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Looking up at the twilight sky, Coren used his boot to kick ash onto the fire until it was a smothered pile of soot before making his way into the small tent he'd set up at the end of a long day of travel.

It wasn't often that he found a spot that he enjoyed idling at for any length of time, but the nearby creek and the tall pine trees spoke to him. Perhaps, it was a peaceful reminder of the place he had once called home. Maybe, it was the calming atmosphere away from the stress and tension of the battlefield. Either way, Coren considered staying here for another day to enjoy and unwind before continuing to the grand city.

As he curled up with the minuscule, ragged blanket, he let out a sigh, for he knew that he wouldn't. He'd get up with the sun, pack up camp, and be on his way to the city. He had a job to do and that didn't involve taking a day of relaxation for himself. This was a time of war.

---

A rather interesting sight was flying through the trees not far away.

The echo of wings flapping furiously, a caw resounding, screeching madly, was accompanied by high-pitched shouts and grunts of exertion.

Just minutes before, the forest had been quiet. But Aviere knew she was being followed--no--/hunted/ by a bird of prey. But this little fey was not about to cower in fear and wait for this hawk to simply snatch her up. Oh no. She walked well out in the open beside the creek, making herself a prime target, while also keeping her hands ready to cast.

When the beast plummeted towards her, with one deft movement she was able to grab onto its feathers to pull herself upon its back. As it flailed wildly in confusion, Aviere placed her hands directly upon its neck, causing the bird to seize up in the air, its wings and legs extended, but not moving.

The bird descended, unable to control its wings, now falling gracelessly out of the air. The animal at last hit the ground in the middle of a clearing of trees, dead upon making impact.

Spritely dragonfly wings fluttered as the fairy inspected the fiend, poking at its eyes to confirm it wasn't about to spring back to life. She sighed in relief, letting her hands down at her side.

Her hair had since fallen from the loose bun she kept it in earlier. Green eyes examined the dirt upon her simple outfit. Without much pause, she looked up and around, searching for materials to make a meal out of her kill. However--not far off, she saw she wasn't alone. An elf? No... a human was lying upon the ground. But what on earth was a human doing out here? Probably the same as her... moving to the city. She stared for a moment, her hands returning their faint bluish glow. She hadn't seen enough of his sort to predict of what nature he would be.

Upon hearing the strange thud, Coren cast aside the blanket, seized his sword, and quickly left the comfort of his shelter. He glanced around before finally spotting the bird on the ground. He lowered his sword and walked towards the bird clad in nothing but a thin shirt and ragged pants that ended right below his knees. He stooped down to examine the dead bird, studying it.

No signs of an arrow or puncture wounds, he continued to look for signs of what had killed the bird--after all, it wasn't every day a dead bird fell from the sky. Or, well, not that he saw anyways. He stood without having noticed anything that should alarm him before noticing the flying figure due to the faint, blue hue emitting from it. He squinted his eyes to better inspect the creature.

Aviere backed away slowly, holding up her hands to her chest. She certainly still seemed on the defensive. Her wings began to noticeably hum, and she was in the air at eye level with the man at a moment's notice.

"Wh... what do you want?" She asked, trying and failing to sound unafraid. She tossed her head back, her hair falling messily at her back.

Coren stuffed the disheveled fey with a cautious interest. "What do I want?" He reiterated her question. "Nothing." He answered, finally starting to relax some from the adrenaline that comes with stumbling upon the unknown circumstances and not being prepared for the consequences. "Just investigating the commotion." He used his sword to gesture to the dead bird.

"You are the one that stumbled upon my camp, I might add." He narrowed his eyes. "What do you want?"

Aviere crossed her arms, not used to such a suddenly harsh tone. "Well, I was just wanting... to..." her mind wandered, remembering what she was honestly up to. She was just about to find a place to settle down and sleep before she found she was being stalked, which of course led to her taking out the aforementioned beast.

"Well, my apologies for making my way into your camp. This bird, you see," she motioned to it, "simply wouldn't let me be. I had no knowledge or intention of bothering you." With that, she scurried down towards the fresh kill, examining the best way to pull it out of the man's way... though it was readily apparent that this would be impossible. Still, she wasn't in much a mood to have to fend for herself as she just needed to.

"Er..." she mumbled. "You wouldn't... happen to be heading that-a-ways, would you?" She asked, pointing towards the city. Regardless of his attitude, having a larger ally would be preferred out in the wilderness like this.

"To the grand city." He figured, not needing any further clarification of what she meant. "As a matter of fact, that's my destination." As he answered her inquiry, Coren stooped down and picked up the dead bird. He examined it for a moment before looking around to see what to do with it. He didn't want to attract bigger creatures in search of dinner to the campsite.

"Am I to assume that is your goal?" He pondered, walking over to the creek--intending to through it in to be carried off by the current, though he paused. "You didn't want this for anything, right?"

Aviere seemed to stand in awe for a moment while she saw the human lift the creature into the air with ease. No matter how much time she'd spent among larger folk, she never could quite grasp the sheer strength of such beings.
"O-oh, that? No... It was trying to hunt /me/, you see. I mean, I suppose you could try to cook it up, but it's not really fit for..." Again, she realized she was rambling. "Yes, it'd be best to get rid of it." Regardless she was well aware what the man's intentions were.

"A-and, yes. To answer your question, I'm off to the city as well. Off looking for odd jobs. You'd be surpr..." Aviere again stopped herself, cleared her throat. If she was going to ask her question, there was no need to go around for hours to try to lighten the mood. "Would... you by any chance be alright with some company... for the night?" she folded her arms, looking up with hopeful eyes. There. It was asked, in the open. He could take it or leave it as he wished.

