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Date Posted: 13:53:10 01/08/02 Tue
Author: Laurel
Subject: Looking for company
In reply to: Isobel and Barry 's message, "Make over?" on 12:08:01 01/08/02 Tue

Laurel had never heard of these chakras Erlic was telling her about, so she listened very carefully, and with great interest, too. He seemed distracted, though, as he spoke, and his eyes kept darting to and fro as if he were nervous about something. Well, of course she knew he was concerned about the assassins, as were they all. But she was quite able to put to and to together, even if he wasn’t all that generous in his information to her, and she decided that there was definitely a correlation between the discussion about Marz with Ravin and the approaching danger. Clearly, Marz’s delving into this First Chakra enabled him to detect any audible signs of the enemy. So why was Erlic still so jumpy?

Maybe Marz had heard something rather alarming. But why didn’t Erlic tell her if he did? The thought plagued her, and she opened her mouth to ask him more about the matter when he quite neatly indicated an end to their brief conversation. The parting smile he gave her was genuine, but she would have preferred more.

Such as? she asked herself, and she tried to chuckle her feelings off, stacking it up to the ridiculous fancies of a very silly girl. It would have been nice to be asked to walk beside him, even if he did not wish to speak of anything—the others spoke to one another, but she had the feeling Erlic was too worried to do much conversing. But…of course, she had Tia to watch over, and maybe it was only practical that their quick discussion be cut short for her sake.

When they arrived at the Jinn camp, Laurel was quite taken aback by the size of their latest hosts. She soon found them to be very kind and charming people, though, and scarcely even noticed their unusual size after a while. The clothing they wore at first struck her as quite scandalous, but later she began to wish she might have the nerve to parade about in such a fashion. The gauzy silks and satins were surely more comfortable than her own cotton shirt and cloak, and leather boots and breeches.

The men in their group seemed to be taking a rather inordinate amount of pleasure staring at the women, too, and she thought that would not be such a bad thing. Shocking! she could hear her father say, though at the same time she imagined her mother winking in the background. Yes, it would be nice to be stared at for a change, and not merely admired for her clever mind and generous holdings.

“Well, that’s rather shallow of you, Miss. Goldleaf,” she murmured to herself, as she moved to pluck a few slices of ham and fruit onto her plate. After pouring herself a glass of wine, she moved to seek out Erlic again, but surprisingly, he was talking to Rowan.

Sighing almost inaudibly, she moved away, looking for Isobel or Tia. They were the only other two women in the group, and she thought it might be nice to chat with them for a bit, since she felt in desperate need of female companionship right now. She didn’t know why, but for some reason she just wanted to talk about things that only other women would understand. Now I am just being stupid, she accused herself angrily.

Of course, both Isobel and Tia was sitting down listening to the four boys of the group, whose eyes had suddenly all turned toward the latter. The dark-haired little fighter had garbed herself in the clothing of the Jinn ladies, and was gaining various reactions from her companions, some more enthusiastic than others. It was amazing how some women managed to attract attention without even trying. Laurel was quite certain she would never draw eyes like that, even if she did drape herself in silk. She was just too plain. Rowan called her, “frumpy.”

Suddenly losing her desire to speak to Tia or Isobel, she turned away from them too, her eyes finally falling upon Ravin. He was sitting alone, munching on his lunch, his brown eyes slightly unfocused as he stared off into the distance. Smiling happily to herself, Laurel immediately marched toward him, not really considering that he must be deep in thought and might not wish to be disturbed. Why would someone not wish to talk to her? No, she would not think about Erlic for now.

“Afternoon,” she sang, sitting down gracefully beside him on the large rock he was perched on. The kind smile he gave her tossed all her doubts about bothering him to the wind. Ravin was a nice man, unlike some people, and she felt quite comfortable chatting with him right now.

“I thought that perhaps since we aren’t really doing much right now,” she continued, still smiling happily, “that you might like to work on your alphabet a bit more. Have you been practicing in your head like a good boy, Mr. Rue?”

She glanced down suddenly, not at all surprised to see a couple of desert hares cautiously approaching her. Without a few clucks of her tongue, she called them to her and tossed some of the little fruits and veggies toward them. While the hares proceeded to gobble the food up, a little wren appeared, alighting in her hair, and squeaking anxiously.

“Why yes, you too, of course!” she said, laughing as she handed the little creature a small bit of fruit. As she was feeding the animals and waiting for Ravin’s answer, her eyes once again wandered to Erlic, and her heart sank somewhat again. “I do wish your friend would speak to me as he used to,” she sighed without really thinking about what she was saying. “We were getting along so charmingly, you know, and now he hardly even glances in my direction!”

She plucked sadly at her food, no longer eating much and tossing most of it to the hares, as well as the little desert stoat which had humped out from behind a scraggly tree. The wren nibbled angrily on her hair, anxious to remind her that he was still present and hungry as the other three. She complied with his wishes, slowly giving away her lunch to the creatures of the desert since she wasn’t feeling much hungry anymore.

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