3 comments/ 2376 views/ 2 favorites Thoughts on a Deserted Coast Pt. 01 By: TaLtos6 ******************* This is a part of a longer story. As such, things have gone on before this point just as they will after it and these are not the central characters in it anyway. So I ought to set out what's going on in a general sense. This is a planet far from earth in the present time. It's dying slowly as its mineral wealth is being vacuumed out of it. This happens in or near what is known now as Beach Colony, the remnants of a large coastal seaport. Out of the life forms which are left here, the main sentient ones are split into two groups which are really two variants of the same creature, though they look different to each other. Sangans are pretty much the same as humans here on Earth. Almost exactly and any differences aren't worth talking about. Bishrans are the same as Sangans but for a few external features. They're usually, though not always covered in short fur. Their heads don't look much like Sangans, though the bone structure is the same only a little elongated. Their faces and heads look more like what you'd see on a fox and even then, they're more angular. The main physiological difference is that they're built like centaurs with arms and hands and four legs. The two races get along fine and since the world here is pretty screwed over with war and wastelands, more refugees are streaming in every day to the dwindling number of functional colonies left. The bands of refugees are about an equal mix of Sangan and Bishran. Though they look quite different to each other, they can interbreed with no fuss. It's just that they don't do that very often. Marishe is one of the town guard. She's long past bored with it. She's a Sangan woman who is a little different in that she's got a thing for Bishrans of either gender. Miyarra-Louhk is a sorceress and seer who has reluctantly taken and held the job of pretty much the queen of the city. She'd like to be doing something else too. She's a Sangan with similar tastes to Marishe. Rhuna is a Bishran from a type who are something like gypsies. They have a homeland but they're usually out somewhere else in the world. Cynn - or more correctly, Prince Cynn (chuckle) is a Bishran with a sad tale. Hope you enjoy this. 0_o ******************** She sat up in the tall grass, looking around for a long moment, just casting her eyes here and there along the landscape and out as far as the horizon. No one. Getting to her feet, she bent her head forward and shook her head a few times in case there were any bits of grass in her hair that needed dislodging. Finding none, she ran her long fingers through it several times, hoping a little that she might get it not to look so windblown and messy - for once. She knew it wouldn't work. She needed to wash it and start over. She shrugged as she picked up her weapons, her bow and her blades, moving them to grip them all in one hand by themselves or in the case of her blades, by the straps of their scabbards. She picked up her pack by the straps with her other hand. A gust of wind blew her long dark red hair past her face and over her eyes. She turned in response so that the same wind could get it out of her face again and she shook her head once more. It couldn't be helped. With a sigh, she walked down to the shore and after a long look up and down the beach; she set everything down above the reach of the wavelets rolling up the sand. She looked around again, up the length of the shore on the left side and down the length of the same shore on the right. She looked back along the ridgeline behind and above her. She saw no one. Moving a little quickly, she pulled off her long boots and stepped in a little, pulling the lower part of her open leather jerkin up to tie it there for the moment before she squatted down to wash a little. She looked down at her open shirt, a simply-made garment of light muslin and her eyes caught sight of the sticky skin of her breasts. The shirt was pulled open wide, though her leather jacket was still tied together under her tits. She shook her head. What a mess she was. Deciding that it was what it was, she filled her hands with water and washed her breasts with the cold water as best she could a little quickly. Her hand reached down and she frowned a little for a moment before she began to wash away the semen which was leaking out of both places, timing her scooping of the water to those moments when the surf wasn't filled with sand particles. As usual, it was a little surprising just how far that stuff could run down her legs, but at least none of it had run into the tops of her boots before she'd gotten here to pull them off in time. She ran her fingertips around her mouth and scooped more water to wash her face too. She looked around again just in case and then she stood up to rearrange her clothing before bending a little to pick up her boots and pull them on again. She let out a slightly frustrated sigh as she remembered and reached into the opening of one of her sleeves to pull out the leather shorts from where she'd stuffed them and she pulled them on. "Not good, Marishe," she whispered to herself as she buttoned them together, "That might have felt good to walk the rest of the way like that, but it would have been noticed - and you'd have embarrassed yourself. Again." She allowed herself the small grin that she felt coming .They knew her there. They knew her well. She picked up one of her boots. The leather was warm and supple and it wasn't much trouble even though her long legs were wet with the water which ran down them now. The other one went back on even more easily and she was ready to go. She found a small smile in it somewhere. She was a mess, but she was a happy one, all the same. She thought back to when she'd met Cynn and Chira. Whenever she did that, she had to think back just a little farther to the day that she'd met Rhuna and Yergei. One of her duties at the colony was with the guard. She's never been thrilled with it, but she considered it to be important enough so that somebody had to do it and a part of that duty was to stand watch at the colony gates - the main ones. With all the war and the resultant turmoil from it, there always seemed to be refugees showing up these days. And they usually didn't just show up, smile pleasantly and say hello and ease into their new lives here, either. They almost always needed to see somebody or go someplace or they had issues. Depending in the illness - if they were sick, they might be turned away, though that didn't happen often. But there was almost always something, so they'd speak to a guard to find out where they had to go or whatever. Marishe had a heart, the same as the next person and she tried to help where she could. But after a while, you ... you didn't grow cold-hearted or anything like that, but ... well you might form a slightly thicker skin without even knowing it. On that particular day, it was getting toward evening, the time when the gates would be closed for the night. The guardsmen posted wouldn't allow anyone in until morning and then of course, the whole show would begin again. Marishe had been at the gates all day from just after sun up, excepting for a couple of short breaks and her lunch. As she'd stepped away to go for her first break, she noticed a Bishran female standing off a little to the side of the entrance passage, so as not to hold anyone up. She was there when Marishe returned, and she was there when she left to go for her lunch. It went like that all day. The woman mostly stood still in the same place for hours, though she did move now and then. She had a small child and she tended to him and gave him something to eat a few times. As well, she'd put her large bundle down in such a way that she could look away for a moment at a time without fear that someone would run off with it. The thought caused Marishe to smile. That bundle looked to be pretty damned formidable and she wondered what was in it, belongings, she assumed. At those times, the female would open her muslin shirt and nurse the child, so from that, Marishe guessed that she was on the way to weaning him off the breast. But she never went anywhere and now it was getting near the time when the gates would be closed for the night. Since the female hadn't come in to be cleared, she was in a little danger of being forced out for the night. Marishe wouldn't let that happen easily, not without knowing why she hadn't just come in to be processed. She spoke to the other guards on duty with her and told them to call it a day, that she'd get through the last half-dozen or so if they could do her a favor and lock the gates. While she was wondering about the woman, she had to deal with the other stragglers and once she'd determined a few things, she pointed out where they needed to go and they left. Then she noticed another person in front of her just as she'd been about to look at the woman again and maybe go over to ask her what the trouble was. But when she looked up, she saw that it was the female from the entranceway. Marishe looked around. There wasn't anybody else to be processed. This woman had waited all day. "Please to excuse me," she began hesitantly in the speech used by most of the people in the colony, though there was a thick accent there which Marishe needed to hear more of to even be able to guess, "I can come inside?" Marishe didn't get this at all. Had she been that shy or what? She looked the person over quickly. Female. Bishran. With small child and belongings. Not tall for a Bishran. Not stick-thin, but could use a few meals. Slightly darker fur than she'd expected and she'd noticed this earlier. That was it. Marishe had run out of road - since this person stood looking down. "I'm afraid that I can't help you unless you look at me, please," Marishe said. "I am sorry to trouble you," the woman said and she began to turn away. Marishe reached out, "Hey, I didn't mean that you had to go. I just need you to look up at me, that's all." The head nodded and then the face came into view. Marishe felt her heart almost slam to a halt. The woman was lovely though she looked very uncertain. Very few of the ones who came to the gate had much of anything to their names and this one looked to be a little poorer than most. And she was alone. There was no male there with her. Just her and her small child. She found herself wanting to help - even more than she normally did. The woman was still looking down a bit, however, and Marishe noticed that she was trembling. "What's wrong?" she asked, "I'd like very much to help you, but you look like you're in some difficulty. How can I help?" "Can I ... please, can I ... water." Marishe just had the time to catch her as she was about to faint. She eased her down so that she could sit in the way that the Bishran did it, with their hind quarters on one hip and the front part of the body held erect. The woman could manage it and Marishe held out her waterskin. The woman drank enough for Marishe to tell that she hadn't had any water all day. She helped with the little one and said, "Just rest, alright? I'm going to let you in, I think. Just rest and answer a few questions, that's all. If you do that, I'll help you to find lodging for the night, maybe help with a meal for you both. Can you do that?" The woman nodded, "I am sorry. I did not mean -" "It's alright," Marishe smiled, "No troubles." She waited a little and then felt that she might be making this worse by standing. On average, most Sangans were a little taller than most Bishrans and she was tall even for a Sangan. She was also a little aware that she could look a little foreboding. It went with the territory. She sat down then, pulling back her hood and pulling her mask down. Marishe tried to be friendly with most people, but there were always a few shitheads in any group. The hood and the mask went with another part of what she was, but it often helped to intimidate the jerks. She looked at the woman and saw that she wore a shawl over her head and she caught the glint of a large silver hoop earring. "Now, if you're feeling a little better, let's start with your name." "My ... name," the stranger began, "my name is Rhuna. I come from the Mesharti Plains. It is not far from