps to Willow's "That answer your question, ya cheeky swine?"

Matt sensed amusement from Willow and surprise from Khan, but no hint at what he had missed between the two of them. He was briefly irritated that he could catch no more because the emotions they were projecting were no different from what he could read on their faces. Ah, well. I suppose so much time around shifters has caused me to rely too much on thought-speak.

The other four drew him towards camp, settling into a square about him. Aside from Kaz, Matt wasn't hearing any direct threat from the others. Still, the circle formation made him feel uncomfortably like a prisoner. He pushed his unease aside and answered Veraz's questions. It was a bit difficult to do, since the man he was hunting was not exactly a man...nor was he a shape-shifter.

"Oh, aye, he's dangerous. The hardest thing will be capturing him. I'm fairly certain I would win in a fight, but I don't want him dead. At least, not until I'm done with him." Matt frowned. "I was thinking of setting a trap, but I have to find him first..."

Matt noted that Willow and Kaz were discussing something ahead of him, but he didn't give it much attention. Veraz was musing about whether they could help with a trap.

Matt's attention wandered briefly as they came closer to the camp. Thoughts drifted out: {Who's that? Prisoner? Why would anyone be out here? Aside from us, and our assignment's pointless...} Weapons had been set aside, so Matt knew he was in no direct threat, but this was a group used to fighting. He could hear it in their thoughts.

He returned his attention to Veraz, just in time to hear Khan's outburst. Matt blinked in surprise, then gave an amused smile.

They reached the camp and everyone split off to go their separate ways. Willow fell into step beside him, drawing him deeper into the camp, as she asked him about his conversation with Veraz.

"Whether I can help you is doubtful. Even with the weather warm elsewhere, it's still snowing here. It'd be difficult to find anything here, unless you had a map directly to its location. These mountains go for miles and miles...It's the Fire Stone you're looking for, right? Well, if it's buried in the snow or in a cave...unless you knew it was there, you'd pass it by.

"Veraz did say that you might be able to help me trap the man I'm hunting, though." He grinned and joked, "so your trip won't be a complete waste."

[Willow]

Willow nodded at his assessment of her camp’s situation, breathing out a sigh.
“I didn’t know it was the Fire Stone we were after – no one here does, apparently. ‘We’ll know it when we see it’,” She quoted, sketching out the indicative marks in the air as she spoke. “But it makes sense. It’s also in keeping with the fool we’ve got ordering us about – he’s paranoid that we’ll be found by a stronger force and wiped out. The Fire Stone is a way of avoiding this, clearly, but his common sense left him long ago. As you pointed out; how the hell are we meant to find a flipping rock out here?” Willow growled, not quite ranting, but not calm, either.
‘I’m seriously starting to consider a mutiny,’ The slender girl thought, kicking at a small snow drift as she walked, a deeply etched scowl tugging her brows together.

Still, her lips twitched in amusement at Matt’s suggestion. Shoving her own increasingly violent thoughts concerning her village leader away, she let herself grin properly as her brow smoothed again.
“Sure, I’m positive everyone here will go along with it. They’ve been stuck up here getting frostbite for a week now; to go home having accomplished absolutely nothing wouldn’t go down well with them. At least this way we get some action,” She enthused, as they stepped into the centre of camp. It held the largest fire, kept going by the more magic-orientated of the group even when there was little fuel. It was surrounded by decent sized logs and other appliances that were used as seats. Around it were the innermost tents, their mouths facing the flames and making for a quick place to throw Ghett when he passed out, along with any unfortunate that had been roped into a drinking contest with him. Ghett now had a permanent spot near the fire, as no one had appreciated having to carry him to one of the outer tents while he sang loud enough to be heard in the Horse Plains. Everyone else took turns sleeping near the fire, to prevent unnecessary fights breaking out.

