Sednaii

I was sitting on the edge some nameless pond, around here and there lay broken columns and a few jutted out of the grass. Ancient ruins long forgotten, in a peculiar way I felt at ease when out amongst such ruins, often I'd take a quick walk out to some; it helped me to clear my head and forget our war, truth was my whole life had been occupied by it. I sighed and cleared my mind as I dipped my feet into the cool water, it instantly put me at peace and I began to enjoy the comfort and safety that only the serene forest can provide. Laying back the grass became a comforting pillow, like a friend welcoming me back in a familiar embrace; soft and accommodating.

I had closed my eyes and the lullaby that was the forest had almost made me fall into a slumber, almost. There was a sound louder than any creature or machine I knew of, it sounded almost like the crack of a whip but much more foreign. It echoed all around and the peace of the land was disturbed. I jumped up from the noise and as I did a few deer burst out of the foliage and set off running, their immediate insurgence scared the life out of me. I looked in the direction they came from with my hand instinctively on the hilt of my dagger, two more cracks roared in immediate succession and I immediately drew the blade. I took deep breaths and stayed calm while I moved towards some thick brush. I crouched, ready to pounce at anything to come in the direction of those sounds, and I waited.

A few minutes passed until I heard rustling and the movement of a person. Heaving loudly its breathing gave it away; I readied my knife for a throw, and I was about to let fly when the creature finally came into the clearing around the pond. I should have thrown but my breath escaped me and the aim would not have been true. A bloody faced human burst into the clearing, and my surprise rendered me motionless; I had heard stories of the strangeness of the pink-skins, but stories never do the real thing justice.

From where I sat I couldn`t make out the details of his face well, but I could see that he was in pain and his heavy breathing suggested he was tired. His attire was bizarre and like nothing I had ever seen before, it was tan and appeared as if it were weaved to mock the terrain and color of a desert. I thought about it, and it made a lot of sense; if he were in one, but out here he stood out like a sore thumb.

I watched carefully as he fell to his knees and dropped what was in both his hands, after he appeared to catch his breath and calm himself. He grabbed something off his belt and brought it to his mouth; I assumed it was a water skin and his reaction confirmed as much. When he stood up I relaxed slightly, he donned a round bowl-like hat that matched his trousers and cuirass then he picked up what I could only guess was his weapon; it was a long, black, steel-like stick, with handles and a grip. When he brought that up I tensed, but I still felt safe in the cover of the forest, camouflaged and invisible. He began to walk and I eased as he looked towards the rest of the forest. He`d leave and I`d be safe, I could get back to my party and go on like this never occurred. But then he looked down. All my assumptions were wrong, he wasn't about to leave now and my heart sank.

He saw my slippers by the water, no doubt. He would look around now and doubtless he`d be able to see me. My legs solidified and my breath slowed, "Now."

I decided to act while he was bent over, distracted.

Jumping silently from the underbrush I hit the back of his head with the hilt of my knife issuing a clunk from his helm, simultaneously I brought my empty right hand around his throat. He started to buck and shake violently, first he went for my arm and his fingers tried to pull it away from his neck, he gave up on that and next tried to grab at me, I leaned slightly and drove my legs into his back. Sheathing my knife I quickly grabbed his wrist and shoved it to the ground. His right arm couldn`t handle the weight and he collapsed straight onto the ground, he started thrashing about and he began trying to hit my face with the back of his head.

All his bucking gave him some space to move and I saw his right hand position its self under his side. I would have hit my heel into his knuckles but I had to avoid his head snapping back and that's when he flipped under me, I lost grip around his neck so I drew my dagger as quick as a jumping rabbit. Before he could hit me or make a move I pressed my sharpened blade to his bright pink throat, and I wrapped my legs around his waist and hips. He froze staring up at me and I sat staring down at him. He stared at me as much as I did at him and I could feel his eyes running over me. I didn`t like it, and I don`t think he liked me studying him either but, I had the knife.