Stone Mountain." Marishe didn't recognise either place. "Is it far?" The head nodded slowly, "I have walked for many days. I do not know anymore. Sixty? Seventy at the least by now, I think. There is not much to eat anywhere. Almost no towns, villages. I came this way because I think ... thought I could smell ... I-is there water here?" Marishe nodded, "Yes, Rhuna. You just can't see it from here. Over the large hill over there is the sea. Your nose did not lie to you. I see that you are Bishran. There are many here, so you're not alone. Can you tell me the name of your group or clan?" "I am a Rils," she said quietly and with some reluctance. "We are ... wanderers. I have never gone so far before. I heard that there was war coming, and I knew that ... I would have a little one. Things had changed and many people were leaving. I left a little later, alone. My boy Yergei, I birthed him on the way." Marishe was a little shocked, "You were alone then?" She nodded, "Yes. Many do not like my kind. When I found people, they would not let me to stay." Marishe finally had enough to be able to put something together in her mind. She'd never met one of the Rils Bishran before, but she'd heard of them. A lot of places considered them to be nothing but trouble and knew then as vagabonds, liars and cheats. She'd heard the tales of endless petty thievery, gambling, prostitution, fortune telling, and all sorts of scams. But this one was alone - unless there was a whole herd of them inside her bundle there beside her. And something else, Marishe never believed more than about a quarter of the tales that she heard from people coming in off the road. "Will I have to wait outside tonight - if there is someone that you must tell - or ask permission maybe, because of what ... who I am?" Rhuna asked cautiously. Marishe shook her head, "No. You're in, friend. I don't understand why you spent the whole day waiting when you could have just come in. You were almost first in the line at the beginning, yet you let everyone pass you to come in first. It's your fortune that you chose the right person to come to. I'm the person that the other guards would have had to ask to let you in if you were from a group that's unknown to us - and you are. We don't have a policy barring Rils Bishran here, but they'd have probably wanted to ask me about it anyway. I am the guard captain here." The woman looked up then for the first time. She lifted her head and stared at the long red hair that she saw and the green eyes. Marishe was a little prepared for it. Red hair was very uncommon - at least it was here. Green eyes were unheard of anywhere. She waited for the look of horror and fear that she often saw in people, but there was none of that in the woman. She only stared and then smiled a little, "You ... you are so beautiful." If it had been anyone else, Marishe would have had any of about a dozen witty comebacks handy. But she didn't today. Because her mouth was falling open too. The shawl had fallen back and she saw the long dark mane and as well, she saw the short snout which was typical of any Bishran. She hadn't really noticed it before, but from the pale stripes on those cheeks, she remembered that there were stripes on her body too. The thing was that on her body, the stripes were fairly wide and their light tone hid the other fact - which was that the fur and overall colouring was dark. Marishe just hadn't put it together before. But she was aware of it now. And she was finally able to see those eyes. Those almond-shaped, smoky grey eyes which now regarded her with just as much shock as she felt looking back. "Thank you," she smiled genuinely, "You're uncommonly lovely yourself. Do you feel a little better now, Rhuna? Do you think that we can go so that I can get you placed for the night?" Rhuna nodded with a soft smile, "Yes, and thank you very much. I ... I had nowhere else to go." They got to their feet then and Marishe had a piece of jerky ready for the little boy, so he was very happy. "I just need to make a few notes and we can get going," she smiled, "And my name is Marishe." "Ah," Rhuna nodded, "We have a name like that among my people. If you were among us, we would call you Marishka. Please can I use it for you?" Marishe nodded with a shrug and a grin. She filled out the page in the registry, "In order to remain here, you'll have to stay out of trouble with the law for a year. So you can't be caught for stealing, shoplifting, things like that. I really doubt that it will be a problem, but sometimes, females who come here alone find that they have trouble and then they get caught for prostitution, having no other way to support themselves. If you find yourself in a spot where you need a little money Rhuna, I want you to come to see me before that happens. I'll do what I can to help." Rhuna looked a little surprised, "I would do nothing like this. I am not the kind for it, though I have been ... desperate before in my travels." She grinned a little, "Right now, I am feeling very thankful to you, Marishka." She stepped closer and they looked at each other for a moment, both thinking that they saw something in the other one. Rhuna sank to her knees and reached for the buttons on Marishe's leather shorts. Marishe was a little horrified, "You can't do that, Rhuna!" She hissed in a loud whisper. "Look, I've got a position here. That sure won't look good. So you can't even think of whatever you were uh, thinking to um, do." She looked down, reaching to put her hand on Rhuna's shoulder. "Not here, anyway," she said very quietly. Rhuna looked up with a grin, "Oh, I must have had the wrong idea. Forgive me please. I have never done something like that with another woman before." She tossed her head a little to move her mane out of her eyes. "Not today, anyway." They smiled at each other and Marishe pointed, "Let's get you two a meal. I'm hungry too, and then we'll see where I can find you a room for the night." Rhuna turned and waited for Marishe, who came up to lead her. "And Rhuna?" She said. "Yes?" Rhuna smiled. "Can I please have my knife and my purse back now?" Marishe asked, still smiling. "Of course," the Bishran nodded, not missing a beat, "I was merely testing you, my friend." She handed Marishe back her things. "How did you know?" "I wasn't always the guard captain here," Marishe smiled, "In another place and time; I used to be a thief, among other things." "Ah!" Rhuna grinned, "I KNEW there was something about you." They had a pleasant dinner and Marishe found that she liked little Yergei very much. He was quiet, a little shy, and so very polite for one so young. He was also a handsome little bugger, Marishe thought, though at the moment, he was starting to look a little tired. The trouble started when Marishe took them to an inn. Marishe had prepaid passes that she could give out for some of the new arrivals. They were an arrangement with the colony. But for the first time, she found that a pass was refused on the basis of Rhuna's ethnicity. Actually it was not even that. It was on the basis of what the innkeeper had HEARD about her kind. Marishe said nothing, though she intended to have a word with someone about it in the morning. It was the same story at two other inns and by then, it was getting late. Thoughts on a Deserted Coast Pt. 01 "I was afraid that this might happen," Rhuna said unhappily, "I am back to having nowhere to go." "Never mind Rhuna," Marishe growled quietly as she carried an almost sleeping Yergei on her hip, "If it isn't a problem for you, I'd be happy to let you stay at my place until I can get this sorted out. "You are very kind," Rhuna said humbly, "I will do nothing to trouble you." Marishe actually found herself grinning a little, "If that means that my belongings are safe, then you're welcome to stay with me for a while. I can even offer you a better bath." She smiled and raised her finger, "My place might not be much, but I've got a warm pool to wash in." ---------- "This is wonderful," Rhuna sighed as she eased herself down into the pool later. She wasn't even fully seated and she could feel the miles beginning to fall away. "How did you come by this place for yourself?" "A lot of bloody work," Marishe said, "I found it and before I could even spend an afternoon here, I had to chase the previous inhabitants out and just start washing it down. Of course that goes a lot easier if the water you're needing for that happens to be the main reason that you're here in the first place. It's a long walk to get here, but that's one of the reasons that nobody knows about it much. Just promise me that you'll help by doing the cleanups with me and I'll be happy." "Done," Rhuna smiled. Rhuna looked over to where Marishe stood washing Yergei. He looked happy holding very still and humming while she rubbed and scrubbed to get the dust out of his pores. If they'd spent most if not all of his young life wandering the dusty wastes, then she didn't want to think about what the sheets on the guest bed would look like without this. Her fingertips tickled him as she worked at dislodging the dirt in his fur, but he giggled and hummed just to hear the effect on the sound. "What's in the big leather bundle that you've been carrying?" Marishe said, "I've been meaning to ask." "Our few belongings" Rhuna smiled, "my clothes, some clothing for Yergei, as well as my wares. I did not come all of the way here just to be a burden on the generosity of this settlement. I sell goods; leatherwork that I craft myself, mostly. Also, I sell clothing, though I do not make it. I will need to find a place where I can arrange to buy my stock wholesale. The clothing sales just come as customers find other things that they wish to purchase." "You know, Rhuna," Marishe said with a knowing smile, "I'm coming to understand you a little more. It's also about the unspoken things, isn't it?" Rhuna laughed and nodded, "Alright, I will be fifthcoming. I -" "Wait," the guard said with a grin, "Don't you mean forthcoming?" "Not precisely," Rhuna grinned back, "My mother told me when I was young that more will come to me from life if I expect more. If I say it this way then why settle for only fourths coming to me when I might have fifths, yes?" "You do understand that a fourth is a larger piece than a fifth of anything?" Marishe asked. Rhuna nodded, "Yes, but wanting only fifths leaves more room at the trough. Customers are like piglets sometimes. I wish to make my money on volume, as well as ... specialty items. I sell bits of jewellery and little things which I offer to the right customers at a quiet price." "Such as ...? "Marishe asked. "Well, Rhuna said, looking up at the cavern ceiling, "A little perfume, only the best, very subtle scents, of course. Things such as one might not be able to get here. Lotions which warm the skin. Things like this sometimes need to have the effect demonstrated in a little privacy. I also offer other things, such as restraints and small, discreet and very subtle weaponry. But these things are not offered to just anyone. For instance, I see that you carry a large and heavy bow, Marishka. I am sure that you know your business, but there must be some times when you might prefer something a little more ... discreet for use in quiet surroundings, places where there is no room to draw a bow. Such as a bed." She waved her hand as though a fly had suddenly appeared, "Let us just enjoy this, Marishka. I will show you everything after. I would ask for your help and advice, regarding location and how best to begin. I do not wish to need to carry that bundle to the market and then home again at the end of the day. I would rather carry more money and less bundle," she smiled. Marishe pronounced Yergei to be clean and he pranced before his mother, who looked at him strangely, "Who are you again? You do not look like anyone that I know." She looked around, "I had my son Yergei here with me, but I do not see him anywhere now. Ah well ... I shall have to find another son then." She smiled at Yergei, "Would you like to be my son? You are very clean and handsome." Yergei nodded, enjoying the game very much. "Come then," she smiled as she stood up, "Please bring me the towel so that I can dry myself and the fine young gentleman friend that I