"Hah..."  Somnia paused, her dazed face looking quite confused while her sword waved over her head..  Scratching her cheek for a few seconds in muddled thought, Somnia blinked while looking down at the still Orc's corpse, then glancing at the winged hilt at her hand.  "...Did the bounty call for his head?  ...No.  Just the teeth."

She unraveled a small piece of paper that lay at her feet, staring at its inscription to verify.


Somnia sighed as she lowered the sword over her shoulder, sliding it slowly into the black sheath underneath her dingy white cape, then carefully rolled the mission script back into her longcoat.  She shuffled on her knees, turning towards the rather large duffel bag that lay on the ground to her other side.  There were only 12 that she could bother to take out, the ones that seemed to match her bounty list's description.  Painstakingly drawn lines of silver had been somehow melted onto the Orc's teeth, looking to be some sort of esoteric text, but far too small to understand.  It piqued the girl's interest just a bit as she thought about that quite exotic axe that she smacked her away with, the one that lay crushed and in shambles amongst soot-covered rubble throughout the steamy jungle enclosure.

"Upsy-daisy~"  The girl squeaked, giving a tiresome grunt as she stood with the duffel bag in one hand.  She slopped the heavy traveling sack over both shoulders, the pauldrons underneath her longcoat and cape shuffling slightly to the side.  It was a bit of a pinch, but nothing that would do permanent damage.  Hopefully.  The soot-covered mercenary gave a little shimmy in her boots, looking back as she listened to the teeth rattle down to the bottom of her sack, just so they'd be a little safer by the time she returned to the safer side of border.  A cheerful, smut covered grin covered her face as she gave one good bounce, setting off into the jungle with a quite devastating looking wreckage left behind.

- - - - -

...I think that looks a little familiar.  Maybe?

She walked through the jungle for quite a while, simply thinking on intuition.  The jungle was a bit confusing, but it was no real maze if one were to think logically.  Then again, that would be true for a person who at least traveled through the jungle one or two times.  This was the second time that the caramel-coated mercenary in white and set foot into the jungle, but not a single time had she gone beyond where the guides would take her.  Certainly not alone, and certainly not after such a disorienting confrontation.  A vine loomed over in one direction that looked familiar, but that rock...that rock certainly wasn't there before!  Somnia craned her neck from left to right as she trotted forward, stepping confidently with a fake trot of expertise.  Maybe if she pretended to know where she was going, she'd be able to fool the jungle!

...Right. Somnia lowered her head in mocking shame, puffing out a pitiful sigh.  Her hands tugged against the straps of her tall sack, fiddling with their bindings idly every time her thoughts wandered off to nowhere in particular.  Just what was this jungle all about?  The Nijonese certainly didn't look like jungle-faring people, at least not to Somnia's expectations.  She imagined them to be wearing...well, a lot less.  Nothing absurd, mind you, but something along the lines of a furry skirt or loincloth made from the local animals.  Maybe necklaces made by the vines and prettier flowers around there.  As somnia passed by a particular blooming flower that stretched from a patch of strangling vines, she gave a strong nod and grunt in strong agreement with her thoughts.  Just as she was about to contemplate the vast difference between the Nijonese and the jungle that grew too close to their territory, she stopped dead in her tracks.

What was that?!

She stood in mid-stroll, her left foot resting on the toes while her right foot balanced on a heel.  It sounded like someone was moving close within the desert, though the direction was a bit off.  Quiet noises were hard to place when she wasn't paying attention, and the jungle had plenty of natural walls and thickened vines amongst trees to throw her off.  Her eyes darted around quickly, searching the jungle before looking about slower.  There was movement, off in the distance.  No doubt about it.  It gave off an appearance of more than a meandering beast or person.  It looked sneaky, and anything sneaky that let itself seen was usually a problem for whoever happened to see it!

