Amé was not best pleased to be on the outskirts of the forest as twilight drew near but there were worse places to camp than this. even if there was the lingering fear that fae might pop up and ruin a good night's sleep.

Still. There was beauty in the forest that the half-barbarian had never noticed before. A wash of every shade of green imaginable growing ever darker as the night drew near until only grays and blacks remained. There was nothing still about this place which made the female wonder if sleeping was actually going to be a thing anyway. 

The air was filled with the sound of gentle rustling as the quiet breeze breathed its way through the gaps in the leaves. While most of the birds had headed off to sleep the creatures of the night were now starting to wake up and make their presence known in the branches above. 

Though Amé could not see these things from the meager camp she had made in a clearing of trees just off the pathway to the next major town her other senses were picking it up. She didn't have to see. She simply wished she couldn't hear it all!

And you call this calming? Give me a plain of nothing but grass if you have to go for something wild but trees? They're loud!

Her complaints to herself were quickly washed away with a feeling of amusement and calm. Her thoughts changed to counter-argue. A thing Amé still had yet to get used to.

Just close your eyes and focus on the sound of the leaves. It will lull us to sleep, I promise.

But that didn't work at all.

As the female closed her eyes the sound got worse. What was just a gentle rustling when all of her other senses were in play became a loud 'shhing' sound when she focused on it. How did this other entity endure this! Too elfy, probably. Elves loved this shit and second entity did seem to be more in touch with their elven side than she had ever been.

"Okay, forget it!"

She muttered to herself angrily while packing up her camp ready to move on. She'd rather risk being mugged by bandits on the dark unclaimed roads than listen to 'nature' as it stayed awake all night with her.

Being lost in this forest was starting to get boring.At first it was magical, around every corner it seemed there was adventure to be had. Now however everything was starting to look samey, the forest was still a lovely place. However there was a reason Jake was a wandering bard and not just the minstrel of some wealthy noble. He needed to move, see the world in order to keep up his creativity. The more wandering the bard did the more fun he had. Also Jake was in need of some ale and a good shave. Two things that forests were sorely lacking in. While Jake did have the tools needed to shave he didn't own a mirror and had thus far been unable to find a suitable substitute.

Logic would dictate that one would have an easier time finding what they were looking for during the day. However, Jake didn't care he wasn't tired so he might as well keep moving. It appeared though that he was moving in the right direction. After looking up at the canopy he could tell it was thinning. That had to be a good sign, or that Jake was gonna end up walking into another god damn clearing. Freaking clearings man they seemed to exist only to spite him!

This had to be the biggest failure to make a shortcut within recent memory. Had Jake kept on the road he originally meant to be on. He'd have reached his destination days ago. But no the bard Saw what might be a shortcut and had taken it. By this time it had become blatantly apparent that this was a longcut. Not to say no good came of the accidental journey through the forest. Walking around aimlessly had led to the bard coming up with a few decent song ideas. In fact he might as well play some music while he was walking. However that thought was interrupted when he saw something off in the distance. The trees stopped, freedom was close at hand! A steady walking pace turned into an all out sprint as he tried to duck around trees to get out of the forest quicker. All said Jake did end up getting out much quicker than expected.

Another side effect of running at a high speed did arise. That was that you might not have enough time to react to something. Which is why after clearing the tree line. Jake crashed right into a person, knocking them both onto the ground. As he was about to crash into this person he just shouted "I'm sorry!". After recovering from some dizziness Jake saw this person was in fact a woman. Albeit, not that much could be done with that information at the moment. Seeing as the bard was sprawled all over the ground with his equipment having flung out all around him.

Her quest for silent solitude was about to be cut short in more ways than the one involving the whole forest it would seem. The Half Barbarian had been blissfully unaware of the running bard right up until the last moment. Perhaps if she had been more attuned to her senses she might have picked up the sound of feet pacing quickly along the ground, the sound of branches cracking and snapping from the impact of something brushing quickly through them and the more obvious yell that caught Amé's attention far too late.