have made. I will take you to your bed and shower you with affection." They walked off down the short corridor while Marishe looked on, charmed by them. "May I call you Yergei?" she heard Rhuna ask her son, "I will have less trouble remembering your name if it is the same as my son's name. I wonder where he has gotten to, but I supposed that it does not matter much and you look so clean and you smell so... mmm, good to me. I know that I will have trouble keeping myself from offering you a bedtime drink of warm milk. Would you like that?" When Rhuna returned, she quietly said that Yergei was asleep, "My poor little boy," she smiled, "He has been so good though everything, the constant walking day after day and all of the hiding from the beasts in the wild lands that we had to pass through. I want so much to give him a better life here. I saw that you are very good at washing him. I have had the same rough journey which made him so dirty." She smiled as she took off the towel that she'd been holding against herself, "Would you like to wash me now, Marishka?" Marishe nodded slowly. There wasn't any other response, after all. Rhuna was a very lusty and earthy girl. She wasn't thin to Marishe's eyes. If anything, she was ... well, ... she was a little ... juicy. Her body had been made for one thing, one purpose more than any other and it took only one look at her like this to know it. Marishe nodded, stepping closer and they stood in their first embrace. Marishe kissed the side of Rhuna's neck very slowly, enjoying the feeling of holding this girl so much. "We are different," Rhuna groaned softly into Marishe's ear, "Yet we are also very much alike. I am a little shorter and I am made a little softer, if you like this about me. You are harder and I like it about you, my generous friend. I will never forget what you have done for me, but I know that there is something for us both here. We were made to trade pleasures, you and I. I knew this about you from my first sight of you. It is why I waited the whole day long, Marishka. I wanted to leave nothing to chance. I wanted to speak to only one there at the gate. I needed help. I knew it. But I also wanted a friend. I will say and do what I must to sell my wares and bring in coin. But at the heart of it, I also need someone for myself." She looked at Marishe's face, her eyes taking in details and features for a moment, "I also know that you can see into me, so there is no need to hide from each other. Tell me that I am yours and then make it so, Marishka. I want to belong here. I want to belong to my friend who looks at me with green fire in her eyes." Marishe lifted her hand and cupped Rhuna's breast and Rhuna moaned softly in response. "I want you more than anything," she whimpered. Marishe couldn't take any more and she kissed Rhuna then, tentatively at first and then as she felt Rhuna's hands on her, it became more urgent between them. Rhuna had a bit of a magic way to her. Marishe couldn't really understand it. One minute, they'd been kissing each other and the next, Rhuna had worked her way down and after a few minutes spent making Marishe's breasts feel very special, she wandered on and ended up exactly as she'd been before - on her knees in front of Marishe. She reached back and gathered her long dark hair, reaching then for Marishe's hand, "For you to guide me, lovely Marishka." The next thing that Marishe was fully aware of was that she was on her back on the floor - not in the pool at all with Rhuna holding her hips and making amazing love to her. No one in Marishe's past had ever done it this well. She shook her head to clear it and decided to get into the game. She did manage to wash Rhuna though - eventually. There was a lot of dust and dirt stuck to her, but Marishe went to it and before she pronounced Rhuna clean, she spent a while learning what she could by leaning over Rhuna's rump and using her fingers slowly. Rhuna told her anything that she wanted to know then. "I was in a village to the south of Stone Mountain for a time," she said, "I worked at whatever they asked of me. People there were getting nervous about a war of some kind and I knew nothing of it. I only knew that I would get as much money as I could before I left myself. I did not even know where to go then. As time went on, more people left until at last the ones who owned the inn packed their things. I asked where I could go and they told me to stay if I wanted, they didn't care. So, I stayed," she smiled. "But nobody came at all. I was thinking of stealing the silver, but they left me only old and worn out things. I saw that they'd also forgotten about some of the drink there. I decided that I would leave the next day, but I thought that it might be a little nice to enjoy a quiet drink by myself." She looked back, "The door opened a few hours later and a male walked in. He asked for an ale, but there was none, only more like what I was drinking. I told him that I would share with such a handsome one. And of course," she winked a little, "There was only one goblet for us both." Rhuna sighed, "And he was so handsome, too! We talked about everything and nothing and he told me that he was traveling; trying to learn of what had the people so frightened, for he hadn't seen anything after some days of travel. He also hadn't seen any people and more than anything, he now wanted to know why. He asked my name and I told him. In that instant, I felt that I knew who he was. I was only not completely sure. I asked him his name but I didn't know it." She smiled, "Well I am not from there and they had SEVEN princes. I cannot be expected to know all of them, can I? I asked him if he missed his female in this traveling that he was doing and he looked sad and shook his head. What he told me wasn't a surprise to me at all. I do not come from Stone Mountain, but even among my people, I had heard of one of the wives of the princes. Even where I was from, we knew her as the screamer and not in a very nice way. I was surprised because I had heard of the youngest and most handsome prince having a few little ones. I wondered how it was possible. What he told me did not sound like the love life of a prince to me. "It was arranged before I was even born," he'd said. "I suppose that I am lucky. She is a famous beauty, after all. I have four children." He held up his open hands, "I have been to bed with my wife about ten times." I asked him why so few and he told me that his wife decided on the nights and then it was only ever once each night and that sometimes there was no child from it. Well I liked him, Marishe," Rhuna said, "We were both a little drunk and I made us a meal. We ate together and I thought about some things. He never said or did anything like he wanted something else from me. I was alone there. I wanted to have a little one myself, but I had not found a male that I liked for it. I liked him, but I could never have him. I do not come from Stone Mountain. I come from the Mesharti Plains. If they do not wish to drink or gamble or buy something, the people of Stone Mountain try to avoid speaking with one of us. But this man was not like that at all. He knew what I was from the first moment. He even asked me about some of the people there and if I knew them. I decided then and I said to him "You are traveling, trying to learn of your people." He nodded and I said "I am not one of your people. They do not wish to know me but you do. I can see this. You even speak my dialect well. You are a fine man who is better than his people. You are fine to me and your wife is an idiot. I offer you my body and a little of my love. There is no one here to know either of us. We can give each other what we wish. I wish to have a fine stallion for me - even if the time is short. For as long as we want, I will be the wife that you deserve. We are not a prince and a wandering girl. We are the same here. When we part, we will never see each other again. Why not let me give you pleasure?" Rhuna smiled back, "So, that is how we began that night. I never told him that I had a headache or anything. I never told him no, and he did for me anything that I wished." She shook her head a little sadly, "I think that he saw the truth of his life when I asked him to fuck with me again. He stared and I asked why I could not ask. I kissed him and told him that he was the finest stallion I had ever seen and far better than any that I have ever had in my bed. I told him that there is more to a life than only fucking once a night and then not again until the girl learns if they made a little one. I told him that I would do anything for him if I was lucky enough to have him for me - anything on any night - if we hadn't already done it three times before the midday meal. We stayed together for three days. He left then, still seeking to learn of the thing which was emptying the kingdom of his stupid brother the king. Nothing happened, but the south of the land grew empty with only towns and villages waiting for their people to come back. I did little the day after he left. I hoped that with all of the seed that he put in me that I would have a child, just for me, not to parade before the king and demand an easy living. I would take my child and raise it alone. I knew that it would be hard, but it is what I wanted, since I saw no chance for me to have a male of my own. I cried a little," she smiled, "because in spite of myself, I fell in love with him. But that was the way that it was to be and I as a little sure that I'd gotten what I'd wanted and if not ... Well loving with that stallion had been much better than with anyone else. So I had a few memories in my heart. The sense of threat became slowly darker and I have heard that a few weeks ago, Stone Mountain was destroyed and everyone in the kingdom killed. I do not know what happened to my handsome prince, but it is my prayer for him that if anyone lived, that he did. That is my story." Marishe looked at her for a long moment and then she got to her knees and pressed her face against Rhuna's labia as she slid her tongue in to part them. When she pulled back a little while later, she said, "Your story tells me that I was right about you, Rhuna. You are everything that a woman should be. I've never heard of that place, but I hope that prince would see you when he closed his eyes during the rare times when his rotten bitch 'allowed' him the smallest of pleasures - and I'm very sure, sad to say, that it must have been that way for him. His wife must have had a cunt filled with sand from birth." She kissed Rhuna there again before going back to what she'd been doing, "Somewhere, a god or goddess must be smiling down on Rhuna, for she is a queen." They made love most of the night and when Marishe had her next days off-duty, she helped Rhuna get her business set up and running. Within three months it had become very fashionable to shop there and Rhuna was a very happy girl. Yergei grew a little and he made friends in the neighborhood quickly. They moved to a better place after a time, and they stayed very close, always finding ways to love and laugh together. Just knowing Rhuna was a blessing. To be allowed a place next to her in her bed was living on the high side to Marishe. --------------- She was standing her duty at the colony gates about six months later with another when the sorceress Miyarra-Loukh came running up - which was more than a little unusual in the first place. "Marishe, I need you," she said, "There is something terrible about to happen and there is none better here in my service than you for the task. You MUST succeed!" She heard the tone and told her partner that he had the post alone until she returned. "What is it Miyarra-Loukh?" she asked, "Only say it." "It affects more than us, the colony, I mean," she said, "There is one approaching from that way. He is a little distant yet, but he was a friend to me once. He comes from across the wastes and he is a little injured. It limits his speed, and he is being hunted by ... I think more than twenty beasts. He is a warrior, a noble Bishran from afar and he seeks my help desperately for something and he is alone. Go and aid him. He must win through and reach us! I cannot act myself or the location of the colony will be known to