"Huu...what now?" Somnia begrudgingly resolved, brushing a sooty white-gloved hand over the winged hilt of her longsword.  The chain within the sheath's strap thumbed as it slinked through its leather housing, Somnia slowly pulling the sheath to the ready at her side.  Her right leg moved slowly to the side as she bent her left knee, crouching as she waited for whatever was meant for her to come--or not.  Her sword pulled slowly from the sheath without sound, the dull war-steel still a bit damp with a bit of mud and humidity.  The girl stood there for quite some time, only the occasionally screech of jungle creatures and the rustle of leaves amongst the wind calling at her ears.  In front of her, she saw a branch move heavily as a few birds fluttered off.  That was it.

Somnia smiled, sighing again as she closed her eyes, giving a small smile as she clicked her sword back into its home.  Before she started walking again, the mercenary noticed a small jingle down before her feet.

"Huh?"

She leaned over to reach for the small object, brushing away a few dampened leaves.  Footprints!  Fresh, wonderful, tasty footprints around something shiny!  There was someone around, and that meant she couldn't be too far off!  Even the lost have trails from where they came.  She stood back up as she grabbed the small piece and a handful of leaves, picking away the jungle garbage as she inspected it.  Not large at all, something that looked like a rounded jewel case attached to a clump of dirt, though the rounded part looked quite polished.  As she tapped the rounded end against her armored shoulder, it rang like a spoon against a frying pan.  Dagger?  No.  This is what Somnia called meal for the next week.

She grinned a bit more as she closed the small case, holding it tightly in her hand for the time being as she looked around.  It was a recent set of tracks, though she wasn't ask skilled to tell how recent, or where they would lead.  Before the girl could put further thought into the tracks, she quickly gasped. 

"Eeee!  NNNNOT AGAIN!"  Somnia shrieked as two rather quick daggers zipped into the ground at her feet.  The ground shuffled not to far ahead of her as a shady figure covered from head to toe in black, slightly ripped garments, a white cloth soiled with blood wrapped around his arm.  The girl stretched her sword's sheath down, darting towards the scrambling body as it fluttered out of the mess of leaves and mud, running off into the jungle from the pursuing mercenary.

That HAS to be one of those agents I'm supposed to get!  I could force him to show me the way back!

"Hey!  Wait!  How do I get out of heeeeere?!" Somnia shouted desperately as she chased behind the stealthy assassin, her boots fluttering amongst the wet leaves as she closed the distance between herself and her prey.  The assassin looked injured, but looked back quite frantically as she came closer.  Her face seemed innocent enough, the body of a soot-covered swordswoman in partial armor, but the face of a little girl who looked like she was running away from a horde of bandits...except she was running at the assassin.  As the trees became more cluttered, the fleeing assassin began tossing back daggers haphazardly to slow Somnia down, only to hear them whisk away into the jungle or ting against what could either be the girl's sword or shoulders.

"Waaaaahaaaaaa-aaaait!  Pleeeease!" Somnia yelled, watching the assassin bound for the nearest tree trunk.  As she stomped towards the tree, the assassin held itself against the dampened bark, quickly pulling a venomous fang of a blade from behind its back.

"Just listen to me!" Somnia shouted, ruffled and a good deal fed up with the chase.  Her sword knocked away from its sheath, and as the assassin scurried down the tree to bite the girl with the fanged blade, Somnia struck the tree with blind temper.  Their blades met within the tree, banded bark and splinters bursting into the air.  The assassin bound from its missed opportunity, only to see the peasant-girl-mercenary rip her blade from the tree in chase.  By the time she could spot the fleeing assassin, it was jumping through a rather bright hole within the patches of vines and thickened jungle leaves, covered by a beam of sunlight that manage to pierce the nature's tangle.  As the assassin disappeared into the light, Somnia jumped in afterwards only to catch a glimpse of it clutching desperately to branches above.  Completely thrown for a fool, Somnia took an eye off the jungle for just a second before a sharp pain caught her midsection.  It was the end of a ridge, and the girl ran straight into a branch that slammed solidly into her gut.  She shrieked as the breath was knocked clean from her lungs, flipping down the low risen mound of dirt and trees with nothing strong enough to stop her.  Branches snapped and vines unraveled before she finally smacked solid ground, her disturbingly accurate arms stretching out with the longsowrd and dagger pointing away.  Safety first.  The girl rolled for some time after landing from the rough fall, eventually thudding weakly into a thick tree with her traveling pack to cushion her. 

