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A Ravens Heart and a Witch's Soul....(Anaeria and runawayninja only please! )

His admission startled a laugh out of Ariana, who giggled at the idea, then let the giggle grow into a full out belly laugh, relieving stress and finding his words funny. However, his explanation was also practical as well. Settling after a few minutes, she grinned at him and chuckled again before responding "Well, I'll tell you what, you ever drop a rock on my head, I'll pull out one of your feathers and we'll be even, because I won't much like having something dropped on me. "Grinning, she got up from the table and leaned across it, not caring that there were others in the room who eyed her nakedness with lust, even though they knew what she was, and planted a light kiss on Rafe's lips.

Pulling back after a long moment, she licked her lips lightly at the faint taste of his food and the mead that he'd eaten and drunk, then stretched and headed for the stairs, "Come on up and join us for a bath, we all need to clean up, and I hear they set up three separate bathing tubs for us, with hot water!" Ariana liked the idea of grooming another, be he person or bird, though her tongue was no beak and not really meant to deal with feathers as anything but nuisances. However....she also liked his taste, and as she knocked on the door to their room and stepped inside she spotted White Rose in the tub nearest the beds and smiled before she headed for another of the tubs, eager to get the muck and dirt off of her. "One thing I gotta admit about that damned Rose Lord; He had good bathing facilities at least. How are you doing love?" Using a bit of a nickname for her female companion, Ariana slid into the water of her tub with a delicious moan as the heat began to sink into her muscles and helped her relax a bit before she grabbed some plain, unscented soap.
 
White Rose gasped out softly and used her arms to cover her breasts as she sunk low into the water. "I didn't know you were coming in here!" Her hair floated about her form as she sunk deeper, just high enough to keep her mouth and face out of the water. "I'm doing well now. This has been a bit of an adventure for me, and I feel safe with the two of you now." She smiled and then scowled playfully at Ariana. "It's been too long since you've called me Rosy."

Rafe was soon up as well, stripping out of his gear and his clothes, causing White Rose to turn her white roses a further shade of red. Rafe slipped into one of the tubs and groaned out in delight. "Man that feels good...mmm..." He looked over at his bathmates and laughed softly at White Rose. "You needn't be so shy..."

"It's how I was brought up!" She snapped back.
 
Grinning cheekily as she slid into her own bath and peered at Rose's face peeking out of the bathtub, the wolf woman giggled at her response to Rafe, whom she had watched appreciatively get undressed. Her snappy response too was amusing, and she didn't bother to hide herself as she stretched luxuriously in the hot water, then grabbed some soap and began to clean off the gunk and mess that hadn't slid off of her when she'd Shifted back to human form.

"Mmm....oh gods I love baths....never used to, they were too frilly and fussy for me, but I guess I got hooked back at the castle...." Slipping under the water to get her hair wet, Isanya resurfaced after a minute or so and moaned quietly as she revelled in the feeling of the water rolling off of her chest, the cooler air of the room pebbling her nipples and making them hard as she finished soaping off and rinsed, then stood up in the tub, water rushing off her body, and reached for a towel.
 
Rafe cleaned himself off and then slipped out as well, using a towel to dry off before he put on some comfortable clothes. He sighed and smiled. "Haven't felt this good in a long time, I suppose they really know how to treat their heroes around here. Rafe smiled at White Rose. "You going to be in there all night?" She glared and gave a light huff.

"You have to turn around..."

Rafe chuckled softly, but he went ahead to abide her and slipped into bed, turning his back to her. White Rose didn't ask Ariana to look away as she got out of the water and dried off thoroughly, making sure she was clean and dry from head to toe before she put on a night gown that the inn had provided for the saviors.
 
Ariana grinned and stretched, liking the sight of White Rose's naked body. Slipping up behind the woman as she got herself dried off, having long since dried her own body with the towel, the redhead slipped her hands around her friends' waist and tugged her close, giving her long neck a little kiss before she let her go and tumbled into the bed, the two of the beds having been pushed together so that it formed one single large one that the heroes could share.

