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He nodded solemnly, slipping into the boots with ease, and pulling on the rest of his armor, the chest pieces clinking together softly as he lifted it up and over his head, letting it slide down to hide his body again. Straps were secured, and pauldrons secured on. Almost fully armored again, he looked like a character from a medieval fiction. A'Hallei turned to Nakshidil and reached out, gently lifting the slumbering kitten from her and laying her beside her on the bed. Suprisingly the cub did not awaken, but instead snuggled down into the pelt of her slain mother.

"Come now." He commanded quietly, turning to re arm his hands, and exiting the violet cave, holding open the gate for her. It didn't occur to him that if she paid close attention to the way he led her out, she could very well find his cave again. But, that was an issue for the future.

"We will take shortest route, before dark." He explained, pointing at the dimming light through the thick foliage.

Fortunately for Nakshidil, the forest was as unique in it's landmarks as it was with everything else. They crossed a brook with sandy banks made of the same quartz as his cave. There was a tree that had been devoured by vines and rotted away, leaving a hollow imprint held by the vines like an enormous ladder. There were large stones that sloped up and over the path, leaving a circular tunnel to cross beneath. Others just as remarkable were passed as A'Hallei led her with confidence out of the woods.

Only once did he stop her, to take a detour. A bear was foraging nearby, and deserved a wide berth. He nudged her aside, able to hear the grunts as the bear snorted up a patch of mushrooms. They weren't too common, but deserved no less respect.

Soon enough, just as it was darkening enough to cause the colors to all turn grey, the forest opened up, becoming less and less dense, until at last, they came to a road on the outskirts of the suburbs. He turned to her, the sudden asphalt path seeming to unnerve him,
"Nakshidil find her way from here?"

"Cubbie?" He asked, before it dawned on him. The cougar cub. The suggestion caused his brow to furrow slightly, wondering if she'd try intentionally to venture out to find him. No one had actively sought his company in so long...Still...He had enjoyed their visit...Yes, yes he had.

"If It will mean Nakshidil will be safer in the woods, yes. I will show you the forest. Perhaps...Nakshidil's spot found again?"

He tilted his head, watching her smile with wonder. She had smiled so often, and it really lit her up. Thinking suddenly, he felt his own lips curl up ever so slightly. "Tell...Infi I said hi?"

That was a polite thing to say, right? From what he remembered of manners, at least. He wondered briefly what her reaction might be to learn he was still about, mucking around in the woods no less.

He nodded, pleased that he decided to allow it. When he wanted, he could dissappear into the woods, and if he wished it, Nakshidil could have returned to find the cave abandoned, but that was not the case. He liked this girl with her laughter and her smiles. He liked her long dark, dark hair. She was nice, she was warm and gentle.

"Come some morning, much more time before dark...Unless Nakshidil wanted to visit evening with A'Hallei until daybreak."

It was called a sleepover, but he didn't know. She would arrive when she would arrive, and if he wasn't home, she had a safe place to stay until he returned.
"Careful." He added as he stepped back, giving her her cue to start home. He was a little eager to return to his cub before she awoke and wandered off. He left the gate open, but there were other bigger creatures who would enjoy a cubbie sammich.

Like a ghost, the pale youth vanished into the woods, as silent as a rolling mist as he sped back through the woods before it became too dark, even his heavy boots making very little sound against the ground. He'd practiced his entire life to achieve that with great success. He could ambush even deer this way, which would become more useful as the cub sleeping in his cave grew.

Time passed with all the haste it normally did, with A'Hallei only suffering one abysmal slip out of conciousness, to awaken to find he had killed a possum by spearing it through the skull with his gauntlets. Sickened, he ran to the creek to wash the blood free, but knew this would be a good meal for his cub.

The latest slip, he noted with dismay, crept upon him with as little warning as it usually did, meaning he was just going about his business, and the next moment he found himself murdering a forest animal. Only about fifteen minutes had elapsed, not enough for him to notice the time shift by the movemet of the sun, so he knew it was brief. One other brief lapse had him howling like a derranged animal uncontrollably until he had gone hoarse. It was...Disturbing.

A'Hallei had calmed himself by the following morning, to a point where he felt actually confident in his self control. He'd even managed to hum a short tune to a song he couldn't remember ever learning. His cub had stared at him curiously the entire time, head tilting from side to side.
He was attempting to re-attach his lowermost spike to his pauldron while the cougar played just outside. He'd broken it somehow the day before, and knew a trip into town would be soon unavoidable to re-weld his pauldron. He was crouched over the mouth of the cave, watching the kitten as he worked to temporarily patch it.

The cougar was chasing a mouse through the growth, stalking the rodent and darting clumbsily after it when it bolted.

The two women who paid him a visit in the woods were oddly frequent presences in his mind, and he devoted a lot of thought to them. He even found himself hoping Nakshidil's trek back through the woods would be a safe one. He caught himself, chiding his own foolishness. He should have been happy she didn't flee from him screaming.

Irritated with his own chain of thought, he jumped down from the cave mouth and angrily flung his broken pauldrons inside, hearing with a loud clatter as they crashed into the floor. This scared the cougar cub, who abandoned the mouse to dart for cover in the nearby growth. A'Hallei snarled and grabbed his rope, and several planks of wood.

Moving much like a wind he leapt into the nearby trees, to where he was setting up a small network of bridges, in case he needed a vantage point, or refuge from something below. He had a small stash of dried meats hidden up there in a pouch for the cub already. A'Hallei began to rapidly place more planks in the bridge, reinforcing the support. From the cave, the bridge could not be easily discerned from the canopy, obscured partially from branches, and the fact it blended in so well.

The cub plodded out into the clearing after a few minutes, sniffing around curiously. Seeing A'Hallei gone, she squeaked in distress.

At the noise, and the sudden appearance of a dark haired human, the cub squeaked in suprise and darted for the undergrowth again. A'Hallei snarled and smashed his fist into the trunk of the tree, quaking the ancient growth. His voice was animalistic, and dark. Befitting his nature, he thought bitterly.

"What's wrong, baby girl?" He heard a quiet female voice say from down below. His ears twitched as he turned, silent now, to peek over the opposite side of the bridge, down toward the clearing. All he could see was the top of a dark crowned head.

...It was her!

He shrank back, suddenly timid. She had returned! A'Hallei stepped out and jumped from the bridge, aiming to land behind Nakshidil, in much a repeat performance of the visit prior. As he fell, he noticed she was very pale, and blotted with red. Had she been injured, or chased on her way here? He landed with a quiet thump directly behind her, his eyes on her body.
No...

It was... He reached out to touch the material of her dress.