Where the Wind Blows

[Guest]

He decided he needed to get out a bit. It seemed so much was going on and so many new people were coming to the inn. He was really confused. Then there was the time his friend Dre seemed to actually become a bigger beast then normal. That is what really struck him and made him decide he had to get out of the Inne for awhile.

He needed to know what all was going on. These Lowlanders were strange. how things were so much simpler on his mountain. He dressed in black breeches and boots that had so seen better days. He wore a sky blue tunic and a sky blue leather cord to keep his hair out of his face. His footsteps were as light as the freshly falling snow. The axe and bastard sword on his back seemed to fit him.

He was thinking as he went and sure enough, he got lost. He ended up in a place where there seemed to be stones growing out of the ground. He stopped and looked around. "Where in the Wind Blast du I be? Since when du be stones du be growin out of the Wind Blasted ground?"

He stood there totally confused, a tanned hand reaching up to scratch his head as his icy blues were looking around. He could not help but walk into the 'stone garden' further.

[Guest]

pris liked cemeteries almost as much as she liked the horse tracks. but for very different reasons. it was a place that a kind of quiet that was okay for her. there was a lot of art in cemeteries. and she could look stare at all the stones and see things, but the kinds of things she usually saw where comforting. most of the dead were very relaxed. there were always some bad apples. but not often.

and she liked talking to the statues. they were very understanding, and the older ones almost felt like parents. well, maybe not parents exactly. more like the good kind of adults who didn't yell at your or tell you to behave a certain way or chase you around with a hair brush or an iron or a wash cloth if they didn't like how you looked. the statues listened. they were patient. and never too busy for her. and sometimes they answered and that was okay. and other times they didn't answer and that was okay too.

so if zephyr wasn't confused enough already it was time for him to fasten his 'say what?' seatbelt. because a few stones down there was a very nice statue of a woman who was laying propped against the tombstone, with her head resting upon it and her eyes closed as if she was sleeping. the statue was greened with age, but the woman was pretty. but that wasn't all! laying perpendicular to that statue was a living girl who was obviously not a statue.

pris was laying in the grass over the spot where the coffin was probably buried underneath. she had her arms folded across her chest like she'd seen dead people do in movies, and her head was tilted back so she could look at the woman statue as she told her about her day at school. if that wasn't odd enough, the way pris was dressed would add another handful. she was wearing a red dress with black polka dots all over it that was a 1940s style with a black belt around the waist and all. and black and red argyle tights. and shiny red mary janes. and lots of bracelets on her arms that were all the colors of the rainbow, even though they didn't match. and her wig today was blonde. blond ringlet curls down to her shoulders, the sides pulled back in an old fashioned style.

and what story was she telling? "so then he told me that if i spent less time drawing little benches instead of division brackets for my long division that maybe i would have got a better grade. and i told him that if he didn't want me spending time marking benches on my paper that maybe it shouldn't be a benchmark test because that was misleading and i was only doing what i was told, and that's when he said i was being a discipline problem and he was going to call my parents so now dommy's probably going to paint me another apple for dinner because i got in tro - "

she stopped talking. because zephyr had walked close enough to come into her field of view. her gaze wasn't steady on him, kept switching to all different parts of his body. the sixteen-year-old beamed at him in her dreamy way as she said loftily to him, "it was getting very cramped in my coffin." sure it was.

[Guest]

He had seen the statues and wondering what the Wind blast had happened. He wondered if people were being turned to stone like he had heard in stories. Then again maybe they were trolls that got caught in the sunlight.

He stood there for moment, admiring how lifelike one looked. He could swear he even hear it talking. Something about benches and drawings. What the Wind Blast?

His eyes went wide as he notices that the eyes of the statue seemed to be looking over him. "Wind Blast!" He said, "I du be knowin that there du be many a strange thing in what du be the Lowlands but e'en I du be knowin that there du be nae a thin as a speechin statue."

He drew his sword, and as he did there was a huge flash of light like lightning. If Pris looked close enough, she would see a head in the blade looking at her. It even winked at her.

"Iffen ye du be one of what they du be calling a spirit, then i du be thinkin ye du be needin tu be in a bottle or sumthin. i du be thinkin their du be sum one who du be needin a drink."

