Of Assassins and Oracles

Lithawen watched the woman's movements, she had already proven to not be an idiot. So this 'I am confused.' act did not work. She let her face show what Nygozy wanted her to feel, and she faked letting her guard down ever so slightly. You aren't getting me that easily. she thought smugly.

Lithawen was met with the same difficult she had before, keeping up with the other woman's quick attacks. Elendil being so big, the red sword easily feel from her grasp. Not that I care. She smirked as she whipped out her short sword, now moving faster without the weight of Elendil holding her back.

With her other hand she casted Cone of Cold, aiming for Nygozy, in the place she would have to go to dodge the short sword.

Ah yes she took the bait just as Ny had been hoping. Play stupid, confuse them whether they believe you are stupid or not then act a way they would expect. This time she didn't dodge out of the way. She slashed at the shortsword with her own to try to twist that one out of her grasp as well, and jumped to directly towards her just inside the arc between Lithawen's body and hand, therefore avoiding the cone of cold as she jumped directly at the woman.

Even if the sword hit her arm it would not do a lot of damage with her own sword in the way and jumping at Lithawen made it so she could try to topple her over and sit on her chest, bringing the sword and axe to rest over her neck, if it played out well enough. If not she'd roll to get out of range of the sword.

The Keeper prided herself in her ability to predict and follow most battle scenarios. So how the hell did she end up on her bed looking up the cold metal at the Hero of Ferelden?!

A chocked out laugh escaped the squished lungs of Lithawen as she looked up at Nygozy with some semblance or respect. "My my." she mused. "It seems you are more capable than I gave you credit for. There may be hope for this pathetic camp after all."

"You may have won, but know that I am no lap dog." She said trying to roll the Dwarf off of her chest, so she could breath properly. Cutting off her magic to her shield and combat aspects.

Once out from under the other woman, whether it was because of her rolling or because Nygozy got off of her own free will, Lithawen moved to stand up. Rubbing her neck as she still felt the tingle of cold steel lingering. With a sigh she moved back to the center of camp, without another word, but with a hurt pride and a peg missing.

"I don't want lap dogs. I just want people who respect my rules." Nygozy stated as Lithawen walked away. She rolled her shoulders and walked away towards the mountainside, grabbing the bags Jezarine had left her then went then up to her tent. There was only one trail that led to where she slept, on an overhanging cliff that gave her a beautiful view of the camp and the surrounding areas.

Nygozy sat on a rock and put the packages on another one beside her, staring at them as if they were some entity that may come alive and try to bite her.

Kai had been up in a tree watching the fight With Great intrest So this is how Ferelden's hero battles? Not bad, not bad at all. He saw her moving up towords a path and followed her using the trees as both a cover and a path through the area.

He watched her with curiousity as she examined her packages

Nygozy touched the sealed package from the King then took her hand away as if it burned her. She gave it a hard look and breathed in deeply as a hand came up to her mouth. Her index finger rubbed across her lips while she considered when to open the package.

"And can my bodyguard guard me from myself?" She asked to herself, not really expecting Kai to answer.

"Guard you from yourself?" Kai asked as he jumped down from his tree branch "Why would I have to do that, dear hero?" He was quickly beside her, His arms were folded against his chest and blue eyes staring intently at her and occasionaly at the packages.

His decent from the tree made her look in his direction and she had to admit to herself to being impressed. Even the animals had not been able to spot him. It was clear that he'd been chosen with great care, as if she didn't think those men would.

"Because I am tempted to throw this away." She tapped the package, sadness in her eyes, "Stupid to fear something as inane as a package."

Kai took a dagger fom his belt and spun it between his fingers "Safety is always a good thing and I'll be here to guard you, as I was assigned to. But if you like I could open it." He held out a hand to take the package from her as he made his offer.

Nygozy smiled as Kai had no idea what she meant but nodded as she didn't want to open it herself, too nervous of what King Alistair Theirin may have sent her, "If you don't open it I'm likely to sit here staring at it all evening." She looked up at him, "Thank you for the offer."

Kai nodded and sat down beside her, he took the package from her and opened it quickly "Here" he handed th opened the package to her "Anything else you need?" he asked looking at her

It was over with quickly, some tiny shards of paper flickering off in the wind as she watched. The package felt sturdy in her hand as her fingers accidentally brushed his and she looked him in the face. A slight upturn of the left edge of her lips indicated her amusement, "Don't worry. I will find something more interesting to kill later."

He was quick to note the turn of her lips and the brushing of their hands, though he did little to show it. "Going to kill something?" he mimicked the amused look on her face "I may have to join you on that" The look of amusment was gone from his face just as quickly as it had come, his features returned to the look of seriousness that they usually had about them.

