Amy
Khaira

The morning sun broke over the distant mountains as the travel wary witch crunched her boots through the snow. The wandering hedgewitch was already shivering and she hadn't even reached the windy outcrop. Toes painfully numb and fingers burning though wrapped into the sleeves of her black robe. Aodh, the skamp, clung to her back hidden in her hood and gripped at the witch's shoulders like a shivering little sulfurous backpack.

Khaira still felt a compulsion towards the peak before her. The incline was easily doable but she was tired and freezing. She suffered the cold air on her knuckles as she dug into her satchel for a vial. She produced a crude hollow bone with a tundra cotton wax and bit it off. Her hands were shaky as it drew the hollow tube towards her lips. But the sensation of the frost miriam torchbug and purple mountain flower concoction immediately soothed the chills.

With a renewed vigor the hedge witch marched up the incline. Khaira didn't know what to expect as she neared the camp. She saw the vaporous smoke of the fire rising from over the defilade. The longing for rest and a fire's warmth overrode any worry of hostility. So the black clothed woman climbed on.

Khaira finally reached the last leg of the climb, she could see the peak of the tent from behind the rocks. She could smell the snowberry leaf and flower tea amidst the burning of fresh logs.
Kelvin
Aida never offered two more little comfortable kisses to her friends before scooting back out if the covers to tend the fire and scout the morning's surroundings. The scent of the tea was soothing as she approached it. As scant as her armor was, the sun, the heat of her wolfish skin and the calmness of the weather made traversing the camp and scoping it's vast vantage far less uncomfortable that the evening prior.

She watched over the Karth valley south and east, she looked over the rolling shaded Drudachs with patchy snow. She then turned to look at the north approach of their outlook, from the pine treeline to the base of their outcrop.

A dark figure, struggling steadily. A woman in black robes, and... Reach boots...

 "A forsworn assassin?" She asked herself. She sniffed the air to find a curious trace of putrid sulfer. "A witch? The matrons sent?"

Aida watched to see the figure slowly, obliviously approach before dashing back to the tent and hammering her hand on the hide of its wall.

"Mates! A crone is commin! Get yer weapons!" She demanded rapping on the hide again.

As Khaira was nearly at the pinnacle of her climb Aida emerved from the defilade and stood with swords in hand.

"Thats close enough!" She shouted out. Her muscles tensed and the hair bristled at her neck.
Amy
Khaira stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the menace of a Forsworn Ravager in threatening posture. A threat she had avoided for months now, the compulsion to approach fell away from her focus and her clairvoyance was lost. 

The sight of the figure was a rush of confusion. Khaira was totally dumbstruck by the sight. She was beautiful, a beauty that returned Khaira to the sensation of her goddess. As the witch realized it she felt her heart skip a beat. A rush of warmth. Perhaps the adrenaline, perhaps it was panic. She had to calm down and figure out what to do.

But as her feelings gave way to thought her mind reeled. Trying to figure out if this Ravager knew she was wanted for clan-slaying or not. She wondered if her clairvoyance, if her longing for kin led her to error. Should she reveal herself? Should she present herself as forsworn? Would the ravager know?

Stammering for the answer so desperately she found herself delving into the feeling again. The warmth rushed over her as her sight wandered across the forsworn's body. She was gorgeous, fiery red, speckled in warm dots and painted designs. A creeks flow of rippling skin over muscle, postured with certainty. She looked soft and determined. The compulsion to approach the camp returned to her, now stronger than ever.

Dark eyes, wide and longing; under the shaded hood. Hesitation made her movements jerk with indecision before the hands pulled the hood back revealing her messy brown hair and black face paint. 

A stark black band running from the left eye across the nose then the right. The eyes were pleading with hope. Khaira wore a hawk feather necklace that crow bones dangled from. And Aodh, the cold little scamp shivered from behind the tangled nest of brown hair.

"I... I mean you no harm. I just... It's freezing out here... I'm not welcome in most places, please, just a few minutes by the fire..." She pleaded as she offered up both chill pale hands and freckled longing across her face.
Kelvin
Aida watched, just as worried of a matriarch's tricks finding them out before they even had a chance to try. Her heart hardened her resolve to protect the secret little splinter clan she had formed.

Peering with predator eyes into the hood, seeing the strange wonder in the face, the blush on the cheeks. Her heart wanted to soften, but Aida's need to protect her family wouldn't allow it to.