[Guest]

when his eyes went wide, her eyes went wide back. big green eyes growing big as dinner plates, or at least as big as she could make them. pris had that habit sometimes. of mimicking. her doctor taught the compulsion to her as a way to keep herself focused and in the driver's seat of her own mind, but sometimes the girl just slipped into it even when she didn't need to.

"you do be do voo doo thinks du?" she parroted that back to him without even having to think about it. for all its strangeness, her mind was quick at making so many connections so very quickly. so he would hear this strange girl laying in the stone garden not only mimic his wording, but the accent he spoke those words with too and maybe even a little bit of his tone. "i do be bop do talkin here tu my stat - "

the "ue" of statue never came out. because something else came out. from him. a sword. her gaze went wild when all that shine and movement happened. imagine a cat's eyes following a laser pointer. and it had something inside of it or was her warped mind 'seeing' again? if ever there was an object pris' skewed brain would get lost in, it was something like this. hence the sudden quiet from the girl, and the slow fascinated cant of her head to the side. and she was transfixed and staring, flat out staring.

"eat me drink me bottle me thinks du? rabbit holes be wonderland and i do dress the red queen." she was wearing a red dress after all. the talk of bottling her reminded her of alice and wonderland. she was still looking at the sword as she said those things, and she was still laying on the ground with her arms crossed over her chest. but none of what she said probably shed any light on whether or not she was a spirit, so poor zephyr was on his own.

[Guest]

He stood there, sword drawn, and listened to her. He shook his head as things were making no sense to him. The face in the sword looked at her then winked and smiled.

He wached the lass with his icy blues. "Iffen ye du be dead then ye du need tu be restin. iffen ye du be livin then I du be thinkin that ye du be hit in what du be yer head what du be tu many times. Ye du be rattlin yer bone box in what du be ways I dunnae be knowin du be possible. I du be thinkin ye du be dead fromwhat du be a long time again."

He took a step back, "Du be I need tu be departin so what du be ye dead beings du be able tu be talkin? Or du ye be one of what they du be callin blood duckers?"

[Guest]

du be dead? did he mean she be dead? she wasn't dead! her focus on his sword shattered suddenly, the drop of the 'd' word was enough to do it. now pris was on the move as she pulled herself up into a sitting position she stuck her chin up nice and high. her emerald eyes darted between his forehead and nose now as she was trying to look at him as much as she could without having to stare at him steadily. when she spoke she sounded as haughty as a queen.

or a teenager. "i don't be du-ing dead and DU be needing a hit over the head, fred! du be flashin your flasher at me while it be du-ing winks at me and du be rattlin your blabber box like du be my dad! what be bop do wop zup with THAT dunderhead fred?" that's right, pris had now named this man fred, even if his name wasn't friend. and even if he told her his actual name...well, good luck with that fred!

pris, still seated on the grass with her legs straight out in front of her folded her arms across her chest with a petulant sniff. "i just be talkin with du stat-ue lady about my teacher duuuude," she drew out that word for no particular reason at all, "he said i did the wrong do marking math with my benches." and that was about as much answer as fred was going to get.

because now she was pointing a finger up at him, and she said very firmly like he was in an interrogation room with a spotlight on him, "now what du be do-ing shaking your flasher at me fred!" oh, how different this exchange would be if he'd caught her on a day where she wasn't stuck on mimicking.

[Katyana]

-Katyana had been working long and hard to make sense of a lot of issues the family was having but had recently got some time off so she decided it was time to go see her friends again and patch things up with Zephyr. She was sure he was still angry with her for leaving the way she did but she had to at least try to make it right. As she began to approach the inn Deamon, a black tiger, nudged her hand to get her to look over to where Zeph was heading. She stayed back a ways but followed Zeph to where he was going and when she seen where he ended up she was more than a little curious as to why he was there but did not rush in to find out. She stayed rather hidden once he began to speak to a young girl. Kat had a feeling things might get out of hand as they some times did with friends but she did not want there to be a scene in front of a stranger. Deamon on the other hand kept on going and went straight to Zeph and plopped down next to him and looked up at him as if to say where have you been.-

[Guest]

When she sat up and took on that haughty tone, he stood there and muttered. "Great it du be what be nother bicking mords that du be focused on self." He sighed, he did seem to fine these kind of easily. "It du be nae a thing moor then what du be a broiled spat."

