[OOC: Quick Wiki links! Sidama and Amhara This is just a peaceful little thread I wanted to do lol]

The Wasp buzzed in annoyance as she leaned against a tree and sucked in a pained breath. Well, that fight could have gone better, but at least she was the last one standing. Sharifa had her lower left hand pressed over a wound on her right side from a sword slash that had gone deeper than she had first thought. It wasn’t until after the fight was over that she had realized that she wasn’t just tired from the fight but also from the growing problem of blood loss.

Shar had been, for once, minding her own business when she had been ambushed by some bandits. She had been wearing her usual cloak so it had covered most of her body, so they hesitated for a moment once they saw what they were fighting against. However, they committed themselves to the fight and, to their credit, they had fought well, just not well enough. Shar had cut the four of them down but as stated one of them had managed to wound her.

Bloodied, Shar was keeping pressure on the wound as she walked, her cloak trailing behind her instead of wrapped around her. It was slowly getting dark to, just what she didn’t need was being out in the forest while wounded and smelling of blood. A trickle of smoke caught her attention though. A camp near by? Would they be friendly? She could at least inspect it from the bushes before exposing herself, she needed time to sit and fix herself up.

Following the smoke soon could hear the sounds of singing, very beautiful singing and somewhat familiar to. More curious now than anything Sharifa made her way closer until she could see the fire and her black eyes widened. Sidama?! Why were some of the Sidama out here?! Shar watched for a moment longer, thinking it through. The Sidama were known to be wanderers anyway so the fact that they now had new lands to explore and find out new forms of art made sense.

Knowing that they would be friendly, Sharifa made her way closer and the noise she made caught their attention. ”Greetings.” Sharifa called as they turned to look at her.

There were four of them, two males and two females, probably two couples, though knowing the Sidama that meant little. The one male was a tall and lean, his bare chest showed skin tones of blues and greens, and his wings were swirls of green and blues and some purple as well. The other male was darker in hue, with darker skin and Shar could see violet on his skin as well, while midnight blue wings mixed with that same purple was striking.

The two females, put simple, were simply stunning. Both were wearing skirts and light tops. One was a bit shorter than the rest with bright pinks in his skin and flowing light reds and rose pink in on her wings, her skin was flawless. The other female, a bit taller, was more red in her colouring, similar to a monarch butterfly in fact. All their eyes, like Shar’s and most insects, were pitch black, but that just made more of a striking contrast. For her part, while Sharifa wasn’t one to be interested in physical pleasure and appearance, even she couldn’t help but stare at their beauty. It was just the way that Sidama were. ”May I humbly request a place at your fire?” Shar asked stopping a bit from them out of respect.

Upon seeing her walking from the trees the pinkish female stood and turned surprise written on her face. ”Greetings to you, Amhara, please, be welcome.” She motioned for Shar to join them, but as Shar came into the firelight the female saw that the Wasp was wounded. ”Oh dear, please, sit, we can help you, friend.”

”My thanks.” Sharifa made her way to the fire and sat down on a log they had set up as a bench. It was good to be in good company, she hadn’t seen any Sidama in ages, let alone expected to see them out in the Virens Forest.

Zanar had heard there was a group of bandits patrolling the Virens. The thickness of the forest held ample opportunity for them to strike out at any who passed through, traveling from the north or south of Canelux. The god, of course, could not have that, especially since his temple resided near the heart of the forest itself. He could have easily sent out a small group of Rangers to take them out or scare them out, but he needed to get out of the temple anyways and this was prime for him.

Yet it seemed someone else had claimed his quarry.

He had picked up the tracks of the bandits, but as soon as he got to where they were all he found was the corpses of four men. ”Well, well. It seems you folks decided to ambush the wrong person.” He spoke and snapped his fingers. The sounds of carrion feeders started to descend upon the area, be it small and large. One would say that was desecrating the dead, but he cared not for the corpses of people who took the lives of others. He turned on heel and was about to head back when a particular smell hit his nostrils. Something familiar to him..

