A meeting in the City {Artemis~StormKatz}

'That's true,' Leuan admitted, hearing in the sylph's voice that there was little point in arguing. 'I guess we may as well go, then?' He glanced back at the narrow streets of the city and made a face. He really didn't feel like squirming his way back through all the alleys which led to the outskirts of the city. There was a clear takeoff area here, and he'd have plenty of space to land in the main square... But flying would mean carrying Eliza, an idea which he didn't exactly relish. He glanced over at her, torn. She certainly didn't seem anything but human at the moment... And yet, he was almost sure that she must be a water sylph. It just filled in all the odd things about her. In the sky, he'd be in control of where they went... Could it really pose any danger to him? He deliberated for a few seconds more, staring blankly down the alley, before sighing and turning to Eliza.
'Would you like to fly back to the Victory Column? I don't really like all those streets, they're a bit cramped.' He shrugged, hoping she didn't notice his tenseness.

“Ooh, I’d love to, if you think you can carry me!” Eliza exclaimed in childish glee. She’d seen a great many things in her life, but the city rooftops were not among them. She barely registered Leuan’s concern, and even when she did realise, she thought nothing of it. He was an avian – maybe it was really just his dislike of the narrow streets.

“I’m not exactly a fan of alleys myself.” She added, still smiling. However, as she fell silent again, the quiet seemed a little too deep. She shrugged it off quickly, refusing to let it trouble her, but she had to admit that Leuan was acting a bit strangely. She remembered their walk down from the library – he hadn’t wanted to walk by her side, had he? What if… no, it was nothing. She was just being silly, of course - it was just her usual paranoia about being found out making her see these things. However, she did notice herself keeping a more careful eye on him – she was on edge now, and nothing would bring her back to her senses until she knew for certain that there was no danger.

'Of course I can carry you,' Leuan assured Eliza with an easy grin, falling into his practiced role of strong-manly-capable-avian. 'You can't weigh much. You'll need to hold onto my waist with your legs, and then arms around my neck. Make sure you hold on tight.' He stepped forwards, opening his arms for her to jump into. 'Alleys aren't the best,' he agreed. He watched her in the silence that followed, noting how she suddenly looked slightly more wary. Was she that worried about the worm thing? Or maybe she didn't like heights? Or she wasn't sure that he could carry her safely? That seemed likely; avian were hard-pushed to carry themselves in flight, let along passengers too. But his wings were larger than many, and he'd done a lot of flying with heavy loads after hunting. 'It's perfectly safe, I've carried people when flying before,' he assured her, wondering where her sudden hesitation had come from.

“Oh, alright, I am glad. That’s fine then.” She said quickly, trying to pass off her hesitation as nothing but a fear of being dropped. She gave a smile, trying to return to her bubbly mood, but anyone could tell that there had been some small change. Her previously humanity had slipped a little, revealing the suspicious mind of a Sylph. It would take an expert to notice, as the change was only slight, but maybe that alone would be enough.

“So, how does this work then?” Eliza asked brightly, shrugging away her thoughts to think about how Leuan was going to lift her. That thought alone was enough to cover her suspicion, even though she was still not sure what she was suspicious /of/.

When Eliza seemed to recover somewhat, Leuan smiled at her, and once again opened his arms for her to jump into- but his previous confusion returned at her question.
'Well... Like I just said, jump into my arms and I'll hold you around your waist. Put your arms around my neck and your legs around my neck.' He paused for a moment, still wondering what the sudden problem was, before adding, 'Make sure you don't get in the way of my wings, but it shouldn't be a problem. Never has been before.' He shrugged, before spreading his wings out carefully. 'Actually. One moment, sorry.' He twisted round to check over his wings. They were pristine as ever, the strong black shafts fanning in perfect curves and tipped with vibrant green at the ends. The avian smoothed out a few feathers which had become ruffled, before giving a satisfied nod and turning back to Eliza.
'Come on, then,' he told her, opening his arms yet again.

