Track this topic | Email this topic | Print this topic

Ikiiri

***

Chapter 1

***

Soft, four-toed paw-feet run across the grass underneath them, making soft puffs of sound and moving swiftly through the forest. She hops over a log and dives behind a tree, stopping for a breather, then leans against it and throws her head back, looking up through the forest canopy at thin rays of sunlight pouring down. A fly lands on her large and triangular-shaped ear, riding higher on her head than a humans'. She flicks it off idly by flapping her ear and tries to steady her breathing, while also flicking and then relaxing her tail, which resembles a squirrel's at the moment.

Her whole body's covered with long and silky dark amber fur, streaked in places with a mixture of simple slashes and decorative curls of black stripes. Her long, wavy, and raven black hair flows gracefully down her back, going all the way past her waist, almost but not quite concealing the point where her tail begins...though at the moment some hangs in her face and is covered with twigs and leaves. She brushes it out of her eyes, running her hand over a short series of knobby protrusions to both sides of her forehead; they stretch backwards at angles, beginning at her hairline and above her eyes, revealing small ivory orbs above her skin -- four in all, cutting her hairline into a widow's peak.

She brushes her tail against her feet and shuffles her right foot nervously, then turns her head sideways, thinking that she hears something. She listens for a moment longer and she hears it again: the faint sound of men talking and sneaking through underbrush. In a few minutes, they could be where she is.

Slowly she bends down and goes on all fours, then crawls forwards to a bush where she can hopefully find a hiding place. The men come closer and finally emerge into the open, looking alert and steadying their readied bows. She peers out at them from inside her shallow gully, peeking through a screen of leaves and twigs. One of them -- their leader -- scans the area, sweeping by her spot with his eyes. Her heart skips a beat and she holds her breath, but he goes right over her place and keeps looking. She lets her breath out slowly, relieved, and blinks, but she freezes in place when he looks back over to her and just...stares.

For a moment she can almost just see an arrow fly from his bow and pierce her, but all he does is walk forwards. Her heart doubles its already fast pace and her skin goes cold. She glances from side to side quickly, frantically looking for a way out. Meanwhile all her movement does is raise his suspicion, and he responds by moving faster and raising his weapon. He gets closer and closer to the bush, and when he finally comes upon it he thrusts his bow in and fires a shot, grinning savagely.

All he hits is dirt. Ahead of him, a flash of amber bursts out from the underbrush and breaks straight for a tree, running a curved line to hopefully avoid being shot. Although one of his men's already seen her and sounded an alert, he yells out anyway, "Over here! She's over here!"

He leaps out over the brush and rushes after her, joining his four men in their chase. One by one they all shoot at her...but they all miss, although their leader's arrow comes within centimeters of her neck. She keeps going and flashes by a small tree, knocking its branches on her way by. Behind her, they continue pursuit and ready a second volley as she leaps onto a tree trunk and starts frantically climbing.

"Fire!" He orders, and they all shoot at her...but miraculously, none of the arrows hit. Three glance from the trunk and fall harmlessly to the ground, while two embed in the trunk to each side of her.

"Again!" He grunts, and they all ready a third volley. As soon as they're ready, however, she gets to an upper branch and stands, and then runs across it amidst a hail of arrows. All but one miss, but the fifth -- the leader's, no less -- glances from her shoulder and bounces off to the ground. She taps a hand to her left shoulder quickly, but since there's no apparent damage, she brings it back around to steady herself in her leap across branches.

Her small, lightweight frame -- one hundred forty-seven centimeters and forty-five kilograms -- glides gracefully through the air and lands heavily on the thick branch opposite her. She steadies her balance quickly and continues on her way, running and hopping from branch to branch and tree to tree. They follow her movements beneath her, keeping pace with her movement and hopelessly firing an odd shot here and there at her. While running ahead of his pack, their leader looks forward and spots something that he can exploit: a fairly thin branch that she'll have to use to get to a better one. He quickly reaches into his quiver and removes an extra special arrow: one tipped with a small grenade. It's a Figaran weapon, and he's sure glad he thought to buy some on his way here.

He readies the arrow and aims, and then plants his feet to come to a skidding halt and fires just when her feet touch the branch. A loud explosion muffles her scream as the branch snaps and falls off underneath her feet, and she plummets eight meters to the ground. She would be dead if not for the thickly foliaged branches that she hits on her way down: six in all. Finally she lands on the grass and lies there, stunned and exhausted. She moans quietly as they rush over to her, arrows ready.

A sudden rush of adrenaline and awareness wake her up, however, and she whips herself over on all fours and looks at them run towards her. Quickly she hops to her feet and dashes between a few small, close-in trees. Becoming more frantic and desperate by the minute, she screams back at them in her native tongue, though to them it's nothing more than random babbling.

"Mikay yila utash ishay! Nisha yul! Mikay yila!" She pleas, meaning, 'You can't hunt people! It's wrong! You can't!'

She stumbles over a dirt mound and ends up turned around, breathless and visibly shaken. Another round of arrows flashes by her, but this time she isn't so lucky: One pierces her left shoulder, while another goes straight through her abdomen; fortunately none of them hit anything vital.

She stumbles backwards, gripping the one in her stomach while yet another volley flashes by her, missing entirely. One more step and she slips backwards, rolling down a small slope into very thick underbrush.

They rush up to the ledge and look down for a while, searching for any sign of her; then their leader orders two teams of two each to fan out to the sides while he takes the center alone. He scans the area for a moment while they rush off, then he prepares to step down when a large Mantodea suddenly bursts from the trees and rushes him. Acting on instinct and reflexes alone, he aims and fires an arrow straight for its head.

***

She lies on the ground, drifting somewhere between consciousness and sleep...her legs are splayed out, with her left arm over her stomach and her right arm curved at an L-shape to her side. Her eyes are cracked very slightly open, but are glazed over, watching dreamlike images pass by instead of clouds.

"Be careful during the day," Says her grandfather. "It's not safe. Travel at night."

She remembers all the childhood stories about her people wandering into the forest and disappearing. Sure, there'd always been the threat of deadly monsters attacking them, but so far monster attacks had accounted for very few deaths among her people. There was always something else to it, something much more foreboding and dangerous...she knows now what it is. During her younger years, she'd always thought that those tales were just stories to scare children, to keep them in line. She used to tell herself that they couldn't be true. She'd never seen anyone just disappear on her.

Now she wishes she were right. It's funny how even through all that's happening to her, it stills feels so alien...so distant. It felt like a dream when the first arrows came for her, and it still feels like a dream. Lying there in the dirt, shock begins to take affect and she denies that any of this is real.

"Nisha hal ni jen...nisha hal ni jen...nisha hal ni jen...hal ni jen..." She repeats over and over. 'It's just a dream...it's just a dream...'

A branch cracks nearby. She turns her head slowly, very tiredly to look in that direction, eyes still half-closed and lips still speaking the same thing in loops. She feels like sleeping, but something in the back of her head keeps her awake...a primal instinct for survival and a charge of adrenaline, fueled by fear. Her breath and heartbeat speed up.

"Nisha hal ni jen...nisha...hal...

...Rija val?"

'Who's there?' She whispers faintly.

***

Blood drips from a fresh wound on his chest to the ground. Carefully he moves forward, eyes peering through every crevice and crack in the grass for signs of his prey. Some movement catches his eye, but he stops himself just short of shooting it when he realizes that it's just a small forest rodent. He sighs slowly and moves forward again, when suddenly he picks up a faint sound...almost like someone talking. He stops and stares in its direction for a moment...then grins and changes direction to go for the sound.

As he draws nearer he can start hearing the sounds coming together...but not being able to understand them, he dismisses it as babbling. He finally localizes her voice and prepares to fire...but she smells him first. His arrow hits dirt, but her shoulder finds his stomach just fine. She plows straight into him, tackling him to the ground before he can react. She scrambles to her feet and takes off running, just barely avoiding a swipe at her feet by his knife.

"Here! Over here!" He yells.

His men shout back at him from far away and head back towards his voice, while she dashes farther into thicker brush to hide. He manages to get back on his feet quickly and chases after her, arming his bow mid-run and growling.

***

She finally comes to a stop behind a tree, leaning on it heavily. She breathes so deeply that she almost speaks with every exhale, and her head's spinning so badly from fatigue that she has a very hard time concentrating, let alone standing up. Her legs are wobbling and shivering, and the effect's quickly spreading throughout her body. She feels like she's cold, every muscle under her skin beginning to quake and tremble.

Hardly thinking about it, she grips the arrow through her stomach, and then looks down once she realizes what she's doing. She stares for a moment, considering, then grasps it with both hands and twists, snapping the shaft off. She gasps sharply and groans, but then grits her teeth and reaches up with her tail, closing her two spines together and grasping the arrow's head sticking from her back. She pulls hard and the head gives, sliding straight out from her lower back. She groans again and breathes heavier, then reaches up for the one sticking from her shoulder, again with her tail. Another twist and pull later and the head snaps off, allowing her to then pull the shaft out.

She holds the bloodied thing in her right hand, staring at it, then tosses it away and slumps to the ground, crouching down with the tree for support. The relief of not having anything stuck inside of her anymore is enormous. She tries to catch her breath, listening to them yell to each other and crash through the brush, getting closer. She shuts her eyes and just sits there, listening and waiting. For a minute, she seriously considers giving herself up and letting the inevitable come...but when she hears a branch snapping and a man crossing over a nearby fallen log, she knows she can't do that.

She springs to her feet quickly, gasping as pain shoots through her body. The man starts pushing his way through some thick foliage to her right, and now she can smell him. She glances around herself quickly, then grits her teeth and dashes off in a seemingly suicidal direction: right in between two of the men drawing close.

Bushes flash by her face as she breaks out at full speed, not even caring how much her wounds ache or the branches hurt when they slap her. Both men realize quickly what's happening and start closing towards each other, hoping to cut her off. Another twenty meters...fifteen meters...ten meters...they set their arrows...five meters...

She bursts through a small clearing and leaps at a tree trunk just when two arrows fly out from behind her and strike below her feet. She scrambles up the trunk and manages to reach a thick enough branch to stand on before they can react. Just as before, she rushes out from branch to branch, making quick progress against the men on foot.

But their leader isn't stopped that easily. He keeps an inhuman pace beside her on the forest floor, constantly trying to get a clear shot in with another grenade arrow. It seems for a time that she might be able to lose them after all, and she grins happily to herself for the first time in a while as she flies through the air for another branch.

She lands hard and the branch snaps, dropping her to the ground again. She starts screaming as she falls head first, watching the ground rush up to meet her and the branch plummet ahead of her. She passes a branch on the way down and stretches out her tail's two spines as wide as they can go, then catches herself on it, halting her long fall...albeit roughly. In this position her tail patterns on both sides are clearly exposed: very elaborate swirls and symbols of black fur on both sides, with a lighter shade of base fur on the bottom side. She dangles for a second before realizing that hanging here like this, she's just a sitting target. The leader rushes up beneath her then and returns his grenade arrow to his quiver in favor of a standard one, a wide smile on his face. She looks down and lines herself up, then lets go just when he starts setting the arrow.

She lands right on top of him -- hard -- using him as a human cushion. She tries to crawl away but he rolls over and grasps her left ankle with an iron grip, refusing to let go. He pulls his knife out with his other hand and starts crawling towards her while she tries to scramble away, intending to mount her and drive it straight into her heart. She flips around, however, and shoves him off of her with her other foot, tossing him neatly onto his back.

She scurries to her feet again and stumbles backwards, her eyes wide and mouth open...clearly afraid for her life. She stares back at his angry face, backing up against a tree while he stalks slowly forwards. Then an idea strikes her and she tries pleading with him. "Jila shuk eni...eni yajila ji nol e mikay! Inali jila shuk eni...eni hal run e mi shov..."

'Don't kill me...I didn't do anything to you! Please don't kill me...I just want to go home...' But of course, he doesn't understand. He cocks his head sideways at her, then grins savagely again and rushes at her with a loud grunt. 'There, he fell for it,' She thinks. She ducks low and steps forward at the last moment, then as he comes past her she grips his ankle with her tail and lifts up, tossing him into a high somersault.

He collapses roughly on the ground, then grunts and whips himself over in time to see her disappear into the brush again. "Sonuva!"

She dashes through the woods again, this time dropping into a shallow gully where she can run unhindered. She runs for what seems like forever, finally stopping to rest in a small alcove hidden at a tree's base.

***

"Hey Manny, why don't we just find another one?" One of his men asks.

"No," Comes his swift and curt reply.

"C'mon, we've been chasing her for at least four hours and we haven't got her yet!" He argues.

"No," He says louder, then faces and walks over to him. "You saw her fur, the patterns? And her ivory? She's worth more than four of 'em put together."

"Then why don't we get four others, instead of this one?" He asks.