the enemy. His enemies are also agents of our own enemies." She cursed up a stormcloud in her frustration at not being able to just ... help. Marishe pulled up her hood, adjusted the mask that she often wore, and cinched her sword scabbards to run more easily, "That way?" she pointed. The sorceress nodded, looking a little anguished - another strange thing. "Yes! And also, he carries a satchel looped around his neck. This, he brings to me for my help that he needs. What is inside is ... delicate, so do not drop it if you find it in your hands, such as might come to pass. Help the Bishran and protect the satchel, no matter what happens. I will sense what I can and help if I find a way. Go now, GO!" She ran, wondering what had been meant by 'a little distant' since it would help her to know whether to pace herself or just dash and run her hardest. Miyarra-Loukh was sometimes a little vague in what she needed and it annoyed Marishe because they'd known each other for a long time. A little detail once in a while couldn't hurt, could it? She was one of them after all. In the colony, there were three women who held themselves a little apart from the other colonists. They knew themselves and each other as "Children of the Sky" and though they weren't related at all, they called themselves sisters. Each of them had been helped in the early parts of their lives by a stranger who'd told them what they were and who they were descended from. Miyarra-Loukh and Marishe had met each other after the stranger's departure from their lives and they'd come here together. Ashkhet was one who'd come alone. They were all very different to the usual kinds of Sangans. In little time, she reached a grassy knoll and ran to the top of it, hoping for a glimpse. At first, she saw nothing, but then she noticed a little dust and stared in that direction. She thought that she saw one of the Bishran people limping slightly and struggling to stay ahead of a group of ... it didn't matter, many predators; the really snarly, large wild-dog kind. The kind that you could swing a sword waist-high at and be guaranteed to hit something on them kind. No one had a name for them. Marishe just called them shit hogs out of politeness. She was annoyed with Miyarra-Loukh again. More than twenty, she'd said. Well fifty is also more than twenty and it looked closer to fifty to her than twenty. A little more information and Marishe would have brought a shitload more arrows ... Thoughts on a Deserted Coast Pt. 01 And speaking of Ashkhet, where was she? Why hadn't she been sent along? Marishe could see that sooner or later, she was going to need a little help. Miyarra-Loukh was sort of the leader of the colony. Ashkhet was often placed in the role of a scout, ranging far to gain information. Marishe was a member of the guard. How. Exciting. About the most fun that she had was whenever Ashkhet needed help and invited Marishe along. Marishe was getting tired of a lot of things in her life and being a guard was right up there at the top of her list. She saw that he stumbled and regained his footing to keep running. She also saw that it couldn't go on for much longer. Even injured as he was, he was fast, though they were gaining on him slowly. She ran in his direction. She ran out to him, reaching back and pulling her bow forward, waiting as she ran a few steps more before reaching for and nocking an arrow as her mind began the chant, her lips following, before her voice hissed it with every outward breath as she went, running as fast as she could. He hadn't seen her, though she wasn't so far from him when he stumbled a second time and got up to begin running again without wasting time that he knew that he didn't have by looking back. She just wasn't close enough to see his face clearly. She remembered wondering why it was that he was so dark. She'd never seen a Bishran that dark in her life before. He wasn't black, but he was a dark, smoky grey. She crested a small rise and stopped, dropping to one knee and drawing her bow fully. One of hunters leaped and would have been successful in bringing him down, but her arrow found it's mark, flying in through the thing's open mouth and stopping halfway out the back of it's neck. The spine was severed with a loud crack according to the old chant. It shrieked and squealed, flipping over into a ball of limp and flying limbs before it crashed rolling over and over in the grass. The rest looked in surprise as they ran, but it didn't change a thing for the one that her second arrow came for. That one crashed to a stop in mid-stride at a dead run, as though it had run into a rock wall coming the other way. The arrow fell to the ground undamaged. The beast was another story. But really, Marishe wondered how to remove so many before they got to him. The dark one kept running, but it was a little clear that he knew that he wasn't alone anymore. She knew that she needed to do more if they were going to change the ending that she foresaw. As he began to run up the rise where she stood, she called out to him and he found just a little more strength in him yet and he gained what had to be the last of his slightly wobbling speed. By now, it was clear to her that his right rear leg was the one being favoured. He looked weary as he leaned back and moved his hand in a pattern. There was a blue glow over his haunch for a moment and then she could see that he felt a little better. So he had some power too, she thought. Marishe noticed the large satchel around his neck as Miyarra-Loukh had seen in her mind. With a cry, she drew one of her long blades and tossed it to him - and he caught it by the haft, slamming his front hooves to the ground to come to almost a dead stop as he nodded to her once and ... To her utter shock, he DIDN'T come the rest of the way to stand with her, not completely. He only came near to her, pulling the strap of the satchel over his head to bring it to her. He handed it over and she saw a great deal of anguish and torment in his face at that instant. "Chira," he said, adding another word as a question that she didn't comprehend. She guessed that he was asking if she understood. "Chira," he said again in more of a hoarse croak and then he looked to be ready to weep. He turned away to face what hunted him, looking back only once as he went, shaking his head violently and she saw his tears fly from him. She couldn't believe it. She pulled the strap over her head and drew her second sword as she ran toward him, holding it in her right hand with her bow in her left. She didn't understand why he'd turn back. She was more than prepared to stand with him, or better yet - provide a bit of a rearguard as he made his way to the gates. She wasn't certain, not having the time for anything, but she was a little sure that the satchel was moving a little against her. He was so tired and weak. She could see it in him but his knowing that she was there seemed to have helped him as had his handing over his burden. She saw his grim expression as he turned to face them with a short, low growl, his ribs heaving while he flicked the blade around overhand completely twice to get the weight and the balance of it. She also saw the four long rips in his flank and the dried blood which told her that he hadn't been able to stop and do anything about it before now. She ran on, but thought that she heard something - a ... tiny voice, tremulous with uncertainty and fear. "A-Adat?" He didn't look back, though she guessed that he heard it and he said only one word in reply. Marishe heard that voice again as it made a little sound, "Ooo!", and then she felt the bag move and looking down quickly, she saw the flap fall closed. The bag itself trembled against her then. She slowed as she ran nearer to him, stopping as her mouth fell open to see him like this. She knew the Bishran and just about everything that there was to know of them. She stared because she had to. The Bishran might be a lot of things, but the ones that she knew weren't known to be overly brave. This one was that and more. She wondered what this was about and why the sorceress had said that it was so important. She looked at him again. She'd never seen one like this - not one like him. There wasn't a single Bishran in the colony who would have done what he was doing now for anything. The dark one stood his ground with his back to her, cantering sideways a little and lifting his front hooves a bit before he reared up a little more and bellowed at his pursuers as they came over the rise in front of him. She didn't understand his words, but she knew that it was a war cry. One of the ones who ranged before him tried to slink over to the side to try to get in that way, but he charged over quickly, only for long enough to force that one back and then he was in front of the group again. To see the rest of them all come over the rise made her heart almost fall through her chest, but as insane as it was, she kept looking at him as well. Bishran weren't animals. There was said to be a commonality between them and her own kind. It was known that they could interbreed for example. They just didn't do it very much. So it wasn't like looking at the ass end of a horse to her. What Bishran males had was much the same as what Sangans would have, a little bigger in some cases perhaps. As he'd gone back and forth, prancing around in his wrath, she'd watched what he had jiggle with his steps. What held her eye was the way that he was a little different; Bishran have tails like goats but if you look, you can see what's there. That was what kept catching her eye. It looked like two large half-plums in a furry bag. He lunged forward quickly and bellowed his words again. They almost broke and fell back then. He moved back to take his original place again in his anger. She didn't get what he'd said to them that time either. She just knew that it was scorn - taunting scorn. He said it again as he beckoned to them, invited them to try and take him. She knew enough of the Bishran to be able to read their body language quite accurately. This was to show the ones that he faced that he had no fear of them. The Bishrans that she knew, they didn't do that, none of them, unless the foe was another male and it was breeding season. There was nothing like that bullshit here. This wasn't about testosterone. This was about blood; theirs or his - it didn't matter to him anymore. He looked very cold in his hatred of them. As he pranced back and forth opposite to their rough line, she saw his eyes almost glowing with his seething defiance. She watched as he clenched his jaw and there was nothing but murder in everything about him. And there was absolutely no fear at all. Like this - with a weapon in his hand once again, he was the master of his fate and he was encouraging them try to come for their piece. He was done with running. He was telling them to bring it. They were alone here, she and him, and she was at least a little sure that if he'd had a good sword to begin with, they wouldn't be here like this. Those things would already be dead. He taunted them again and then he took his place, waiting while they came for him, watching them as they stalked him slowly. All of them against only him. But he'd played it well in choosing this slope as the killing ground - forcing them to come to him uphill. She held her breath, feeling it as the tension in the air broke and seeing it as he waded in. She saw flashes and flickers from her blade in his hand as it whistled and sang, arcing and racing through the late day sunlight. She saw blood flying from it next as he swung it easily and they fell before him, some of the foul things which had hounded and chased him. She saw it as he used his hooves as well, kicking out and stomping them down. One of them turned and ran but Marishe remembered that his enemies were the agents of her enemies. She shoved her blade point-first into the ground to hold it and she lifted her bow once more. As she drew back, the one which was running crossed over from the grasslands into the dusty wastes beyond and he gained a little more speed, running full-tilt over the flats. She lifted up a little to add some loft to her shot. As the bowstring met her lips at full draw, she changed her incantation and drew back