Welcome to Gaia! ::

Green eyes stared out over the expanse of the forest. Teiluj was a bit nervous being so far away from home for the first time. Her mother had reluctantly agreed that it was a good idea for Teiluj to see more of the world on her own. To experience what she could without Maya's Alkidike influence. While it had been Teiluj's idea, she was starting to wonder if it was a good thing. Though she was grateful to have both Pacju and Starline to accompany her.

There were some who reacted to her very differently then they would have reacted to someone of their own pure line. And it made her feel nervous. She couldn't really tell if they reacted that way because she was so unique, or because she was so different from them she was seen as a threat of some sort.

Looking up towards the daylight canopy of the trees Teiluj resisted the urge to climb the branches. Starline was currently up there. Leaping from one branch to the next, fluttering wings and ruffling feathers between each leap. She was starting to use her wings to get around more now than she had before. And Teiluj had noticed the strange molting of feathers. Almost as if the Kinfa was shedding the same type of baby fur that her mother had said Pacju had once done. Like a form of growing?

It was because of this that Teiluj had set out to search for those who lived where the Kinfa did. She needed more information on the companion like animal. Especially since the shifter girl she had met was so certian that Kinfa grew to massive sizes. Teiluj and her mother had only thought it would be a small bird. Not something so large. Would the Kinfa's eating increase? Change? Would she need to teach her friend how to hunt.

Yawning Teiluj rested her back against the trunk of a small tree. She had been walking all day, and wasn't sure she was still headed in the right direction. At least for now, she still had a fair amount of meat stuffed in her bag. Reaching in she produced one. Biting down she chewed slowly. Listening with her antennae as her mother had taught her to do.

Listing to the forest was harder then Teiluj had anticipated. There so many distractions. The leaves, critters moving about and even Pacju and Starline breathing. Before she knew it she was focusing on Starline in the trees and zoning out into her thoughts.

The sound of something hitting the rocks had Pacju turning around and snarling menacingly. Startled Teiluj took on a fighting pose as she moved after her Radaku. Unsure of just what had caused the sound. Looking among the rocks for the source, Teiluj produced a small weapon. Interested where it had come from the girl followed her companion.

Stopping mid track as her eyes feel on a strange earthling, Teiluj called Pacju back to her side. The animal only pausing in her tracks kept her eyes tightly locked on the intruder.

"Are you lost?" Teiluj asked struggling not to choke on the food she had been chewing a few moments ago. Coughing to clear her throat the mixed breed couldn't help but stare. This wasn't a shifter earthling. The stones on his body wasn't a familiar thing to her either. A sudden wonder and curiosity spiked within the prentice.

She couldn't help the desire to walk closer. Giving the Radaku an order to stay put. She was far too interested in Nkole. "What are you? Where did you come from?" She reached out to touch him but pulled her hand back before it got to close. It was rude to touch strangers right? But the other Alkidikes she had met were very hands on with her hair... Maybe hair was ok to touch?

Teiluj reached out to touch his hair. He looked hot, and she couldn't help but wonder if he was having a hard time in the heat. Her mother had told her how some earthlings didn't survive well in the forest air. And that offering them shelter at the river was a good idea. She was way to mesmerized by the new earthling that she hadn't opened her mouth to give the offer.

OBAN!? He was one of the flaming red eyed shadow men she heard about that killed for fun and pleasure? That kind of Oban? Teiluj hesitated as her wrist was grabbed. Instinctively looking at him only to find their gaze met. His eyes certainly didn't look like the fiery red that had previously been explained to her. Pacju gave another growl as a warning but obeyed Teiluj's command and stayed in place. She looked at him sizing him up. He was taller than her. Then again most earthlings were still taller than her by at least an inch or two. She felt horrible being so dwarfed even to the earthling tribes.