I dug it in to his neck and he looked up as I intended. Here I got a close look at his face and I could study his features, he was rough looking and his chin was smooth and shaved. His eyes were a deep shade of blue and the hair I could see under his helm was a dark shade of blond. He was exotic, and if his face wasn`t covered in dried blood flakes I`d say he were handsome, a real rough and tumble warrior. He brought his hands up in a gesture of harmlessness and I eased up on the blade. Giving him back movement of his head, he looked down his leg while I looked down his chest and studied the assorted items packed onto his fabric cuirass. All of them were foreign, but they were interesting and I resisted the urge to run my fingers along them. Without thinking I looked down his leg to see what he was staring at and before I realized it I made a terrible mistake; with me distracted he was able to push me off and I let out a surprised "AH!" I should have seen it coming, I shouldn't have let myself get distracted, but I did and I flew backwards from his push.

I fell right onto the flat of my back and thought how the tables had now been turned. He drew his knife out of his boot while flipping into the position I had on him, but instinctively I struck him where I knew it'd do the most damage and give me the best advantage. I threw my knee up into his groin as he tried to bring his knife to me, the blow was more than sufficient and he fell over in pain, dropping his knife and avoiding me altogether. I jumped to my feet and picked up both my knife and his. He yelled into the ground from his pain, and punched the soil. I walked to his side and with my foot I pushed him over. He looked me in the eye and I regretted my honourless blow, I really didn't mean to cause him so much pain. I just wanted to end the confrontation with both our throats intact.

I sheathed my knife as I knelt beside him, stabbing his into the ground far enough away so he couldn`t reach it, not like I expected him to move much in his current state. I put my hand on his back and I helped to ease him into a sitting position. When he was sitting upright I sat beside him. It was several minutes of groaning before his pain numbed enough for him to speak instead of moan. The speech that came out was common, and to me it sounded like nonsense, so I said nothing in reply. Instead I looked him up and down and I almost laughed, he reminded me of a rookie ranger with all the crap he had on him; overly prepared for dangers unlikely to happen. His waist had side satchels and several rectangular shaped boxes adorning it and his trousers had large bulging pockets running along the sides and front of his thighs. Behind us lay his weapon and without thinking I quickly grabbed it before he regained his steadiness realized its location and tried the same. I reached for the long thin end and after grasping it the appearance of the black steel was deceiving, it was much heavier than I had assumed. He turned his head sharply to see what I was doing and our tussle was back on.

He reached for the opposite end with one hand while the other was still on his groin and despite his injury he moved with more force, speed and urgency than I did. He wrapped his hand around one of the things handles and he moved one of his fingers. That simple motion of his finger made the thing jump faster than any animal and the cracking sound from earlier came from it, a bright flash burst from the end I held and something flew out of it. I was so scared I let go of it completely and jumped back, I flew farther than I intended and ended up losing my footing landing on my clumsy ass again with my arms behind me, defenceless. He let go of his groin and stood up with both hands on his weapon, I was about to throw my knife into his arm when he gave an authoritative bark in his guttural language.

I threw my hands up from behind me; he nodded and proceeded to motion for me to drop my knife. I threw it beside us into a bush on the edge of the water. He nodded again and this time he pointed behind me indicating I was to look. The thing that flew out of the end of his weapon had blown a hole in a small tree, without words I understood him.

His weapon was something out of myth, a god's tool and I was now at his mercy. I began to think of ways I could escape, or disarm him, but the daunting power he possessed in his hands sapped my courage. I feared what would happen next as he looked me over. But then what he did defied anything I saw as a possible next step, he lowered his weapon and turned around. If it were an Orc or anything other than him I would have thrown my knife, I should have thrown it, but I… I was too interested in him, too distracted by him.

He was, too damn alien. I watched him walk towards the fallen pillar, where my slippers were by and he sat down. Resting his weapon across his lap, he started rustled through his pockets, after a few seconds of searching he pulled out a small steel box and a thin silver container of some sort. Opening the container he pulled out a thin white… thing, and he put it in his mouth. Closing the silver case he was about to put it away when he looked at me and gestured it towards me.

I didn't know what to do, and I made no face or gestures but he threw to me anyway. I caught it and opened it; inside I counted eleven of those thin white things. Hesitantly I pulled one out and he gave me a slight smile mixed with wincing. He gestured an open hand and I tossed the silver case back to him. Putting it away he opened the small steel box and he brought his thumb down on something. The simple movement brought forth a flame, and my eyes widened; the power of flint and tinder in a tiny box, instantly I thought of the stories I'd heard of them. Was it fabled human magic? Or their ingenuity? He held the flame to the end of his white cylinder and it started burning as smoke exited from his mouth. He waved me over and I cautiously stood up, he offered the flame to me but I couldn't move my legs any more. He said something in his language before shrugging his shoulders and flicking the box closed to put it away.

