The sun was slowly setting on the horizon, casting an orange and yellow glow across the expanse of clouds that wove through the sky. Even at this hour the city was still busy with people going about their business, shopping, selling, trading, importing, exporting and anything else that was worthwhile to be doing. Of course, it was still less busy than usual, which left one to think how busy it is during the day time but most people don’t dwell on that and prefer to get on with whatever the heck they’re doing.

And so as it happened, in this busy city, on a busy evening and in a busy street a single girl was seen wandering about, half stooping over and with dreary eyes. She was incredibly thin and didn’t look well fed at all. The first impression a person got from looking at this girl was that she resembled something like a mouse or a gerbil, she had an oddly small nose and large round eyes, and it was also very hard to make out any signs of a mouth on her face. Her hair was messy and dark brown, extending behind her in two longs pigtails and getting caught up in the tattered cloak that she wore around her neck and appeared more like a scarf in the way it was torn up so much. She wasn’t very well dressed either, a single sand brown tunic, a skirt, a pair of white leggings and some heavy boots where all that made up her attire aside from the cloak/scarf around her neck. This girl’s name was Kogata, and as it happens was by far the most appropriate name for her at the moment.

Kogata walked with a staff in one hand, using it to prop herself up to prevent herself from collapsing with hunger. A small yellow dragon also flew beside her, keeping just level with one of her slightly pointed ears. The fly dragon, called Kyte, was probably the only living thing that Kogata didn’t flinch at when seeing, he’d been her companion for a long time and she trusted him more than her own father.

The city was beginning to calm down and the sun was sinking lower over the horizon, darkening the sky. Kogata paused and leaned against the wall of a butchers to catch her breath, Kyte floating around her expectantly.
“Man, I’m famished,” she moaned to nobody in particular, “Maybe if I sit here and moan somebody’ll take pity on me.”
This train of thought only brought her to the conclusion that sitting in a street and begging was not going to get her much sympathy, especially when she would sooner hide from a person rather than walk up to them and beg for money. She sighed and sank to her knees, no longer using her staff to prop herself up, and eventually toppled over sideways and fell asleep in the dirt.

Magdiel had just closed up shop for the day and was about to head home. She had not gone far from the place where her stand was when she saw the thin form of the girl lying in the dirt. Poor thing. She looks absolutely exhausted. But I do wonder if she'd like a better place to sleep than this. "Hello little girl," Magdiel whispered, kneeling down. "My name is Magdiel. If you'd like to have a better place to sleep than here, I can offer you my bed and some food for if you're hungry. My house isn't very far from here." She hoped the girl could sense that her element was Peace and would not be frightened of her.

Sleeping on the ground wasn't the most comfortable thing to be doing, especially when the only thing you have for a blanket is a tattered old cloak, nevertheless, Kogata was sleeping on it. One looking at her now wouldn't imagine anything close to her rodent-like personality, in fact she was probably calmest when she was asleep. She shivered slightly as a breeze passed through the street and curled up tighter, her eyes shut tight. Kyte meanwhile was fluttering about above her, apparently panicking, his best friends was freezing to death on a cold street and there was nothing she could do about it.

He stopped and hovered in mid air, looking up to see that there was someone else on this street, and the person seemed to have noticed Kogata. What was he to do? What if she person was a thief, or a kidnapper? Or what if she was some kind of vampire or demon coming to eat Kogata alive and save him for desert? Kyte could easily out-fly any creature but there was no way he'd ever be able to bring Kogata with him. He had to wake her up quick.

Kyte fluttered about for a bit and then dived downwards, hitting Kogata in the head and bouncing off again. Kogata murmured something about hail storms and shivered again. Kyte turned round again and saw that the stranger was already walking up to Kogata.

As Kogata slept, she thought she heard somebody talking nearby her, it wasn't a dream otherwise it wouldn't sound so clear, and the slight throbbing in the side of her head was a little too realistic to be a dream. Slowly, Kogata opened her eyes and sat up, rubbing them tiredly. She blinked them open for a few seconds, they glowed violet for a second but settled back down to their normal blue color.

Having woken herself up, Kogata looked round to see what the voice was and noticed someone standing over her. Almost immediately Kogata jumped to her feet and retreated backwards, only to back into the wall she'd been leaning against and thus blocking her escape. She glanced about for a few seconds, panicking slightly.
"Err...D-Don't come near me," she stammered, sidestepping along the wall "I have a dragon!" She didn't seem to have much faith in the statement, in fact she screwed her eyes shut and began cowering on the floor again.

"Shhh," Magdiel whispered. "I won't hurt you. I can't hurt you. My element is peace. Would you like to come home with me, and spend the night, and have a bath and some food and a nice soft bed? I promise you will be safe. I open my home to those in need all the time."

Kogata carried on cowering where she was, looking somewhat like a field mouse about to get snatched up by some sort of predator, the though of this only made Kogata cower even more, curling up into a small ball on the ground, shivering violently. Silently she wondered who this woman was and why she had taken a sudden interest in Kogata, perhaps she was some sort of ruthless serial killer that just got a kick out of killing small girls in the street, or possibly a kidnapper come to take her to some far off land and sell her as a slave. Well at least if she was sold into slavery, she'd probably be less hungry than she was now, right?

As more of these infinitesimal possibilities flew about around her head, Kogata only succeeded in making herself more and more paranoid and causing her to tremble even more, she didn't have any way to escape from this stranger and even if she did she was starved to the bone and would probably only get a few feet before she collapsed and then she'd be caught for sure, not that curling up in a ball and trembling was going to make any difference.

However she stopped trembling and looked up at the sound of the woman's voice again. It wasn't the sort of voice she'd associate with a person who'd kidnap a small girl and force her to do her own handiwork for the rest of her life, but was somewhat soft and reassuring, and was certainly enough to make Kogata look up from her little ball of cowering. When she did look up her expression resembled that of a rat sniffing a piece of cheese in someone's hand, it wasn't very hard to imagine a pair of whiskers on Kogatan's face moving up and down as her nose did its thing.

