Keto looked out from an alley, his eyes watching for carelessness or loose change. He saw an unwatched food booth and he darted out, his hands tingling and his mouth watering as he quickly darted around people before ducking down beside the stall, his ragged green tunic hangin loosly of of him.

His hand reached up and felt for food, hand closing on two pears he pulled them away, and sat there, inhaling one, holding the other on in his left hand. He looked up and saw Wethil, his raven perched on top of a stall near the alley he had come from. He looked around and made his way back through the people, holding up his arm as his larger than avrage Raven flew to him. He ducked into the alley and stopped a few feet in, as he started on his other pear, watching the alley entrance for sign of trouble.

Keto might not have noticed, for his carefull watching of the alley entrance. But behind him was a small creature, possibly human, muttering to its self. Maybe it was muttering, maybe it was teeth chattering. Maybe it was longing. It may or may not have meant to make or made any since to itself, and it certainly made no since to anyone else.

Eitherwhichway, it was making sounds. Strange sounds, like squeeks almost. Sounds like someone trying to eat lettece and finding it to slippery and sensing an audible feeling of slipping, shiny, fibery slipping accross smoothness. Sounds that can hardly be described in human or elfin alphabet or speech, because they are not of it, or from it.

The creature had short blonde hair and no clothes on. Her skin was very white, as was the denser than avarage hair that covered it. The creature was humasn shape, though its mind was odd, and debatable such as only the mind of one who has suffered strange and sudden, unsettling change.

The creature was female, easily evident even through the short hair because of the lack of clothing. She was crouching into an odd position that could be interpreted as either pitiable or ready to strike. Pink tongue slid over white teeth as if the creature was trying to grasp the concept and function of them.

Hands clinched into fists, fists without force. Then they relaxed, spread out until it pained her and they withdrew into a natural position. Pushing them against the wall, the creature, not taking its eyes off whatever distant point it was looking at, slid on wobbling, shaky legs into something that could pass as a stance, but only from a large distance.

She made a few more squeak noises, and then seemed to try out the human speech, in words understandable but with terrible grammer, and in third person. Her eyes seemed to see Keto for the first time.

"Usagi-Chan! What it be?" It was a question, to herself. A thought. A thought of excitement and curiosity rather than fear. In her right mind she would fear him, in her old mind she would very much fear him. But much had happen and she had forgotten fear.

"What it eating? Odd Plant? Green.... But not grass or leaf. It fruit... maybe! How it get fruit? Humans eat fruit? Thought not eat plant? No? Just not eat leaf or grass? No stick either?" As the creature continued to talk to herself it was evident she could go on like this for some time.

Her eyes moved from Keto to the fruit as she spoke, and then off into the distance again as her ramblings consumed her to quickly expanded ming.

Keto turned around as he heard a sort of rambling behind him. His eyes widened as he saw a girl, completly naked muttering something about food. He looked at his own pear. He took one more bite and set it down, watching the girl with intrest.

He opened his mouth to speak but he ahd nothing to say. What could he say. He looked to Wethil, eyebrows up. Then he spoke, "Who are you? What are you doing here?" He asked, trying to sound like he was in charge. She seemed to be different from most people, like she didn't know what anything was.

He was still sitting against the wall as he watched her but now he stood up, standing he looked rather ragged but he knew she already looked frightened. This was the only way he could save his self from looking the same way, as frightened as a rabbit that just saw a human...

Usagi Chan had strange ears. They were long, and they were somewhat pointy, but not leaf shaped like the elves. When the boy spoke, they shot back , catching the sound but protecting their delicacy. Her train of thought was interrupted.

"He do something! He talk? He have query... He want something. What he want? Know about me? Know what?" Her simple problem solving skills, nearly doubled over the last week, were still insuffeciant to process his words farther than that. "Dunno." She said slowly, still to herself, after a hairs breath pause. She talked very fast.

"I Will tell him then, all there is to tell, that I can tell, That others may know."