I put the paper cylinder into my mouth as he did, but as soon as I did the taste was revolting and I spat it out. He laughed and spoke again. I gave him a vehement look and he stopped, putting his hands up in apology. He took his weapon off his knees and I flinched, he leant over and picked up my shoes. When he leant back up he tossed them to me. I caught one but the other bounced lazily off my hand. He looked at me then the shoe, and I did the same. But once again he did something that surprised me; he stood up and picked it up. He walked close to me and held it out. I moved slowly and grabbed it. In my head all I could think was he's either the bravest thing I've ever met, or as the saying goes; the dumbest. He smiled and held his right hand out; a human gesture I remember hearing about. Apparently when two people or beings, meet for the first time it's considered honourable and proper custom to grasp hands. A bizarre practise, but I humored him and I took his bare hand hesitantly. It was rough and calloused and the muscles quivered when I touched it. I looked at his fingers and the knuckles appeared purple and discolored; it was injured so out of courtesy I grasped him lightly. We shook our hands and he spoke while he pointed at himself. "James."

A name I assumed, I nodded and I quickly pointed to myself and said mine; "Sednaii"

He nodded and turned back to the pillar to sit down; right then a fact smacked me square in the face.

I wouldn't be able to kill him now. I had shaken his hand, he offered me one of those white things and he hasn't tried to murder me despite enough reason and several opportunities to. Hell I bet if I hadn't jumped him we wouldn't have fought. I looked down and my inner self started talking, so what happens now? Thoughts began racing around my head but before I could say anything or even formulate a question he spoke again, pointing at himself he said one word, one I understood. "Human."

I nodded again. Maybe he'd never seen a Night-elf before? It'd certainly explain his surprise at my appearance. Eventually I placed my hand on my chest, "Kaldorei." His mouth made a slight smirk and he repeated the name. I nodded in agreement at his pronunciation.

He stood up from the pillar and walked past me. I was sure he wasn't alliance. He didn't know what I was and he definitely did not look natural. Everything on him was out-worldly, mysterious and the way he looked at me and everything around was like that of a newborn, he wasn't from this world. He looked at me briefly then he turned with his back to me as he pulled his knife from the ground. He sheathed it into his boot and walked back in front of me. I heard a rustle in the bushes and my ears twitched, he didn't hear it but he looked in peculiar surprise at them. The rustle was a little louder and he looked up. His eyes grew wide and he ran for his weapon. I looked where he did and saw two members of my search party, bows in hand preparing to fire. I yelled to them immediately. "NO! Hold your fire!"

Simultaneously I jumped in front of James, he aimed his weapon and was surprised to see me standing so close as well as purposely blocking his shot. He had a look in his eyes, akin to that of a frightened Buck. So I treated him like one, I dropped the shoes from my hands and held my arms out with my palms open. As unthreatening as possible I began to speak,

"Dasha, Tayca, put the arrows down; he's not going to hurt either of you or me"

Uneasy silence gripped the glaive. Breaking the soundlessness Dasha spoke, "Sed, who the hell is he?"

I responded in a soft voice, "A human, now lower your weapons."

Neither of them put their weapons down. I looked from James briefly and I glared towards them while I yelled "PUT THE BLOODY ARROWS DOWN!"

James tensed and I could hear his equipment shuffle and I looked back at him. Soon behind me I heard my two companions' un-draw their bows and put the arrows back into their quivers. James slightly lowered his weapon, anticipating what I'd do next. I raised my voice while keeping an unthreatening tone, "Come out where he can see you-"

Just as I finished Tayca interrupted me in a tone of disbelief and hostility, "Sed are you crazy?"

I refrained from yelling again and I took a breath before speaking as calmly as possible, "Just do it and we can all walk away from here."

Neither responded but I heard them walk slowly and James eyes tracked them carefully while re-leveling his weapon. I tried to keep my calm composure and hide the urgency in my voice as I began to speak "Do either of you know common?" silence.

Neither spoke up and James looked at them uneasy. I pantomimed him putting his weapon down. And he looked at me then at them. He looked like he really didn't want to but eventually he obliged and lowered the black steel slightly. I motioned to him that I would turn and talk to Dasha and Tayca, he seemed to understand and I slowly turned around. Making sure to not make any sudden movements, I finished turning and faced Dasha and Tayca.