“Oh, ok, I understand.” She smiled, nodding her head as Leuan explained. She then watched Leuan fix his feathers, thinking quietly. He seemed to keep them in perfect condition, but she didn’t blame him – his wings were gorgeous, and she did take great care in keeping her scales clean while she was in sylph form. She shook off her concern as he turned around again; opening his arms, and gave a smile. “Alright then, if you’re sure.” She said, twiddling one golden curl around her finger, before cautiously putting her arm around his neck. She felt almost awkward – a feeling she hadn’t felt for years, since her usual method of hunting involved a hefty dose of seduction (and therefore no awkwardness), but she managed to hold her nerve, waiting for takeoff with an expectant smile on her face. She was excited, she couldn’t hide it, even if she was a little wary. Maybe she was just nervous – after all, she’d never flown before, and that would explain why she had felt so uneasy. Yes, that had to be it, didn’t it?

'I'm sure I'm sure,' Leuan laughed, wrapping his arms securely around Eliza's waist as she put hers around his neck. While she seemed to be getting less comfortable, he was far more at ease than he had been previously. Despite the niggling knowledge of what the girl really was, he seemed extremely human right now, and this routine was far from unfamiliar to him. That, combined with the undeniable pleasure he took in flying, made him far more relaxed than he knew it was sensible to be. He tensed his arms, lifting Eliza's feet from the ground.
'You'll want to hold on with your legs, too,' he advised her with a brief grin, before shifting his grip on her and spreading his wings to their full extent. He wafted them gently a few times, stretching the muscles, before beginning to beat them properly. While their large size gave them a lot of power, it made it harder to take off, and it took a few moments for Leuan to begin to lift off. When he did, however, he rose steadily into the air and hovered about ten feet above the roofs while he looked down at Eliza.
'You ok there?' he asked her.

As Leuan shifted into a position to carry her, she shifted around to grip on with her legs too, before gasping as her feet were swept off the ground. She smiled, gripping on properly, and watched the ground fall away under them as Leuan took off. She watched as the town unfolded underneath them like a big map, before looking up at Leuan’s words.

“Yeah, I’m alright. This is great – I’ve never been this high up in my life!” she said, her voice high with childish joy. She immediately went back to turning her head as far out as possible, looking over the landscape with a ridiculous grin plastered on her face. By human standards she was an old woman, and should have been much more mature, but she couldn’t stop herself – this was all too exciting to bother with maturity.

“Wow…” she sighed to herself, looking out over the landscape. She was so jealous of Leuan – he could do this whenever he wanted, while she was ground-bound. Well, then again, she did have the water – she wouldn’t trade that feeling for anything, but this certainly came close.

Eliza's gasp and her practically squealing voice made Leuan laugh, her obvious excitement somewhat infectious. Combined with his natural enjoyment of flying, he couldn't help but relax.
It's not like she's going to eat me while I'm flying, he reminded himself firmly. I may as well enjoy myself if I can. Evil water sylph or not, she's still a pretty girl right now.
'Hey,' he said out loud suddenly, watching Eliza craning her head round to try and take in as much of the view as possible. 'I can get you a better view than that.' He took a firmer grip on her waist, held her away from his body a moment- causing them both to tilt alarmingly with the change in balance- and twizzled her around in the air before bringing her back close to his body, facing away from him, and wrapping both his arms around her waist to anchor her more firmly. 'Better?' he asked, relishing the ability to show off as he always did.

Ooc: If you're not happy with him turning her around, then just let me know and I can change it, no problem Smile

(ooc; That’s fine, no worries Smile

)

“You can? That would be great!” she called back, turning up to check that Leuan wasn’t joking. It would be just like her to have misheard, or misunderstood, and get over-excited. Or rather, it was just like she was as a human: a typical, ditsy blonde, with nothing but fluff between her ears. It was only just before her shift that she had actually picked up any intelligence, although it was hard to tell now.