Everything wanted to spin around for some odd reason, and Somnia wanted no part of it.  She lazily tried to look around, though as soon as she gave a little hint of movement, the girl gave up.  She just wanted to lay there for a while.  It would get better, just as long as she could lay there.  It looked like there were two pairs of feet not too far from where she lay, and they sure did look like they were having fun spinning around. 

"Stop...spinning you...feets.  Making me dizzy...can't smell up."

A slight squeak gave just a shy hint that she was still alive.  After a few more tired, lazy attempts at talking with small, quiet gruffs, Somnia finally released her sword and let the dinner tick--dagger roll out of her hand.  Resale value is serious business.

Myrnal wavered a moment. She knew.... she knew that Minshara didn't know how dangerous this game was that she was playing. She had no way to understand just how close she had come to being seriously hurt, and for what? Because she wanted to show off that she had the power to hurt the woman who had promised to protect her. Because she wanted to prove that she could.

The last person who had gone so out of his way to deal a deep emotional blow to Myrnal had been offered up to Maedhros as his reward. In smoke and blood and hate Myrnal had nearly given up everything to avenge herself on him. With Minshara, she couldn't strike back. She couldn't do what she felt the physician deserved. Myrnal could have laughed. Minshara still lived and breathed because of the touch of Maedhros, and perhaps that irony would be enough to punish them all.

"That's where you're wrong. It's a jungle, but we aren't alone. We don't stand any kind of chance together, because you're the only one with anything at stake here."

It wasn't true, though. Was it. Minshara hadn't been the only one with something to lose here, but the difference was that Myrnal's loss had just happened. There wasn't anything left at stake that really mattered.

Myrnal generally tried to give people in Minshara's line of work the benefit of the doubt for all the effort they'd put into helping other living creatures. It meant something in Myrnal's book, and perhaps she'd given Minshara more credit than she deserved because of it.

It was the second time in her life that she'd failed to perfectly peg another person's personality, failed to appraise friend from threat, good from evil. Even then, the first time had been a pleasant surprise. Myrnal always assumed that if anything she was too hard on people, that she gave people less credit for their respective virtues and worth than perhaps they deserved.

This time was different. Disappointment was something she felt dimly and distantly by now, but she did still feel it. For once Myrnal hadn't been trying to make her life worth a damn by accomplishing one great big wonderful thing that would magically heal everything in her that was broken. For once Myrnal had just taken a job, and her big mistake was in hoping that it would be more than a task to complete for a specified quantity of money.

She didn't need a best friend, a companion, a confidante or a lover. But she'd hoped to be of some help to Minshara simply because at the time... she had felt that the physician deserved it.

You know, for a while I had myself convinced that I should go with her because she deserved to have someone do it. Thought maybe if I'm the only one around, I should.

What would her master have said? Would he have wanted her to finish out a job protecting a woman who hated her, who would do nothing but strike out at her with whatever weapons Myrnal was foolish enough to leave at her disposal? Risk her life and waste her time for what? Money? Honor?

She was a ninja. A ninja cringing in her employer's shadow like a faithful dog was no better than a samurai. Honor was slavery, and unlike a bushi serving blindly for the honor of his lord, Myrnal had the right to her own mind, to the guidance of her own heart.

Right now her heart was telling her to leave this bitch to her own devices. Let her get herself killed without anybody to con into protecting her. She pitied the next person who came along.

