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Dezani had been traveling back into Tale through the routes his father had given him, much to his disdain. As much as he was grateful for having such easy ways back from Sauti and having to help his father, the man in question was not someone he wanted to be continuously dealing with. He would much rather stay as far away from his as possible, but at the moment he was still struggling with trying to do his own thing. His father was determined to show him that he wouldn't be able to go out on his own like he was, but yet here he was.

You haven't spoken to anyone, you lost half your food, and got chased by a few wild animals. Yes. You are doing wonderful.

A soft groan escaped from Dezani's lips as he thought of all that had happened to him since he had started going out on more jobs by himself away from his father's grasp. Everything had been quiet interesting, even if he hadn't talked to anyone yet. Soon that would change though. He would somehow find the confidence and show them that he could speak to them. Or perhaps just keep it safe and keep writing in his journal. That also worked for him and was less stressful.

Oh you coward.

Making his way along the path, Dezani was surprised to see a young Leaf girl sitting next to a pond off the road. What was she doing there of all places? Spring was definitely coming, but it was still to cold to really swim. Perhaps she was doing something else then? She didn't seem to spot him as of yet, so perhaps he could sneak his way past her without her potentially spotting him. Then he could get out of interacting with anyone and continue on his way. He would have to walk right past her though, and he was far from stealthy. She may see him if he went past her and then he wouldn't know what to say.

Nothing probably. You never do.

Shaking his head, he prepared himself to sneak pass the girl near the water.

Dezani froze as the girl spoke. Well, so much for that one. He wasn't exactly made for stealth though. It was quite silly for him to think that he could sneak past someone unnoticed with no practice in sneaking whatsoever. He couldn't hide from her - that would just make the girl more suspicious of him. Really his only option was to go up to the girl and show himself, as much as he disliked having to do it. He was already frazzled enough from everything else that had happened while on his trip back, and now he was having to deal with another person as well.

Grumbling softly, Dezani walked up slowly to the girl and sat down beside her before pulling out his journal to write down what he was planning on saying to her. His quill moved slowly and methodically across the page he held open as he thought carefully about what he was writing.

-I'm sorry for scaring you. I just didn't want to disturb you.- There. That was reasonable enough, and definitely much better than saying he had been trying to sneak past her and avoid her at all cost.

Dezani shrugged, hesitantly looking over the leaf girl before him. She assumed he was mute, not entirely true, but with how little he spoke it was a reasonable enough assumption. He could just continue to pretend to be mute for the sake of not having to say anything to her, but then again that would be really rude once she found out he wasn't. If she knew he wasn't though she may get frustrated at him for not speaking to her. It was just bad no matter which way he looked at it. Tapping his quill against his journal as he thought, he finally decided to write something down for her to see.

-Not exactly- There. It was vague enough to work. Hopefully. It was enough to let her know that he wasn't a mute, but not enough to really tell her how much of a coward he was. He could work with that at least.

-A Witu? That sounds dangerous. Are you sure you're okay? Witu can be dangerous.- Dezani wrote down quickly, holding it out to her once more. Witu were not fun to deal with, and the fact that she had managed to get away from the territorial canine was quite impressive to him. In his travels he had dealt with a few, but for the most part he was able to scare them away or misdirect them with the techniques his father had taught him. Something useful for once. He supposed having a beast tamer for a father had its advantages when it came to dealing with the wild creatures around.

-That's good to hear. Though being scared isn't much fun either. I know that from experience.- he nodded, hesitantly stepping closer to her to lean against the rock. He was always a coward and scared of quite a few things, interacting with others included. This leaf girl seemed okay though, and if she could put up with him not speaking then he'd gladly try to keep communicating with her. Motioning to her own journal, he tilted his head at it before writing out another question.

-What are you writing in your journal?- He'd at least ask about it. If she didn't want him to know then that would be fine. There were a lot of private things that could be kept in journals.

-Selling medicine to those who need it? Like a traveling merchant sort, or were you thinking more of joining a group of healers? Either way it seems like an honorable job. There are plenty of those who need medicine, especially here lately.- He'd seen traveling bands of healers around, and he was sure Araie had a healer friend in one of them. The more people willing to distribute medicine the better, as long as there was no extorting going on. San'thari didn't seem the sort to do that though. At least he hoped.

-That is all still very honorable. The more merchants, especially those willing to trade with any race, the better- he nodded, admiring her decision. In his mind it took a lot of courage to be a traveling merchant with all the bandits trying to raid caravans, and different races being generally hostile towards one another. It was hard work, but whoever did it was definitely worth admiring. He could never do something like that. Too much well, interaction for one thing.

-Over planning your future is never a bad thing. It is very important after all.-