Isianu's Introduction

Isianu crept from her hiding place and found her exit. Unnoticed, she fled into the gardens and away from the palace. A servant conveniently spilled soup on the captain of the guards. On his way to guard duty on the garden path, a guard found himself unable to get out of his conversation with one of the elderly stewards. Another guard simply lowered his visor, somehow failing to mark the princess' departure.

The woods were eerily silent. Isianu was unsure whether the quiet was good or not. All she knew was that she had to get away. She was careful to avoid any potential witnesses, but there were surprisingly few. As she left the forests of Goranthor and made her way south, she began to feel somewhat safer. The more distance she put behind her, the better.

Soon she found her way to another forest, this one filled with all the sights and sounds of life. Thinking to find a quiet place to rest, she entered, but inside the darker canopy she immediately stumbled across a human, armored and dressed in a bright uniform. He was sitting on a rock, bandaging his left arm. When she stopped his head snapped up and he reached for the sword resting just beyond his grasp. Seemingly not even seeing her, he muttered to himself and sat alertly, waiting.

Run

For the longest time that was the only word that was in Isianu's mind. Run from her father, run from her fate, and run from her country. It pained her to leave her country, her birthright but it was necessary. She didn't want to be the tyrant that her parents are or all of the problems that she would inherent because of their actions. This journey would give her a chance to act totally independently from Bernuka and let her true nature act totally uninhibited by his influence. It might take years, even decades, but she vowed that she would return when she could clear her family and country's name. Those few servants who helped her flee Goranthor realized that she wasn't corrupted and might be their best chance for a just ruler. They had given her some more durable clothes that would be a lot less obvious than her regular black robes. The thick cotton and leather outfit was rustic to say the least, but it's green and brown colors helped her blend into the forest. Plus the pants didn't get caught in the brambles like the long robes she had in her pack.

The one thing that stopped this train of thought was finding another living soul out in the woods. It wasn't until she was a good dozen yards away from him that she stopped and took a step back gasping in surprise. Noticing the human going for his sword, she was preparing to cast a spell in response, but stopped dead in his tracks. One of the first things she wanted to do was shed those violent tendencies. That and there are a few things she wanted to know, one of which was the location of a human town. She was getting tired, hungry, and running low on supplies. Putting her paws down in a calming gesture and cleared her throat, "Excuse me sir?" she said trying her best to hide her accent. "I was just wondering if you help me? I mean you no harm, all I want is to know where the closest city is. I need some supplies rather badly." She then stands at ease to look non-threatening but give the man the sense that she is someone of great importance.

The slight stirring in the brush was the first sign. Not knowing whether to fight or give in, he waited. The second warning was the leering wolf-creature emerging from the bushes, intent on tasting his blood. He knew he would fight, but the creature didn't attack. In fact, it spoke. I don't know which is worse, not knowing when death is coming, or having it talk to you first.He thought for a while, checking his makeshift splint. "Uh, never heard a wolf talk before. Not that I could understand." A city? A safe city? He began to laugh. "No place safe for the likes of us. This is the territory of the Baron... and he's readying for war with the wolves." He looks down at the ground, keeping one eye on Isianu. If they talk, maybe they are threatening. Maybe the Baron is right. Looking over himself, he begins to tear at his uniform, ridding himself of the bright colors and insignia. She wasn't acting aggressive, but his instinct for self-preservation was already aroused. "I'm not going to just let you kill me, even if you are polite." He turns sideways and makes his way to where his sword rests.

Isianu gave the human a strange look; his actions betrayed his nature to an extent. His words, his injury, his wardrobe. He was a deserter of this Baron's army who was recently in a skirmish and decided he has had enough. What he said about the local magistrate worried her a bit, going to war with her people. "Mayhaps it would be best to avoid major populated areas at the moment..." she mumbled. "Well," the sorceress commented placing her paws behind her back, "I'm not entirely sure about the political environment here but judging from you, I'd think that avoid any contact with anything he influences."