“Yes! That’s wonderful!” she gasped as Leuan whirled her around, only grinning wider as the balance changed, swinging her out a little farther over the city below. She wiggled her toes a little, and for the first time in years she felt truly happy in them. Generally she considered toes useless when compared to her usual fins, but far above the ground (where everyone probably had a grand view of her undergarments now that she thought about it) they seemed perfect.

No, she reminded herself for about the fifth time that day, I /am/ happy. Being a human was boring – too one-dimensional. Visiting the city she grew up in had been a bad idea – she should have known it would re-awaken her human memories like this. However, as they flew, she felt the hunger creep back into the edge of her mind. She was going to have to feed before leaving the city – Leuan was ruled out by now, she had already decided that, but she needed /something/.

“I think I can see the column!” she said quickly, her more serious thoughts vanishing as she caught sight of the crumbled stone far below. Now the only thoughts fighting for her attention were the ones squealing about flying and the ones that were humming about finding the wyrm, so she didn’t need to worry about any more traitorous ones. Well, for the time being at least.

'Sure I can,' he replied, half-smiling at how hugely exciting she seemed to find the prospect. She didn't seem to mind when he tipped forwards, so he let himself relax into the more natural position, sighing in slight relief as the strain on his wings lessened considerably. There was a reason birds were long rather than tall.
'What made you get interested in all the architecture stuff, anyway?' he asked curiously. Even though he was pretty sure that it was just a cover story, he couldn't help but wonder what made her so excited about just looking at the rather monotonous roofs of the city. Maybe it was just being so high up, though; he remembered flying for the first time. It had seemed completely obvious to him that the air was where he was meant to be; but then, Eliza's true form was flippered, not wings. She should surely feel more at home in the water.

The girl's comment pulled him from his thoughts, and he looked down to find that they had indeed already reached the column, much to his surprise.
'So you can,' he confirmed, flaring out his wings and gliding smoothly towards the ground. When they were only a few metres away from the heads of the people below- most of whom were hurrying out of the way in alarm- he tipped himself upright and, wings beating heavily to control their descent, let them drop down to the ground. He made sure his own feet were firmly planted before half-folding his wings in, setting Eliza down on the ground and then neatening his feathers, making sure they were all folded straight. 'I guess we're looking for a hole in the ground, then?' he asked when he was satisfied with his wings.

Eliza separated herself from Leuan as they landed and brushed herself down. Now that the wonders of being up in the air were over, she had an image to maintain, and she felt that she needed to brush away the childishness she had shown during the flight. She watched as he preened over his wings for a moment, feeling suddenly envious of them again for a second, before clearing her throat.

“Yes, I think that’s all we’re looking for. Try in the stumps where the column used to stand – it must have come up from underneath.” She said, her thoughts becoming logical once again. However, she felt decidedly uncomfortable – the thin air they had flown through had dried her skin out quite considerably, and the discomfort had chased away all thoughts other than water and the mystery before them.

The column looked like it had been attached to the ground in two places, and there were two stumps on the ground accordingly. “I’ll look at that one.” She said, before jogging towards the farthest stump. It was covered in swirling lines where the wyrm had eaten it’s way through the ancient, mineral-rich rock, but she could see no holed that would indicate it had escaped that way. No, nothing led down into the cobblestones through that stump. She could only how that the other one – the one she had left with Leuan – would prove more helpful.

'Okay, will do,' Leuan replied cheerfully, sliding his hands into his pockets and humming to himself as he saunted over to the stump which Eliza had indicated. With a subtle glance to see what she was doing, he knelt down and examined the ground around the stone. He turned over the nearby pieces of stone carefully, making sure that none of them were of any use and ignoring the tiny shock which each one gave him. Once he was satisfied that none of them were of interest, he leant forwards over the stump, immediately noticing a dark hole just a little off-centre.
'Eliza?' he called, glancing over at where the sylph stood. 'I think I might've found something.' Looking back down at the hole, he stuck one finger in it experimentally. Well, it was definitely long enough for his finger to fit in it, but that still didn't tell him whether or not it was a whole tunnel.

