Welcome to Gaia! ::

Surprisingly, Agaio made no move to contradict her, but instead nodded and stood up swiftly - a bit too swiftly. He cried out despite himself as pain seared up his leg.

"Are you alright?!" Rani cried in alarm, moving quickly to help the man support himself. He cursed under his breath, which alarmed the young fey, but she soon forgot the slipped vulgarity is preference to the way his warm breath ran over her bare shoulder and down her back. Feeling brave, she put a hand on his chest to help support him. Through the thin cotton of his shirt she could feel the thick muscles of his chest, rising and falling as he breathed. She nearly swooned when he put his arm around her shoulder to support himself and she found herself for a few moments enveloped in the warmth of a half-hug. Her heart raced and she could feel her cheeks growing hot.

Agaio leaned on the small young woman for a fraction of a moment before leaning the other way, his arm outstretched to support himself against the wall. He muttered another curse at the pain.

Agaion suddenly felt claustrophobic as Lura stepped closer. Rani was already hovering close, trying to help but just getting in the way. He waved them both off, then sat heavily back down on the bed. "Fine." He said to Lura, his voice tired but gallantly free of pain. "What did you see?" He asked her, more interested in their over-all safety than the well-being of his calf.

Rani stepped obediently out of the way and let Lura take over helping him. She didn't want to seem unhelpful, so she started trying to figure out how they could flee with an injured man. She moved around the small cottage, gathering up material they might need; food, blankets, clothing, bandages and medicines left behind. She stuffed the materials into burlap sacks.

"Possessed dolls." Agaio rumbled from between clenched teeth. His voice came out as a gruff growl against the pain from his leg, but he didn't complain. "Notorious spies."

He pulled down the leg of his pants to cover the cast he now wore. "We're leaving." He decided without even considering that he was in the least position to be making these kinds of decisions. "You should never mistrust your gut feeling. If you think that something's wrong, then we're out of here." He took her hand and hoisted himself to his feet.

Agaio spoke her mind. "Ah, so you don't want me leaning on you?" He teased. Rani's face went bright red, as she had just been thinking what a shame it was that she no longer had an excuse to be near him. Agaio had no clue just to the extent that he was affecting the two young women, and so ignorantly took the makeshift crutch and started testing it out a bit. "It will do." He decided. He nodded and limped out ahead of Lura and Rani, on his guard and alert despite the crutch.

As Agaio hobbled along he kept his senses alert. It was odd, really, how quiet it was here. What had caused the inhabitants of this village to leave in such a hurry? And why were there no animals around? He should be hearing the sounds of their scavenging in every house, yet it was amazingly, eerily still.


Rani crossed her arms over herself as a shiver caused the hairs on the back of her head to stand on end. They had just left the border of the town, and the temperature had dropped. What was going on? Rani blinked in surprise when the grove of trees she had been sure she had just been walking toward relocated itself. She froze. The softest, wispy giggle was heard through the trees. She spun around, horrified to find herself suddenly alone. "Lura?! Agaio?" Her words echoed strangely, met with another giggle. Spectres.


Agaio, tense enough as it was, flinched at the sound of a giggle. He turned to reprimand Rani for scaring him, only to find that both of the girls were no longer following him. "I'm on a crutch, and I still walk faster than you two?" He complained, turning around to walk back to a bend in the rode where he fully expected to see the two girls. He rounded the curve and froze. There, in the center of the path, stood a little girl, painfully familiar and yet he failed to remember where he had seen her before. Her clothes were odd and outlandish, and she stared at him with a creepy blank expression. Then she was gone, and he was alone, staring at the trunk of a tree where there had once been a path. "What in world?!" He suddenly recognized nothing, as if the trees themselves had just up and decided to move around on him.

The giggling became the form of a small girl, but before it could be touched, the girl became a lifeless doll, and giggled once more before disappearing. Suddenly to her right there was a wolf-like beast, which snarled and leapt for her, only to travel through her with a jolt of freexing cold before disappearing. The giggle sounded again, then became a deeper chuckle that rose from the form of Agaio, who stood leaning against a tree, shirtless, studying her appraisingly through eyes that were too bright.

Agaio laughed again, a rather wicked laugh, and drew forth his staff. He smirked at her fear and held it in front of him. The orb at its tip began to glow, and he made the impression of having every intention of firing at her.

Then suddenly there was the sound of music, like pipes being played. Agaio flinched and stumbled back with an uncharacteristic hiss.

Strong hands suddenly seized Lura from behind. The trees around her swirled dizzyingly, and a distorted Rani moved past her toward the writhing Agaio, a small set of pipes at her lips. The music caused the spectre to screech in pain, and slowly the personage of Agaio began to fade. With a final scream of rage, the spirit melted away and fled, and the world came suddenly into startling reality.

Agaio - the real Agaio - apparently having forgotten his earlier spats with Lura, held her protectively against his chest, his strong arms wrapped around her as Rani faced off the spirit.

Rani finally let the music die and drew the pipes away from her mouth. "Spectres." She explained. "They can't stand the sound of music - it's too pure for them."

Agaio spun Lura around to face her, holding her chin as he carefully examined her eyes. "How are you feeling? Are you dizzy?"

"It touched her."

Agaio swore under his breath. "There must have been a pack of them, to bewilder us all at once. Sit down, Lura. Tell us if you feel even the slightest dizzy. She looks alright, but..." Agaio drew her down to the forest floor, sitting with his injured leg carefully to his side while he wiped the sweat from her face with a cloth. "Rani...you were brilliant."

"I always carry pipes with me." Rani shrugged, but it was obvious from her girlish blush that she was pleased to be recognized by Agaio as their savior.