"Yeah, we should've had her by now. We could've gotten two or three by this time," Another adds.

"Owzer would rather have this one than ten of lesser value," Manny replies.

The third man scoffs and turns partially away, then swings his torso back around and says, "Well, Owzer can come out here and hunt her his own self; we've been at this for too long with nothing to show for it!"

Manny glances over at him stiffly, then marches over and grabs him by the collar. "Now you listen to me: I'm the leader on this hunt and we don't go home until we catch this little minx! You got that?"

He looks back at him and answers gruffly, "Yeahhh...I got that...sir."

Manny glares at him, then shoves him backwards when he releases him. "Good enough, wisea--"

"Hey! I got tracks!" The fourth hunter cut him off at 'enough', pointing out his discovery.

Manny immediately hurries over, taking out his bow. "Where?"

When he gets close enough to see, he points his finger downwards. "There, leading into that gully."

"All right, let's move!" Manny orders. They all obey and fan out to make pursuit.

***

She pushes a branch aside, carefully peering into the space beyond. Seeing and hearing no one, she steps cautiously out and sneaks through the small clearing. The late afternoon sun casts rays of sunlight downwards at an angle, cut in places by leaves and branches before finally falling upon her fur, now dirty and disheveled from five hours of running and rolling. She stalks across and makes it to the other side without incident, but all around her a plan's taking shape. Manny sends some of his men ahead to intercept her, taking up paths running down some rolling terrain to her right and low ditches to her left, while coming up behind her himself.

He moves silently amongst some brush, brandishing his knife threateningly and licking his lips, imagining the kill vividly. Never before has any one prey been so hard to catch, and while he hopes that his men will cut her off and be able to finish the job, he privately wishes to be the one to take her down. For him, this has gotten personal.

Ahead of him, she moves stealthily through a gap and leans against a tree, listening for movement. She waits patiently for a few seconds before picking up a soft scuffling sound to her left. She'd been right: she guessed it wouldn't take them long to catch up, even if she ran. Moments ago she'd made a decision, and she's going to stick by it: she's going to stand her ground and try to break out.

She crouches down under a bed of thick brush and listens...finally one of the hunters emerges nearby and crosses by her. Just a little bit more and she can...yes...he passes by, allowing her to stand up and stalk him. He looks around at the trees, completely oblivious to her until she grabs him from behind and knocks him out with a skillful blow to the back of his head. One down.

A short distance away a second hunter lurks in a low creek bed, advancing slowly and listening for sounds. As attuned as his hearing is, it's not as good as hers, and she manages to sneak up beside and behind him. She follows him for a moment, almost amusedly watching as he just keeps walking ahead of her...but there isn't any time for fun. She reaches out with her tail and trips him easily, then quickly mounts his back and knocks him out before he can do anything. Two down.

Across the forest, a third hunter sits down to rest on a rock, taking out a small packet of food to nibble on. He takes a bite and looks around at the trees, but is quickly yanked from his perch and falls backwards. Moments later, he's gagged and bound to a tree base. Three down.

Manny comes up on her position by now. He stops to listen and feel out the area, and while he hears and sees nothing for a minute, he can just feel that she's somewhere nearby. He rises slowly to move forward, not noticing the tail reaching out to grab his feet...not right away, anyway. He hops up with a start and twirls around, where he sees a ball of fur flying towards him, tackling him to the ground. His knife flies from his hand, but he doesn't care...he simply takes to punching at her with his fists from beneath her, who avoids what jabs she can and claws at him with her nails, which are exposed from their sheaths in her fingers again.

She then reels back for an extra large punch, giving him time to reach up with his foot and shove her off. Her small body goes flying away and lands hard on her back, while he reaches over and reclaims his knife. He charges at her immediately, but she rolls to the side and grabs his leg with her tail, pulling up and flipping him just like before, only this time he flies higher and does a double back flip that ends with his back meeting dirt...and hard.

She breaks away and dashes through the woods again while he rolls around moaning, hoping to gain distance and a better ambush point. She runs on and shoves aside a bush, and slams right into the chest of the fifth hunter. Her ears droop low and she looks up at him slowly with large, newly frightened eyes and an opened mouth.

Then the sound of metal sliding through flesh comes as he pushes his knife into her chest. She stands up for a moment longer, her whole body quivering, before her legs give way and she collapses onto her back, the knife removing itself as she falls. He stares down at her for a very long time, looking at her body sprawled out as it is: left arm on her stomach, right arm straightened out along her side with her palm up, legs twisted to her right and closed. All he can think of is that she looks so peaceful lying there.

Ikiiri's face doesn't show fear anymore...just calm.


This post has been edited by Zephir on 27th March 2004 00:27

--------------------

~Status Report~

* Completed... Dragon's Head
* Completed... Soldiers of the Empire: Disciples (release pending)
* In Progress/Undecided... Of Love and Betrayal
* Planning/Assembly... Where it all Began

This is a very interesting piece. I like how it ends, actually, though it's not exactly a happy ending.

One problem is at the start, I think you get a little too detailed in saying what she can do. For example, maybe instead of going on so much about the tail, write a part where she's using it.

Anyway, you said you were going to edit this further, so I'll wait for that.


--------------------

I had an old signature. Now I've changed it.

Ikiiri

***

Chapter 2

***

The hunter looks down at her sadly and shakes his head. "I'm sorry..."

Then he stoops down and collects her body, moving her to a different place.

***

The hunter walks somberly through the woods, moving towards an unmistakable noise coming from ahead of him. In passing by a tree he lays one hand on it, steadying himself, then looks up and regains his composure. Manny stomps through some thick brush in front of him, storming angrily after her. He throws a tree limb aside and steps through a bush, where he sees the man and hurries over to him. "Did you see her? Where did she go?"

He tries to walk past him, but the man grabs him by his arm and turns him back. "I lost her."

Manny stares at him for a long, painful second before asking, "Wwwhat?!"

"I lost her," He repeats, tossing his head to one side. "She knocked me down and when I turned around, she was gone. Not a trace. I don't know where she went."

"You can't be serious..." Manny says, trying to pull away and go off in her direction.

The man pulls him back again and asserts himself. "Manny, it's useless! She could be in any one of a hundred directions by now, and she's got a big head start. Without any place to begin, we won't be able to catch her anymore."

"I don't give up as easily as you," Manny spits, trying to pull away once again.

The other man pulls him back again and almost growls back at him, "Manny, even you've got to admit that it's over! She's gone, man."

Manny snarls back at him, then shakes his arm off and sheathes his knife. He turns away and walks back off to the clearing, kicking a bush on his way out and swearing. "Sonuva!"

The man waits until he's gone to breathe a long sigh of relief, and then turns back in her direction and looks. 'I'm sorry...I hope you can find some help before...'fore you really do die...' He thinks.

He finally turns and follows Manny out with his head hung low. He might've saved her for the moment, but he still doesn't feel good about what he did.

***

Minutes, and then hours pass by where nothing moves, save for a few small insects and animals. Daylight slowly begins to turn to dusk, with the first few rays of orange light shining in the sky. The tranquilizer he'd laced his knife with had worked as advertised: she's been out for hours, and she'll be unconscious for hours longer. Somewhere in the middle of all the silence, footsteps start approaching her underbrush growth, getting steadily closer. A small man strolls through this part of the woods, about one hundred fifty-five centimeters short and wearing simple clothes underneath a very large, oversized robe. A few loose strands of his long red hair fall back into his eyes again, as they usually tend to do, and he brushes them aside with a hand thoughtlessly, but he stops dead in his tracks when he sees a small amber shape on the ground nearby.

He blinks a few times at it, then unfreezes and moves towards it carefully, not knowing what he should expect. He stoops low when he gets close and pushes a few branches aside, revealing her bloodied, sleeping form. He looks over her whole body, from her head to her toes and back again, whispering, "Oh, my..."

He bends in closer and inspects her wounds one by one, especially the bleeding hole in her chest. He whispers again, "Oh, no..."

Then he reaches into his robes and removes a bottle of liquid that he's saved for a very long time: a healing potion that he'd bought over a year ago. 'I don't know if this'll even work...there's no magic anymore...but, man, I've gotta try,' He thinks. He removes the cap and pours the liquid carefully over her chest, trying to douse it fully in the stuff. He sits back and watches her for a few seconds, waiting for something, anything to happen...

But nothing happens. He grunts and removes another set of potions and a cloth, then sets quickly to work doctoring her wound as best he can. Once he's gotten a rough bandage on her, he scoops her up into his arms carefully and rises to his feet from his knees, then walks back towards his home at a slow pace, trying to be gentle with her.

***

She stirs in bed, pulling her cover up closer to her neck absent-mindedly. Slowly she rolls over to one side and opens her eyes, moaning quietly because of a mixture of dull pain and utter fatigue. Her vision's foggy at first, but after she blinks her eyes a few times things start clearing up, and she looks around at some very unfamiliar surroundings, her mouth hanging open...

Her awakening draws his attention and he's soon on his knees by her side, speaking softly to her. "Hey...so you're awake now?"

She glances over and past him, still trying to process everything she's seeing. Her eyes focus in and out, blurring and clearing up her vision alternately, and finally she settles her eyes on him and stares blankly, her mouth still open. She looks into his eyes and over his nose down to his mouth, then back again to his eyes, studying his face in detail. His face is actually rather pretty; if people didn't know him already, they might easily mistake him for a woman, despite his simple dress and hairstyle...but then, he does have a pretty slim build, so it might not be much help. Through all the fatigue and drugs she can hardly think or reason, so the only reaction she has is pure fear and a need to flee. She moans louder, not moving her jaw, and reaches for his face with her right hand, extending her claws and grabbing weakly at his face.

They dig into his skin shallowly in several places; her thumb's in nowhere but presses against his right cheek, her index finger's in his forehead between his eyes, and the rest are spread throughout his hairline. He winces and bends down closer to her while being held like that, protesting quietly, "Ah, ahhh, oooooooooooooooowww, ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow! Cut it out! Ow!"

Finally her claws pop out and she releases him, but then she reaches up with her left hand and places it on his shoulder, then pushes him away as hard as she can, moaning and closing her eyes, "Uhhhhhhhnh!"

He lets her push him away, but takes her by her left wrist and holds out his other palm flatly to reassure her. "It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you. Just calm down and relax."

She reaches over with her other hand and pushes against his palm weakly, then scoots backwards on her bed, trying to get away and making pitiful sounds -- almost like whimpers -- since she's still too weak to speak properly. He follows her on the bed, reaching over and trying to grasp her by her shoulders. "No, don't move, you need to rest. Look, I'm not going to hurt you, just don't move and rest...just rest for a while first."

She makes one last effort to get away, pushing against both his palms now with all her strength. She manages to move herself a few centimeters backwards, but she's drained the last of her energy and looks at him one last time through hazy eyes. Too groggy to think of anything at all, she simply passes out and falls limp in place, settling into a very deep sleep.

***

Hours pass while she sleeps, day turning to night and then to day again. He stirs some liquid in a small pot, mixing the contents better while glancing over at her through the bedroom door. He removes the pot from the stove at last and pours the soupy liquid into a bowl, then carries it over into her room and kneels down by her side, watching her sleep peacefully. While he watches her sleep he glances over her face and stops his eyes on her forehead, intrigued. He cradles the bowl in one hand and raises a hand to her forehead, stroking her ivory spheres gently. 'I've seen stuff like these before...can't remember where...'

She stirs under his touch and he withdraws his hand, watching to see if she's waking up. Seeing that she isn't, he bites his lip and then raises up and scoots closer, putting his right arm under her back and neck in a cradle and lifting her gently from the pillow. He holds her up as steadily as he can and starts pouring the liquid into her mouth slowly, making sure that she's swallowing first. She absent-mindedly drinks the broth and starts to wake up, taking some time to realize what's going on.

Once she has, however, her eyes flutter and shut, then she spits out her mouthful of soup and reels, gagging. He babbles something and sets the bowl down, chastising her. "Ahh, shoot! Maaannn...look what you did now...awww..."

He starts patting at the sheets, trying in vain to clean up the mess. While he does this, she turns over and starts climbing out of bed over the headboard, repeating, "She...! She...!" In a weak voice. ('No...! No...!')

He turns back and climbs up in bed with her, grabbing her around her waist from behind and pulling her back in. "No, wait, I'm just trying to help! I just want to--mmmff!"

She reaches up with and slaps the broad lower side of her tail to his face, making a soft patting sound and smothering his mouth, silencing him. He pushes it aside and then grabs her around her waist again and pulls gently. She keeps crying 'she' weakly and scrambling, but in her state she's eventually pulled back in and turned around in bed. He backs off from her and gets off the bed, raising his palms at her again. "Please, stop! I just want to help, that's all. Calm down, now, please."

