Leaves of Fall

[Nightshade]

The early morning sun shown through the brilliantly colored maple and birch leaves creating a display that reminded Nightshade of fire. She lay on her stomach in the grove that had been given room to grow by the death of one of the great redwoods that dominated the forest. Her tail lashed back and forth lazily as she watched the breeze rustle the branches, scattering leaves into the air.

Nightshade didn't move as they settled on the blackness of her fur, marveling at how the darkness of her fur seemed to have the same effect on the leaves as the brilliant sunlight. She laughed and suddenly leapt into the air sending her fiery colored coat fluttering back into the air.

This time she rolled onto her back to watch them fall around her, still enjoying herself. Once they all settled she flopped over on her side, her game finished and no longer of interest.

Instead her mind wondered. She was glad to be alone where no one could judge her. They did. So many in her pack seemed determined to be miserable and gloomy. Or so serious they made everyone else edgy. Few of them seemed to ever have fun so they never understood her joy of life.

Of course, they didn't understand anything about her. Her return with a fresh kill that she freely gave to any who needed it was often looked down on making her feel like she was a lowly as the slaves.

A sly smile crept onto lips. She wondered if any of them would see her differently if they only knew what she did.

Chances were they'd just think she was crazy. Goddess only knew, there were plenty of crazies in Giaku.

[Xenoxice]

Alastolan had traveled all over the world, however, for some reason this particular area seemed to have eluded him. He remembers almost every place he's been and yet this place was completely new to him. Anytime he tread upon ground he had not been before he always did so lightly and was always on guard. You never know who's lands you may be stepping into or what they will do if they find you there. The breeze that rolled by at least felt good upon his fur, even if he was still very weary of what may lay within this new area. With that wind however, it seemed to carry with it the scent of another creature. A wolf. His eyes widened a little more as he turned his head in the direction the scent came from, following it with his nose fairly easy. It wasn't long before he could spot the wolf to whom the scent belonged to. His steps were light as he approached the wolf. Knowing full well his steps could be heard. But even then, he knew how to handle himself if he needed to.

"Excuse me." He would speak in a clear and rather curious manner. "Do you happen to know who these lands belong to? I've never seen this particular part of the world before."

[Nightshade]

Nightshade heard the footsteps approaching her. It was nearly impossible not to make noise on the crunchy leaf carpet. Her studded ear flickered towards the sound but she didn't move her head until the creature spoke.

"Giaku packlands." When she replied she simply rolled her head until her chin was on the ground, declining to get up as she stared at this stranger.

His markings were interesting, though not the strangest she had ever seen. By comparison, her own endless black fur seemed rather dull.

He was extremely polite for someone in Giaku, she noted. But then he wasn't a member of the pack. He was trespassing.

However, she wasn't a soldier or a scout and she rather disliked picking fights. If they were slacking on their job to keep outsiders on the other side of the border, it was not her problem.

[Xenoxice]

Alastolan had flinched a bit once her heard where he actually was. "Giaku... I've heard many... not so pleasant rumors go around about them." he had spoken with a wort of disappointed tone and not so much scared or panicked. "If this is indeed their land, I do not want to be here long." At first, he looked around. Almost as if checking to see if there was anyone else around. Then he turned to look at the wolfess before him and tilted his head a little in curiosity. "Are you of their pack? If so then either you seem like you belong elsewhere, or the rumors about them are horribly wrong." Soon he caught himself smiling brightly at this wolfess that lay in the grass in front of him and chuckling a bit. "You do not seem the slightest bit hostile, rude, mean or overall unpleasant at all. Quite the opposite in my opinion. Your lack of interest would make it seem you're bored, you're non-aggressive, haven't spoken rudely and your demeanor would suggest you're more laid back than unpleasant." His head tilted from one side to the other as he awaited to see how the wolfess would respond to his remarks.

[Nightshade]

A laugh escaped her lips before she could stop it and she rolled to her stomach. "I am Giaku. But if the scouts and soldiers are not paying attention then it isn't my problem. Unless you're a threat I don't honestly care if you're here."

Nightshade considered him for a moment before continuing. "However, the rumors do hold some truth."

She stood up and shook her fur. "I find most of them to be either angry or gloomy. Sometimes both."

Nightshade thought about it for a few moments as she sat back on her haunches. "Some of them are actually crazy. But no matter. Almost none of them know how to have fun."

A sly smile escaped her lips though she no longer looked at the wolf before her. She had done her fair share of pranks growing up and the crazy wolves were pretty fun to mess with.

It had served to get her into trouble more than once but she just found other ways to have fun.

