Reluctant to leave the small glade, Lydia made one excuse after another, citing the need to collect herbs that grew in the area as the main reason why they needed to stay. She knew though, that staying in this peaceful place which had been hallowed by their consummation, staying was shirking their responsibilities. Finally, she took her basket firmly, pulling it into the crook of her arm and said with resolve,<br/><br/>“Time to go find that village.”<br/><br/>They started along the path, the shadows cast by the giant conifers were comforting rather than menacing. Had all of nature come into align with their purpose?<br/><br/>“The nobles are not natural and I have not realized it before, but all of life is threatened by their appetite. “<br/><br/>Lydia was thinking. How often had she been labeled an abomination by society? But she knew that her purpose was not sent to destroy but to sustain life. A wrinkled creased her brow.<br/><br/>“I don’t mean that they are wholly bad because of their appetite.” She went on, trying to explain, “It isn’t the appetite, but rather than lack of temperance that has all of the natural world awry. They seek to dominate and destroy, not from the need to survive but for the very sake of destruction.  There were many who would feed them for a price. But the nobles, what use have they of a price when they can just take with no regard for others rights?”<br/><br/>As Lydia ranted quietly, for who can be loud in the heart of the forest, she found that when Shenyo would bump against her or his tail about brush her skin, that her heart would stop pounding wildly. Her temperature would rise and her breath would catch in her throat.<br/><br/>“You calm me and excite me at the same time, you know.” She chuckled, glancing at her from the corner of her eyes.<br/><br/>“I guess what I’m asking you is, can we ever live in harmony with the nobles? Would there be a way to negotiate with them or do they hold all the cards in this hand? Is there any other way besides death and destruction? Must we mete out to them what they mete out to the world? I’m not opposed to battle, but…”<br/><br/>Lydia caught herself. She would not speak of death so she chose her next words carefully,<br/><br/>“But I would live with you in my life for many years to come.”<br/><br/>The trees were thinning out and the smells that accompanied village living filled the air. The tang of manure from livestock and humans alike. The musty tilled soil of outlying corn fields. The ripe scent of many unwashed bodies in close quarters. Cooking haunches of meat and fermented ale. But over it all, a pall of smoke.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>