The campsite, quiet and peaceful when Willow had left, was now filled with activity, be it people cooking, fixing weapons, or doing other mundane tasks that had to be done before they could move out.
Kino seemed to be the one giving the instructions in Kaz and Veraz’s absence. He nodded at Willow and Matt as they came into sight, showing that he’d already been alerted of the arrival.
He shouted over to Willow as they got closer, the noise of the talkative camp being slowly disassembled loud enough to make normal speaking useless.
“Start packing up your things if you want – we’ll be gone within the hour. People are gathering the last few things then the tents are coming down.” He called, then after a second of thought, added, “You are coming with us, right?”

Willow grinned, nodding.
“Apart from Veraz, who else can annoy Kaz and get away with it?” She asked, laughing while Kino rolled his eyes and went back to organising the camp.
“You may as well come in for a sec while I grab everything. If you don’t mind travelling with us for a day, we can then put all our effort into finding and capturing this person you’re after,” She informed Matt, ducking into her tent as she did.
“Everyone agreed last night that tomorrow would be the last day of looking, then they’d give up and head home. They weren’t too happy with the idea that they’d have spent at least two weeks up here for nothing, but it’d be pointless spending more time up here. But now you’ve come, I think we’ve got some motivation to put up with the cold a bit longer,” She grinned, whilst jumping all over the disorganised tent and grabbing things to be thrown into her bag, wondering how one person had made such a mess, with so few belongings and in such a short period of time.

[flippedside]

"Didn't--?" Matt repeated in surprise. He had picked up right away that it was the Fire Stone. Of course, he had their thoughts to pick over, too, but he had assumed that they had known that the powerful object they were looking for was the Stone. "Well, I could be wrong, but that's the only thing I know of that would be worth looking for up here. Unless, like me, you're hunting someone." He shrugged, and then replied to what she'd actually said, "I don't think you could find it. There's no real way to do so--that's why it's stayed hidden so long." He paused a moment, thinking.

"Supposedly, it was hidden at the end of the last wars. It was the last Stone to be lost. The Earth Stone was the only one that was kept, though no one knows what it actually does, these days. If I remember right, the Fire Stone was hidden by its keeper, who knew they had lost the fight, but didn't want the owner of any of the other Stones to also get theirs. Maybe they thought someone with two stones would be too powerful, or maybe they were just greedy." He shrugged. "I've heard a number of different legends that it's up here, but no one's found it. Too many hiding places, and the constant snow that keeps most of those places buried..." Matt let his voice trail off. She already got his point--no one was going to find it unless they knew exactly where it was hidden. And even then, they might not find it.

They had reached Willow's tent, and someone else shouted at Willow, interrupting Matt's thoughts. He kept his eyes roving over the camp without really seeming to, paying attention to all the goings on around him.

Willow ducked into her tent and he followed, stooping to enter. The tent was cramped with the two of them in it, but it was easier to continue their conversation. "Well, I'll be glad of your help," Matt told her cheerfully, while his thoughts whirled, hidden. It would make things both considerably easier and considerably more difficult having shifters along. Having a group of seasoned fighters would improve his chances of tracking and finding his enemy, but they'd have to move a lot faster and make their camp a lot less obvious. He considered his options. He could scout ahead and let them catch up, as long as they didn't see him flying...Or wait.

"Is any of your group a bird shifter of some sort? It would help to have a scout. I've gotten pretty close, but I think the man I'm hunting is still about two days ahead."


OOC: Willow gets a history lesson!

[Willow]

Willow listened, intrigued by the short tale. At its end, she gave a quick grin.
“You sure know a lot about it. You a historian in your spare time?” She asked, nodding briefly at the swords strapped across his back to acknowledge what seemed to be his day-job.

While she was walking, talking and throwing all her things into some sort of order before tossing them into her bag, Willow let her thoughts ramble, off-task. One of them poked her attention a little, then translated into a genuinely casual question.
“Where’s your pack?” She wondered, barely glancing at him as she folded some item or another into the increasing bulge that was her bag, then finally buckled it closed, struggling slightly against the sheer amount of things held in the sturdy canvas.

Her bag packed, and looking rather fat where it was slumped in the corner, Willow turned to the bedrolls as she thought over who was on the expedition.
“Bird shifters....there’s Kino, the guy out there yelling, he’s a robin. Veraz, a red-tailed hawk. They’re the only ones I know personally – I think I’ve seen a crow and a harpy eagle around too.” She summarised, rolling up her bed and wrestling the straps around it to hold it in place.

