[center] [b]Kat[/b] [/center] “Keep practicing the language, you will get it right eventually. Even if it takes you ten years” Kat felt her cheeks flush as she was dismissed by the barbarian. Kat trudged on in silence behind Gyrid, mulling over what the Glamhoth had said to her. Her offer for assistance had been dismissed by the warrior, and then the backhanded compliment from her over using that Harmony-Wrecking language stung. Kat tried to whistle herself a heat spell, but the gashing wind had numbed her face too much for her to form the proper notes. [i]I could be home right now with Arlo, drinking kava and watching the sundiil birds migrate across the night sky right now.[/i] Kat shivered at the thought, feeling a knot of homesickness in her throat. [color=662d91]"Katerina, daughter of the World Lover of knowledge and beauty, protector of Harmony You went to this land on a great ship, sails unfurled Your presence here is vital to see these people free For this you left our beloved home to go beyond the sea If you are to keep this land from turning to ruins and wild Tolerate the slight of strangers mistaking you as a child."[/color] The psychopomp croaked into Kats ear, flexing his claws into the padding of Kat's jacket. [color=662d91] "And for now I must bid you my leave I am ascertaining who shall next grieve. [/color] And at that, Samedi lifted away from Kat, causing her to wince as the crow began to flap his wings, lifting away into the darkening sky. He then began a lazy, easy flight across the village, towards the open field between the town and the forest. Kat watched the psychopomp fly away, wondering at the motives such a being would have. Before she had boarded the Lavasian vessel, Arlo had brought her Samedi, who had agreed to join Kat. All Arlo had said on the matter was that he had had known Samedi for years, and that the crow had a vested interest in restoring the Harmony to the mainland. Kat let out a sigh, letting out a silent prayer that her mentor and friend was safe and warm tonight. As Kat began to move again, huddled in between the bristling spears, she figured she would be better off saying the same prayer for herself. -------- Entering the village, Kat stayed in the rear as the Glamhoth soldiers worked their way through the village. Ever since that Harmony-Blasted Dragon had appeared, Kat's sense of rightness on this whole damn continent had been torn apart, leaving it difficult to truly sense any disruptions unless she was right on top of it. Which meant that Kat couldn't safely say if the town held an ambush, or if it was just the ambient terror and wrongness that filled the air here. When she heard the scream, Kat had summoned her magics to her, readying herself for a fight. (If she needed to, she could pull energy from the storm, or force it here early and then direct a lighting bolt into whatever monster had appeared, she could use the runes already carved into her staff as a ward, and then bolster the soldiers attacking, hell, she could decide that this was an appropriate disruption of the Harmony, and force an [i]earthquake[/i] to happen here....) But when she heard the laughter and the Glamhoth word for 'cat' she relaxed, letting go the energies she had summoned up. [i]Harmony, I've become so jumpy. What will I be like after this is over? Will this ever be over? How am I going to get home? Am I needed at home? The World has plenty of Purifiers and mages, and as far as I know, I'm the only Purifier in this country. I'll help these people reach safety, and then I'll go back south, and try and find a way to go to the World, bringing back more mages to defend this place. [/i] Once it became clear that there was no serious threat, Kat had sat down on a door sill, feeling and learning the edges of the coming storm, trying to figure out how to turn it. She must have been lost in this process for a significantly longer time than she thought, because when a Glamhoth prodded her, the sky was darker than it had been before. "Gyrid want's you. Go to her there." Looking to where the grimy finger pointed, Kat saw the barbarian readying her weapons while talking to another Glamhoth warrior. They were looking out along the field. Kat jogged over to them, speaking in the significantly easier Mainland Common, "What's happening, Gyrid?" ------- And high above all, unseen, a being circled, it's form extending far beyond this planet, pressed into the shape of a crow. It saw the power-mad necromancer cackling, leading on his legions of undead soldiers. The two women stumbling out of the forest, fearful and driven by exhaustion. It shook it's head. It didn't know what would happen, but it could guess. Samedi croaked, and continued to wheel above, a portent of death.