Yes at times he confused words. Lowlanders spoke weird any how. But she was going on about someone named Fred? Wind Blast, she had to be using a brain to keep her ears from clashing together. maybe she was dead and just sitting here replaying something over and over and over. They way she went on he almost thought that was it.

He sheathed his sword with another blinding flash, as it would not help against ghosts or people who were daft enough to be talking to people that were not here. bad enough he was in a place where stones grew out of the very earth.

He shook his head as he listened to her continue on. Man could she talk and about nothing to. He wondered what she was like if she actually got on to something.

"Ye du be talkin tu what du be stone aboot what du be yer teacher? Aye that du be provin it. Ye du be a spirit that du be waitin tu be bottled and then du be drank by one of them there folk at what du be the inn. I du be quite sure that Fred there," a nod to the statue, " du nae be able tu be speakin tu ye aboot sum flasher thingy. So du be keepin yer clothes on. You and Fred both."

He nodded as he thought he had it all figured out. Oh how wrong was he? it was then that he felt something come right by his side and plop down. he looked down and saw the black tiger. In his current state of mind, it did not register who it was. He jumped straight up and into the arms of the statue he was near.

"Now ye du be callin the shadows up tu be eatin me ded ye not?"

[Katyana]

-Deamon sprang up figuring Zeph wanted to play so he started jumping up nipping at him playfully like he has done many times before. He didn't know that Zeph didn't recognize him and was afraid of him. A playful growl was coming from the tiger still trying to play. A mind link would be sent to his companion.-

Kat why won't he play with me? Does he not like me anymore?

-Katyana could not help herself and let out a low laugh as she came out of the shadows and called Deamon off of Zephyr. Realizing that he was scared she did not to make matters worse. A low voice spoke out.-

Deamon let Zephyr be. I do not think he is in any mood to play.

-Katyana walked into the cemetary and gave a slight smile to Zephyr hoping he was not going to be to angry at her. But she would deal with it as it came.-

[Guest]

He felt the nipping on his backside and truly thought he was going to get eaten. what had that daft woman done? First she was taking about flashing him and now she was having something try and eat him.

He then heard a low voice and looked back to see Kitty Kat walking into the cemetery. He had not seen her since the last trip to the castle and before that, right before he fell asleep. He studied her not saying a word. But did at least return the smile of a friend.

Then that look of recognition came over him. This was not a shadow. It was Deamon. Of course. With a leap down, he dove on top of the big tiger and tackled him to the ground, and began rubbing his ears.

[Guest]

he said. so. much. the more he talked, the more he would watch pris' green eyes go wider and wider. even when she was at her most focused, if a person said or asked too much at once she started to get lost. when she started to get lost, she started echoing to try and keep up. as he talked on, zephyr would hear pris do exactly that. as she went on, he might notice she started adding words of her own.

"broiled sprat...tu be bottled, du be drank...du be the inn, inn, innaninnaninn fininnigan...aboot some flasher slasher potato masher...you and fred. both. you and fred, you and fred, you and fred...." as that phrase became pris' refrain the finger she had been using to point at his sword with changed its duty. pointing at her, then him, then her, then him... she was you. he was fred. that's what the pointing of her finger said.

her refrain didn't stop because zephyr stopped talking. it stopped when a big black beastie went plop right near her shiney red mary janes. pris' mouth froze. right in the middle of forming the 'f' in fred, so her lips were a bit puckered, and a bit parted. like she was trying to make a wrinkle-nosed rabbit face. the reset of her of her froze too, and now she really was a statue. wasn't that ironic, little pris catatonic. eyes locked in one place, she missed the woman moving closer. she missed zephyr jumping away. she missed all but the big black beastie.

it wasn't until zephyr jumped down from her statue friend to wrestle with the big black beastie that pris jerked back to life like she was just released from a magic spell. at first, it looked like it was going to start all over. her eyes getting wider-wider-wider as they darted around frantically at the man and tiger battling at her ankles. but this time, pris made sound. the high pitched whine of discomfort grew in volume the longer the man and beastie were at love or war, she didn't know which.