He walked over to the scent and knelt down. Blood that was unlike the humans who were currently feeding the creatures of the wild. He knew the blood quite well, as he had fought and killed plenty during the war with Onnen. The blood of a Wasp. That wasn’t what made this blood familiar to him though, he knew the one that bleeds this blood. It seems once again she was wounded not by the Hunters own hands this time. Zanar knew she had escaped execution, but did not know the details of it and was quite curious about how she still lived.

”Well, one thing leads to another. Time to have a chat.”

He followed the blood trail and started to hear the sounds of singing and patter of feet upon the earth floor. He assumed it was dancing. The light of a fire in the distance also caught his eye as well, perhaps she had found sanctuary in order to heal? He wished the wasp no harm as the war was over he was just curious about her circumstances more than anything. Approaching the fire he found the source of it all.

He had heard of these wanderers but had never seen them with his own eyes. The butterfly gypsies of Onnen. He had not expected them to be out in Canelux, but with the war being over the cultures of both continents were starting to intermingle with each other. Not only had he never laid eyes on them, but the rumors of the appearance did not do them justice as both of the sexes were highly attractive individuals. He also did notice someone else among the fire with them, in which they were tending to her wounds.

”Well, well, well. So you do yet live. Interesting, how is the wing Sharifa?” He asked making his presence finally known, and he held up both hands to show he meant no harm. He of course, did not know the nature of how the Sidama folk acted to strangers so he did it just to be sure. ”Mean no ill will, was just about trying to take care of some bandits but it seems like they were taking care of by her. Just wish to chat.”

The Sidama woman was slowly cleaning Shar’s wound when the voice came from the bushes. Shar instantly knew the voice, hard to forget it when it was coming from someone that had nearly torn one of her wings off! She was on her feet, turned in Zanar’s direction and had all four arms on weapons but winced as she did so. Her reaction got the attention of the Sidama and they stood as well as Zanar came out of the trees with his hands up.

At his words Shar studied him for a moment, despite her readiness to fight he was a God, she had no chance. She wounded and tired and this was just how she reacted to being snuck up on. If he wanted her dead she would be, of that she was sure. He said he was out here to find the bandits that Shar had already killed to.

Taking a breath Shar relaxed her stance and the Sidama woman who had been tending to her wound looked to Zanar and then to Shar. ”Rafiki?” She questioned.

Shar nodded. ”Yes, he is a friend, in a manner of speaking, we have had our differences, but that was during the invasion. We’re in more peaceful times now.” Shar explained and she looked to Zanar again. ”The wing is fine, thank you for asking.” She couldn’t keep the grin off of her face. ”As he said, I am Sharifa, and he is Zanar.” She would let him decide to tell him of his Divinity or not.

”Come, sit by the fire, Zanar.” One of the males spoke up gesturing for Zanar to come forward and sit.

Sharifa sat down again and the woman started to attend to her wound again, using a needle and thread she had had to stitch the flesh together. ”Well, I have to guess that everyone has questions for each other, yes?” She glanced to Zanar to see if he wanted to start the questions first.

Friends?

He hardly expected Sharifa to call him a friend, especially with all that had happened during that War. Here he was though, coming forth to one of the natives of Onnen who was the frontline spy against the conclave. It was interesting how everything changed after war was held, and even though he had lost his eye to a Beetle there he held no animosity to the people of Onnen. He looked to the woman who was tending to Sharifa. Her black eyes looking at him, offsetting the color of her skin and wings amongst the fire, a beauty he probably couldn’t put into words. It was almost mesmerizing.

”Indeed we are friends, we have known each other for some time now.” He spoke reassuring Sharifa’s own words. The woman just smiled back and Zanar before going back to mending Sharifa from her wound. A male soon addressed him to come to sit by the fire. ”Thank you for the welcome, I think I shall take you up on that offer, the chill of the night air can even get to the best of us.” He said and stepped forth from his position of the trees and shrubs. He sat down on the log that the wasp was sitting on and held out his hand to the warmth of the fire.