As the hood slowly slid back from the nest of hair the crone's face revealed itself to be an image of youth. She saw herself in the wanting, mercy pleading eyes, the soft cheek curve, and the blush much too red to be a chill burn. Aida's heart did begin to thaw. Her own face reddening as she peered at the gentle innocence.

It was the scamp peeking out from behind the tangles that distracted and surprised her out of wonder.

Branys and Illtyd emerged at last, spooked and bristling, weapons also at the ready. Illtyd with his bow, arrow notched, Branys with her own lax in her hand. They stared the newcomer down as the stranger stuttered through her plea.

"What in coldhells is that wretched thing?!" Branys let out aghast at the sight of the cowering skamp.

"Curse the freaky pet! Who the fuck are you? You aint from the Matriarch are you? From Hag Rock? One of that crow's little chamber cunts?" His voice was harsh, and accusatory.

"I don't think so..." Aida retorted with a calm airy wonder. She found herself more willing to bargain for answers the longer she gazed at the girl. "Are you?"
Amy
The shouting woman with her bow in hand shook Khaira from her Aida adoring gaze abruptly. She was even more surprised by the man's fierceness. But what he accused her of actually instilled trust. But it was Aida's calmer reply that let her anxious shoulders finally relax. Perhaps her clairvoyance did bring her to the right place.

Khaira presented her cold hands to ensure the three she wasn't reaching for anything dangerous. She wrapped an arm over her shoulder to coax the cold scamp out from hiding. And as he clambered out towards her chest she cradled the sulfurous little stinker like a baby. Close to her breast and wrapping him up like a swath in her robe.

"His name is Aodh, he is my familiar, a scamp from Dagon's realm." She presented him to the others before tucking his shivery body back up against her. "He's harmless... I'm harmless.. Er i mean no harm."

She paused as she looked at the others then sighed.

"I am definitely not from Hag Rock. I'm from Broken tower, I... Uh... Was at least .. Apprenticed to the coven there. But not anymore." She wanted to admit it, she wanted to believe she could possibly have trustworthy friends among her people. She was tired of secrecy, but she simply stayed silent.

The anxiety rose back up with shrill tension in her neck. Her gaze returned to Aida with hope and need in her watering eyes.

"Please, we just need a bit of warmth."
Kelvin
Aida watched as the Skamp was coddled like a baby, and for a half a second she thought the ugly little cretin was something she wanted to hold too.

"Ok, fine, it's kinda cute." Branys let out with a smirk. But Illtyd was not impressed.

"Whattaya mean *Was*? You graduate to matron? Was there a ceremony, hag?" He again was accusatory. But Branys shut him up with a sharp elbow.

"Shut up! That's the one that got scorched remember! The coven was roasted.`` Branys looked back at Khaira apologetically.

"Good riddance!" He interjected only to get another elbow to the arm, much harder this time.

"Shut it Illtyd. She ain't here on their accord, right?" She offered the opportunity of confirmation to the woman. The skinwalker could see the genuine need for help in the tears welling. She could see the sensitivity of the subject in her grief.

"Nah, you aint with the wretched witches anymore. Come on, get the uhh thing some fire, we got tea brewed and meals next." She sheathed her swords by hooking claw spikes between loops on her waist bands to offer a hand outstretched.

Branys tugged the man back from the rocks dragging him to help prep the space. "I can't believe you sometimes, she was nearly in tears you fucking cur!" 

Aida couldn't help but smirk at the two, now that the tension had settled, and Khaira appeared to be in exile too.
Amy
Khaira wanted to smile at Branys' compliment to the scamp. But she was cut short by Illtyd's outburst. Her body instinctively inhaled deeply as she was faced with his accusations again as she closed her eyes and struggled to push away the flashbacks. It was so fresh a wound, less than half a night since she found her parents piked for her consequence. The bickering fell on deaf ears with Khaira.

The offer from Aida to join them finally brought light out of the darkness. She never felt more compelled before. She practically ran up to take Aida's hand. But the dam holding back the flood of grief gave way. It was almost as if the quake of her steps shook it down and the tears poured out in relief. All the worry and self loathing held inside to save her own life amidst the dangers of this wild Reachland.

Khaira took the hand and felt how warm it was. It was like a heat of life, like reaching into a warm body, like being reached into, warmth of comfort. It heated her entirely and filled her with gracious love. She nearly fell to her knees for it.