Ever curious, ever wandering. Since she had ran away from that pirate town Vilpamolan, Akira has been to one place and then another. Her favorite place, thus far, has been some place special. The people there had been so nice and protective over her. It was so odd not to have everyone beat you for being hungry. Sure, some kids still pulled her tail, but she was beginning to understand that it was because she was so different.

Now, she was trying to find her way back. But without knowing exactly where she was, she couldn't get any help. Why did that stupid man with the promise of shiny things drag her away from there? So Akira went on one ship after another, hoping to stumble her way back. This time, however, Akira found herself in a forest. Things were a bit spooky here. Trees looked strange, with odd random objects poking out here and there.

Everything felt wet, the ground sucking on her feet as she tried to walk. Akira giggled at the sound that it made when she pulled her feet from the ground. Ahead, she saw a little light blink out. Curious, she went to where she saw it, but saw another one somewhere else. "Lead me?" the five year old asked as she began to follow the lights. It was then that the most eerie sound came from nowhere.

A ghost was behind Akira, screaming and wailing. Fear caused the fox's little heart to jump into her throat. All of a sudden, the ghost began to dive at her. Akira let out an ear piercing scream as she turned and began to ran as fast as she could. Her hair whipped behind her, getting knotted over time until it got caught on a branch. Unable to tug herself free, Akira screamed and began to cry, huddling in terror of the still approaching ghost.

She had been told of this forest by a few people, so Larka decided to make the trip and explore a little. She had her new friend with her as well, a little wolf puppy, but she wasn't a normal wolf pup. She had runes of lightning covering her fur that glowed slightly with an inner power, and Larka had paid a lot of what she had saved up to get the cute little pup, that she named Kyu. Larka had a long, long time ago raised a wolf pup until he was fully grown, his name was Fel and the two had been inseparable. Larka reached down and scratched behind the pup's ears with a smile. ”Be a good girl and stay close to me, okay, Kyu?” Larka said and the puppy barked happily looking up at Larka. Larka couldn't understand what Kyu was saying, but she had to wonder if the little wolf could understand her, she was very bright for her age already.

Perhaps this wasn't the best place to bring the wolf, however, as Larka had been warned that this forest was haunted, and it looked it. Here and there from out of the bark of trees Larka could see bits of armour or bone, so the stories were true. It was creepy to say the least, and a place unlike Larka had seen before in her life. She had seen her share of haunted places and ghosts, but nothing came close to this.

As Larka came around a tree she yelped when her face hit something and backed stepped taking her sword half way out before she saw what it was; a noose. An old rope hung from the tree's branch, rotting but it still looked strong enough to hold up someone's weight if they were so inclined to test. Larka wasn't, he first thought was that even putting around neck for fun would make the thing tighten around her and the branch it was on to rise high enough to hang her.

After a while Larka stopped and looked around and suddenly heard the echoing sound of a ghost wailing in the distance. Well, she wasn't going to go that way then! But following the ghost wailing the next screaming Larka knew well; that of a child. Was there a true child out here in danger? Through the trees Larka caught site of something small running quickly and her eyes widened, heart raced and maternal instincts kicked in. ”Come on, Kyu.” Larka called to the wolf before she took off at a dead run following the direction the child was looking like she was going.

Another scream from ahead and Larka got her long legs up to full pace as she raced on. Kyu was trying to keep up but Larka was much faster than the pup's little legs, but the little one kept running as fast as she could manage. Larka broke through the trees in time to see the little girl with her hair caught in the branch and the spirit creeping up to her.

Larka rushed forward and placed herself between the ghostly presence and the child. ”Be gone spirit, this little one is off limits to you!” Larka commanded in a loud tone, standing her ground and showing no fear for herself. The spirit moaned and wailed again so Larka yelled back. ”IN THE NAME OF THE GODDESS OF LIFE, ANGELA, I COMMAND YOU TO BE GONE SPIRIT!” Larka yelled at the top of her voice.

