Heirot

"No," Kratos said, his resolve to fight coming back to him. "We cannot run from our homeland. We shouldfight for it! It's what father would've done... what he tried to do!" His mother smiled at her son proudly and nodded her head.

"Bring others in, son." She told him, knowing that he had others waiting outside. Nodding, Soran obeyed his mother and called for everyone to come in. But he noticed Laya confronting two armed men. They didn't look happy to see her but they weren't moving, just watching with dangerous eyes.

Kratos called to them in Ongorethian and they nodded understanding him and they walked away. he told them that they were just playing and didn't mean to disturb them. The soldiers didn't care either way, they were just trying to figure the woman out.

Laya looked at the child's eyes, who were looking back at the soldiers supiciously. She set him down and looked behind her, her beautiful brown hair falling over her shoulders.

She hadn't done anything wrong... Just averted a kid from getting trampled... Saving them the trouble of being bothered by a child. She didn't understand what the problem was.

She turned completely around and the little boy ran into the house when Kratos said something in Ongorethian.

"Kids are cute aren't they?" she asked smiling sweetly, trying to act as innoccent and clueless as possible.

Kratos stepped beside her, taking up for her, and she was thankful not to be alone. She looked back at the guards, who were still staring at her... Why? She stepped closer to Kratos. There eyes followed her.

"I didn't do anything wrong," she whispered to the Ongorethian man, her friend, someone she had learned to trust.

Adonis tossed his head edgily as the human boy and Laya finally went inside and left him in peace. The soldiers, however, now seemed to be staring at him. He let one of his flattened ears raise enough to face them warily.

Telanis's expression grew troubled as Kratos spoke of fighting. He held his tongue as Kratos went to fetch Laya inside. A moment later a young boy ran inside, flung himself onto the fluffy floor pillows by the table, then dove up again and ran to the door. "Kuro!" he said happily as Laya and Kratos entered, as if the horse was going to come in with them.

Kratos' mother laugh and picked up the little boy. "I know who this is." she said and began singing to the little boy.

"I wouldn't worry Laya," Kratos said to her as they came in. "Their soldiers." he said 'soldiers' as if it was the most evil thing he could've said.

Laya sighed once they were inside, notcing how the looks had changed from her to Adonis. She sat in a chair close to the window so she could watch out for him. Even if he didn't like her, she still cared about him. She looked up for a moment, and found Telanis in the middle of the crowed. She smiled softly as she looked at him, then her eyes fell back on Adonis.

There soldiers.... Sometimes that was a good thing... and when it came to soldiers from Arken, who if they were away from a woman for thirty minutes seemed to already be "lonely".

Adonis watched blandly as the soldiers came up to him. It wasn't until they touched him that he snapped at them, nipping near one man's head to make him back off. "Even if he won't let me see his teeth, he seems like a fine mount. Just a bit too much spirit still," the soldier said to the other.

"No, he's a mean one. I doubt he'd ride well," observed the other while Adonis pressed his ears back to his head. He couldn't understand what they were saying, he just wanted them to leave.

"Shall we take him back to the captain?"

"No. THe beast's too perfect. Boss'd think we'd been bribed with it."

"Gah! It kicked me!"

"See? I told you it was mean."

Laya came out of her seat quickly and ran outside. She was afraid they might take Adonis. He had been through too much to be hurt again.

"Please leave him alone!" Laya said, running up and slowing so she wouldn't spook Adonis. "He's not friendly... to strangers."

The guards sized Laya up critically. "Who's this foreigner?" one said critically, in Ongorethan.

"I think she believes this horse belongs to her," the other smirked in amusement.

"It's illegal to leave an animal untethered in public, especially a mean one." the first continued matter-of-factly.

The two men looked at the woman who had just run out, it was the same woman as before. The one began speaking gruffly to her in Ongorethian, expecting her to understand but when she didn't move he growled and came forward.

She was trying to understand what they were saying... "I'm sorry... I..." Strands of brown hair fell in front of her eyes and she blew them out of the way.

"Please don't take him..." Laya said softly, sweetly. It did no good to be rude to someone. She gave no thought to her tattered and singed garb. She only cared about keeping Adonis safe.

"Perhaps you weren't aware, foreign dog, but outsiders have no property rights here," the guard smirked. "You can no own!" he sneered in very poor Standard.

Laya touched Adonis's neck. "Please, I'm begging you... He's all I have left of my families possessions," Laya said, hoping they would understand. She looked at the two men. She didn't understand partly of what they were saying. She thought he meant that she couldn't own property in this town... Did that mean that her and Telanis were considered about like slaves... Slaves weren't allowed to own property or anything... People owned them.

"Please?" she asked, her voice soft again. She didn't want Telanis to be sad about losing his brother... Telanis loved his brother... and Adonis loved Telanis.

Adonis turned and kicked one of the men in the shin. He wasn't fond of these people he was with, but he didn't like the idea of being stabled, either. ~Get the Ongorethan woman,~ he told Laya stiffly as the guard cursed. He knew if he did any more damage to the two guards, they'd have a sudden change of heart about who was responsible for the animal.

"Neko!!" Laya screamed loud enough that she hoped the woman would hear her in the house. One of the guards grabbed Adonis's mane roughly as if to hold him in place. "No! Let go!" She grabbed his arm, trying to gently pry his fingers from Adonis's mane. He let go of the mane and struck her across the face, nocking her to the ground. Laya shook her head numbly and stood back up, grabbing him again. "Help!! Neko!"

Neko was sleeping and could hear nothing, but her mother and Kratos did and they rushed outside. Their mother immediantly dove into a tyraid towards the guards in her own tongue. The guards and the mother argued back and forth, with Kratos standing protectively by his mother in case the men tried anything.

Kratos' mother argued, saying that they brought the horse to her as a present. But the men argued back that Laya had just said it was hers. Shaking her head to solidify her lies, the siblings mother angrily told them that Laya was a relative of hers from the mainland visiting, and brought the horse as a present from her family. She said that she was coming to live here now and the horse was serving as the girl's barter into her home. The guards thought over what she had said before taking their final action.