Nix

5

The gates slowly revealed the tall, slender frame of a man. Behind him, the treeline was covered in a heated vapor, an after effect of the storm. The sun was starting to reclaim portions of moisture from the top soil as the clouds uncovered them. The man smiled abashedly as the majority of the House noticed his very wet countenance. Many of the housemates smiled or giggled at the man’s appearance, while some remained stoic.

Ommin turned towards Lady Zenida and bent down near her ear, whispering, “That is not the delivery boy Dwerk, my Lady. I’m not sure I have ever seen this particular individual before.” He straightened up and resumed his neutral stance by her side. His small eyes fixed on the newcomer.
“If that is so, let’s find out why this man came to the House,” Lady Zenida spoke calmly, a small smile on her plump lips as her silvery eyes stared forward, able to see only the slightest of shapes. She opened her third eyelid, and observed the energies of the man, her vision as clear as any youth.

His body shone with hues of green, orange and white through the third lense of Lady Zenida. She looked over and up at Ommin, that small smile of hers just a bit bigger now as she spoke, “That man over there, he is of the gentle sort, Ommin. I say we wave him over now.”

Ommin had barely begun to draw in a breath to respond when Lady Zenida looked towards Lakira, who had been already watching Lady Zenida for her reaction to this newcomer, and gave her a single wave hand signal. Lakira caught this gesture and promptly moved over towards the two men in conversation in the gate. Clearly, the two had already formed some sort of kinsman ship and barely noticed as she approached Bayaz.
As she paused near them, eyeing the new man, he turned and spoke to her, “So, you see,” he rubbed the back of his neck, “I have been traveling alone for a couple weeks, and this is the first place I’ve arrived at that actually has people inside… presumably with a cloth to dry off?” His smile was wide and uncomfortable as he peered around Bayaz towards the secondary gates. Lakira looked the man up and down once more before letting out a small scoff. She could tell that this man was not the kind to harden himself in the extremities of nature. She somewhat pitied him for it, adapting to the moods of nature leads to freedom, and this man ignorantly shields himself from it, limiting his own freedom.

“We have cloth for you to dry off,” Lakira spoke in a stern voice, immediately letting the man know that she was not too kind to unexpected visitors.

“Oh that’s wonderful,” the man happily said as his round eyes moved to look at Bayaz through dripping hair, a wide smile on his face.

“Yes, it is wonderful, indeed. Being as doused as you are, I would be asking for a drying cloth too,” Bayaz chuckled lightly as he held his hand out to the visitor. When the man did not respond to the outstretched hand, Bayaz cleared his throat and rested his other hand on his hip, just a fingertips' distance away from his short sword. He smiled genuinely at the man, looking into his eyes and then looking at his own hand, hoping to inspire realization in the poor, dense man.

It worked, the man sprang into action with a soft, “Oh.” He reached down into his wet pockets, pushing his drenched cover jacket out of the way, ensuring a firm grasp on the object he searched for. He produced a semi-smooth purple stone, an amythest that was just large enough to fill most of his palm.

With an apologetic smile, he pressed it toward Bayaz, who gratefully took it and read the inscription aloud, “Tasha Paz, from the Ixari region, hm?” His eyes moved to look up at Tasha, eyeing him over once more.

Now that he took a better look at this man, he noticed something, at the very least, odd about him. His eyes were so round, a striking difference from the rest of his sharp, angular features. Bayaz stared at the man for a few moments before shaking the oddity of this man’s features from his thoughts.