The spirit wailed once more but then was gone and Larka relaxed and turned to look at the child. She was cute, and the ears made Larka pause, she wasn't human, the ears looked like a fox, so she was a fox child of some kind? Either way Larka knelt on her knees and helped to carefully untangle the mess of hair from the tree as she spoke softly. ”It's okay, little one, the ghost is gone, I'm here to protect you. My name is Larka, what's yours?” Larka asked as Kyu stepped over her little tail wagging as she eyed the child. ”And this is Kyu.” Larka put in as she finished getting the child free.

The little girl when she was free suddenly tackled into Larka and hugged her tight. Larka blinked and then wrapped her arm around Akira and held her close. Larka had been a mother once, adopting with her first wife twins, a bot and girl. This little one was reminding Larka a lot of her daughter Mhairi, when they had first adopted the twins. ”Hey, I'm here for you, okay?” Larka wiped any tears from the girl's cheeks away and looked her over, she seemed physically fine, just terrified. ”Are you out here on your own?” Larka asked.

Scared eyes opened and watched a very tall, and very intimidating woman insert herself between her and the scary ghost. Akira squealed in fear when she yelled, hiding behind her hands once more. The poor foxling was trembling like a leaf. Even as she felt something messing with her hair, she still shook, whimpering the entire time. Her ear swiveled toward the woman, listening to her now soft, soothing voice.

With Larka having banished the ghost, and promising to protect her, Akira didn't even think twice about her fear of most people when she threw herself into Larka's arm, holding tight. When Larka began to wipe tears away, Akira impatiently held her arms out while Larka looked her over. The woman seemed pleased with finding nothing beyond a dirty kimono and a terrified child. She curled back up against her, holding a tentative hand out for Kyu.

"I Akira. Akira lost." She explained, scratching the pup behind the ears. Kyu was helping distract her from the ghosts. "Akira just want be back wif Rowan and Hazel." The only problem was she didn't know where that was. Somewhere in the distance, another ghost wailed. The fox gasped, staring out into the forest while holding onto Larka. "Akira scared."

Larka smiled as she examined the little one, nothing but dirt and her frightened state, no wounds or cuts or gashes to worry about, and Larka knew how to help get a child's fear to come down.  Akira, as she called herself, and she spoke in the third person, which Larka found interesting, curled back against Larka and held a hand to Kyu the little wolf pup came over and sniffed and then licked Akira's hand playfully.  Larka smiled, it had been a good idea to bring the wolf then, since children normally liked cute little animals and Kyu was still just a puppy.  Kyu's tail wagged when she received a scratch behind the ears, and Larka knew this would help Akira's fears a little, it had for her own children in the past.

Rowan and Hazel?  Larka didn't know them of course, but she would do what she could to get this little one back with her family.  Another ghost wailed in the distance and it made the little fox girl scared again as she held onto Larka.  "Well, as long as I'm with you, those ghosts won't get to you, okay?"  She looked down to the puppy with the weird ruins around her fur, she was a storm wolf, and Larka thought that when she was older she'd be able to use some spells.  It didn't matter, Larka loved the little pup regardless.  "Kyu, I want you to help Akira to, okay?  Get her scent and we'll follow it back the way she had come from.  Are Rowan and Hazel in the forest as well, Akira?"  They had to be, this was an island forest, how else would the little one get here?  Then again, magic could do funny things in a child that didn't know they actually had magic, if that was he case.  "Take my hand, Akira, we'll follow Kyu and get you out of this scary place, okay?"  Larka would have picked up the child but Larka thought that, if she was carrying the fox girl and then needed her sword suddenly she'd have to drop Akira, which wouldn't be nice.  So this would have to suffice for now, holding hands if Akira would want to.

Once they were ready then Larka would wait for Kyu to get Akira's scent and start to follow the puppy, who hopefully wouldn't get distracted by a squirrel.  Larka was taking a bit of a chance using such a young wolf to do this, but she had little other choice.