Calming down, Kogata unfurled herself from her little ball, still with a nervous expression on her face but at least she wasn't trembling at the moment. The sudden sound of a horse whinnying in the next street caught her by surprise and she dashed behind the woman and cowered there instead, looking out from behind her to try and see what had cause the noise.

"It's all right, it's just a horse." Magdiel realized that she had no idea what the girl's name was. "My name is Magdiel. What is yours? You're an awfully little thing," she said, thinking that the girl looked more like a tiny fairy than an elf or even a human.

Kogata continued to cower behind the woman, even though it was clear that whatever the sound might have been wasn't going to harm her in any way, scary or not. Eventually though she peeked out from behind her and saw that the street was perfectly calm and empty. Kogata let out a sight of relief and slumped onto her backside again, putting her arms out behind her to prop herself up. She looked up at the woman with a curious expression on her face, a few moments ago she'd been scared senseless by this woman's sudden appearance and now she had resorted to cowering behind her to hide from a noise in the next street.

Still, the woman can't be as bad as a loud animal charging at her, an animal would hurt you without thinking about it whereas a sentient being would either take care not to hurt you or take care to hurt you as much as possible, fortunately though it looked like this woman was more likely to perform the former of the two options. She stared up at the woman for a few minutes in the same way a gerbil would stare up at its owner looking in on its cage, it was very odd the way Kogata seemed to represent a whole host of small animals, even her long pigtails might remind someone of a lop-eared rabbit if they thought about it.

She tilted her head to one side at the woman's question and thought about it for a few moments, considering whether or not it was smart to give her an answer, she didn't know a lit about this woman yet after all.
"Kogata," she replied after a few more moments pondering, "It's what my step-dad called me."

"I see. Well, the offer still stands if you would like some food and a bath and a warm bed. What is a little thing like you doing out in the street anyway?" She was honestly curious. The girl had mentioned a stepfather. Was he abusive? She hoped not. Magdiel remembered what that was like. An involuntary shiver passed through her at the memories she had of him. Elves were usually good-aligned, but her stepfather, Macean, had been different. She tried to hide her thoughts from Kogata, though.

The night was still bitterly cold, no matter how much Kogata attempted to ignore it. The tattered cloak wrapped about her throat was nowhere near enough to keep her warm, and since she was used to living in a desert where the temperatures were always unbearable, the colder temperatures of Lómëdor seemed like a fridge and coupled with the lower winter temperatures. Well it was all a little too much for the small elf girl to take. She curled up into a ball again and shivered, her eyes turning purple again, but since they were screwed shut nobody was really able to notice.

She shifted away from the woman a bit more, she was still unnerved by her but at least now she was sure she wasn't going to be eaten alive, so hanging about won't do any harm, unless of course she was a witch trying to tempt Kogata into her home and use her as a guinea-pig for her sorcery. This thought slowly crept into Kogata's mind and she shivered again, this time with fear, and shuffled further away, keeping her gaze fixed on the woman.
"I-I-I, I'm not hungry," she said.
At this point her stomach gave a loud gargling noise followed by another odd sound that Kogata wasn't able to identify.
She blushed and buried her face between her knees, trying not to make eye contact with the woman.

Maybe running away wasn't such a good idea, she thought Sure, [b]he's[b] not around anymore but at least I got fed and I wasn't going to freeze to death.
She rocked back and forth on her backside, seriously regretting her decision now and silently cursing herself. What a waste of life, her mother had always said she had such a cute face and now she was going to get eaten alive by a witch/demon person trying to tempt her with fake promises.

It always seemed to grow dreadfully cold at night in the streets of Lomedor, even at the heights of summer. It seemed that with the drifting of the sun so too drifted the warm afternoons, until a chilled city with closed shops and locked doors prevailed the town. Many retreated inside as soon as the sun set; partly because certain characters roaming the streets at night were unsavory, and no doubt in part for this cold. Perhaps the cold was psychological as well as physical, and the deserted streets catered to the wind's nightly delights. Either way, Nathaniel found himself muttering under his breath about the cold. Seasonal cold, at that. How he hated winter. It was no time for a warrior, who had to worry over his armor and blade freezing in the sheath or against itself in the early morning frost, who had to wear extra layers of clothing to prevent the sharp bite of winter biting into tender flesh. As a boy he had once gotten frost bite through his carelessness, and he didn't intend to repeat the incident again.

Bloody demons. Bloody fire demons. Why couldn't the city employ them?? Because, the more sinister and darker part of his brain thought, demons are evil. Which was of course entirely true, without exception. Sometimes there were good half-demons, such as the one he'd encountered previously, but there was no full demon that did not entirely deserve the cruelest of fates. Punishment just for the blood in their veins was something he had partook in, had tried to rally the village to follow him in doing. However, that endeavour had caused the stripping of his rank. Apparently there were at least a few councilmen who fancied the demons. No matter, they would get what was coming to them in good time as well.

Turning down a side street he let his gloved hand rest on the sheath of his blade, massaging his palm on it and in turn moving it slightly back and forth. As stated before, the cold made blades stick, and he never knew what he might encounter out here. To think, even without his duties he performed so great and nice a service. Truly he was a kind and generous being, so ready to forgive and help others even when scorned. His chest swelled with arrogance and self-indulgence, but it was hard to notice under the thick layers of clothing. His boots, dipping just below his knees, made no more than the sound of a passing ghost as he exited the side street into a more main area. Here the days were filled with men and women and other things of all sizes, hustling about at all the stores and crammed like cattle in the small city square. One learned to elbow others in a manner that moved them but did not outright injure them, so as to continue on your way.

I should see to a new belt in the morning. This one has grown--... His thoughts were interrupted when he thought he saw two figures in the street, near a wall. His hand immediately went to his sword, though he did not yet draw it. "Who goes there, in the night? State your name!" There was no particular curfew in effect, but he still policed the streets like some tunnel-visioned vigilante. He hoped that one day he might get lucky and kill a demon or two that was caught unawares. For now the figures looked too small to be such things, but his approach was still wary just in case. When he stopped it was still too far to make out strong features of either of them, but one looked to be about the size of a child. Looks could be deceiving though.

