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[Sabra via discord]

"Aaand there he goes." Ziya let out a faint snort of amusement as he watched the parak darting forward on the forest path. The teen had decided to take some time away from the bustle of the village today, leaving behind his chores and what not to sneak into the forest. Of course one of his familiars had opted to consider this a good time for tagging along and the young kit found itself bouncing through the snow, its dark tipped tail the only sign of life as it disappeared throughout the path. "Don't get too crazy!" Ziya called out playfully before sudden screaming caught his attention. "Spokelse!" Was that the scream of his parak? They had awful distraught screams that sounded almost human at times. Ziya quickly sprinted forward, flying across the snow until he came face to face with someone hanging in a net.

"Oh." Ziya blinked in surprise, his foot lightly moving away from something that made a slight crunching noise. While he didnt bend down to pick up whatever it was the teen instead found himself studying the Matori "You're not a parak." It was an obvious statement but still. The teen tilted his head with a soft sigh. "Hold still and I can help you down. Just don't yell...you could attract something worse than me, ya know?" What were the chances of rescuing another....no he was not going to even try to piece that one together.

"I need you to brace yourself. Try to reach up for the top of the net." Ziya found himself explaining as he carefully skirted about the snow, careful not to step on anything else. "I'll cut you down and catch you. Just prepare to hug me when you drop." If she was positioned just right it would save her a sore behind and any potential injuries from falling from the trap. As he spoke Ziya also pulled out a knife his fingers curling around it as he prepared to help the girl down.

[Sabra via Discord]

"Just like that." Ziya confirmed as the Matori slipped her fingers through the netting and grabbed hold. A chuckle escaped his lips at her sudden request for modesty's sake and Ziya could only shake his head. "I'll do my best to not look but you'll want me paying attention so I don't accidentally cut you instead of the netting." The teen reached forward, standing on his toes to give himself more height the best that he could, and started sawing on the rope with his knife. "It's not every day that I get to cut a Matori down from the trees." He commented with a chuckle as the netting finally gave away and Ziya quickly tossed the knife to the side so that the girl could tumble into his arms.

Let's try to not cut the cute girl hanging from a tree, especially if she's Fiadah's sister. Ziya mused with amusement as he wrapped his arms around the Matori and glanced down at her. "Are you alright?" He asked, not letting go until he was certain she was stable and okay to move again. It definitely could be a dizzy experience tumbling down after hanging at such an awkward angle for spirit's knows how long!

[Sabra via Discord]

A soft chuckle left Ziya's lips. She was like a ward, both cute and skittish like the small Oban creature. "I am." He confirmed with amusement. "I'm glad that's not a bad thing. You've eased my life long worries." He was still holding onto as he spoke, curious about how long she would last before she realized that she was being held in his arms like this. Though his amusement quickly faded into concern at her statement. "Lenses?" Ziya knew what they were since he had seen some glasses back at the animal sanctuary and there was even an elder who had been convinced to give the strange things a chance back home....but he hadn't thought about them whenever he first approached the terrified girl. For once he looked sheepish and almost scared as he slowly turned around with the foreigner in his arms, his bi-colored gaze skimming across the ground until he saw something reflecting sunlight in the snow.

"Lenses aren't too terribly expensive, are they?" Ziya found himself asking as he shifted the girl in his arms and studied the strange frames that were resting on the ground near them. It looked like a faint crack may have outlined the left lens but thankfully the other one seemed to be in one piece. A soft chirp caught his attention and the hybrid frowned. "Oh now you show up, Spøkelse." His frown grew as he noticed the parak sniffing near the glasses. "Umm...if you'd like for me to grab those lenses I may have to set you down first. Is that okay, miss?"

[Sabra via Discord]

"It's fine, truly." Ziya chuckled. "It's not like I wasn't surprised seeing a Matori caught out in the wilderness of Zena myself." He expressed lightly before listening to her explanation. A twinge of sympathy crossed his features and Ziya was thankful that she didn't have the most clear vision, especially whenever he glanced towards the ground to try and hide his expression. He had certain issues with sight himself even though it wasn't something as terrible as blurry vision even though lenses could at least fix that problem. Either way it made him more determined to help her recover the lenses. "Alright, this blur will put you down."

