This place was terrible in some aspects. There were creeps everywhere that stared at her young body. There were men that propositioned her and yet she was still here to make a difference on someone. Her blonde hair hung in a ponytail over her shoulder and her bi-colored eyes stared towards the crowds. 

She had a basket in her hand as she traveled through the crowd. In the dreary streets her bright yellow dress stood out. She was like the sun in a cloudy sky. "Excuse me miss can you help me out." She stopped and looked over to a man who was beckoning her over. She went over to him and asked him what he needed. "My mate is pretty sick from the sea. You wouldn't happen to have anything for it would you?"

"I do can you take me to him?" Sea sickness was a common problem in port cities. She sighed a bit and followed man through the back alley way. They made it nearly to another street when he threw her against a wall. She shrieked and hit him with her basket. Medical herbs went every where. "HELP."

He shushed her and she began to whimper. He wasn't human that much was for sure. He was stronger than she was.

A quiet, firm voice spoke, its tone betraying absolutely no sense of fear, "I think it's time you let the lady go." 

The speaker moved into view, broad to the point of being strapping, dark hair cut short, revealing an angular face that was, if not classically handsome, was at least intriguing. He wore a moss coloured cloak of sturdy material over a rough looking homespun robe, something akin to what a priest might wear. But the way he moved was far from priestly. He moved with a coiled, but calm energy, as if he had all the time in the world, but that at any moment he chose he could leap into action. The movement of his cloak as he paced closer revealed a sword at one hip and a mace at the other. He stood for a second and a greenish glow seemed to emanate from his hands, flowing up his arms following the tracks of his blood vessels until finally the glow reached his eyes and blazed for a moment, if anything his movements gave an even stronger sense of danger and controlled violence.

The sword practically appeared in his hand, a decent if not especially fine blade, but obviously well cared for, and from the stance the man took up, far from an affectation. The other hand remained empty, but was held low, near his waist where the mace waited. 

The tableau held for a second more before he spoke again. This time the voice held all the heat of the parched desert when he spoke, "I said, let the lady go." 

The man looked towards the voice and put his hands in the air. "Wasn't going to hurt the pretty lady." Belle ran over to the new man and hide behind him. Her chest raised and lowered as her offender kicked her basket. She winced as the wicker made a crunch sound against the wall. Slowly the man left them alone.

"Thank you." Her words were stuttering as she took a deep breath. Looking down at the herbs she calmly walked foreward and started to gather them in what remained of her basket. "I really dislike this place sometimes." She knew he was still there. Her bi-colored eyes looked up at him and she gave him a weak smile.

"However, a healer doesn't get to choose where her patients are and I have to make a living." She cut her finger on a thorn from one of the plants and sighed as the blood trickled. "I just wish it wasn't so dangerous all the time." She sounded said as she picked everything up. "My name is Belle.."

Malleo kept a close eye on the man, it seemed like for a heartbeat he might make some kind of attempt to prevent the woman from leaving, but eventually turned and left after spouting some nonsense about not intending harm. Somehow the position Malleo had found them in left him rather distrustful of such a claim. The sword stayed out for a moment until he was sure the thug was gone. Then he turned to the woman and gave her a brief smile, as she started gathering up the scattered herbs that were salvageable, luckily it hadn't come to blows of many more would have been crushed beyond use. "A more wretched hive of villainy I've not seen." He agreed with her assessment of the city, which was precisely why he was here. He'd begun to clear up some of the smaller areas, breaking up gangs that tried to own the back alleys, he couldn't go after the larger ones, he was just one man, but he made a difference where he could.

"A healer goes where there is sickness, and this place is close enough to needing lancing that it's a miracle there isn't an entire order here." In some ways he considered himself a healer, and through his goddess could lay on hands for minor injuries. He noticed the the trickle of blood, and without thinking reached out and touch the finger with one of his own, the same green glow emanating from it. With just a brush the cut was healed with only a patch of shiny pink skin to show it had ever been hurt. He gave her a smile again, responding to her introduction, "Malleo, my name is Malleo Erde."

Belle watched him briefly with her gold eye and green eye. It seemed odd to her but it was nice to have some sort of protection around these parts. "You are a welcomed sight to these parts for sure." She laughed a bit and pulled herself together. The herbs could be replaced but her sense of being safe not so much.

She moved her hand up and pushed some loose blonde strand behind her ear. "Aye, though I have seen worse. The island off the coast called Apoy had a pretty nasty case there. I figure it if I had been a bit late showing up most of the village would be dead. A sickness festers in a small village like that. At least here it's some what spread out not that it's any better." She smiled as he healed her word.

"You wouldn't happen to want to travel with me would you? Around town I mean. This isn't the first time I've been given trouble. I just need to stop at a healing clinic to grab more supplies."

Her eyes were curious, unlike any he'd seen so far, and they certainly caught his attention, although outwardly at least he didn't show any reaction. He nodded, accepting what she said about him being a welcome sight. "I've travelled from place to place, helping where I can, but this place seems to need more help than most." When she'd carried on about a sickness he realised she'd taken his comment about a boil needing lancing to refer to a literal disease rather than the sickness of the heart which seemed to fester in this city. But he didn't correct her. "In some ways the spread out nature could be good, they don't see everyone they know sicken, on the other hand it could be far worse. A sickness that isn't kept on top of could sweep through a crowded district like wildfire." He'd head stories of strange agues ravaging a mercenary force his grandfather had been part of when they'd traipsed through swamps in an attempt to outflank another force.

