Can No One Find Me? AW

[Ceridwen]

Her long black hair trailed behind her as she walked through the forest, merely wandering, not searching for anything, not headed for anywhere. Her petite bodice was held at perfect posture, as it was always. The outfit that she wore was truly unsuitable for a woman, though she cared not for this. She was wearing trousers, doe skin so that she could move around easily. A baggy, white cotton shirt was atop this. She wore deerskin boots, to complete the picture. She loved to dress like this, though whenever she went out into the city, she made sure to wear one of those controlling gowns. She had worn a gown in the forest once, and that had been the end of that, because it had stuck to everything, every branch, every leaf. This had ruined her usual mystique, letting everything and everyone know when she was coming. She’d quickly adapted to the mans clothing, because it did not restrain you, you could move as quickly as could be expected, and it made no sounds.

She laughed as she reviewed all of this in her mind, glancing down at the plain garb that she now wore. She shook her head and rolled her eyes, surely if anyone saw her like this they would let her know that she was acting inferior. She sighed and chewed her lip, this was not like her. Normally she was finely tuned to the forest, not worrying about a thing, and definitely not worrying about what others thought of her. She cleared her throat and sat upon a log, singing a clear song, calling to any animals about her. She was quickly joined by an owl, three deer, a doe, buck, and baby. Chipmunks and squirrels surrounded her, rabbits carefully crawling towards her. And she was even surprised by a wolf. Though she was not frightened in the least, letting out a hand to pet the wolf, and to her great surprise, the wolf did not attack, nor did it flee, it was submissive to her. “If only humans treated me like you all do.” She said with a sigh, for she loved the woodland creatures, they’d been her friends ever since she could remember.

[Aric Summers]

Aric had gone out of his castle for a while. He had been kept in there for days and he hated being held up in a places for too long. He wasn't about to wear his royal clothing so he was wearing his light armor. Which consisted of a green long sleeved shirt with brown pants, and a pair of dark brown leather boots. On top of his clothing he wore a black leather armor on his chest and upper arms. On his forearms and hands, he was wearing tan wraps that helped him to not get snapped with the drawstring of his bow. He wore mathing armor on his legs and ankles for protection.

He walked in the dry forest and had his weapons with him, just in case. He heard something nearby and pulled his bow off of his back and pulled an arrow from his quiver. He latched the arrow onto the drawstring and readied himself to fire at anything. He looked around and noticed a bunch of animals and thought for a moment 'I haven't hunted in a long time'. He turned his attention to the buck and aimed his bow. Suddenly he noticed a woman in the mix of the creatures. He put the arrow back in his quiver and began to walk over to her. When he got there he started to get slower, trying not to scare the animals away. "Hello...Ma'am" He said suspisiously

[Ceridwen]

Her back had gone rigid at the first crunch of leaves when he had slowly approached the animals that surrounded her. She turned to face him slowly, drawing her raven colored hair away from her elegant features. She sucked in a breath, it was the King. She stood and did an imitation of a curtsey, though this of course was hard to do in men’s garb. She straightened and regarded the King with something along the lines of scrutiny. She raised her chin slightly, eyeing him up and down. “Good day, My Lord.” She said, her eyes lowering in respect for the monarch. But respect was all that was there, for though she knew her place, she also knew that humans never got along with her for some odd reason, so she always held herself aloof from them.

She turned her head slightly as she saw the deer starting to back away, they had spotted the mans bow. She crouched and held out her hand to them, and they came to her, as she offered reassurance. She felt almost certain that the King would not shoot them while she was there, but she radiated courage to the animals of prey that were around her. Though this courage was not necessary for the wolf, whose stance by now had changed to the defensive one. His legs were rigid, his upper lip drawn up and writhing. She ‘tsked’ her tongue and shook her head at the male wolf beside her. But she too understood, the animals had always been protective of her, knowing of the oddity that was hers.

[Aric Summers]

Aric bowed slightly and looked at the wolf. He put his hand on the handle of the sword and watched the wolf's movements. "What are you doing out here?" He asked the woman. He pushed a strand of hair from his face. He looked through the dead trees to the sky and noticed the dark clouds. He smelt rain and looked back to the woman and animals.

[Lord Commander De Montford]

Arthur followed Aric into the small clearing. He was never too far from his side in places such as this, being a royal guard and all. But he was alone now, no guards with him to help protect the King, only him. But he doubted any harm would come to him here.