She lays on her back, eyes closed, clawing at the air between them helplessly, her words reduced to whimpers. The drink starts taking effect and her world fades out in a swirl of black, while he watches her relax and sink into bed again, falling back asleep. He falls back to his knees and breathes a deep sigh of relief.

***

She sleeps for several days while he keeps a constant vigil over her, watching with much concern for her health. He doesn't sleep much...at least, not regularly. He catnaps randomly, mostly sleeping when it seems that he can't do anything more for her at the time. After a few days he checks her sutures and finds them healed enough to remove, and does so.

Constantly he checks her condition...and every time it's always the same: sleeping soundly. Finally, after nearly two weeks' time, she begins to awaken. He's turned away from her as she wakes up, sitting with his back turned sideways, and so doesn't notice at first. She opens her eyes halfway and looks at the white pillow she's laying on...then -- feeling the oh, so soft covers and mattress underneath her -- she stretches out widely and runs her whole body over the material, all while lying on her stomach. She shuts her eyes and simply revels in this new experience; then moans satisfactorily, not giving any thought to why she's here or where she even is.

Her moan draws his attention and he shoots a glance at her, then crawls over on his knees to her bedside, thinking, 'She's awake!' She opens her eyes completely and peers sideways at him, her light green eyes looking into his blue ones, then suddenly jumps up on her left hand and pulls her sheet tighter to her neck with her other hand, scooting backwards again. He reacts quickly, raising his palms yet again and then putting a finger to his lips. "Shhhh, shhhhh! It's okay, I just want to help."

"R--r--riju mikay?" She asks quietly.

"Shhhh! Shhhhh...just be calm, now..." He goes on. She stares back at him blankly, and he does likewise, but he eventually bites his lower lip and says, "I'm Jinari. That's my name, Jinari. Do you have a name?"

He motions with his hand to her, which she just watches curiously...and cautiously. She starts to relax, however, and he adds, "Jinari. My name. I'm Jinari."

He presses his palm to his chest and says again, "Jinari."

She looks from his hand to his face and repeats slowly, "Ji--nar--ri?"

He smiles and says, "Yes, Jinari. I'm Jinari...and your name?"

He motions again with his hand, hoping she'll catch on, but she just repeats again, "Ji--nar--ri?"

"Jinari," He says, nodding his head and pressing his palm to his chest again. "Me, Jinari. What's your name?"

"Jinari..." She answers, staring blankly back at him.

He looks between her eyes, then sighs and turns his head away, looking at nothing in particular on the floor. "Maybe you really are just an animal...maybe you're just repeating what I'm saying to you."

She reaches up with her finger and touches him gently on his chest. He turns back to her quickly, glancing from her finger to her face as she speaks. "Jinari."

Realizing that she really has associated his name with him, he nods. She brings her finger back and presses her palm to her chest, too. "Ikiiri."

"Ikiiri..." He repeats.

"Enilu Ikiiri," She says, then touches her finger back to his chest. "Mikaylu Jinari."

He stares at her blankly, repeating her name in his head. 'Ikiiri...Ikiiri...'

"Eni," She says while she touches her chest again. She then presses her palm to his chest and says, "Mikay."

She gestures again at herself and then at him. "Enilu Ikiiri, mikaylu Jinari."

He raises his hand back to his chest again, slowly, and presses his palm there. "Mikay..."

She shakes her head and touches his chest again, asserting firmly, "Mikay," Then she presses her own chest again. "Eni."

Thinking that over, he figures that she might be saying 'me' and 'you', so he gestures to himself again and says slowly, "Eni..." He points at her and asks, "Mikay?"

She cracks a small smile and nods, then gestures to herself and then at him. "Lia! Eni, mikay."

He answers confidently this time, again gesturing. "Eni, mikay."

"Enilu Ikiiri, mikaylu Jinari," She says.

Seeing a pattern, he says, "Enilu...Jinari?" She nods, so he continues. "Mikaylu Ikiiri?"

She nods again and he finally smiles also, then shuffles closer and points at her. "Mikay...you. Mikay, you." He points at himself. "Eni: Me. Eni...me."

She considers this for a long moment, looking slightly baffled, then points at him and asks slowly, "Yyyou..." He nods, encouraging her to go on, touching her chest, "Me?"

He sits back on his feet and motions to her with his hands. "Yes. Mikay: you. Eni: me."

She smiles and laughs softly, and he does the same, but he adds with a wave, "Hi, Ikiiri."

"Hhhhi, Jinari," She responds, also waving but not knowing what it is she's saying, except for his name.

They laugh together for a moment before he notices her nakedness (again). Although her long fur's doing a great job of covering up everything "private", he still feels uncomfortable, so he stands up and takes his robe off, offering it to her. "Here, my robe. Here."

She stops laughing slowly and looks between him and his robe blankly. "Here," He repeats.

She reaches up and takes his robe carefully with her right hand, dropping her sheet. She scoots closer and studies it, feeling the fiber with her fingers. He steps backwards and motions with his hands. "Go on, put it on."

He points behind himself with a thumb. "I'll just go back here an--whoooah!"

He stumbles backwards over the rug and falls, then twists around and sits up, looking at it with a surprised expression. She'd moved closer and swung her legs out over the side when he fell, and now she looks down at him and laughs softly, adding a flap of her tail for a happy emphasis. He looks back up at her and starts laughing, too, then stands up and brushes himself off. He clears his throat and babbles between chuckles, "Well, um, I'll go now -- and get that, uh...robe."

She stands up when he leaves and examines his robe, turning it from front to back, then slings one end over her shoulder and tries to put it on the way she's seen it worn by him, trying to go in reverse from how he'd taken it off. It's sloppy work, but she finally gets it on and straightens out the wrinkles, feeling the soft cloth. It feels strange to wear clothes for the first time, but it also feels kind of...comfortable...

He comes back in wearing an older, somewhat beat-up robe and fidgets with his hands, since he doesn't know what to do next. "Well... Um, let's uh...try talking, huh?"

She stares at him blankly, still smiling and patting her robe down. He fidgets with his hands for a moment and scuffs a foot, trying to think of something. Suddenly he snaps his fingers and says, "Ah! Ummm...mikaylu Ikiiri. Enilu Jinari. You're Ikiiri, and I'm Jinari."

She nods quietly, not grasping the new words he's using but understanding enough to get what he's saying. "And I...me, I'm male. You're female."

Another blank stare from her. "You, female. Woman. Me, male, man."

He points at her, then at himself. "Woman, man."

"Mikay...man...me, wo-man..." She says, pointing her finger out slowly.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm a man, and you're a woman." He looks first at her, then around himself for a paper and pen, fidgeting with his hands. He quickly finds what he's looking for and rushes over to grab one of each, bringing it over to the bed and starting to draw on the nightstand. She comes over to his side and peers over his shoulder as he draws hastily, making a rough outline of a man and woman on it. He stands up a bit and points to each in turn. "There...see? Man...woman."

She looks at it curiously, pointing her finger to each of them, also. "Man. Woman."

She then looks up at him and points at him. "Man. You, man. Me, woman."

"Yes!" He says excitedly.

She grins widely and then points at him again. "Mikaylu jov. Enilu jav."

He follows her finger and points at himself again. "Jov."

Then at her. "Jav."

"Lia!" She says with a nod. He smiles widely at her and steps back, proud of what they're accomplishing. She licks her lips once and adds, "Enilu jov, sha mikaylu jav...sha enilu shishya erro lishralu chagiral e kishye ju me thul."

He stares at her long and blankly, unsure of what to say. She smiles at him at first, but her smile gets bigger and bigger until she breaks into a giggle, covering her hand with her mouth. 'If he can stump me, well...I'll stump him, too,' She muses amusedly. Slowly he begins to laugh with her, totally clueless as to what he's laughing at. For all he knows, she could've made a joke about his shoes.

***

They spend the next few days trying to learn each other's languages, while she gets used to wearing clothes. Sometimes it's easy, and sometimes it's hard...nouns are the simplest things for them to build a vocabulary of, since they can just point out an object and give each other their words for them. Eventually, through sometimes convoluted means, they begin to build a workable vocabulary of nouns, verbs, grammar rules, and so forth, which he writes down in a notebook, creating a makeshift dictionary for them to reference.

On this morning a week from then, they're sitting down at the living room table with a game of chess between them. The game is evenly matched...neither of them are very good at it. Jinari taps his fingers on the table while supporting his head with his other arm, thinking out his next move. She crosses her arms and lays her head in her arms across from him, planning out her own moves as well. Making a decision, he reaches over with his free hand and takes hold of his last rook, moving it one space over to the left, then sits back in his seat carefully and taps his fingers on the table again, studying the board.

"So, how're you coming along with your book?" He asks.

She reaches over and moves one of her pawns, then sits back and answers, "Good. I read two chapters."

He looks over the board and adds, "Cool. Is it getting easier to read?"

"Lia," She says, planning out her next move. "I read...faster, now."

He nods his head absent-mindedly, more focused on their game than their conversation. "Good."

She glances up at him with her eyes and sees that he's quite distracted, and then decides to capitalize on it, stifling a grin. She glances back down and starts moving one of her pieces while taking a sip of her drink with her other. "There."

She sits back in her seat and places her arm in her lap, then looks in her cup and holds it out to him. "More tea? Please?"

"Pleeeeease?" She asks, tilting her head to one side and extending her arm further.

He takes it and smiles, getting up. "Sure."

He scoops his own cup up, too, and turns to go to the kitchen. She reaches over with her tail simultaneously and scoops up one of his knights, pushing it off the board gently and cradling it in her skin while keeping her eyes trained on his back. Luckily for her, he disappears into the kitchen, and she brings her tail back around behind her, wrapping it over his knight tighter so she won't drop it.

"You know, I was thinking that you should start going outside more. Like, work in the gardens or run laps or something," He says from the kitchen.

"Yeah?" She says, looking at the board again and considering what he said. It has been awhile since she's been outside...

"Yeah." He steps in the living room again with two full cups, then walks over. "It'd do you some good to get out more. It'd do me some good, too, actually."

"Mmmm...eni til nahi charun e ji erro, hinara..." ('I've been wanting to do that, actually...')

He glances up at her, raising his cup to his lips after setting hers down next to her. "Mikay til?"

She nods her head and reaches for one of her pieces. "Mm-hmm."

'How much longer until he finds his piece missing?' She thinks to herself, sitting back and picking up her cup. She leans backwards and places one knee against the edge of the table, then sips from her glass and looks over the rim at him planning out his move, blissfully unaware that his knight's missing. She starts to giggle but catches herself and clears her throat, setting her cup down as she leans forward again, removing her knee from the table. He stops mid-move and looks at her, his eyebrows scrunched up. "You okay?"

"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm," She hums, nodding her head and smiling.

He gives her an odd look and shakes his head, reaching for one of his pieces. "Oh--'kayyy..."

He picks up his other knight and starts to move it, but stops and starts looking over the board frantically. After a long pause he asks, "Hey...where'd my knight go?"

She just can't hold it anymore and bursts into a giggle fit, covering her mouth with one hand and leaning forward. He sits back in his seat and cocks his head at her. "Ikiiri!"

She breaks into an all-out laugh then and brings her tail out in front of her, showing his knight cradled safely in her fur. He gets out his seat and walks over to her, shaking his head. "You little troublemaker."

Just as he reaches for it she snatches it up and jumps out of her chair, holding it out to him in her hand while backing away. "Gotta get it, first!"

She giggles again and he tilts his head to one side. "Ikiiri."

She backs away from him, waving it in her hand...taunting him. "Na naaa, na-na naaa!"

"C'mon, give it back," He says, following her. She backs herself into a corner, giggling madly while waving it around. "Ikiiri..."

"Hyaaah!" He lunges for it suddenly, grasping at her hands with little success. She waves her arms this way and that, shrieking and laughing hysterically as he grabs at his knight over and over.

Finally he gets a hold of it and wrestles it from her fingers, then hops back and holds it in the air. "Yes! Yesss!"

He walks in a full circle and comes back to face her, gloating over his little victory. "Got my knight back!"

She laughs harder and leans against the wall, holding her hands down in her lap and wrapping her tail around her legs. Her whole body shakes with her laughter, and the more she tries to say something the worse she gets. He shakes his head and chuckles, then holds up his piece and asks, "You tired of chess, too?"

She nods her head and tries to answer, covering her hand with her mouth. "Yes."

"...All right," He says, smiling wide. He turns back and places it on the table, next to the board, then turns back around and walks up to her. "You wanna go for a walk?"

She calms down slowly and nods enthusiastically. "Eniena ru erro." ('I'd like that.')

"Cool." He steps over and opens the door, then stands aside and holds it open for her, waiting. She leans out of her corner and goes over to him, glancing at him once before stepping outside. The bright evening sun falls down on her suddenly and she shields her eyes from the light with her hand, squinting even in her hand's shadow. The door closes behind her and he comes up beside her, starting to walk away but stopping to turn back and look at her. "You coming?"