pris would probably be dubbed a banshee by him next, because that whining grew into a full bodied shriek of unhappiness and fear. just as her shriek hit the height of shrill the girl lept up and dove behind the gravestone that her sleeping statue friend was resting on. pressing her back against the cold marble, her eyes darted to the sky and she started to yelp, "boo - !" no. pris shook her head fiercely, reminding herself she couldn't call for him. couldn't couldn't couldn't. because thor was a jerk who deserved to be kicked in the shin.

but sounds from the other side of the stone made her yelp softly and she nearly said it again "BOO - rrrrrrrrrrgh!" pris smacked the grass with her fists in frustration. "B - mmmmm," she pressed her lips tightly together as she squeezed her eyes shut. "Buhhhhhh hmmm mmmmmm." pris whimpered that to herself as she bounced in frustration. "not fair not fair not fair NOT FAIR." she spat that in soft whispers angry as a kitten as she continued to hit the cold ground with her hands. she. needed. a hero. and. she couldn't.

all she'd come here for was to tell her statue friend about her math teacher, and now she was stuck. stuck behind a stone about to be eaten by a tiger and a man with a winking flasher, and a third person that she didn't know yet was there!

[Katyana]

-Deamon licked him one good time after he was pounced on by Zeph. Once Zeph started rubbing his ears the tiger rolled over content with the attention he was getting. A thought would get to Kat.-

He likes me....he still likes me.

-Katyana could not help but laugh a little at the pair and shake her head. It was good to see Zephyr still had a playful side to him. But then she heard the young girl screaming and she quickly went to see what was hurting her. She hoped that Deamon did not accidently scratch her or bite her. She knelt next to the girl and spoke soothingly and tried to calm her down.-

It is ok. Are you hurt? Did someone or something hurt you?

-She was not sure what other questions she should ask in this type of situation because she did not see any physical signs of harm.-

[Guest]

"not fair not fair notfairnotfairnotfairnotfairnotfair." the eccentric girl was repeating that to herself like a bratty whisper whisper mantra, to keep her lips busy so that they didn't yell for boom without her permission. lips were crafty things did that sometimes, just blurted things out that you didn't want said. pris' lips especially. she was saying the two words so fast they started to blend together into a mush of sound to the point where they hardly meant anything at all.

while she repeated the phrase, her eyes were having trouble deciding what they wanted to do. stay closed and safe, or open to look here there and everywhere for the unsafe? they closed every few seconds, only to open a few seconds later and look around the other gravestones in panic. finally, the last time her eyes were closed she decided that next time she opened them she would ask the nearby statue people for help. she knew they would help her.

so sure enough her eyes peeped open and her lips were forming the letter 'h' when instead came out, "eep!" a soft shriek of surprise. there was a woman croutched by her side who wasn't there last time she'd opened her eyes. where did she come from? she was asking her questions? she...was asking her soothing questions that kind of felt like parents. the good, patient kind of questions that were listening questions and very much why pris came to this cemetery to talk to the statues because...

wait! pris stared at katyana with very astonished green eyes, her gaze darting over the woman's face and shoulders and back up to her face and looking all over her. looking for bits of stone, or moss, or engravings or anything that would confirm what the thought was in pris' mind right now. this woman was one of her statue friends come to life who'd come to save her! not her sleeping statue lady, without even turning around pris could see the shoulder of that statue out of the corner of her eye. and that was okay. because she knew her sleeping statue lady needed her rest.

so this statue...which statue come to life was she? "you're very pretty without your stone," pris whispered to her with a sweet enamored smile. poor pris was so very thrilled that she had a new hero who had come to save her so she didn't have to call captain 'needs a kick to the shin' to save her again. "i can hardly recognize you without it...and i'm very glad you've come to save me i was just about to call for your help because i can't call for boom because he doesn't want to be my friend and here's a zoo creature here who wants to make lunch of my ankles and a fred who's sharp flasher is winking at me and he wants to put me in bottles..."

and then, after she confessed that softly to this most precious statue lady who had asked her if she was alright, pris did what she did with all the statues here. she rested her had against katyana, her cheek nestled against the woman's knee.