She started with the squeakyness, but remembered vaguely that humans couldnt understand it. She tried to translate, coming up with a rough translation of her already poor speech.

"I be Usagi, I be dated from two years. Funny thing three suns past...." She stumbled off, having a hard time to find words to describe what had happened and wondering if she even wanted to tell. "Lights" She finally came up with. "Voices, I change." She shuddered., and started again, as if the last part had been meant to stay in her head.

"I be Usagi, I come from underhill 25 full moons past. Suns past, many. Lights and Voices three suns circle over ago, secret magic. Something strange. Here I am now, strange shape. Short ears. Dont hear so well..." With the last two lines she stared mumbling off again.

Keto listened to her. The only parts he had understood could not possibly be true. She said she was two, yet she was not a two year old. He thought her name was Usagi but that was such a strang name, and she said she changed, changed from what?!

"So, you are two... Your name is U...usa...Usagi? And you changed... what did you change from?" He asked, seemingly not realizing how hard a time she was having answering him.

He looked at her. She had short blonde hair and her ears were way too long. He was confused, very confused.

Usagi looked at Keto with renewed intrest.

"He want something more? Query about Change?" She shuddered, remembering. "I change three suns past. There was be lights, sounds. Mah... mahjick I thinks." She began to trail off again, obviously she was not sure about the transformation herself.

Her nose twitched suddenly. She gave a small whimper as the movement hurt her with her new nose, but continued to do it instinctually.

"Whats it got?" She wondered, apparently forgetting her last conversation with herself over the last matter. Than Usagi Chan had an Idea. If it could talk, maybe Usagi could ask it what it got. Thats about as exciting as Usagis ideas got.

"Whats it..." Usagi started without success, and then started again, pausing to remember the words. "What ... yyoou got there?"

Keto looked at the pear, which he had eaten most of. "Its a pear... you know, for eatin'..."

He held it out, "You wanna try it?" He asked, trying to figure out what she used to be from her previous aswers. Magic, he hadn't ever met a mage so he did not know very much about the subject. He sighed, this was too wierd. And to think he had started off this morning just loking for some food.

He took a step towards her, so she could reach the pear. "You want any, Usagi?" He aske again, this time his voice sounded a little more nervous, for tis girl scared him, she wasn't normal...

Usagi Chan sniffed, than realised she couldnt smell it in this form. She wasnt an extremely pretty girl, but she wasnt ugly either, and she had a very nice figure, which was obvious, seeing as she was naked.

Gingerly, she stretched her neck out, than, realising it wouldnt work, she reached out her hand in an oddly unfamiliar way, and took the pear.

Keto watched as she took the pear, as if she had never held anything before. He smiled weakly, "Now, take a bite out of it... it is good." He said, slowly, emphisizing each word. He had somehow convinced him self that by taking slower and louder she would be able to understand him better.

He sighed, "So, where do you come from?"

Ever so slowly, Usagi took a bite. The human was right, it was good. It was fruit, like she had guessed. What strange creatures that only eat one part of plant. S she took a second bite, she remembered that the human had asked a question.

She looked up at him with her large eyes, very large they were and round. They seemed to be globes of a strange world covered with water, for they were as blue and deep as the seas. Yet in thier perfect form was something superficial, some perfect evenness that never could happen. A sign that she was not a true human.

"I come from underhill" She said slowly as soon as she grasped the meaning of the question. "Accross pathless feilds. By streams that never reach the sea."

Keto frowned, he didn't know much about places other than Rohan. His stomach growled, he was regreting giving away his food now. He was confused and he didn't know what he should do. He was hungry and he was trying to decide if he should leave this girl to go get more food. He turned around, watching the entrance of the alley for a second, he made up his mind and turned his head towards Usagi.

At this point he noticed her nakedness, his face turning bright red. He muttered a few uncomprehnsable words. as he looked at the ground. He wasn't sure what he should say and he would feel bad if he just left her. His mind was battling with itself. He was hungry, for he had given her his food, yet he was with a girl that needed help. He sighed, and shok his head.

