Evanis was silent for a time.  Kawabata had picked up his scent before the Blood Spikes, but at least she made a meal out of a feral deer before she got involved in his shenanigans with the bandits.  Despite the brutal situation that had since passed, Evanis was appreciative of the help and now fully believed that he was not going to be eaten anytime soon.  He turned to the corpse of the rhinoman once more and had a sense of wanting to vomit build up inside of him from seeing that his heart had been ripped out.  Evanis turned back to Kawabata who was now wiping off the blood from her face.

She warned that predators would smell the blood, and when she mentioned bears, Evanis piped up with, "Bears are a threat, but I'd be more concerned with manticores.  There was a corpse of one in the pit that is currently being digested by the slime.  I don't know how common manticores are in this forest, but hopefully they're rare."

He held up the map at Kawabata's offer of sticking together and the need to clean herself off and said, "As for going through this forest together?  Sure, you can come with me."

Evanis was more of a solo person, but he did not mind working with others provided they did not try to screw him later on.  He was cautious because of that.  Like Kawabata though, he too wanted to get out of the forest as soon as possible and trusted that he was not going to be betrayed by her.

He gazed in the direction of the rapids and looked at his map.  His eyes perked up when he saw that there was apparently a natural land bridge that crossed the deadly river.  Before he got back to walking, he said to Kawabata, "Come on then."

The deerman strode through the forest, watchful for anymore snakes until he saw that indeed, there was a land bridge going across the river.  A groundhog was standing atop it, but it scurried away when Evanis approached.  The land bridge felt sturdy when Evanis stepped onto it and crossed with ease.  At the other side he stared down into the relentless rapids, glad that he was finally able to get across.  He walked on, following the map and occasionally looking up at the birds that flew overhead.

His directions via the map would soon bring him to a glistening lake that had a duck swimming across with some ducklings behind it.  Two feral deer were seen drinking from it and somewhere along the edge of the lake a goose was nestling itself within its nest.  If Kawabata was with him, he would motion to the body of water and say, "That looks like a good spot for you to get clean.  I can keep watch."

Evanis would then find a defensive position and equip his bow.  His eyes scanned the wooden pillars for any threats and his ears listened for any dangerous sounds.

“Manticores? Gods, last time I had to fight one of those it killed a few of the other mercs I was with before we managed to drop it. But I was younger back then and less experienced than I am now…” Kawabata mused, if she had to fight she would, but she was exhausted and trying to hide some of the pain she was in. That parasitic natural armour under her skin had taken some damage and it was sapping her strength to repair itself, leaving her tired until then. Evanis was agreeable to the idea of travelling together so she collected herself as he looked around.

Evanis led the way, to a land bridge that crossed the rapids. He had a map to follow and what seemed like a really good sense of direction. Kawabata decided it was time for her to get a map, she had heard of magical ones that could actually show your location on it for ease of following, she’d try to look into one of those when she got back to a city.

The trek was done in silence, which was fine with Kawabata, she had questions for Evanis but they could wait. She needed to clear her head, and she was still puffing on her pipe as they walked anyway, allowing the catnip burning in it to calm that feral cat within. They came to a pretty lake and she grinned at the sight of the adorable ducklings with their mom, and the deer eyeing them from a distance, after a moment it seemed they caught the scent of the blood on Kawabata and took off. Evanis mentioned he would keep watch as she cleaned up and the ronin nodded. “Thank you, I won’t take long.”

She went to the water’s edge and dropped her backpack to the ground, when it slumped over it honestly looked like it was empty. But she reached in and removed a small package that contained a scrubbing loofa and some soap and a towel, a clean set of clothing came next, sadly she didn’t get herself a second jacket yet. She also drew a katana from inside the backpack, which of course was longer then the backpack was, leaving it probably obvious it wasn’t an ordinary backpack. She glanced up to Evanis if he was watching, as she didn’t care if he was. “I don’t like not having one of my swords out in this kind of situation, this way it’s faster to grab if something happens.” She explained as she snuffed her pipe out and knocked the charred catnip out of it.

With or without Evanis watching or any conversation, Kawabata removed her clothing and stepped into the cool waters. Kawabata was thorough but efficient getting herself cleaned up and then dried off. If Evanis was to glance at her undressed form he’d see the extent her tattoos ran. The flowered claw marks on her forearms ran up to her shoulders, while the snake that wrapped around the heart tattoo on the center of her chest ran its way around her torso. Her legs were equally heavily tattooed in similar styles(I haven’t decided what they are yet though…).