Standing, she cast a quick glance around the rest of the bare tent to make sure she hadn’t missed anything, then grabbed both bedroll and bag.
“Right, I think that’s everything. We’ll be leaving once the last few scouts and hunting parties get back. Only small game for now I’m afraid – we don’t have the time to be hunting and skinning the larger animals whilst we’re travelling.” Willow said as she made her way back out of the tent, indicating that Matt was to follow.

Outside, the camp had changed drastically.
There was now a mountain of bags and packs in the middle of the circle, and everyone was now either dropping their things off or getting ready to take down the tents.
One or two had already started, dismantling the tents of the missing shifters before their own to save time later.

Kaz, who had now rejoined Kino, nodded to Willow and Matt as they exited, then barked out a quick order as Willow slung her things onto the pile to join the others.
In a matter of moments, everyone had gone to their tent and were pulling it apart efficiently among a loud babble of talk and banter.

It took perhaps ten minutes, if that, for every tent in the camp to be packed away and shouldered, and another two minutes for everyone to grab their bags. By this time, the last parties to rejoin the group had arrived, and helped put out the large communal fire.
Once her jobs were done, Willow found Matt again and gave him a quick grin.
“We’re noisy, but organised when we want to be. Hope you can keep up, by the way – we make good time,” She teased lightly, jerking her head backwards to the group in general.

“Oi, walk while you talk, we’re moving out!” That was Kaz, and though he was addressing everyone, he was looking at Willow and Matt, so saw her cheerful one-fingered salute and cheeky grin.
“Don’t make me start a snowball fight,” She called, swiftly hiding her offending hand behind her back when Veraz looked around. The older woman narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Willow’s utterly innocent expression, but let it slide as the group set off at a brisk walk.

“We’re set to cover another fifty or so miles today, with a couple of hour-long breaks, one around late morning, the other about mid afternoon. We’ll be quite spread out – combing the landscape for anything unusual. The scouts picked out a few sites to search, so a group will go with each of them. The rest will cover the places in between; we’ll all meet up at the camp site around evening to nightfall. The scouts will round us all up once it starts getting near the time,” Willow informed Matt in a cloud of frozen breath. Despite her warm furs, her nose was already pink as she pulled up the rolled down neck of her clothes to cover most of her face. Dark charcoal lines under her eyes contrasted with her skin, and some of the others had goggles to protect against snow blindness, though many had done the same as Willow. Most of them didn’t have to worry, due to their animal counterparts, though it never hurt to be careful.

[flippedside]

"Heh.Sort of," Matt replied dryly to Willow's question about him being a historian. It would be a difficult to explain that he had actually lived a considerable amount of Rhyallia's history.

He was taken off-guard by Willow's next question: "Where's your pack?". Oops. Should have seen that one coming. He considered saying that he had one up in the trees, which was partly true, but it would be hard to sneak off to the old cabin to make a pack, and there would be other difficulties with that path, too. Matt rarely spent concentrated time with other shape-shifters, so he sometimes forgot how differently they traveled. He decided honesty was a better answer.

"Out here, I don't have one. I hunt my own game, and carry what I need on me. The rest of my things are in safe keeping below the mountains. Carrying too much stuff slows me down too much, and in this case, I need the speed." Which translated as, "I can't carry twenty pounds and fly over a hundred miles in a day." The last thing he wanted was to be hunting his enemy deep into the northlands. They were already on the edge of Rhyallia. He didn't like to go much further north, but he did want this man brought down. "And cold's never bothered me, much." Well, that last one was a lie: Matt knew he preferred warmth to the chill of the mountains, but he kept himself warm enough with his gift for fire.

He followed her outside, disappointed to hear that the game would be small. In some ways, Matt was very much the dragon, and he preferred his meat large. And raw. Fortunately, that also meant he didn't have to eat everyday. He thought he could handle the meager fare for a while, as long as he brought down some bigger game after breaking with Willow's group. "That's fine," he replied smoothly.