Minshara didn't have a right to presume on her goodwill or to imply that Myrnal had some need of her. Minshara was manipulative and destructive, and Myrnal was amazed that she had briefly considered staying with her and finishing out this job.

"I don't have to do anything for you. Find someone else willing to help you. Hopefully the next time someone wants to go out of her way for you, you'll have the sense not to treat her like s#$%. I don't intend to stay and find out."

Myrnal turned on her heel and took a step back toward the path. At least the others didn't make such a special and concentrated effort to drive her away. They might have gone some distance by now, but she could catch up. She'd gotten into jogging with Heinrich, and they couldn't get much of a head start with Demetri wounded so badly. They were the most logical choice.

She stopped mid-step when she heard a hard thud into a nearby tree. Myrnal shifted her weight, her feet sweeping through the leaves and guiding her back around to face into the clearing where they'd camped. As she turned she saw the flash of metal and her fingers slipped over the handle of a blade.

Moment of truth. Can I just leave her here with an enemy if I'm still close enough to do something about it? She cursed, the words tasting bitter and useless in her mouth. Maedhros stays my hand, and Faelyn's influence rears its ugly head. Gets me in more trouble. Sometimes I wonder about my decision.

"Faelyn, why do I do this to myself," she whispered as she strode past Minshara, totally ignoring her to investigate the noise. She slipped under the heavy branches and let herself slide through the shade silently toward this new potential threat.

What she saw was a young woman, armored and carrying weapons. Before she even got a look at the woman's face, Myrnal saw the dagger Minshara had been so attached to. For a moment Myrnal wanted to pick it up and heave it at Min. Let her have it if it was all she gave a damn about. Let her have it point-first.

But she didn't. The idea just made her feel a little better for the moment.

She held the tip of a throwing knife in her fingers and leaned back against a tree. "Hey you," she said to Somnia. "Tell me why I shouldn't attack you and I won't. I've got places to be, and I don't have time to be fighting anyone else's enemies if I don't have to."

So, Myrnal had turned on her heels and left. It was just as well. Bridges between them were burnt anyway and although, she knew that she was the direct cause of it - Min didn't want to analyse the dynamics in case something abhorrent about herself popped up again.

"I-I-I DIDN'T MEAN CALL YOU AN O-ORC I-I-I-I-"

What in world was that? Min got off her knees and walked over, still maintaining the distance between them. Another woman had entered their presence... although 'woman' wasn't quite the word one would use to describe her. She seemed to shrink into her already small frame, and the things she carried upon her person seemed to be only stuff that were keeping her down, in case, she flew off in fright. It didn't quite help that she stuttered in the most frenetic manner when she talked.

"Just calm down. Don't worry about it," she replied and then realizing that the girl carried something of hers, "Hey... that's mine."

"Ah!  W-wait!  D-do you know the way t-t-o Niiii."

Somnia's head turned as she watched Myrnal walk away, her had shaking as it lifted ever so slowly after her like a weak lamb trying to stand.  The hand dropped with a swing of dead weight as the woman started to leave out of the pure futility of it all.  This wasn't much of a strange scene at all.  Right in front of easy help.  'Hey, do you know how to get back to Nijon' or 'Could I come along with you?' would be just fine.  But...they were so WEIRD.  Their eyes.  Staring.  Judging.  What if they wanted to kidnap her for the slave trade, or worse, to be a politician?  By this time, Somnia's glove was being nibbled nervously at the tip while her eyes slowly followed Min's actions.  She said something before Myrnal started to leave, about something belonging to her.  Still a bit apprehensive and depressed at herself, Somnia took a cursory glance to the ground.  Her sword, a few teeth, and her pack lay on the ground, though Min seemed to be looking somewhere else.

"M-my boots?" Somnia hummed, looking down a little further.  Maybe it was a compliment.  They were nice boots, if not covered in soot.  "Why thank you, they are a bit comf--hah?"

Her eyes moved a little further onto the ground.

