The Festival

"I'll stay and watch Mshai." Nathifa said. She guided the two kids over to the nearest stand, which was selling chocolate-filled pastries. Runi squinted at the sign and tried to pronounce the words. "Eeeeeclair." He read. Because he was a god of the Egyptian pantheon, he had learned how to read and write hieroglyphics before the common tongue.

It wasn't too long before he caught the girls scent leading into the forest. Without a second thought, he sped off in that direction. He started to hear a faint laughter, growing closer and closer as he ran. He was relieved when at last, he found the girl, but suddenly paled for she wasn't alone. With a bright smile on her face, she had her hands reached out towards an ash gray wolf.

Snarling, Akaelin lept over the girl and sank his teeth into the flank of the other wolf. The creature growled and grabbed at the scruff of his neck. Akaelin let go and reached up, snapping off a chunk of the wolfs ear. As blood splurted outward, filling both wolves with its scent, the mere scuffle turned far more intense. Akaelins vision blurred, and all he now cared about was eliminating his opponent.


It had taken him several moments after the gray wolf had stopped moving to realize that it was dead. He had a single scratch across his muzzle, and a much deeper gash in his shoulder, but otherwise was fine. He looked down at the corpse, realizing that the beast had just been a wolf. A werewolf or Henkilo would've shifted back to human form upon death, and he could tell that it hadn't been an Elain.

The crying of a young girl snapped him back to attention. He turned around to face Rukia, alarmed when he saw that she was cradling a bleeding arm. Had he bitten her, or had the other wolf? Rukia answered his internal question as he approached her. She shrank back, then turned and ran back towards the town.

Nathifa perked up immediately as she heard the fight and smelled blood from the forest. "Watch your brother." She told Runi as she changed form and took off running towards where the scent was coming from. She intercepted Rukia in the way back and shifted back, taking the girl into her arms. "What happened?" She asked. Nathifa held a softly glowing hand over Rukia's wound and the skin started to knit back together again.

Rukia? Akaelin called. He burst through a section of underbrush, finding her with Nathifa. He cursed silently to himself. The blood was still on her sleeve, but the wound was gone. I don't know what happened... Akaelin answered, pinning his ears back against his skull. There was another wolf. I mistook it for...someone I knew. I...I think I might've bitten her during the scuffle. He sat back on his haunches, lowering his head in shame.

"Is it infectious?" Nathifa asked. "Or is it only wereanimals that can transfer the virus though bites?"

Just weres, Akaelin answered. You can't become an Elain or Henkilo, you have to be born one.

He rose up on his hind legs, using Nathifas arm for support, and licked the little girls cheek. She sniffled and looked down at the white and gray wolf, now settled back on all four paws. After a few moments of apparent deciding, Rukia squirmed out of Nathifas arms and ran up to her father, throwing her arms around his neck. Akaelin whimpered with delight and resumed the face licking. She giggled and squealed, falling over onto her back as the wolfs tail wagged rapidly.

Nathifa was relieved that Rukia didn't seem to be traumatized by the incident. Not just by getting bitten, but by seeing her father fight as well and kill another wolf. Bandits had never bothered their village because of the word getting out of how the Rebellion defeated Lycaon. It also helped protect the village to have it known that the leader was mated to a goddess. Any group of thieves that dared to attack would be decimated in minutes. So thus none of them had ever had to fight, though most liked to keep their skills sharp. She hoped with all her heart that Rukia would never have to see a war like the one two years ago in her life.

For a moment, Akaelin had forgotten about his own wounds. Any kind of magic was easier for him when he was in his natural form, and the injuries healed quickly. He shifted form and lifted Rukia up onto his shoulders. "C'mon pooch," he said, looking up at the blonde haired girl as she dug her fingers into his hair for support. He led the way back to the festival. It was still going on, but activities were starting to wind down a bit due to the late hour.

Nathifa followed, shifting into her own canine form. When they got to the village she discovered that Runi had bought a number of the chocolate eclairs for himself and his brother. They both had full mouths and faces covered with chocolate cream. Runi looked a little guilty when he saw her, but Mshai happily continued stuffing his face with the sweet pastry. But she couldn't really blame him since it was a festival and he had never tried it before. Even if he was a god, he was still a little kid.

Akaelin quickly set Rukia down as she reached out for an eclair. Mshai selflessly handed one over to her, and she stuffed it into her mouth, almost as if the previous event hadn't even happened. She was more like her mother than Akaelin liked. Though she had her fathers physical appearance (only a girl and minus brown eyes), she had her mothers, 'let's see what trouble we can get into today!' kind of personality.

Nathifa was relieved that Rukia definitely seemed back to normal. "We should probably put them to bed soon." She commented. "It's been a fun festival, but it's waaay past their bedtimes. And Runi should get some rest too before he has to go. We're both assigned to accompany Ra tonight. It will be his first time up against Apep so I wanted to make sure that I would be there with him."

"Really?" Akaelin pouted. He had a mind to kick Ra where it would hurt most. "Someone's had quite a busy day," he commented, lifting Mshai. Either the eclairs would make them so full, they'd sleep well, or they'd have so much sugar in them that neither he nor Rukia would sleep.

Mshai was relatively clean. The chocolate hadn't strayed from his face or hands. Looking down at Rukia however... She was going to need to be blasted with a power hose. She reached out and clung to Akaelins leg. "And now I have chocolate on my pants..."