a tiny bit more. The arrow was on it's way then, the tip bursting into a ball of sticky flame as it went. It caught the predator in the haunch, but the flame slammed forward until what ran was completely aflame and screaming just before the legs folded and it crashed to the ground to struggle weakly in agony for a moment. Then it was still, the fire burning quickly until there was little left but a thin column of black smoke to mark the pyre. Her attention was drawn by the contents of the satchel as whatever was in there began to quake. Marishe looked around and she saw them then, three that she hadn't noticed before. She could tell that she was only an obstacle to them by what they were looking at fixedly. They were hunting for whatever was in the satchel. Marishe was stuck. They were too close to use her bow, other than as a club, and when she reached for her sword where it was right there in front of her, they grew visibly more agitated, the pitch of their snarls rising. They'd be on their way if she touched it. There was less than the length of her sword's blade between her and them. Not enough time to grab it and swing even one time. She remembered what she'd been told - to protect the satchel. She slowly sank almost to her knees clutching it protectively while trying to think of something. She reached back along her side slowly. A thin fur covered arm came out of the bag and the little hand at the end of it opened toward the nearest beast and even though it was trembling, she heard some sounds like words in a tiny voice. For a long moment, it held the beast immobile as though under a spell. Then suddenly - The hand moved, the grass around that one beast was disturbed as though by a gust of sudden wind and the hand was withdrawn. Marishe stared. The creature was gone. Just ... gone. The one next to it almost jumped straight up in shock but as the tiny hand emerged from the bag once more, he turned his head slowly and he snarled straight at the satchel. The little hand fell and hung limp. The animal looked pleased and drew back to spring, the pitch of it's growl rising. Marishe lunged then, driving the arrow in her hand deep into one eye socket. She uttered a short phrase as the beast screamed and the arrowhead exploded inside the skull. She jumped to her feet to grab for her sword as the last of the three prepared to spring. The dark Bishran came out of nowhere to take the thing's head and then he was back into his own fight. Marishe hadn't even seen him come. She looked around quickly to make sure that there were no more four-legged surprises creeping about and then looked down at the little arm hanging out of the satchel. It had taken her a little time to process things with so many slavering shit hogs growling and slinking around looking for their prey. But it hit her now as she was trying to put the hand and arm back inside of the satchel as gently as she could, asking in a soft tone if everything was alright. There was no sound from the bag. She'd thought at first that it might be some creature which was wanted or needed by Miyarra-Loukh, but she knew what this was now. Adat. She knew that word. Standing guard at the colony gates meant that you got to hear bits of conversation all day long. There were many dialects and with the world falling apart, they saw new refugees coming every day from everywhere. A lot of them were Bishrans. Though they all spoke it a little differently, there were still common words in use from the old Bishran speech by all of them. She'd heard that word spoken by Bishran children many times before. Adat. Father. This was a child. She opened the bag a little and looked inside. The little one lay there as though asleep. Marishe hoped fervently that it was the case, though she doubted it. She was just putting her arm through the strap to carry it once more when another thought hit her even harder. The very same smoky dark fur. He'd been telling her the little one's name when he gave her the bag. He'd told her the name so that she'd know what to call the child after ... She looked up. He'd caught his breath but that was all. He was still the same injured and weary male she'd seen stumble twice. And he expected to die here. She looked over and saw him shimmer a little in her sight. He was flickering, all of him. He was moving through the ones who were trying to pull him down. She watched him disappear and reappear in another spot incredibly quickly. Whatever ability that he had, he'd recovered a little of it. He was fighting here and there and somehow, he was keeping the whole bunch of them engaged. They were confused and often snapped at each other, doing a little of his work for him. She wondered how long he could go on. Not much longer to be sure. She knew enough about what he faced. As long as there were two or more, they could pull anybody down if they timed it right and worked together. And they worked together very well, most often. Where had the Bishran and his girl come from? Aside from the coast, a little woodland and grassland, there was little but wastes for many leagues in almost any direction other than the sea and they'd obviously not come that way. A lone male running from who knew where to save his little child. But this was as far as he was prepared to run. He didn't intend to walk away from this at all. Marishe watched as he snarled right back in their faces. Whenever he angered one of them enough to make a move, he cut then down and tried to coax another one. He was some kind of fearsome, but this would be his end. That was why he'd said the name, so that his child might still have that. She reached back to feel for her quiver. She still had something to offer. She hurried to sheath her blade and pick up her bow, headed toward her own fury now. She chose her targets as best she could, hoping that he didn't materialize in a spot just as one of her arrows arrived. She tried her best to shoot the slavering cretins in places that he'd just left. Her lips moved continuously picking and choosing the words for what she wanted. Some were hit with an arrow which had grown an acidic covering as it flew. A few fell when a highly charged arrow landed beside them and a small patch of lightning came to them through their feet and legs. And four of them found themselves on fire as the flames licked and leapt from one to the next. When she was out of arrows, she drew her sword and ran so that they weren't so far from the dark male because you only needed eyes and a brain to figure out that while he'd laid out many of the things which had hunted them, he was nearing the end. The bottom of the slope was a sea of bodies. From what she saw, there were now only four left, but they were the largest of the bunch and they seemed to know him somehow. Also, they weren't just barking. They were coordinating how this would go. She looked closer and stared as the newcomer found that he'd regained enough wind to laugh softly. They crept up slowly, weaving a little, looking for an opening - still wondering why they saw none now as the blade in his hand flickered in a silvery butterfly pattern which left them nothing. She didn't know the technique, but she knew what it was for. It took little to maintain and one could apply effort whenever it was required. But really, it was a way to turn a moving sword into a shield - a thin metal wall to catch your breath behind, being exactly the thickness of one blade wide. Marishe watched and saw it when they noticed her and she could see them thinking of trying to get past her in order to flank him. She gently moved the satchel so that it was more to her back and she renewed her grip on the haft of her blade. She didn't know him from anybody, but she thought that she could see something in the way that he did this; the way that he'd been literally on his last legs not long ago, and desperate. She didn't see any desperation in him. Everything made sense now. Somehow, she knew that this was it for him, the way that he saw it. He'd survive it if he could, but it was a little plain that he didn't expect to. What she saw in his face, the little that she got a look at said something else to her. He hadn't been running for his life. He'd been running to save his child as she was now aware. As well, he'd been looking for a respite and a way to strike back. She'd given him those things - all that he needed for this. He was standing his ground now and really, he was making his last stand right here if that was the way that it had to be. He'd keep them off the one in the satchel and trade his life happily if it meant that he was successful. She pulled her backup blade out of it's scabbard, holding one sword in each hand. She saw that his ear flicked when she did it, so he knew that she was there to stand with him. And the last of the shit-hogs arrayed before them knew then that there would be no flanking him. Two of them leapt and she heard his grunt of exertion when he saw it begin. Twice the blade flashed out suddenly from the middle of his pattern and one of them fell to the ground in two pieces, shrieking and yowling for a moment. In two pieces. Right in the fucking air, two pieces. With daylight visible in between them. As the front half slid over the grass to stop almost at her feet, she saw the little head poking out of the bag and heard more little sounds. "Bee-ka-pikka - ooOOoo." Marishe extended two fingers from her left hand's grip on her sword to touch the back of a very small head, "Uh-huh. Ewww." She glanced down, "Now hide." Feeling her touch, the head was withdrawn. She pushed the bag back. The second one was down to only three legs and she caught it easily before it could run. She made a statement as she took it's spine with a heavy cross-stroke and then gutted it lengthwise so the rest could listen while it lasted. Thoughts on a Deserted Coast Pt. 01 One tried to flank him anyway, but she jumped to his offhand side and the thing stopped and looked at her, caught in a moment of indecision. She raised her blade and it drew back warily. "Too late," she laughed and she swung both of her of her swords toward the middle as hard as she could. Bang-bang, and there was nothing from the waist back and then the head was mostly off. One of her arms ached from the force of the impact, but being pissed had never felt so good to her. The last of them leaped straight at his throat with a horrible wavering growl. His reaction was a blur as he drew the blade all the way back to point it for his lunge, his free hand clamping down on the long haft, right at the end, and he lunged forward to meet the last one. That one took almost the full length of her sword from him, almost all the way in, stopping just shy of the guard being pressed to the creature's breast. The beast was stopped; looking like it had been skewered in mid-air, which it had been, of course. But the dark one held carefully and as the creature dropped, he held the grip still, following the motion all the way down as far as he could before ripping back just before it landed. The last sound that the creature made was a soft and blubbering sigh of death. She looked at him from the rear quarter, his ribs still moving, but not heaving so much now. Her blade was still there in his hand, pointing almost down with the blood of the thing running from it. She saw him look downward for a long moment and she wondered if it was his way of thanking his gods for his fortune or if he was only replaying what had happened to analyse it. He turned around as she walked to him, pulling her mask down and pulling back her hood while taking the bag off to give it back to him. He nodded in thanks then, still looking down and he eased himself down somewhat painfully onto his knees. He opened the bag and reached inside. She saw the little hand move from where she stood, but she could see that it was lethargic in it's motions. Marishe heard the little voice again, "Adat ... Adat." He lowered his face and she saw the little head as he kissed it and spoke a few soft words in a rough-sounding tone that had been meant to sound soothing before it caught in his throat. He closed the bag and put his arm through the strap again, settling the bag against his side gently. When he raised his head, she saw his tears. He looked at her blade