De Mortford was not garbed in his formal armour, but instead in travelling armour of boiled leather with no helm, and similar cloak with the emblem of the Men glazed across it in a golden-green.

He walked only a little way behind, making himself obvious to the King as he travelled so that he always knew where he was. He saw him pull out his bow and nock an arrow in it, which invariably made him touch the hilt of his sword, trying to see what he was aiming at. The deer bounded back slightly and Aric approached something which he couldn't see through a strange mass of animals. He approached a little warily, only because Aric was.

He glimpsed the King talking to a young woman sitting on a log, and figured it not his place to interfere with his conversations. He eyed the wolf which had come around when the King had approached and as it bared its fangs.

The High Lord loostened his longsword in its sheath, he had no fear of killing a wolf if it threatened the King, "My liege?" he said warily, unsure if Aric had seen the wolf or not...

[Ceridwen]

Ceridwen saw them both acting as if to hurt the wolf, she lept to her feet and was in front of the wolf in an instant. “You won’t be needing those.” She said, her eyes leveling with the eyes of the King, though she didn’t give the other man a second thought. As she usually stayed away from human in general, men had always held her contempt. She owed her King respect, but the other man she owed nothing and so in turn gave nothing. She took a step back from the wolf and turned to face it. Ceridwen whispered something in a language that only few knew, getting the wolf’s attention immediately. She said a few more words, which caused the wolf to lay down, his crown on his paws, though he eyed the King and other man angrily, he made no move to disobey Ceridwen.

She nodded and said, for the benefit of the men, “Good boy.” In the common tongue, though she knew that the wolf would understand her better in the one that only she, as far as she knew, knows. She straightened and nodded her head to the other man. “Hello.” She said, her words were soft and easy, though her back was rigid and tense. She turned to the King again. “I live out here. I am always at home when amongst the trees, though no one seems to understand this. I am a ranger. The animals won’t hurt you, not while I’m here.” She said, her last words more to reassure them, and to protect the animals incase the men should attack.

[Lord Commander De Montford]

Arthur did his best to supress a sniger. "Animals are exactly that, ranger of..." he glanced around him at the trees and the surrounding woods. "...ranger of Teaivann."

Although, the sniger was put in place to try and cover up his uneasiness and uncomfortability. He had never seen a wolf act so peculiar before, and it had reacted almost instinctively to her words. And there something familiar about the sounds she had made. He had no idea what they meant, but he had heard them before... a long time ago.

He shook the thought out of his head and looked back at the ranger, putting the longsword back in its locket and taking his hand off the hilt with some effort, but always alert if he needed it. "Who are you, you who claims to control the beasts here by words only. Why are you here? The nearest settlement to here is almost a hundred leagues away."

He could sense she didn't like him very much, but he didn't know why. He'd never met her before...

[Ceridwen]

She glared angrily at the man who accused her so easily. She looked at the wolf and ordered it with a few simple words. He whined, which, though she understood him by what he meant through symbolism, she said a different word, sharper and clearer. He slowly got to his feet and regarded the other man with curiosity. He walked about the man in a circle, once coming up to sniff him. After this he came back to Ceridwen and seemingly nodded. She sighed and whispered something, he laid back down, continuing to watch the men with a protective eye.

She looked the man up and down, “He finds no reason for me to fear you.” She said slowly, her eyes sharp to pick up on any reason that the wolf had missed. “I claimed nothing, only made it so. I told him to lie down, he did. You would have hurt him if he’d remained trying to protect me from some danger that wasn’t there, so I fixed it.” She explained to the man, though she didn’t see why she had to.

[Lord Commander De Montford]

Arthur flared angrily inside. No harm! he thought to himself. His steel would easily bite the flesh of a wolf with ease, and even more so the flesh of an insolent woman! and he would have voiced his anger openly if not for the presence of the King beside him. Instead he, calmed himself slightly, and continued to converse with her more easily.

"I suggest you watch your tongue, ranger. You would not want to anger a lord of men so easily," nonetheless, his curiosity for the situation was unfathomable. He wanted so much to know how she controlled the wolf so easily. But he didn't want to put his pride on the line by asking so openly, "You haven't answered my question ranger, why have you chosen to lodge here?" he waved an arm smoothly, indicating the forest around them. "There are more protected settlements where people of our heritage can be safe..."