[Katyana]

-Katyana being the gentle sort did not correct the young girl who seems to be frightened half to death that she was not one of the statues from the cemetary. She instead continued to talk soothingly to her trying to get her to calm down why Zeph and Deamon get reacquainted with one another. Katyana figured there would be time for explainations later. She put an arm on the young girls back patting it like a mother would a child that was sad or frightened.-

It will be ok. No one is going to try and bottle you or harm you. I will make sure of it.

-She smiled to the girl and her eyes would tell the girl she was telling the truth.-

[Guest]

katyana was right. it was probably best to let pris think that she was a statue-lady. because...what would have happened if katyana corrected her? pris would have been faced with just another stranger and who knows what connections her mind would have made then in the panic of that epiphany. and really, what was the harm of having a secret identity of statue-comes-to-life, besides being snuggled on by an eccentric young girl? hopefully none for katyana's sake!

it had been a while since pris had gotten that kind of soothing from a female figure. her mother had been gone now since the fall, so the only one who gave pris that kind of coddling comfort was dommy. and he was her most precious dommy dunderhead, but still. dommy was obviously no woman! so as katyana pet pris' back, the odd little artist circled her arms around one of the woman's legs, letting out a rather contented sigh as she let her eyes sink closed.

quiet. that's what her mind was. it was a quiet that usually only dommy, and sometimes donald, saw. very few people who weren't those two men - or a statue - made pris feel this level of safe. it was only when pris was safe that her mind slowed down enough that pris could catch up with it and work with it like it was a normal, everyday mind instead of the skewed warped mind handed down to her from her father's genes.

all caught up, her voice was soft. slightly hurt. and very young. "i don't know what he wants to put me in a bottle for anyway," she grumble grumbled to the statue lady who was comforting her, "all i did was tell him a joke that my coffin was uncomfortable and he thinks i'm the ghost of a bratty stripper who dances in bottles for people at the innaninn to drink me up while i do spells on shadows to make them meat-eaters..." yes. that is exactly what all of zephyr's odd words translated to in her bent little brain. "and i'm not," she concluded in an emphatic little whine, as if she had to clarify that for her statue-savior.

pris' picked up her head and opened her green eyes, looking up at katyana with earnest, "you know i'm not," she said with whisper whispered confidence. "i think you should go tell him so." that's what heros did, after all. they saved the day by telling the villains just how much wrong they were doing!

[Guest]

Dalia had not found Zephyr at the Inn, and she was most definitely missing him. She dressed in some riding clothes and decided she would go for a ride. She had the horse at a slow canter and she was day dreaming. She heard voices off in the distance so she started to look around.

When she started upon the holy grounds of eternal rest, she saw Zeph and he was playing with a big cat. She was just about to say something to him when she saw the two women. A second glance told her that one of the women was Miss Kat. She closed her mouth, she had nothing to say now. Had she been gone too long?

She turned the horse around to point back to the Inn. Her first instinct was to throw the horse into a full run and flee the area. But she did not. She moved the horse forward at the same slow canter that she had arrived at. Had Zephyr contacted the Kat lady when she had been gone for so long? Was she just happening by and saw him? Did Zeph even miss her? So many questions. She would give Zephyr the chance to answer them, she was not an unfair woman.

[Katyana]

-Katyana listened to the young girl as she tried her best to soothe her and it seemed to be working. Now just how well was this going to work when she called Zeph over to them so she could try and bring peace to both of them because she knew there was a big misunderstanding. She spoke softly to the girl so she would know what she was doing for some reason Katyana knew not to make big movements or it might frighten her.-

Ok I need you to be brave with me because I am going to call him over so we can all sit down and talk. I will be right here with you so you don't need to be afraid. Ok?

-She smiled down at her as she spoke a little louder so Zeph could hear her.-

Could you two take a moment away from your play time and come sit with us, we need to talk about something important?

-She whistled to get Deamon's attention because she knew he was not going to stop playing unless he knew she meant business. In his mind he would hear her voice.-

Come here Deamon it is time to relax and be calm. I need you to be gentle and not frighten this one. I know you like being playful but now is not the time for that.