((NPC)))
((STALL OWNER)))

The man who owned the pear shop walked down the street with a slight scowl twitching his lips. He was angry because some little tramp had stollen not one but two pears from him that very day. And not just any pears, but the best two he had.

Not that this was saying all that much, he, Sheafwig, had rather bad produce, many of them turning bad. The pears at the bottom of his cart were downright rotten. If there had been other options, no one would buy from him. But in this town they were the cheapest pears, and peasants cant be choosers.

But apparently, he thought, this peasant, no, begger, was. Sheafwigs face was ruddy, his straggly unkept beard black. He wasnt very smart, but he knew his trade well. And anyone in his trade could tell, even from a fleeting glimpse, a peasant from a begger. And the boy who had stolen his pears was not a peasant, no he was a begger. Sheafwig reconsidered, trying to discern the fine line between theif and begger. He decided that the boy was a theif, as he had obviosly had experiance.

The man was pretty knolageable on his turf, though his knowlege failed as near as around the corner. He knew almost everyone that lived in or passed often through the area, and had a habit of giving nicknames to him. He decided to give the name Bugger to this lad, an immensely clever name, he thought. It was a very nice play on words combining bug, something that annoyed him, with begger, the caste cousins of the theives.

He decided, therefore, to be more carefull. As a theif, he reasoned, Bugger would have nowhere to hide but the alley.

He looked in the first alley. No Bugger there.

He looked in the next, and he saw bugger eating the last of the pear.

A strange look crossed his face as he was half smiling for the joy of finding bugger and half trying to look mad and frightening as to scare bugger off. "Argh!" He said, with decent effect. He paused for a moment, pleased with himself, before he continued.

"Ill send ya' off to the Scavengers Daughter!" He growled, certain that if Bugger knew anything of these parts, he would run for his life.

Keto turned around, face paling as he heard the last line of the statment. He grinned, this type of thing never happened to him, only to the clan leaders, like Cago. He ran, darting around the stall owner, till he was in the street. He was ducking behind stalls and around them, seeing how long he could go. He turned around, trying to tell if the stall owner was behind him.

He couldn't tell so he stopped behind a stall. It was a jewlry stall and he cursed himself. He should have stopped at a food stall. Darn him.

Shop owner Sheafwig ran off after him, paying no attention to the naked girl in the alley. She paid no attention to him either. She was studying her pear.

That was me by the way. i sorry.

Gradually Usagi-Chan finished her pear and looked up to discover that she was alone. She was curious to what had happened. But she did not want to go out in the street. She could not decide what to do. IT was a hard decision.

Kiro stuck his head out from behind the stall. He spotted the stall owner and cursed under his breath. He ran forward and grabbed a dagger off of a weapons masters stall, he whirled around, and saw the stall owner trip but wuickly regain his balance. Then he heard the man cursing his nickname, bugger... what a dumb name.

He spun around, running towards the far end, where there were more hiding spots and places to jump. He growled in determination, trying his hardest to make it before the angry stall owner caught up and followed through with his threat.

Usagi_chan finished the pear. She tried to eat the core but it hurt and it tasted burnt. She left it on the ground and tried to figure out what to do with herself. She wandered from the Alley. She crawled, her naked body rubbing against the grimy streets of Rohan. Where rotten fruit was dumped. Where people dropped their chamber pots. But Usagi Chan was still a rabbit at heart, and such things didnt bother her.

As Kia walked into Rohan, she caughed as the dusty streets gave the whole city an atmosphere altogether different then the cool, free plains surrounding Edoras. She walked through some alleys, peering into dark corners, constantly checking places as potential places to spend the night, or to hide.

She saw a blur run ahead of her, her quick eyes holding the motion just long enough to catch that it was a boy about her age in raggedy clothing. Probably a begger, she guessed. The place was infested with them. You may say that Theives are not much better. But thieves have their dignity. Thats all the sets them apart.