The dagger.  What did this other woman mean, 'mine'?  A random dagger?  In the jungle?  Belonging to her?  Somnia was shy, somewhat innocent in the ways of other people, easy to convince and definitely agreeable.  But she wasn't stupid.  At the most, she gave Min the shadow of a doubt.  That shadow of a doubt wasn't enough to calm down the suspected danger that would be gripping her if she wasn't careful.

Oooooh I get it now. Somnia's nibbling stopped as she thought, her eyes furrowing in a quite obvious arch of anger.  It looked as if someone had stolen her dollie or something equally as horrid.  They MUST be bandits!  She's going to take the dagger and call me a thief and demand repayment!  THEN THEY MIGHT KIDNAP ME AND MAKE ME INTO THE SLAVE TRADE!

"OR A POLITICIAN!  WAAAAH!"  Somnia wailed while flapping her arms quite furiously at her sides in Min's general direction.  Her armor rattled a horrible fuss, and her hair fluttered what was left of the dried soot into the air in her rather sudden tantrum.  She won't be working in any harem or corrupting any local township for her own good any time soon, and certainly not until she was able to bathe.

So the group had split up? It was good news and the situation was definitely more promising than it had been a few hours ago.

Taro and his men had split up to follow the group, keeping mostly to the canopy, leaving no tracks on the ground. Two of them stayed behind to guard Ashigara, who was still recuperating from his wound. There were some things even his magic took longer to heal. Myrnal had messed up his insides viciously. Taro was impressed.

“When will we strike?” one of them asked. His eyes were bright and eager, betraying the nonchalance the mask presented.

Taro leaned against the trunk of the tree, his weight perfectly balanced on what seemed like an old aged branch. “The men are not far off,” he muttered. “Minaru can catch up to them in a less than an hour, if she moves fast. The men were indecisive about leaving. Lady Hatsumi will not be far behind, and with that mouse of a girl.”

“She looks like she can swing a decent sword. We should attack them now. The men are shaken. One is wounded and the other is scared.”

Taro nodded, he noticed the pouch she had filled, of all things, with Orc teeth. It wasn’t a good sign. He looked around. There was no reason not to strike soon. If he hesitated any longer, they might have to deal with Border Guards.

“We will head back to the others,” he decided. “We are striking soon.”


The ninjas had set themselves up at the encampment Ashigara and his now deceased colleagues had occupied. Finally setting himself down on the ground, Taro gathered his men.

There were six of them in all, seven if he counted Ashigara. All of them extremely well-trained and armed to kill. They had the tools of their trade – bows and arrows, throwing daggers, poison tipped darts to induce paralysis, sais to break swords and katanas as a last measure. And of course, there were ropes and shooting stars.

“We will attack from the trees from here and here,” he said, marking out the positions. “They are strong on the ground. We have seen that so we strike from the trees. They are currently separated so we only have two hours till the first strike to kill them all lest they try to protect her. Take out the easier ones first. Then we will deal with the others.”

“What about the Lady?”

“We will take her. No one is to lay a hand on her. Our orders are clear. She is to die by my hand.”

“What about him?” one of them tilted his head towards the incapacitated Ashigara.

“Wake him,” Taro decided, “If he can fight, we will bring him along. If not, leave him.”

Aishigara's mind swam back to the surface when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He rolled his head over to the side to see who had woken him. One of his guards, likely, though it was obviously hard to tell for sure.

"You're going to kill them?" Aishigara asked. A curt, barely-noticeable nod was his response. "Okay.... okay. That's good," he said, letting his head lean back against the tree. He was still so tired and he felt like he had a blade twisting inside his chest every time he spoke.

This is too important, Kikuchi, he told himself. Don't think about that now.

"Okay. I have to ask you one thing, because I can't do it myself." His guard squatted down on his heels, lowering himself to Aishigara's level. The wounded man was barely speaking above a whisper, and it made him somewhat difficult to understand.