"Look he's lost, and I almost killed him. He's not alliance and he's injured."

They looked at each other perplexed and Tayca spoke first, "Who is he?"

I shook my head, "I... I don't know, he had said his name was James, he doesn't speak darnassian and I don't know common."

Dasha's eyes screamed are you kidding and before either of them could speak again I turned around, "Just trust me okay?"

I couldn't see it but they probably furrowed their brows while staring at me. "Look over there; see that hole in the tree? His weapon made that." They looked at the tree and then looked at the human.

Slight fear and uneasiness now became the atmosphere. I turned to look at James and he stared right back. He brought his weapon up and we all flinched, he paused and smiled before drawing a strap on the long steel and slinging it over his shoulder. After doing so he spat the smoking white cylinder into the pond. He backed up until his legs rubbed against the fallen column, then he sat down. After a few seconds of this excruciating silence, he finally broke it and spoke. I angled my head towards Tayca and Dasha, not taking my eyes off of the human, "Did either of you understand that?"

Out of my peripheral vision I could see that Tayca had finally nodded, so I asked the next logical question. "What'd he say?"

Tayca smiled while she stared at James. "I think he said, this is an interesting situation."

Dasha put her hand to her mouth and would have laughed if she weren't so anxious; I raised an eyebrow and slightly smirked as I looked at James. He almost grinned before starting to speak again while pointing at Tayca.

"What'd he say this time?" Tayca thought hard before speaking, "He asked if I could understand him."

I nodded, "Well tell him that you can." Tayca took her time and slowly spoke in common, even for me it sounded bizarre to hear from her. I wonder what it sounded like to him. As soon as Tayca began James' eyes widened. When she finished he smirked and hastily began speaking. Tayca had a perturbed face on and she slowly nodded to James before turning to me, "He says that his head and, um excuse the vulgarity but these are his words, his head and balls are killing him."

Dasha laughed and James smiled slightly, I gave him a look of sincerity mixed with surprise. "Tayca come here slowly." She carefully walked towards me and I lowered my voice,

"How do you apologise in common?" She thought for a while and she spoke softly. James looked at me and Tayca cautiously. I repeated what Tayca said, and James nodded before speaking. Tayca translated;

"I'm pretty sure he said that he's had worse."

Dasha scoffed, "Cocky bastard isn't he?"

Tayca humphed in agreement and I nodded. "What should we do now?" Dasha looked at me and I looked at Tayca then James. I searched for a reason to bring him with us.

"That weapon of his could be useful, and I'd prefer it on our side."

Tayca agreed, "He must be a warrior, he fended you off Sed, that's gotta count for something." I nodded, "So Tayca, tell him we're heading out." Dasha looked at me resentfully, "Really Sed? Are you serious! That pink-skin is just as untrustworthy as a bloody Orc."

James raised an eyebrow and watched uneasily as the three of us turned to each other. "Look as I said earlier he could have killed me but he didn't, I think he's alright."

Dasha squeezed her bow tightly, "You're too young Sed you're blinded by your optimism and naivety."

Tayca said nothing, and I just looked at Dasha dumbfounded, "How dare you show such insubordination. I say he's different, leaving him here is just as bad as killing him. And I'm not doing it. I am your superior and you will follow my orders." Dasha bit her tongue and said nothing.

I gave her another stare down before I turned to Tayca, "Tell him that we're heading to Astranaar and that we have food and supplies, tell him he should- no, tell him that he will come with us." Tayca nodded and repeated the message. James looked at me unblinking as Tayca spoke, after she finished, he responded. Tayca translated;

"I don't really have a choice." I shook my head and he smirked. As he sat up from the fallen column Dasha tensed before she stomped off the way that Tayca and she had come from. I looked after her with slight concern and Tayca tried to reassure me,

"You're doing the right thing." At first I did nothing. But a few seconds later I gave Tayca a look of affirmation. She continued, "Don't worry about her she'll be fine." I this time I nodded. "But let's get going Sed; I'd hate for an Orc patrol to find us."