Their eyes locked longer than Teiluj was used to anyone looking at her. And she couldn't help but blush at the prolonged gaze. Once her wrist was released Teiluj took a step back. "The war seems to have done alot to so many." Teiluj turned her head to the side to check for starline before continuing. His gaze was making her nervous. "You're not at all what I expected an Oban to be. I mean, I'd heard of your kind from a shifter. But, you don't look like blazing fiery eyes and shadows to me. You look like the rest of the earthlings.

Nkoles introduction made Teiluj smile as her eyes cast downward. "I'm Teiluj, the daughter of Maya." Shifting her stance to get a better look at the Oban again, it was hard for her to imagine them actually being shadows as she had until this moment.

"I have bad news though. Nkole, I am afriad you are the first Oban I've ever seen." Teiluj paused to look up at him only to look away. Pausing in thought before speaking again. "But I know a place where we can start looking for her. She looks like you right? Neued is probably the first place to look. It will have the most information. The shifters there are smart, mamma made sure I knew some of my heritage. Since the war, it's been bustling with activity from all sorts of earthlings."

Reaching out with her hand again Teiluj paused. Her memory of him shying away the first time made her rethink her actions. Normally she would have just taken the wrist of whomever she was with, it was a youngling habit she had picked up being with the other Alkidike younglings in Andile. Perhaps that was not the custom with Obans, though the shifters didn't seem to mind.

"It's this way, it's going to take a while to get there." Teiluj walked slowly over to Pacju and glanced back at the Oban with a smile. "She wont eat you if I'm on her back." Mounting the Radaku Teiluj whistled up into the trees. "Starline!"

Teiluj's face grew grim at the sound in Nkoles voice. That was really the only place they could look to get information that she knew off. Shifting into a better spot on Pacju Teiluj thought hard about the other locations in Jahaur. She grew up in Emeka and it was nearly impossible for an Oban to be there. And Andile was so central to Alkidike going to Aisha that it wasn't likely there either. Not to mention they had been where Teiluj had spent most of her youngling years. Even Ast would have little information that she knew about, she had spent the remainder of her years living in Ast in order to gain more of her earthling roots. And while she loved Aisha, her curiosity drove her to different ways than her Alkidike sisters.

"You were in Neued?" Teiluj paused to think some more. "Well I can't take you to Andile, or Emeka. I also don't want to go home yet to Ast. They don't think I'm strong enough. I can't go back there until I can prove I'm strong. Besides I need more information on Starline."

Having said the Kinfa's name the bird dropped from the trees towards the ground. Wings flapping at an uneven and quick pace. The kinfa was just starting to learn how to fly and was taking every moment to attempt just that. "There you are. Silly Kinfa."

"Of course Pacju listens." Teiluj beamed as the Kinfa landed on Teiluj's outstretched arm. "She's my mamma's Radaku. She sends her with me as protection. Since my Kinfa makes me an easy target. Or my skin I guess." She looked Nkole strait on as her smile grew wider. "She'll behave if you want to pet her. And I didn't tame her my mamma did. She found three of them abandoned. And this is the only one that survived. She says one day when Pacju has a litter that I can have it. Lately mamma's got a new pet to take care of. Something called a Janarim pup? I'm supposed to be finding things out about them too but I need information on Starline first. See I'm sure a pup can wait." Teiluj rambled on as she climbed off Pacju again offering for Nkole to inspect her Radaku.

Teiluj's smile faded into a sad forlorn look. "Emeka and Andile are home to the Alkidikes as it's close to mother Aisha. And I haven't become strong enough to earn their respect." The young prentice tried to shrug in a nonchalant manner but it was obvious it bothered her. "As for Ast, my mother is there. I've spent along time kept close to her side. She had a feeling that with the unrest around Jauhar it was better to keep us far from it. Now with it over, I want to travel, I want to learn. And I need to prove I can be a strong warrior too! I've just now gained freedom from it all."

The mixed blooded girl's head moved to stare down the earthling. To challenge her on such matters again. "Besides. No earthling would stand a chance against so many riled Alkidike. I wouldn't even stand a chance against them, and i've got their blood in me."