"I'm glad you appreciate the sentiment." She teased lightly, her eyes turning to the paperwork in the package. Her fingers shook only momentarily as she removed the letters. They were sealed with wax, the seal of the King, and she opened the first one with the word "Kai" on it. She smirked as she read the first few lines, "It says here that you had little interest in watching over King Theirin and that your consideration of him was that he was a fool."

Kai snickered "The king can't even write an accurate letter" He started to lean over her, to examine the letter. His chin was resting on her shoulder as he scanned the words on the parchment. "To say I thought of him as a fool is a pathetic understatment, it's almost laughable" He used one of his hands to push the blonde bangs from his eyes as he continued to look over the letter

"I'm sure he was trying to understate the obvious, or create a joke from it." She dabbed a finger on a white chunk on the paper and licked it, "Cheese. His favorite." Her eyes softened then she chuckled.

"Kai is a determined young man who will be the best guard for you as he is dedicated and takes everything serious. Unlike us. I know you believe your ball of fur, Torture is plenty but I wish better for you. Not to mention he's a good judge of character. He already believes me a fool.

Where you fail to watch Kai will pick up. The man is an extraordinary master at hiding. Sometimes I wonder if he was crossed with a shriek somewhere along his line. Zevran believes in his abilities and after taking consideration of him myself I found that he would be your perfect guard.

Remember we, all of us here, wish you well, Josie."

"You impressed both of them a lot." Her eyes moved sideways to look him in the face and joked, "I hope you do not believe me a fool yet."

"Crossed with a shriek" Kai scoffed "Though he at least recognizes my ability, No doubt he required the help of Zevran for that task.." Kai turned to catch Nygozy's glance "I haven't decided if you are a fool but I have made some judgements on you, You are a skilled fighter and deserving of your title. The rest of my decisions I will make over the course of the next few days"

"Ali normally does require Zev's help to know what is best in a guard. It's why I sent Zev with him. But they worry." She sighed, "I would expect nothing less of you than to take time to figure out what you think of someone. I appreciate that you are direct. I hate subtleties. So ... what brought you to Zevran to take this job anyway? Were you hired for something else first or was this your primary target."

It was difficult to determine what he felt about being a guard. Some would call it a babysitting job and it may be he had figured at first that's what it would be like. Nygozy rubbed her chin, deciding she might as well ask, "I suppose since they didn't tell you much that you felt as if you were being sent on a babysitting task?"

The Dwarf chuckled, "Then I shall do my best not to act childish but sometimes that could be a chore." She moved her neck so her head touched one shoulder then the other and rolled her shoulders after that. Her muscles had become tense from worry over the stupid package, "The basis is simple. We are going to try to reestablish a base for the Grey Wardens in Fereldan and deal with the increasing Darkspawn as well as any other problems we find. So far there has been no invasion of flying dogs so that's off the list."

Kai scoffed "Flying dogs right..." he looked at her, watching as she rolled her neck and shoulders. He could tell she was tense though he decided to do nothing about it. "So miss hero what do you have for me to do? Do you have any tasks for me to work on, or am I to just sit on my hands all day and do nothing?"

"The name is Nygozy or Ny. Some even call me Nyggy." She said calmly, "'Miss hero' sounds ... too noble. I am no such thing. As for what you can do, you're already doing it. You're keeping me company and watching my back at the same time, ready to hide in a moment's time to gain the advantage over any possible dangers."

Nygozy stood and looked towards the camp with a snort, "There isn't a lot else to do for now unless you wish to work on where the warden outpost is going to be but I am sure that will bore you to tears as well."

Margaid swallowed noisily, looking around her before smiling shakily at no one in particular. She took a few steps forward, and would have turned to run screaming away except that Torture came up behind her and gave her a stiff nudge in Nygozy's direction.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going." She insisted vehemently to the mabari, and sniffed petulantly. The mage tugged at her dingy robes, strightening the tattered cloth to something more 'presentable,' (a trait she had learned to imitate from the humans she observed, despite having no use for the gesture, herself).

Having psyched herself up slightly, the maleficar marched straight up the hill where Nygozy had situated herself.

A complete stranger to social situations, the mage did not realize or even consider that she was interrupting any kind of moment or business between Kai and Nygozy. Her extremely limited, negligible, human interaction between the last many long years left the woman ignorant of basic courtesies and niceties.

"Um, hello. I'm Margaid, the Maleficar," she spoke up casually, almost off-handedly. "Your dog told me to come see you."