I agreed. Bending over I picked up my slippers quickly. Putting them on I watched James walk towards the bush I had thrown my dagger into earlier, he rustled through it attentively. After a little searching he announced an A-ha and pulled the blade out of the foliage. He looked at it with an expression of inquisitiveness as well as concern. He flipped the blade around and was about to do some sort of a trick with it but he dropped it and grunted as he grasped his right hand with his left. He closed his eyes and took a breath before picking the dagger back up. He lightly held the blade end and handed it towards me. He spoke a single word and I assumed it was here, I grasped the leather handle and I nodded with a slight smile. He let go of it and I sheathed it immediately, making sure I didn't pose as threatening.

Tayca rested her bow on her shoulder and began walking in the direction of Dasha. I turned to follow and James walked beside me. He took off his helm and rubbed the back of his head while looking at me with smirk. I bowed my head slightly in apology. As we began walking together I thought that the awkwardness would fade, but as the four of us trekked along it only grew. As we walked along I caught myself continually looking at him, with each glance and each view a new question popped into my head. First, I wondered who he was, who he really was. Where did he come from? What had made him run into the clearing like that? What was chasing him, or what had he ran from? My unease caused me to finally break the silence and I spoke up to Tayca. "Ask him what he was doing out here."

Tayca looked back at me and James; she sighed before speaking in common. James feigned a smile before he responded, he kept his answers short, concise and to the point; definitely a soldier. Tayca dropped her speed and started walking closer to me.

"He says he was on a mission when something happened and he woke up out in the desert." I furrowed my brow, peculiar.

"Ask him what he was running from when we first met." Tayca nodded and repeated the message. James grew silent, and almost a minute passed before he responded.

"He said he had killed a big green creature that had been chasing him since the desert." Tayca looked at me intensely. I said the only thing that came to mind; "An Orc?"

She nodded "Probably was. Should I ask him to describe it?" I gave a curt nod,

"I'd prefer to know for sure."

She looked at James as she plied him with the question, while I couldn't understand what he said his gestures and pantomiming was enough to confirm what he had fought. He brought his closed fists to his mouth resembling tusks, and he held out his arm while one of his open hands ran along invisible protruding muscles. After showing the largeness of the creature's body he flattened his hand and held it near his head, he then extended his arm to display the height of the beast. After he finished talking and gesturing, Tayca looked at me. "Did that require a translation?" I smiled slightly, "No it didn't. So he did kill it then, right?" Tayca repeated my question and he nodded solemnly. Before silence could creep back into our marching I chirped up and asked another question. "What is that weapon of his called?" When Tayca asked, James suppressed a smile as he spoke.

"He says it's called a rifle, I don't know any of our words to call it. He said that it fires bullets." When Tayca finished James unslung it from his back and pulled one of the handles on it off. After re-slinging the rifle he pulled a gold colored metal dart out of the rectangular handle and held it out to me and Tayca.

While doing so he spoke and Tayca translated roughly; "This is a bullet he says, and apparently it works like an arrow does in a bow."

I cautiously grabbed the golden colored bullet and I looked it over quickly before handing it to Tayca. She did the same and held it back out to James. He re-inserted it into the black rectangle and brought his rifle off his back again. He smacked the rectangle into place and rested the rifle on his shoulder. Tayca looked at him with unease and was about to increase her speed and walk closer to Dasha, but I poked her arm and came up with another question. "Ask him where he's from." As soon as I said ask, Tayca huffed and looked up. When I finished speaking she gave me a look,

"You know I'm terrible at common right?" I gave her a nonchalant expression and shrugged my shoulders while saying "Aw come on."

She looked away while searching for the proper words. I looked at James and his eyes kept jumping from Tayca to me and back. When she spoke he looked almost excited for another question, but as her sentence developed his composure changed; he looked a little sterner and when Tayca finished and he spoke his answer, he sounded almost melancholic. Tayca looked at me and relayed the answer. "He says he comes from a place called Caneedah."

I repeated the name as I looked at him, he shook his head and corrected my pronunciation; "Can ah da". I said it again properly and he looked at me pensively. In my head and throat the word felt strange and I mulled over what it could possibly mean. However I didn't bother to get Tayca to ask it, what I did ask however was something that had plagued my thoughts since after our first interaction.

"Why didn't you kill me when you had the chance?" Tayca translated and James smirked, Tayca almost laughed before relaying his response "He asked me to ask you why you didn't kill him."