"It has to be done by someone." Nathifa said. "Even though it seems like a regular nightly thing, it's still a battle of life or death. If no one accompanied him he would probably get eaten."

“You saying that doesn’t ease my mind,” Akaelin pointed out. “I’d rather hear you say that it was an easy, boring job, and Apep was nothing but an earthworm.” He knew that as a goddess, she had duties and other obligations, though of course he couldn’t help but wish that she didn’t.

"Yeah, I know," Nathifa said, shaking her head. "But the sooner Runi starts learning some control over him, the sooner Apep becomes a bit less of a threat. It would make it easier for everybody. But to make you feel better, while it is actually a serious battle, Apep can't kill any of us without throwing off thebalence."

Akaelin then wanted to ask why he would eat Ra if he couldn't kill any of them, but didn't. He was a little tired of the subject. He grabbed Rukias hand with a sigh, still holding Mshai. "C'mon crack heads, time for bed."

"Awww... no beds yet," Rukia complained yawning. At some point during Akaelins conversation with Nathifa, Mshai had already fallen asleep.

((wow, holy cow, sorry guys, I have been caught up in a lot of different things and I've stopped getting emails about people posting so... yeah... my bad, I have no idea what's going on...))

((not really anything that involves Derak. Akaelin and Nathifa were just having some alone time with their kids))

Runi tugged on his mother's dress nervously. "It's time for us to go." Nathifa said. "I'll see you in the morning." She leaned forward to lightly kiss her mate before she and Runi vanished.

Akaelin mumbled a quick be careful just before Nathifa left. He took Rukia and Mshai back to their home, closing the door quietly so as not to wake the sleeping demi-god. Rukia followed her father into the makeshift kitchen, then up the stairs as he brought Mshai into his room, laying the two year old beneath the covers of his bed. From the kitchen, he had snatched a little rag that he used to wipe the chocolate from the demi-gods face. He then closed the curtains so the light from the fireworks wouldn't wake him.

Rukia, on the other hand, needed an entire change of clothes and a bath. She was already half asleep though, and the bath would only wake her up. Akaelin settled for the change of clothes. Rukia climbed up into her bed with a little boost from her father. He wiped most of the chocolate off with the rag, but there was still a bit left. He didn't really care at the moment. He'd rather have to wash a blanket than have a toddler running around the house all night, then be cranky in the morning from lack of sleep.

((If no one else has anything to say or do, I'm shooting forward to the next morning. If you do, do it in your next post.))

((kay, going to morning))

Kitai woke up that morning feeling refreshed. The girl she had talked to hadn't heard any news of her brother, but it was nice to see a person from around her home town after so long. She didn't really mention to the girl that she herself was among the people that tried out for the apprentice spot. Or that the spearmaster gave her one of the biggest beatings of her life with his wooden sparring stick. She kicked a bit of dropped food away from her doorstep and walked outside into the brisk morning air

Nathifa appeared just outside the village with Runi the minute that the sun came up. Both had a number of cuts and bruises, but they would heal on their own in just a few hours even if they didn't use their power to accelerate the healing process.

((lol, ok, thanks ))

Derak woke up, felt like his head was splitting in two, and then decided to try to outsleep his hangover...

Ares woke up and stretched, rolling over. However, it almost proved to be a grave mistake. She was sleeping on top of a building that had a flat roof and stopped just inches away from the edge. She was a little shaken up, but sat up to look around the village and see what was going on. Her reverie was interrupted by the loud growling from her stomach, which made her remember that another reason she had come to the festival was that her food supply had run out. Ares strapped her spear to her back again and jumped off the roof, landing with a muffled thump on the street.

"C'mon Mshai! Mamas gonna be home soon and she's gonna be mad!" Rukia appeared to be on the verge of tears as she poked Akaelins body. He hadn't moved for a few minutes now. "I no know dat when we tackle we kill!" she wailed. "We gots ta hide da body," Mshai said, grabbing a sheet off the bed and throwing it over his fathers body.

Nathifa poked her head into the house and saw Akaelin covered by the sheet. "Hmmmm, where could your father be?" She asked the kids, guessing that they were pretending that he was dead. Runi stayed outside, wandering over to the fountain. He sat on the rim and dangled his feet into the cool water.

Kitai saw the girl that she was talking to jump down from the roof of Birch's house. She started going for her morning walk and heard a door open; little footsteps were approaching her fast. In a couple seconds she felt something pounce at her legs. "Hey Aodan, why don't you go see if Rukia and Mshai are awake?" She told the little wiger.

"He no under da sheet. So no look there," Rukia replied, trying to move Akaelins body out of Nathifas sight. It was then that he finally started to stir, throwing the sheet off of him.

"Zooombieeee!" Rukia screamed, grabbing Mshais hand and running behind the couch.

"So how was..." Akaelin started to ask how fighting Apep had gone, when he noticed the number of cuts and bruises on her. Damn god rules and balances and whatnot...

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"We're leaving now," Amilie mumbled as she came out of the inn with Tory and Geary. The three of them, along with Jan, had decided to stay in the inn for the night, rather than make the long trek back up to where he lived. The two young girls looked tired, trying to rub the sleep out of their eyes, wishing they had gotten a better nights rest. It had been hard though, to fall asleep, over the sounds of Jan and Amilies arguement.