Hand still on hilt, he fixed them with a stern expression that may have been very well lost to the dark cover of night, awaiting what excuse they might have. With dark black hair, wideset shoulders and a goatee, he looked to be just as easily one of the monsters that were said to roam this street. And in his own special way, he was.

"My name is Magdiel. Don't kill me, I'm good! My element is peace." It was still true, even though Kogata did not seem to sense her good intentions. "And you, who are you and what is your alignment, creature of the night?" She hoped the figure was not as menacing as he looked.

Nathaniel's sharp eyes watched the taller figure (A girl? Surely it was...) shift to regard him. Now facing her head on, and having grown more accustomed to seeing in this fresh batch of darkness, he could make out the more obvious features of her clothing and body. Her somewhat smaller appearance, coupled by her facial features and even hair gave him pause. He was after all a man, and not above admiring the beauty of the opposite gender. However, despite her rather pleasant appearance, he felt a sharp disdain. It wasn't something he could put his finger on, and he had no idea where it came from. Perhaps she stood too close to that frightened child, or he was wary of women in the dark? Yet, the sharp repulsion in his stomach churned in a way that seemed disconnected to any true form of logic.

And then she spoke her name and peace, and like a fire igniting he suddenly understood. The alignment of peace. As soon as she said it he felt like an idiot for not having grasped it sooner, not having assumed as much. It explained being found near a child in this darkness, despite the dangerous circumstances. It explained the pleasant, if somewhat frightened response. She had not sought to fight with him or even drawn a weapon to defend herself. What if he had been one of those creatures skulking about for meals in this hour? His scowl fell into a mere disapproving frown, and he straightened up. His hand twitched, as if it were debating of its own accord whether Magdiel and the child were to be trusted. He removed his hand from the hilt.

"I am hardly a creature of the night." He spat to the side, not fond of being mistaken for those things he'd sooner see used as carpeting. Then, shifting his weight, he crossed his arms. The woman looked to be younger than him, but he knew certain creatures could mask their true nature. She might've been four for all he knew. "How do I know you are not one, though? Terrozing children in the dead of night..." He shook his head. "That hardly seems befitting one of your nature." He had his doubts, to be sure; like with many other things he had a strong prejudice against those of the peace alignment. Not only because it was his polar opposite, but because he assumed them to be inferior cowards without spines. A very harsh opinion, but he wasn't a nice guy to begin with.

"What's your name, little girl?" He glanced from Magdiel to the child. For a moment he considered the idea that it was some form of familiar, but decided he'd deal with that err if it arose. He also made no attempts to identify himself or his alignment, though that surprisingly wasn't out of spite but rather his mind diverging into another train of thought. He enjoyed announcing his name-- took pride in knowing others spoke it. Be they enemy, ally, or stranger it was one of those things that fed into his ego.

Another shift, and his gaze returned to Magdiel, raising his eyebrow expectantly. Even if he hadn't answered her question, he still expected to know what she was doing out on the streets at this hour. With a child, no less.

Kogata shivered in her little cocoon, wild conspiracies running about her head about the strange woman and what she wanted with Kogata. She'd got as far as 'she's secretly an evil dictator taking on the form of an elf and trying to corrupt her into becoming an evil knight to help her rule over an enslaved kingdom' before her imagination overheated and she stopped shaking and looked up. The woman was still there, or rather the evil dictator/demon/witch/vampire/completely innocent woman was still standing there but was faced away from Kogata and appeared to be in conversation with another person.

Her eyes followed the woman's gaze and fell upon another person standing at the other end of the street, with a sword on one side of his belt. Kogata's eyes caught the sword and she immediately shuffled backwards, away from the man with the sword. However she didn't get very far before she froze when the man addressed her and she found herself unable to go any further.

On top of the possible evil dictator/demon/witch/vampire/completely innocent woman, there was also a scary dark man with a sword barking questions at her. She could tell that these two were no closer to getting along than an angel and a demon, Kogata hoped they wouldn't suddenly break into a fight and maybe start throwing spells everywhere, she'd seen spells powerful enough to take her head off and a few of them were intended to do just that.

Her lip quivered as she looked up at the man, still too afraid to move under his gaze. If either of these two were more likely to intend harm upon her then it would most likely be him, after all he had a sword at his side and he could probably take Kogata's head off in a second.

She swallowed and looked up, noticing a small yellow something fluttering about the sky above her.
Kyte! She thought.
The small fly dragon must have sensed Kogata's fear of the man, for her dived down between her and the two strangers, a white glow enveloping his body. For such a tiny dragon, the spell that came from it was pretty large, a short burst of pure holy energy fired at a mere flap of its wings, not aimed carefully enough to be aggressive but enough to cause a good diversion.

Taking full advantage of the situation, Kogata scrambled to her feet having finally gathered the resolve to stand up. She scurried over to where she dropped her staff and snatched it up, sparing the scary man a brief glance before charging off down the street, away from the figure.

Having let his attention drift from Kogata and back to the woman, Nathaniel hadn't quite expected the bright burst of light. He'd never seen a dragon so small before, had never thought to anticpate one; and besides, why would he? He hadn't done anything to his knowledge, he was simply trying to... help a lost pair. It was true his gaurd was up in this place when the moon was the only witness to deeds, but creatures that gave off bursts of light was not one of them. And, being human, he had sensitive eyes to such sudden fluxes in light.

"Agh!!" He raised his arm to shield his eyes, though the light had faded before it was even that high up. Even behind his eyelids the world spun with bright colours of every hue, and taking a step back he blinked them repeatedly to try and will away the spots in his vision. It took a lot of blinking and rubbing with the back of his hand, but he finally got his his line of vision back. A few more blinks and he had gotten used to the dim lighting once more. His sword at the ready (Odd, when had he drawn it? He didn't remember that--), he looked around for the yellow dragon. He didn't see it, and he was about to demand Magdiel tell him just what the hell was going on when he realized the small child was gone.