-Deamon stopped his playing and appeared as if he were sulking as he slowly made his way to Kat. When he was close enough he got on his belly and crawled to her almost as if he were admitting defeat on this one.-

I understand but don't like it. I want to play....play play play.

-Katyana smiled and reached down once he was close to her and petted him. She decided it was best now to sit down on the ground and she was able to accomplish this while still holding on to the girl. She spoke again to her as she petted Deamon.-

We have a friendly kitty here. Would you like to meet him?

-She prayed to the heavens that she was not pushing her luck on this one. Just about that time she sensed another person approaching them. She looked up to see the Princess and her only thought was now is not the time for her to be here especially with a frightened girl.-

[Guest]

He looked up at the whistle. Time to be calm? He was always calm, or at least he tried to be. But sit and talk with them? Come on, he tried that and was when he found out the mocking bird was mixed with banshee blood as well.

He stood up and dusted himself off. His back was to them and that was when he saw her. A smile grew on his face and waved at Dalia. He turned to Kat and the banshee mord. That is what he was going to call her. It seemed to fit. He had t make sure he never drank whatever bottle she was put in or whatever it was she was drinking. "I du be one sec lass. This du be givin ye time tu be calmin what du be that banshee mord."

He then took a couple of steps forward and looked at Dalia, "Ded nae be knowin ye du be ridin one of them there meal wagons dalia." he said with a huge grin. "I ded be findin a stone garden I du be thinkin."

[Guest]

"brave." it was echoed like it should have been a question but pris didn't say it like that. "brave." second verse same as the first, it sounded like a word that wanted to be a question but didn't quite make it. gears were turning in her warped little brain, connections firing that a normal person wouldn't even think to make. but for all those connections she couldn't give the question that her mind was repeating an answer. what is brave? it was like a record on repeat, her mind asking over and over. what is brave, what is brave, what is brave?

"fancy feather crowns and face paints all ready for a war party." that's what she murmured to herself. she was thinking of an indian brave. it was the best she could do. when it came to emotions and attributes, her disorder gave her a strange kind of disconnect. but she had to give her mind some answer, or else it wouldn't leave her alone. and it did leave her alone, even if the answer was wrong. "hm hm hm." now that she thought about what she said, it didn't sound like a bad idea. the statue lady was asking her to be brave after all and that meant she had to do something. so pris stuck two fingers into the dirt, rubbing fingertips in the cold wet earth before pulling them out. she drew two lines on her right cheek, plunged her fingers back in to get them dirtied again, and then drew two lines on her left cheek.

"pris the brave." she announced it when she was done. her green eyes darting here there and everywhere taking stock of surroundings. luckily the woman on horseback was a distance away in a direction that was facing pris' back. so the eccentric girl didn't notice. what pris did notice was the big zoo beastie creeping its way over to them. slowly she shifted so she could sit indian style, pulling her ankles in out of chomping range. even though the last thing she wanted to do was have the zoo creature out of her sight, her eyes still switched their gaze every few seconds. a three way match between the beastie, fred, and the statue lady. in no way did she reach out to touch the beastie. she stayed just as she was. with her ankles nice and safe.

"i'm not a banshee." she grumble grumbled that at fred's back, since he turned away to talk to the wind. she looked at katyana, drawing her words out this time in a distinct, high pitched whine. "i-i-i-i-'m not a b-a-a-a-ansheeeee tell hi-i-i-i-m statue!" oh irony.

[Guest]

Katyana saw Zeph walk over to the princess instead of coming to talk to them as she had asked. She could not help but feel slighted in some way by that. Perhaps it was too late to work their issues out and salvage their friendship after all he only visited once at the castle since she left and it was not even to visit her it was to see Dre and his family. Hearing the girl scream out that she was not a banshee made her see how Zeph could have mistaken her for one. Trying her best she patted her back to sooth her. She called to Zeph again and hoped he came over so they could clear this up. She also thought it would be wise for the princess to stay where she was and let her handle this one. Katyana feared the new woman being hear might do further damage to this girl than it would help her. Deamon whined as the girl started screaming and he begged Kat to make it stop.