Clean once again and with fresh clothing on, aside from her jacket Kawbata smiled. “That feels so much better, thank you for keeping watch, Evanis.” She remarked as she packed everything back away, but clipped the katana to her side. She retrieved the pipe and packed in fresh catnip. “I willing to bet you can smell what this is.” She looked to Evanis as she struck a match and puffed on the pipe until it was burning the way she wanted it. “It helps me calm the cat within, it would make humans sick if they smoked it like I am. It’s pure catnip. You’re welcome to try it if you like, I don’t think it would make you sick since you’re not human.”

Whether he took it or not she continued. “I’m ready to go whenever you are.” Once they were on their way again she couldn’t help but ask. “Evanis, I hope I’m not prying when I ask this, but, since I haven’t met anyone of your kind before I can’t help myself. Can you tell me a little about your people? I’ll tell you pretty much anything you want to if you’re at all curious.”

Evanis chose to post up a short distance from the lake so that he could keep watch and warn Kawabata if anyone or anything was coming.  He peeked back in time to see her take a katana out of her backpack which to his puzzlement was too small for the carrier.  A quick thought that it was probably magic brushed that deal aside as Kawabata explained why the sword was out.  He nodded to show that he understood her reasoning.

When Kawabata at last began to undress for her bathing session, Evanis kept his eyes on the forest in front of him out of respect for her privacy.  In the distance, he could make out a lynx passing by, but it showed no interest in the duo and kept going.  At one point, Evanis stole a glance at Kawabata to see how she was doing and saw that almost her entire body was covered in tattoos.  He was not one to pry about how someone inked themselves, but this in combination with the lady's weretiger form had piqued his interest.  Nothing else decided to harass them for the duration of Kawabata's bath, and when she was finished, she expressed her gratitude to the deerman for keeping watch.

Evanis eyed the pipe that Kawabata displayed, not too familiar with the scent of catnip, but relieved that she had a way to keep the bestial part of her in check.  He recalled a bounty he collected on a debtor who tried to weasel his way out of a serious amount of debt he owed via his gambling addiction from a hotel.  Said hotel was owned by a wealthy woman who had a fluffy white cat, but he could not remember if there was catnip or not as all he cared about was the bounty that the lady posted to the notice board out on the wall of the establishment.  Evanis raised his hand when he was offered the catnip and said, "No thank you."

When Kawabata was ready, they were on their way through the forest with Evanis checking the map to see that they were going the right way.  Along the way, he noticed a squirrel climbing a tree and there was another one sitting at the base of it.  When asked by Kawabata about his people, Evanis replied, "We're a small tribe known as the Leaf Gliders.  Our village is in a forest that is well away from civilization.  We mainly do foraging, but we also practice archery to make sure predators don't get too close."

Evanis shrugged and continued, "As you could probably infer from me, we don't do hunting since deerfolk like myself are herbivores, but we do trade whatever kills we find with any trading caravans that come by the village.  Might as well make use of the meat for goods rather than let it go to waste.  The community's a tight knit one, so it's rare that anyone leaves to go on their own path."

He looked over the map some more before he asked Kawabata, "Those…tattoos on you.  Do they have any meaning to them?  And your weretiger form.  When did you first experience it, and when you are the beast is it still you in control…or someone else?"

The map showed that there was a trail that was quite a walk from the lake.  While the bandits had been dealt with, Evanis knew that they were not entirely out of danger.  Like Kawabata said, bears were dangerous as were other predators that inhabited the forest.  Judging from the map, going left on the trail would take them to a small village in the forest, while going right would take them out of the forest although it would be a long walk.  At the very least, it seemed that the two would finally be able to get out of the forest.

The ronin nodded in reply when Evanis declined her offer of the catnip, that was fair, very few ever took her up on the offer anyway. They continued on their way through the forest as Evanis explained a bit about himself and his people at her questioning. Leaf Gliders, a nearly hidden village far from civilization, which she didn’t blame them for at all. Expert archers to keep predators away, but they would trade with passing caravans, which she guessed were allowed to know how to get to the village instead of stumbling upon it.

He turned the questioning around her, asking about her extensive tattoos and her weretiger form and when she had first experienced it. “To answer your second question first, my kind, unlike lycans, don’t go by the cycle of the moons, nor do we turn others we bite into weretigers, you must be born one. For us women, our first change happens at the same time we enter our first menstruation cycle. I’ll spare you the details, but, suffice to say, it’s fucking painful the first few times, then you get used to it, it’s still fucking painful, but at least by then you know what you’re in for.” She didn’t think more details would do him any good, but if he asked she would answer, she wasn’t a private person by any means.

