A female human, about average height, was standing in front of Cynicus. The woman looked like any other human, her golden-brown hair flowing past her shoulders, and her build that of any other adventurer. However the thing that made her stand out, that sent shivers up your spine, simply because it was so incredibly unnatural, was her eyes. The forest green orbs that served as a window to the outside world stared at you as if she could see into your very soul, and looked that those of a snake, rather than any normal human. Also, even though it was a warm summer night, the woman wore clothes that completely covered her entire body, save her face. Even her hands were covered by thin leather gloves. Despite this fact, the woman was still dressed elegantly, supposedly for the festivities of the evening.

The human stood before Cynicus, her face twisted into a pout. "But it's not fair!" She exclaimed, her voice raising to prove her point. The woman looked as if she was in her late twenties, early thirties. Yet her behaviour led you to believe her to still be a young child. The woman's face froze, however, and her ears pricked. "Someone's coming." She said, suddenly serious. And, a moment later, the healer poked her head into the tent.

Cynicus' eyes sparkled as Laramie and Savi walked in. "Ah, Laramie, my boy! You look positively splendid! And Ms. Salvaria! You look absoultely stunning in that dress! Oh, but I forget my manners. Laramie, Savi, this young lady here is Sana. Sana, these are our geusts, Laramie Sunriver and Savi Jaqux.

"Delighted to meet you, miss Sana," Laramie said, sweeping his arm out in a low performer's bow. "Laramie Sunriver, at your service."

Salvaria blushed slightly at Cynicus's compliment. "Thank you." She then turned to the woman and curtsied. "And Salvaria Jaqux. How do you do, Miss Sana?"

The woman, Sana, turned to look at the two, and they noticed for the first time her eyes. They were a deep green, resembling the forest. However it wasn't the color of her eyes, but the pupils that startled them. The green of her eyes filled all of it, leaving no whites, while her pupils were just slits. The looked like those of a reptile, as if a snake had taken on the body of a human and was now staring at them.

Sana smiled. "Nice to meet you! My name's Sana, but Cynicus already told you that." She pointed to the elf with her thumb, and flashed him a glare to accompany it, as if saying that she still wasn't happy from their conversation earlier. Sana looked to the pair again, the smile back on her face. She seemed to almost float as she skipped over to Savi, dancing around her. "I like your dress! Green looks good on you!" She exclaimed.

Laramie grinned at Sana's antics, moreso at Savi's blush. What's with those eyes, though...? Is she from Aramance, perhaps? Father always said it was a city of mages... Turning to Cynicus with an eyebrow raised, he asked, "So, what be these festivities we're being all dressed up for?"

Cynicus smiled at Laramie's confusion. "Tonight is the annual feast we hold in honor of the formation of this encampment. There will be food and drink aplenty, and bouts of strength and skill as well. You may like to try them, as there are prizes awarded to all who succeed at them. Now," he said, turning to Sana, "Sana, would you be so kind as to show these two around camp? Laramie, I know Teak gave you a tour earlier, but he had a destination in mind. I'm sure Sana will be able to show you a couple things he didn't think of." Cynicus smiled, as if at some private joke.

Salvaria was glad at Sana's compliment, but was a little put-off by so much friendliness so soon. She flashed a smile anyways, and said "Thank you! Green is my favorite." She noticed her eyes, and was a combination of fascinated and frightened. Why are her eyes like that? She turned to Cynicus, suddenly hungry at the mention of food. I haven't ate since breakfast, she thought. "Yes, Sana, would you be as so kind as to show us around?"

Sana nodded, her ears twitching. She could sense something... She sniffed, her nostrils flaring and her reptillian eyes wide. "Cynicus... I smell... I smell..." Her eyes widened further and a look of panic flooded her features. She turned to Cynicus and ran the short distance to him, suddenly terrified. "It's happening again. Cynicus... Help me..." She could feel the need take over her, and Sana's face took on a strained expression. An internal battle seemed to be raging behind the woman's eyes, and every muscle in her body visibly tensed. She could sense it.