I opened my mouth to respond but nothing came out, so I instantly shut it. I gave a nervous laugh but to me it came out like a strangled grunt. Tayca smiled before she sped up her strut and gave distance in between her James and me. James looked at me with a raised eyebrow and we made eye contact briefly, immediately I looked away from him and towards the foliage around us.

Silence once again became the norm, and it stayed that way for a while as we made our way through the forest. For me I felt terribly awkward. Up in front Dasha had slowed down, and so had Tayca. I was about to ask what was up when Dasha dropped really low to adopt a semi-prone position, Tayca and I followed suit while James drew his weapon off his shoulder and crouched. Up ahead was a path that had intersected with ours. I drew my blade and made my way towards Tayca and Dasha, as quiet as I could I asked them "Is it, Orcs?"

Dasha looked at me with a little consternation before whispering, "Yes." Tayca looked down the other path, "How many." Dasha squinted and looked in the same direction. "Three, maybe more." Tayca spoke "Can we take them out? Or can we avoid them silently?" Dasha thought and then turned to look at me. "I don't know, not my call."

I kept levelheaded and was about to speak when James walked past the three of us and into the open of the path. I was so stunned I said nothing, Tayca's mouth dropped and she made a high pitched wha? Dasha too was surprised; no she was horrified at James' disregard for silence and stealth. I tried to jump up and grab the back of his pack, or the side of his cuirass to pull him back. But he had already been spotted by the Orcs. And to make it worse he taunted them, he whistled at them a high then low tune. They came closer to us and drew their weapons, as they did James dropped to his knee and dug his rifle into his shoulder. Dasha and Tayca drew their bows and were about to let fly when without warning, James' rifle roared.

A bullet flew and hit one of the Orcs directly in the throat, its blood sprayed across its' friends faces. The two other Orcs' eyes grew massive as they watched their companion fall to the ground, they roared in anger and sprinted towards James, they didn't even bother to look at the three of us. James flicked something on his weapon and proceeded to fire continuously, the roaring was so loud I covered the inside of my ears and tried to stop the deafening ringing, Tayca and Dasha did the same. I squeezed my eyes shut and I think that I fell over from the screaming in my ears. I couldn't tell if James had stopped or not, I couldn't hear a thing.

I opened my eyes and I tried to keep myself steady as I got to my feet. The ringing slowly dissipated and lowered itself to a bearable level. I looked at James as he slowly stood up from his knee. In front of him lay the three Orcs, the first one he shot was farthest away and there was little blood in comparison to the other two lying closer to him. The one closest to us had the most wounds, and his dark blood had flowed all over his chest. Beside both of them lay their weapons, one bore and axe and the other was armed with a serrated sword caked in dry blood. A fight that would have probably lasted several minutes was finished in a few seconds.

I wanted to be angry at James, I wanted to hit him for his stupidity but his expression stopped me. He looked cold and emotionless. He didn't look at any of us, he simply bent over and started picking up scattered bullets on the ground, but these ones were different. They didn't have the pointy tips like earlier; instead, from where I was, they looked hollow. He gathered at least twenty of them and casually put them into a pouch on his trousers. As he stood back up Dasha looked at him with an expression of professional admiration, "He's deadly."

Tayca nodded and I agreed. Dasha looked at me and finally spoke a complete sentence to me,

"That noise has no doubt alerted other patrols in the area to our location, we need to move now." As much as I didn't want to, I agreed.

"Okay, but let's search these Orcs. See if any of them have Intel we could use."

Tayca and Dasha nodded. We searched the bodies quickly and before long Tayca had found a map. A very important map, on it was almost, every single one of our positions, the accuracy was impeccable. Tayca exclaimed, "By Elune, they have an informant."

Out of all the locations on the map one stood out the most, Astranaar. It had been circled and several arrows were drawn pointing towards it. Tayca looked at the parchment with horror, and she yelled me and Dasha over. "We need to move now" She showed the map to both of us and we each had the same reaction.

I spoke quickly, "We need to get going, double time it." Tayca and Dasha nodded.

Tayca folded the parchment up and shoved it into her belt before we set off running. I tapped James' shoulder to get his attention and he followed me closely as we left the trail and got deeper into the foliage, his expression had changed and he looked less cold than before. We were running for almost an hour straight before we found the road, the ancient highway of white stone over grown by weeds and grass. We kept our pace but I looked behind to see that James was slowing. I stopped and waited for him to catch up to me. Tayca looked behind when she noticed I had stopped running. "Keep going I'll catch up!"