She was taking a glance at his map while she moved to the other topic he had asked about. “The marks on my arms are for my first kills in my tiger form. The snake is simply because I like them and the heart I got a whim and thought it looked good there, since I had the snake first. As for my legs, well, the dragon that dominates my whole right leg with the followers and cherry blossoms has two meanings. The dragon itself represents power and given to me when I proved myself in a difficult fight against overwhelming odds while human, as it is the way I prefer to fight. The blossoms are for femineity, showing my pride in being a female warrior when others had wished I followed a different path.” She stopped walking to reach down and pull her left pant legs up. “That mask is the kind samurai wear, it is amour, but has become more symbolic for ceremonies over time. Given when I was deemed ready to obtain the rank of samurai, and it’s done in the colours of my family to add pride in it, it’s similar to one my father had.”

She paused a moment to think before she continued. “The phoenix, hm, how to explain this. Well, see, where I’m from, white tigers are considered an ill omen, bad luck for a family and community. They’re, well, I should say, we, are typically exiled and shunned, or in some cases killed outright. When I first turned my fur was the normal orange, and it was for a while, until I was a bit older when I noticed it was starting to lighten. The good thing is that, in our culture, when a woman starts her monthly cycle, we have privacy huts that we can use, food is brought to us, but we have no contact until we are ready to come out. I took advantage of that to hide my lightening fur, I managed a long time. But then I was caught, and exposed.” She sighed. “Because I had hid it for so long I knew the consequences would be sever, and my family couldn’t help me or else they would face similar punishments. So with the help of brother and sister I left, got on a boat and left, making my way since then as a mercenary. I got the phoenix to represent my new life, but since it wasn’t a happy reason to start over, I left out any colours.” She finished, during that had pulled her pant leg back down again.

The explanation finished for now, and she would still answer more questions, she glanced back to Evanis’s map. “It might take longer, but I like the idea of getting out of this forest, but I don’t mind going to that village if you want.”

Evanis listened as Kawabata explained her tale as a weretiger and the tattoos on her body.  Admittedly, he was caught off guard when she explained that the transformation was connected to menstruation.  He could not imagine the excruciating pain someone experienced going through all of that.  A part of him felt bad for Kawabata, and he wondered if there was an item that was magical or otherwise that could help her go through her transformations without the intense pain that came with him.  The tattoos themselves were an interesting sort, but what intrigued him the most was the marks that represented Kawabata's first kills, so he asked, "If I may ask, what did your first kills consist of?"

He found the circumstances of Kawabata's turn to mercenary work after she was outed for her white fur to be those of the unfortunate sort, but he was also surprised to learn that white fur had such dark symbolism where she came from.  He decided to try and soften the stigma for her by saying, "Well, that thing about white fur is interesting to say the least.  Throughout my time as a bounty hunter I've learned that the same symbol can have different meanings depending on the culture like you've mentioned.  There was a town I was in once that was visited by a prince of a minor noble family.  He had a small squad of guards with him, and one of them carried the banner depicting the face of a white tiger.  To them, that white tiger was a symbol of pride and strength.  I'm not saying you should change how you view something, but perhaps some groups out there might view the white fur as something heroic rather than the curse that your community believed it to be."

Evanis rubbed two of his fingers together.  He was never the best at empathizing with others.  Like Kawabata, he believed that it would be best to get out of the forest, but considering the recent fight, it might be worth checking out the village and restocking on supplies.  His quiver could use some more arrows.  The road was now in view and Evanis pointed left saying, "I agree with your idea, but let's visit the village first.  It might have goods we can stock up on before we finally leave this place."

He lead the way down the path toward the village.  Along the way was a satyr that was lying sprawled across the side of the road with several bottles of wine surrounding him.  A perceptive eye could tell that the satyr was drunk and unconscious.  As Evanis passed that scene, he at last could see the village in the distance.  It was a small village with its buildings made entirely out of logs and was surrounded by a mid-height wooden enclosure with wooden spikes at the top.

Approaching the village was a cart containing the carcass of a brown bear that was being pulled by a pair of well-built goatmen who had two other goatmen at their flanks.  A human guard with a spear stood under the simple arch that lead into the village.  One of the goatmen pulling the cart explained to the guard, "Got a bear here that should fill a few bellies."

The guard nodded and let the group in.  When he saw the duo coming, he raised his hand in a halt gesture and asked, "What is your business here?"

"We're here for supplies," Evanis answered.

The guard lowered his hand and asked, "You two aren't part of a bandit group are you?  Had enough problems with them already, especially with that blasted group called the Blood Spikes."

Evanis smiled and said to the guard, "Oh, I assure you that they won't be a problem anymore."

The guard raised an eyebrow at Evanis before he motioned to the entrance and said, "Alright, go on in you two.  Just stay out of trouble.  The Captain's already in a bad enough mood as is."

Evanis bowed at the guard and said, "Your hospitality is appreciated."