The little fox nodded, hopeful that this Larka was right, that the ghosts would not be able to harm her. She listened to Larka give Kyu a command to get Akira's scent. If she had thought of that, she wouldn't have wandered so deep into the forest. In fact, she could have avoided the whole mess if she had thought to follow her own scent out of the Umbral Depths. But those shiny promises were so alluring.

Akira stood, reluctantly leaving the warmth of the woman, and held her hands out for Kyu to sniff her. She shook her head. "Rowan and Hazel don't know where Akira is. All Akira know they safe at they home." Even with her broken common tongue, it was quickly apparent that she did not consider them family, that their home was not her own. Those two were just the first set of people to ever be nice to her, and thus have earned a special place in Akira's heart.

When told, Akira took Larka's hand and they began to walk after Kyu. "Kyu small like Akira. Kyu grow big?" Even if she was still a bit scared, she was still very curious. One day, she would be big, and possibly quite powerful. "Akira want help kids like Akira. Larka? Akira hungry." Usually, she wasn't very talkative. But Larka had an animal, and she was being nice to Akira. Perhaps, if she played on the animal side, the animal lover would like her more?

As they walked, Kyu started barking and darted off. To make matters worse for Larka, something captured Akira's attention. Quick as a fox, Akira pulled her hand out of Larka's and ran in a completely different direction with a small giggle. She ran up to a tree and tried to take some kind of pendant that was embedded within the wood. "Shiny! Shiny! Akira want!" It was obviously some trinket that was round the neck of one of the warriors long since grown into a tree.

So neither of the people knew where she was, and by the sound of it they may not even be her parents, since, while she said 'they' and meant their home, which meant to Larka that it wasn't Akira's home, just people she knew.  "Okay, well, we'll get you out of this forest first and then find them after that, okay?"  For now she'd just have to go with what Akira was saying, that these two people were the ones that she wanted to be with for now.

Hands together they started to walk behind Kyu, following the wolf puppy as she followed her nose.  Larka smiled. "Yes, Kyu will be a big wolf when she's older."  At the child's next words Larka smiled even more and chuckled.  "That's good you want to help, Akira.  And, I may have some food."  She stopped and let go o Akira's hand long enough to reach into her endless bag and pulled some dried meat out and she handed it to Akira.  "I don't have anything else."  Larka informed taking Akira's hand again and continuing to walk.

After a bit of walking Kyu suddenly barked and took off.  "Get back here!"  Larka called after the wolf, but then the next thing Larka knew Akira was letting go of her hand and taking off in another direction.  Larka spat a curse looking between the two for a moment before going after Akira catching up with her in time to see her reaching for something shiny hanging out of a tree.  "No!"  Larka snapped, going into motherly mode as she grabbed Akira's hand before she could touch the pendant.  Larka looked down the child with a serious look.  "Don't touch, Akira, and you can't have it."  She sighed and dropped to a crouch before the child again.  "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell, Akira.  But, see, this forest, as you have seen, has ghosts in it and they don't like when we living people touch things that belong to them.  If you had taken that pendant from the tree, another ghost might have you and we don't want that do we?"  Larka explained.

After that was settled, and even if the child was in tears Larka would just drag her along if she had, again going into mother mode, let a child cry to teach them a lesson, it sometimes worked.  "Kyu!  Get back here, now!"  Larka called into the forest and soon the little wolf came running back to them, something shiny in her mouth.  "Ah shit."  Larka swore with a sigh as she reached down, took the necklace from the wolf and then not too gently bopped the puppy on the nose in punishment.  "You don't run off again, either of you, got that?"  She eyes both fox and wolf in turn and then nodded.  "Now, Kyu, show me where you got this from so I can put it back."  A cold breeze blew past them and Larka heard a moaning in the distance.  "Now, please."  Larka commanded of the puppy who was shaking in fear, not old enough to understand what she was sensing out in the forest.  But she started to go the way she had come from, while Larka had the necklace hanging on her left side on her belt and keeping a tight grip on Akira's hand this time.