-Zephyr can you PLEASE come here so we can clear this up. It is important.-

Looking back to the girl she tried to hush her.

-It is ok they will not hurt you and I will tell him you are not a banshee but I need to you stop screaming.-

[Guest]

Dalia stopped the horse from walking away. She turned it back around so she was once again seeing Zephyr. She smiled at him. "Meal wagon? Zephyr Eurus, you are so cute." She leaned down and gently placed a chaste kiss upon his lips. "Go, be with your friends, help miss Kat calm that poor child. I will be back at the Inn. I will see you when you get back." She kissed him again before she sat up to turn once again to head back to the Inn. She rode off, but she did look back over her shoulder to wave at him.

[Guest]

He looked at Dalia and smiled, as he returned the kiss. He smiled up at her and nodded.

"That du be nae be a girl. That du be what du be happenin when a banshee du be matin wit what du be one of dem mockin birds." He smiled at her and watched her go.

He turned and headed back towards Kitty Kat. He even playfully leaped at Daemon. He just stood there as the screechin gi...mock...whatever the Wind Blast it was continued. He put his hands to ears and looked at Kat.

"Du be dem banshee mords e'er du be hushin? Du be nae be able tu be talkin iffen she du be makin moor noise then what du be a winter wolf in heat. Du be that it? Du she be in heat?"

He reached into a small pouch he had, and pulled out a ball of leather cords. Before he knew it he had shoved it into the wailing girl's mouth. He then turned to Kat. "Du be gud tu be seein ye ageen Kitty Kat. Ded be wunderin iffen ye ded be well. Du be sorry iffen I ded be duin sumthin wrong." He looked at the...well whatever she was. "Du be stayin away from what du the spirits. They du be strange h're in what du be this rock garden."

[Guest]

-Katyana rolled her eyes as the kiss was exchanged and she realized right then that she should not have come here but glad she did so she could move on and forget about him. Before she knew what was happening Zephyr was back over there by them and going on about the girl being in heat. She started to open her mouth to say something and he had shoved a gag in the girl's mouth. Still sitting next to her quickly removed the object and stood up and glared at him. She was not happy with him in the least at this given moment. As for his other questions they would go unanswered for now. In a stern voice he would recognize from their time causing trouble she spoke.-

Zephyr this girl is not a banshee nor is she a spirit to be bottled. And you can not go around placing objects like this one -holds it up to him- in people's mouths. She is not in heat, she is scared. I think you owe her an apology. You have a lot to learn about people perhaps Dre or your princess could help you with that because I surely can not.

-She was beyond irritated at this point with him and with herself for letting the emotions fly. Deamon was standing in between the two knowing how their tempers could flair and it would not be pretty. Deamon spoke to Kat's mind.-

Kat calm down you don't want to scare her do you? Don't worry about that other woman, he doesn't love her and you know it. She is just taking advantage of him and his naive ways. He will come to see that in his time.

-Deamon could feel things from people whether they wanted him to or not. He could be wrong also but chances are when it came to Zephyr and how people have been before with him, he was not wrong this time. He was a very old spirit in a tiger's body. One would call him a familiar which for Kat he was her familiar ever since he was a new born cub.-

Katyana stopped and looked at Zephyr before returning to the girl. Praying this didn't make her more scared.

[Guest]

He was not expecting this, that was for sure. He was being berated like he was holding on to his mother's aprons. Yeah it pissed him off, but he stood there and took it. He reached out and snatched back the ball of leather.

"Look who du be playin the hero now. Look who du be suddenly ready tu be standin up fer things and du be all knowin. All I du be knowin is that I ded be out fer what ded be a simple walk and ded be lettin the winds du be takin me where they du be wishin and I ded be endin here in this rock garden.

"now I ded be enjoyin what ded be goin on here and such. That ded be til I ded be spooked by," he just pointed to Priss, "Like I ded be knowin what du be goin on. I du nae be all knowin as ye du be. All I du be knowin is she ded be speechin aboot sum lad named Fred and a flasher and mockin me and screamin. So I du nae s'ppose tu be thinkin she du be sum thin else. Wind Blast Katayna, " there he sadi it, her given name and not his nickname. Maybe that would show what was going on with him at the moment. "How do i be knowin what du be goin on when things du be changin faster then what du be the wind in a snow storm."