She waited a moment in case what was in persuit of the begger came accross, and then timidly crept into the street. She was maybe halfway across when the thing did round the corner, and it ran head at her gaining speed. Out of pure impulse, the girl ran. And the thing, which she gathered to be a ruddy faced man in not the best shape, trailed her.

Keto ran and as he rounded the corned he just barley missed running into a girl, about his own age, in clothing that made him feel petty. He ran toward the alley, hoping to throw the man off. He tripped and rolled into the alley, staying as quiet as he could while watching for Sheafwig.

********************************************************************

Sheafwig rounded the corner, panting heavily. He was not used to this type of exercise. He saw bugger, standing dumbly in the middle of the street. He watched as the boy saw him and began running. He urged his legs to keep moving, to not stop or cause him to stumble. He would catch bugger if it was the last thing he did.

********************************************************************

Keto watched as the same girl he had nearly hit started to run. He watched in surprise as he saw the angry man after her. 'He must think that that girl is me' he thought, fingering the stolen dager. She was a girl though. A mere girl, who would take his place at the torturing.

He cursed yet again, this time outloud. It was hardly audible but he quickly stopped him self. He was the one theif roaming thiese streets that had been cursed with a conscience. He shut his mind off, trying not to think of his position if caught by the pear seller.

As Kia continued to run, the mans cursing and continuing close persuit made her sure he was chasing her on purpuse. Fear shot a jolt of adrenaline through her body, giving strength to her limps and wings to her feet. With a fresh shock of speed, Kia turned a corner and continued to run.

If she was out in the open, she was sure she could of outrun him. If she was familiar with the town, she could have hidden. But this was unfamiliar ground, the other mans turf. She tried to turn as much as possible, but the man was almost at her heels and it was only a matter of time before she hit a dead end.

And she did. At the end of an alleyway there were a few old benches, and that was it. Kia had managed to put a bit of distance between her and Sheafwig, but she was sure the angry man knew where she was and she had only seconds before he would catch up.

Out of impulse, She jumped on one of the rickety benches and then to a higher one, and scrambled on the wall for a way to climb up. She found a hold, and got her feet into another. She started to hear Sheafwig and climbed faster. She was maybe 6 feet from the ground, and for a second she thought she could make it, get out of the crazy mans reach, climb to safety, run away.

The thought lasted just a second. As Sheafwig turned the corner, Kia came crashing down, barely managing to stand on the final remaining bench as he reached her. Then Kia did something she would have normally never been able to do, but driven to desperate lengths and powered by adreneline, Kia jumped.

She jumped as high as she could, exerting all the strength in her legs into projecting her slender body into the air. She drew her legs close to her chest and managed to go just above Sheafwigs head, and, by the grace obtained by living with elves, she turned in the air and stuck out her hand, grabbing a bit of gutter that had been hanging down.

The sharp metal cut into her hands, but blinded by fear she didnt feel it. She pulled up and grappled with her other hand finding the sturdier concrete gutter above, barely securing a grip before the metal peice broke off. She pushed with what was left of her might and threw herself onto the roof just as she heard Sheafwig growl as he returned to his sensed and narrowly miss her ankle and he jumped to grab it and pull her down. She felt his hand brush her toes.

She had landed hard, but she sprang up and ran. She didnt have to run after a while but in a blind haze she pushed on, jumping from roof to roof.

Only years of practice enabled her not to fall as she ran, dizzy from adrenaline and mind going red from pain, along the gutter, as it was the strongest parts of these simple houses. Finallly the luck of the thieves abandoned her as a length of flimsy metal gutter began and broke under her weight.

Kia was on the border of sonsciousness... only dimly aware of the sensation of falling. Her ankle twisted badly and painfully as she fell, and at her last conscious moment she reached towards her totem instinctively. Then she hit the hard stone street of the alley that Keto had been hiding in, causing a massive cloud of dust to fill the tiny crevice between buildings.


