The elven male was wearing a long flowing black cloak as he walked the dirt path. A wooden staff rested at his side as his true features were hidden. He had a slight limp due to a bandit encounter several hours ago. He managed to bandage the wound but he was no hand to hand combat. He had to rely on the arcane arts to save him. “Damn…” He said as he moved off the path and applied pressure on his injured left leg. He had a bad gash which was wrapped up in a cloth.

Achineitnale loped through the forest with an easy grace, his paws pattering gently against the newly fallen leave that covered the forest floor. A gentle wind blowing in off the ocean a quarter mile distant, ruffled his fur, which had already begun to thicken in preparation for the winter. As the gentle crash of the waves against the headland became audible, Nal picked up his pace. His trek along the Eastern Coast was always undeniably the highlight of his year, and standing on the this particular headland and looking out over the vastness of the sea was just as undeniably the highlight of the long journey. His strides became quicker and the trees seemed to fly by, then he came to a dead stop. The melodic crash of breakers against sheer stone was still there, but so too was something new. The sound of a biped's uneven gait disturbed the wordless poetry of the sea. Soon, the biped stopped walking, coming to a rest just past the forest's edge, not one hundred yards from Nal. Nal slowly advanced toward the last line of trees. He tried to be mindful of where he placed each paw, attempting to avoid any dry twigs.

For a moment, all Nal could hear were his own footfalls on the forest floor muffled by the thick pads on his paws. Then, the biped came into view. The man had his back to him, his flowing black cloak rippling gently in the wind. He'd bent over to clutch his left leg. Nal came to a stop at the edge of the forest, keeping a close eye on the rippling black cloak. As his center of gravity came to rest over his legs a scant ten yards from the bipedal form, he heard the snap of a twig. Nal looked down his long elongated muzzle at the offending twig, an endless stream of curses running through his mind. The biped would know he was there now, there was no doubt about that. Or maybe not, he held himself perfectly rigid, hoping to remain unnoticed.

He turned his head as he heard the snap he than spotted the wolf. He than smiled softly sensing it meant no harm to him but there was something odd about this creature. “Please show me your real form I may be a weak traveler but I am no fool…” He said with a laugh of amusement as he looked away. His voice sounded young but full of intellect.

He than winced as the pain in his leg throbbed. “Oh damnit…” He said softly you could tell he was in pain. This was not good he did not bring proper bandages and the blood was seeping through the cloth. “Ughh…” He said softly as he looked down. He had no tolerance for pain as a few drops of water dripped from under his hood and onto the dirt.

Shadow was traveling the woods. Just taking a short break from battleing. While walking he was thinking of his unknown past. "I have to figure out my past. Maybe if I do I can unlock some answers to the past and maybe find out who thos people were." Shadow put his hands behind his head and began to look up through the trees. After some time walking he didn't realize he had reached the edge of the woods and the road. He also didn't see the figure holding his leg. Not realizing what he was doing he ran straight into the figure. After running into the figure Shadow fell onto the ground and then rubbing his head. "Sorry, I was thinking of something and didn't see you there."

The elvan male did not expect the human and fell to the ground. The blood from his leg trickled into the soil as he winced. “What the hell!?” He snarled as he saw a male he looked to be of a human. He than closed his eyes and bit down on his lip so he wouldn’t let out a yelp. “The least you can do is help cure my wounds…” He said softly as he clutched his leg. “OW!” He yelled as he applied pressure to stop the bleeding. He winced as he lay there.

First someone pretending to be a wolf next a Human… Today is a very terrible day… He thought to himself as he closed his eyes.

Shadow looked at the wound. "Wow what did you do to get that hurt?" Shadow put his hands over the elven man's wound and chanted "Healio wounda." Shadow's hand began to glow and the elves wound began to stich itself back together. "My spell wount heal it all the way but it will heal enough for it to stop bleeding. The rest is up to your body in healing it." Shadow looked at the wound, all that he saw was some dried up blood, a little bt of muscle, and the new skin ready to grow over it to keep it from getting infected. "I advise you to clean this every day to keep it sterile, or change the cloth to keep it clean as well. Some boiling water or alcohol should keep it sterile." Shadow stood up and held out his hand to help the elven man up. "My name is Shadow, and again sorry for the bumping into you."

Nal blinked, momentarily confused as a small smile crossed the elf's lip. After all, what kind of man smiles when confronted by a wolf? After the man's statement, he was in a mild state of shock. He did not just look like a wolf, biologically he was a wolf. There should have been no way for the man to tell Nal from any other wolf. Perhaps this man was different from their others, maybe he could actually see something most couldn't, but that was all besides the point. He quickly thought of a "true form" that would suitably convince the wounded elf. He was not in the mood to get into the mechanics of shape shifting. He focused on the image of a human aged well past his youth.

As the other human ran directly into the elf Nal had been studying, he made the transformation. The pull always seemed to catch him by surprise. It was as if something had reached into him and was tugging gently on his spinal column just above his shoulders. He shivered once, as his wolf senses slowly faded, leaving him in a silent, black world. Then, human senses brought the world back almost the same as before, things just seemed slightly fuzzier around the edges.