Maybe she didn't want to be found by this woman after all. That, or he had a horrible approach to kids. Both were very likely, and as narcissitic as he was he knew that much. He straightened slowly, though his arms and back was tense and he was scowling. He looked like a great mighty bear even as he sheathed his sword, looking like quite the fearsome beast. But, he was merely a man, and that look slowly died as he once again seemed to find his attitude under control, his dark thoughts and violent temper swimming just below the surface of a shallow pond. "I believe your girl has dashed off." He stated bluntly, as if Magdiel might have somehow not noticed. "These streets are dangerous. Come, we will fetch her, and then you will explain why you are out at this hour."

His words were not as harsh, but he spoke briskly and with somewhat of a grunt to his words. Like any truly nasty being, he was just at home whispering sweet miseries as he was snarling pleasantries. Turning from Magdiel, and not looking to see if she would follow, he headed down the street. The wall had been there, so he assumed that the young child must have run past. The true trouble would arise when the myriad of back alleys, side streets, and corners arose. He wasn't a nice person, but he wouldn't damn a child to be some demon's fodder. He didn't hate humans after all, that'd be foolish. He'd had his share of human death and torture in his previous job.

Clearing his throat, he called tentively, "Little one? You can come out now..." He doubted it would work; he'd never seen anyone find a child by asking them to come out. "You don't want to get hurt, do you? What if some monster comes out?" If he had time to think about it he'd probably be annoyed that he had to do this, but trying to find children and innocent people wasn't that unusual and he felt no shame helping some child. If, indeed, it was a child. If it turned out to be the animal familiar of that enchanting, repulsive woman or worse; a demon youngster, his rage would know no bounds. His feet were still silent on the cement, but in the silence of night the sound of his rustling clothing could be heard if one listened close enough. Still, he was amazingly alert; he may not have x-ray vision, but children were rarely expert ninjas.

"Come on now, how about you come out and I give you my coat? Surely you must be cold?" If all else failed there was always psychological warfare. What was most peculiar about his actions was how easily he turned his back to Magdiel. It wasn't trust; he didn't trust his own mother as far as he could kick her wearied bones. No, it was simply a feeling of ease. He could end up with a knife in his back, but for once Nathaniel wasn't fussing over that. No doubt something one could credit to his over confidence. After all, what was some thin woman and her child going to do to him?

"I'm sorry I called you a creature of the night, sir. It's just that it's difficult to imagine someone like you as... safe. I am a merchant who had just closed up shop for the night when I came across this young girl. She looked thin and underfed. I was going to take her home with me so she would not freeze to death and would have a warm bed and some food. But she was afraid of me, even though I tried to tell her that I couldn't hurt her. And that is the gods-honest truth."

Kogata hadn't got very far when she was forced to slow down and stop. The empty feeling of hunger was beginning to wear her out and she didn't feel as though she could carry on any longer. Kyte was still fluttering about her, attempting to push Kogata along and encourage her to run even more, however Kogata was completely worn out. She'd just managed to turn the corner before the two strangers saw her and literally collapsed against it, out of breath and incredibly hungry.

Kyte was still banging into her side, trying to get her to move but the most her ever got out of it was an irritated grumbled from his friend. Eventually Kyte gave up and proceeded to flutter above Kogata's head in a slight panic, unable to do anything to help the poor girl.

Kogata meanwhile had barely enough strength left to stand up, her stomach was growling again and from here she could smell somebodies cooking, but had no way of getting up to go and get it, she could barely crawl let alone walk anyway. She leaned against the wall still, her staff held loosely in one hand while the other rested on the ground. She would probably have been mistaken for a dead body had her stomach growling not been notable as well as her chest rising up and down as she panted from the sudden run she'd been forced to do.

She was barely able to look up when she heard the man calling out from further down the street and what he was saying wasn't doing much to improve Kogata's paranoia. Calling her 'little one' was going a little too far from the start, since that's almost exactly what her name meant and she didn't like it one bit. She was about to get up and run again but another loud growl from her stomach sent her sprawling back on the ground again. To make matters worse the man was now going on about monsters and the like, and Kogata shut her eyes tight and held herself rooted to the spot. So she was going to get eaten by demons after all, what a pathetic way to end her life, she still had another 39 decades left in her and they were going to end like this?

She tensed slightly, unable to get to her feet to run away and having no way of possibly defeating a demon if it came to eat her. At this point she heard the man speak again, trying to tempt her into coming back. Kogata opened her eyes again, so that was what he was doing, trying to tempt her back so that he can have his way with her, not leave her for some demon to eat he wanted her to himself, well she wasn't going to let that happen. Gathering as much resolve as she could, Kogata forced herself to her feet, ready to run at any moment. However another large growl erupted from the pit of her stomach and she passed out from exhaustion.

"I am-- or was part of the city guard. I watch the streets at night." He muttered in response to her comment about not being safe. There was both irritation and a swelling of pride; to think he could appear dangerous without ever having fought! It was an art he had perfected when he'd doubled as an interrogator, the need to instill fear with the least amount of damage a nessecary trait. Even magic-wise he had learned to channel that fear and lay it upon the radius of the place, frightening others if need be. Although he was no slouch with the sword, he preferred not to fight if at all possible. He had some minor healing capabilities, and knew where to go to get further medical aid. But that would be useless if a foe chopped off his arm or killed him, a growing fear given the typically stronger foe he faced off against.

His brisk jogging had fallen to a quick walk, and he nodded as Magdiel explained her presence. He seemed more at ease, and though he wasn't any more cuddley he also wasn't as pirckly. "Alright, I suppose that makes sense. That means she is not yours though, eh?" A young girl was much better than a demon or some overgrown familiar. This was an instance where he was content to lend his services. Besides, it might build a better reputation for him than arrogant, raving lunatic. He shifted, rolling his shoulders as they walked down the street. After a moment he glanced to Magdiel. "Do you at least know her name? Maybe she'll come out if you call it?" He had no way to know the irony of calling her little one was that it was a close translation of her name-- not exact, but close. Some people called others 'love', he called them 'little one'.