((OOC((So ends probably my longest post ever)))

Keto yelped as a body landed on top of him. He pushed it away and backed quickly towards the wall. He examined the body. It was the girl, the girl that he had been about to go help. He cursed silently under his breath as he felt something warm trickling down his back. He reached back and winced as he felt it. He must have landed harded then he thought, as there was a long, but shallow, gash across his back.

He watched her more closly, not knowing who she was or who she knew was a problem. He waited, ready to jump and run if nessicary. He winced again as his tunic touched the wound.

Blood flowed over the chain of the necklace as the charm lay in the girls now open hand. She moaned and twitched slightly, and her eyes flew open and then closed again, revealing for a moment bright blue eyes in sharp contrast to her tanned skin and dirty blonde hair.

Upon closer inspection, it could be seen that, while elvish, her clothes were old and in almost as bad condition as Ketos rags, but the elvish quality seemed to hide that. The only real spiffy thing she had was the necklace in her hand, a delicate chain with a broken clapse were she had pulled it off her neck, probably unintentially. The red marks on her neck showed that it had hurt.

The charm on it was very well carves, and made of good quality tigerseye, with bright, if small, emeralds used for the creatures eyes. It was some kind of a ferret. It was a strange thing to have on a necklace.

Kia talked slightly, it was obvious she was unconscious. Most of her muttering were incomprehendable, and what little one could make out would be confusing, for it was mostly of the common speech but with a very elven accent and flavour. She must be foreign.

Keto prodded her and when she didn't respond he dissapeared.

A few minutes later he returned, with a wet rag. He droped it on her forehead, hoping she would wake up, since it was his fault she was in this mess. He tore the rage into three peices, leveing one on her forehead and wrapping her hands wth the other two.

He glanced towards the street and dragger her a little way back, his gash being completly ignored, before he realized this was his favorite alley. He jumped onto the empty barrel then onto the the low roof. He sat there, watching her for signs of movment while he watched the street from his perch for signs of disgruntled stall owners and naked cluesless girls.

His efforts were wasted


Naked Clueless girls were in short supply, and the only one for miles was standing behind Keto. Since her change, Usagi Chan had been subject to odd bursts of random magic and, had she been in her right mind, she would have guessed that was how she go on the roof.

But in this state, she didnt know of care to know. She was crouched in a cat like position, the stem of the pair hanging out of her mouth. She sprung onto Ketos back, hoping to knock him off. She did it for her simple amusement. She was going quite mad.

Keto felt a forse hit his back and gash and as he teetered foward he rollde to the side. He turned around, crouching low so as not to be seen from the stree, "What are you doing here?" He asked, scowl on his face. He was sick and tired of this girl. She was annoying and she didn't know how to speak. He glared uncomftorably at her again, wishing she would go away and leave him allone.

"Usagi Chan find you!" Usagi Chan, delighted that she had found the weird person she met earlier. He seemed nice. He had given her a pear. She decided to follow him around. She stuck her toungue out and leaned forward, preparing to lick Keto.

Keto yelped yet again, scrambling out of her reach. "Stop!' He yelled, frantically. He was craling across the roof now, carefully avoiding the slick parts. He saw another barrel and he jumped down, running back toward the dead girl and his dagger. He got there and snached up his dagger, backing against the wall, making sure that no one was coming at him from the street. He sighed, and waited, knowing that Usagi Chan wouldn't be far behind.

Usagi Chan did follow. She leapt down with practiced Grace and then bounded clumsily throught the alley. She found Keto. "What Shiny thing?"

Kia moaned softly and opened her eyes. The world swam. Everything was blurry. OUt of the corner of one eye she saw movement, and then something attempted to jump over her. It failed. It landed in a jumbled heap on her. Only then did she realise it was a girl. A NAKED girl. She wanted to scream, but nothing came out. THe creature had left, leaving her wondering if it had ever been there....

Keto watched Usagi Chan jump... no, attempt to jump over the dead girl. That was when she looked up. His head hurt and he wasn't exactly sure what was going on anymore. He was backed against a wall, holding a dagger, with two girls, one naked, in front of him. His heart pace had quickened as he realized he knew nothing about the second girl. For all he knew she could be Sheafwigs daughter. He had failed to realize that Sheafwig had chased her, so she couldn't be his daughter, but as stated before, he had failed to remembered this little fact.