”Aye I do have questions that much is for sure. I do have one main one though, how is it that you are still here? Usually, the conclave is not one for amity to prisoners of war…or do your allegiances now rest elsewhere?” He spoke looking into the fire with his eye. There was a moment of silence and he let out a small chuckle that broke the silence. ”Does that honestly matter though? The war…it took lives from both sides of the field, it was something that never should have came to be in the first place. After all, even we lost some things to it.” He was meaning the conclave in those words that he spoke.

He tapped the leather eye patch that covered his left eye. ”I thought I would have been blinded all together had I not removed the eye on the field. Still affected my right eye though, so still can’t see as clearly as I had before. Learned to adapt though, so I see things in the way that I want to see them.”

Things settled down as Shar sat and the Sidama woman started to work on the Wasp’s wounds again. Zanar sat with them at the fire then and spoke, with all listening with no interruptions. It was as he spoke that Sharifa noticed the eye patch he now wore, that hadn’t been there before the war and as he spoke he explained what had happened. Before Shar could speak however one of the Sidama did. ”The war was terrible, we Sidama were happy to not be dragged into it.” It was the male who had invited Zanar to sit. ”But it was going to happen, it’s the nature of some of the tribes, like the Amhara,” He gestured towards Shar. ”or the Agaw, it’s in their nature to seek out new territory. There is only so much room on Onnen for all of them to expand into, so when they heard of new lands they followed their instincts and tried to expand their reach here before the rest of Onnen knew what happened. Isn’t that correct, kupeleleza?” At the end he looked to Shar, his voice calm and there was no accusing malice in it, just a want for a confirmation of what was said.

At the word Shar’s eyes did seem to widen some in the firelight and she nodded. ”Indeed, what you said was correct, rafiki, and you know who I am then as well.” That got a nod from all of the butterflies as the one working on Shar’s wounds finished her work, quickly set her little medical kit aside and sat right next to Sharifa as the Wasp spoke, now looking to Zanar. ”I am sorry for your eye, Zanar.” She started. ”You asked a fair question though, but my current allegiance, one that deserves an answer.” She blinked when the Sidama woman beside her placed a hand over top of Shar’s hand resting on her knee. The Wasp blinked but then squeezed the offered hand as she spoke.

”After the war’s end, I went back to the Hive, where I was accused of treason, purposefully withholding information that would have been critical to our plans for invasion. You see, after I escaped from that little shed, I informed my allies of your vulnerabilities.” She meant the fact that the Deities had become mortal again and could be killed, but, again, she was leaving that for Zanar to say for himself to the Sidama. ”But it wasn’t too long after that that those vulnerabilities were fixed, as you know, and you put an end to the invasion. I was blamed for this, because the Hive were the ones who masterminded the plans for invasion, and I was the lead spy, but you knew that as well. So the fault was put on my shoulders, I was brought before my Queen in a mock trial, but even then I knew I would be found guilty. The other tribes wanted somewhere to put the blame, and it would have been directed at the Hive, who then focused that blame on me.” She sighed.

”I was sentenced to execution by crucifixion, but, before they did that, they took something else from me; my stingers. They held me down, forced them to come out and then tore them from my flesh by the root, so they couldn’t grow back again. All four of them.” The Wasp visible shuddered at the memory of that kind of pain when it had happened, and the Sidama woman next to Shar placed her free hand on Shar’s shoulder. ”Before they could finish the job, however, Angela showed up, she’s the Goddess of Life and Love.” The latter part was directed towards the butterflies. ”She demanded custody of me, to which the Queen, my sister, agreed to once I explained who Angela was. I have been working for Angela since, she helped regrow my stingers for me once I proved myself. I’ll admit I wasn’t happy about the arrangement at first, but I’ve grown fond of the work, and her family, large as it is. It’s why I was out here, I had intelligence on that group and came to wipe them out before they could cause more harm.” She looked to Zanar directly again before looking at the Sidama. ”Well, that’s the long and short of it so to speak.”