Sliding into the bed with a cheeky wink at her female partner, the naked wolf woman slid in beside Rafe and nuzzled his neck as well, placing a light kiss to his skin before she stretched out and lay on her back on the bed, liking it's texture against her bare skin. The blanket was a little itchy however, and she allowed it to slide off of her breasts and pool around her belly somewhat as she shifted to get comfortable and waited for Rosy to join them.
 
White Rose stared at the bed for a moment as Rafe had taken the far edge and Ariana was stretching out in the middle like a cat that had claimed the whole thing as her own. She gingerly walked over to Rafe's side, the far side of the bed closest to the wall and furthest from the window. "Rafe...if you don't mind, I'd like that edge...it's...like my own bed, it's where I slept. Rafe stared at her from the corner of his eye for a long moment before he grumbled and scooted over towards the middle, pushing Ariana towards the other edge. He sighed and pulled the blanket over himself as White Rose slipped into the far edge, one arm hanging off the bed. Rafe was unhappy in the middle, but part of him didn't mind being smooshed up between all that female flesh.

"Move over..." He grumbled to Ariana. "You sleep like you have to touch every corner of creation..."
 
His grumbling made Ariana grin and she shifted as he wished, then promptly fell asleep, though she wondered at the lack of real response that she had gotten from Rose. She had been expecting a blush at least and there was nothing from her pretty little female human.

Stretching lightly, this time not taking up a good portion of the bed, Ariana let out a long breath and fell asleep after a few minutes, her body turning and sliding an arm around Rafe's belly, her head nuzzling his shoulder lightly.
 
Rafe was up with the dawn now, and he was doing his morning rituals to keep himself in shape and his sword form clean. White Rose was downstairs, eating a light breakfast and securing some food and supplies for the rest of the journey on their behalf. White Rose didn't seem her usual, cheery, easily-embarrassed self. Something was playing hard on her mind.

Rafe, meanwhile, was dressing and packing again and he only ate some jerky that he sucked on and chewed while he packed up his horse and reapplied his armor.
 
Ariana woke up more slowly, the sunshine coming into the small room waking her up with it's brightness and warmth until she rolled over one last time-and hit the floor. Hard. Scrambling out of the blanket that she'd somehow wrapped around herself, the woman blinked and then shook her head and yawned.

After going to the wash basin and dunking her face in to wake up, she dried off and headed down the stairs. The townsfolk had been kind enough to provide another two horses and tack for her and White Rose, and the innkeeper was proud to tell her that as she spotted Rose and made to go and see her....only to pause at the expression on her normally reserved, gentle female pack mate. Since Rafe was outside, she poked her head over the other womans' shoulder lightly with a cheerful "Good morning Rosy, sleep okay? I hope I didn't take up the whole bed..."
 
White Rose smiled softly and nodded, holding her companion's hand gently. "I slept well. Hehe, there was a person between us, so I could hardly tell how you slept. I'm sorry if I've been aloof, I've just had a lot on my mind. This is so much more than I've done in years, it's difficult to take in all at once. And...I worry about the future. Orlouge isn't going to just let us go. He's going to come for us eventually...I fear for us. I still fear him..."
 
"Oh....You know what? You're worries aren't just something stupid to deal with, it's alright to worry over Orlouge and his sons-of-a-sow. He will be after us for some time probably, but we can deal with him so long as we stay together, agreed?" Squeezing her friends' hand lightly, she smiled and quietly brought their combined hands up to press a light kiss to her knuckles gently. "Rosy, I adore you, you are kind and gentle and stubborn as all hell when you find you need to be, and I love that about you....worrying doesn't suit you at all. Try to relax a little alright? Revel in the freedom a little, it's a very precious thing indeed."