Aishigara took a deep breath, ignoring the tearing pain in his chest. "Be sure that Sharienza dies." The guard's eyes crinkled at the edges, apparently somewhat pleased by the suggestion. "But you have to listen," he said. "She and I...  we are very bad ninja. You know?" He grinned to himself, recalling an old conversation he had once had with his former master. The master she had stolen from him. "Very bad. But if you get within the reach of her arm... the last thing you want to be... is a good ninja. Understand?"

The guard nodded. They had observed that she was less skilled in evading enemies than they were, but she and Aishigara had sacrificed some of their ability to flee and attack from a safe distance in exchange for more skill in close combat. They would certainly have to stay as far from her as they could.

"You know," Aishigara continued. "Just... please just make sure she dies. She stole my life from me, and would have finished the job last night. Make sure that... that no matter what happens... that she'll die."

The guard nodded solemnly and stood. It wasn't a difficult request, and it would change nothing.


Myrnal could see the path ahead of her, the path they had left. Their former travelling companions were somewhere ahead on that path, though Myrnal had no way of knowing how far they'd gotten. Hopefully not too terribly far. She didn't feel like trudging through the jungle by herself.

She stopped to pull her hair back into a tight braid at the back of her neck. The humidity was insane here, and her hair was normally curly enough that it was quite frankly intolerable now. She toyed with the idea of grabbing a knife and hacking it all off. She lost her nerve and opted to continue as she'd been doing and just... keep it tied back and out of her way. Stupid hair.

She started walking again and felt a sharp pain in her right shoulder. It felt like a branch she'd brushed past had flipped back and hit her.

"Ow! S@#%! Can't even walk two steps without something smacking me in th--" she reached around to her back and pulled out a sliver of sharpened metal. "Oh, s@#%," she repeated quietly.

She looked ahead toward the group she had been attempting to rejoin. Would she make it? She wasn't dead yet, and that meant something. If there were ninja skittering about, they were certainly capable of killing her as quickly or slowly as they wished. She didn't know much about poisons. More precisely, she hated poisons. She loathed the idea of something killing her that she didn't understand. Knife in the back? Simple. Arrow in the chest? Simple.

Poison was a good way to feel her own body dying all around her. She clenched her jaw and glanced back toward Minshara and that unfamiliar woman. Min's best chance lay with Altair and Demetri, and if the herbalist survived just maybe... Best not to think about options. Myrnal had to assume she was on borrowed time.

Could she make it? They knew they had her, and it was only a matter of time now. There was one thing that her enemies weren't counting on, though.


"No, Myrnal. You CANNOT name him Dog."

"But that's what he is."

"I'm getting too old for this," her grandmother had sighed. "Kerran, would you talk to her?"

Kerran had glanced over to Yanna. "Damn it, Myrnal. Just give him a name."

"I..." she'd looked over at the animal. He was a huge scruffy mess with feet nearly the size of his face. Three of them. They never did find out what had happened to the dog's missing front leg, but he didn't seem bothered by it in the least. Still a boistrous whirlwind of great big dog. Kerran had guessed he was some kind of wolfhound mix. Might come up to her elbow within the next couple of years.

"Well?" Yanna had asked. "You're home now. That is your dog. Give him a name."

The dog sat there, chewing the toenails on one of his hind feet. He got distracted, perked up and stared at the floor, one ear inside-out. His tongue lolled out and he pounced some insect no one else had noticed. Ate it.

"Oh, Kerran," Yanna moaned. "Are you really going to let him do that?"

"What?" Kerran was indignant. "I didn't realize you wanted it."

"Oh, you know what I meant."

Myrnal grabbed the dog's leash. "All right, come on. Let's go for another run. Even a crippled master bug-hunter like you needs some exercise, huh?" The dog saw the leash and leapt to his feet. "Ah, you know what this is." She tied it to his collar. He really did need a name.