She had just enough time to look up in alarm before the man hit straight into her. His apology either came too late or too early - depending on your point of view. In any case, the female had no time to get herself neatly out of the way or gather her things so they didn't end up everywhere.

Amé's back hit the ground with a force that knocked all of the air out of her 6 foot frame. The sack of items she had resting over her shoulder rolled well out of her way so didn't provide a single bit of cushioning and since both of her swords were sheathed on her back they just added more lumps to cause bruises.

"Argh" She managed to make the sound between the breaths her poor heaving chest was trying to catch more of. 

At least from where she was lying she could see that the sky was clear and the starts were out in all of their glory. She made sure she focused on that while her body rapidly started to recover.

With each breath things got easier. Now that she was certain she'd not die of asphyxiation she was able to focus on more important matters that were at hand. Like…

What in the many hells was that?!

She rolled onto her side and threw a glare at the man who had tackled her to the ground. Gods she hoped he was running from something life-threatening to have caused this or he was about to do just that in the form of her.

Moving onto her hands and knees she looked up to find the contents of her sack had mixed in with some of his stuff that was also sprawled out along the ground with them. She let out a groan of frustration and anger then sat up onto her knees.

"Please tell me you had a bloody good reason for knocking into me like that! You're lucky you took the wind out of me or I'd have throttled you for the trouble."

As she glared down at the man still sprawled on the ground with every intention of beating him senseless a new thought took over that caused a smirk.

He did look rather funny laid out like that. And she hadn't been all that harmed had she? It was just another inconvenience started by the gods damned trees.

At that point, Amé let out a tittle of laughter and shook her head.

"You look quite the picture, Are you alright down there or do you need a hand?"

The woman was not one to stay angry for long. Not unless battle was afoot anyway. Life was too short to just spend it getting pissed off with people.

 Plus, killing people without being paid for it was a waste.

The fall took a lot out of the young bard. Who was now sprawled out on the ground dazed and breathless. Though of all the things he noticed the most obvious thing was quite strange. "Why is everything spinning?" the second and more dire matter for Jake was the fact that he couldn't see where his lute had fallen. There was also the angry woman who had just threatened to attack him. That was also going to be an issue. After attempting to get up and realizing that everything spinning makes moving much harder Jake just sat down. He then responded to the woman in a spacey voice. "Well ya see I was lost in the forest for like a week so when I saw what could be a way out, I ran. And since it was rather dark I couldn't see very well".

"I am immensely sorry about knocking you over, but on the bright side the sky is beautiful tonight". After being lost for a week where he couldn't see the sky it became infinitely more amazing to look at. The sky was always one of Jake's favorite things to look at. Virens forest was awe inspiring, but it could never hold a candle to the vastness of the sky. It was strange in this day Jake could go and buy a ticket and get where he needed to go much quicker. Yet he still preferred walking, part of it was because he was cheap. But another part told him that the sky is best left untouched, that it's vastness is best left to be seen from the ground. Then again he could just be crazy.

Jake's dazed looking up to the sky was interrupted by this woman offering to help him up. By this point the dizziness seemed to have mostly passed so he said "That'd be wonderful, thank you very much". After getting on his feet the bard decided it was probably time to introduce himself. "Hello my name is Jake, I'm a travelling bard. What's your name?". After saying his name Jake did a quick bow. It was at this point Jake remembered he had lost his lute. Which led to a beginning of panicked searching, in which he successfully found and began piling up most of his stuff. That is except for his lute.

((Sorry! Didn't see you'd responded!))

So he was lost in the forest? That did not give an excuse to go running around without looking where they were going in Amé's mind but that was probably because she was feeling grumpy and unimpressed. She could attempt to laugh it up all she wanted but the feeling was still there. Even if he did lessen slightly with each passing moment.