"You should probably try finding her parents. Did she say anything about them? Taking children off the street is ill-advised." His sentences seemed disconnected, sounding like he was stating whatever came to mind. As he thought through it, he decided that it was a poor idea to try and bring some child back home. They weren't puppies, and the ones who were from destroyed cities or burned villages usually had diseases or severe mental difficulties. When he'd participated in village raids, killing off everyone was typically the best course of action, despite the moral implications of such a task. If nothing else, sparing children meant they could grow up to seek revenge when they grew old enough.

So then, perhaps this child was not of a destroyed village? Or otherwise, she was a very lucky girl. Either one was possible. If her parents were dead though, they could easily find some home out on the streets. Some soup kitchen or the like. There were no labor laws, so she could probably find some measely job to earn money as well. A tough living to be sure, but spoiling her by taking her into a house and providing for her was wrong. Not only because she would need to learn to fend for herself if she didn't have parents, but because of all the other homeless children who roamed the streets. Why should they have to live the long, cold nights of winter out here alone?

He made sure not to say any of this though. He had his nasty moments, but right now there were more important things to be looking into. They had come upon the alleys, and he was pausing in front of each one to simply listen for any noise. There were cats, and the occasional rustle, but the movements sounded too heavy to be the young girl. Saving his breath incase he needed to break into a run when he found her, he remained silent and with a glance to Magdiel, rose his finger to his lips to ask for her silence as well. If they could creep up on the girl, perhaps they wouldn't need to worry over her running off and dissappearing. They could sneak up and capture her before she dashed off. Clearly she wasn't going to come out through bribery, so it seemed the last resort.

That is, until he heard the frantic fwap!fwap! in one of them, and out of curiousity he tried to make out figures in the alley. He took a step in, eyes on the noise as he watched the slight movements in the dark that could only be wings. Small wings. He scowled, not happy with the little beast, and with a menacing step forward made to harm it. Of course, inside the alley he noticed the form on the ground, and his back stiffened. He frowned, taking a step back and calling Magdiel over. "Is this the girl?" He asked carefully, crouching down to make sure she was still breathing. She appeared to be, though he couldn't fathom why she'd passed out. Carefully he removed his outer coat, revealing a festive green one under it (he wore three, a bit over the top but alas, he did so despise this weather) and put the red and black one over the pig-tailed girl's small body.

Slowly he made to gather her in his arms, watching the dragon warily. His movements were slow and expression impassive, trying to appear as harmless as he could. He'd never had to convince a dragon of such things before, though. "Magdiel.... where did you say your home was?" Perhaps they would bring the girl there after all. So long as the strawberry blonde woman didn't mind him knowing the locastion of her home. He doubted it, but she had mentioned him looking intimidating and he had been rude. He really cursed his luck sometimes.

((Note-- if you'd rather he didn't find her, I'd be happy to edit this. ^_^ ))

" Her name is Kogata. And- well- she did mention a stepfather, but I think she's running away from him," said Magdiel. "And if he's even one little bit like my stepfather was, I don't blame her at all. My stepfather was so abusive when I was growing up that I still have scars." Magdiel remembered how her stepfather would punish her for doing wrong by beating her, causing huge welts on her back and legs. Once, he had even burned her clothes while they were still on her body. She still had a scar on her stomach from that time. She shivered in the cool night air in spite of herself. "As I grew older, I learned to do less wrong, but I don't think he was proud of my element. Most elves are good-aligned, but he was half-demon half-elf. I...I hated living in my own home because of him." She paused to take a deep breath. "My home now is just when you come into Lomedor. It is painted yellow and has a brown stone chimney."

Kyte flapped around the lifeless form, going into yet another state of panic. Last time she'd merely fallen asleep but this time she had definitely passed out and for all he knew she might eventually die of it. He flapped about madly, making every effort to wake the girl up but not even succeeding in making her murmur in her sleep let alone wake her. Getting desperate he attempted to use his healing capabilities to try and revive her, however he had no such luck and went about panicking yet again.

After only a few moments the sword-bearing figure from before appeared at the end of the alley, staring down at Kogata. That was just terrific, now they'd found her and despite his magical abilities he was no match for a man with a sword, indeed this man was extremely intimidating and Kyte wasn't keen to get too close to him.

All he could do right now was panic, he panicked as the man move closer to Kogata, panicked when he threw his coat over her and panicked when he picked her up. Paranoid conclusions where whizzing about his head much in the same way they went through Kogata's, but the unconscious had absolutely no way of knowing what kind of danger she was in. If Kyte could only wake her up, she may be able to wriggle out of the man's grasp and make a break for it.

Kogata meanwhile wasn't in any position to wriggle out of anywhere let alone run away, right now she barely had any energy left to lift her own arm. She wasn't even aware of the man holding her in his arms, she stirred slightly as he picked her up but made no further movements. Kyte fluttered around for a bit more and then spied Kogata's staff on the floor, if she woke up she may need it to try and fight the man off so he dived down and attempted to retrieve it, however the stick of wood was far too big for him to get his teeth around and there was no question of him picking it up with his wings, he resorted to dragging it along the ground with his tail, however it kept slipping out and clattering to the floor. The small dragon looked up again, watching his friend get taken further and further away from him.

Magdiel saw Kyte flapping about and felt sympathy for the small creature. "Oh, he's her familiar! Poor little thing. She will be scared if he's not there when she wakes. Come here little dragon," she coaxed. "I'm not going to hurt you, or your friend. She has passed out and we're going to revive her."

"Kogata." He said the name only once, comitting it to some abandoned corner of his mind where such knowledge was typically stored. He didn't particularly care, but it was the humane course to take and he'd sworn an oath long ago promising he would be as humane as possible. Clearly it had said nothing of picking and choosing whom to treat well. "The yellow house, eh? Well, alright. Can you lead the way?" He shifted Kogata to take some of the weight of his arms; he didn't need to, as she was lighter than a quill, but he wanted his hands somewhat covered by the coat as well. Even with gloves it was cold out, and the small girl wasn't anywhere near large enough to sustain a decent amount of heat for him to leech off of.