and with nothing else to do it with, he carefully clamped his thumb and forefinger onto it and very slowly wiped the last of the blood away. She noticed that even then, he was looking down as he held up her blade in both hands and offered it back to her, saying something in a language that she didn't understand in a quiet voice. He looked up then and their eyes met. She found that she'd lost the ability to breathe for a long moment. He was very handsome. Probably more so than any other Bishran that she'd ever seen, and where she lived, she pretty much knew them all or had at least seen them. Yet there was something there in that face which spoke to her just a little differently than she might have expected. He was male - that much was evident, she'd decided, having watched what he had swing as he'd fought while she'd stood behind him. And he was a Bishran, she reminded herself - which she liked very much about him. But that face was more than handsome for anybody, Bishran or not. It had it's share of rugged hard lines, especially in the middle of a fight, but she thought that she could see something else besides that. She guessed that he had the necessary amount of male hormones as well, but something that she liked was that they didn't seem to be exactly bubbling out of his ears either. His short smoky fur was looking better to her by the second, even half -covered in the sprayed blood that he wore. She wanted to smile. He had a forelock hanging just above his eyes. Those eyes - his eyes were so dark. And so darkly beautiful and mysterious. She looked, but she couldn't tell where the irises ended and the pupils began. She realized then that he was a breed that she'd never seen before - beside it being somewhat obvious in what he'd done. Compared to the several types that she knew were here, he was one of the smaller ones. Well, she considered, what was known as small was a measure that the Bishran themselves applied and to others, it often made no sense. One they called large seemed to mean wide. What she saw was that he was lean but tall, guessing that they stood at the same height, and she was considered tall for a Sangan girl. Remembering that he must be in some pain, she stepped forward, reaching back for one of her scabbards and she drew it forward, slipping the strap over her head. She touched the hand which held the haft of her sword and took it from him only long enough to slide it into the scabbard before she knelt down herself, shaking her head slowly as he stared. She placed the sheathed blade back into his hands. "You shouldn't travel these lands without at least one of these. You keep that one," she said slowly and quietly in the speech used by the colony, "I have another at my home and I have -" She sighed as she looked into those eyes. "I have never seen anyone use a blade like that before - not in my life. So it would honor me that you keep it, friend." He pushed back, but only for a moment until he understood. He looked at her in some awe himself and then she guessed that he must have heard and learned of her speech somewhere in his past. She didn't recognise his accent, but she loved to hear it from the very first word. "Thank you," he said, bowing his head again, "for your help to save my child. Thank you for the gift of your fine blade, and thank you - for my life. " He lifted his head and looked into her eyes then, his mouth opening a little for a moment, as though he was struggling a little himself. "I have never seen anyone who can do as you have with a bow." She smiled, "I had fortune not to miss." He shook his head only once. "I come from a people who use the bow," he said, "I know what it was that I saw." She watched a small smile come to his face very slowly before he spoke, "You do not ever miss, do you?" She smiled back and gave him a little shrug. "No. I didn't save you," she said, "You saved yourself. You only needed a sword. I was happy to give it." He shrugged as though he didn't wish to argue the finer points of the distinction with her, "But you came when you saw that you were needed. Another few moments ..." He thanked her again and he took her hand, "I am Cynn Harresheen. I am -" He looked down for a moment, "I was, of the Stone Mountain kingdom." She must have stood with a strange look on her face. She'd heard of it. Once. "And who is this?" Marishe asked. He looked down, "My daughter, Chira. Youngest of my children." His voice cracked as he finished it, "The last one living." She felt that she must have looked foolish then because she knew that she was staring at him. "You ... you were telling me her name, weren't you?" He nodded. "You didn't expect to live. You were telling me her name so that ... I'd know what to call her after you were ... " "There are no other Stone Mountain Bishran anymore," he said softly. She looked down for a moment, "I have never met a man like you." "Chira is our word for hope," he said with some emotion, "I see that you are a seasoned warrior, so you might understand. Aside from our family name, her whole name is Cama-ish-Chira." He sighed, though it sounded more like a pained groan to her. "The last hope." Marishe didn't know what to say then. They looked at each other while the breeze played with his forelock as it also blew her long hair around her. "I see that you are weary," she said, "And I make no light of it. Please - there is no rush now. Take a few moments to rest. I have some water in a skin." He nodded, as though saying anything would be using too much of what he might have left. She pointed, "Why not let little Chira have a drink also?" He opened the satchel as far as he could and after a few quiet words, Marishe lost a little of her heart as she saw a very small Bishran girl step out a little unsteadily on spindly legs. She was dark and so very pretty and she came to Marishe almost at once, as though she needed to see her properly now. She chittered a little, but Cynn spoke to her and Marishe supposed that he said that she didn't speak their language well or at all. She held out her waterskin and Chira drank a little as she helped by holding it for the girl. Marishe reached into her small pack and produced some jerky and she offered it them both. Cynn wanted to know what it was and she guessed that they must have had something at least a little similar. "It's meat, lightly cooked, salted and then hung in a smokehouse. It's chewy and it keeps for a long time. I always keep some for when I stand the duty at the gates, like today. I'll cut her a little piece and you tell her not to swallow it right away but to chew it well. Tell her that chewing is the best part." She smiled, "I usually end up giving most of it away to the children who come to talk with me. They like it a lot." Chira did as well, but needed a little more water afterward. Marishe and Cynn began to speak then and Chira started to explore a little. "I was hunting alone, which was our way to say that really, I was out in the country, seeing how the people fared and learning of what was happening at our borders. I travelled a little-used path to get to the farthest holdings and I saw no one for the day that it took to get there. I found only my people there, all dead and torn, the sky dark from the smoke of the burning buildings. Everywhere that I looked, I found none alive, not even small ones. I retraced my steps as fast as I could run and as I made my way back, I saw only the dead and more ashes. When I came back to my home, the whole mountain had been burned - every bush and tree. The castle lay broken and there were only more and more of the dead. He said, "That was two hundred and thirty-four days ago. I wandered, wondering why I should go on with the bother of living. My life - all that I knew - was ashes. I went where I found the ones who had done it and I slew many, so many. I thought that the world might never be rid of their foulness. These ones here, they were the last that I could find. Really" he smiled, "they found me. I would prefer to be able to say that I found them in my search, but it is truth to say that they found me as I tried to take my daughter to an old friend who lives on the coast. Chira grows weaker with each day. I tell her not to use her power, but she sometimes does and like this, she loses consciousness afterward sometimes." Marishe nodded, "I think that I saw some of this. We faced three, her and I and there was no way to use my blade in enough time. Chira held out her hand and the nearest beast was held in her spell. Then it was gone, and I don't know where it went." He nodded, "I think that I know what she would have done. She put it down." Marishe tilted her head, "I don't understand. Down how?" Cynn shrugged, "She put it under the ground, usually deep." Marishe stared, "But she's just a little-" He nodded, "Yes. She gets this from me. I taught her this to amuse her, but she can use it for other things as you saw." He smiled, "I must have been about her age when I learned to do this. My mother would tell me to help the gardener clean up the courtyard." Marishe found that she liked it when he shrugged while he was smiling. It showed her what he must have looked like as a boy. Her guess would have been that he was the sort of boy who had a head full of mischief, but her mother must have found out that no matter how he challenged her, she couldn't have stayed angry with him for very long. One soulful look from those eyes and she was probably done, she thought. "The poor gardener always waited eagerly for me at those times. The courtyard would be such a mess with leaves and twigs and whatever the wind blew over the walls. I would wave my hands and the work was done. When I was a little older, he'd take me to the tavern afterwards and we would stay all afternoon. He was a very handsome man who always said that it was thirsty work. When I was of age, the next time that I helped him and we went to the tavern, he rented a room and showed me how thankful he felt. I fell in love with him and the courtyard never looked so good after that." She smiled and he went on with his story. "In a little time, I found myself near my home again and I found the bodies of some few whom I knew. They had not died long before, so I knew then that at least some had lived for a time. They had hidden themselves in a cave. I looked for others then and I found my wife in the middle of the bodies of a few from the castle. Among them, I saw my children." He stopped for a moment to wipe his eyes. "But then I saw that she lived, though not for much longer. She had been with child, this little one and even wounded as she was, she'd birthed her alone. She ... she passed soon after and I was left with the only other of my kind that I know of. I gave her the only name that I had in me to give. It took me two days, but I found a ewe who had lost her kid. She still had milk, so I took her along. That lasted only several days before we were found. The ewe was in terror and would not follow me. She stood in fear and ran the wrong way at the end. I had to leave her and I took Chira and ran from them myself because of her." He sighed, "I was taught when I was very young that there are few differences between our kinds, friend. The sameness is more on the inside and what differences we have are mostly on the outside. You have two legs while we have four, we have our fur and you do not have our teeth, but the rest ... I know that the little ones of your kind are helpless for much longer. Our young stand in minutes after finding their legs and can walk in a few minutes more. They begin to speak in about thirty days. Chira is less than fifty days old and already she does well for one so young, though I suppose now ... She will have to learn a different tongue if we stay where you will lead us." Marishe shook her head a little, "I think it's the same language but yours is an older way. I heard Chira call you. It took me some time with all of the fighting, but I remembered the word. It's still used here, so not all of the language is different. I don't think it will be like learning something different. Please go on with your tale, Cynn." "We walked when we could," he said, "but she is so small and has had nothing but water and what grass I could find in the dust. She is weakening. These