Looking back at the knight in front of her reaching for his sword, she commented, "Well I do not want to kill you but I can't blame your paranoia. But currently it would not do us much good. I am a fully capable Lupine and you are a crippled human, less than fair odds I would think. That and what would our deaths benefit one another? If I kill you I still wouldn't know where I was, the only real benefit would be looting your corpse. From what I see so far, you don't seem like the man who would carry the items I would desire. If by some stretch of the imagination, you kill me what have you gained? Bragging rights on killing your first Lupine? It would hardly matter considering that the local magistrate is going to war with my people." Letting what she said hang in the air for a while, then Isianu extended her left paw in a friendly gesture. "So if we don't have anything to gain from each other's deaths, what could we gain from being alive? I could gain information on this area and perhaps the where abouts of others with similar views as ours. You could benefit with some extra help traveling, with that arm, I would say you could definitely need some." While the knight contemplated her offer, Isianu's left paw went behind her back to help it's companion get her small scythe at the ready in case he still wants to kill her. Just you try... She mocked him in her mind, you'll be dead before you could swing your sword.

"Uh, what do you have behind your back there? A weapon?" This was hard; diplomacy wasn't his strong suit and his thoughts weren't very clear at the moment anyway. She was kind of like the noble women at home, polite but arrogant. Only she was hairy and had pointy teeth. No, *exactly* like the noble women at home. He laughed to himself and realized he was losing focus. "Uh, what kind of weapons do were-- Lupines use? If you're gonna bash my head in, get it over with. It's not like I keep anything important in there." He paused, wondering if these things had senses of humor. Back to business, "All right, if you don't want to kill me, I don't want to kill you. If you drink blood or something, just have the decency to kill me first. I've had my fill of pain today." He slowly lifts his sword by the middle, displaying his poor grip, then slides it into his belt. He thought about what she had said.

Doing a bad job at acting totally innocent, she slowly drew out her scythe, "You mean this?" pointing to it. "Just a little protection, you never knows what sort of people would try and take advantage of a beautiful maiden like myself. Of course this is rather unusual among my people, they prefer the traditional swords and spears. All though the latest rage seems to be Reish-tikalo [Rabid Fury Fighting], a martial art mostly dealing with claw strikes and bites..." She gave the knight a polite little smile as she puts her weapon away and opens her paws, palm forward as a sign she was truly disarmed. "I assure you I don't need living blood to survive or the like, just regular food."

"I don't brag about killing anything, mm...miss. Uh, my name's Burke."

As Burke introduced himself some of her old court etiquette came back to her. "I am glad that you are at least to understand me. Well you have introduced yourself and yet I have not, something that will not stand in my culture." Putting one foot behind the other and reaching down to hold imaginary robes out of habit and curtsied, all the time keeping her eyes locked on Burke's. "I am Isianu Veenous, Mistress of magical beasts and Sorceress extraordinaire! I am honored to meet you Sir Burke."

"Well, I would have gone north before now, but if the Baron's right about... well, then I don't want to go. Safest place next to that for people who the Baron doesn't like would be the southeast. There's rumors that the thieves there have put together their own kingdom. At least, it's a place he doesn't pretend to control." He stops for a moment, then shakes his head. "South out of the Baron's territory, then East."

Standing up straight she considered his words for a few seconds, "Well I don't particularly desire to be in the company of thieves, but if we keep our guard up, I think we shall be alright." With a gesture of her paw over in the direction she took to be southeast said with much flourish, "Lead on, knight."

Burke watched the scythe closely. That was a wicked looking weapon. Magical beasts? Sorceress? If his arm hadn't hurt so much, he would have been sure that he was dreaming. He wished he was. "Well, I'm not precisely a knight. There actually is no real kingdom. It's..." Burke stops himself, shouldering a pack with his good arm. "Yeah, we should go. It might be getting a bit late, but I don't want to stay around here too long. I don't know what you consider regular food, but I'm a fair bow hunter..." His face darkened, and he looked away from her. "Hey, son of--!" He drew his sword in a practiced arc, startling a dark figure in the shadows that had not been there a mere second before. The figure ducked back, disappearing behind a tree as Burke brought his sword to bear. "Did you see that?! What was that!? Some kind of spirit?" The forest suddenly seemed like a dark, haunted place.

Isianu disappeared into the forest, leaving Burke standing, bewildered. He almost followed, but in the dark he lost sight of her immediately. The shadow was not anywhere to be found. She did hear the sound of a galloping horse, and quickly hid. In a moment she could see the horse, racing through the dark forest with what looked like a moogle on its back. From her vantage point, she could see an armored man emerge from the shadows and stop the horse short, causing the moogle to slide of the horse's neck and hang precariously. "Just what are you doing with my horse?" asked the man sternly.

G6 Chapter One