[hider=TIRATIRATIRATIRATIRATIRATIRATIRA] Hands on hips, Tira stepped out of the enormous palace gates with the air of a victor. As if to show the world how ready she was, she stretched luxuriantly in the fine midmorning sun, promptly wobbled on her limp, caught herself on her quarterstaff, lost her balance and slid sideways onto her backside with a kind of ludicrous grace. Wide-eyed and grinning despite herself, the teenager waved to where Lakshmi was looking down at her from a window, picked herself up and galloped across Waterfall Bridge before the general could change her mind about letting her go. It was the first time Tira had been let out unguarded. On paper, this changed little, beyond the fact that she no longer had to spend the first hour or so sneaking past her guide. Towards the end it had been a charade for both of them. The knight knew that Tira, ever the nomad, would never be happy under wraps, and had only caught her when her escape attempts grew half-hearted and slack. He wasn't sure if she knew how easy it was for an adult warrior to catch her, and it didn't matter- She just thought of it as a game anyway. So he played along, training her, he supposed. And when Tira earned her win and put enough distance on her trail to feel confident, the knight picked up, found a hidden corner just inside earshot of her chosen roaming-ground, and meditated. It was a good way to spend guard duty. And now that she had free reign? Well, good for her. He had faith in the girl. Tira zipped through the streets, occasionally vaulting on her staff when her ankle forbade her a leap. It wasn't really a quarterstaff. In fact, it had been a pole holding up a street-marquee until she made off with it. It felt fair. After all, nobody really noticed the loss until it collapsed, and that was a whole week later. Alefpria was full of tents and shades and sails in the summer, each more gaily colourful than the last. There were hues she'd never seen before, not even on the rainbow. Tira thought the blue sari she found in her new wardrobe was the prettiest bit of fabric she'd seen in her whole life until she saw how much the Alefprians dabbled in pigments. From then on she'd worn only the plainest shirts and pants, finger-painted them with colour from every dye-barrel she could find, and tore thin ribbons from them to tie around her staff for emphasis. Her black hair went the same way, tied and coloured. Today Tira streaked her rimpled head-mop with a particularly bright shade of pink. She wanted to make an impression. [center]* * * * *[/center] Tyufik waited in the alley, legs crossed, feeling the sun on his grey chest. His eyes were closed, head tilted slightly in a pose, hoping that Lonar would turn up and spare him one of those taunting side-glances she'd been baiting his attention with for months. It was a very Lifprasilian kind of romance, a slow, intimate kind of challenge that dared each other to move before someone else did. And that didn't seem out of the question at all, really, considering that Kunonok seemed almost as interested in Tyufik as he was in that fisher's apprentice on the north side. The shirtless adolescent streetster jolted his eyes open when the first sound of arrival was neither Lonar's heavy gait nor Kunonok's lighter one, but a familiar yell and sliding on canvas. Tira skidded down the awning and landed deftly on her good foot, exclaiming something in that foreign banter she had, her hands signing for emphasis. Tyufik had never seen her so pleased, and he could guess why. The short brown human was always late to meet with his little gang of vagrants. Whatever fussy foster-parent held her back had finally given up, it seemed. The trio had stopped trying to shake Tira off after the first few days. When they saw her kill a birb with a slingstone at twelve paces without thinking twice and showed them how to pluck and cook it, they started waiting for her. Tyufik smacked her shoulder by way of greeting and was promptly smacked back. Good thing Lonar wasn't around to see him wince. Tira hit hard for something so small. Together the two waited, practicing languages. Her dialect of Urtelem hand-speak was, as far as Tyufik knew, unique to wherever-the-hell Tira had come from. And fluent enough to teach. She was picking up on Alefprian remarkably quickly, too, even with the city's bizarre mix of neologisms. Rumour said the Divas themselves sometimes introduced new words to the language for sport, to see which one would take. Whatever the truth, Tira had a knack for finding the sauciest slang. Lonar and Kunonok arrived in due time. Tyufik winked and Lonar rolled her eyes extravagantly but bit her lip as she turned aside. Tira cackled at the two of them. Kunonok came last, without his usual smirk. What's