beasts saw me and I have been running for almost two days. Whenever I thought that I had outpaced them, I slowed a little to rest and they came again. I had only a sword that I picked up in a burned village. That broke the first time that I tried to fight them." She looked at him a little curiously, "You said your people." He nodded, "It does not matter anymore. Nothing matters anymore for me but my daughter. Before that day, I was a prince. Now, I am nothing." They heard Chira playing and watched for a time. She'd found a stick and grasping it in the middle, she held it vertically and stepped or skipped around a little, holding the stick up toward the dead bodies there. "Ta," she said, "Ta - Ta ... Ta." "She imitates you," he smiled. Marishe nodded, "She's very good too. I think that she'd come to the bow quite naturally." He looked at her and then at his daughter, "How do you mean?" Marishe smiled and shrugged, "It's not that hard with imaginary arrows, but even so, she hasn't missed yet." A minute or so later, the little girl had changed her grip, holding the stick at one end like a sword as she danced a little and swung, complete with her charming sound effects. "Now she's imitating you," Marishe chuckled, "I think that you should be proud to have such a fierce girl." "You think so?" he asked. Marishe nodded, "Oh yes. Look at her go. She's beating the stuffing out of somebody. She's already better than some of the newer ones in the guard." Chira went on, sword fighting against corpses. She tried to imitate the way that her father had cantered sideways and turned suddenly to take a foe unawares. But she was just a little girl and she ended up with her legs like a few tent poles stuck in a bag, almost twisted together. She teetered for a moment, a little wide-eyed. "Oooh! Oooooo!", she exclaimed and then she fell over. Marishe grinned, "Chira! Bee-ka-pikka! ooOOOHOOooo!" Chira stared back for a moment - and then she laughed and giggled. "How do you know these words?" Cynn asked. Marishe shrugged as she smiled over, "I'm magical." "I can see this," he laughed a little. She shook her head, "I don't know what it means. It's just something that Chira said. You killed that one that you cut right in two and I guess she must have been watching." He nodded, "The sound is just what she makes in surprise or often only because she likes to. The words are a saying with us. It means something like 'another one falls.' That is why she laughs." But as her laughter died away, Chira began to cough and she had trouble stopping. When she did stop, she looked weak and out of breath again. Marishe was by her side instantly, holding her up and speaking softly to reassure her. "I think we ought to get going now, Cynn." He nodded, reaching for the satchel, but she shook her head, "No. I think she's spent too much time in there as it is. She needs fresh air." "I will carry her," he said, but Marishe only smiled. "You've carried more than enough for the past little while, I think. Besides, I'm a little bit softer than you are in probably the right places to carry a little girl. We're not that far away from the gates. If you'll carry my bow, I'll carry this little warrior." She spoke to Chira, knowing that she didn't understand what was being said. "You just put your arms around my neck, my little love, and hold on a little." Chira got it and then Marishe rose up on her knees, careful to guide Chira's legs so that they went around her middle, front and back. Her forelegs were behind her back and under her breasts. Lifting up on that tiny little bottom felt amazingly good to Marishe and she lost a little more of her heart as she stood up, moving just a bit so that Chira's very slight weight was on her hip. "There we go," she smiled as she began to walk, "This is how a Sangan mother carries her girl. You just rest, Chira. There's good food where we're going and I'll make sure that your sweet little head finds the softest pillow when you go to sleep." Cynn walked along in a little amazement, listening as Marishe began to hum a little melody quietly. Chira was comfortable and Marishe felt happy to feel Chira nuzzle her face against her neck. It wasn't long before she felt only a little warm air from her soft exhalations. "What is that?" he asked quietly. "Just a little song I know," she told him, "I've always wanted to sing it to my daughter - once I have one - if that ever happens. I know the words, but Chira only needs the melody for right now." "I think that I can steal your words," he half-whispered, "I have never met a woman like you." "Probably a good thing," she smiled, "The world doesn't know what to do with just one of me." "Is there a story there?" he asked. "Yes," Marishe nodded, "but it's long, dark, bloody and troubled. Nothing for such a sweet one's little ears even if she can't understand it." Thoughts on a Deserted Coast Pt. 01 "Chira sleeps now, I think. I have a wish to hear such a story," he said. Marishe nodded, "I ... I never knew my mother. I was given to an orphanage in another city on the coast, before it was ruined in the war. "I don't know what happened. Maybe she died, or maybe she was too poor to be able to keep both of us alive. I'll never know the truth of how it went. Maybe she didn't love me. Once I was older, I thought that maybe I might have done something ... with magic and it frightened her. The people who ran the orphanage were cruel. They'd beat you for asking a question or looking at them the wrong way - and there wasn't a right way. They told me that my mother was a whore who hadn't wanted me. I was little then and I didn't know what that meant, but it hurt me a lot. Sometimes, when I was upset, things ... just happened, like I'd move things without meaning to, not touching them from across the room. They told me that I was evil. They were very religious when it suited them to be. Anyway, one day I did something that I can't even remember now, and they told me that they were going to sell me to be a whore. I was eleven years old. I'd only just found out what it meant and I was terrified. I ran away and they chased me. I was running down an alley and I came to the end with nowhere to go. I knew that I didn't have enough time to go back and run another way. I was scared and crying, but then I saw a man lying dead against a wall. I was going to try to hide by lying against him, but when I tried, I felt something and I found a long knife in his jacket. I took the knife and then the man and the woman were there in front of me, yelling that they were going to kill me. I ... I don't really know what happened then. I held the knife and I said some words that I heard in my head and there were many knives in the air at once, all flying toward those two people. They fell to the ground dead and while I stood leaning against the wall, all of the knives disappeared! The only one left was the one still in my hand." She reached to her belt and drew it out, a gleaming thing with a cruel edge and a long wooden handle, "I've still got it. I became quite the little she-rogue living in the shit at the bottom of the city. There was nothing that I wouldn't do to survive, not one thing. I found that I could make a lot of money by stealing things for an agreed-upon price. I hated everyone and everything and I trusted no one. I often thought that for a girl whose own mother didn't love her, I made out alright. But you can't live like that forever. No matter how you play it, you'll make enemies somewhere on that dark road and I made mine. I knew that I'd gone too far when the same people who often hired me were providing the killers to hunt me for somebody else - people that I'd double and triple-crossed. I played all ends against the middle and they all came together in one huge knife fight. I was a little cut-up, but I was the only one who walked out of that alley. But it told me something. There was going to be another night just like that one someday, and another one after that, if I survived it, and another and another. Nobody can live like that and I knew that I'd about used up all of my luck as it was. When dawn came, all dark and bloody red, I walked out on one of the few piers there that was still standing. I didn't know what to do and for the first time since that day in the alley, I was afraid. I was eighteen years old and I knew that my life was almost over. There was no way that I'd live to see nineteen. I just stood on the end of the pier crying and looking at the water. I felt footsteps on the pier after a while. Since I was standing at the very end, I knew that they had to be coming from behind me. I told myself that this was it - that I was going to die there. I spun around and saw one person, hooded and masked and the only things that I could see were her eyes. I threw a blade with each hand just to start things and see where this would go. I think now that I was just curious about how it was that I'd die. I had no doubt, really. My blades were already in the air between us. I knew that she had to move and then send me something in return." She looked at Cynn. "There wasn't enough time for anything else to happen. But she changed time itself. She reached back and came up with a bow. She took an arrow from a quiver. She nocked that arrow and drew the bow. It was crazy. It shouldn't have been able to happen like that. She released and her arrow became two arrows and they hit my blades. I threw two more and then two after that as fast as I could. She hit every one. All that I had left was this knife and it's not made for throwing, but if you know how, it can be a pike. I pulled it and was about to slam the end down to make it grow out, but she told me to stop if I wanted to walk away from there breathing. I didn't know what to do. I just stared at her for the longest time. I'd already seen the crazy way that she could beat me, no matter how fast I tried to move. She walked toward me then and she pulled down her mask. She said that she'd been hired to kill me, but really, she'd just signed on so that she'd get the information about me so that she could find me more easily. She wanted to teach me. She asked me if I wanted to learn from her. She'd heard of me and she knew the road that I was on because she'd been there herself. She took me to her home and she fed me and bought me clothes. She talked to me and she made love to me. I fought her at first, doing anything and everything to prove that she was wrong, that there was no way to bend time or shoot a bow the way that she did. She laughed at me very softly and took me to her bed again and again until I had no arguments left. When I was ready to believe her, she took me to a place that had once been a huge place with plants. She taught me how then. We stayed together for three years and together, we removed everyone who wanted a piece of either one of us to hang on their wall. She told me that I'd have to leave one day soon, and when I asked why, she said that there was a war coming and that where we were would most certainly be destroyed. She told me who was coming and that they'd ruin the whole world before they were done. The last thing that she said to me was that I should always hold myself to the honor that she'd always known was in me - just as she'd known that I was the only one that she'd ever be able to teach these things. As I was about to walk away into the dustlands, she told me that she hoped we'd meet again in the middle of the coast, once there was no more war." Marishe nodded slowly, not wishing to disturb Chira, "That was a long time ago now. I found my way to Beach Colony and I've heard of nothing but the destruction of other colonies. There is no middle to meet her in other that right here. I doubt that she's even still alive anymore. But I'm still here and my heart is still empty." He nodded, "So I take it that you like only other females?" She shook her head, "Not at all. That was then. I suppose that I was a little idealistic about it back then, you know, declaring it and ruling out the possibility of there being any other way to go. I'm not one of those 'This way or nothing' girls, though. Probably because there was a long time when all I had was a lot of nothing." She smiled a little then, "I doubt that it will change anything for