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Veera felt the wind circle around her. Just as promised it remained inconspicuous. A soft channel did not bear the signs as a fully opened gift channel did. There was a slight wind in her red locks but not much. Her eyes had a tinge to them. Not glowing yet, but just enough of the channel was open to make them more vibrant, even greener in color. She could feel the wind flowing through her, life flooded the channel much stronger than when she had called forth the plant earlier today. It awakened her senses. She could see farther and feel the wind occupy her surroundings. Aubrun-brown feathers rustled to the breeze their friend was creating. The wind was happy to exercise its strength once more. Eager it whispered to her once again.
"I'll warp the sound as it travels to fit your tongue. You can speak to him as you would any other person now." The wind explained to Veera.
Veera turned to the man. He had picked up something different and was watching her silently. His eyes were sharper than they were a moment ago and he seemed to be evaluating his situation. Hesitantly he stepped forward following after Veera.
"You were trying to say something earlier right? What did you want to say?" Veera's voice startled the man. Composing himself he spoke up.
"How do you know my language? A moment ago you acted as if you couldn't understand me." The man's voice was deep, not rough but pleasant to Veera's ears. It was as if the earth was speaking through man. Guttural and true his voice held no indication of deception.
"I asked the wind. Tell me what you were trying to say, I don't know how much longer I can channel the wind with such control." Veera didn't lie. She had no idea how long she could channel wind, but she failed to mention that her time would not run out soon. This soft level of channeling did not task the body like a fully opened channel would.
"I have a feeling you can hold out for much longer than you're letting on, but I'll entertain you. I was wanting to know how far you plan to walk. It's been a while since I last saw a dwelling place here." He was sharper than Veera gave him credit for.
"We still have a ways to go before we get to the next outpost. You won't see any more dwelling places because we're trying to keep you out of sight, not flaunt you to the whole town." Veera replied.
"I guess. What do you plan on doing with me once we arrive at this outpost?" The man probed.
"We'll have to decide that once we get there. It's not exactly like I'm in charge of intruders." Veera wasn't exactly thrilled to hear the man question her already shaky plans but she also didn't want to cut the connection short before getting some of her own answers.
"So I'm in the hands of an indecisive underling. That's just perfect." Now that the man could communicate what he wanted he was full of sass.
"That's a funny comment from the man who is currently held captive by that underling. Maybe you should have thought about your predicament before you tore through our canopy floor. What made you come through the canopy? You didn't appear to be staging an ambush. If so, I think your methods need some revision." Veera was unwilling to look back at the man now. He was too quick-witted for her taste, she wasn't sure she wouldn't divulge too much face-to-face.
"I wasn't planning an ambush. You are correct about that. As for what I was trying to do- I don't see much need to divulge anymore." He was hesitant now. Clearly, he was trying to say something when he tore through the canopy. Veera remembered how frantic he was. She could see that he had calmed down since then and reevaluated his approach.
"That's oddly convenient for a man who doesn't know his eminent future. What's your name? Do you have one?" Veera let the topic slide. She got the feeling that once this man said something he wasn't likely to change his mind.
"I have a name."
"Care to share or is that another thing you don't need to divulge?" Veera jested.
"I might. After all, I'll only have to repeat it later when your friend comes back and I'm being interrogated." The man was having fun now.
"How do you know he's coming back?" Veera had to turn as a nearing branch jutted out in the path. "It's just you and me right now. I might just relay all of this information to him once he gets back."
"I know because of how concerned he looked when he left. No self-respecting many would leave a girl out with an intruder alone for long." He turned to follow Veera around the tree limb.
"That's quite a traditionalist approach, I guess you can win that one. My partner is coming back. That doesn't answer why you think I won't just relay this entire conversation to him when he gets back." Veera trekked on.
"If you were going to do that you would have done this little party trick earlier when you were trying to ask me to cooperate. No, I think you don't want him to see this 'channeling' and that's why you were so intent on telling me this conversation would end soon. You're waiting for him to come back." His answer implied he had caught on to what Veera was trying to say, and then some.
"I suppose you're right. I don't want him to see me channel. For personal reasons of course. Why don't you pacify me and tell me your name anyway? Indulge this request since you refused earlier." Veera was careful to dodge her reasons as honestly as she could. The man picked up on lies of omission more than Damon did. At least more than Damon let on he did.
"My name's Jun." He replied.
"Jun huh?" Veera rolled the name over her tongue. It did not feel the same. The wind wasn't changing Veera's words in a way that involved Veera speaking differently. Instead, it was shifting the sound as it traveled through the wind. This name was spoken the same as Jun had said it. It was the first word she had spoken of his language and it felt strange on her lips.
"Yes, Jun. My father gave me this name." For the first time, the man let his face relay the full emotion he was feeling. Pride emanated from his body and a defensive tension pulled his brows together.