He didn't comment on Magdiel's recounting of her history. It wasn't that it sounded particularly nice; far from it, especially for a spoiled and well-raised lad like himself; the simple truth was that he had heard such stories a thousand times before. He had traveled for his job, and that had meant visiting a good deal of taverns and inns. Seekuing both the company of man and woman, he had heard stories of wretched mothers and cruel fathers, of being chained to walls without food and being whipped for so much as snivelling. Even some of the men he had worked with had endured such ruthless conditions. It was frightening to think that compared to most he was a decent being, given that the phrase was a mere mockery to use when describing Nathaniel and his "interesting" moral structures.

He walked out of the alley, careful not to bang Kogata against any of the trashcans or walls. He paused once outside it, looking to Magdiel and expecting her to lead the way. Instead, she spoke of the dragon, and curiously he looked to it. The thing appeared to be struggfling with a staff, which was far too big for its tiny body to handle. He had his suspicions of what it had done earlier, for he had caught a glimpse of it before it enacted the spell, and felt a stir of irritation at the sight of the beast. He was about to mutter that they should simply leave it, when Magdiel pointed out that Kogata would probably wake up as frightened as a rabbit without it. He didn't know whether or not it was true; he didn't own any familiars and wasn't social enough to observe people with them beyond what his position might occasionally call for. Keeping a childish whine from his voice and resisting the urge to stomp his foot and moan about 'Did they have to???', he mumbled a simple, "Alright."

He turned from the alley, making to walk down the street, but found himself pausing once more. "You should throw a net on it or the like. So it doesn't bite you. The thing is probably vicious." Disdain dripped from his words. He forced himself to cast it one more wary glance, then let his eyes slip to the staff. "You should likely try to bring that as well. It might do some good." He wouldn't admit he wasn't entirely positive what it was, instead leaving it to the woman. She seemed more comfortable in this situation than she was, not lending herself to the chaos this mess presented. He wasn't as raving as he might have been either, but he had a remarkable amount of self restraint, given everything.

"I'd offer to carry it, but my hands are a tad full at the moment." The dry sarcasm was impossible to miss in the drawl of his voice, but at least it was better than his typical berating and yelling. He seemed to become aware of this as well, and relinquished a soft sigh. "Come along more quickly, it wouldn't do to get caught out here with the night creatures." His voice had a softer qualitiy to it, his attempt at being friendly. Normally he only did well at such things when he had a healthy number of pints in him, but the effort was what made it notable. The only question that remained was why. He clearly wasn't someone looking to make friends, so what part of his hidden agenda had he pencilled them into?

Kyte was still busy attempting to retrieve Kogata's staff, completely ignorant of the fact that she was in no shape to use it and that it would be completely ineffective against a man with a sword. However despite this, Kyte was still making every effort to retrieve his friend's only weapon, he had succeeded in gaining Kogata's trust, which wasn't something very easily earned, and he wasn't going to let her down. Unfortunately his attempted to pick up the stick of wood had so far proved in vain, as he had neither the strength to carry it nor the necessary appendages in order to grip it properly.

Turning his attention to the end of the alley again he couldn't see the man or Kogata anymore and began to panic, flapping about in a right state, infinite possibilities running through his head. When he looked back again he saw that there was a figure at the end of the alleyway, however it was not the man with the sword or Kogata, it was the woman that had found Kogata in the first place. He didn't know whether to trust this woman or not, true she had offered Kogata food and shelter, but how did he know it wasn't an attempt to lure her into a false sense of security and them pounce on her when she least expected it.

Of course, looking at the woman he found it rather unlikely that she would attempt to do something like that, the man maybe but the woman definitely not. Kyte may be as paranoid as Kogata but he had more common sense than his half elven friend, therefore he fluttered over to the woman cautiously, abandoning his attempts to retrieve the staff. If the woman, Magdiel or whatever her name was, was true to her word then Kyte needn't worry about Kogata, unless there was a chance that waking up with two strangers standing over her could frighten her to death.

"Is it coming, Ms. Magdiel?" He asked calmly, looking again to the blonde. He didn't want to remain in the cold too long, for fear of Kogata freezing to death. Besides, it was a mere beast; it could be replaced if need be, and it certainly didn't seem as important a life as Kogata's. What was one fluttering dragonfly, anyways? "I'll go ahead," He commented after a lengthly pause, "You may choose to do as you wish." Shifting the ninety pounds of bone in his arms, he once more headed off down the street. His feet were silent on the cobbled stone, and yet still every intake of breath reminded him how frigid it truly was outside. Horrible, absolutely horrible.

With a glance to the sky he wondered briefly if it would snow, but his attention was drawn away when he caught sight of huddled masses between alleys and in door frames. Those too poor to provide for themselves, forced out onto the streets in this poor time of the year. He felt the hypocritical jab at his side, but the truth was he wasn't interefering nearly as much as he might and this could gain him a profit. After all, the more he thought over Magdiel the more he wondered if she had not heard or seen things that may be of use to him, considering where her house was situated. This was a grand oppurtunity. If she didn't know anything then he could at least hopefully make an ally, something else he sorely desired.

In the pale moonlight he looked even more ghastly than usual, the cold having paled him and his clothing too dark to truly mark him out. The faint trims throughout his clothing, false gold no doubt, shone with a bold arrogance in the light, but that was easily masked by the swayings of his other coats and the shifting of his arms. It would have been better to let Kogata rest without moving his arms so much, but he feared if he did not he would suffer from the slightest of trembles against the cold. And that he most certainly was not going to do.

Finally, when he thought the night could not get darker or the temperature more cold, he spotted the house.