down? Oh, they found the wreckage of Albatross, that catamaran that didn't come back. Anything interesting? Probably snapped at by a leviathan squid. Bunch of weird teeth marks, whole mast splintered, eight bodies missing. Well, shit. Yeah. The trio walked as they chatted, happy to get an early start. With the extra walking time they decided to cross to the waterfall end of the city and look for caves. Tira didn't say much, but her grin was wide enough to keel a ship with. Taking a direct route led them through the busiest of Alefpria's plazas. Everyone in the Capital seemed to be making something or plying some trade, even though much food was free, the orchards of citrus and pefant overseen by the General's workers. Wood and canvas flapped everywhere. Ceramics, carts, looms, Marionettes. Humans and rovaick worked under supervision, the palace orchestrating their rehabilitation into apprenticeships. Goblins clustered themselves into work-gangs, hauling wheelbarrows of malachite single-file through the foreign city. Such minerals were brought in from the southern cliffs, where the refugees had more than compensated for the appalling lack of mine-skill shown by the Citadel-descended Lifprasilians. Those smooth rock faces- Crafted by a particularly beautiful male Diva, it was said- Were a buzz of quarrying activity. So Tyufik led his friends closer to the waterfalls, where the jungle began, and the mountains had not been fully explored. Yet. [center]* * * * *[/center] Kunonok pointed out that Tira would probably ruin her ankle again if she kept up the enthusiasm. Lonar was tallest, so she helped her get the first foothold, not without protest from the weird little tagalong. Tyufik found a stream and slipped in it while taking a drink. Kunonok spotted a leech on his ankle when he dragged himself out and pocketed it. Good bait, you know? Tyufik wondered if there were trout in the mountain rivers. Lonar yelled at them. Work those legs you're so proud of. Tira chewed a sourgrass stalk, a flower on the end dangling out through the hole in her face. Lonar asked her if there would be urtelem on the top of the mountain. Complacent shrug. Kunonok found a furl den, then a beehive. Tyufik wore a sprig of patterned leaves between his ears. Lonar tossed a rock off the edge and watched it fall. Kunonok discovered that he had a hole in his pocket and a particularly sly leech on his ass. Tyufik stole one of Tira's sourgrasses, and hey, did anyone bring food? Tira said something smug. Lonar knuckled her head for a while when they realised she wanted to go back to the beehive and smoke it out. Don't you dare, little scamp. Tyufik saw a quicker route down and led the way. Kunonok taught Tira how to juggle with pebbles. Lonar realised that the new trail had a jump in it, suggested they turn back until Tyufik pointed out the thick curtain of vines. Lonar shrugged and went across first. Tyufik snapped Kunonok and Tira out of their practice and crossed over. Tira tossed down her staff to free her hands. Kunonok waited as she climbed her way [i]A height a slip a fall the back of a demon destroyer a sky of winged people burning a spear of light acidic black ichor claws like a great spider a leap faster than she ever saw them move tearing the limb apart clinging dangling acid searing a height a fall dancer no dancer come back[/i] [sub][i][color=9e0b0f]Look up, Tira.[/color][/i][/sub] Tira's eyes flew open and she registered Tyufik's voice calling her. She realised she was biting her tongue, swallowed, coughed, and said she was good, she was still good, though Kunonok had followed her along the vines and had a firm hand around her wrist. The two made their way down without incident. Lonar asked her what happened, bringing in a warning look from Kunonok, ever the perceptive one. Tira forced a smile and said she was good, using the same words as before; They were the best ones she knew. Tyufik handed her staff back and asked if she could walk. She prodded his chest and said something crude and fluent that made them all laugh. Tyufik hid his relief by kicking her ankles, since she was clearly still so full of energy. Later, Lonar accompanied Tira home as far as the bridge, wondering quietly which of the palace brass had chosen to adopt the human. The two leaned on the balustrade, watching the sun turn orange. [i]"Lonar?"[/i] "Mhm?" [i]"Think you that... Suyko sin weit ghorg?"[/i] "Another... Fight? Big fight? Oh, oh, I see, a war." Lonar shrugged. "Eventually, I guess. Not anytime soon." She looked at Tira. The long shadows picked out the scar. "Why?" Tira smiled and tilted her head, as she often did when she didn't understand something. Lonar took the hint. Not anytime soon. Something inside Tira wasn't so sure. ------ [/hider]