Her cheeks turned a little pink then as she added "Besides, I promise to rip his throat out and eat him if he tries to come after you or me or Rafe again. And this time I'll promise to do it sucessfully." This was as close to a promise of mating than she had ever come to, to declare that she would protect a mate or a mate to be from an enemy, for her kind, was as close to asking her to marry her as actually coming out with those words.
 
White Rose smiled softly and nodded slowly as she flushed. "You're right...we're having an adventure and I've enjoyed it and the company thus far...if something happens, there's precious little that can be done except to meet it head on. And I know you'll protect us, I feel safe with you Ari..." She leaned over and gave Ariana a soft kiss on her lips, perhaps the boldest thing she'd done since leaving the Rose Lord's lands. "Rafe will be ready soon..." She seemed to want to escape the situation she had created.
 
Ariana smiled, her cheeks pinker as Rose initiated a kiss for the first time. "Yes he will...."Smiling more widely, she caught her friends arm lightly and then placed a slightly longer, gentle kiss on her lips before she pulled back and licked her lips, her belly rumbling and making her blink in surprise. Chuckling and a bit red faced at the face of her nudity, the innkeeper brought her over a flagon of water and some meat for her breakfast and she ate quickly before she headed out to meet Rose, whom she'd allowed to escape, and Rafe, whom she had yet to say good morning to.
 
Rafe was caring for their horses that they were about to use. White Rose was watching him while he worked, trying to think of something to say when Ariana walked to them. Rafe was brushing the horses. "Your two mounts are gelding males so they shouldn't have a problem with Alexandria. They're pretty docile and they're work horses, so I wouldn't take them into a fight, they'd probably spook easily. I had them introduced to Alexandria and she didn't seem to have any problem with them. If something does happen, we'll just ride it out of them."
 
Rafe's words, before she had even said good morning, slightly irked Ariana, but she put it aside by moving up to the gelding that was for her and patted the beasts nose gently, the animal snorting once before he calmed somewhat. "I can handle him well enough I think, though I've not ridden a horse very much before, four paws and all for myself." Offering a faint smile as she got the animal used to her odd scent, Ariana frowned slightly in thought as she considered the various options that they had in this journey.....and to be honest, she had no other desire to do or go anywhere other than to follow her pack mates, and she sighed as she began to stretch in order to get ready for the journey.

After a few minutes, one of the townsfolk, an old woman with a kindly face, stepped up to the nude woman and offered her a light cotton dress, plain and simple without any ties or laces that could get stuck. ".....Thank you." Frowning slightly as she looked over the cloth, Ariana tugged it on over her head and pulled her hair through. The dress was long, ending at her ankles, and was dyed a very pretty blue that set off her hair and eyes well. It was perfect; she could slide out of it easily if she had to change her forms, and she liked the feeling of the light cotton on her body.
 
Rafe gave soft chuckle and smiled at her. "Some people aren't prepared for the nude Ariana...you think she did that you be kind or so that you'd cover yourself up?" He wasn't doing that to be cruel, just playful. "Does it feel uncomfortable for you to wear clothes? And if you'd feel more comfortable just going around in your near-wolf form, you can leave the horse."

"Maybe she did it for both reasons..." White Rose chimed it, smiling just a bit. "It's not really polite to just go around naked..."
 
His question, about her nudity, was actually more puzzling to Ariana, who looked at the two of them blankly for a minute or two then shook her head slowly. "I like clothings, so long as they are easy to get out of if the need arises....dresses and the like are pleasant enough, but I am a fighter, not a pretty lady like Rosy is." Smiling as she patted the geldings' neck lightly, the wolf woman thanked the old woman and watched her leave.

After she then turned to her two pack mates and considered White Roses' words. "But I'm not naked most of the time Rosy...I'm almost always a wolf, and I have fur to cover me. Plus, I've never been human, so the human ideas of modesty are foreign, even though I have been around humans for nearly all my life.....can you explain to me why it is important to be clothed?" Tilting her head, genuinely curious, Ariana looked at Rose, then at Rafe and then back to Rose again, eyes bright with her interest.
 
