Outside of town

[polean]

Polean walked down the path she had taken from Belatona a few weeks ago, eyes darting from side to side to see if there was anything useful, or threatening. Nearly a month ago, she had left home to find something worth doing, and had kept a generally southerly route, taking her on a route parallel to the mountains past a rather large (to her mind, massive) lake. She had stayed on the eastern side of the lake, finally arriving at Bellatona, where she confirmed that if she kept to this route, she would make it to her desired destination. Now she was, if not in the country, extremely close to the border. Even a Deaf girl from a small clan was informed enough not to take marked paths into Surda, and she had left back out of the eastern part of the town and left it out of sight before she started south. Going by a marked path was a certain recipe for capture and imprisonment, and while she wasn't really interested in the strife between the two countries, she was not interested in jail either. So she kept her eyes and mind cast out for any sign of pursuit. She had already had to dodge several small groups of soldiers, a time-consuming process which had cost her several days once waiting on a larger encampment to break camp and leave, rather than attempt to sneak past at night. She had used the time to restock on food and what herbs she could recognize as useful or necessary.

Now she was just past the border, heading in the general direction of a town she had seen marked on a map in the very eastern edges of Surda. The town's name was Dauth, and she was now following, out of sight, a path to the south and east that would hopefully lead her to the town.

[RaWr]

Having a week break from his duties in the Varden Talon had decided to travel through the country of Surda, he was now headed to the most eastern city in the country, Dauth. He had been traveling all day on the empty road with nothing to listen to except for the howling wind that kicked up every so often. The man had almost given up on finding anyone on the path when he spotted a girl not to far in front of him.

"Hey what are you doing traveling all alone way out here?" He shouted out as the wind had died down. The girl gave no reaction to his shout, she hadn't even seemed phased by it at all.

"I don't mean you any harm just was looking to head into the city together, it's dangerous out here ya know." Talon added after a few minutes.

Minutes went by still no response. He was beginning to wonder if she was even a real girl or if he was losing his mind. His mind searched for hers and was suprised that he found it. Anyone home in there? The young man asked reaching for the magic in him just in case she turned around and proved to be hostile.

[polean]

Polean started at the touch from another mind, surprised that she had not noticed him before. She turned around and headed back to the path, stopping when she came within ten feet of the person, and looked him up and down. There was certainly more up for her to look at than down, him being at least a foot taller than her. Then her hands started moving, an image of the person in front of her with a large question mark, then another image of herself accompanied with a hand gesture at the chest level, with a finger pointing forward and the one below pointing out diagonal left, then pulling the lower finger in and out several times. The image then flickered back to the image of him with the question mark.

[RaWr]

Talon looked the girl up and down as she approached him without uttering one word. He wasn't sure if this meant she was going to be a threat or not. The magician gripped his hilt and took a step back as she stopped.

Then the images came to him. He interpreted it as the girl asking who he was and in a rather strange way introducing her self. Talon wondered why she communicated without words.

"I'm Talon." The male said keeping his eyes on the girl. "Can you speak?" Talon's hand remained around his blade just in case the girl decided to try something. She seemed harmless enough and he was almost sure he could take her if she meant him any harm, but one could never be to sure in the current times.

[polean]

Polean shook her head and moved her off-hand nearer the hilt. She continued with one-hand signs and the image of her again, this time without ears or mouth. Then she opened her mouth as if to speak, but all that escaped her lips was a strange groan that sounded as if, though intended to carry a meaning across, it was coming through a bagpipe.

She then flipped her blade out and to the side, sticking the tip into the dirt and scratching at the surface of the road. Another mind-image was sent across their shared touch of Talon kneeling down on the path they were on, looking down.

Scratched into the ground were the words, "Writ, you spell name? touch thought, show name?"

[RaWr]

Talon looked at the girl in disbelief, what she had conveyed to him was that she actually could not speak. This news came as a shock to the man, for in all of his travels he had never met someone who couldn't speak. He wondered how she had made it through life so long without speech, then it occured to him, maybe she was under some sort of curse.

As the girl pulled out her blade he tugged on his own just barely starting it out of its sheath, but then let it fall as he realized she was using it to merely write. He was about to remove his own blade to write back his response when he remembered the marks his sword had that would probably make her think that he was an ally of the Empire.

Crouching down Talon used his finger to write his response while at the same time he said what he wrote through their link. "I am Talon. Why is it you can not speak? Has someone cursed you? I am a magician, I can try to help if you'd like." He brushed off his hands as he finished.

[polean]

Polean rolled her eyes. Writing again, she said, "Really, none help want. Deaf I like. I stay. Magic I like not." She looked at him and then wrote, "Magic you use? Promise you use not me?" A look of distinct distrust colored her features. Magic was the reason she was Deaf anyways. She also knew that it would be a poor idea to let someone mess around with an existing incantation. There were too many ways for the spell to go awry.

[RaWr]

Talon watched as the wordless woman wrote in the dirt. Apparently she was deaf which obviously meant she could not speak. Never before had Talon met someone who was deaf. This fact about the girl was rather intriguing and the man planned to get to know her better just because of it.

The magician's mood was brought down as he gazed at her face, she seemed to truly dislike him because of the fact that he was a magic user. He wondered what she had gone through in the past and what had been done to mentally scar her like that. Rubbing away his previous response Talon began writing again. "Alright, don't worry I won't use any magic on you. What is your name? Where are you coming from?"

[polean]

Polean's face softened a little, though there was a vague distrust. In answer to his question, she sent him a picture of a map depicting the north-eastern section of Alagaesia, with a star near a lake with a name of "Fram" From this star, a curving path starts southward, going all the way past Leona Lake on the eastern coast and into Bellatona. From there is an arrow with a question mark. She then wrote on the ground, "Where I touch finish?"