She'd been just standing around, staring blankly around herself at the trees and sky. His voice shakes her out of it slowly and she turns to look at him, expressionless. "Huh? Oh! Yes, yes."

She grins and trots alongside him, but soon prances off ahead of him into the surrounding forest, leaving him to walk along behind her and smile. She runs off a rabbit over here and a pack of birds over there, skips after a butterfly and stops to smell a bed of wildflowers, but suddenly pauses and stands still, like she's listening and waiting to pounce. He comes up behind her quietly, a puzzled and concerned look on his face, and asks in her ear, "Ikiiri, what're--"

She cuts him off with a sharp, "Shhh!"

And spins back forward, facing into the brush. A long, awkward silence ensues, with her standing stiff and staring while he glances between her and the brush, getting worried...until she suddenly leaps forth and exclaims, "Hhaaah!"

A small, brown rodent explodes from the underbrush and darts away from them, smashing off through bushes and leaves. Even Jinari's startled and hops in the air, whelping as she runs after the animal in a mad rush.

It hops a log, she hops it, too; it goes under a bush, she jumps over it, too; it rushes into a clearing and darts first to its left, then to its right, and she follows it still. She anticipates another dodge and leaps in front of it, snarling playfully and assuming a squat, vaguely feral stance as it puts on the brakes and rears up on its hind legs, then topples over backwards and runs back off in the other direction. She follows it immediately, hopping over logs and holes and leaping after it as it twists to the left...but it was all a feint, for the animal turns and heads right suddenly.

She flies gracefully through the air, watching it get away with her head twisted to her right and her tail flapping in the wind...then collapses on the ground in a disheveled amber heap. She props her head up in her hands, her elbows planted on the ground and her hair all fallen down in her face, smiling after it.

Jinari comes up behind her and kneels, wrapping an arm over her shoulders and helping her up. "Hey, you all right?"

"Yeah," She says, standing. She looks around herself once and then straight in his eyes, practically beaming with delight. "I feel great!"

He smiles back at her, then looks around himself at all the flora and fauna. "Feels great to be out again, huh?"

She just nods and looks up through the forest canopy at the sky, her eyes glazing over completely. He looks into her face deeply, entranced by her wonder and joy and remembering the last time he'd felt that, too.

"Too long" is all the answer he can come up with. He shrugs his shoulders and looks about, then nudges her shoulder to get her attention. "Hey. Wanna sit for a while?"

He nods his head over to a nearby tree when she finally looks back down, but it takes a full few seconds for it to click for her. "Oh! Lia, lia."

A half-confused, half-delighted chuckle crosses her lips as she steps over to the tree and starts sitting cross-legged. He takes her by her hand and helps her down, then takes a seat next to her, looking around at everything. They pass a long moment like so, him tapping his hands on his knees nervously while she stares past the trees at the sky. Eventually she leans back on her arms and sighs softly, throwing her head and hair back further.

He glances over at her and stares for a moment, taking in the sight as much as he can. Lately he's been bothered by thoughts of her family and home...does she miss them? Will she just run off one day to go home? What if she wants to stay with him permanently? Does she even want to stay with him? What brought her here in the first place...and how did she get that stab wound? Finally he decides to break the silence and get it off his mind. "Nice sky, huh?"

She nods and answers quietly, "Yeah..."

He follows her gaze to the clouds and stares at them, also. "So...you ever think about...home?"

She looks down at him, turning her head slowly. Her eyes lose their glaze and return to earth as his words start sinking in. "...Home...?"

"Yeah...you...miss it, don't you?" He looks in her eyes and adds, "Your family?"

She turns her eyes on the ground and shuffles one foot. "I...yes."

"Do you want to go home?"

"...Yes..." She says timidly, turning her face away.

"You don't have to be ashamed," He tells her, moving closer. "I would, too."

"But..." She looks at him again, then turns her body to face his and brings her far arm around, moving in closer. "I want -- to stay...with you, a -- little longer."

"...Really?"

"Yes. I want -- to learn, Jinari." Her eyes search his for signs of connection or understanding, and she finds them. 'And...I just...don't want to leave...'

She casts her eyes on the ground again and turns away. "And...I have to...learn...what..."

She falls silent for a long moment, during which he scoots closer and leans on the tree next to her. "It's okay. We can talk later."

He looks out over the forest, then up at the darkening sky, watching the last few rays of sunlight cast orange streaks over deep blue clouds. "Right now let's just enjoy the view."

She nods her head silently and leans it on his shoulder, shutting her eyes and relaxing. Of course she's thought of returning home these last few days, but only a handful of times and even then just for a fleeting moment. Until today she'd never given it much real thought or energy, but he'd forced her to reexamine what her old life meant to her...and it does mean everything to her. On the other hand, what she's built with Jinari's too great to simply give up...and even then, there's so much more for her to learn and experience with him, and there are still many things to figure out for herself.

The clarity and the challenge of her stay with him has given her the time and motivation to learn more about herself and an entire world that she never knew even existed. To simply give up on that isn't an option by this point. She sighs silently and nudges her head deeper into his shoulder, unconsciously wrapping her arm over his other shoulder. She can't tell if it's the vertigo or something else, but right now she simply wants to stay curled up in his arms, to live in this one moment as long as she can while it lasts...in perfect serenity, if not peace of mind.

When she next opens her eyes, she finds herself being placed in bed by Jinari...but being too tired to understand anything, she simply lets him tuck her in and snuggles with her cover, quickly falling asleep again.

***

The following morning she wakes up before him and rises from bed, stretching and yawning. She glances over at him and notices that he's still sleeping, so she rises and wanders about the house, doing some small chores, then gives another glance over to him and decides to just wait for him to wake up.

She kneels down by the couch and places her hands on her knees, staring at him sleep. As if on cue, he wakes up and opens his eyes in slits a few seconds later, peering back into hers sleepily. "Morning," She whispers.

"Mornin'," He answers groggily, then sits up and stretches while she sits next to him.

"I make -- breakfast," She says. "In kitchen."

He shakes his head and says, "No, you don't have to do that."

"No, I -- made. Ready for you," She replies.

"Oh...okay, then...um, lishra -- wanodri." ('We'll eat.')

She smiles and answers, "Lia."

He yawns once more and rises to his feet, stumbling off to the kitchen with her following him. They eat a small meal of steamed vegetables and nuts, since that's what she seems to care for most, talking between bites. Mostly it's just small talk or trying to iron out their vocabularies, and at the end of breakfast he stands and tells her, "Enilu wamin e...besho ha -- pro -- nigay." ('I'm going to work in the field.')

She nods and answers, "Okay."

He smiles at her and leaves, taking a small pouch of tools with him and whistling an old tune to himself cheerfully while he tends to his gardens. In these gardens are various plants: several kinds of simple flowers, a weed or two...but mostly he grows herbs, and lots of them. He uses them for his work as an herbalist and unofficial medicine man...though that he can grow anything at all in his gardens is something of a small miracle.

He works for about a solid hour or two, watering and feeding his plants, paying little attention to anything else going on. Suddenly he hears her scream from inside the house, followed by a thud. His head snaps up, followed by the rest of him jumping to his feet and rushing towards the house, dropping everything he's doing. He glides up the steps in one bound and throws the door open. "Ikiiri? Ikiiri?"

He rushes inside and goes into the kitchen first. "Ikiiri? Are you all right?"

Seeing nothing, he goes to the living room, asking, "Ikiiri?!"

He rounds the bend and stops dead when he looks down. There she is, lying on her side and gripping a wooden handle in her chest, with blood in her mouth. He whispers, voice shaking, "Oh no..."

He kneels down next to her and grabs her shoulder, starting to roll her over gently. "Ikiiri..."

Suddenly she sits up and jabs her hands to his chest, screaming, "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!" He screams, jolting backwards and falling onto his back. He scrambles up onto his hands and looks back at her laugh jovially at him and lick the "blood" -- nothing but watered-down ketchup -- from her mouth. He pants between heavy breaths, "That's not funny."

"Lia, nish ka," She says, still laughing. She holds up the wooden handle, revealing just that: a plain wooden handle she'd carved in her free time.

Slowly he smiles, then laughs along with her.

Later that night, after everything's been cleaned up and new words learned and new jokes cracked, they both go to bed. They follow the same routine as every night: dressing for bed separately, telling each other good night, crawling into bed...but tonight's different. She rolls over in bed a few times, unable to rest. She just can't get some things off her mind...things like...the hunters, old stories, her family, Jinari...Manny...

When she glances at the old grandfather clock nearby she sees that only a few minutes have passed, when it actually seemed like an hour. She flings her cover off and sits up, frustrated, then looks into the living room and halts, looking at the couch. She bites her lip and walks over, going around to the front of the couch and watching him lie there, looking peaceful. She kneels down carefully and lifts up the cover, sliding herself onto the couch and snuggling up against him.

He snaps his eyes open and watches her climb in with him, confused, but a soft glance from her eyes to his calms him somehow, and he does the only thing he thinks he can do: he puts his arm around her waist and holds her softly. Sleep comes quicker for her this way, because lying here, with the only human who's shown her compassion so far...she feels safe.

***

He stretches out his leg and left arm, keeping his right arm draped over her shoulders, where he cradles her head against his shoulder. He flutters his eyes open and looks down at her, and she opens her eyes and looks up at him. "Oh...you're already awake..." He says.

"Mmhmm...shivra daylol, Jinari," She replies. ('Good morning, Jinari.')

"Shivra daylol," He says back. "Ikiiri...I'm--uhh, enilu...chami e -- Jidoor, etralol." ('I'm going to Jidoor today.')

She adjusts her position and licks her lips, trying to recall what she can of his language. She ends up stroking his arm absent-mindedly while asking, "How...long -- will you be...gone?"

He shakes his head and blinks his eyes slowly. "La paje." ('Not long.')

She takes his arm from over her shoulder to her side and sits up, then helps him sit up, also. He yawns and stretches, then says, "Oh, thank you."

She furrows her brows and looks at him inquisitively. "'Thank you'--?"

He glances at her blankly, and then breathes in sharply. "Oh, right...umm...to thank someone...it's like, showing them your, uhh...gratitude," He motions with his hands, but he realizes that she doesn't know that word, either. "Man, ummm...it means...I'm happy that you helped me. I'm happy for what you did for me, so I thank you."

"Help..." She whispers, glancing away and then back at him again. "Jinari...you helped me...when I was hurt."

He nods, "Yes."

She pulls her feet up onto the couch, sitting on her knees and facing him. "Could I have -- died?"

Her suggestion has a sobering affect as he realizes the implication of it...he could've lost a friend if she'd died. He nods grimly and pulls himself up on the couch, too, sitting cross-legged across from her. "If your cut had gotten infected...maybe."

She bites her lower lip and rubs the spot on her chest where she'd been stabbed with both hands, looking down. If he hadn't been there at just that time...she looks back up and leans forward, kissing him softly on his cheek and pulling back to look in his eyes. Her voice is a soft whisper, as gentle as her sentiment. "Thank you."

He speaks likewise, curling his lips into a soft smile. "You're welcome."

An awkward moment passes in silence before he takes a breath and stands. "I, uhh...better get going..."

She whispers back and swings her feet out over the side again, "Okay."

He walks over to the table and gathers up his money and checks his robes. Having made sure that he's got everything, he faces her and tells her, "I'll be back soon, okay?"

"Okay," She replies, watching him turn around and head for the door...then trip in grand fashion over his robe and tumble into a forward roll.

He gets up and brushes himself off, trying to make the best of it while holding back a laugh. Her giggling, however, sets him into a giggle of his own, and he manages to stammer, "Bye."

She waves her fingers and giggle-speaks, "Hishe." ('Bye.')

He backs out the door and closes it, still laughing, leaving her alone to laugh at him. She finally sighs and looks around the room, trying to find something to do to pass her time.


This post has been edited by Zephir on 27th March 2004 00:28

--------------------

~Status Report~

* Completed... Dragon's Head
* Completed... Soldiers of the Empire: Disciples (release pending)
* In Progress/Undecided... Of Love and Betrayal
* Planning/Assembly... Where it all Began

Ikiiri

***

Chapter 3

***

'Seeds, spices...humm...what else?' He muses. Then he remembers what it is and snaps his fingers. 'Ah! That's right!'

The grass beneath his feet changes from that to stone as he enters the southern plaza area of Jidoor, passing by stores, houses...pedestrians. He glances around himself, taking in the view while still moving towards his first stop: the flower nursery. On his way to this tucked-in shop on the lower level, he passes by a large, burly man with multiple scars and tattoos running over his arms, body, and face. They barely acknowledge each other as they pass, Jinari going on towards the shop and Manny marching steadily towards Owzer's mansion.