She was startled, eyes wide as her hand was grabbed. Her bottom lip quivered as she looked up at Larka. So many people tell her she can't have things, not allowed to touch things. But none of them ever crouch before her and speak softer while explaining things. Tears welled up in her eyes, realizing that Larka might actually care for the young girl.

Slowly, Akira shook her head. "No, no ghost have Akira…" She looked up at the pendant. "Shiny…" Her voice was small and pathetic, rife with sadness. Kyu came back when called, with a necklace in her mouth. They each got scolded, and Akira hung her head. While she had gotten in trouble, no one had ever just try and correct the problem, to protect her from anything until Rowan saving her from sailors.

As Kyu was followed, Akira put the piece of dried meat to her lips and began to suck on the end of it. She was half pulled behind Larka as she did what most scolded children do and dragged her feet. It didn't matter that there was the sound of ghosts in the distance, getting closer as they were following the little wolf pup. She was chewing on the meat now as Kyu finally found where she had taken the necklace and Larka replaced it. The ghosts gave a high pitched screech, fading off in the distance. Kyu was reminded to follow Akira's scent. As they backtracked the girl's path, Akira finished off the meat. When it was gone, she began rubbing her eyes, her feet sluggish. "Rowan live in pretty city. Color blocks people walk on. He live in big house, pretty house… Big bath tub." She softly said, obviously sleepy.

She watched the lip start to quiver and the tears well up in the child's eyes after she was scolded, but Larka didn't apologize, no, Akira needed to learn. And she did care for the child, as she could any child that needed help. Larka had been denied the part of her life, to raise a child, when her and Lilith's two adoptive children had been killed along with Lilith. So whenever Larka had the rare chance to look after a child she couldn't help but act like a mother, even if she wasn't actually aware that she was doing so. ”Tell you what; when we get you back to Rowan's home, I'll buy you a shiny necklace okay? But only if you behave for the rest of the trip.” Larka offered with a smile as they then started to follow Kyu again to where the wolf pup had found the necklace she had taken.

Larka had to half pull Akira along since she was dragging her feet after being scolded but Larka ignored it, if Akira wanted to pout that was fine. Kyu found the spot where she had taken the necklace from and Larka could sense that the ghost was close by and none too happy. She had to let go of the little fox's hand for a moment to put the necklace back in its place. She breathed a sigh of relief when the ghost's wailing seemed to fade into the distance. ”Okay, Kyu, you can follow Akira's scent again.” Larka told the puppy who yipped and nodded and they followed their trail back to where they had been and back continued on Akira's trail.

Larka looked to Akira who had finished off the meat but now her legs were getting more sluggish and she was rubbing her eyes, she was tired. Coloured blocks? Pretty city? Larka was thinking that Akira was talking about the city of Sularia then, but that was on the other continent! How did this little girl get this far away from there on her own?! Larka bent down and scooped Akira up in her arm, allowing her to sit on the crook of her arm. ”Have a nap, Akira, if you want.” Larka informed, deciding she'd ask about how Akira got here after they made their way out of this forest and out of danger.

After a while of walking while holding Akira, Larka's next step fell onto a patch of ground that only look solid. Larka yelped in surprise when she started to drop down, wobbling around, probably waking Akira up, and unable to keep her balance as her right leg was sucked down to her knee in the swampy muck. ”Are you okay, Akira?” Larka asked the child in case she had fallen while Larka had been trying to keep her balance.

After she knew that the little one was okay Larka started to pull on her leg but the mucky shit she was in was doing its best to keep her held, she could feel the suction on her leg. ”Bloody hell.” Larka grumbled as she continued to struggle, getting her arm under her and pushing with it while trying not to get her left leg sunk into the muck as well.