She caught the little dragon as it came to her, and stroked it gently to reassure it that it would be safe. It took some real doing to carry the staff and Kyte, but Magdiel finally managed by nestling Kyte in the crook of one arm and carrying the staff with the other. She was not far behind Nathaniel, though. "Let's get her into bed," Magdiel whispered once the door to her house was open. "Maybe then she'll come to, once she's warm." She folded back the bedclothes and fluffed the pillow, planning to make a pot of tea while they waited for Kogata to awaken.

Nathaniel paused once Magdiel opened the door, surprised at the sight of the home. It wasn't bad looking; far from it, actually. It was no King's palace, but it was better than a lot of the places he had seen during his travels. He stepped in slowly, trying to keep the sound of his feet on the floor as discreet as possible. Quietly he followed Magdiel to the bed, setting Kogata down as the young woman tended to her. It was surprising how well the woman seemed to adapt to the role, given the current empty state of the home. When Kogata was settled, he commented softly Magdiel "You have a very lovely home, Ms."

He was warm and without any present state of danger lurching about. How edgy could he be? "That dragon seems to have calmed down as well." He had noticed that Magdiel managed to bring the little critter Kyte in without wringing its neck, which was a feat unto itself. He wouldn't say it was cute in the light, because really it was one of the most disturbing creatures he'd seen and could imagine many a platter at Wilwarin serving it roasted. Nathaniel's stomach lurched at the thought, and he stepped away from Kogata and Magdiel.

"So do you do this normally? Take in strays, I mean." He seemed genuinely curious, even friendly. Though he didn't remove his coat-- he wouldn't overstep such boundaries yet, he didn't appear to be rushing out the door either. It looked like he was more or less awaiting an allowance to remain here. Had he known niether one of them was a full blooded human he would have been doing more to get himself hoiked out, no doubt. Ignorance truly was bliss.

" Thank you for the compliment. No one else has said that about my home before. I do it when I can, yes. I would not have survived if someone hadn't taken me in when I was young and ran away because of my abusive stepfather. So I return the favor as often as possible. Of course it's rather difficult if one is low on money, but right now I'm good for it."

Nathaniel merely nodded. His mind was a buzz with ways she could easily earn money by performing such tasks, but he tended to think that if she had not thought of them already and decided against it she would likely turn down such an idea now. If not for the pride to be loss from accepting help (he had met many a man who refused a plan because they had not come up with it, egotistical wretches) then because she seemed like she was in it more for the people than the gain. It was an odd approach to such a thing, but then she was Peace-aligned. They tended to be a little queer in the way they did things, and he'd learned to let sleeping dogs lie when it had no affect upon him. When they were human, at least.

"Your stepfather, you say?" He seemed distracted. and indeed he was looking for a chair to sit in. If he was going to be here a while then he'd rather not wear out his legs. His own abode was some distance away from this place, and it was late already. Walking home was going to be a pain in itself, and the enfant noble side that he had wouldn't let him pass any demons or the like out there without a fight. Normally he wasn't moved to honourable ways, but the curled babe, no doubt deaf dumb and blind, occasionally whined like some true child. Had he coddled his honor without corruption or twisting, it would likely be a strong and healthy physical trait. As it were now, it hadn't had time to grow and was still a slobbering and meek mess that was fed with corrupted milk. Nathaniel was not a pleasant man, and half the problem was his arrogance and his assumptions of what was and was not honourable.

He paused in his search for the chair, glancing up to Magdiel and meeting her eyes. "May I remove my jacket?" He gave a soft chuckle that sounded more like an awkward cough. "It's a little hot in here, and I'd like to see that everything works out..." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, not used to asking for permission. Especially from women. Bah. "Tell me about him? Your step-father, I mean. Did you ever return to taunt him? Finish him off, perhaps?" He'd done as much to his mother and aunt when he'd gotten older, though his excuse was far less valid. Unsurprisingly, he wore no guilt or shame over the incident. The only shame he had was that his mother would move him to such ends, the vile witch.

His father hadn't been quite as understanding though, and so Nathaniel had left. His mother had been a witch though, trying to train him in magic. Dark magic, at that! She was an unholy creature, if ever there was one. She claimed to be doing it out of kindness, and she never beat nor marred his skin. But the twisted visions, the dark beasts she could call forth... How they had frightened him. One night when she came to give him further instruction in magic he impaled her on his blade. Curiously, he last words had been a forgiveness. Then his aunt, seeing the sight, quickly ran to fetch his father. He couldn't have that, and so she too had been granted a merciful death. He felt no guilt over either, it was entirely nessecary, and the only reason he still recalled his mother was for those peculiar words.

As he grew more twisted in life he came to realize he would need magic to accomplish feats in battle and war. He studied hard, though to date didn't learn a great deal of magics. Preoccupied with racial cleansing and training with the blade, he hadn't been able to find anywhere to lounge for hours at a time training. Perhaps his mother's way of spiting him from the afterlife. Leaving the memory simply by blinking, he watched Magdiel curiously. He was not social enough to appreciate that such topics were likely something she didn't wish to speak of, do doubt with raw wounds still in the process of scabbing. To his defense, he truly didn't realize such things were innappropriate to speak of.

((OOC; For the record, I know both Kogata and Magdiel aren't full humans. Nathaniel's just a tad slow. ^_^ ))

It was a strange dream, and not one Kogata had any intentions of remembering once she woke up but a strange dream nontheless. For some unknown reason, Kyte had grown to massive proportions, or Kogata had grown to small proportions, whichever it was didn't matter because right now she was riding on the back of a huge Kyte, somehow not getting a sore bum from the lack of a saddle and not getting flung off by his constantly twisting body.

She looked below her and saw a small forest with pink leaves. She muttered something to Kyte and he flew down, skimming the branches. Kogata looked down and saw that small white rabbit paws were growing from the trees.
"Better pick one, it's good luck," she heard Kyte say, sounding very much like a 12 year old boy.
"Sure!" Kogata leaned over and grabbed one, pulling it off with ease and hugging it close to her "It's warm and fuzzy!" She exclaimed.
"Just make sure it doesn't bleed on you," Kyte said.
Kogata looked up at him, surprised, and then down at the paw.