Gold...

Laramie started forward, concerned, but Cynicus stopped him.

"You wouldn't happen to have anything... Shiny, on you, would you Laramie? Precious metals, gold coins, sparkly rocks, anything?" Cynicus asked, rather flustered. "It'll calm her down... I think..."

Seeing the elf in such a helpless state, and Sana even more so, Laramie quickly searched his pockets. Remembering his earing, Laramie quickly took it off and looked at it. Emerald, with gold inlay... Shiny enough. I have a spare, so what the heck. He tossed the earing to Cynicus,

who caught it deftly in his left hand. Showing it to Sana, he whispered, "There there, Sana, look, shiny! It's okay, Sana, it's okay! Just an earing, is all!"

Sana's panicked expression lessened slightly, and she finally felt brave enough to lift her gaze from it's fixed place on the floor. Her eyes fixed on the earing, glazing over slightly. As if in a daze, the girl's slender fingers reached up for the earing. Then, as soon as she touched it, a smile spread across her face and her eyes filled with relief. The earing lay cradled in her now bare palm, as she has removed one of her gloves, with her face downcast to stare at it intently. "Just an earing. That's all... Just an earing." The words were whispered words of comfort, as if to convince her self that this was all she had been sensing.

Sana took a deep breath, and finally looked up to Laramie. "Sorry about that. It... happens sometimes." She turned her face gratefully up to Cynicus. "But we're working on it." She took another deep breath, a quicker one, as if to change the subject. "Anyway. About that tour..." Reptilian eyes flicked from Laramie to Savi. "Shall we begin?"

The earing was still clutched tightly in her hand, as if letting go of it would send her into a panicked frenzy once more. And hidden behind her pupils was the shadows of fear, as if she expected herself to revert to the woman of only a few seconds before at any moment.

Salvaria was still concerned about Sana, but she decided not to perpetuate it, considering that Sana seemed to be embarrassed enough. "Yeah...ok. Let's go!" Savi said uneasily.

After shooting a quick look at Savi to make sure she hadn't freaked out when Sana did, Laramie grinned. "Well, come on then! No time to dawdle!" said Laramie. Taking Sana's free hand in his right and Savi's in his left, he all but pulled them out of the tent, skipping and whistling a merry tune. If that spaz attack wasn't magic-induced, I'll be damned. I wonder what the story behind that is?

Sana allowed herself to be pulled along for a moment, flashing a slightly worried look to Cynicus before leaving the tent entirely. Then she began to pull Laramie throughout the encampment, stopping every now and then to explain something. "These are the stables. We don't keep animals that don't want to be kept, so the doors are never closed. Mostly it's just for storing animal feed." They were moving again. "This is the mess hall. You'll be eating here..." There was a pause as Sana looked over Laramie and Savi. "A lot." Her face turned back to the tents. "And that's a tailor tent. They make clothes." She rolled her reptilian eyes. "Duh. Oh and those are the cookcamp! That's where the cooks live and sleep. But they're only cooks because they love it. And the tailors are only tailors because they love it. Cynicus is very strict about doing what you love." An almost glazed look came over Sana's eyes again, but quickly dissapated. "Anyway." They were moving again. "This is where you guys will be sleeping. The armory is here too, and the tents of the soldiers. Soldiers of the Forest, we're called. Pretty sweet, right?" Her face glowed with pride, and then they were moving again. "Those are the healer's tents. The healers are nice, but I'd try to stay out of there if I were you. Because, of course, the only way to get in there is to be sick or injured." A pause to look at them. "Not the most pleasant thing." And then they were moving yet again. "We already came from te officer tents, so you know those. But these are the mages' tents. This is where I sleep. Well, actually, that is where I sleep." Sana added, pointing with her clenched fist to one tent in particular. It was strange, but in the moonlight, the tent seemed almost to... sparkle.