He tosses a small bag of money up and down in his hands, walking up the steps to his mansion's level stiffly, with much purpose in his gait and lots on his mind. He crests the last step and marches forward, walking into a crowd of three men waiting out front.

"Well, what'd you get for 'em?" One asks.

Another adds, "Lots, I hope."

He holds up the pouch of gold and shakes it, making the coins inside jingle. "Two hundred GP."

The three men whoop and cheer, reaching for the gold that he quickly pockets. "Come on, ya putzes."

They gripe and moan, following him into the mansion. He looks around himself, glancing over the artworks casually and then looking up to his right and left, to the upper levels where Owzer usually mills about. A voice calls down, "About time you showed up."

He looks over and composes himself while Owzer walks down a flight of stairs. "I got held up when I sold our other furs."

"You always get 'held up', don't you? Always late, never on time, keeping people like me that pay your bills waiting," Owzer says, then holds up a hand and shakes his head, closing his eyes. "Never mind that, just...what've you got for me today?"

Manny grits his jaw, holding his tongue, and looks over to one of his men and nods. He nods back and swings a large bag from off his shoulders onto a table nearby; then unties the end and opens it up, uncovering several large sections of tail fur and a small bag filled with ivory spheres. He steps back and gives Owzer room to look at them, which he does by taking them into his hands and turning them over, inspecting each side and stripe. Finally he tosses them down softly and faces Manny. "Pretty standard fare...I'll say, uhh...one hundred GP apiece."

"One hundred? Are you kiddin' me? For the work we put in, these should be one-fifty," He protests.

"For all the work you put in, you should've gotten something better than these!" Owzer replies, gesturing to the furs.

"We could have, actually," One of his men starts.

Manny cuts him off, facing him and pulling his finger across his throat. "Shh!"

"What's that?" Owzer asks.

Manny looks between him and the man, then sighs and answers, "We were after a really good one a couple weeks ago...could've gotten more than five of these together, in fact, but she got away from us."

Owzer asks, chuckling on each word, "You? Lose a prey? Why...that's extraordinary!"

Manny sighs and rubs his forehead between two fingers, his other arm on his hip, while his men snicker at him. "Look, it's never happened before and it'll never happen again. Now, about the ivory?"

"Ah, yes," Owzer says, reaching into the sack and taking out one sphere, tossing it up and down and looking it over in his palm. "I'll give...fifty GP for each."

He drops it back into the sack and looks down at the furs, running a hand across the soft tail section hairs. "And I'll give you one-seventy-five for these," He says, then walks past Manny, patting him on the shoulder and half-whispering in his ear. "I think you'll need the cash."

He leaves them and returns to the second level, calling back from the stairs while walking, "I'll have my people get to work on them soon. As usual, just wait for my messenger to contact you with your payment."

"Whatever." Manny turns around and glances over his men, who stop snickering as soon as he faces them. "What're you standin' around for? Go home."

He leaves the house and marches down the steps leading to and away from Owzer's mansion, not caring whether his men are following him or not. He passes by Jinari on his way out, who's exiting a shop and turning around to thank the owner one last time. Jinari then looks about himself and tries to remember what else he wanted to buy...then snaps his fingers and walks briskly over to a street peddler. He stands in front of the cart for a while, trying to decide on what he should buy, then holds one item up and shows it to the merchant. "Say, I wanna buy something for this girl I know...you think she'd like this?"

She looks back at him and smirks, "Ohhh, a lady friend, huh? Special occasion?"

She gives him a wink, which makes him look between her and the item and stammer, "Oh, nononono, it's nothing like that!"

He laughs and adds, "I just want to buy her something special. You know, as a friend."

She chuckles back at him and replies, "Whatever you say. Yeah, I think she'll like it."

He frowns sarcastically at her and looks at the item again...then says, "Hmmm...all right, I'll take it."

"Seven GP," She says, and he pays just that.

He then pockets it and slings his bags over his shoulders, settling them better and heading home.

***

The low-hanging morning sun of earlier is soon replaced by the sun of high noon, though not much time has actually passed by. He plods straightforward through the forest, walking on an old and beaten trail leading back to his little cottage and giving little thought to his surroundings. Instead, he randomly floats from one image to another, thinking about cooking, practicing her language silently, concocting new and absurd recipes for potions and drinks, calculating his finances...

But a soft, distant voice shakes him from his thoughts. He slows down to a stop and stares through the brush ahead in the voice's direction, listening intently...then smiles and keeps walking after he realizes what he's hearing. A few yards later he emerges from the trees and into his front yard; then he looks off to the side, where he sees Ikiiri...kneeling down in his gardens, tending to flowers with her back turned to him, and singing.

He crosses his arms and walks quietly over to her, while she keeps singing in the softest, most beautiful singing voice he's ever heard. He gets within two meters of her before she hears his footsteps and turns around. "--Shishe oriiii--...oh, hi, Jinari."

She starts to get up but he holds out his palm and motions for her to stay. Instead, he kneels down next to her and removes the bags from his shoulders, looking at the plants. "I didn't know you knew anything about gardening."

She smiles and answers, "I watched you."

She points to the windows and goes on. "I read your books, too."

He nods. "Ahh. Mikaylu chahe kivre ju mika kishye." ('You're getting better with your speech.')

"You, too," She replies.

"Thanks," He says, giving a small smile.

She nods back and replies, "You're -- welcome."

He grins at her, then rises to his feet and offers his hand to her, smiling like he's got a gift...which, actually, he does. "Let's go inside...I've got some stuff for you."

Her ears perk up and her eyes brighten along with her smile. "Really?"

"Yeah." He takes her hand and pulls her to her feet, then leads her inside, taking her over to the table and setting his stuff down there.

"I just went and got mostly seeds and things. Just odds and ends. But, I did get you something else..." He says, rummaging through one sack.

She clasps her hands together with a light gasp and waves her tail happily, bouncing up and down on her toes. "What you get? What you get?"

He smiles and pulls out a...bra. She takes it in her hands and turns it over, inspecting it carefully, confused. Her ears droop down to normal again and her tail relaxes. "...What is it?"

"It's a bra. You wear it on your chest," He tells her. "You wear it over here, like this. It holds up your, uhh...your uhh...ummm..."

He motions with his hands back and forth across his upper chest area, pointing a few times at hers, too. She watches him blankly and asks, "Breasts?"

"Yeah, yeah, breasts," He stammers.

She looks down at her bra again, holding it against her chest curiously. His robes rustle and she looks up in time to see him remove something from a pocket, holding it inside his palm.

"And this," He says. "Is a present."

He reaches out with his hand towards hers, turning it over midway and placing a small object there, then pulling his hand back. She opens her palm and looks at the golden trinket, her tail rising back up and flapping happily, once, while her ears also perk up again. She gasps and exclaims, "Jinari...it's pretty!"

She sits down in a chair and sets her bra down in her lap, then unfolds the necklace and strings it out, watching it catch the sun and glimmer along its whole length. "What is it?" She asks in an awestruck voice.

"It's a necklace," He answers. "You wear it around her neck. See, you close the clasp on the end and it stays in place."

He gestures to the small loop-shaped clasp, which she studies and toys with. After testing it out once, she wraps it around her neck, trying her best to toss her hair out of the way and putting it on. She adjusts her hair one more time and then looks down at herself, taking it in one hand and playing with it. He watches her with a smile on his face and remarks, "It looks good on you."

She looks back up at him and grins. "Thank you."

He chuckles once and looks at his stuff on the table. "Oh, well, I'd better put this stuff up and work."

She nods and points to the gardens outside. "Okay. I have work, too."

With that done, he starts gathering his stuff together while she leaves the house, returning to the gardens to pick up her work...but first she turns back around and snatches up her bra on the way out; then tries it on outside, after a few sloppy attempts. She puts her shirt back on and moves her arms in circles, feeling it out. She then grabs her own breasts and moves them around, saying out loud to herself, "...Feels loose..."

Finally she shrugs it off and goes back to work, eventually totally forgetting that she's wearing a bra at all as she gets used to it. At one point, he glances out the window at her and watches her work, dropping what he's doing and walking over to see her better. He feels a bit proud for her, learning all the things that she is at the rate she's learning them at; speaking his language, wearing clothes, learning to cook his food (and vice-versa), learning to tend gardens...

Finally he turns away and goes back about his work, leaving her to continue singing and till the gardens outside. Occasionally, he'll catch a verse of her songs and stop to listen for a moment, where her voice floats inside like a soft carpet riding a gentle wind...

***

Hours pass, noon becoming late day. Sometime after three an old woman passes by their area, carrying some assorted goods back to her house. In passing near to his cottage on the old trail, she begins to pick up her voice; softly at first, but getting louder the farther she goes. She pays it little mind at first, lost deep in thought herself, until her singing breaks into her consciousness and makes her turn to face in its direction.

She blinks and stares blankly ahead, listening to the floating melody; then finally moves in its direction, her curiosity piqued. She pushes through some light brush and steps into his clearing, then follows the sound over to the side gardens, where she sees and hears an odd-looking person sitting in the dirt and singing, working idly.

"Lina pro kye, jun yoshiiiii--...
Fa pro tiari sha jeshya-faaaal--...
Lina pro kye, shishe oooo-riiiiii--...
Kri mika jenri sha vijri vaaaal--..."

She walks in a semi-circle while she sings, trying to see her face. When she's finally facing her fully from her front side, she sees that she actually isn't human at all. Ikiiri looks up, still singing, intending to gaze at the scenery but instead seeing the old woman standing there. "Lina pro kye, jun yoshii--...uhh...?"

She stands up and brushes herself off, walking backwards a few steps. Jinari comes out from his house just then, holding two drinks in his hands. "Ikiiri, thought you could use some...oh."

He glances between her and the old woman, then hurries forward and stands in front of her. Not sure what to do or if she's a threat, he licks his lips and says, "Hi, I'm Jinari."

The old lady glances over his shoulder at her and nods her head slightly. "I'm Judith. I was just passing through when I heard this...umm...her, singing."

She nods over his shoulder at Ikiiri, who peeks out from behind him and peers at her timidly. She keeps her hands on his shoulders until she raises her right hand and waves weakly. "Ikiiri."

He turns his head backwards at her, then faces Judith again. "Yeah...she's got a nice voice."

"Yes, she does...though, I didn't expect to see any of her kind singing songs..."

He squints his eyes at her critically and asks, "What do you mean...'her kind'?"

Looking puzzled, she answers, "I mean, she's just not...human..."

"No, she isn't..." He says. "But...it's more than that, isn't it?"

"Um, well...you mean you don't know?"

"Know what?" Ikiiri asks.

Startled, Judith stammers back, "Oh, uh...your, y-your fur and ivory, dear." She glances at him again, and seeing the blank look on his face, she adds, "You really don't know..."

Ikiiri runs her hand across her ivory knobs and through her hair, asking quietly, "What about them?"

Judith looks between them nervously, then at the sky and notes the time. She fumbles around with her bags and says, "Well, um, I have to be home soon. Harold won't like it if I'm late again, hah!"

And with that, she turns and hurries away, looking back once to say, "It was nice meeting you people!"

"Yeah...nice...meeting you, too..." He says, looking at the ground.

Ikiiri then turns him around by his shoulders and asks, "What about my fur, Jinari? Jinari? Look at me!"

His eyes snap up and look into hers, both of them feeling shocked and confused...and cold. "What about my fur, Jinari?!"

He stares deep into her eyes and studies the pain in them, watching as a tear starts rolling down her cheek. She whispers, "Tell me...please..."

He thinks she already knows the answer, and so puts a hand on her shoulder and rubs it around to her back, whispering, "Let's go inside."

She nods, slowly, then turns and walks with him inside.

***

He sits across from her on the floor in front of the fireplace and hands her her drink, then watches as she takes it and cradles it in her hands.

"Thank you," She says, looking up at him and then down at her cup. She feels its warmth through her hands and stares into it blankly, nearly closing her eyes before taking a long drink from it. It flows down her throat and into her belly, filling her chest and body with a slow warmth that calms her down somewhat. "Nisha shivra."

"Ikiiri...tell me what's going on." He looks into her eyes when she looks up and adds, "What's so important about you?"

She stares back at him for a while, then drops her head and sets her cup down. "I...I don't know..."

"I think you do," He says. "Please, tell me."

She looks up and her eyes meet his for a long moment, where she appears to be caught between telling him and not telling him. Her mouth moves a few times, but always hanging open, and her eyes are drawn into an almost sad expression...finally she glances away and down at her cup again, fingering its rim absent-mindedly. "Jinari...when the men -- came, for me...they...they...want to hurt me..."

She picks her head back up and gestures with her hands to herself. "Kill -- me."

He shifts to one side and sets his own cup down, too. "...Why?"

She shakes her head and looks away. "I don't..."