Eliza leapt to her feet immediately, tripping over her skirt in her hurry to see what Leuan had found. She hit the ground, grazing one elbow, and stood up quickly, feeling foolish. However, she was too interested to care much, and it was just a little scrape on one elbow.

“That certainly looks about right,” she said, looking at the hole, “and it looks unbroken, so I’d say – Leuan, don’t put your finger in there! It might still be down there!” she gasped, laughing a little. She was certain that the wyrm couldn’t really do much damage even if it did bite them, but even so it didn’t seem like the best time to test that.

“Well, now all we need to do is find a way to force it out.” She said, looking around. Near her feet was another hole, almost identical, which must have been the way the wyrm got back out of the column, so if they managed to force something into one hole, the wyrm should emerge out of the other, if all went well. What could they use to force it out though? Gas would work, but they didn’t have any way to get it into the hole. Water, however, would be much easier – they just had to find a decent water source, and siphon the liquid into the hole. The water itself would do the rest of the work, and she was willing to bet that slatewyrms couldn’t breathe underwater.

But… could she risk it? If she was splashed with the stuff, her skin would change colour; if she got hit with a full bucket, she would change completely. On land, that would be a bit of a problem, all things considered. But… the mystery was so close to being solved! She felt torn, unsure if she should say anything. Maybe it would be better to let Leuan reach a conclusion as to what to do next – that way anything that went wrong wouldn’t be her fault…

Sheepishly, Leuan removed his finger as Eliza told him, giving her a brief grin. "'No worm could take me," he joked, winking at her before he looked back down at the hole. "So... we need to get it out, yeah. I guess..." Glancing across at the other hole she had found, he frowned as he tried to puzzle out how they could get the worm from its hole. Anything liquid would need to be poured into both holes... Gas would work very well, but he had no idea where to find it or how to make it go where they wanted. Plain water might be their best bet, really. There was a well nearby, which they could use to get a convenient supply. If that didn't work... Well, they'd have to find something a little more harmful.

However, a horrible thought suddenly struck him. Hadn't the book said that sylphs transformed if they touched water? That was the last thing he needed right now.
'I'll be back in just a second,' he said in an odd voice, springing to his feet and scampering a little distance away, where he fished out the book he had borrowed and rifled frantically through its pages. Sure enough, it confirmed his suspicions, and he swore under his breath before hiding the book again and turning back to Eliza, smiling fakely at her. What could they do now?
'Well, um... We can...' He rubbed a hand on the back of his neck, scrabbling for ideas. 'Maybe... Well, we could drop something burning down the hole, and smoke it out?'

“If you say so then.” She laughed, shaking her head in amusement as Leuan pulled his finger out of the hole again. She then went on to inspect the hole, and barely noticed how strangely Leuan was acting when he scampered off, rustling with something in his pocket. However, when he started to thing of a way to get the wyrm out, she tensed, waiting for his suggestion.

Eliza visibly relaxed as he suggested using fire. It was probably really obvious, but she couldn’t help herself. She had been so worried about being transformed in the process of trying to get the wyrm out of the hole, and couldn’t help but be relieved as it was ruled out (or rather, not put forward). The book she had gotten her facts from had never mentioned the inconvenience of transforming on land, or how utterly vulnerable it left a Sylph. She had learnt /that/ the hard way. Seriously, her sylph legs were like rubber, designed to move through water with ease, but not to support her weight. And of course she tripped over the flippers, and got dirt under her scales. Se would be no danger to anyone but herself out here, which was what she feared most – detection was just an inconvenience beyond that.

“Sounds like a plan, then. Shall we get a fire started then?” she smiled, perhaps a little too eagerly. She knew the water would work better, but in her mind it wasn’t worth the risk. Fire would only dry her skin, which could be easily remedied after sundown.