"And i du nae be apologizin, ye ded be sayin ye ded be wishin tu be speechin tu me. Hard tu be duin that when ye du be havin what du be soundin like a banshee goin off. Instead it ded be seemin that ye ded nae be wishin tu be speechin to me, but tu be nakin it all my fault. Fine it du be that way. Just as ye du be sayin Katayna."

He stood there, arms to his sides. "iffen this du be how Lowlanders, nae what du be people, du be treatin each other. Then I du be nae be needin a teacher. I du be knowin this lesson what du be tu well. "

He turned his back and went and stood by a statue. Not showing how hurt he was. Hell he just got dressed down and implied h was stupid by someone who he considered to be one of his best friends. He truly wondered if it was not all his fault.

[Guest]

wow! look at all the things that happened just from a teenager whining. because that's all it was, she hadn't been screaming or trying to make blood curdle or anything like that. just some long drawn out syllables said in a high tone of voice to show just how unhappy she was with being called a banshee. because the irony of that escaped her, it was possible pris didn't know exactly what a banshee was, or that she had a different definition up there in her strange little mind.

if only eccentric girl could have stayed focused on all the effects her whining caused, she would've filed that point away for the next rainy day. pris absolutely used tactics to win her whims when necessary or to confuse people. the tricky of that was that since because was sincerely skewed thanks to her disorder, unless you knew her very well it was hard to tell what was truth, and what was tactic.

but right now she wasn't focused on new tactics. pris was fixated on something else. the leather ball that got stuffed in her mouth. surely it was punishment for her leaving it open in a gape as the loud sword man came closer talking about blasting wind and her in heat. heat? heat? her mind was asking the question. and she couldn't find an answer. that's why her mouth had been open - she was stuck. until he put the leather ball between her lips. boy was she unstuck then.

so katyana wouldn't have to take the ball out, no no no. because as soon as it was stuffed, pris was spitting that wad out as fast as a bullet from a gun. it probably shot out right into katyana's reaching hand. as she spat out the leather she was scrambling to her feet. the look about her certainly didn't help pris' case as far as whether or not she was a banshee, hair in her face and a furiously feral look in her eyes with an ugly twist to her expression. but right now banshees didn't matter to pris. the fact he crammed something into her mouth, that's what mattered.

it overtook her mind. images of her father and rope rope rope and her grandmother and the walls for pillows. the things they did to the people where they kept her grandmother when they didn't behave. on visits her mother and father always walked pris fast or often carried her quickly down the halls, and maybe they thought pris wouldn't notice or remember because she was just a little girl back then. but even back then, long before she showed signs of the same disorder, she was a very observant girl. she noticed. she saw. and she remembered.

remembering could be a very bad thing. especially with a mind like pris', where logic was bent and emotions were...distorted or detached or just plain defunct. so zephyr and katyana were able to carry on the conversation without interruption because the teenager wasn't hearing a word they said. nope. her ears were dumb as those furious green eyes focused dead on zephyr and neither she nor her gaze budged a bit. who knows what she saw. now pris was the statue again. it would have probably been better for all of them if she stayed that way. because she wasn't scared anymore. not in the least. she was angry.

but she didn't. in fact she growled as she sprang to life. surging away from katyana to give zephyr a nasty kick to his shin. even if he moved out of the way, like a tornado pris' forward momentum continued. stalking off, she wasn't even stepping around the stones or stopping to say farewell to the statues like she normally did. on a regular day in a regular moment those stones and statues were her very good friends. right now they were just another obstacle in her way of getting out of here. she'd had enough. she didn't run, but she was marching out of here like she was on a mission.

if she had spoken when she kicked zephyr, what she said would have been simple. 'don't touch me'. leather ball aside, pris was very picky about being touched. but pris was beyond words right now. her mind was beyond words. so she'd said nothing but that growl. when she got to the corner, pris would most likely be getting on the first bus that pulled up. she needed to go. that's all she knew. go, go, go. because staying would become nasty. with nails and fists and swords and someones getting hurt. most likely her. this way, she could find something less dangerous to hurt and punish. something without a sword.

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