White Rose blushed darkly at the open complement. Rafe smiled at her words and it grew into a slow, garrulous laugh as he mounted his horse and started forward, White Rose following close behind him. White thought about it a moment before speaking. "Clothes keep humans warm and protect us from the elements...and it's just...something people are used to I supposed. The early humans needed clothes for survival and when you do something for so long...it just becomes normal, and anything else seems odd. I suppose that's why people consider nudity to be vulgar..." Rafe smiled a bit.

"Well put. You must know your history." White Rose smiled a bit and blushed a bit more. Finally on better terms with Rafe it seemed.
 
Smiling at Rafe's laugh, and his explanation, as well as the pleasantness that her two companions seemed to be exibiting now, Ariana relaxed as she mounted her own horse, following until she was beside Rose and riding comfortably, though the way she was seated drew her dress up to her knees and bunched in the middle since she sat astride and her dress wasn't a gown that could hide such folds in the fabric. Any other way however and she'd have slid off of the horse, which would have been more fodder for Rafe's amusement probably, not that she wouldn't have laughed as well.

"So then, clothing is for humans to wear, animals have their own fur and....since I take on the aspects of both I should look to the proprieties of them both....? Oh, now I'm confused." Shaking her head briskly as her gelding followed Alexandria docilely, Ariana wrinkled her nose, not wanting to understand the complexities of human clothing and the like. "I will say this now, anyone tries to get me into a corset and I'll bite off fingers, even if you are my pack mates." Saying that with a faint smile to her face, she wrinkled her nose again more for a funny expression than anything as they began to leave, the townsfolk coming out to wave goodbye and call good wishes, though Ariana ignored them, not liking the amount of attention when she wasn't doing anything but leave a place.
 
Rafe gave a laugh when Ariana mentioned about a corset. White Rose looked thoughtfully for a moment and then smiled...perhaps a little too innocently to be totally innocent. "I don't know, Ariana, you might look good in a corset." Rafe grinned at Ariana.

"I'd love to see you in a corset..." But his face told that his intentions were far from pure. White Rose thought for a moment and then turned a deep red, giggling as she spoke.

"Ariana...I'm...not sure a corset would be for you...I mean...not your style I know but...I doubt we could find one...for you..." Rafe almost fell off his horse.

"I think she means your breasts are too huge...like the mountains of the edge of the world." He continued to laugh, almost doubling over in the saddle as White Rose turned crimson but couldn't help but laugh herself.
 
Ariana looked at the two of them in disbelief for a moment.....then burst out laughing as well, her hands letting go of her reins to cup her breasts, smooshing them together a little under the fabric as she arched her back slightly to show them off better, waggling her eyebrows comically at Rafe and White as she laughed. "Awwww! Not even a half corset? Really? I guess not then! Not that I'd ever let myself get stuck in one anyways deliberately, you'd have to get me drunk or something to even get me to consider it!"

She had no idea, whatsoever, that that would probably be a way to get her to make a move on one, or rather, finish making a move, on the both of them, and after her laughter faded Ariana grinned at her companions and stretched in the saddle. "Oh that was a good laugh....I know my breasts are large, but I wouldn't call them huge....maybe just...big." Looking down at said mammary glands, she smooshed them together again thoughtfully, her nipples obvious underneath the fabric of the dress as she tilted her head to look at them more thoughtfully. "Completely impractical things, aren't they....too big I'm thinking. Not like Rosy's, yours are perfectly sized." Looking over at the red faced woman beside her, she winked and grinned mischieviously.
 
Rafe was still laughing as he shook his head and added. "Nope, your's are huge. So are White Rose's. You two will just have to deal with that. And they're not impractical. They're distractions to men and women who are inclined to such things. You just have to know how to use the strengths that the gods have given you. Now what a man has, that's impractical. You get stuck between the legs and you're near useless in a fight."

