Melody of Ice

"The hunter has been informed of a demon lurking within this town... lying, thieving and spreading disease in her wake!" the shorter male pauses, a sideways glance to the people from beneath his matted hair as he allows his words to resonate. They mutter amongst themselves.

Raising his head, he interrupts their chatter in a command for silence "The hunter has come to beleive this dangerous nuisance of yours may be a fugitive of the Tal'he, which we have been tracking."

Kori jumps down off the house behind it, to casually walk up to the nearby tree to lean against it. Holding onto Minori's pair of fans

From the vantage point at which he stands, in the corner of his eye, he notes a being walking seperate from the crowd towards the cover of a tree.

"If any one of you has information as to the wherabouts of this fugitive of yours, do not fear coming to speak with us... the hunter pays generously."

Minori moves to the front of the group, before she softly asks "u-um...w-whats this person's name?"

The second, daunting figure at last speaks, seeming to take the male by surprise. "It is known as XE14919-85, young lady. We are lead to believe she is quite the distinctive character within this town."

Minori lowers her head shyly, speaking shyly also "...I don't know anyone by that name..."

"Then you can not help us." interjects the male quickly, glancing back at the looming figure.. His face - mostly obscured by his matted hair - is creased momentarily with concern.
"Thank you."

she bows her head and turns away, walking into the crowd so she isn't visible by the two anymore

The road down to the village was a long one. It passed through the mountainous forest that enveloped the townspeaople, and provided a substancial buffer between the expansion of the settlement and the wilds beyond.

Xen was unfamilar with this path. She had walked it perhaps once or twice, but there had been little of interest for her beyond the market town since she settled there; her hunting ground was the city, full of exotic fruits and cooked meats. A much more civilised way of living, for she had been brought up on such delicacies and did not intend to give them up for berries and raw flesh soon.

As she approached the town, she hid herself quickly by the side of a building, noticing a familar distubance about the town. "Ah, shit." scalded the 'troublesome demon' under her breath.

Kori notices someone enter his mist of ice on the far edge of town away from the crowd. so he instinctively heads over to her speaking speaking softly "So thats the prideful Tal'he race eh?"

Xen is noticably agitated, she begins to back away, semi-crouched, ready to run.

"We need to leave... now."

he looks back at the group, a little worried about Minori "What happens to the people here if they dont find XE14919-85? From the sound of it, sounds like some tag they've named you"

"You imagine I'd stick around to find out?"

Xen pauses, considering that spirits must have little use for currency "Nothing, probably... though the hunter isn't renowned for their patience. The scruffy haired one over their, the hunter's dog they say, supposedly offers a huge price for information though..."

She is very eager to leave, and hurries her words.

he paces around still worried about Minori "i need to find my little fox, then we can head for the nearby Spirit gate. It'll take us to the spirit world but...there's another entrance on the other side of the world" he concerns her, leaving quickly to go find Minori "stay here..."

'Fuck that.'
Xen swears to herself, turning tail and making her way out of the city.

Kori comes running up with a tired and sleeping Minori on his back, following the woman "you don't even know where this gate is do u..."

"The exit to the city? I've lived here for a while..."

"Who says that's where I'm going? I'll stick to the realm I know, thank you."

"Fine fine, where do you expect we go?" he inquires to her

"Back to the shrine... anywhere, but this is bad enough without dealing with any more spirits."

Kori ponders for a moment before responding "and what if the towns people mention to them about the 'abandoned' shrine at the top of the mountain?"

"...then I'll make my way to the next city before they can arrive."

She pauses for a second, and a twinge of realisation hits her. The hunter's dislike of spirits almost matched that of their distain for her sort, and the two spirits who had long lived in the shrine would likely be quickly run out too.

The hunter - like most Tal'he - had seen spirits worshipped for many years, and hated religion to the pit of their gut like many of the most devout citizens hated atheists. Religion provided motivation strange and even nonsensical to outsiders, but more importantly often difficult to influence by way of money or political power.

Kori stretches and yawns "My time in this city is long lived anyways...i hear of a factory city to the south, through the mountains and through the desert. i plan on traveling there if you wanna go there." he walks away calmly from the village entrance with the sleeping girl on his back

"There!" comes a booming shout from the Hunter's dog, a little way down the street from them. Dark eyes are fixed on the woman from beneath matted hair hanging from his head.
Xen becomes abruptly aware that she is now standing lmost in the middle of the street.
"Shit." she breathes and gives chase to the spirit pair.
"That factory sounds good to me..!"