With Jake's permission, Amé helped the man up and then looked around to work out where their items had gotten to and what belonged to who. With a smile, she shook her head and tutted "I cannot blame you really. I wouldn't want to be stuck in there for a week. Can't imagine anything good would come out of that. There's stories of all sorts of things lurking in there…"

She shifted her gaze into the forest with a suspicious look on her face. Her attention was only drawn back to the conversation when she realized they'd reached the introductory stage.

"A travelling bard, eh? A bit of an odd place to be finding you then. Unless you saught inspiration for a song in a place like that? It is very nice to meet you in such circumstances I guess. I am Amé Keldorn. A between job mercenary with a flare of exploration. I'm half tempted to talk myself out of it. I can't sleep a wink near this Gods be damned forest!"

She gave a chuckle. Mostly because this situation was completely absurd and with the lack of sleep that made it all the more amusing.

She watched Jake scuffle along the ground grabbing all of his things with a sense of panic for a moment before dropping down on her hands and knees too to do the same. 

Most of her stuff was weapons and survival kit so it wasn't hard to pick what little of it was hers. 

She had yet to see a Lute or any such instrument among the pile though. Had he already picked it up? Unless he played something small like a Ocarina or pipes?

"For a bard, I would have expected you to have an instrument within your belongings…"

She shoved all of her stuff in her bag and while she did had a double check inside the bag that there was no instrumental type thing in there that didn't belong.

Jake was only half listening to to the woman as he searched for his lute. While losing his instrument would be horrible for any bard it would be devastating to Jake. The lute had been a gift from an old friend and mentor; it was probably the only possession he truly cared for. After frantically searching for a while he sighed. Jake would have to return tomorrow to find the lute if he didn't find it soon.  He turned to the woman who had now introduced herself. "It is a pleasure to meet you Amé, I'm always looking for a song but no. I'm simply prone to wandering, I never stay in the same place for very long. I can't say that forests have ever kept me up at night, but then again I was raised near them so I might just be used to it". Jake made a quick bow after he finished talking.

"Well I did manage to find my flute" Jake began spinning the instrument around in his fingers. "However my lute continues to allude me. It's mostly wood with a silver trim, it has the initials TK carved into it. I don't suppose you've seen it lying around have you?". Jake ceased the spinning and put the flute to his mouth and began playing a song. As he played what little light still lingering around soon coalesced into a small ball of light. One of the few bits of magic he could do without tiring himself out. Using the ball to light up the area around him Jake began packing his stuff.

After getting everything together Jake noticed the shadow of something in a tree. He walked closer to see if he could find what it was. Upon arriving at the base the bard saw his lute stuck up towards the top of the tree. "Hey Amé, I know that we just met but would you mind watching my stuff for a minute or two". Not even waiting for her response Jake began scaling the tree. Luckily Jake had a lot of experience climbing from when he was younger and was able to scale it with some speed.

((I have internet again!))

The half-barbarian gave a nod. It was a lifestyle she had herself though mostly because she was looking for work.

"Well I know a bit about constantly being on the move myself. Though admittedly I do it because people get Antsy if a Mercenary group over stay their welcome. I was born and raised in open planes. I can put up with wind through tall grasses but trees creak and groan which is distracting as hell!"

By looking around, it was pretty obvious there wasn't any sign of the lute. Amé's gaze turned to the forest. It hadn't been dropped as he'd run through there had it? If it had they'd obviously have to go in and look for it. She wouldn't leave the bard to do it alone. That would have been cruel.

A wave of relief washed over her, however when the man spotted it in a nearby tree. She visibly relaxed and gave a smile.

"Of course not. Go get your lute. I'll even give you a leg-up if you need one. I'm tall enough to boost you up a bit"

But as she watched she realized he didn't need her help at all so just left him to it.

While he did that, her thoughts were on setting up camp. There was no point travelling on at this hour and there was safety in numbers.

"On the subject of Only Just met…" Amé started, her voice raised so Jake could hear her "At this point, we might as well camp together. I see no point at this hour moving on and company is always welcome when you'll otherwise be alone. What do you think? A no is as good an answer as any."

