Lost

[Soran Nightblade]

The woman looked truly frightened of him now. He was from the North...from Arken. Arken, whose armies had just burned the once great city of Hepian to the ground and killed nearly all its inhabitants. She and her husband had been putting up homeless refugees in the inn for months. "Haven't you done enough?" she demanded angrily, fearfully. There was a look of loss on her face. "It's taken months to begin rebuilding what you people destroyed....just go attack the capital, if you want war so bad! Don't wreck the hopes of decent folk just trying to rebuild their lives!" She immediately looked terrified of what she'd just said. Drat her temper...

* * * *

Caleb squeaked desperately as the hawk banked left, heading for the mountains of the border. Its nest was probably on a rocky cliff somewhere up there. He scratched at the bird's grip, but it was hard to think past the splitting pain in his back leg.

[Celeste]

Celeste drew a feather from her pouch, the one she had pulled earlier and quickly used a spell that would harden it to a metal hardness, and threw it at the hawk's wing.

[Emora Deen]

Stephan frowned, his yellow eyes narrowing. “My kind doesn’t have anything to do with the Queen. It isn’t our war,” he told her calmly. “Don’t make assumptions that I am like the rest of the rabble who cross these mountains. If I were them, I wouldn’t have paid for the bed I slept in last night. So,” he spoke very calmly. “Which road do I take?”

[Soran Nightblade]

The woman looked distrustful, but unwilling to argue further. "Take the path east. You'll reach it in a day's travel."

* * *

The hawk shrieked as Celeste's weapon struck its wing. It released its prey roughly as it struggled to keep its balance in the air. Caleb found himself falling rapidly. He thrust out his legs and tried to glide, but his back leg refused the pressure and he wound up flipping haphazardly in his efforts to get control of his descent.

[Emora Deen]

Stephan smiled kindly. “Thank you,” he replied, bowing his head and heading out the door. When he stepped out into the cold he pulled the hood over his head, and the cloth over his face. He glanced up and down the road, as he always did, and then turned his eyes up to the sun, judging where east was. He found the path with his eyes first, and set out on foot, supposing that Celeste had gone on her marry way.

[Celeste]

Celeste gently caught Caleb "you okay, little guy?" she then glared at the hawk "go pick on someone you're own size!" she yelled at it. she returned her attention to Caleb, and saw his hurt leg. She continued stroking her wings downward as she looked over Caleb.

[Soran Nightblade]

Caleb lay too stunned to move in the angel's hands. He was fairly certain the ground should have hurt more, but couldn't think of anything else he could have just landed on. No...he hadn't landed. He still felt like he was moving, despite resting on something solid. He dug in tightly with his tiny claws into the surface he rested on and opened his eyes in a daze. He glanced up blearily at the face above him, and registered the gentle words that had just asked him if he was okay. A person...it was that girl from the inn. She was flying...with the wings...of course...wings flew...she was flying... He couldn't quite seem to put it all together.

It occurred to him that she'd asked him a question. It did not occur to him that he wasn't supposed to be able to answer. He crouched down tight against the warm skin of her palms and made an uncertain squeak.

[Celeste]

"mean ol'Hawk" Celeste grumbled before focusing a bit on her healing magic, she channeled it to Caleb's leg and body, healing any wounds. It'd still ache but there would be no wound. "now, let's head south, what you say?"

[Soran Nightblade]

The relief was so great that Caleb almost lost his grip on the angel's hand. Amazingly, his leg felt normal again. But he'd been sure it was broken...

He regained his senses and looked up at her curiously, gripping onto her thumb for support. He felt far too exposed in her palm....he had the bizarre urge to crawl somewhere enclosed and secure.

[Celeste]

"better," Celeste smiled she then thought a moment "would you like to ride in a pocket? and i have some trail mix you'll like"

[Soran Nightblade]

Caleb had to admit the pocket sounded like a good plan. The trail mix...not so much, but then again he was almost willing to eat anything at the moment. He decided to take shelter first and food later. She was helping him, whatever her motives. Did she somehow find out who he was? No...he was sure he'd gotten away from her in time. Maybe she was just a really, really considerate person.

Bracing himself against the wind, Caleb ran up along the angel's arm, jumped to her shoulder, and climbed down into her pocket. The enclosed space made him feel much better. He burrowed all the way to the bottom and curled himself there, letting his heartrate slowly even out. He would calm down first, then worry about where the angel was taking him and who she was.

[Celeste]

Celeste smiled, she angled slowly angled south and glided. She was no longer alone, she had this cute little companion, and was headed in the right track.

[Soran Nightblade]

Caleb meant to come back out and see what was happening, he really did. But as soon as the adrenaline wore off, the warm dark safety of Celeste's pocket wound up coaxing him into a much needed sleep. He pressed securely into the bottom corner of her pocket, occasionally fidgeting his legs against her through the fabric as he slept.

[Celeste]

Celeste flew long, it was starting to get dark. She landed near what looked like a burned down town. she pulled Caleb out and smiled, "hey ya hungry?"

[Soran Nightblade]

Caleb was tense in her hand as she pulled him out of his resting place and into the early evening light. He'd slept the whole day...it was hard to believe. Lately he spent his days hanging on to wagons or trying to outsmart predators, like the cat that had been after him yesterday. But today was different.

He glanced around at his surroundings. There wasn't a whole lot of daylight left, but not so little that he had to panic just yet. He looked at the rubble around them and immediately knew he was in Hepian...the town where he'd lived, before. It wasn't that he'd had much to be attached to there, but he'd lived there for the better part of ten years, and it was still disturbing to see it reduced to this. He'd come so close to belonging there...but not quite.

He abruptly remembered her question as well as the fierce hunger biting into his tiny body. He wondered if she had any fruit...probably not. Why would she feed him? Why save him or even carry him this far? The man was fully unaccustomed to this type of kindness. He pressed his small body into the curve of her fingers and looked up at her. He wasn't the best at accepting help, but he was starving. He made a quiet chirping sound, flicking his ears forward.