Kia looked up and her eyes focused a little more. Suddenly she saw that she had not been hallucinating.. there was a naked girl in front of her. And a boy too. Only he wasnt naked. She was scared. Well she tried to be. But she had used up all her excitement in the last few minutes and she was all used up. Nothing would suprise her now... she could be in heaven for all she knew. What a skrewed up heaven. She put her head back on the ground and decided to go back to sleep. Today was just a bit to exciting for her liking.

I cry today.......... tears for Bernie

Keto watched her. He saw her movement and whistled. His large bird came hurtling towards him, fling ant an amazing rate. He held out his arm and he landed gently. He muttered some words which sounded like a lost language and the bird hopped from his arm to hers houlder, poking her lightly with his beak.

Kia moaned yet again and looked up at the bird through foggy eyes. "Aquila?" she muttered. The word was also in a lost language. As it was the only word she had spoken, it was hard to tell whether it was delirious jibberish, just a name, or her native language.

"Aquila?" she had asked hazily. But even through foggy eyes she knew that it was not Aquila..... this bird was black and her Aquila was not... The bird did not seem to present any real harm to her, it was more annoying than anything just sitting there pdecking away. She lifteda tired hand, not noticing that it had been wrapped, to fend off the bird, but after a halfhearted shake it fell back down and the bird didnt even notice.

Kia struggled to get up, her hands were bent into fists under her. Both hands wore gauntlets, but the one nearer Keto was heavier. Sometheng had scratched the tough leather white in more than a few places, yet they were not the markls of a sudden and rushed attack, for lighter marks could be seen everywhere, and some of the marks were quite old. Overmore there were no such marks on the other hand or anywhere else on her body, and the glove was much thicker on that hand as if she knwe it would take a beating when she made it.
Her fingers were also callused on that hand, and were the gauntlet ended there were many scars. Only one trade would have given her these marks. The girl was a falconess. But her falcon was gone.........

Keto listened to the girl mutter some unknown word and he responded by calling off his bird, "Wethil, geroff, come back..." He held out his arm and the ravan jumped onto it. He bent down and helped the girl sit up, "Who are ya'?" He stared at the girls guantlets, the type made for a falconess, then at his own guantlents, that he had stolen so he could keep wethil.

"Why d'ya got tha' glove? D'ya got a bird?" He didn't know why but he felt like he was attached to her. Like they somehow were together for a reason.

Kia was almost fully conscious, but her brain was still quite foggy. She nodded dully.
"My bird... Aquila..." She began, but broke off. It was all she could handle at the moment. She looked over at Keto with her bright blue eyes.

The eyes were rather large, but somewhat focused... as if concentrating, but not at all squinting. The look was somewhat similar, but the feeling was altogether different. Many of the Eldar had a look like it in there eyes, but that was a look of wisdom, and this was different. Her eyes were sharp... and the look in them was a sense of constant awareness...Kia was constantly alert.

They were subtle signs, only signs a fellow thief would notice... and even then you could never be sure. About anything........

Keto watched her. She was obviously still in a daze and he sighed, this was not going to be easy. He began muttering, "This is not safe, w'need ta ge' away. Some'un migh' come an' many folk already know me. If they find me I might be se'tance' ta th' scavangers daughte'." He bent over and said carefully, trying not to sound so... streetish, trying to imitate the nobles. "We nee' ta get outta here." He said, speech little better then before.

He still had the bird on his arm and now he lifted his arm in a smooth motion, setting the bird to the air to land on the gutter. He gave it a weak smile.

Kia looked over at Keto, puzzled. He seemed to be straining to say every word. He spoke funny.... kind of like the words they used in her clan but not quite.... the words were shorter and choppier.... but she understood fine.

"Where are we going?" she asked... her first complete sentence..