It took some doing and a lot of mumbled and unintelligible cursing on Larka's part but the Reaver finally managed to free her leg from the muck with a sickening slurping sound. Now she was soaked to the knee with the muddy water and she was also missing her boot and sock, the mud had claimed both in return for her getting her leg back. ”Oh perfect.” Larka sighed as she sat there trying to catch her breath for a few moments, keeping an eye on the wolf and fox at the same time.

Larka promised a shiny necklace when they got back to Rowan, on the condition that Akira behaved. She believed she could do that, though it wasn't as if she was deliberately misbehaving. The fox merely was acting as foxes usually do, curious by nature. It was also not to be forgotten that she was merely a child, and one who has not had anyone looking after her. Surprisingly, she came out of her situation quite sweet and innocent.

There were no squeals of surprise, or of laughter as Akira was scooped up. Just quiet, as she gripped whatever she could to ensure stability while being moved by a seemingly lumbering giant. She could feel the rocking motion of each step, the vibration from shock with each foot falling to land. Akira nuzzled her face into the nape of Larka's neck. For some time, the child was content to sleep there, feeling comfort, warmth and safety.

Jolted awake, Akira was afraid at sudden noise, the unsure steadiness underneath her. Through instincts, Akira half jumped, half fell out of the woman's arms, now suddenly sprawled on the ground, trying to scramble up and away. It was her voice that soothed Akira's nerves enough to cease the frantic movements to look at her. Then came the giggles. ”Larka silly! No walk mud!” With innocent eyes huge with amusement, the fox watched as Larka fought the earth for her leg back.

As she watched, Akira hugged Kyu close, stroking the fur. More laughter ensued as the foot finally came free, grimy yet bootless. Akira laughed so hard, she was wiping tears away from her eyes. ”Larka kay?” she giggled the question out, unable to keep a straight face still. All amusement drained instantly when another ghost wailed somewhere in the distance, far far away. Someone had upset one, it sounded like. A solemn expression was turned to Kyu. ”No steal shiny, Kyu. Bad ghosts.”

When Larka seemed ready to go, Akira stood joyfully. Apparently, her little catnap was enough to bring some pep back into her step. The child skipped along behind the wolf as she continued hunting Akira's trail. Soon enough, they came to the edge of the forest. She looked up at Larka excitedly. ”Look! City over there!” Pointing toward the ocean now visible behind a few rooftops, almost invisible in the darkening sky.

Larka felt Akira jump from her as she went down from her leg being stuck, and made sure the child was alright since she was looking scared at the suddenness of what happened.  She was alright, even starting to giggle at Larka's predicament, calling her silly and not walk in mud.  Larka smiled, that was cute, and the huge eyes that showed amusement as she watched and hugged the wolf puppy close made it a little easier for the Reaver to accept the situation.  At least she had Akira smiling, that was a good thing.  By the time Larka got her leg free, minus a boot and sock, Akira had herself in tears laughing at Larka's expense, who, despite feeling a little annoyed, had to admit that it was kind of amusing.

She nodded to Akira with a grin when asked if she was okay.  "I'm okay, Akira, a little wet, but alright.  Thank you for asking."  Larka replied enjoying the sound of Akira giggling, but that was stopped instantly at the sound of another ghost wailing somewhere in the distance.  Akira spoke to Kyu and the puppy whimpered, she hadn't done anything, this time!   "I think we better keep moving, come on, Kyu, keep following Akira's scent."  Larka instructed and the puppy barked and wagged her tail and took off again, Larka following close while keeping Akira in front of her to keep an eye on the child.

A blessed sight came before them as they broke the tree line and they could see the city in the distance, finally!  Larka smiled to Akira when she pointed it out.  Larka reached down and took Akira's hand again.  "Okay, from here, do you know your way to Rowan's house?"  Larka asked looking down with a smile to Akira, they could still follow Kyu if they needed to, but once in the city the puppy probably would have a hard time making just Akira's scent out among everything else.