Then she looks over to her side, where she sees some blank papers and books on the coffee table. She bites her lip and scoots over, grabbing some books and papers and bringing them onto the floor, then flips them open and searches through them. She turns the pages over continually, starting to get frustrated that she can't find what she's looking for, when finally she flips over one page and starts to go to another, but stops herself and goes back to the other one. She looks at the page for a second before pointing at it and saying, "There. What he does...he..."

She's pointing to a picture of a hunter readying his bow to fire at a rabbit across a grassy field from him, with a serene forest in the background. He looks at it for a moment, then suggests, "Chasing? Hunting?"

She shakes her head and says, "Not chase, but...chase, to kill..."

He nods his head. "Hunt."

"Hunt. Yes. Pro jovri yautash eni...meshra yarun e shuk eni." ('The men hunted me...they wanted to kill me.')

He nods again, but suddenly the realization of what she just said sinks in and his face seems to blanch. His head drops down and his stomach jumps into his throat, making him want to throw up. He looks back up at her slowly and stops at her tail, then gestures for it and asks, "Your tail? Can I see it?"

She glances down to her side and back again, bringing her tail around her side and taking it in her hands, presenting it to him in her lap. He takes hold of it gently and runs a hand down its length, feeling the fibers of hair and running over her fur's patterns. A flash of vision strikes him, and everything suddenly makes sense...why her ivory was familiar to him, why her tail's patterns seemed to strike him in some way he'd seen before...

He looks back up at her and into her eyes painfully, whispering, "I know why they're hunting your people."

She remains silent, shivering from the affect of the revelation. "Ikiiri...they're hunting you for your furs and ivory. They make carpets and clothes from them...jewelry."

Her heart skips a beat and she lets out a shaky breath. She feels nauseous now, too, and puts a hand to her stomach, then leans forward and falls subconsciously into his arms, pulling her hands up into balls and holding them in the air by his chest. 'How can they?'

He lets her fall against his shoulder and wraps his arms around her, leaning his head on her top of hers and rocking gently. He can't think of anything to say and so says nothing at all...but at length she whispers, "Jinari...what do you call yourselves?"

"Huh?" He whispers back, looking down.

She nuzzles his shoulder closer and pulls her fists in a bit. "Your people...what do you call yourselves?"

"...Humans," He answers after a short pause.

"We are Sheni. We live in the forest...but, we do nothing to you," She whispers, looking up into his face sadly. "Why do humans hurt us?"

He tries to fight back a tear, but loses the battle and lets one roll down his cheek. He shakes his head softly, then presses her head against his chest again and his face into her hair. "I don't know...I don't know...I'm so sorry, Ikiiri..."

She closes her eyes and fights back a sob, sniffling. "Lishra til e ji nal." (We have to do something.')

He nods softly, whispering back, "Lia...lishra jin..." ('Yes...we will...')

He glances down at her, shivering in his arms, and adds, "Na la trelol. Mikay jru fre." ('But not tonight. You need rest.') He adds to himself, 'And so do I.'

She stares blankly past him at the couch pillows for a moment, but finally nods softly and whispers, "Okay."

She stands up slowly and waits for him to rise and escort her to her room.

***

The arrow comes within centimeters of his head and buries itself into the tree with a "thock" sound. He gasps and whirls around to glance back, seeing four men with bows running towards him, their leader reloading his. Panicking worse then before, he stumbles over the tree's roots in front of him and makes a frantic run for the brush ahead, pushing aside tree branches and brush as he goes. Behind him, Manny loads his bow and aims it while running, carefully lining up his sights. Just as he runs and leaps into the air to clear a thick fallen log, Manny skids to a halt, aims, and lets his arrow fly.

The Sheni male cries in pain and falls to the ground, the arrow lodged through his right thigh. He grasps one end of it and writhes on the ground, grunting and screaming for mercy. He rolls over and looks up to the sky, but instead sees Manny standing on the log and looking down at him, dagger in hand. He sits up on his hands and tries to scramble backwards, but Manny hops down and walks over to him, kneeling down next to him.

A dozen images flash through his head while he stands and walks over there, visions of her on that fateful day. Never before that time had he ever lost a prey, and she was nothing special, and yet she'd gotten away nonetheless. His record and his pride had been tarnished that day, and just to be looking at another of her kind again brings up old memories too powerful to be simply recollections. His heart pumps harder and faster, beating with the strength of a Rhinotaur and the fury of an enraged Veldt creature, the sum of all his anger contained in that one moment.

He pulls his dagger high to strike, but the Sheni man quickly swings at him with a fist, knocking him across his chin. Manny reels backwards, then recovers and dives on him, who wraps his arms around him and rolls around. They roll over and over into a shallow ditch until they finally untangle, Manny ending up on top. The man squirms in a last, futile attempt to break free, and Manny raises his dagger high into the air and slams it down into his chest with all his might.

He tries to scream, but his voice drowns out in a gurgle quickly while the life drains from his body. His head slowly settles the ground and his eyes shut, then his body becomes limp and lifeless. Manny straddles him for a long time, gripping his dagger with white knuckles and ignoring the sweat pouring off his face. He breathes so hard his head feels light, and his body trembles.

"Boss? Boss?"

He suddenly snaps to and spins around to look at his underling. "What?"

"We gonna clean him up or wha?" He asks.

He breathes deeply again and slowly looks away, then glances back again and says, "...Yeah, in a minute."

"Okay, boss." He says with a nod, backing away.

Manny watches him go and turns around again, looking at the dead man on the ground. If it weren't for the interruption, he might've stayed that way the whole night, just staring at his lifeless corpse. He looks over him once more, imagining what it would be like to kill her, then stands suddenly and removes his dagger, wiping it off on a handkerchief. He pulls his eyes away from him reluctantly and walks back to his party, re-sheathing his weapon and consciously keeping himself from looking back at him once more.

***

A dark cloud falls over the house when morning comes. Jinari wakes first, though in no great mood. He stretches as always and rises, but halts in place when he glances into her room, feeling a wave of emotion come over him. He debates with himself for a moment whether he should let her sleep or wake her early, but he sighs at length and goes to the kitchen to make breakfast.

He cooks for the next half-hour, cutting and boiling vegetables in pots, all the while thinking of nothing but her...about how terrible this must be for her. Two rooms away, Ikiiri stirs in bed, awakened by the aromas floating in from the kitchen. She opens her eyes and looks towards the kitchen, sniffing the air deeply and taking in the scents. She sits up and stretches, then swings her feet over the side and rises, walking through the house with nothing but sleeping shorts and a baggy, ragged old shirt on.

She peeks in the kitchen and sees his back turned to her, busily attending to something on the stove, then leans in a bit and asks quietly, "Ready yet?"

He turns his head around to face her and answer, "Almost."

She nods and stretches one more time, yawning widely and sitting down in a chair. "Good morning."

"Morning," He says, almost on reflex. He turns around then with a pot in one hand, removing it from heat and placing its food onto a plate. "Sleep well?"

She nods, staring at the tablecloth. "Lia."

He grabs a couple plates of food and starts to bring them over to the dining table, but pauses and looks at her. Watching that blank stare, he knows she's just saying words right now...she didn't really sleep all that well. He bites his lip and walks over, setting her plate down in front of her and sitting across from her. "No, you didn't."

She glances up at him and then down at her food, sighing. "No."

"Bad dreams?" He picks up his fork and knife but keeps looking at her.

She nods her head and reaches for her fork, looking down still. "I had a dream..."

She starts to try picking up something, but her hand starts shaking softly and she sets her fork down quickly. "I don't wanna talk about it."

He slides a morsel in his mouth and chews, never taking his eyes off her. "...All right."

"Jinari..." She asks suddenly, picking her fork back up. "What are we going to do?"

He looks in her eyes, then casts his own down at his plate, twirling his food around thoughtlessly. "I don't know..."

"...People have to know. They have to know or they won't stop," She tells him, locking her eyes dead on his face. "They have to stop."

He looks back up at her, watching a lone tear roll down her cheek. "The people...right, we have to tell the people..."

"But who?"

He stares past her distantly for a moment, thinking over all the possibilities he can come up with...then snaps to abruptly and sits up straighter. "Owzer."

"Huh?"

"Owzer. If anyone's gonna know anything about it, it's him." He scoots his chair closer to the table and sets his fork down. "He's the one we need to talk with."

She nods her head and replies, "Okay. We talk with Owzer."

They stare at each other wordlessly for a bit, then he glances between her and her plate, and motions with his hand. "You gonna eat? It's no good cold."

She blinks and looks at his plate, then points at it, too. "Are you?"

"Huh?" He looks down and chuckles. "Oh! Yeah, yeah...heheh."

***

Jinari comes out of the bathroom later on, drying his hair with a towel and looking for Ikiiri. He doesn't have to look far, because she comes out from around the corner with his robe in her hands, already fully dressed to go out herself. "Ready yet?"

"Almost," He answers, tossing the towel aside and taking his robe.

He throws it on while walking through the bedroom and into the living room, pulling and tossing his hair free once he's got it all on, then glances at her and pauses, studying her.

She stops once she notices him staring and draws her hands to her chest. "...Ra?" ('What?')

He steps closer, placing his chin in his right hand and his right elbow in his left hand. "You can't go walking around like that in town...not at first, anyway. Can you...hide your tail, maybe?"

She looks down at her feet and watches her tail's end flick once, then back up at him. "I think so."

She pulls her hood over her face and curls her tail up, rolling it like a carpet up into her robe. It disappears from view quickly and she shuffles her feet, hiding those underneath the bottom edges of her robe, also. She peers out from under her hood and asks, "How's this?"

He looks her over once and nods approvingly. "Good, good...if you keep your head down and don't move your feet too much, it's great."

He pauses as something occurs to him, though. "But, uh...we'll kinda stick out like a sore thumb, two people in big robes..."

She looks down at herself and shrugs. "But it'll work, won't it?"

"I hope so." He glances out the window and stares into the trees beyond. "C'mon, we should hurry up while the day's still young."

She nods and follows him out of the house and into the forest, unrolling her tail and tossing her hood down, since they're still a few hours away from town. They walk wordlessly through the forest, both of them knowing what they need to do. Without conversation to keep each other occupied, they entertain themselves with thoughts and mental games, passing the time silently and barely noticing their progress until the forest starts thinning out. Finally they arrive at Jidoor and she rolls her tail up inside her robe and pulls her hood over her face again, then clasps her hands together inside the other's sleeve. She also lowers her head and walks close behind him, relying on his feet to guide her way. It's unbearably hot and uncomfortable, but she makes do.

They walk through the town like so, trying to remain inconspicuous, though two people in dark robes -- with one's hood covering her whole face -- are hardly inconspicuous. Nevertheless, they make it all the way through town without attracting too much attention, and after he asks some questions about him, they arrive at Owzer's house and ascend the steps leading up to the front door.

Owzer comes downstairs after an incessant knocking is heard, following his butler and muttering under his breath. Right on his butler's heels, Owzer walks off the last step and yells at the door, "Yes, yes! It's open, you know!"

His butler gets to the door and opens it, stepping aside and allowing them to enter before closing it and leaving discreetly. Owzer looks between the two of them impatiently, then throws up his hands to them and says, "Well?!"

Jinari throws his hood off and stares him straight in his eyes, while she removes her hands from inside their sleeves and throws off her hood, revealing her striped, furry face, ears, and hands. Behind her, her tail unravels and dips below the bottom of her robe, unveiling its fluffy end. Owzer looks her over from head to toe, totally shocked and confused and with his jaw agape. Jinari then states flatly, "We need to talk."


This post has been edited by Zephir on 27th March 2004 00:29

--------------------

~Status Report~

* Completed... Dragon's Head
* Completed... Soldiers of the Empire: Disciples (release pending)
* In Progress/Undecided... Of Love and Betrayal
* Planning/Assembly... Where it all Began

OOOoooooh

Hey I like this. Its pretty cool. Of course who doesn't like cat girls

To be honest I'd like to try and draw this Ikiiri character of yours. The description sounds rather interesting. But I'm not sure if I've got a correct image of her in my head.

Keep up the good work. Sorry I'm not big on literature so I can't really comment on much. All I can say is your descriptions are good and detailed and you don't tend to 'over do' a description. And you keep thins interesting.

Any plans to include FF6 characters or is this just set in the world of FF6. I don't think it needs any of the FF6 characters but a cameo couldn't hurt.

Anyway splendid work!

--------------------

-- You're Gonna Carry That Weight --

I'm still enjoying it. Sometimes I think you go into her language a little bit too much, but it's not that bad. How long does each chapter take to write?

--------------------

"My impersonation of an ordinary person was flawless." - Neal

"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened." - Dr. Seuss

Ikiiri

***

Chapter 4

***

"What...what's the meaning of this?" Owzer asks, looking between them and taking a step back.

