Lotsa Parties ( Current location: island ) Edit: Thread 4

Kairo watched as the Dragon man spoke. When he finished, he let his hooded gaze once again drift over to Goddess.

He too had problems believing in Gods, especially as he had watched his country torn apart by a war that should never had happened. His eyes wandered over to Aero and Calcifer and he felt his heart ache as he remembered thinking that the other mage was his brother. A brother he had known deep down it could never have been.

Nayru nodded sagely as she listened to Jaruzak. When he finished she stared calmly into his eyes, not showing any emotion as she answered, "Mortals have a very dramatic concept of death. It may seem to you like the end of a journey. However, it is merely a step. Death is not final, and those that encounter it are merely brought into the next world, reunited with lost ones, and awaiting the arrival of the living." She swept her gaze over the others, pausing a moment before continuing, "Given the dilemma with Fenrir, perhaps it would have been more favorable for you to have met with my sisters than I. As the goddess of Wisdom, none of my gifts can assist you in battle. I can, however, offer you the help of one of my Sheikah." Her gaze returned to Jaruzak, and in her sapphire eyes a deep coldness could be seen, "But I assure you. No matter what this man calls himself, he is no god. I usually advice a peaceful approach to conflict, but I have no qualms if you kill him. A man like that cannot be satisfied unless he has everything." She let her words thus far sink in for a second before addressing Jaruzak's final question. "As for the fate of the Drakh'wagl... Yours is a powerful and proud race, and both breed carelessness. They first overestimated the power of the humans they pillaged, killing too many by accident, and then underestimated the power that fear breeds. The human kingdom to which their lands belonged attacked your sparse settlements, fearing the destruction would continue unless they did so. They sent all but a sparse few to the afterlife. The remnants of your race settled elsewhere, or wandered the world, as you have since that bloody time."

Jaruzak let out a deep breath, the answers he wanted for so long had come and it was like part of him was at peace. "Thank you" he said solemnly to Nayru, deeply bowing his head as he did so. After leaving his head near the ground for several seconds, he lifted his head and shook his hair back behind his head. "You have given me the hope to continue my journey in verifying my goal, personally I would appreciate it if you asked a request of me to balance out the favour."

Nayru smiled kindly, pleasantly surprised at Jaruzak's satisfaction. "Just promise me," she said, "when you find them, to keep history from repeating itself."

"I promise you that history shall never repeat itself." Jaruzak said very straightforwardly, although the words seemed to say more to him, that not just he should make sure his kind doesnt face annihilation again but that another person under his care shouldn't die like his sister, he also felt that there was the hint that he needed to stop the history of Fenrir from happening again. At the thought of his sister and her death Jaruzak was filled with regret and sadness, especially for the parts he was involved with her death. 'They are out there', he thought to himself, recollecting the Goddess's words and in light of his previous emotion he felt a surge of capability, that what he felt like he could never do before he now could.

Nayru turned back to the rest of the group, "Would you like to ask any more questions?"

"Why are we all here?" Kairo asked without thinking. "I mean, how did we all come to be together at the same time, now. Is it fate?" he said, spitting the final word out like it was poison on his tongue. "Were we destined to be here, for this to happen? Was everything we ever did in our lives all for this?"

"Nothing is determined by fate," answered Nayru quietly, "As you will soon prove... by going back and altering it. Even the hero of time, Link, had the choice to pursue an ordinary life."

Kairo let out a rasping breath. "Excuse me," he said as he bowed his head once again to the goddess and quickly left the tent to compose himself again.

Calcifer looked to the side, a soft smirk adorning his features at the question. Fate. The thought that his entire existence's purpose would peak now was so depressing it was darkly humorous. Now, when he was in unbearable company. Now, when at times he went from feeling confident enough to display his hesitant will to try to help someone he was rudely turned away. Now, when no one cared enough to stand up for him... Not that he needed any of that!... Just... unfortunate.

The thought was frightening, all the same. His ears pricked up as his features melted to something more serious, listening for the Goddess's reply. Her cool words rang like poetry, and the Gieru felt relieved, to say the least.

His brow furrowed immediately afterwards, turning to watch Kairo hurriedly go. He felt the urge to follow him, but... His eyes darted back to Nayru and the others for a moment. It wasn't his business. Best to leave some things alone. Not to mention he didn't want another person disgusted with him, encroaching on matters that were obviously personal and sensitive.

Suddenly he realized how afraid he'd been of so many things when he entered the tent. Following Kairo and what he might think about him if he did, the notion to speak, Nayru. And then those thoughts branched out to when he hadn't been there. Too many to count.

Oh Din, he was a coward.

His ears folded back and he tried hard to remain neutral in appearance. He swallowed and gazed down at his feet. Suddenly everything else seemed to fade away and all he was thinking about was how right so many people'd been in hating him. And what Kairo might think of him. And how stupid he looked now.

Ruul's ears drooped slightly as Kario left the tent. It was plain to see something was wrong, and Ruul wanted to help, but he felt, as the reason they came here in the first place, he should stay in the tent.

Reina watched Kairo go. She couldn't blame him. Being in the room with this Goddess and the tense air around her was stifling. She wanted to be away from this tent and this Goddess who seemed to be able to read minds, whose words were cold and calculated, who seemed to pacify everyone with her steady calmness. It was unnatural and Reina felt the need to be back in the forest where things felt natural again.

Jillian watched Kairo go and stepped out quietly to follow. She hung back away from him for a little bit and leaned against s tree where she started picking the dirt out from under her well-cared for nails with her knife. After a few minutes had passed she finally spoke up. "Gods really are something else," She started, "but I'm not sure I like their company."

Kairo was pacing back and forth, trying to control the flood of emotions that threatened to break the dam.