me, but you have at least one friend here - besides me, Cynn. Miyarra-Loukh was the one who sent me to meet you and bring you here. Since she told me about the satchel, I'd say that she knows about your fears for Chira. I'd say that you're probably important to her and I have hopes that she can help you. I've only just met the two of you, but I think that I'd give a fair bit to know that my little sweetheart here is going to be alright. But right here, she's got the best chance on this side of the world in Miyarra-Loukh." She smiled, "We used to be lovers once, you know. I think that it was more mutual admiration than real love, but it's true. She was the one who showed me what I love most of all in bed - and it's not her, by the way. We just bump into each other socially now and then and it's always nice if there's a bed handy after we've shared a few drinks." He seemed to find that a little funny and he laughed, "When I knew her, she was only called Yarra. They hadn't given her the 'Mi' appellation yet. She was working as a priestess and had been sent to Stone Mountain in error. The old priestess had died and my brother had arranged that a replacement be sent for our temple. He was a fool of course, and never had the thought to specify that the new priestess be a Bishran. It led to some hilarity when she arrived. My brother immediately tried to seduce Yarra. The more that she spurned him, the more public he became in his attempts. I found it very gratifying to watch his final humiliation at the end when Yarra revealed that she couldn't possibly find the time to endure his boorish and pathetic attempts - because while it had been going on, she'd been successful at seducing me in a matter of minutes." He sighed, "It was the best summer of my youth." He seemed to remember something, but while he looked curious, he would have said nothing. Marishe caught his expression, "I'd say that you're now dying a little to know just what it is that I like the most." He laughed softly for a moment, "I can admit to wondering what it is that might stir the heart of one who can fascinate me as you seem to be able to do so easily." She laughed a little, "Charmer. Mostly, I live with another woman these days. We love to laugh at everything. I'm not really what she'd want for her heart and she's not completely what I'd ache for always, but it's what we have and se care for each other. My real desire would be for somebody like you, Cynn. A good Bishran male would be my heart's desire for the long go. But other than meeting a few at parties and like that, I've never met any where there's ever been anything mutual to it. I'm bigger than a lot of them and they don't like that. I'm also known to get murderous in my job every once in a while and the males around here don't seem to be able to handle a strong female. I've met a few on the road in my travels and even pulled some out of a nasty scrape now and then. She smirked, "It's a little amazing to me how those ones look away faster than anything if they see me on the street. Me, I'm nobody. I'm just a guard and a hunter. I'm not even worth giving a last name to. She smiled then, "I'd tell you that I can fight, but not after I watched you. I'm still good with a dagger or a fast blade and I'm just a witch with a bow," she chuckled. "I guess I'm ok with a sword. It was something of an honor to have watched a master work as you did. It was so good to see, though I'd have preferred it in a less life threatening situation for you two." He stopped and she looked at him. "You are a fighter," he said, "A beautiful one who does not carry a bow and three swords at once on only the chance that a lost traveler from somewhere far away might come over the hill and need to borrow one. I have met only one Sangan in my life before, but I knew you as one. I only did not know that I would meet one who can almost make me fall to my knees with her loveliness." She smiled, "You almost fell to your knees because your leg is hurt, but thank you." Chira stirred then and lifted her head. "My little friend is awake," Marishe smiled. Chira nuzzled her face against Marishe's jaw and asked a question. Cynn told her and she tried it, but the nearest that she could come was "Ma-eesh" and Marishe didn't mind. "I do not know what will happen to Chira and I in the next while," Cynn said, "but I would want very much to see you again, Marishe." The guard nodded, "I'd like that very much, Cynn. But I know the way that things go in my life, most times. I know enough about myself to know that fortune is something that I own only when I'm holding a bow. The rest of the time ..." She shook her head, "No, I just haven't got it. Look um, I'll try to tell you how I think this will go here. I'm going to assume that Miyarra-Loukh will have my little dancer here all fixed up in no time. But after that and even before then, Cynn - you're somebody important, I'd guess to the sorceress and others. You were a prince, but really, the truth is that you're a king and I'm holding the smallest, sweetest little princess that I can imagine. I just hope that I get my heart back from her at some point. So you guys will be well taken care of. I'm a guard. I doubt that we'll ever see each other again, but I am glad that I met you today and I'm so happy that I met Chira and was able to help. There's the gates up ahead. Come on, I want to see your lives improve really quickly before I step out of them. She took him through the gate and asked her partner to finish the watch, saying that she'd try to arrange things so that their replacements could come a little early this one time. The other one nodded and bowed to her. "You are not only a guard here, are you, Marishe?" he asked quietly as she helped him along afterward. "No," she said. "Only no?" he asked, "Please, you have saved my life, not that I have anything anymore. By the change in your voice and by what I see in your face, I feel that I must have offended you somehow with my prying questions. I must now know why so that I can make my apologies properly. I had no wish to offend." She was uncomfortable then and she shook her head, "You haven't said or done anything wrong, Cynn. I like you and I have since before we even spoke to each other. I just ... " She sighed. "I just know that you're important somehow and I'm a guard. Only important people have last names around here. I'm just Marishe. It ought to tell you where I stand in the scale of things here." He stopped again and she groaned, "Look, could we please just keep going? We've still got a long way to go to where they'll fix your leg up for you. I want to go home now. It's not a castle or a palace. It's an old cave that is about to collapse, probably when I'm asleep and kill me. They'll have to get themselves a new guard when that happens." He nodded, "I see that you do not like me and I am sorry that I trouble you this way. Please lead me to where you say that I must go." He drew his hand back, "I can manage the walk myself if we go a little slowly. We do not have to waste more time and I will ask nothing more of you. Please give my daughter back to me." She was angry with herself then. She'd been angry with herself even before, telling herself that the one time that she'd ever met a prince in her life, he was like someone out of a dream to her. But he wasn't a prince anymore, not that it mattered to her. No doubt he was important to somebody here and so she hadn't wanted to get into anything, even a conversation which might remind her too much of her life - which had already happened, thank you very much. But she hadn't meant to cause him to feel the way that she obviously had. She stopped and he groaned, not having been prepared for it. She apologized and tried to explain until he understood that talking about her life - which from her point of view had been a wasted one - had affected her mood. They ended up sitting on some rocks in the cavern. He listened as she tried to explain and she still apologized. "Look, Cynn, I'm very sorry," she said, meaning it, "I'm not one of those really moody girls. I'm a girl who thinks those ones need a good swift boot up their asses so that they remember what they have. I just know the way that my life goes, that's all, and the realization of that right now wasn't something that I wanted to think about." She felt Chira playing with her hair, so she leaned her head into her's and kissed her without thinking about it or really meaning to. It had just been automatic in her. Chira chittered happily and snuggled against Marishe as much as she could and the guard felt a little worse inside for it and the way that she saw that Cynn had noticed it. She set Chira down after another minute. "The best that I'm gonna get out of this - and I mean at most - is that sometime not too long from now, I'll bump into somebody while I'm just doing my very boring job. They'll mention in an offhand way while they gossip that the prince from another land is doing well and his little girl is all better. That's it. Even though I'd be very happy to hear it because I do like you both very much." "So," he said, trying to work it out, "You like me and I like you. You are not rich and covered in jewels, or from a high family." She blinked and then nodded, "That's about right." "I have never liked those ones where I am from," he said, looking around at the inside of the cavern, "They are much too important. It is not true, but it is to them. And also, they are dead now. I am not important either. In fact, as I am now, sitting here with you, I am closer to being nothing than you, Marishe." "But you're a prince," she objected and he laughed. "No longer true," he smiled, "Even when I was ... well, the first prince gets the crown when the king dies, yes?" Marishe nodded carefully. "I am not the first prince," he said. "The second prince gets the land, a lot of it, anyway, and from that, he gets a lot of gold. I am not the second prince. The third prince is given a position among the priests, who chant a lot and wave smoking pots around to impress the people who have a lot of faith in the gods. He gets power and gold and probably as many of the acolytes in his bed as he might want." "But you're not the third price?" she asked and he shook his head. "No and I have always been a little sad over the acolyte part. My brother was an idiot and didn't deserve them." "So which prince are you?" she asked. He shrugged, "I am the seventh prince. And I am the son of a seventh prince, though he got the crown in his time." She looked over, "How?" Cynn shrugged, "With a lot of quiet murder, how else?" They laughed over it and she found that she felt a little better for it. "So what did you get?" He smiled that brilliant smile of his and he held up his fist, closed upwards. He flicked open his fingers and there was a ball of brilliant blue flame there burning very slowly. "Well," he sighed, "I am the one the legends spoke of long ago in my land. I am the seventh son of a seventh son. I have some power." He looked down, "But I did not have enough to keep all of those things off my neck while I ran." Marishe suddenly had a thought and she looked over at him, "I wanted to ask before. How many of them were chasing you exactly?" He looked thoughtful, "Exactly? I cannot say. But I found the last of the army which ruined my lands and killed all of my kind." He looked down, "Sadly, I was too late to save more than one of the people. It is something that I will never be able to forget." He smiled and laid his hand on his daughter's shoulder, "But the one that I had the greatest fortune to find is enough for me now." He looked around, "I am glad that we are here now. I was not sure that I was going in the right way anymore." She smiled a little, "You didn't know where you were going?" He shook his head, "Not with an army after me and after two hundred and thirty-four days, no. I thought that I might be getting near to the coast." "Well," Marishe smiled, "This is Beach Colony - it's all that's left of a large coastal city." He stared at her, "Really?" She nodded smiling a little, "You should try to get out more - I mean, not with an army after your bottom. What I mean is, just to look around and travel. That's what I do, when I get time away from being a guard."