"You've been hunting an innocent people, Owzer," Jinari says, stepping forward. "You've been killing them and stripping their bodies for fur and ivory, and why? Just because it suits you? Just because you can make some money from killing them? It's wrong, and it has to stop."

Owzer laughs nervously and protests, "Th-this is ridiculous! I've done no such thing!"

"Five of your own men went after Ikiiri a few weeks ago. It's pure luck that she's still alive." He walks forward again, pressing close to Owzer, who backs away and moves behind a table. "She's the proof of what you're doing, Owzer!"

Owzer looks at each of them in turn, then scowls and flies into a small, animated outburst. "This is preposterous! You can't seriously expect me to believe that this, this...animal is any kind of person to kill! I admit, they're not quite what I expected..."

He pauses to look her over, studying her familiar stripes and tail patterns and recognizing them as belonging to the species that Manny hunts. "But they're still not people!"

"I'm not an animal!" She protests angrily.

Owzer steps back, taking his hands off of a chair. He almost blanches, but catches himself and regains his composure.

"Can an animal talk?" Jinari asks him.

Looking defensive, Owzer scowls and points at him. "This is a trick! You trained this beast to speak our language so you could make a mockery out of me."

"He didn't train me to do anything," She replies in a flat, chilly voice; then she looks at Jinari and her face softens. "We taught each other."

Owzer steps back, laughing and waving his hands. "You're going to have to do a lot better than this if you're going to convince me. I mean, look at you...you stand there, talking to me, dressed in his clothes, but you aren't a woman. You're not human, you're..."

He seems to fumble for words, scrunching his mouth up a little and gesturing at her with his hand. "Something else. You have no civilization, no culture, nothing without him...or if you do, it'd be the first time I've heard of it."

He looks at Jinari and gives him a hard look. "Take your pet somewhere else. I'm not buying your bull."

Jinari's about to say something when she shoots a look at him and holds her hand up, begging him to stay quiet. He looks at her for a moment and relents, stepping back with a nod, nearly literally biting his tongue. She looks back at Owzer and steps toward him, a tear rolling down her face. "My people...do nothing to you. We just want to live in the forest, in peace...all we have is our family. You come and kill us...kill our family, kill our friends...you hunt us and take our skin, our...our..."

She runs the fingers of one of her hands over her ivory, unable to find a translation for them. "Just so you can show us off like -- trophies."

She walks closer to him, finally looking up into his face. "...Please don't kill any more. Please."

He shakes his head, fighting back tears and whispering, "But you aren't human."

"That doesn't make it right," She whispers.

A tear rolls down his cheek and his breath quivers. "It...it...doesn't matter...you..."

He speaks the words, but he doesn't believe in them anymore. He's realized that they are beings that have emotions and intelligence, people that can think and feel and live. The reality of his situation falls on him like the walls of Vector tumbling down, a weight of depression and anguish and cold, hard facts burying him in a single, sudden realization...

He's an accessory to murder. "Are not...like..."

He slumps down heavily into a chair and stares blankly at the table in front of him, letting tears flow freely from his eyes. "Manny told me...told us..."

They watch him for a moment, keeping silent. Finally she starts to move closer to him, but Jinari holds his hand out and shakes his head. For several painfully long seconds the only sound heard is Owzer's muffled sniffling and breathing...then he breaks the silence with a whisper. "Oh, Goddesses! How could I...? What have I done...?"

She steps towards him and says softly, "No. The question is...what are you going to do?"

He looks up into her eyes, his face sad but tears no longer flowing. "I have to end it. Yes, that's it...I have to put a stop to this."

Owzer then rises to his feet and looks at Jinari. "I have to stop it, yes...no, I have to do more...the people! They have to know!"

Jinari nods and repeats, "The people."

"Yes! I have to tell them about you...but how? ...I'll write an article! Yes! That's it! I'll write a letter, and give it to the city council, and let them deal with Ma--"

Jinari cuts him off. "No. That's not good enough."

"Everyone has to know," She adds. "Speak to everyone."

"Everyone?" He asks. He gets two nods back at him. "But...how?"

"Outside," She answers. "In the streets. Call everyone together."

Owzer swallows hard and thinks...then stands tall and proclaims, "All right. I'll call the town together, in the plaza."

"And tell them what you did," She adds.

He looks at her for a second, shaking his head. "No, see, you don't understand...I wasn't the one who came up with the idea in the first place, it was Manny."

"Manny?" Jinari asks.

"Manny, one of our best hunters. He came to me one day with furs from your people and offered to hunt them if I could process them. They were very fine samples -- uh, no offense," He says. She nods and so he goes on, "And I saw that there might be a market for them...so, I agreed."

"Manny's the guy behind all this?" Jinari asks skeptically.

"Yes. I'm just a dealer and processor, he does all the real work." Owzer moves out from behind his table and walks around to them. "He's the one you have to worry about, not me. Even if I stop, he might not. We have to expose him, too."

She and Jinari look at each other and nod, and she says, "Okay."

Owzer looks at her for a moment...especially her eyes. He then walks close to her and puts his hands on her shoulders, looking into her eyes sadly. "I'm so sorry. I wish I'd known."

She looks up -- way up -- into his face and his eyes, then drops her head and hangs it, unsure of what to do or say. Seeing her apparently reject his apology, his heart almost breaks and he feels a rush of cold wash over his skin, but she looks back up at him and nods, telling him in a soft voice, "It's okay. It wasn't all your fault."

Slowly a smile spreads across his face and his whispers back, "Thank you."

He then steps back and looks between them. "Right! Now, we should hurry. Frederick! Frederick! We need to get a message to the city council, immediately!"

He runs off up the stairs to fetch his butler, leaving Jinari and Ikiiri downstairs for the moment.

***

Manny folds his arms and taps a foot impatiently. He glances around at all the people gathered here, in the city plaza just below Owzer's mansion; all those people...and he hates being around people. He never could figure out just what it is about them that makes him angsty, but he always guessed it was probably because of some inborn aggression towards them. Whatever the case, he just doesn't like them; he always preferred the solitude of the forests...and that's exactly why he became a hunter.

He leans towards one of his men and remarks under his breath, "This had better be good."

The man nods, looking around himself at everyone. "Yeah...I wonder why the city council called everyone out here?"

"Must be important if they want the whole city to hear," Manny speculates.

Inside Owzer's mansion, Owzer himself rushes about, conferring with various council members and people. He zips from one side of the room to the next, chatting with this man and that woman, before spinning back around and making an offhand comment to another man here. He ends up looking like a whirlwind, jetting off from one person to the next and back again, as if he's running some twisted version of a baton race. Amidst all the fuss, Jinari stands off to a side with Ikiiri, trying to soothe her and give her support.

"Just breathe and relax. Let the words flow," He says.

"Okay...breathe, relax...breathe, relax..." She repeats, rubbing her hands together nervously.

He looks down at her hands, then takes them gently and holds them in his. "Ikiiri...this is it. When you go out there and tell them everything, everyone's going to know the truth, and you'll put a stop to all this. Everything'll be all right."

She nods once and dips her head, looking at the floor. "I know," She starts, then glances back up at him. "What about Manny? What will he do?"

"Don't worry about him. I won't let him try anything," He assures her.

She looks into his eyes for a moment, reading the sincerity in them. It makes her feel safer and more confident, but another thought comes to her mind. "...What will happen to him?"

Jinari sighs and glances away. "I don't know...probably end up in jail or something...or he'll at least have to answer to someone for what he's done."

He looks back at her and studies her eyes, then holds her hands up higher and moves in closer to her. He sees determination and uncertainty in them , but in no way does she look like the frightened girl he found back in the forest. "Ikiiri...you be strong."

She smiles at him slowly. "I am strong."

He starts smiling back at her, but Owzer picks just this moment to come by. "All right, most everyone's gathered together outside."

Owzer looks between the two of them and stops on Ikiiri. "It's time."

She nods and glances back at Jinari, who nods at her and puts one hand on her shoulder, leading her towards the door. As she walks forward, everyone else files into a line behind her; Jinari to her left and Owzer to her right, with the rest of them following behind. Once she reaches the door, however, several of the council members rush ahead and open the doors, forming a sort of leading entourage in front of her and calling to the crowd for silence and attention.

Below them, Manny tightens his arms closer together and looks up at them, scowling; they're wasting his time out here when he could be out doing something else. One of the council members steps ahead of the rest and holds his arms out wide, addressing them all. "Hear me! Hear me, citizens of Jidoor! It has come to our attention that a great injustice has been wrought upon an innocent people, residents of the forest. We have learned that for years, these people have been persecuted for no other reason than for profit and because of ignorance. Citizens, hear now what their representative has to say about this atrocity, and heed her words!"

He turns around and gestures for Ikiiri to come forward, while the council members stand aside and open a path for her to walk through. She looks through the gap nervously and turns back to Jinari, exclaiming quietly, "There's so many!"

"Yes, and they're all waiting for you," He assures her in a low voice. "Go."

He gestures softly through the gap and nods his head, to which she swallows a gulp and nods also, then turns back and walks slowly through the people towards the front. The man there stands aside when she gets near and walks backwards, giving her the point at front. Jinari comes up behind her and stands slightly behind and to her right, staying back about two meters...just in case she needs some support. She stands still for a moment, then reaches up, revealing two fur-covered hands grasping at her hood. She throws said hood back smoothly and lowers her hands, her robes opening up slightly and her tail unrolling from underneath, then standing up to full height, again looking like a squirrel's.

She looks around at the crowd slowly, watching and listening to most of them gasp and murmur amongst themselves.

"She's not human!" They say. "What is she? What's she going to tell us?"

Most of them...except for Manny. He's uncrossed his arms -- which have fallen to his sides -- and stands with his jaw agape, scowling. His mouth slowly closes and his teeth grind together, along with his fists clenching up. 'It's her!'

He begins pushing and shoving his way through the crowd while she addresses her audience, after swallowing a lump in her throat. "I am Ikiiri. I live in the forest, with my people. My parents would tell me about men who would come for us at day, and our people who would disappear. I never knew their stories were true until weeks ago, when they came for me. They found me and hunted me--"

A loud voice then bellows over hers, cutting her off mid-sentence at 'me'. "This is outrageous! You can't expect us to believe that this animal has anything to say!"

Manny finally shoves past the people at the front and climbs the steps up to her, his men pushing their way through close behind him. Startled at first, Ikiiri looks down at him and takes a step back, but when she recognizes his face she breaks into a cold sweat and grits her teeth, her heart pounding fast and hard. But this isn't a rush of fear...it's anger. She takes a few steps forward and growls low through gritted teeth, "Yyyou!"

Jinari rushes forward and places a hand on her shoulder. "No, wait, Ikiiri!"

She glances at him and then back at Manny, while he marches up the last few steps and stops in front of her. Again he bellows, "What are you afraid of? This animal couldn't harm me on my worst day."

"I'm not an animal!" She protests.

Manny scoffs. "You can teach this thing to speak and dress, but it still don't change the fact that you're just a trophy."

She tries to lunge forward again, but Jinari again holds her back. Manny smirks savagely and goes on. "You're game to me. You don't think like me or talk like me. You're nothing, just an animal that has something I want! Something we all want!"

He faces back to the crowd and shouts his last line out, putting emphasis on his point, then comes back around and looks at her, chuckling. "Just like all of your friends. Oh, you should've seen them beg like dogs before I killed them."

Ikiiri snarls and shoves Jinari back, then lunges hard at Manny, baring her claws. "YOU SON OF A--"

A sudden rush of everyone nearby, including Owzer, drowns out her swearing, while Jinari recovers in time and grabs her around her waist, pulling her back. Everything becomes chaos for a moment as people shout and plea and lash out at each other. Manny himself pushes through the small mob back towards her, shouting insults and swearing at her, while Jinari tells her under the din, "He's not worth it, Ikiiri!"

Finally things cool off and Ikiiri calms down and just glares at Manny murderously. Jinari lets go of her and instead wraps an arm about her waist, also glaring at him. Manny shouts, "This thing's not a person! She's an animal, no better than a dog! People can think and dream...this thing can't."

Jinari lowers his head at him and almost growls, "She's more alive than you'll ever be, Manny."

Manny scoffs, then chuckles after staring at them for a moment. During all this, a lone man walks through the crowd. At first, people don't seem to notice him, but upon realizing who he is they stand aside and form a small corridor for him to walk through. His personal guards and aides follow closely, dressed in red and green sashes and armor. Finally reaching the front, King Edgar of Figaro climbs the steps to them slowly, taking everything in without diverting his eyes.

"Talk all you want; it doesn't change anything. I've been hunting these things for a long time, and I've gotten a good bunch of 'em. And I'll tell ya...it's always a pleasure bringing one down," Manny says, looking right at her. "They can run all they want, but I always get 'em. And then..."

