"I'm telling you he's harmless! Leave him alone!" Mina yelled. Aiden was being held up by his arms between two male tiger Keidran warriors. A tiger woman stared her in the face. " That is to be seen. Even if he is blind, he could be working for the humans and the Templar." The tiger woman said. Mina growled. " He's lived in my village for the last seven years! He isn't working for them!" Mina yelled. One of the males sniffed him. " He smells like snow cat." One of the males growled after sniffing Aiden. "The faint trace of the Mother of Shadows lingers on him."
The Keidran tiger woman looked at Mina then purposefully walked up to her to get a better look at the young adult snow leopard woman. " You are her daughter, aren't you?" The tigeress keidran asked. " She is. And she is my best friend." Aiden said in Keidran. His accent came from the snow leopard tribe and was completely devoid of a human accent. The males dropped him. " Besides that you can speak our language as if you were born among our kind, there is something different about you." The tigeress said. Aiden just sighed and walked over to a tree. " Hello lady oak. Can you tell me something to prove I'm not a threat to these people?" Aiden asked the tree.
The tigeress scowled. " Don't ignore me! Are you really talking to a tree?" She yelled feeling indignant. Aiden nodded. " She said that you once had trouble with wetting your bed when you were younger. She also says that you had a crush on the lion chief's second son. A panther tried to propose to you on your eighth birthday and a human... I'm terribly sorry..." Aiden said and trailed off with the last thing the tree had told him.
"H-how do you know all this?" She asked and snatched a spear from one of her brethren. "TELL ME!" Aiden bowed his head. It was one of the males who tried to placate her that answered her. " Isn't it obvious sister. He's a Leaf Whistler." The older of the two males said. Mina stared at the tiger Keidrans. They were all staring at Aiden. The young man simply shrugged. Things did not seem like they were going well with their adventure. Mina sighed. " And you wonder why we were not surprised that you showed up all of a sudden?" Mina asked the tigeress. The female tiger Keidran simply glared at the snow leopard Keidran. Aiden simply sat down next to a tree and looked down at his arm.
"Mina I think it might take a while for us to get through the rain forest part as we head south west." Aiden said calmly. He could here the trees telling him how tense some of the underbrush would become. " Maybe we should have gone north and then west?" Aiden suggested.
"Nya! I didn't want to go north! I wanted to go west and then north! I wanted to see the sea!" Mina whined. Aiden simply sighed. The tigers were all staring at them. " It's usually like this." Aiden said calmly. The males looked between him and Mina before shrugging. They left looking as if they had no reason to remain. The tigeress glared at them before leaving without a word. "Mina, I'm not sure about this." Aiden said.
Mina simply hooked her arm around his. " But we are on an adventure!" She chirped happily. Aiden shook his head. If not for knowing that the trees offered them centuries of wisdom Aiden was sure they would be in dire straits. Even if he could have seen. They would have been bitten by poisonous snakes and bugs or eaten up by ants. The forest was really helping them survive and Mina seemed stubbornly say that she would make sure everything worked out.
It was he who warned her to boil the water first otherwise she would get really sick. Or not to sleep on the floor of the rainforest. Or to be careful with the snakes. She practically walked into a nest of carnivorous plants that luckily were still digesting a red nosed deer and a boar. Her 'adventure' was going to get them killed.
The young man was surrounded by a group of Templar who the tavern lady Adira had recently been serving. They mostly ignored her. This was her tavern and she had a letter of 'Safe Passage' that let her live and work in the town of Edinmire without any trouble. The humans here were mostly friendly to Keidrans. But Gleann, which was the young man's name was not a Keidran. He was also a human. But that was not the issue. It was the fact that he had just got done explaining that he was from an independent nation.
A large burly man held him up by the collar. " Do I look like an idiot?" He asked blowing his putrid breath of ale and and a bit of vomit into the smaller man's face. " You look like someone who isn't listening. My home is on an island called Bui-Talan. It is a place with rolling hills and fields covered in yellow flowers that bloom year round!" Glean said. "It is a small island that is part of a lager archipelago. It is located in the seas east of hear after passing the through the straight between the feline clan's peninsula and that Basitin island!"
Arida was pretending she wasn't noticing that a big man was about to punch his lights out. "You have come a long ways. What are you here for and why are you dressed like that?" A smaller, skinnier man asked, also a Templar. Gleann smiled. " Well, I'm the youngest child in my family so I'm not receiving an inheritance other than what got me through my apprenticeship as a tinker." The young man answered. " As for my attire, I'm a Fox. Gleann Dearg Fox the Clocksmith."