Matt stepped aside, and watched as the camp was quickly pulled down. He stayed out of the way, knowing that the group already had a pattern to their work and that he would just be getting in the way. He was right--the camp was stripped quickly and soon everyone was slinging packs onto their backs and getting ready to leave. It made his absence of a bag more obvious and he felt a bit awkward, but pushed it to the side.

Following Willow's teasing, Matt commented dryly, "You get away with a lot around here, don't you?" He fell easily in step beside her. He preferred to fly when traveling long distances, but he could keep the pace walking.

She told him their plan, and Matt nodded easily. "Fine. I'll follow wherever you want me. Just tell me where to go." He gave her an amused half-smile.

The sun glinted brilliantly off the snow and Matt had to squint, but not over much. He paused to gaze around them and then glare north. I'm coming...

[Willow]

Willow’s hidden grin broadened at Matt’s comment, though her eyes still glimmered.
“Yeah, I’d get away with murder with this lot, literally. I’ve been away too long – they missed me,” She laughed, then pointed at the two familiar figures ahead of them. “Especially those two. When we were kids, we’d all hang round in a big gang causing trouble. Kaz and Veraz were two of the older ones, and looked out for the rest of us. Though, they were by no means the brains of the operations,” She teased, raising her voice and tugging her collar down for a moment so that they’d hear her.

“You, missy, are not too old for a slap if you keep that up,” Veraz shouted with a grin, whilst everyone around them subtly moved away. Veraz was relatively skilled in her elemental ‘gifts’, and often put them to effective use in fights. However, they were equally effective against a cheeky teenager, and no-one wanted to be caught in the middle of that.

Willow, probably realising she was pushing it, gave her best ‘don’t kill me’ smile before hiding her face and shutting up.
Amongst all the banter, Willow missed Matt’s focussed look to the north as she once again wormed her way out of trouble.

During the commotion, the group had been slowly spreading out to form a staggered line. Once everyone had calmed down, the scouts signalled the start of the search by shifting and leaping into the air to lead the way.
A small group followed each bird, breaking the group up further. Each group also had a shifter such as a wolf or lion who could howl or roar to alert the other groups of something across distances, should the airborne scouts lose sight of each other.

“Right, we’re with Veraz, so keep an eye on the red-tailed hawk. Once we get to the place she saw, just start exploring and digging, I guess,” Willow instructed, shrugging. “Speaking of which...hey, Kaz!” She shouted, waving to get his attention as he turned towards his name.
He dropped his pace until he was level with them; then fell into step again as he asked the obvious question.

“This place Veraz picked out, what’s it like? Did she tell you?” Willow asked, giving Kaz a brief glance then turning her eyes to check Veraz’s position, then to the landscape before her, constantly scanning.
Kaz mirrored her actions as he answered.

“Apparently they looked like some small caves and frozen holes in the ground – too big to be burrows or dens for foxes or hares, and it’s the wrong time of the year for bears to be hibernating. Probably nothing – just ridges in the snow that have frozen solid over time. Still, it’s something to document, so that our resident idiot doesn’t have an excuse to punish us for failing,” He huffed, though he sounded more resigned than annoyed. Compared to Willow, he’d had an additional two and a half years to grow accustomed to their lord.
“It’s about another three miles or so,” He added, nodding ahead at the distance. From above them, Veraz gave a low screech to verify what he’d said.

Grinning fleetingly, Kaz turned back to the two he was walking with.
“Is there anything else you can tell us about this person you’re hunting? What he looks like, where he’s heading, that kind of thing? I can spread the information to the rest of the group, so that we all know who we’re looking for,” He asked Matt, out of simple curiosity. He’d already adjusted to the idea of having the stranger around for a few more days, so he may as well get used to talking to him too. Plus Willow would probably pummel him if he didn’t.

[flippedside]

Matt nodded at Willow's instructions as he trudged through the snow. He was suddenly remembering why he hated walking. He narrowed his eyes and imagined burning a trail straight through the snow so he could walk on dry ground. And then thought better of it, since he didn't know how deep the snow went. Ah well, at least it was packed hard and he wasn't sinking too much. Of course, that alone should tell him how deep the snow went--especially when it didn't even melt in the middle of summer.