Last edited by Artemis on Thu Apr 19, 2012 11:40 am; edited 5 times in total

Evidently he hadn't been the only one worried about Eliza transforming. The girl's whole body sagged in relief at his suggestion, mirroring his own thoughts. He hoped it didn't show too much on his face- at least he'd had plenty of practice at bluffing with his features. Girls could be so needy sometimes. Anyway, now wasn't the time to be thinking about that. After narrowing his eyes in thought for a few seconds, Leuan gave a decisive nod and turned back to Eliza.
"I know somebody who lives just down the next street, he's the sort to always keep a good supply of kindling," he explained. "I guess we'll just have to put sticks down the hole to feed the fire... I can't think of anything else to do. We'll have to hope it doesn't go out. If we add some oil, that'll help." He looked at her, hoping for suggestions- this wasn't really his forte. While she was a water sylph who probably had very little need for fire, she might hopefully know something about it anyway. And besides, she'd been human once, right? She had to still have some of her memories from then, even if the humanity was gone.

Eliza caught sight of Leuan’s narrowed eyes, and held her breath, praying that he hadn’t suspected anything (as she was still unaware of his suspicions), but relaxed when he turned around. For all that fire did little good for her health now, she did know a fair bit about it. “Yes, oil would help to start it, and then some damp grass for the smoke. I can get that while you fetch the kindling if you like.” She smiled, before adding: “When I was little my daddy used to take me rabbit-catching – we usually had to smoke them out of the warrens.” For some reason mentioning it made her shiver inwardly – not visibly thank goodness, but the chill spread through her every limb. It had been years since she’d though about her mother or father – in fact they were certain to be dead by then. She hadn’t seen them since she had changed; they must have believed she had drowned all their lives.

The thought saddened her. Her family had been so happy years ago – there was no reason for her to leave other than her unstoppable curiosity. She didn’t miss them – her heart had grown too hardened for that, and her most human emotions had died along with her old body, but there was something there. She cast the thought aside, and without waiting for Leuan to make his mind up, she flounced towards a patch of greenery not far away. It was probably someone’s attempt at a garden (a ridiculous idea in the middle of the city really) but she was sure they wouldn’t mind sacrificing a few plants for the house they lived in.

“Damp grass, uh, right. Okay, we’ll do that then.” He listened with interest as she described that- it was a strange thought for him, having to root out your prey. He was used to it being hard to catch, of course, but hunting for him involved long chases in the air. Maybe he had to flush them out of trees which he couldn’t navigate properly from time to time, but all he ever used to hunt was his wings and a knife. “Did you catch many rabbits?” he asked, smiling despite himself at the thought of Eliza as a little girl. Well, she would’ve been human back then- he could imagine her with little dimples in her cheeks and her front teeth missing. Kids could be cute- to look at. He’d never want to spend long with one. It would be worse to father one, though; he gave an involuntary shudder at the thought. Well, if it had happened, he didn’t know about it, and he’d like it to stay that way.

When Eliza flounced off abruptly, he simply shrugged and got to his feet, heading to his friend’s house. It was only a short journey, and he knocked on the door when he arrived. It was answered promptly by a grumpy-looking teenage girl, who bawled over her shoulder,
“It’s Leuan!” As she padded away she shot him a glare, to which he returned a sunny smile. His friend’s sister had never quite forgiven him for his endless flirtation- mostly because he wouldn’t actually take it any further. Not that he would’ve minded, not in the least. It was just that Sen, said brother, might not have stayed friends with Leuan for too much longer if he’d got it on with his sister.

“Well, hey there!” Sen bellowed, grinning widely as he strode into the hall. “Come in, what can I do for you? Or this just an unexpected social call?”
“I’m afraid not. I can’t stay for long, important business y’know.” He tipped the human a wink, stepping inside and closing the door behind him. “I wondered if I could have a bit of kindling and some oil. Just stuff which will burn really well.”

A few minutes later, the avian arrived back at the hole they’d found with an armful of kindling. He knelt down and dumped his load on the floor before straightening to look for Eliza.