Heinrich slept on her bed. Whenever she came home, they would run until both of them were tired and then they curled up wherever they could find a place. As he grew, the only reason Myrnal could keep up with him at all was that missing leg.

She would come home, covered in long grey fur from a huge shedding dog. Every day they ran a little further, and Heinrich seemed to forget he'd ever even had more legs than three. The Shalienzas were making a habit of picking up strays without questioning what had happened to bring these broken creatures to their doorstep.

At least now Heinrich had a family, and Myrnal never had to run alone again.



Myrnal dropped her pack from her shoulder and crouched on the ground. She knew she was faster than they thought she was.

She bolted for the clearing where she'd last seen Minshara. She could feel her blood burning through her body. She vaulted a log and ducked under branches before she finally stopped at the edge of the clearing. She put one arm out to the tree trunk next to her to steady herself. She had no way of knowing whether she was just tired.

"Hey, uh... Minsh--" She stopped and closed her eyes for a moment. Her mouth felt a little numb, and she was slurring her words just a little.

Not long then, huh?

She tried again. "Min. You gotta ge'back to th'others if you can." She pulled the dart out of her pocket and gazed down at it in her hand. She held it between her fingers like a cigarette. "Won't be able t'help much. Th'others might, though."

Myrnal looked up slowly. She solemnly spoke the order to Minshara she was hoping she would never have to utter.

"Run."

Somnia shyly looked down from Min as she asked for her name, her hands immediately fiddling together.  Before she could muster up the thought to answer, the ironclad girl noticed the other woman walking back from where she hadn't been walking back to them.  Walking a little bit peculiar to her opinion at that.  Lucky thing that she was coming back, giving the girl a chance to look down and away from Min at least for a few more seconds.  Maybe Myrnal and Min would stick to talking to each other, and she could just follow silently behind them.  She had plenty of things to say.  'Oh, hello, my name is Somnia' could have been one of them or maybe 'I was turned around a bit, could you folks point me in the direction of the border?  Could I come along?  Oh, that would be fine' or anything that resembled a conversation.  She just couldn't.  It was too embarrassing.  She was lost, supposed to be a PROFESSIONAL of such situations, and she was so dirty in front of other ladies.  What did they think of her?  They probably thought she was some kind of brute.  Rubbing her arm while mumbling a partial response to Min, she loathed herself.  What was she, with such strong arms?  No one would respect a woman like her.

"I...I am Som--Som...I should pick up my sword before it gets too dirty ahaha!"

The girl quickly snapped her eyes shut, gritting her teeth at her failure to socialize.  She riased her winged longsword's guard from the ground, brushing the imaginary dirt from across its wide blade while pretending that she was alone again.  As she stayed crouched in self pity, she felt a bit of an awkward drag in Myrnal step when her feet passed by.  Maybe she was tired.  The strangers did look a bit travel worn, even if they weren't as dirty and covered by soot as Somnia had been.  Details, details.  Maybe if she was tired, it would be easier for Somnia to forget about some of her shy shame.  She could be useful, maybe help the strangers rest a bit with what good tea and dried vegetables she could boil up in her pack.   As she stood up, sweeping off her cape and fluffing the black hair behind her shoulders, Somnia had a new confidence in her chance to be helpful.  She turned to Myrnal and Min, resting both hands on the steel medallion pommel of her sword.  Before she could squeak out an introduction in her one window of bravery, she saw Min grab a dart from Myrnal's shoulder.

A dart...?

Both of her hands tightened around the hilt of her longsword, the winged guards turning slightly as she tensed.  This was trouble, serious trouble for her.  She was too close to them already, and if someone had been able to land a dart on Myrnal, they probably had her tagged as one of their companions. 

"Nooo...not a again..." Somnia shakily whispered, stepping back little by little as the toes of her boots creased.  She had to run, all she had to do was get away as fast as she could.  These people were the wrong types to be mingling with, as most people were in the first place.  Before she could turn on her heels and run, Min's voice caught her.

