Ankaa stifled a yawn as she ducked under a low-hanging piece of canopy. Her hair whipped out from her large, saggy hood in wisps of golden threads, gathering in her eyes. Finally, after a look around, she removed her hood. There was no one around for miles…at least, no one that she could sense. Reaching into her pack, she pulled out a piece of jerky, gnawing on the spicy piece of dried meat as she walked. There was no time for stopping, if she wanted to reach the city by nightfall.

Something caught her eye, a flit of motion between the trees that startled her awake. She snapped her head up, but stillness and silence met her gaze. She narrowed her eyes. She had been traveling almost all day, and it was beginning to wear on her. For good measure, however, she tightened her hand on Mazdara's handle. There was no such thing as too careful.

Her walking was almost silent, save for the quiet snap of a twig or the subtle crunch of an old leaf pile. It was the walk of an assassin...not one that could be easily tracked. She had learned to walk softly the hard way…like many lessons of the forest, it was one that did not merit forgetting. Her token from that particular mistake had been a gash from armpit to hip, one that still stung when it rained.

Since she was ten, she had been a child of the forest. It was the only family she had, and the only one she trusted. The songs of the forest were simple, and beautiful…at least, what she remembered of them.

Not like the hearts of men.

Ankaa paused, her footsteps fading into nothing as she gazed up at the night sky, admiring the splendid array of stars that gathered above the treetops. Her dark jade eyes took on a clear look for a moment, unclouded by suspicion or the mental walls she kept about her. Only here could she let down her guard, even for a moment. And even then, it was a risk…everything was a risk, now.

Darius…if you were here…

Her breath fanned out above her in delicate clouds, dissipating like dreams into the wind. It was on a beautiful, clear night such as this that her village had been burned, her family destroyed...all in the name of one man's greed.

It was a night such as this that she could hear the screams of her family, stretching through time to claw at her heart. It was why one was better without one, why she tucked away her feelings in the scars that decorated her body, far beneath the skin. Ankaa sighed and once again steeled herself against the beauty of the night, continuing her brisk pace forward.

She was fire now. And fire could not be touched, or hurt, or molded to any being's desire…but her own.

Something's here.

Ankaa paused as she came into a small shelter of trees. She recognized the presence immediately. The songs of the trees, the animals, and yes, a girl...with magic, whose familiar vibrations resonated against her mind. It was the girl she had saved. Jasmin.

She closed her eyes, sighing as she did so. "Put down your bow, and climb out of the tree, windgirl. I'm not looking for a fight," she said, speaking presumably to nothing.

Silence.

"Remember something, Jasmin." Ankaa's temper flared for a moment before quickly ebbing. "There are only two people in this world left to me. Those who have uses, and those who get in my way." Her bright green eyes wore a mask of subtle fire. "Just don't get in my way."

With that, she strode smoothly down the bath, disappearing into the brush.

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