<span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: verdana;"><em><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 1em;">K’risti placed her hand on his chest, she could feel the coolness of the metal breastplate on her palm, and leaned in toward her would be protector, so she could study the miniscule nuances of his face. It wasn’t a lie she sought to perceive, but a deeper insight to the large man and his inner being. She slowly shook her head from side to side, making the pendant on her forehead sparkle in the light, “Your protection is most welcomed, however the task may be more difficult than you can imagine.” She step back, “Look at me!” she commanded, as she began a slow pirouette, making her diaphanous blue robe billow on the breeze her spin created. The robe and soft leather boots along with her modesty garments beneath, was all she was wearing. </span></em></span><br/><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: verdana;"><em><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 1em;"> </span></em></span><br/><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: verdana;"><em><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 1em;">She stood still once her rotation was complete and spoke softly so no one would overhear, “I am what your fighting instructor would call a 'soft target'. Easy prey for any attacker, and then there are my fighting skills, virtually non-existent. Poison would flood my slight frame in record time. I can’t swim worth a damn, and a fall from a horse would break my neck. I am fragile beyond belief, Sir Kye. My safety is your duty? Your duty will test you in ways your can not imagine”, she summoned up in a challenging voice. “Let us both hope your Aasimar bloodline is of a great Guardinal like Talisid, or we will not live long enough to determine your true lineage.” The last sentence was in Celestial and the word Aasimar spoken in an even more ancient dialect. </span></em></span><br/><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: verdana;"><em><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 1em;"> </span></em></span><br/><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: verdana;"><em><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 1em;">“I will need your strength and your counsel Kye. But, you will stay alive, if for no other reason than to carry my broken corpse back here. No foolish heroics. No rushing in where Angels fear to tread. You are my shield and my sword, but if you fall in battle, my corpse will lie with yours a second later.” Her green eyes were wet when she had finished her emotional lecture, but she patted Kye on the front of his breast plate reassuringly, to let him know that she was anything, but angry at him. </span></em></span>