After tossing the bird into the water, Coren bent down to wash his hands in the water before turning back to Aviere. He crossed his scar-covered arms over his chest with an easy smile, "Only if you finish telling me what I'd be surprised about."

Aviere's eyes lit up. The smile on his face, the fact that he wanted to hear what she had to say... it was a wonderful feeling.

"Oh, nothing really. Just... you'd be surprised how many problems are best solved by fey, like myself. After work dries up in one town, I move on to the next to see if there's anyone hiring adventurers. I'm always amazed at how much work there is that I'm not only capable of, but actually better suited for than larger folk." She explained, the smile still eminent on her face. "the only thing I hate about working alone is when it comes time to pay, not everyone feels like walking to a blacksmith or an innkeeper to pay for your things for you. I can't exactly carry a bag of gold around." She said with a laugh.

Aviere already went ahead and started walking towards the blanket the man had left out, then sat herself down beside it. "So, what brings you to the big city?"

Coren listened to Aviere talk about her work and hardships when it comes to dealing with strangers, nodding every once in awhile at the right places to let her know he was paying attention. "Well, I can't say I've seen many like you around the city. I'm sure they just don't quite understand what you need from them." He commented after a moment of consideration, seeming to speak from his own experience.

"As for my trip to the city," he paused, wondering how much to tell her, "I live there, but my job requires me to travel. And, other times--like this trip--I have to return to the city on business." Being rather vague.

Aviere sat and listened patiently as well. She could bask in the joy of a new conversation. This human didn't seem nearly as loquacious as she, so the little Aviere took a pleasure in each of his well chosen words.

She blinked a few times when he had finished speaking. Indeed, it seemed as though there was more to be said, but Aviere could tell it was being held back intentionally. So she would pester no further.

"Wow, living in the city? I've only ever visited cities. I can't imagine making one a home. But, I suppose that's not uncommon." She pat at the ground around her, as if to make a comfortable spot to lie down. With one simple motion, she brought herself to lying on her stomach, supporting her head up on her hands. "My name is Aviere, by the way."

"I guess that would speak to the life you lead. My path brought me to and centered my life around this city, but I was like you once. A wanderer. Going around place to place doing odd jobs. Leave when there was nothing there for me." Coren went on for a bit about nothing in particular before seeming to realize this and wrapping up his spiel. "Well, Aviere, my name is Coren."

He heads back over to his tent with a glance at the fey, as the night sky started to cloud over. "I don't know how well it's going to hold up, but it looks like a storm is coming in."

The mention of the storm made Aviere jolt. Merely glancing at the sky made her eyes widen, and she seemed to curse in a native tongue out of fear. The rain affects one quite a bit differently when a single water droplet cause bodily harm.

"Oh, my... I... I sure hope it holds..." She stood immediately, darting inside the tent without a moment's hesitation. She held her hands against the edge of the tent, poking her head out only enough to look up at the sky. Indeed, the clouds were rolling in very quickly. Meeting Coren on a night like this was proving very fortuitous.

Coren headed into the tent, gesturing for the fey to follow, scooting various pieces of his armor aside as he went. He hadn't expected company, but having company now gave him the urge to be a bit more cleanly. "Sorta the point of a tent--to protect you from the elements. We'll see if it can do its job." He sat down and grabbed at the rugged blanket, clearly not understanding the magnitude of a storm to a fey. "But I've weathered worse than a feeble tent." he shrugged, laying his sword down next to him.

Aviere glanced back as Coren seemingly made a place for her. She released the fabric of the tent, instead ambling over to where the armor once lay.

"Thank you, Coren." Aviere said with a smile. The fairy was cautious of overstaying her welcome, and found a spot well away from where Coren sat, and tried to make the most of a bed on the surface she had. But more important than anything, there was a roof over her head on a stormy night. That level of security was more than enough for her; enough to make her finally feel the tiredness of the day catch up to her. She could rest.

Coren situated himself mumbling about how it was no big deal. What was sharing a tent for a night?

Having been exhausted before Aviere showed up, it didn't take long for Coren to fall asleep, softly mumbling orders to imaginary troops in his sleep. Complaining about incompetency without giving much in the way of details away. To speak even more to his dream or his background, he kept close to his sword, almost cuddling it, as he slept motionlessly as rain started to fall around the tent, keeping them safe and dry.

When droplets of rain began to fall from the sky, splattering upon the ground, Aviere huddled back into the tent, terrified at first. But it didn't take long for her to realize the tent would hold, the rain was outside, and she was in. After a while the sound was... soothing.

However, certainly with the rain came the cold, and Aviere wasn't nearly as prepared as Coren. She barely noticed herself inching closer to him as the night went on, taking just a little of the edge of his blanket to cover herself with. As soon as she felt the heat of it, her eyes closed, and she drifted off to the pitter patter of rain on the tent.

((Gnight, see you in the morning. ^.^))

When Coren awoke, he could hear the rain hitting the tent, causing him to sigh. Travelling in the rain posed special risks and other difficulties, such as masking the steps of approaching dangers. He found traveling in the rain to be a miserable experience all around, not that he was one to outwardly express this distaste.

He sat up with a glance at Aviere before quietly slipping from the tent with a fresh set of clothes to go under his armor, leaving his armor and main weapon at the camp--taking only a dagger for protection against whatever dangers hid in thew woods surrounding his camp. He headed a bit of the way up the creek in order to bath before preparing for the day of travels. Always one to head further away to bath in privacy.