Then he felt the cold wind begin to gnaw at the bare, wrinkled skin that hung in loose folds from his forearms. He attempted to suppress a shiver without success and his frail body shook weakly. He already yearned to be wrapped again in a thick coat of fur, anything was better than standing naked in front of these two strangers. He had left his self consciousness behind many years ago and leaned gently against the nearest tree to take some of the strain off of his aching joints. After a moment, he cleared his throat impatiently.

“Is this easier on your eyes, elf?,” Nal intoned gruffly in a voice that sounded like gravel being raked across a chalkboard, “Whether you are a fool or not will soon be apparent, don’t think I’ll take your word for it.”

OOC:
For the record, I don't believe you should be able to tell a shapeshifter in the form of a wolf from an actual wolf without some close observation. It's certainly not something you can tell with one look.

Shadow had finished his work on the persons leg. He then saw a figure walk up to them that was completely nude. Shadow had a puzzled look on his face and then said "Well there's something you don't see everyday." Shadow reached to his back and pull out his Night Cloak of Stealth. "Here put this on for now until we reach a town and get you some clothes and supplies."

"Well there's something you don't see everyday." Nal suppressed the urge to sneer at the human’s comment. It never ceased to amaze him how bipedal beings found their own forms. After all, what other creature would sheepishly avert its eyes rather than seeing another member of its species in the pure form into which it had been born.

"Here put this on for now until we reach a town and get you some clothes and supplies." However, the wind did have a certain unpleasant bite when it ran over certain parts of his feeble anatomy, so Nal reached out and took the cloak from the human’s outstretched hand. He slung it easily around his shoulders, his ancient hands shaking ever so slightly as he struggled with the clasp. Finally, he straightened as far as his permanently bowed back permitted, pulling the cloak over his fronts so that it both provided a small amount of warmth and fulfilled the human’s perceived need for decency. He cleared his throat with a sound like a footfall on small, crisp autumn leaves before replying.

“My name is Achineitnale, but you may call me Nal. I do sincerely thank you for your kind offer, but I do not need, and cannot accept, your charity. I must continue my solitary journey. I trust you are fit to tend to this elf wounds and escort him safely back to civilization, where he will no doubt be less of a danger to himself,” said Nal, his tone carefully controlled, so that it would seem not quite cold.

Nal’s thoughts wandered as they waited for a reply. ”This interruption has gone on for quite long enough. I do hope the human will be brief. I shall rather like standing on the edge of the great, churning ocean and listening to its never-ending, rhythmless song.”

Shadow listened to the Nal. "I will for now. But what this elf does his own choice and I can not control his decisions. If he wants to wander the land and get into battles that is his decision to make and only he can change his mind about it." Shadow eyed Nal carefully. "By the way if you are going in a different direction please tell me, becuase I do want my cloak back, so you will have to find some clothes." Shadow went over to the elf man and put him on his back. "OK I may not know your name but which direction are you heading." Shadow kept his wings folded to keep Nal thinking he was a human.

The gnarled lips pulled back from Nal’s well yellowed teeth in a perversion of a smirk that made him appear lupine once again. This human’s manner was amusing, to be sure, as was his method of healing. He looked into the human’s eyes and noticed something he’d missed before. In his first cursory examination of the human, he’d thought that his eyes were a deep brown. In this light, however, he could see that this was not the case. They were, in fact, a most unnatural red. This oddity gave Nal pause and the feeling of mild amusement quickly faded.

Nal closed his eyes, and fixed the man’s red eyes in his mind. The tug of the transformation was so minute that he almost didn’t feel it. He opened his eyes, taking a world that seemed slightly different in ways he could not describe. He then proceeded to stare at the man who was not a man, waiting for him to notice the more subtle shift. He cleared his throat before speaking, again sounding like the crunch of crisp leaves.

“I am aware that you will not be caring for him indefinitely. I am simply asking you to see that he gets back on his feet. If your incantation was successful, that should be very soon indeed. As for your cloak, I am wearing it more for your benefit than my own. Those like me quickly learn to accept that which is natural without feeling self conscious. However, I’ve found that those of the bipedal races are much less comfortable than I when confronted by a fellow biped as he was created. I don’t intend to take your cloak. Traveling with it would be impractical and only slow my progress. You will have it back," said the old man, pulling the cloak tighter to keep it from flapping in the light breeze.

Shadow watched as the lupine glared at him as he spoke. "Why are you glaring at me? You afraid that there might be more to me than meets the eye?" Shadow smirked a bit. Then he looked up at the elf. "Ok elf which way are you heading." Shadow waited for a reply from the elf. "Come on elf I don't have all day."

Nal raised one of the bushy, gray eyebrows that sat low over his now blood red eyes. Whatever this creature was, it certainly could be touchy. He was not glaring, for his gaze carried no anger with it. He was merely impartially observing the unidentified biped. He shook his head slightly in disbelief. He had unwittingly confirmed that he wasn’t human, but then anyone who saw those eyes would know that immediately. The question was, what was he? Nal watched him in silence.