Eliza arrived back at the hole a few moments after Leuan, carrying a few large handfuls of greenery. “Here we go then. And yes, we did catch a few. Daddy used to make rabbit pie for us.” She grinned, depositing the greenery to look over the kindling that Leuan had brought back.. It looked good – there was certainly plenty of it – and she presumed it would be enough to spook the wyrm out of its home. They’d just have to be prepared for when it did.

“Shall we set up the fire then?” she asked brightly, before adding, “Where did you manage to find the kindling anyway?” It was a little unlike her to be so full of questions, but she liked to be in the know. It didn’t feel right to not understand a situation properly, so she always made sure she found out enough to understand. However, usually that was one in a more discrete manner.

Still crouching, she began to sort the kindling out into two piles, just to make it easier to put together a fire. They wouldn’t need it all, but they /would/ need both some light, fast burning stuff /and/ some of the slightly heavier fuel. She was stunned that she remembered, but it had been a really big thing whenever she had gone out hunting. Her father had taught her that much extremely well.

The shadow of Eliza passing over him alerted Leuan to her return, and he twisted round to glance up at her with a quick smile, moving over a little to make space for her.
“Great, that looks good. I never really liked rabbit… I don’t know, it’ll sound weird, but I usually prefer birds.” He didn’t think about it much, but that actually was quite strange. Well, it definitely wasn’t cannibalism, and that was enough for him.

He was somewhat distracted by this train of thought when Eliza spoke to him again, and it took him a few moments to assemble his thoughts and get moving.
“Yep… Um, yep, set it up. Right. Oh, I got it off a friend who lives nearby. Old friend, known him for years. So…” He dropped back down to his knees and helped her to sort their fuel, before taking a bottle of oil from a pocket and placing it neatly next to the rest of their supplies. He wasn’t entirely sure if she was expecting him to make the actual fire or if she was going to do it herself, but judging by her rabbit-hunting anecdotes she could probably do it better than him. A little reluctantly, Leuan gestured her to the fuel and sat back to watch her. He was beginning to hope that they’d be able to simply skirt around the whole sylph issue- after all, they were functioning just fine at the moment.

Eliza settling down next to the hole to set up the fire, her hands remembering what to do where her mind couldn’t, until the fire was set up and ready to be lit. Fishing into a pocket in her dress, she plucked out a set of flints and started trying to light. The oil-soaked kindling would go up quickly, so she didn’t feel too worried about it. “I hope we’ve got the right hole – I don’t fancy trying all this again real- ow!” She yelped, jerking away from the fire. It had caught, and as she hadn’t been paying attention, the flame had bitten her fingertips. She dropped the damp greenery onto the shooting tongues of flame and watched as the smoke started to billow out, before crawling back, nursing her fingers. On a human, the burn would just have been a slight red mark, but she didn’t have that luxury. Her skin had blistered instantly, and looked as though she’d been holding her hand in the fire for a few minutes. She swore, blowing in the hand, and channelled her energy to pulling in the injury, trying to fix it onto her sylph form. Slowly, the mark faded to a red patch, like it was supposed to be, but the pain didn’t leave. She still had the burn, it was just hidden on the other side of her watery mirror. Hopefully Leuan hadn’t seen that.

“Now we just have to wait. It could take anything from ten seconds to an hour, but the book said these things can be really jumpy.” She said, forcing herself not to whimper. Her fingertips felt like they were falling off, and it was all she could do to pretend that the little mark that was left hurt less than it did.

Watching Eliza strike the flints, Leuan grinned slightly.
“Yeah, me neither, once is enou- Whoah, you okay?” Frowning, he leant forwards as Eliza snatched her hand from the flames with a yelp. When she moved it away from her body enough that he could see it, he reached out to hold her still so that he could examine the injury. “Well, doesn’t look too bad,” he concluded after a few moments, letting her go again. Maybe she just had a low pain threshold, but her reaction had seemed a little extreme considering the low severity of the burn.