White Rose bursted out laughing as well, smiling at Ariana. "I'm glad you think so highly of me...but you have traits I admire as well. You're so...honest and strong. But Rafe is right, we have to use what we have. And I think we're a very good mixture of talents."

As they rode, the land began to turn more wooded, but the trees grew thinly with vegetation, with ropy strands of vines hanging from them and moss over at lot of the trees and land, clinging downwards on the branches and making them look dismal and depressed. The land started to become a muck at certain points. "We're getting to the outer edges of Ravenholm, where the lands haven't been developed. If memory serves, we're coming up on the Red Skull Marsh area. Just be mindful for snakes and mud zombies. The undead usually stink to high heaven, but any that died in mud are cased in it and it almost eliminates the smell. Legend has it, the first settlers of this area found a skull with red nails pinned through the jaw. A hex to keep it from speak, even after death. No one knows who did it though, because it was here before the first of my people."
 
Ariana grinned and nodded, agreeing with them and laughing at what Rafe said, her response of "But it's so much fun to nail a guy there in a fight, you should try it more often, even as a knight!" bringing another laugh from her, not realizing how cruel she may have sounded towards him.

Noting the changes in the landscape after a time, Ariana lifted her face to the wind as it changed direction, eyes closed as she listened to Rafe explain and the sounds around them. Indeed, mud and such would hinder the sounds of an undead shambling towards them, but then again it would hinder the movement of the creature significantly. "A Redcaps' hex? That sounds rather vicious....At least, I think that was the name of the hex, I think I read something about that in the library one of the nights it stormed before my hut was built back at Orlouge's castle. I thought it was a false story though, glad to know it's true." Running a hand along her jaw lightly as their horses passed into muddier land, she looked about curiously, having no desire to dismount into the muck and mud, though her nose was catching the scents of various things and creatures within the area that, if she'd had fur, would have made her hackles stand on end.
 
Rafe brought his fingers to his lips and let out a high-pitched whistle. After a moment a loud caw replied and dove onto his wrist like a falcon. Rafe whispered something to the bird and then let it fly. "Deus will scout the trail ahead for us. If there's anything wrong or...anyone that shouldn't be there that isn't hiding, we'll know about it, just stay alert." White Rose sniffed and held her nose for a second. Rafe nodded when he saw her. "Yes, it's swamp gas. It's slightly flammable, but there are some areas, called Acid Bogs and Poison Marshes were the land is so toxic with it, it'll make you sick, and there is so much in the air as to choke your lungs from breathable air. Just try to ignore it...for me, this is a part of home." Certainly, there were all manner of unusual flora and fauna about. The mud began to turn into actual water over the land and Rafe guided his horse away from it as a river began to form, seemingly from out of nowhere. As they moved down along it's edge, it got bigger and wider. "I certainly hope we ended up on the right side..." For a moment, there was a movement that disturbed the moss-covered surface of the water, but it's cause was unseen.
 
Ariana was on edge as they entered the marshy land, her eyes and ears, which had shifted to the top of her head and become wolf, twitching and searching about for unseen assailants. True, she trusted his raven, somewhat, but the bird was a flier, not a ground dweller like she was, and her horse was getting nervous as well as she guided it to fall back a little behind Rose, keeping the beautiful woman between them. Not wanting to use her magic, since it was still a bit low and she was no good with searching spells, she said "Rosy, think you could do a search spell for us, see if there's things under our feet that could pose a problem? I can boost your power if you need it, keep you from getting tired." Rafe's somewhat unhelpful words about the right side of the river was not very reassuring to the wolf woman, who twitched as an odd birds' call from fairly far off spooked her a little, her horse snorting as his mount shifted suddenly in the saddle. "Mrrr....I don't like this place too much...too wet...and it smells horrible with that gas, and the rot and the wet...ugh." Making a face, she shut up, knowing that she was beginning to whine and disliking herself for it. Nevertheless however, she added "Rafe, please tell me your whole land isn't just all marshy...."
 
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