The room fell silent. Te man who was holding him by the collar let go and pulled his aviator hat off. " You look like a human to me. Are you soft in the head? Your no fox! Not even a Keidran Fox!" The man said. " Bout at ugly! HA HA HA HA!" Gleann didn't make any attempt to retrieve his hat. His black hair was a mess. " I'm not a fox as in the animal... It is my sir name. My entire clan is 'The Fox Clan.' I'm apart of the Red Fox family. That is why I dress as so. It is apart of our culture. We wear our colors." Gleann said calmly. The burly man shoved the aviator hat into the young man's chest.
"So why did you refuse to work on the construction of our towers eh?" A fat man in robes asked. Glean sighed. " It is against the code of my profession. We are not to work with magical instruments. No clocksmith worth his a tenth of his or her weight even in blackened copper coins would." The young man said as he put his hat back on. The templars looked at him. A few started to go back to their tables bored. The eccentric man wasn't fun to bully.
The fat man stared at him. " And why not?" He challenged. Gleann shrugged. " Because any time a clocksmith had the misfortune of being involved the instruments explode. Magic is not meant to be used in machines. It is meant to be wielded while spread out. The more there is in one place, the more unstable and unpredictable it becomes." Gleann said simply. More templars left. The burly templar and his slimmer counterpart returned to their tables. The fat man simply eyed Gleann beadily before he left the tavern.
Gleann simply ate his food in peace. He was suppose to meet te local blacksmith and carpenter about a contraption he was building with funds he managed to slowly collect from the two months he had managed to survive in the small town. People were beginning to warm up to him. Maeve, the tavern lady's daughter was even talking to him and asking him about his home and family. Gleann realized he had an issue. He was entirely too honest. And blunt. His candor was not winning him much favor among the locals, but it wasn't earning him complete distaste either. Gleann sipped his cider, happy that there was a good supply in the cellar.
Adira sat at his table once the rest of her customers had left. " A word of advice, it is better to keep your head down and not stick out. And you sir, stick out like a bloody sore thumb. Why don't you wear normal clothes?" The snow leopard Keidran asked.
Gleann simply smiled at her. " It is a custom that my people dress in the style and patterns that is our Sir name. Some dress in the style of a song bird, and many of these folks are common in my country. To do otherwise would be blatant alienation of your family... Unless you absolutely can not help the situation, my people follow this custom. No worries though. I have been slowly acquiring normal town clothes." Glean said smiling happily.
Adira shook her head and scoffed. " You look like a fool." She said bluntly. Gleann smiled in good-nature. "And you look quite lovely in your exotically beautiful fur." The young man retorted. Adira's fur bristled as she stared at him cautiously. She wasn't expecting him to boldly compliment her after she blatantly insulted him. She had figured out that he did not have the same view at the humans of this continent had with Keidrans. Nor did he really mind being ridiculed for his appearance. He knew he was a strange man and from a strange place.
Gleann looked at her still smiling but eventually he started looking worried. " Did I say something wrong?" He asked. Adira shook her head and started to collect plates. " Most people do not bother to compliment me. That is all." She said calmly. Gleann frowned. " I'm sorry to hear that. I'm surprised though." He said calmly. Adira looked at him puzzled and slightly amused. " And why is that?" She asked.
Gleann looked at her very seriously. " I don't want to pry in to your business but I am surprised someone hasn't proposed marriage to you already. I mean... Maybe I am just not around or am ignorant of something. But doesn't anyone try to pursue courting you?" He asked. Adira looked at him not believing what she was hearing. Nor seeing at the moment. His face was completely serious. "No.. Why would you think anyone around here would do that?" She asked. Glean looked at her with furrowed eyebrows. " Well... You are very attractive. I just can't understand why many of the men that come here don't seem to admire you." He said looking at her slightly upset.
Adira started laughing. But she quickly stopped. The man sitting at one of her tables was absolutely naïve of the feud that was going on between her kind and his. Did he really think... she was... attractive? " My kind and yours do not get along very well. There are a few good people here that let us live in peace but most humans have no love for my people." She said calmly.
Glean sighed. " That's sad." He said simply. " Why?" The young man asked. Adira shook her head. " We are just too different. To humans, we are just a bunch of animals." She said. The young man looked at her with a head cocked. " Well, your appearance does make you look different... But I look very different from most people of this land." Gleann said shrugging.
Adira softly laughed. " We have much shorter lives. Among other things." She said. Gleann looked at her amazed and in disbelief. " Really?" He asked. The rest of that afternoon she spent cleaning her tavern and explaining the way things were. Gleann did not seam to quite comprehend that Keidrans and Humans could not have relationships with each other and even if they did they wouldn't last long.