His question about her being an easy target made her laugh. "Isn't it obvious!?" She turned so her entire front was visible to Nkole. Pushing her hands as far away from her body to either side she opened her left palm so he could look. While her right hand clung to the strange metal item she had picked up after it had clattered among the rocks near her. "I'm a mixed blood! I'm part Alkidike, Shifter, Wind, and Ice. I don't look anything like my sisters. I don't look like my mother. I'm alone in Jauhar." She scowled with another blush before moving her hands back to her body and turning her head so she was looking at him again. It felt weird being so exposed.

Figuring it was better not to go into to many details about her mamma and the Janarim Teiluj quietly took in the information Nkole was giving her about them. She watched him fidget for a moment out of the corner of her eyes. "Mamma can tame Radaku, I don't think taming a Janarim pup will be all that much trouble for her." In all fairness Teiluj didn't know how the pup was handling since she had left. Or how Maya was struggling with the little spitfire. She respected her mothers abilities.

Sighing inwardly Teiluj turned to pet Pacju lovingly. Watching the Kinfa as it fluttered about the ground. It's wings twitching and resettling continuously. "So do you want to pet Pacju or not?"

Teiluj couldn't help but pause thoughtfully as she stared back at the Oban. Did he really not see her as the strange creations she was? Not that her mother saw her as anything but someone who needed love. Her blush resurfaced as she went back to petting Pacju. Slipping the dagger she had picked up into her bag on her hip. She didn't exactly know how to respond to his question. She wanted to retort to say something smart back at him but nothing came to mind.

It didn't help he was laughing at her. "I guess we would be a happy family but. Mamma ran away from 'family' before. Because of me." Nkole mentioning gaining his own Janarim had Teiluj turning back to give the Oban another glance. "Wait... I don't understand. If you can go home... if you have a home to go to. Why are you looking for your sister? Why are you just not trying to get home? Wouldn't she be waiting there for you?"

Teiluj jumped a little at the sudden outburst from the Oban. Her yellow eyes flashed towards Nkole with surprise. She had held the dagger out for him to see earlier and he had missed it then. Now that she was putting it somewhere he suddenly wanted it? Teiluj gave a shrug and dug the item from her bag. A smirk appeared on her lips as she looked from the blade to the Fire earthling. "Isn't this blade a little dull to be used as a weapon?" She flicked the blade around in her hand so the hilt was pointing towards Nkole, and the dull end towards herself.

"I guess if you want it back after tossing it at me you better come and get it." Her eyebrow rose as she watched what he would do next. "But you're better off finding a smith to get this sharpened properly."

It seemed odd to Teiluj that one would have to find someone to be able to go home. Was he really so dependent on his sister. A horrified look passed over her face as strange thoughts ran through her mind. Alkidike sisters depended on each other. That often lead to very romantic relationships. As versed as she was in the ways of the earthlings this was till something that eluded her. "Are you and your sister... well you know... A couple?" Her antenna twitched as she waited for the reaction. The tall tale sign that she had figured out such an intense plot, completely ignoring the fact his father was a general. Whoever his parents were didn't make Nkole who he was. Why did it matter what his father was, as much as who. A far more complicated situation. "Ok but... Why WOULD Yejide not go home? Food warmth... you obviously. " She smirked mirthfully as if part of some giddy secret.

"Oh." Was all Teiluj said as she turned to pet Pacju. Earthling ways were really confusing. Especially when compared to the Alkidike ones. It was making her feel more lost then before about where she would fit into the world. Her antenna fell against her head in a small pout. "Alkidike sisters often fall in love with each other..."

"A wanted thief?" Teiluj asked curiously. "Did she steal alot of ornate and useless weapons. People should be glad to get rid of them. One should be based on their own merits. Not the skills and value of their parents. It's useless to have someone who is weak follow the line of someone who is powerful. You can't ride on your parents wings forever. You have to learn to stand on your own feet. That's the only way to grow." Teiluj was talking more about her self and her place as an Alkidike.