In the woods near the poorer parts of Mahtar

[rachel]

Kezzia walks nonchalantly through the dirty scrubland that separated the city from the forest, hand resting lightly on her dagger incase of trouble. She's left the other nomads to continue their journey back to the boat, with the intention of meeting them there in a couple of days time, and given orders to Gizmo to sell the swords she'd scavenged after the ritual. If she is lucky they'll use the money to buy her another axe; if not, then her dagger is good enough for now.

Stepping between two trees and into the woods, she is suddenly hit by a wave of nerves. It has been so long since she last strode this familiar path, and so much has happened. What if the woman she has become is only a shadow of the girl she once was, all her confidence and hope beaten out of her like the zombie-eyed women she'd avoided when she was a kid.

"Spent too long with High elves," she mutters to herself, forcing her feet to continue down the faint track to her foster mother's hut. "It's them who talk shit like that."

Feeling slightly better at this observation, she steps off the path at the right place, and carefully moves through the undergrowth, alert for movement from the bushes. She can't guarentee anyone will recognise her, and strangers found too close to May's home are considered a threat by the street kids she looks out for, and treated as such. Even so, she reaches the small clearing without any problems, and stops in the shadows.

A middle-aged woman dressed in simple peasant clothes is sitting outside in the sun, stirring a large pot of bubbling liquid. There is nobody else in sight, but Kezzia knows that most of the kids will be sleeping in the hut or in the town trying to make rava and find food. The sight of Ebony-May cooking in her usual place after two years of being continously hurt, afraid and angry, fills her with an unbelievable joy. She steps into the sunlight.

"Hi May."

The woman looks up, surprised. Her eyes grow wide with shock. "Kezzi? Kezzi, is that you?"

"Yeah." Kezzia starts to feel worried again. "Sorry I been away so long. Shit happened and..."

May leaps to her feet and runs towards her, enveloping her in a strong embrace that almost knocks the girl over. "I told you to be careful, I told you, oh, why are you always so reckless, I told you not to go, oh thank the gods, I thought, I thought..."

Kezzia laughs, gripping her foster mother tightly. She has come back, and everything is ok.

[rachel]

"So you're leaving in the morning then?" Ebony-May gently examines a young boy's swollen arm, probing it delicately while he devours a plate of potato, swede and gravy. Kezzia doesn't recognise him, but from the way he is mostly ignored by the other kids, she figures he's new.
"Yeah. Gotta get back to help with the ship." She stretches her legs out as much as she can in the crowded room without kicking anyone. In every available space people sit or lean, drinking, smoking, talking, betting, the din so familiar that for a moment it feels almost as if she had never left. From a nearby corner she can just about hear some of the younger children chanting a new rhyme she'd taught them earlier to their peers.

"Sylas Sage, strong of mind,
Left his only son behind.
His firstborn son was the price to pay,
To live to see another day..."

She smiles darkly, and runs her finger around the edge of her bowl in the vain hope that there might still be some food left.
"You owning a ship." May laughs. "And helping a god! You're doing well for yourself, Kezzi."
Embarrassed, the girl shrugs and unconsciously rubs at her scars. "Ain't that really; its just my mates. They don't let nothing bother them. Should have seen them when some of our gang died, they were just like, shit, we gotta bring them back, as well as all the other people we're meant to be bringing back from the dead. Like it was nothing. And so we did." She grins. "And when the fey tried to fuck us over; I thought we was all gonna get massacred, but my mates just sorted it. I reckon there ain't nothing they think they can't do. And then they go and do it."

She peers over at the boy's arm, interested. "You gonna heal that?"
"No, I don't have enough power at the moment." The older woman sighs. "It always seems to be like that these days."
"I'll do it then. Like old times."
"You mustn't use up all your essence, Kezzia. I've told you that a thousand times."
The girl shakes her head, amused. "Nah, I'm alright, I've got loads left ain't I. Been practicing healing up heroes." She carefully places her hand on the injury, unconcerned by the boy's suspicious glare. "It ain't gonna hurt; just hold still a moment. I gotta concentrate." Reaching for her essence, she says a quiet prayer to Danahil and feels the bones beneath her touch start to mend ((OOC Heal 1))
May studies her for a moment. "That's not how you used to call on your magic."
"I ain't devoted my life to a god before had I."
"Do you think you'll come back here after tomorrow?"
"Course!" Kezzia recoils back in surprise. "What d'you mean? It ain't THAT type of gang I'm with. And I weren't exactly meaning to leave in the first place."
"No, I know, I wasn't saying that..." Her foster mother hesitates, then smiles. "Come and visit sometimes. You are still welcome here."
"Yeah." Kezzia isn't sure what May is chatting about. She's never not felt welcome here, but she can't spend the rest of her life in one city when there's so many other places to see, even if some of them ARE like the Frozen North and she'd never want to see them again. And she's not the same as before she left. She feels sort of restless. "You gotta come and see the ship once its mended anyway. Its got a load of zombie pirates on it, but they're no worse than this lot." She indicates around the room.

A couple of youths take the last swigs of a stolen beer, stare at it in drunken disgust that it is finished so quickly, and then turn their attention to the pair. "Kezzia, we're bored. Tell us something you did while you was traveling."
"What? I already told you about the god. I ain't a bloody bard."
"You ain't got anything else better to do tonight. Come on, there's gotta be something."
"Alright, alright." Kezzia sighs. "Well I was on this boat right, and if there's one thing you should know, it's don't get on a boat when the god of the sea has just been restored to power cos there's a lot of bloody storms and you're likely to get ship-wrecked..."