[hr][center][color=808B96][color=00AEFF][h2][b]Akaeyla[/b][/h2][/color]Southeastern Mir [b]-[/b]Marshland,The Fall[/color][/center]
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Akaeyla watched as the other members of the group re-grouped, briefly wondering if she should feel guilty or relieved at not being as mud-enslimed as some of them were... having wings and her strange sight that was unaffected by the differences between daylight and darkness was an advantage. Unfortunately, the other things her unnatural vision discerned made it more a burden than a blessing. She wouldn't have needed it to have seen that the Miran, Hermes Carrion, was crazy and dangerous, but the fullness of what she had seen, especially when she'd seen his eyes, had been enough to make her blood run cold. She might have tried her hand against his, even when he'd revealed he'd possessed magic, but for her knowledge of the nearby marsh, and the fact that Taffy had known of it as well- and suggested it first. Going up against a madman out for blood probably would have seemed crazy to the others, and Taffy likely would have tried to stop her,  so it was perhaps just as well that things had turned out the way they had. Idly, Akaeyla wondered how such a confrontation might have gone, had it been just her and the Miran, for she wasn't entirely defenceless herself.

When she'd made the decision to become a Fall Hermit, she hadn't done so lightly. Her father had been a military man at one point in his life and had trained her to the fullest of his ability in self-defence (armed and unarmed) and survival. That wasn't the only thing he'd done to provide for her survival though: beneath the almost knee-length jacket she wore, Akaeyla had a pair of long knives strapped to her belt, useful for someone living off the land.. and effective weapons as well. The choice of knives over a gun, or other such weapon was a matter of simple logic: If you lived deep in The Fall, you needed a weapon that was constantly 'loaded' and didn't need costly ammunition to replace. A hermit who lived off the land didn't make much by way of money after all.

Akaeyla broke from that train of thopugh as she watched the others, at the same time taking a look at herself. The run through the undergrowth had been easy enough for her, and her clothes were unscrathced, though her boots were slightly muddy thanks to the marsh they'd retreated to. Nikki looked thoroughly disgusted at being splattered with mud as a result of her landing, but was otherwise unharmed. Yonath seemed fine, although the firey fox-like spirit creature that dwelt within him seemed to have been responsible for getting him off the cliff and into the marsh... something he presently had no recollection of. Taffy had acquired a layer of mud, but was unhurt, Sashyra similarly seemed undamaged and Xell... Akaeyla had her concerns about Xell. He'd felt, if possible, more fear than the others when the Miran had shown up, the man seeming to trigger a past, traumatic memory. Then there was the thing that possibly none of the rest had witnessed in the darkness- the many crimson eyes that had opened up upon the Draconi's wings. His aura was presently in turmoil, the colours that might be his usual or normal self being incessantly buffeted by those murky, malignant colours that whorled through his aura like maelstrom, drawing everything in. Small wonder he was finding the going hard. She listened as Taffy spoke up, and as the others reacted, her expression its usual impassive neutral as she did so. Nikki certainly hadn't lost her commendable sense of humour and spirit of adventure, managing to chuckle at Xell's assessment of their situation. Xell, for his part, seemd glad Yonath was okay, but understandably negative about their present circumstances. Taffy was... cautiously optimistic about getting to her uncle's place and letting that focus her thoughts and actions for the moment. Yonath was, from what Akaeyla could tell, not too terribly concerned about things happening right at the moment, since he already had so much else to handle. With her usual gentle voice, Akaeyla addressed Xell's remark.

[color=00AEFF] "I can't speak for the others,"[/color] she informed Xell, [color=00AEFF]"But I'm calm because I [i]have[/i] to be. If you think not being able to see because it's dark is a problem, try and imagine how that is when you're born blind. Keeping my calm means staying alive- a case of literally blind panic, out here, equals certain death. There are things in the Fall that truly can [i]smell[/i] fear and none of them are things we want to encounter. If you want to panic, please either leave the party or keep a lid on it until we're somewhere a bit safer than here; everyone else wants to survive. In addition to that, both Taffy and myself are familiar with the vines that infest this particular marsh- we can help you avoid them, and avoid getting violated by them... but we can't do that if you don't keep it together"[/color]. Having said her piece, Akaeyla waited to see what response, if any, that would yield, already taking in the surroundings and idly wondering to herself just how soon she might be able to get back to being a hermit... spending this long around people, with the amount of truth she had seen already (and was bound to see if she lingered) was already beginning to feel uncomfortable.