Shifting to a more comfortable position, he began to waft the smoke into the hole.
“Yep. Hopefully it’s not going to take too long… I guess it depends what its take on smoky air is. I know I wouldn’t stick around in there for too long if it were me.” A quick glance down the hole didn’t reveal any progress, so he straightened and flapped a bit more of the smoke into the hole, yawning widely and staring glassily off into space. After a few moments of silence, a drop of cold rain on his face startled him into jumping. Sure enough, when he looked up the sky was grey with clouds, and he smiled briefly at Eliza.
“Looks like you’re going to have some cold water for your burn, huh?”

It took a moment for him to remember what the book had said- water transformed sylphs. Fear gripped him abruptly, and he bent over the fire to hide his expression. That was not something he wanted to see.

“Me? Oh, yes, I’m fine – just a little burn. I’ve got really sensitive skin, so burning it always gives me a shock.” She lied through her teeth, smiling sweetly. She used her burnt hand to fan at the fire a bit, sending the smoke into the hole a little more strongly, and tried to just brush over the burn. Clearly Leu hadn’t seen the real burn – just the one left on her human form, which was a relief.

“Hmm, I wouldn’t expect that he’d like the smoke much, no. Smoke tends to burn some of the minerals in rocks anyway, so smoke can’t be a good sign for one of these things.” She said, daydreaming a little as she remembered fragments of the book she had read in the library. Leuan’s comment about ‘cold water’ made her flinch though, and she zoned back in on the scene immediately. She could have sworn when she noticed the rain clouds. This was going to be difficult.

A droplet splashed onto her skin, and a blue speckled pattern appeared on her skin, in the same shape as she droplet. It faded instantly back into her skin, but with the rain just starting she couldn’t count on Leuan not seeing the colour change. As more drops fell, whole patches of her skin changed colour at a time, and her eyes flickered between their two forms, changing the colours she could see ever-so-slightly as they did. She turned her head away, and pretended to shiver, looking around for shelter in the hope that they could get inside before he realised what was wrong. She was glad that Leuan didn’t know anything much about mythical creatures (to her knowledge at least), and was thankful that he was unlikely to have heard of Sylphs. That would keep her safe for a while. Well, providing that he didn’t know more about her than she realised.

“Can we get inside anywhere – I hate the rain. I have, er, really bad circulation.” She spluttered, her voice sounding a little warped as occasional drops fell on her neck, bringing up tiny sections of gill for a second or two each time. She didn’t mind being in either of her forms, but this in-between phase was the worst feeling imaginable.

Leuan considered himself good at many things, but one thing he didn’t possess was a knowledge of what did and didn’t burn. As far as he was concerned, keeping fire at a safe distance from everything was the best policy. It didn’t seem like rock should burn, but he was sure Eliza knew better than him, and so he just nodded blankly in agreement with her.

The sylph might have been doing her best to hide what was going on, but when Leuan stole a glance at her through the rain he was looking for signs of her changing, and it wasn’t exactly hard to spot. A patch of her skin turned blue briefly where a raindrop hit it, and he was forced to swiftly turn away, feeling slightly queasy. He might have suspected Eliza to be a sylph, but to have it confirmed for sure- and to see it with his own eyes- was something else entirely. It was all too easy to get comfortable and act normally around the woman, she seemed so human, but the slight change hammered in a reminder that she probably ate people like him who hadn’t been fortunate enough to happen across a piece of information on water sylphs.

It took a moment for him to register that she had spoken, and he jumped, twitching back round to face her. Gills fanned on her neck for a brief second, and he swallowed back a slight gag. Definitely not natural.
“Erm… yeah, of course. Yeah, I don’t much like getting wet either. Here...” Grateful for an excuse to stop looking at Eliza, he jumped to his feet and hurried over to a small shop which sold an odd assortment of trinkets, sweets and other things. He pushed the door open and held it for the woman before stepping inside and closing it firmly behind him. What he had said was true; he really didn’t like getting wet. It wasn’t exactly an asset in flight, and it annoyed him when his hair dripped everywhere.