He runs his hand across his throat, making a guttural slicing sound. "Y'know it takes hours to properly clean one of their hides?"

Jinari finally snaps and lunges at him, a furious, murderous look in his eyes. "YOU SON OF A--"

Again the crowd rushes forward, drowning him out and holding the two sides back. Ikiiri herself immediately grabs him around his waist and holds tight, pulling him back and telling him under the din, in his ear, "Don't! He's not worth it, Jinari!"

Finally things settle down a bit and Owzer again addresses the turbulent crowd. "Please, calm--oh, King Edgar."

He steps back and bows. "I forgot you'd be here today, your majesty."

"That's all right," Edgar says, moving to the side.

Manny spits at Ikiiri's feet and shouts loud enough for all to hear, "So what are you going to do about it? You can't do anything to me for hunting these animals!"

"I'm not an animal!" She protests again, loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Well, let's see what they think," He says, then turns back to the crowd and paces to one side. "Who're you gonna believe, me or her?!"

A light murmur falls over the crowd as people confer, but a vocal few give their answer immediately. "Ikiiri...Ikiiri...Ikiiri...Ikiiri!"

The chant soon picks up support and after ten repeats, the entire crowd chants her name. Manny looks at all of them, dumbfounded, and starts pacing back and forth like a caged animal. "How can you say that?! Look at her...just look at her! This thing's not like us! She's game, not a person! Her and her whole race!"

Ikiiri steps forward boldly and tells him, "My name is Ikiiri."

He spins back around and marches towards her, Jinari moving to her side. He gets within five meters when Edgar stops him, grabbing him by his wrist. Manny shoots a glare up at Edgar, who tells him flatly, "It's over."

Owzer steps up next to them and starts speaking, which makes Manny snap his head over and scowl at him, too. "The council's trying you for murder, Manny. You and your men."

People rush over and grab Manny's men, restraining them to pleas of, "No, I didn't do anything! It was all his idea!"

And, "But I'm innocent! I didn't know! I didn't knowww!"

They pull them back and escort them to city hall, while several more men walk up to Manny to do the same. "You used Figaran weapons to do this," Edgar tells him, confiscating his bow with his free hand, a Figaran design. "But I won't stand for anything like what you've done."

Manny glances between everyone closing in on him, frantically glaring about as he feels his world crashing down. All of his long-held beliefs and values are being turned on their ears and there's nothing he can do to stop it. His heart skips a beat and his skin gets clammy. 'Her...'[i] He thinks. [i]'It's all her fault!'

Across from him, Jinari takes Ikiiri and hugs her, whispering in her ear. "You did it, Ikiiri...you did it."

She smiles and holds him closer, burying her head in his shoulder. "I did."

They break their embrace and step apart, looking happily back at each other. In that one brief moment, everything is right in the world.

But Manny draws his knife and throws his arms out, flinging everyone around him off; Edgar, Owzer, and the men...they all fly backwards from his raw power, some stumbling and falling. Seeing the knife in his hand, they rush to their feet and try to grab him, but it's too late. He flings his arm at Ikiiri, sending the knife hurtling through the air towards her back. "Nnnnnnnnnnnnnoooooooooo!"

Jinari sees him and stiffens, planting his feet. Adrenaline pumps and his pupils dilate as he lunges towards Ikiiri and tackles her to the ground. "Ikiiri, watch out!"

His knife comes within centimeters of her, and time seems to slow for a split second. All that matters is the knife and her, as it comes closer and closer to its target, nearer to ending this person's life and struggle...

...And misses, by just a hair. It flies cleanly over Jinari's back and lodges itself neatly into a wooden lamp post, and harmlessly. Jinari scrambles to his feet quickly, offering his hand to and helping her back up.

Manny struggles against his captors and babbles incoherently over Edgar's, Owzer's, and the men's shouting. They finally manage to drag him away, kicking and screaming, and Owzer and Edgar both shake themselves off by tossing their shoulders and flicking their arms ahead of them. Owzer straightens his collar and walks over to Ikiiri and Jinari. "Well, that was fun."

He looks at Ikiiri and adds, "I just want to thank you...for opening my eyes."

She looks at him, then at Jinari and back again. She moves closer to him and says, "And I thank you for helping me."

He smiles slightly, but it doesn't hide the sadness that takes over his face. He might've been able to save her, but there's still the countless others that he wasn't able to do as much for. He drops his head and looks at the ground, then finds the courage to lift his face to hers again. "I'm not done yet. I'll stand trial with Manny. I have to pay for my crimes, too."

She also starts to look saddened, but feels touched at the same time. That he can do this, knowing what might happen to him, is a very brave thing. She places her palm on his cheek and tells him softly, "You are brave. Thank you, again."

He smiles genuinely now, fighting back tears; then steps back, letting Edgar step in now and address her. "You needn't worry about your people now, Ikiiri. I'll work with the people of Jidoor to solve this problem," He says, then glances at Owzer. "And with Owzer."

Owzer smiles back at him, then hangs his head again. Jinari glances around at all three, then wraps an arm over her shoulders and whispers, "Come on. Let's go home."

She smiles and places her hand on his, nodding. "Lia."

They walk down the steps like so, the crowd below them clearing a corridor as with Edgar...and cheering for them. They both smile and walk on in silence, tuning out everything else but each other. She leans her head to the side, resting it on his shoulder...and so they walk on in peace and silence, feeling nothing but bliss and calm.

***

She sips from her glass of tea -- grown from his own private stock -- holding it in both of her hands and enjoying the taste and warmth. She throws her head back slightly and swallows, then sets her cup down and sits back, looking out the window. Outside, he speaks with a man and nods, then turns back and comes back inside while the other man walks away. He closes the door behind him and sits down next to her, taking his own cup in his hands. "They've convicted Manny today. He's getting life imprisonment at Figaro Castle. Owzer's trial's still going, but King Edgar's confident he'll get just a short term and a large fine."

She smiles and says, "Good."

He takes a sip and sets his cup down, smiling at first. Then something that's been weighing heavily on their minds for a few days sets in, and he has to face the cold reality of it. He lowers his head and his smile fades, replaced with sadness. "So...I guess there's nothing left for you but to...to...go home."

Her eyes also darken and her ears droop low, her face becoming flatly sad. "Yeah...back home."

He looks up at her and scoots his chair closer. "You'll be back with your family again...and you'll be safe."

She smiles and nods her head, then lowers her head, looking into her cup of tea. She turns it around a few times, watching the low liquid splash inside peacefully. In a way, she feels that her tea represents her own emotions; swirling around in turmoil, and yet...somehow still tranquil. She hears his chair move across the floor and looks up at him standing. He extends a hand and says quietly, "You should go now."

She takes his hand and rises to her feet slowly, waiting until the last moment to let go of her cup. He takes her into his arm, wrapping it over her shoulder and then leading her outside. He looks out over the trees and then up at the sky, then down at her. They look into each other's eyes, both feeling a knot so thick in their throats that they can hardly breathe. Finally he swallows hard and moves his other arm to embrace her.

She falls into his arms softly and wraps her arms around his back, holding him close and placing her head on his shoulder, cuddling his head. He does the same, holding her back and nudging his head against hers. They fight back tears and hold each other for a long time, just standing and refusing to let go.

She whispers into his ear, "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you, too," He whispers back, almost inaudibly.

She pulls herself from him gently and backs away, taking his hands into hers. They hold each other for a moment as she backs away, two hands becoming just one hand held. They hold that one hand for a long moment before she finally steps once more and turns around, letting his hand slip softly from hers and waiting until the final moment to look away. He watches her walk away into the forest and pass by the closest tree, then turn around and glance back at him. He holds up a hand and waves to her weakly, and she holds one hand up and waves as well.

After a moment she turns back around and jogs off into the forest, robe and clothes fluttering with a gentle breeze. He stands there for a very long time, finally letting a tear roll down his cheek, for he's just watched his best friend leave him and return to her true home...and he doesn't know if he'll ever see her again.

And somewhere far away, deep in the forest, Ikiiri runs on...but this time, she runs not from fear or danger, but she runs free and wild again, going back to her home and family. Though her heart is nearly broken that she might have lost the best friend she's ever had, it still beats strong and gives her the energy to run...and run free and fast, shooting through the forest and over logs, across streams and gullies and puddles...back home. Running to the beat of a tribal drum, and her steady heart. Just running.

This post has been edited by Zephir on 27th March 2004 00:31

--------------------

~Status Report~

* Completed... Dragon's Head
* Completed... Soldiers of the Empire: Disciples (release pending)
* In Progress/Undecided... Of Love and Betrayal
* Planning/Assembly... Where it all Began

Oh, so sad. I'm a sucker for a happy ending so I'm a little upset. Still its excellent. Gave me some ideas too.

--------------------

-- You're Gonna Carry That Weight --

That's a great ending that summarises a great story! Well done.

--------------------

"Luck is my middle name. Mind you, my first name is Bad." - Rincewind

You can be as self-assertive as you like, just so long as you do what you’re told.” - Granny Weatherwax

"When Mr. Safety Catch Is Not On, Mister Crossbow Is Not Your Friend" - Sam Vimes to Detritus

Thank you for your comments, everyone. I appreciate your support and suggestions and crits, even if some of 'em hurt my feelings a bit. :-P (not directed at anyone here, btw)

All that's left now's for Elena to post it up and Rujuken to finish those pics. *rib rib* =D

--------------------

~Status Report~

* Completed... Dragon's Head
* Completed... Soldiers of the Empire: Disciples (release pending)
* In Progress/Undecided... Of Love and Betrayal
* Planning/Assembly... Where it all Began

I'm workin' on it.

Gotta deal with school problems first. Big tests, big assignments. Computer Science is not an easy field of study.

--------------------

-- You're Gonna Carry That Weight --

Woohoo! For all the aspects that were introduced in the story the ending wraps them up perfectly and the story is the perfect length. It was really nice to see Edgar kick into the story at the end there. I was wondering if he was gonna bust out an autocrossbow on Manny. Well that was definately a fun story to read Zeph. You're writing skills are great. You do such a good job describing everything for the reader to understand. I followed it all real good. Is there actually a forest near Jidoor in the game? I'll have to check for that. Either way Zeph I appreciate your contribution to the world of FFVI fan fiction. It's very nice. Keep writing!

--------------------

FFXI (Siren server)
Tauu the Windurstian Tarutaru!
White Mage & Paladin

I intend to. =D

Again, thanks for all your comments, guys and gals. I'll try not to let it get to my head too much. ^^;

--------------------

~Status Report~

* Completed... Dragon's Head
* Completed... Soldiers of the Empire: Disciples (release pending)
* In Progress/Undecided... Of Love and Betrayal
* Planning/Assembly... Where it all Began

Okay, I read it in the airport, and I liked it :-) Very nice work. I could picture it in my head well too. A few things, though. These are suggestions, really, so if you don't want to do them, that's fine:

- Show more of their life pre-Owzner. This would made the reader more attached to them, and fill out the story some more.

- I think there should be more dialogue before they decide to go over to Owzners. I know they're passionate about fixing things, but it might be nice to have them mention a plan, or something like that.

- I found that, once they told Owzner, he was just a little too quick to believe and feel guilty. I realize that he is a good man, but most people wouldn't take news like that so quickly. There should be more doubt on his part, or questions.

- To make the part where Manny is trying to get at Ikiiri, during her trial, more tense, you may want to emphasize earlier on (like after Manny was visiting Owzner) just how much he wants to kill her.

Anyway, that's my two cents :-) I'll wait until you write back before putting it up, so I'll know if you want to make any changes first. If not, that's fine.

--------------------

I had an old signature. Now I've changed it.

A'ighty everyone, I went in and finally got all those revisions done. I recommend that anyone that reads this go back and read it all over again, because a lot's been added in several parts. Think of this like the special edition of a movie, with restored scenes and deleted material.

The Sheni language's also gotten a facelift on a few words. For the all one of you that care, myself included.

And now here are the pictures Rujuken was working on:
• http://www.geocities.com/rujuken01/fanart/Ikiiri.html
• http://www.geocities.com/rujuken01/fanart/Jinari_Ikiiri.html

He did them perfect justice.

Edit

Uhn, uhn! 625 posts = Chimera rank. Wut now? B-)

This post has been edited by Zephir on 27th March 2004 05:04

--------------------

~Status Report~

* Completed... Dragon's Head
* Completed... Soldiers of the Empire: Disciples (release pending)
* In Progress/Undecided... Of Love and Betrayal
* Planning/Assembly... Where it all Began

Hmm, seems I fell behind. I promised 2 more pics for you, but I just haven't been able to deliver because of my work load at college. Well, I'll get them to you anyway when I CAN do them. I do have one sketched out but haven't been able to do anymore so far.

--------------------

-- You're Gonna Carry That Weight --