Siy looked out the window of the airship as she calmly breathed in and out.

She wondered if perhaps what she was planning to do was a mistake, but the time for indecision had long ago passed, it had passed centuries ago and she had made her choice then. The time until now had merely been forcing herself to daily live with that decision, the pain had faded as the decades rolled past. Some nights she lay awake, staring at the ceilings and walls around her, and felt like closing her eyes, and just letting time roll past. When she got into moods like that she usually had to do something drastic to prevent the urge. No Khireq she had known of had yet succumb to the urge to stop seeking sensation and just let the universe melt away. She would not be the first. The grains of the wood flooring were scratching at her feet, and she ran her toes against them enjoying the slight feel of discomfort. Idoly she began tracing patterns with her feet, the subtle circles of battle she had long rehearesed coming now with a practiced ease. Her eyes traced the clouds, their gentle flow and curve something she had yet to grow accustomed to. She hoped she never would, it was so refreshing to experience something, anything, for the first time. Her thoughts lingered there, the final and inevitable end of her tale beckoning her before she pushed onwards as the echo of hooves met her ears. A string of dryad curses assualted the air around her as a loud crash entered the room. Siy back flipped, one foot trailing behind the other, hands enjoying the feel of wood on her palms as she went to help Naya stand up. "Sorry, I seem to have forgotten that some people require light.", Siy gently offered her hand to the young dryad who lay sprawled over the floor. "No, it's okay. I should have thought to bring a light really.", Naya took Siy's hand, though Siy could feel the slight jerk in the air as Naya had flinched before their hands touched. Naya certainly felt no ire towards Siy specifically, but habits ingrained in one since birth were very hard to forget. Siy, yet again, decided not to mention it. She had no wish to make a scene, and a part of her doubted Naya had even noticed. As she pulled Naya up to her four legs, Siy almost sighed, the weight of the thing she was about to do pressing down upon here even more heavily now that her pupil had arrived. "So", Siy's hand traced an ancient rune in the air a sigil of peace and welcoming among the Khireq now a meaningless and frivolous looking gesture, "I take it from your arrival tonight you have arrived at your decision." Naya looked at her, a serious face plastered around her young eyes. Siy would

have find it almost comical if not for the gravity of the situation, both in this room and with the world abroad. The dryad may be young, positiviley an infant compared to Siy, but she had been forced to grow up very fast over the past month. "Anything you have that could possibly help us win, is something I am willing to pay the price to learn." Siy's face pulled up into a rictus grin and green flames poured out of her eyes, her fingers twisted into terrible claws, her tongue forked like a serpents twisted out of her mouth, and for a second Naya was filled with a terror of the dark and the unknown. Had she unwittingly sold her soul to this foul monster? And then, as if nothing had happened Siy's face snapped back to normal, her hands delicately manicured once more, and not a trace of snakes tongue or green fire was to be seen. "Naya, my dear, I'm going to teach you some words." "Words?", The dryad's chest heaved, a small stream of laughter exiting her mouth, "I admit I expected more." "Oh? A betrayal? A murdererous revenge for some perceived slight? A vile induction into my species?", Siy rolled her shoulders pushing her chest forward in a lazy gesture, "I get that last one a lot." Naya was slightly confused, "I didn't realize one could turn others into a Khireq, I thought that was just vampires and werewolves." "Oh it is, it very much is.", Siy smiled letting her teeth show, "Something I am very much keen to tell those who ask. Usually right before I rip their soul of their bodies for lunch." Naya paled at this, but Siy didn't let it show that she had noticed the Dryad blanching. "Regardless of my feeding habits, little dryad I do have secrets. Very powerful secrets. And since it would seem that we work together for the survival of the world, I would share them with you." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------