Ziya carefully placed her down before shaking his head. "It's not that I'm tired..." He began before suddenly darting to the left. "It's more so this guy." Ziya bounced after the speckled parak who was trying to make a game out of the situation, the pair of lenses dangling from his slender maw. "Spøkelse, Spooks or Ghost as you can call him is a horrible hoarder. He should have been a bird and not a parak. Anything shiny will get claimed by him if you're not careful." The hybrid let out a frustrated huff, his hand reaching up to tuck back stray strands of white hair as he walked back and forth with the parak to block him from escaping with the lenses. "He is partial to cute girls though so maybe if you can 'pssst pssst' him for me and get his attention I can reclaim your lenses."

[Sabra via Discord]

My sister and I live here with our fathers. If Ziya wasn't so focused on chasing his parak the teen would have laughed at the irony. How small a world it was! There was no way that this wasn't Fiadah's sister, right? At least I'll know the way to her house if she needs an escort. He mused quietly before watching her try to call his parak. He had mostly done it to tease her but it did work as a good distraction, both for him and the small ball of floof who stared at her for a moment. Thankfully she also grabbed jerky and that was most definitely in his favor as Spooks ran up towards her without hesitation. The parak's bright blue gaze stared at the girl for a moment before he let go of the lenses, the frames gently tumbling onto the snowy ground. Once his maw was freed for food the creature pounced forward, rolling over to show his belly as he showed his adorable side for the treats. His little paws wiggled in the air, only freezing once Ziya approached before he chirped again as if demanding payment for his delivery.

"You're the thief not the deliverer." Quipped Ziya with a chuckle before bending down so that he could retrieve the lenses from the ground. The hybrid winced slightly at the sight of the crack going along the bottom side of the left lenses, his fingers gently rubbing off the snow and dirt against the edge of his tunic. "I'm sorry. It looks like I may have cracked them a little...will you be able to see through it?" He asked as he waited for her to feed the parak, Ziya holding out the lenses as an offering for whenever she had the chance to grab them.

[Sabra via Discord]

"You're fortunate you had food to distract him." Ziya replied with a grin. "Though if he keeps eating like that I won't have any issues chasing him in the future." The parak stopped wiggling almost as if he could understand his master's words before letting out another defiant chirp and walking around so that he could weave between the stranger's legs, his fluffy tail curling around her calf as he settled next to her. "Uh huh. I see how it is." Ziya rolled his gaze before frowning at the damage to the lenses. "I truly am sorry. If I can help somehow....just let me know." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly before watching her move to find something else in the snow. Rather than a traveling pack or anything like that it was a book? Surprised crossed his features at the sight of it and the obvious care the girl had for the elegant tome.

"It's not a problem, especially since it isn't my trap." Ziya replied with a small chuckle. If he hadn't nearly ruined her glasses, cracking them already being an injury enough in itself, the teen could have potentially tried to tease her more about the trap but not this time. "Are you heading home or to a library with that?" He asked quietly though the nearest library he could think of was in the capital which wasn't exactly nearby. Maybe there was a smaller bookstore he didn't know about in the local area or a traveling merchant had some? Ziya frowned thoughtfully. "Either way if you need someone to make certain you don't stumble into any additional traps I could tag along."

"You mean your actual home or someplace that you're visiting?" Asked Ziya slowly as he pondered his options. He could just outright say that he knew where she lived but he didn't want to seem like a creeper, not after he had just escorted her sister home so recently. Her next confession though had a soft sigh leaving his lips. "A mage, huh?" He shook his head as if actually distraught even though he was jesting...mostly. "I know a good library in the capital and several of my cousins are mages so they have plenty of materials in their study where they live along the southern border." His childhood experiences with the mages often ended up in toasted britches or frozen feet if he wasn't moving fast enough or he dared to impose upon Azreal whenever he was actually studying.

"You'll want to go a bit towards the southeast for one of the merchant routes or I could take you back to my village which is a bit north of here. I could fly you home on a chiavi." Ziya casually offered with a slight shrug. "I flew Fiadah home the other day though she's not here to vouch for me." If this wasn't actually Fiadah's sister then there was no harm either way, right? It was either he was saying a stranger's name that made no sense or admitting that he actually had a connection to the Matori girl.