Returning to her conversation with this stranger she cocked her head slightly. "The others seem to think I'm out of place as well. But tell me, where can a Druin go but to the home of the demons?"

[Xenoxice]

Alastolan listened to her words and smiled a bit at her comments, nodding along to show he understood what she was saying and listening. "That's a shame that the rumors do hold truth behind them. It's a pity even if those particular ones even hold a small bit of truth." With a small sigh he shook his head and looked her in the eyes with a soft gaze. "As for where a Druin can go...." he paused for a moment and tilted his head with that same smile upon his face. "Anywhere one wishes to go. You may be a Druin but you don't have the attitude of one. Of course I can't recommend going to the Allied Packs territory, but the entire world is open for you to explore and call your home. One must not confine their ways of living because they are labeled as one thing or another, or they will never truly live." His expression had changed a bit with his words as he spoke his last sentence. Simply because he was wondering if this wolfess was doing just as he said.

[Nightshade]

That strange smile crossed her face again, then she laughed out loud. She stopped suddenly, wondering what he would think of her.

"I'd be hunted for the rest of my life. Is that any way to live?" She shook her head and stood up, uncomfortable now in the bright light under the considering gaze of this stranger.

"I find peace here, it's really not such a bad place." Slowly she moved towards the deeper forest where the light rarely made it to the forest floor.

Tucked into the shadows she turned again to face this stranger. "And truthfully, the only difference between us and the 'good' packs, is our crimes are better known."

Her quick silver eyes considered him for a long moment. "Would they not seek to kill me just as fast as we would kill them?"

Unsure if he would understand or what he would think of her, Nightshade chose to remain standing. Being larger than him gave her an advantage she would lose on close to the ground.

She was not like many of the others, she had no really strong offensive magics. Hers where mainly passive and that was a disadvantage.

[Xenoxice]

Alastolan listened to her words and followed her into the darker areas for he himself was getting a little hot under the sun. He gave a small smile and nod of his head somewhat in agreement, also in acknowledgement. "I can understand your feelings. Even if I may not have been in such a situation myself, I can see myself in your situation and know why you feel the way you do. But as to being hunter the rest of your life, that I doubt." He looked up at her with a smirk as he gave a thrust of his wings and bolted up to a branch above her head, landing on it almost perfectly before laying down and letting his head droop off the edge a bit to look down at her. "I mean come on. The Allied Packs stay in their land, the Giaku stay in theirs, if you explored the world where all the loners are, what lone creature in their right mind would try to hunt down such an exceptionally large wolf hmm? It's plain suicide. Even if you aren't that great of a fighter, your size alone would deter most."

While his words seemed to be a bit more on the playful and innocent side, they held strong truth in them. "You could honestly call any place you wished home so long as you don't invade upon the Allied Packs lands. Same as them not invading onto Giaku lands. They won't chase you down all over the world you know. Yes, your packs may be at war with one another but they won't go out of their way to do something like that. They're a pack, they have better things to do just as the Giaku do!"

Alastolan spread all of his legs out so they dangled over the edge of the branch he was laying upon, his head still drooped to the side so he could look down and see the wolfess. "And I'm afraid I didn't catch your name. Mine's Alastolan. I apologize for not having introduced myself sooner."

[Nightshade]

Nightshade actually laughed, a deep belly laugh that brought tears to her eyes. If only he knew what she was. Had she not hunted down enough traitors to know? And she wasn't even the best at her job. Far from it.

The idea was abhorrent to her anyway. Her loyalty was unfaltering.

Cramps seized her sides and she collapsed to the ground and tried to catch her breath between chuckling fits. "To even think for a moment that I am so large in a land like Giaku."

Rubbing her head on her paws to wipe the tears from she sighed, a smile still playing on her lips. "Nightshade."

[Xenoxice]

Alastolan remained lounging about upon the branch above her with a smile as he heard her laugh. "Well, I'm just being honest. I never said you were so large in Giaku, but in other parts of the world you are abnormally so. It's funny how one's point of view can change simply because of their location. However, I do very much like your name. It fits your looks very well." He seemed to change the subject in a heartbeat and only smiled as he rolled over onto his back and looked up at the leaves above him. "Nightshade.... a Druin with mid-night black fur and scales even darker. Eyes as silver as the moon with specks as the stars in the sky..." His words paused only for a moment with a smirk as he turned his head so he was looking upside down below at her. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you were the living embodiment of the night itself." His words were somewhat flattering but honest in his eyes. "My markings however, are abnormal and stick out. They don't resemble anything or anyone so all I can say is I am myself and no more. You can easily say you resemble and personify the night itself."