The fact was Gleann seemed to be blind to the idea that ruled the Human and Keidran nations. That humans and Keidrans could not live together in harmony. That humans thought Kiedrans were dirty ugly beasts. Gleann was quick to say that made no sense because the last bit seemed very untrue.
"Oh?" Adira asked. Gleann nodded. " Like you for instance. How your hair is braided makes it look very different. But different isn't ugly." He said readily. " But they give you a rather intriguing detail to your already striking appearance." Adira raised an eyebrow. After he left to go check on the men he was suppose to meet it finally hit the tavern lady that the young man had been flirting with her.
It had taken them two months to get to the first human town. Mina looked around. She was wearing a plain light brown tunic with green pants and a leather collar around her neck. Her right arm hooked around Aiden's left in order for her to look like she was guiding a blind person. Because for the most part she would be. They walked on one side of the road, Mina pulling Aiden aside whenever a wagon was about to pass by. No one seemed to think they looked suspicious. Or at least, no one looked at her suspiciously. Aiden was also wearing plain clothes but like her he was barefooted. Apparently humans were not often barefooted.
Mina lead Aiden to the town and looked around the area with caution. This was the first time she had ever been to a human settlement, let alone seeing so many humans. "What are you doing Keidran?" A town guard asked. Mina jumped making an 'eep' sound. Aiden held her arm. " She's with me. Are we in the way?" Aiden asked. The guard shook his head then realized it was a pointless motion. The man before him was obviously blind. " Eh, no. Your Keidran was peering around the corner and it looked suspicious." The guard said.
Aiden cocked his head. " Ohh? I guess this is the first time she's ever been to a town this large before. Mine too actually. The village I lived in was rather small." Aiden said calmly. The guard chuckled. " I see. She looks rather young. Has your slave already been going into heat?" The guard asked. Aiden started to turn red. " Ummm... Why does that matter?" He asked trying to stay calm. This had always been an awkward topic for him. The guard was laughing at him now. " Well I guess you wouldn't be interested in breeding a cat like her." The guard said. Aiden simply shook his head and held onto her arm tighter to stop her from growling. He could feel she was trying to suppress her anger and embarrassment.
"So what is bringing you to town?" The guard asked. Aiden smiled. " We are wanderers. If There is any work that we could do to earn money it would be appreciated. Otherwise we are just adventuring." Aiden said with a shrug and a straight face. The guard looked at him with with suspicion now. " What about your mother and father? Any family?" He asked. Aiden shook his head. " I was apprenticed to an apothecary guild. I don't know what happened to my parents. They never tried to contact me after they gave me to my master." Aiden said.
The guard looked at Aiden with a frown now. " How did you come across your servant then?" The guard asked. Aiden simply smiled. " The village I lived in previously took me in after the town I belonged to was burned down. Eventually I left the village and she came along with me. The village head felt like it was best that we stick together." Aiden said calmly. The guard simply nodded. " Got any papers for her?" He asked. Aiden shook his head.
The guard frowned and sighed. " You will need to get papers for her, otherwise she might get taken away. I think the town hall would be happy to do that for you and will help you both with finding work. Go to the tavern, That building over there Kiedran. Wait there and I'll send someone over to help you. It is going to be a busy month for us. Harvest is about to start among other things." And with that the guard left.
That day was their first day in the town of Edenmire. Once they reached the Tavern they took there seats letting the tavern lady know that they were just waiting to be 'collected' and didn't really have any money to spend. Aiden didn't notice that she was a Keidran until Mina commented that she was surprised a Keidran could own a tavern. Adira took this with grace noticing that these two were probably not from the area. In fact she could smell that Mina was a wild Keidran. Eventually some one came to get them and a clerk helped with the paperwork they needed. He was surprised to find that Mina was very literate and had rather decent penmanship. But he didn't push the issue. Her master after all was blind as the clerk saw it.
Aiden quickly found work with the local apothecary and proved that he was a far more competent healer than his employer. He was able to use healing magic and was very talented at it. And with Mina's help he was able to identify each form of medicine and actually improve the apothecary's organization. They spent their first evening arguing about one herb having better properties of curing stomach aches than the other which Aiden ended up winning when a woman came in because her baby was crying. Aiden quickly made a medicine and told the lady the likely problem was that the child was lactose intolerant. He gave her a prescribed dosage and instructions on how to mix the formula and collected the fee from the mother.
Needless to say Aiden's employer surrendered that Aiden was the more competent healer and apothecary.