"Please, protect her..."

The rest of what she said went completely past Somnia's ears in fear.  Something about people being after her, but whatever the reason, it was far too troublesome of a situation.  If only Somnia had run before Min was able to make her plea, she would have been gone.  Now it was too late.  What would happen if she backed out of her request?  What if they survived and saw her again?!

"Ooooh..."  the girl whined as Min lay Myrnal against a tree.  As Min moved, she could see Myrnal's face.  It was the Verge of Death as she knew it.  A part of dying that would be damned if Somnia could leave now.  If she tried to escape, Myrnal would remember her face.  What if she died in this jungle?  Somnia would no undoubtedly have a vengeful spirit on her hands.  When Min darted into the forest, Somnia's hand flashed up faster than she had moved in a while, trying to get her to stop before leaving the poor mercenary alone with a poisoned woman.  Where was she going?  To get help?  There would be no help, and there she was running off just as Somnia was about to suggest an herbal remedy.

"Aah..." Somnia creaked, her hand slowly lowering as Min became too far out in the trees to make useful pursuit.  She clutched the ropes that tied her cape around her neck and longcoat, fiddling with the nervously as she glanced towards Myrnal.  This was bad, very bad.  Not only did Somnia simply hate having to protect others, but she especially couldn't stand being left alone with a wounded stranger.  It froze the blood in her veins, the responsibility of it all.  She closed her eyes for a few seconds and took a deep breath, carefully sheathing her longsword high over her shoulder with a quiet click. 

"Um...try not to move around too much." the white and soot armored mercenary meekly  stuttered, walking slowly towards Myrnal with her eyes wide open in a borderline nervous fit.  She crouched in front of Myrnal, the tips of her hair spreading over the ground while she slowly glanced over the woman's wound for her own comfort.  It was too early to tell what kind of poison had taken grasp over Myrnal, but all poisons could be with the same treatment.

"My....my name is Somnia Memorias.  I...I can take care of this s-so...please s-stay still."

Somnia looked to the ground after saying her name and making such a bold claim, pulling her hand away from where Min pulled the dart.  There wasn't much she could do for the wound while having to stay near Myrnal, much to her displeasure.  As she stood again, keeping an idle glance behind her, she tried to look as much of an oblivious target as possible.

"I can take care of this..."

Carefully, slowly, as if just to tug at her chain belt, Somnia rest a single finger against the round medallion-shaped hilt. 

The poison in the dart was otherwise known as wolfsbane. It was a particularly cruel way to die. The guard felt that Ashigara would have approved of it. It slowed down the muscles, paralysing them and sooner or later, he had made sure the dosage was high enough, her breathing would fail - allowing her to remain conscious of it all the while it was happening.

The bitch had struck him in the upper arm. The blood from his wound dripped onto the leaves, trickling down the young green shoots and bark. Cursing, he ripped a length of cloth from his waist and wrapped the arm tightly to prevent it giving away his location. Thankfully, he had been wounded enough times to know that it was just a flesh wound. Bloody and messy but certainly not fatal. She had merely inconvenienced him, that was all. He leaped from the tree he was on onto another. Grabbing the sturdy branch carefully, he maneuvered hmself into another hidden position. The blood drenched quickly through the cloth and the wind picked up, rustling the branches. Chances were he could move now without being seen.

He remembered Ashigara's warning - to stay away from her as long as they could. She had sent the other woman away after the Lady so they could take their time with her. Reloading his crossbow, he shot another bolt at her before preparing to leap to an even higher branch to watch the poison take effect. With any luck, the woman was crazy enough to keep on moving, forcing the poison deeper into her system more than any dart ever could.

The guard looked to his partner, also hidden in the trees. He was the stronger of the two, armed with sharpened steel sais, capable of breaking any knife long enough to be caught in a lock. The first watched as he slowly took the sais out and twirled them before deciding to move closer to the woman for a better spot at attacking her.