How the lute had got tangled so high up in the tree alluded him. It could have been done by one of the fae that walked the forest. Perhaps it was looking to play a trick on an unaware traveler. Either way Jake climbed and the ball of light came with him, soon reaching where his lute was. The bard let out a despondent sigh, not only had the strap gotten tangled. All of the strings had gotten tangled into the trees branches. He'd have to cut them all off and attach new ones which would be time consuming. After freeing his lute from his twiggy prison Jake began to dangle off the branch by his legs. Doing so to get closer to the ground; then he just dropped down managing to land on his feet. 

He turned to Ame and said " An old trick a ranger taught me a while back in exchange for a meal"

Jake sat down at the base of the tree and began taking what was left of his lute strings off. Replacing all of the strings was gonna take time. At this time Jake heard the mercenary talking about setting up camp. "That sounds wonderful, camping alone is so boring. Plus I still haven't eaten dinner so staying here for the night seems as good an idea as any". Jake stopped fiddling with his lute and walked over to place it by his stuff. "I'll go gather some firewood, seeing as I have the floating orb of light". With that Jake wandered off towards some trees and began looking for wood. The ball following after lighting up the trees near him and casting shadows everywhere else.

Amé couldn't help but notice how well this guy was climbing. He made it look all too easy though that didn't mean she was inclined to give it a go herself. She didn't quite understand what he was doing with the strings until he cut them. She'd originally thought he was carefully weaving the branches out of the way.

As Jake landed with such grace, Amé couldn't help but give a round of applause. He looked like such a natural, she almost found herself awestruck by it.

"Not a bad trick to learn. Especially in exchange for a meal. Half of the things I learn after a good meal isn't worth showing in polite society." She snorted with laughter to show she wasn't all that serious.

"Such a shame you had to cut them strings. Is it easy to replace them? How do you know they're in tune once you've put them there?"

The woman was in a learning mode, it seemed. She'd never had much talent for music and hadn't really met a person who played a lute let alone knew how to string one. On top of that, It was a subject of conversation she could grasp at while she unwrapped some bread, cheese and dried meat out of a cloth in her bag. Of all the things that had fallen out of it, this hadn't been one of them. Thank the gods. The last she needed was to lose her food.

"If you're struggling for food, I have plenty here." Amé called after Jake as she began to cut the bread open with her dagger "The bread's a bit old but it's edible. Might even taste a little better once toasted on the fire. It'll melt the cheese too…I suppose…"

Finding firewood turned out to be quite a simple task. After all this was on the edge of one of the largest forests in the world. It was also made easier by the glowing beacon that was following Jake around as he picked up various bits of wood. Though one disadvantage this posed was that if any bandits happened to come along it wouldn't exactly take a genius to find out where Jake was and to then rob and possibly stab him. But Jake didn't think about that he was thinking about his poor lute and how long it would take to attach an entirely new set of strings. After a few minutes both of his arms were filled with firewood and he returned to camp. "To this day I say I still got the worse end of the deal. That man ate more in one meal than I've seen men eat in a whole day!".

Jake placed the firewood down and got out his tinderbox. After a few attempts he got the fire good and going. After that he returned to the tree that he had claimed as a chair and sat down. Then the bard once again began work on restringing his lute. "Had it been just one or two strings it would be a pretty quick fix. But replacing every string on this is gonna take a while. Not to mention the fact that I use a twenty four string lute which will only make it take longer. I'd bet you that the Fae did this, they love playing tricks on travelers". He sighed this was gonna take a while, it looked like Jake wouldn't be getting a good nights sleep after all.

Though Jake did perk up a bit when Ame offered him food. "That'd be lovely thank you. Can't afford to be picky now can we, food is food after all". Jake had long since given up on caring about the quality of his food. While it was nice to have good food, it wasn't a necessity. Days going hungry as a young boy had taught him that being picky about what you eat is just as likely to kill you as starting a fight with a knight.