[Ceridwen]

“Safe? Safe?! I do not wish to be safe, there is no safe place on earth. There is always war, fighting, danger! I’d rather be isolated from all that. The animals accept me like no human could.” She snapped, taking a step toward him, her left arm moving instinctively towards the double edged sword that hung at her hip. She wasn’t liking this man more and more, and to her displeasure, the animals were sensing this. The wolf had lifted his head, ears perking forward, though he daren’t get up from the position she commanded him to. The animals had all taken a step closer to her, though she bit out a word and held a hand back. They reluctantly toke the step back, but the ears were flattened to their skulls. “I suggest that you watch your tongue when dealing with me. I am not afraid to put you in your place.” She said, obviously forgetting the King was there.

[Lord Commander De Montford]

Arthur wrapped his fingers around the hilt of his sword and pulled it deftly out of its sheath, the silver, polished steel ringing in the air. He doubted that the woman had half the swordsmanship training he had had in his royal guard position, and he hardly doubted a wolf, some rabbits and a couple of doe would hardly make a match for him.

"And I yours, ranger!" He spoke loudly, and forcefully. All curiosity was gone from his mind now, only anger. "Back down now!" He commanded.

"Humans are rarely banished in the modern world, ranger," de Mortford was speaking loudly, and with passion now. "Only those who have done horrible crimes against the greater good have ever been banished. So do you believe you have done so!? If you have then stay here for all I care. I care about every peasants death, but not when they are so insolant and have no love of their countrymen and women!"

[Ceridwen]

“I have great love for this country and it’s people! I merely do not act as you do! I believe that things can be fixed without this idiotic swordplay, though do not think you can best me. Now if it weren’t for the presence of our dear King here I would teach you a lesson. As it were, I do not believe that I should harm the royal gaur, when his duties can be better put to use serving the King.” She took a deep breath after her ‘speech’. She usually didn’t speak much, so when she did speak a lot, then it was usually for a good reason. She returned her hand to her side, though this was done woodenly. She tossed her hair back and fixed him with an angry glare.

Then a slow smile formed across her features. “Ah, I get it now. You think that because these creatures are small, they cannot hurt you? What if I called a real threat to your health here? Would you dare to attempt to harm me then?” She said, arching a fine eyebrow sharply.

[Lord Commander De Montford]

"I would love to see you try dear ranger," Arthur said slowly and carefully, lowering his sword almost as slowly, the anger no less present, but he was in no mood to shed blood in front of his liege.

"Answer me this, if you still carry sense within you: Why then, if you love your country so much, do you alienate yourself from your fellow men and women, and show such insolence to the your lords? And you are terribly right dear ranger, these things are not to be dealt with with a sword. No, in cases of your show, we deal with axes. One swift chop to the neck from the gallows ought to do it, and not even your pets can stop clean steel."

He breathed out, calming himself and letting the tip of his sword touch the leafy ground. He rolled his shoulders to release some anger. "Stay here then ranger. If you do not want to help your country, and if you do not want to partake in war, which we will never be free of, and which none of us would place upon ourselves or others of our heritage. Stay here with your dogs, and sing away the reality of the world if you won't grasp it."

[Ceridwen]

Her shoulders stiffened and she turned away from him, a tear forming in her eye which she hastily wiped away. "I do not stay because I don't love this country. I stay away, to protect it." She whispered the words, so softly were they spoken that the winds themselves came to life and moved her words towards the Lord, so that he may hear what she had spoken. She wouldn't face him and merely bent down to eye level with the doe, who had come over to comfort her. She didn't like revealing a part of her truth to anyone, and so when she had to, or when her pride made her, it always upset her. "You make your accusations, and judge me before you know me. And yet I see what others don't, I can see into the very hearts of men." Her words, though he could judge her a liar, or a lunatic, she couldn't care. They were the truth.

[Lord Commander De Montford]

Arthur sighed, sheathing his sword. He rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger and thought carefully of what to say. The anger had subsided now, and in its place was left only a strange, alien space which he couldn't name.

If there was danger to the kingdom that she knew about, then he definately must know what it was so that he could formulate defenses, but she seemed confident that it wasn't urgent, and he doubted she would open up anymore to him then what she had already done, so he let it drop.

"Then what do you see in my heart dear ranger?" He didn't want to spark up another argument, and so aimed for the only bit of the conversation which he hadn't rebutted against...