"Otherwise this is where the mages sleep, experiment, and practice their craft." Sana said. Then she let go of Laramie, turning towards the two of them, a childish smile on her face. "And that, my friends, is the quick tour of the encampment. Any questions?"

Salvaria nodded at each piece of information that Sana gave, and tried to create a mental map in her head. Alright, so the mess hall is over here.... and those tents are where we're sleeping... She sighed. She was so confused at all of this. I hope Laramie's got this all down. I'll just follow him everywhere. She smiled to herself.
When Sana pointed at her tent, she wondered why it wasn't in the rest of the sleeping quarters. That, and why it slightly gleamed. "Yes, I do have a question, Sana. You say that 'we're called the Soldiers of the Forest.' How did you join?" She tilted her head slightly, in wonder.

"Yeah, Sana, how did you meet Cynicus and all these people? There's gotta be some story behind that!" Laramie giggled. at ease with his two friends.

A practiced expression was suddenly plastered onto her face. It was, in fact, so practiced, that no one besides Cynicus (who had helped her practice) would be able to tell it was fake. The smile was warm, as if she didn't mind being asked, and would love to tell the story over and over again. However despite this dissarming smile, her answer was simply, "Something happened, and I had to leave home. Now here I am!" Her warm smile became a childish grin, still practiced, but less forced. She truly enjoyed being a Soldier of the Forest, part of Cynicus's crew and a member of the encampment.

Salvaria was again unsettled by such a general answer. There must be something she doesn't want us to know yet. Fair enough; we have only know her for a little while. "Oh, ok." She wasn't quite sure how to respond to such a statement. She looked to Laramie for help.

Laramie looked up, a truly childish innocence on his face. "How did you meet Cynicus? I mean, he and my father knew eachother, father used to tell me stories about his advenutring days, but... I didn't know that my father was once the commander here! What's Cynicus like? He seems pretty nice, but we've just met him..." He asked this all in a rush, just like a little kid would.

An almost dreamy look came over Sana's face. "He's amazing. So sweet, and kind..." The dreamy look quickly dissapeared as she shook her head. "Anyway. I met him on my way out of town. I was leaving, just walking through the forest, and kind of... Bumped into him." Sana's left ear twitched, and the grip on Laramie's earing tightened.

Salvaria could sense that this topic of conversation was dying, so she decided to change it. "So.... Where are supposed to go for the festivities?"

Sana shrugged. "It starts in the mess hall. Then, you just follow the group." A smile creeped onto her face. "It's loads of fun. But the best part is the end." The smile became slightly mishcevious, and her left ear twitched again. A worried look flashed across her eyes for the briefest of instants, and she quickly glanced in the direction of her tent. The sparkly-ness of it seemed to reassure her, and she looked back to them.

"What happens at the end? Pretty explosions?" Laramie asked, hopefully.

Salvaria smiled at the mention of explosions. She turned excitedly to Sana. "Yeah, do you guys have explosions?" She was thrilled at the thought.

"Maybe. If you get one of the more volatile mages excited. But they're really hard to clean up and take a long time to prepare." Her eyes flashed and the mischevious smile returned. "Unless, of course, you're me." Her tone was confident, as if this fact had been proven multiple times, and then multiple times again. She brought a hand up to her mouth in a magical symbol, blew out, and a small tongue of fire shot between her fingers. This of course had nothing to do with magic. It was an ability bestowed on her years before, but they didn't know that. To them, it was a cute trick showing her magical expertise.

Laramie stared, eyes wide. "Oh my stars! That is amazing! How did you do that???????" he asked, excitable as ever, bouncing up and down much like a five year old in a candy shop.

She dropped her mouth in shock. "That...that's incredible! Can you do that again?" She stared at Sana in anticipation. Only one day away from home, and already this! How amazing.