Her question brought another nod from Malleo, "It would be a pleasure Belle, and it would ease my conscious to know I hadn't let you walk off into another dangerous situation." It would also mean that the thug from earlier would have no chance to take revenge on Belle for being interrupted.

"I have to agree with that." She nodded to him and could only think of the people in the city. "I've seen a lot in the recent years. I spent time in the highlands with my sister then I traveled to Sularia. They have skirmishes quite a bit there. You would be amazed at their wounds. I make sure to put extra salve on their wounds to remind them not to be so risky."

She chuckled a bit. Taking his arm in hers she walked with him. "Thank you Malleo. The clinics around here are at least very good to the cause. Most of them are dispatched from Mother Earth's Temple. Did you know that?" She offered him a smile as they walked along the path. "Some come from many different forms of religion but most depend on her for their seeds and what not."

Once they got to the healing clinic she took him inside and picked up a new basket with medicine. "I got a few house calls but I wouldn't mind treating you to food or something for your service. I would hate that I didn't repay you some how for your kindness."

Malleo looked at Belle with fresh understanding, she obviously wasn't a typical local healer then, she'd travelled and seen battle wounds, then had come to one of the worst dens of thieves to try and make a difference, that took courage. For someone like Malleo physical courage was simply part and parcel of what he did, but for true healers, it was a risk they were forced to accept. "I don't think I've travelled that way yet, there seems to be enough work to do here for one such as me, or even ten." Although with ten men of his skill and conviction they could probably break the backs of some of the major gangs which operated in the town, but what would rise up to take their place was a mystery.

He let Belle take his arm, although making sure it was his left arm, leaving his right free, just in case. The way she referred to Mother Earth's Temple seemed a little strange, less like a deity, more as someone familiar, but he'd found priests and those with a direct connection could be like that. He didn't have a personal connection with the Earth goddess, although he considered himself something of devotee. "I hadn't truly thought about it, but it makes sense, growing and living things are her province, so it's only natural that it would be from her Temple that most of the herbs would come." He didn't tend to spend much time at Temples, although where possible he sought knowledge from priests, he considered himself a man of action and showed his devotion by cleaning away the blights on the land he encountered.

He gave her another smile as she took hold of the new basket. "That would be more than sufficient, indeed I considered it a duty and a pleasure to step in to help others." They say a good deed was its own reward, and right at the moment Malleo couldn't help but agree.

Her mother had been honest to her from the first day she said she wanted to be a healer. It was not going to be sunshine and rainbows Angela had wanted her to know that. Belle learned early on to deal with blood and whatever else scared more kids her age. "You should at some point. It is a beautiful area and the people are definitely something new."

Belle nodded to him and thought about it. "It is more than that. The ground under our feet is fertile by her. The pregnant women here? They were blessed by her. Maybe some won't be good mothers but she doesn't know that. It is very different to think about it other than just the plants we think about." She laughed and smiled towards him.

The blonde made her way to the first house and then the house after that. She sighed a bit as she rest her head against him in exhaustion. "Was it just me or did that toddler just not want to take the medicine." She chuckled and found them one of the better inns in town to eat. "The meal is on me I promise Malleo."

She sat down and laughed. "So tell me more about yourself. How did you wind up a maiden saver?"

Both of them had had honest parents, Malleo's father had always made it clear that war was a messy, unpleasant business and that anyone who thought they were going to find glory and nobility in it was a fool. Perhaps that was why Malleo had taken his aptitude for the arts of war and found a different way to apply them. While it was still a messy and unpleasant business at times there was, at least to him, a nobility to what he did. Even if that was just cracking some skulls in a back alley to stop the flow of drugs. He said "I'll make sure I visit it one of these days." In response to Belle's description of the Highlands. Of course that depended on him surviving this place first, and given that he was causing at least some minor ripple, that might be less of a certainty.

He knew about how the Earth Goddess made the land and people fertile, and like the earth she left what was done with those gifts to those who received them. In a similar way he didn't force people to do things, he always gave them a choice, and so the consequences were up to them. The only things that he didn't offer that choice for were those things which polluted either the earth or people. He smiled at her laugh, "All that grows, strives and thrives is her gift." A quote from one of the mendicant priests that had passed by his home while he had grown up.

Letting her rest against him brought another slight smile to his lips, his features were intriguing enough that women found him of interest, but it wasn't often that he accepted advances, so the presence of a young, attractive lady lent against him was welcome. Not that he'd take any kind of advantage, but innocent pleasures could be enjoyed. "Toddlers seldom do, unless it's sweet."

Taking his seat opposite Belle he released the buckle on his sword belt, leaning it against his chair so it was in easy reach. He shrugged a little at her question. "My father was a mercenary, and his father before him, and so on." He waved generations of history away with a flick of the wrist. "But I didn't feel right taking coin for spilling blood, however I was good with a sword, and other weapons. Unlike my father and grandfather I also enjoyed learning less warlike things, and would study with whatever priest would come through our town." He remembered those hours poring over scrolls and books with fondness. "One day a priest told me about the idea of a warrior who helps those who can't help themselves, in that moment my path was set. Unsurprisingly my family weren't pleased, I was cut off with nothing but a handful of coins and a sword and told not to come back until I saw sense." He grinned, "I haven't been back for ten years, so I think it's safe to say I won't be seeing their kind of sense any time soon." He looked into her eyes, his own dark ones searching, "And you Belle, how did you become a healer willing to brave skirmishes and thugs?"