[Nightshade]

She cocked her eyebrow at that. "Nightshade is a deadly poison."

"It's killed many things with its deceptive beauty." Nightshade had come across many such sights of desperation. Animals killed on the verge of starvation by the very berries that should have saved them. She had even seen a human once, killed by their own ignorance.

Nightshade used it often and had a stash in her den here in the forest. But she doubted Alastolan would look kindly upon her kind of work.

"Besides, the night is a beautiful and dangerously unforgiving mistress. I do not compare in the least." And Nightshade honestly believed it. She was only eighteen, young for a Druin, and even younger for an assassin. Her knowledge of plants and poisons, to which she couldn't take credit for, was her only saving grace.

"To be unique in a world where so much can be strange, that's a feat in and of itself." She didn't add that it would make it nearly impossible for him to hide should someone truly seek him out. Nightshade doubted he cared about such things.

[Xenoxice]

Alastolan lay about smiling down at Nightshade with his head still up-side down from the branch. He simply chuckled at her comments and shook his head. "It's amazing how ones views can vary from anothers isn't it? For your view to be so dark and mine to see the complete opposite. I've witnessed my fair share of violence and murder throughout my travels and yet I still remain light-hearted. You say Nightshade is a deadly poison I say it is a beautiful name. You say the night is a beautiful and dangerously unforgiving mistress, I say she's a beautiful and ultimately caring mistress who protects those that embrace her. I've been in fights and even killed others in brutal ways. In self-defense maybe, but I have no less. Sometimes beauty may be deadly. I fully agree with you there. But beauty in and of itself takes on many forms. There is no true form it can hold. It depends on the eyes of the witness to be able to see it."

His words were soft yet strong as he spoke, letting himself roll over off the branch and landing on the ground below with a gentle thud having given a single flap of his wings before landing to soften the impact. "It takes one of true spirit to see the beauty in a sunset or sunrise. To hear and feel the pleasure of natures caress with the breeze in the air and take in all that is the magnificence and beauty of the world around them.... and at the same time be able to admire the majestic and serene movements of an assassin at work, maneuvering in such beautiful ways as to entrance another in the fluidity of their motion. To be able to see the beauty and elegance required to pull off a silent and unknown kill using poisons or even the swift and accurate ambush of a one hit kill from the fast and agile. Beauty... is a very unique word with more faces than one can possibly hope to even begin to count."

With each word coming from his mouth, Alastolan was slowly revealing that his knowledge and insight was much deeper than he lets on upfront to most. "I hope you do not take me for a fool, Nightshade." He spoke as he turned his head around to look behind him at her. "Even if I am a loner I have seen more of this world than most do in their entire lives. Both the good and the bad. So speak freely if you truly wish to get a point across or even know me. I have patience beyond the understanding of most. Nothing you say will anger or upset me."

[Nightshade]

She smiled and shook her head. "My views are not dark. The simple fact is, I cannot begin to compare to the night. Nightshade, however, that I can be compared to."

She stood, looking down on this remarkable creature, truly amused by him and his ideals. "You say you've killed out of self defense. It may be a death, but there is something different in killing because it's your place, because you've been ordered to. Ultimately, since we have some say in our position, because you want to."

Nightshade decided she was hungry and began walking towards a familiar clearing where a rather large herd of elk grazed during their mating season. "Hungry? And if you know where I stand then I have no need to tell you. Others do not and I prefer it that way."

Her voice remained light, she wasn't offended by him but her views were different. "You're right though. Few of those here enjoy things. I'm pretty certain almost none of them know how to play."

Speaking of which, Nightshade was beginning to grow bored with all the talk. She began eyeing their path for something to turn into a game.

[Xenoxice]

Alastolan shrugged as he took a few steps around to stretch his legs a bit more. "Well, I can see how you can compare to it. Beautiful indeed, deadly however I have not seen. And really I don't acre much to see that side of you, but it wouldn't affect me in the least to see it if it came down to it. As far as being hungry, I always am. And to the comment of your killing, to take a life is all the same. Whether one seeks to do so out of amusement, self defense, whether they're ordered to or even hate to, it doesn't matter. The end result is the loss of life." Looking around he gave a slight smile and shook his head. "Looks like I'm staying here a bit longer than I wanted to. So may as well make the best of it. Where can we get some good food around here?"

[Nightshade]

She shrugged. It made no difference to her whatsoever.

Finally Nightshade gave up trying to find herself a toy and her gaze slid sideways. With a grin and a yip she darted her long neck towards Alastolan seeking to tag him with a bump of her nose.

"You're it!" With a laugh she took off running through the trees trying to entice him into chasing her.