The sun began to set over the meandering risen causing the tall cone-shaped tents to cast long shadows on the landscape. The sky painted by the setting sun in many fiery colours fighting against the growing darkness seemed to reflect the emotional state in which the elf was stuck. Had she slipped with Kia’s name before and if she had who else knew about it? Her mind tormented the former slave, abomination, useless vermin with images of Kia being taken away from her leaving her with a fate worse than death as she had been gifted with someone she was happy to do anything for but her stupidity had squandered.
Her immunity to being inflicted by fear felt meaningless as her body was set alight by rage which slowly gave way to the shameful feeling of hopelessness which drawn her unfocused anger away from the humans and toward herself.
Not giving a single thought to the humans around her as she walked through their settlement searching for her mistress with nothing but panic in her eyes. She looked inside every tent she passed but like a curse two more tents would sprout around her each time she stuck her head inside.
A glimpse of fire caught the elf’s attention, around the fire masked humans weaved long strands of grass into thicker stick-like cords for weaving. Among the laughing and cheery crowd she spotted the unmistakable green hood Kia wore. The petite figure wearing the hood was slumped forward with her legs tucked close to her chest. With the exception of one human with a familiar mask sitting the closest to the girl seemingly acting like a ward against the rest of the humans who surrounded her mistress and hounded her with attention.
Taking a step toward the campfire the sun and moon looked up and appeared to shine bright as her gloomy posture straightened before Kia stood up and walked up to the elf. Her mistress grabbed her arm and cupped her own face using the elf’s palm and appeared to wait on something while she watched the elf with big open eyes. Feeling her throat being squeezed the elf held back the torrent of emotions while she took a seat on a free bench near her allowing her undead mistress to climb onto her and hide from the evil humans.
The cold waves coming in pulses pushed away the nightmarish visions from her mind as she held Kia close, proving to herself she had not failed her great mistress.
“?” Iris felt a mute sting of pain coming from her ear as the girl had bitten her there. Looking around she saw the humans curiously watching her from behind their masks, she could swear that most of the humans had stars appearing in their eyes as Kia followed the elf's gaze.
Kia adjusted herself in the risen’s lap before taking her warm hand and interweaving the elf’s fingers with hers while blushing heavily under the confused elf's gaze.
“Are you Iris?” A female voice came from behind a red mask.
“That is correct.” The undead automaton asked.
“Did Siri eat something this morning?” A concerned voice asked her before she could identify which human had spoken.
"Why are you asking?"
"She had eaten an entire hornleg's thigh like it was nothing!" A man wearing a bloody shirt which showed far too much skill to be appropriately stated.
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Iris shrugged her shoulders before she leaned forward and covered as much of the necromancer as she could. It felt like the right thing to do as she watched Kia's slender body soften a little, relieved of the humans all encompassing gazes. She could hear the humans begin to grumble among themselves for a while confused about what to do next. After a long time of uneasy atmosphere hovering above the campfire up to the moment the sound of boots walking on firm earth began to fill the air as the human walked away.
Kia's large eye continued to stare up at the elf, watching her similarly to how she would study anything the ancient yet naive undead didn't understand. The odd softness in the girl's eyes mesmerised the elf as Kia lifted her slender arm and touched the elf's chest where the purple crystal on her body should be.
Iris could feel the girl searching for something in her but before she could say anything the pale girl's body jumped suddenly before her body cowered away.
Both of the undead looked away from each other as Iris raised her head and saw Nu had taken a seat beside them and was brushing Kia's exposed hair while supporting her head with her other hand, looking extremely bored. The human was once again wearing blue and red robes closely following her physique. As she felt her frown deepen, the elf realised that the fire near them had been snuffed out a long time ago and that the sun above them was gone.
"Did I woke you up?" Nu asked.
"Wha...?"
"The festival is about to begin," The human explained looking tired. "I want to tell you that I am very grateful for what you have done for me and especially for Ba and I wanted to keep you two company today. I couldn't bare the possibility of you two getting something wrong on such a special day. If you want to ask me about something then feel free to do so."
"When the ceremony is due to start?"
"It should be starting in a moment. Don't worry you are going to know when it starts." Even without the ability to see through the white mask, Iris could feel Nu giving her a knowing smile before she returned to shamelessly massaging Kia's scalp.
The petite necromancer tucked her head between her shoulders while her head bore a grumpy look. Iris's hand moved to stop the human but her arm was snatched by the grumpy cat and made to gently comb through the cat's silky fur alongside the human. Seemingly not to be undone the human shifted closer and used both hands to give the kitten's scalp a massage.
*Purrrr*
The moon-cat's grooming came to an abrupt stop as the quiet human settlement suddenly came to life with the sound of conversation and cheer.
"Told you." Nu's hands brought Kia to a loud and very pleased purr before she lifted her hands to the back of her head and undid the strings keeping her rainy mask on her face
She stood up and tied the mask on her waist with a few well-practised moves making her mask look like it was glued to the red fabric wrapped around her.
"What?"
"Now, I don't know what to expect. Will everyone be doing this?" Iris stood up, throwing the traitorous kitten off her lap. She became used to the nomads keeping their masks almost always on, even in their sleep.
"Of course, the new Tserei has to know everyone he will be ruling over from this day. I should have told you this but Bauha had asked for a Spiritwalker to grace us for today's feast. So there is no fear of soul stealers attacking us."
"Spiritwalker, is that a class?"
"I think it might be but it doesn't matter if it is since Spiritwalkers are powerful shamans who had devoted themselves fully to the service to the spirits. They are the champions of the spirits, and keep the natural order of the world in balance."
"How did Kasheng ask for such a person, do some tribes just have them and are willing to lend them to others?" Iris tried to imagine the complicated chain of social connections needed to get such a person to travel away from their tribe, unless Nu was exaggerating in her description the closes thing she could compare this to was the position of a Crimson adventurer or the Hero which somehow made Nu's words more unbelievable as such individuals were rare beyond belief.
"Bauha always spoke about how the spirits know where Spiritwalker are, that's all I know." The human replied.
"Why didn't you take off your mask after the Spiritwalker had arrived?" Iris asked.
"It would be considered an insult to still wear your mask when a Spiritwalker arrives since that would put doubt on their ability to fight soul stealers."
"And what if they don't show up?"
"That would be an awful sign of our wrongdoing toward the spirit and the Wyrm," Nu replied with a troubled look on her face before glaring at the elf who had led the conversation to such a dark corner. "Come on you two and I can't get late for the ceremony, lets's find Ba."