With entry granted, Evanis led the way into the village.  Aside from the houses which made up the majority of the village, there was a general store called, "Dijin's Wares", a tiny herbalist shop, a butchery, and a guardhouse where a large, red-haired human woman with an irritable expression stood out front in light armor and was armed with a scimitar.  Two other elven guards stood with her.  Apart from the goatmen who were hauling their kill to the butchery, most of the villagers were comprised of humans and elves.  Evanis would ask Kawabata if she was with him, "So, what do you want to do first?"

“A small invasion force from a neighboring island nation tried to take control of a portion of territory that belonged to a close family ally. A group consisting of a few werewolves, humans and elves, they wanted to take control of the rich silver mines in the area. As an ally to our family we were honour bound to assist when the call for aid reached us.” She explained answering his question of her first kill. “This was my first taste of real battle outside of sparring matches so I got to cut loose. I was a nervous fucking wreck on the inside, but I stayed focused and lived through it, I was cut up pretty bad still, lycan claws are as sharp as my own, but my katanas are shaper.” She grinned, clearly she enjoyed this memory. It had been a proud moment for her to walk away from the battle under her own power, covered in blood, some of it her own. “I had witnesses to my first kills, and since they to lived to tell the story, I was allowed these tattoos to mark the occasion.”

As Evanis spoke on his journey of being a mercenary and coming upon the group of guards to a noble that carried a standard that depicted a white tiger face, Kawabata grinned. “Funny you mention that, seems we have been close to crossing paths before this. I remember that banner, I did work for them to some years back. I didn’t reveal what I was to them, thought it might make this awkward, but the irony wasn’t lost on me.” She chuckled. “Since I left home I haven’t had any issues with my fur being white, most are curious instead of put off by it. It’s a nice change of pace, but it tends to draw extra attention I don’t always want to.”

They made their way to the village, Kawabata eyeing the drunken satyr sprawled out along the road. Getting drunk sounded like a good idea to her. As they approached the village ahead of them were some goatmen pulling a cart with a dead bear in it, the guard allowing them to pass. When Evanis explained that the bandits wouldn’t be a problem anymore Kawabata only grinned to the guard and tapped the hilt of her sword. He allowed them in with no troubles and she nodded her thanks to him as they passed by.

“Well, this is a cozy little place.” She commented looking around. “Since we’re new here, we should probably introduce ourself to the Captain if nothing else, that way she knows who is hanging around. After that, I want to see if the herbalist has any catnip in stock, then, hm, I don’t know about you, but I might stay the night here and head out in the morning. Thoughts?”

Evanis nodded in response to her answer regarding her first kills.  It was quite impressive to him that she took down werewolves.  Those marks were well-deserved.  He cocked an eyebrow when she mentioned that she worked for said noble and the guards with the standard.  In all fairness though, even if he had seen her during that time, the moment likely would not have been that significant to him.  Admittedly though, Evanis was glad to see that Kawabata was embracing her white fur rather than cursing it and said, "It's good to see that you're not letting a different coat of fur get you down."

When Kawabata suggested that they talk to the Captain, Evanis showed some hesitation and said, "I don't know, the guard out front did say that she was not having the best day."

He then thought about the idea some more and shrugged.  It probably would be a good idea to talk to her first so that there was little trouble down the line.  As much as it bugged him, Evanis walked up to the Captain who immediately shot him an irritated look.  Evanis raised his hand in a peaceful gesture and said, "Excuse me ma'am."

"What do you want elk?" the Captain grumbled.

Evanis ignored the jab and nodded to Kawabata asking, "My friend and I here were wondering if there was somewhere we could stay the night."

The Captain's eyes shifted off to the side for a brief moment before they returned to Evanis and she said, "Unfortunately, the inn is still under construction, and all of the houses here are occupied, so the best you two can do is buy something and get out."

Evanis gave Kawabata an apologetic shrug and turned back to the Captain to say, "Thank you ma'am, sorry for bugging you."

As he walked away, he heard the Captain grumble, "First lost supplies, then bandits, what's next?  A goddess decides she's had enough and just razes Revaliir to the ground?"

Evanis folded his arms and said to Kawabata, "I'll see if the general store has any arrows for me to restock.  Feel free to check out the herbalist shop at your leisure, and unless the higher powers decide to bless us, then it's time to get out of this forest."

The cervine archer then strolled toward the general store.  The herbalist shop would contain a wide variety of spices, tonics, and powders and would be operated by a middle-aged elf woman who kept a wooden wand on the wall behind the counter.  A smell of sweet cinnamon would dominate the shop.  Just near the shop though, a teen elf boy was crouched and was waving to Kawabata, beckoning her to come over to him.