Matt noted Kaz's comments, and the faint sarcasm in his voice. It was clear that none of these people respected their leader; which made him pause and wonder why the man was the leader of their group. Certainly they had the skills and knowledge to throw out a bad leader. Then again, this seemed to be only a small portion of a much larger town, so what did he know?

He set his questions aside to answer what he was being asked. He was going to have to come up with something intelligent to say.

"Ah, well, he's fairly tall. And thin. Very thin. Don't mistake that for weakness, though, the...man...could throw the heaviest of you at least a dozen feet." Matt grimaced. "I know from personal experience.

"Dark hair and skin. Hard to miss, really, especially when there's no one else out. He's...sort of a magic user, but not like what you're used to seeing."

He paused before continuing, "I've been hunting him for some time. I lose his trail and then pick it up again...This is the closest I've gotten to him. I know he's not more than a few days out. Problem is, if he gets much farther north he'll reach his allies and territory that I'm not willing to visit. I'm hoping to catch him before that."

He didn't know what sort of creature the man was, really, only that he was powerful and a slave of his enemy. More than that...Well, he'd caused Matt a great deal of trouble in the past.

"Easiest thing would be to scout him out and then set an ambush or some way to catch him off-guard. Of course, that's a lot easier said than done..." He smiled grimly. "Otherwise, I'd have caught him long before now."

They'd traveled quickly, and Matt guessed that over a mile had already passed. Well, let's get this business finished quick, he thought wryly. He didn't have much time to spare if he wanted to finish hunting his own prey.

[Willow]

Willow and Kaz exchanged sceptical glances at the man’s supposed strength. That thin; yet so powerful? Doubtful to say the least.
Being a magic user might explain it though – a strong illusion to make him appear skinny and weak, so he could surprise his enemies. It was possible, at least, especially as he was apparently ‘not like what you’re used to seeing’.

A small thing Willow noticed was Matt’s hesitant use of the word ‘man’ – why was that? What else could he be?
‘There’s a lot of things I don’t want to know, and I’m getting the feeling this is one of them,’ She thought, uneasy.
“Dark hair and skin, thin, quite tall, magic user,” Kaz summarised, nodding. “I’ll spread the word. We can tell the others tonight.” With that he jogged off to the nearest of their group, talking before he’d reached them. He knew Willow would tell him any more information she picked up.

“You said allies; in the Northern Wastes? I didn’t know anyone lived there,” Willow asked, curious, wondering what sort of people had made a home in that land.
Actually, why did she think it strange? It was a distant place, yes, but why was the idea of people living there unusual to her?
‘It’s not called the Northern Wastes for nothing,’ Her mind suggested, but it was more than that, she felt. Tiny pointers her conscious thoughts overlooked; you never came across anyone from the Wastes, nor heard of anyone from there. No trade routes between there and Rhyallia – Willow knew most of them, having helped ‘divert’ a wagon or two from each route in her time.
‘Stop being stupid and concentrate before you fall into a hidden ravine,’ Her sensible/sarcastic side snapped, bringing her attention back to her surroundings and normal conversation.

“We’re required to travel at a set pace while on tasks such as these, but tomorrow we can really start moving. We’ll be the strangest herd out there, but if it means we move faster, who cares?” Willow said, shrugging, her disquiet buried under her easy going bravado. “Some of us won't be shifting, since our animal shapes are slower than humans, but they should be able to keep up, or hitch a ride,” She laughed, remembering a few other occasions that had happened. Someone riding a rhino made quite a sight.

“So, have you got any ideas for trapping this guy? If not, I’m sure one of us crazy people will think of something, but seeing as you know the most about him...” She shrugged, letting the statement finish itself. Any plan of Matt’s would be more likely to succeed than anything the shifters could come up with.

[ooc: Willow's starting to think too much...if anything there about Rhyallia/Northern Wastes is wrong, just tell me and I'll edit.]