James looked at me bewildered as he caught his breath. It seemed he wasn't used to running as much as we were. His abundance of equipment also couldn't have helped. We waited for a while and he started a light jog when he could. I followed close beside him, and occasionally glanced at him. There was a bizarre charm about him, something… Wait did I just say that? I shook my head, and looked at him again. He was handsome for a human yes but, no way. No I am not thinking that. Stop, now. I took a deep breath and tried to look ahead at Tayca and Dasha further down the road. I tried to stay focused on the seriousness of what we had just discovered. My heart was beating faster than a dancer's drum; the gravity of that document caused enough anxiety as it is. But I did not need the attraction to this human added in. I cleared my mind and tried to think of how I'd present my mission to the Sentinels at Astranaar. I tried to not even think about explaining James.

I was almost successful at doing so, but eventually he worked his way into my mind again and I started to wish I could speak in common. Elune damn me I should have learned it when I could. I wanted to talk to him without Tayca. Out of the corner of my eye I caught him staring at my ears. I turned my head and he stayed almost transfixed by them. I looked at his and how they were so small. I'm surprised humans can hear anything with those puny things. He stopped staring at my ears and we made eye contact again. At first I wanted to dart my eyes away, but I forced them to stare right back at him. My breathing grew heavy and my stomach fluttered, my eyes couldn't hold it anymore and I looked away. He smiled slightly and looked back down the road at Dasha and Tayca.

I couldn't stop looking at him, but I felt so bloody nervous. He, he… what is going on with me? I feel like a young maiden, so uncertain and perplexed. I tried to drive out the thought but I just couldn't. He made me feel.. I can't… ugh, he was attractive yes and exotic but... I wanted to… I wanted hi- I… oh Elune what am I feeling. I shook my head and tried to take deep breaths. I looked upwards and I could see the faint outline of the moon, I thought of Elune. I had never felt the presence of the gods in my life, but right now. I think that I did. I looked at James and my anxiety lowered with each breath, I felt calmer. I… I was, damn it, I became- grr I couldn't help it, I had become attracted to a bloody human. Elune damn me! Why?

I tried to distance myself from him by speeding up, but he kept pace. After a few minutes I turned around and stopped. He looked at me perplexed and almost ran into me, I opened my mouth and was about to say something when I looked him in the eye and I lost my courage. He looked at me expectantly, his breath was visibly strained. I darted around nervously before looking at him again. His eyes asked me; what is it? And I didn't know what to do, my heart beat was deafening.

I darted around for something to say, but my throat became dry and I kept trying to swallow air. I looked at his belt and without thinking I improvised. I pointed at his water skin and I brought my other hand up and tilted it like a glass. He nodded and looked at his belt; he unclipped the skin and handed it to me. I wrapped my fingers around it hastily and briefly my hand touched his. My nerves shook as I turned around and continued walking, the skin didn't feel like leather hell, it felt like the same material that his helm was made of. I grabbed the top and tried to pull it off, it didn't budge. I stopped walking and I tried tugging at the cap nervously.

Come on, come off. I'm embarrassed enough as it is! Please! Catch your breath Sed, your pleading with an inanimate object now calm down, it's just a cap.

James walked beside me and looked at me oddly. I had the skin between my knees and I pulled the top with both hands. He hid a laugh and I looked up at him. He held his hand out for it and I gave it back. He wrapped a hand around the top, and twisted. He held the cap in his hand and handed the screw topped container back to me. Grabbing it again, I touched his hand. This time however he moved his fingers so I would touch them on purpose. Oh Elune he could tell. When my fingers rubbed his bare hand he smiled slightly at my reaction. He let go of the bottle and I brought it to my lips quickly. I took a swig and the cool drink helped to slow my breath.

I handed the bottle back to him and he grabbed it. But he purposely wrapped his hand around mine. My breath caught and I looked away, I tried not to think about the fact he was touching me. He looked at me almost concerned. My face grew hot, and I wanted my hand back. I looked back at him and I wiggled my hand a little. He looked at his and immediately moved it off of mine; I wrapped my hands together nervously, as I looked at him. His expression had a slight calmness to it. But as he screwed the cap of the bottle back on I saw his hand visibly shake.

He… was, he. Did he feel the same way?