After a few moments, he stopped pacing and looked up at the sky with his fists clenched at his side. He hadn't noticed Jillian follow him outside and he certainly hadn't noticed her behind him while he paced. He almost thanked the gods before he remembered where he was.

He let out a gentle sigh. "Never really cared too much for them," He said in reply to Jillian.

Jillian sighed and flicked a speck of dirt out from under her nails. She could almost hear Sara yelling at her 'One day you're going to flick one of those things right off your finger!' Thinking of Sara reminded her why she was uncomfortable around Gods. "You know," She told Kairo, "I never did believe in something like fate. Seems an awful uncertain thing to try and build a life around." She looked into his eyes and sheathed her dagger. "You've lost people you love, it's not hard to understand you're angry for that."

"That's not why I'm angry. I'm not angry," he said, trying to convince himself as much as he was trying to convince Jillian. "It's just that, if it was something as stupid and unchangeable as fate, I could deal with losing people. When people rely on you and they still end up dying and you know that it's because of something you did, that's what makes it hard."

He was angry, he was also a bad liar. "You can't think like that!" Jillian told him. "If I thought like that I'd go crazy. It doesn't have to be fate for it to be out of our control."

Kairo took a step closer to Jillian, pulling out one of his knives as he did so. "You're a killer, Jillian," he murmured as he dragged the blade lightly across her throat until it came to rest on her collar bone. "You're just like me. Was it out of your control when you took the lives of others?"

Jillian showed that she was startled for a second, she reigned her emotions and looked Kairo in the eyes. "Not one time." She told him icily. "And not a single one of my losses has been under my control either, we give and we take. Will you take from me now?"

Calcifer swallowed again, seeing someone else trailing after Kairo-- Jillian. He missed his opportunity. What kind of comfort can a second person be in something like that? He balled his fists where the whites of his knuckles showed in his frustration with himself. At best he'd stand there awkwardly attributing nothing to comfort the other Gieru.

...Gieru. The last word echoed in his mind. Then he thought of the Gerudo, and his anger with himself flushed over him with renewed anger of a different kind. He'd just been bested by a Gerudo. He didn't think about how ridiculous it was to try to acknowledge that there was some sort of unspoken contest. It wasn't like Kairo was a prize to win-- and it was about helping him. Not just gaining merit in his eyes. His friendship... Or maybe it was more of a drive to win his favor than he thought. But, again, he was letting his emotions strangle his logic and, again, he wasn't thinking about that.

With that, he turned on his heel and strode out of the tent hastily. When he stepped out, his pace and his concentration were so quick and fixated that he'd already gotten several meters out of the threshold before he stopped to see a knife, reflecting and perverting the moon's shimmering pale, pearly light. And it was held tight up against the firey red-head's throat.

"Well then," said Nayru after Calcifer left, "I am sure you must all be weary from your journey. Do not feel obligated to stay. Go, rest yourselves. We have time to spare before you must depart, and we may speak any time you wish." She waved to a side of the tent, and one of her handmaids (a human-looking female dressed in blue and gold with pale blue eyes and hair obscured by a flowing headpiece) stepped in and pulled a cord, opening another entrance to the tent, "I would advise you leave through this door. I feel the young Gieru would appreciate it."

Ruul was about to speak with her in private when she beat him to it, "Ruul, let us speak alone before you depart." Ruul nodded, nervous but somehow feeling reassured.

Shuttering his eyelids again to a guarded half mast, Kairo put the knife back in his pocket. "I've done my share of unnecessary killing," he almost whispered. "I don't want to make an enemy of anyone, least of all you and those damn guard dogs with the masks."

He looked up towards the sky again, closing his eyes for a brief moment, hoping the trusting display of baring his throat would be enough for the Gerudo to forgive him for his momentary lapse of control.

When his eyes opened again for a second time, they came into contact, not with the door of the tent that he had thought he would see, but with the deep red so reminiscent of his own irises.

"Calcifer?"

Calcifer's eyes flickered over to Jillian, flashing in the insipid moonlight, his tone tittering on threatening. "No one's causing you... trouble, are they?"

"They aren't my guard dogs, I'm their prisoner." Jillian clarified. She scoffed at Kairo's bare throat. "I don't need to put a knife to your skin to make a point." She ignored to Calcifer, of course he wouldn't understand, all he saw was her race. She gave Kairo one last icy glance before she went to sit at the base of her tree again. She made a mental note to leave Kairo the fuck alone.

Reina sighed with relief as she was granted permission to leave the tent. She moved toward the edge of the clearing where she could see the group and climbed a tree. When she found a sturdy high-up branch she sat resting against the trunk. It had been a long time since she had been in a forest and she wasn't going to take it for granted. She closed her eyes and let the music of the place wash over her, listening for variations from the living beings around it. Calcifer, Kairo and Jillian sounded disturbed but she decided not to pursue it.

Kairo ignored Calcifer's question and crouched down so he was once again eye to eye with Jillian. "I'm kinda glad you won't take from me either," he said, low enough so only she could hear him. "I never meant it as a threat and I thank you for being able to understand something inside me that I can't begin to comprehend."

He stood up without giving Jillian a chance to reply and walked over to where Calcifer was stood. "Seems Gerudos aren't that bad," he said to the other Gieru, loud enough that he knew Jillian would hear him.

It was obvious that Kairo'd been talking to her low enough that he couldn't eavesdrop. He could see that, plainly, despite the dark. His eyes narrowed in disbelief. He couldn't trust that there wasn't something else going on, especially with Kairo's suspicious behavior.

He sighed, nonetheless, and just made a mental note to keep his eyes on her.

"What makes you say that?" He breathed, his frustration rekindled. (not about Jillian, but about himself not being there for Kairo and Jillian, gathered from what Kairo's saying, helping him before he had the opportunity himself)