Once she looked the saw that a red colored liquid was dripping from the end of it. She panicked and dropped the paw in an attempt to wipe the horrid stuff off her tunic. The rapid wriggling caused her to finally loose her balance and she fell of Kyte, landing on something soft.

Kogata slowly came to realize that she was awake and that Kyte was neither large nor capable of speech. There was certainly no rabbit's paw and definitely no blood. Kogata opened her eyes slowly, still weak from lack of food. Staring upwards she expected to see an expanse of stars above her but instead she saw somebodies cieling. The ground beneath her didn't feel at all like ground either, it was soft and warm. The facts slowly wormed their way into Kogata's brain and she eventually worked out that she was in somebody else's house. Normally she would have scrambled to her feet and attempted to locate the nearest exit but right now she only had the energy to think terrific in an entirely sarcastic tone.

Opening her eyes fully again she sat up and gazed around her. It didn't look like the home of a witch, or a demon, or a kidnapper, or a canibal, not even an evil dictator trying to kidnap her and corrupt her into becoming her evil servent for whatever reasons. She gazed around for a bit and noticed the same two people from before talking to each other. She jumped upon seeing them, about the most she could managed in her weak state and her eyes widened to their full and unusually vast size.

"It's all right." Magdiel softly approached Kogata with a mug of tea and a bowl of porridge. She had planned on fixing some meat, but thought that since Kogata hadn't eaten in awhile that she should start light lest she throw up. "Here is some food for you, and something to drink." She then turned to Nathaniel. "Certainly you may remove your jacket. Would you like anything?"

"No, thank you. Much obliged." He responded, pulling off his two coats and folding them over his arm. He glanced to Kogata and considered grabbing his last coat back from there as well, but decided against it. She didn't realy seem like she's grow into it, but he had more coats at home. Always trying to stave off the cold, he tended to... overcompensate. "Welcome back to the world of the living. How are you feeling, little one?" He asked Kogata curiously. He stood still where he was, not wanting to statle her by moving too close. It was odd, in this light she looked almost like a rabbit or mouse, and her large eyes only made her look like them moreso.

"I'm Nathan. Who are you?" He knew who she was; Nathaniel wasn't that forgetful. Unless the young girl had lied about her name, in which case she would probably still want to be called Kogata. But it was the closest he could come to friendliness. That, and offering his name as Nathan. A lot shorter than Nathaniel and with less pronunciation to worry about, but still not something he was fond of being called. It wasn't that it was a bad name or had bad memories attached, he merely felt patronized when the shorter form of his name was used. He doubted a child would know of such things though, so he cared not. There was the slight issue of the woman, Magdiel, likely assuming she could call him such, but he would put up with it for now.

"Where did you come from, little one? Surely you haven't been living on the streets?" She wasn't the poster child for clean, but her hair wasn't as knotted nor her nails as ruined as they should be for a homeless child. That, and live on the streets long enough you discover how to find food. This girl was starved, which meant she had failed in the task. Apparently Magdiel would take her in though, so she needn't worry over such things. Besides, the food the homeless found was usually disgusting to begin with; poridge was miles ahead of anything from those dirty alleys.

Despite his thoughts he managed something of a friendly smile, though it was awkward and somewhat lopsided.

(OOC: sorry, this was back from a couple posts ago, but I just noticed it.)

While she waited to see if Kogata was going to eat, Magdiel thought back to his question.

"Tell me about him? Your step-father, I mean. Did you ever return to taunt him? Finish him off, perhaps?"

"I would have, believe me, he deserved it. But I'm a peace element and peace elements just don't do that. It would be unseemly of me...and maybe cause me to lose my element. Do you know if one is capable of losing elements? And besides, I have nothing to really protect myself with. Nothing that would do a whole lot of good, anyway."

Upon noticing that Kogata was awake and already wary of the two people in the room with her, the woman, Magdiel, opted to try and reassure her, taking on the same characteristic tone of warmth and kindness she'd displayed before hand. Kogata shifted away from her slightly as she approached, but the prospect of food was overpowering her heightened paranoia. She took the bowl tentatively and stared down at it. The content was something she had never seen before, it reminded her of dried mud that had been in the sun for days and had become more gray than brown, if this is what the people living in Lómëdor ate on a daily basis then she shouldn't encounter any problems finding any. It couldn't be any worse that what she had at home, which was usually scarce since she'd lived in a desert village with little food, so she tried a small mouthful of it.

Kogata had already gone past the stage where she was far too hungry even to eat and was bordering on so hungry you'll eat anything and so finally having the feeling of something warm pouring down her gullet was like heaven. Whatever it was it certainly didn't taste like mud, not that she'd ever tried it, it was more like something else, but she had no knowledge of food and how it's made so she was completely stuck for how to describe it, so she settled on 'good enough' for the moment.

She looked back up at the two after her second mouthful, her large opal eyes falling on the man. She shrank away from him slightly, still finding his appearance intimidating even in this light. There was no question of running away from him this time, Kogata had neither the strength to do so and she had no intention of wrecking the house. She swallowed the small amount of saliva that was forming in her mouth and replied just loud enough for him to hear her.
"Kogata," she muttered, not looking at the man.
She tried another mouthful of the gray something and tried to calm down. If either of these two wanted anything out of her then they'd had their chance when she'd been unconscious, either that or if they did want her for something then they needed her awake. Or perhaps they had already taken advantage of her unconsciousness, and she was already stuck right in the middle of their little scheme, she was after all in an unfamiliar house and for all she knew they could be far away on another island.

Her sudden rush of paranoia was a sign that Kogata was slowly regaining herself but neither her nor the two strangers could really appreciate it. Kogata stared down at the bowl of gray something, her imagination slowly putting pieces together it had randomly grabbed out of her own subconsciousness and ramming them into places they didn't even go. Not wishing to think of what the two could possibly want with her, Kogata proceeded to curl up into a ball again and bury her head out of sight as though this would protect her from the two of them.