"Ok, Jun. Works for me. My Name is-"
"Vee, right?" Jun interrupted. "Hard to miss your friend saying it so much." Now they were on a more stable path as they got closer to the outpost.
"You're partially correct. My name is Veera. Damon just calls me that because he's too lazy to say the whole thing." Veera didn't enjoy the feeling of familiarity that came with Jun using her friend's pet name for her. She did her best not to let the stranger see it bothered her but she felt he probably knew anyway.
"Veera then." The stranger rolled this name around just as Veera had done earlier. His grey eyes were shadowed by his brow as he mulled the word over. "Then Damon must be the name of your companion you sent off earlier."
"Yes, his name is Damon. I need you to cooperate with him when he comes back. He won't hurt you as long as you work with us."
"That's not a huge threat considering the amount of damage he did in our previous brawl. Don't worry it was never my intention to hurt either of you in the first place." Jun seemed earnest in this statement but Veera didn't trust that he would do no harm if it came down to it.
"Comforting. I'm going to release this channel before Damon comes back and I'll need you to keep that same sentiment when we bring you to the outpost. I don't intend to harm you considering there was no damage done but it's not my decision as to where you'll end up. So if you have anything to say it's better to do so now while you can."
"There isn't anything more I can say. Except that I hope the people you bring me to are better fighters than you are Veera. I'm not the threat you need to be concerned with." His gaze pierced through Veera, striping her of any bravado she had mustered up.
"How am I supposed to interpret that as anything other than a threat?" Veera said.
"..." It appeared Jun was done talking. He just pulled his gaze forward and continued walking.
"Now you choose to be tight-lipped. Convenient."
"He's close now Veera, are you ready to end this lovely chat?" The wind spoke for the first time since the two opened the channel.
Yes, I didn't get much out of Jun but that's fine. Thank you for your help. It wasn't necessary to thank the wind but Veera did it anyway.
"You too, child, I had fun." With that, the channel was closed.
For Veera, it felt like a tap was turned off. She knew the moment the wind left her because it ceased to enter. She felt the channeled wind flow out of her and leave behind the emptiness. She didn't feel weak but it was hard not to miss the Life that was being channeled. It strengthened her and made her more attentive. With it gone her senses were dulled. Veera's hair fell out of the gentle lift the wind was giving it and her eye's dulled down to the forest green she normally displayed. With an exhale the last of the wind left her system and she was back to normal. If Jun noticed the transformation he didn't let on.
Not too shortly after Damon made an appearance. He dropped from the sky right next to Veera, wings tucked and legs slightly bent for the impact. There was little sound other than a swoosh and light thud.
"You got farther than I thought Veera," Damon said straightening to his full high. His hair looked slightly better than before.
He must have taken a minute to detangle the knots before joining us. Veera thought. I guess that's why he was delayed.
"I returned the kit, Vee. They weren't too happy that we left early but their hands were full dealing with the tradesmen so our conversation was cut short." He rustled around in his bag and pulled out a hair tie for Veera. "I figured you'd want this since you weren't expecting to do all this today."
"Thank you," Veera said taking the hair tie and pulling her auburn locks into a pony tale. She didn't bother detangling it. It would take too long and she wanted it out of the way. "Did the outpost appear to have any other commotions? I'm curious if our guy here was the only one."
"No, nobody seemed alarmed at least. I feel like I would have been more thoroughly screened if they had another intruder." Damon shook himself. "Man I wish we could just fly. We would be there already."
"I agree, but I don't believe either of us could lift him. We're almost there. Soon we should be able to see the outpost at least." Veera sighed. Walking wasn't a joy to her either but Damon mentioning it just reminded her more. Jun stayed quiet, opting to observe the pair. Not much was revealed from his expression. I bet he'd win at Uhnko. Veera thought. I wouldn't be able to guess what was in his hand from looking at him.
"That's good at least. Once we get there I'll ask Cade to carry him. I'm sure the muscle monkey would love that." Damon jokingly referred to Cade. "Hey Vee, did you hear that?"
"What do you mean Damon? I didn't hear anything." Veera was unnerved as the smile fell from Damon's face, an occurrence that rarely took place on her gleeful friend.
"Somethings off, do you smell that? It's almost dark, like something I can't put my finger on." Damon was sniffing the air a low spark was in his eyes as if whatever the smell was intrigued him. "Vee, I think something's burning."
"What do you mean something's burning? No one's allowed to have flames in the canopy levels. What could be burning?" Veera said that and suddenly a wave of smoke rushed past them. They could see the dark emission snake across the sky. The tail of which seemed to be coming from the outpost.
"Vee, we need to hurry. I think the outpost is on fire." Damon said sprinting into a run toward the outpost.
Veera looked back at Jun. "I'm going to need you to keep up, let's go!" With that Veera took off, pulling on the leash that bound Jun's hands.
"Seem's like the boy was right Veera child, he's not the threat you need to be concerned with." The wind whispered in Veera's ears as she sprinted for the outpost.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
