Naomi Hebron was not the kind of woman who ignored facts or left business unfinished. The news of Nadiel's survival was a thorn in her side in more ways than one. Not only did it mean that she had failed in her task of ending his insurrection, but that she had also failed to accomplish her far more important goal of redeeming his faith in humanity. She shuddered at the thought that by now he was in the arms of some deceptive, conniving creature and not her own. She absolutely hated him for this, but she had even stronger hatred for those who had made him into the man that he was. If she could, she would gladly destroy every one of the nagas that tempted him, for no other reason than to gain peace of mind at having at long last completed what she had set out to do so long ago. It didn't matter to her if doing so was suicidal, that it would be in defiance of her village's law, or even if it may even shift the balance of power and encourage the dridders to take notice of the situation and press their advantage, throwing the whole region into peril. As far as she was concerned, every single monster could go right ahead and kill one another, good riddance to the lot of them. But this was enthusiasm speaking, she knew better than to be so reckless. Lord Ellis had told her that Nadiel would see for himself the error in putting so much trust in those creatures and return home of his own free will. This had all been arranged; he had known years ago when Ryoko was returned to the jungle that Nadiel would search for her, and that when he saw with his own two eyes what she was capable of his naivete would be shattered and he would finally be ready to make complete use of the seal and fulfill a greater purpose. As wise as he may have been, he had neglected two flaws in this equation; that Ryoko had caught on to his scheme and that Nadiel had become enough of a glutton for punishment to ignore the obvious. Hebron, however, knew of these two possibilities and once again took it upon herself to fix that which was broken, even if this time she would be doing it alone.
The difference was that while she would have an awkward, difficult time navigating through the dangerous jungle alone, Nadiel had finally begun to become accustomed to it, and his search was moving along smoothly. By the late afternoon of that day he had long since passed the great tree and continued towards the falls. He, along with the rest of his kinsfolk, were given extraordinary possibilities to study the environment around them and the various creatures inhabiting it. Having his village sandwiched between two predatory races with no love whatsoever for one another was both its greatest blessing and its most terrible curse. Both the nagas and dridders hesitated to blatantly overrun the village for fear of such action being mistaken for an invasion of the eachother's territory, which would lead to horrific reprisals, from both the race being 'invaded' and the Ellisians themselves, who didn't at all approve of having their homes trampled upon. While the two species spent decades arguing over who gets what share of the village (without making any progress), its inhabitants managed to live quite peacefully while also being able to study biology in depth. This knowledge did play an important role in the training that every military academy student received, but in truth it was just the tip of the iceberg and even the most experienced Ellisian elites knew little of what roamed around in the heart of the wilderness or what to do to avoid it. Nadiel had spent more than a week in the jungle, and though he did not record anything (even if he did, his equipment was fried anyway so the data would not have been retrievable) but he took mental note of exactly what was a good idea and what wasn't. The one lesson worth noting was that nearly every living thing that he could possibly bump into had strong instincts and predispositions that led them to treat his kind as premium cuisine, so making himself seen, heard, smelt, felt, or tasted was profoundly inadvisable. His training had taught him how to avoid human contact, but learning the tricks to slip by the more developed senses of the locals was a trial-by-fire experience, but one that he had somehow managed to survive. "Who knows..." he thought to himself, "maybe someday I'll be able to cope with this hellhole". But then it struck him, could that have been why he'd been drifting around here in a search that could have ended so long ago if one particular individual had chosen not to hide so thoroughly? What message was she trying to give to him, and why? What was she waiting for? Nadiel seemed to be the only one who didn't know, but he was coming close to the one who just might tell him, that is, if he asked her nicely enough.
The only information he had about Vivian was that she was apparently knowledgeable enough to have gained recognition for it, so she wouldn't be the type to be fooled easily, and that since she had been the one to take Ryoko in, she would be expecting his arrival. It was all but certain that her only reason to let him live would either come from a request from a third-party or his own ability to talk his way out of the situation, which wasn't looking good because he had absolutely nothing to bargain with. He couldn't make any threats either, he needed his information source to be alive enough to talk, besides his new ammunition supply would drain nearly as much life from him if used than it would from his target. His only hope would be to scout out the environment and learn her inclinations and make use of them to find some way to gain leverage on the situation. After leaping his way between a few more trees, Nadiel had finally come within eyeshot of the Chordoni falls. He was still a considerable distance away, but managed a clear view of the surrounding area from a vantage point on a high tree limb. His scope and mask were still under Anna's supervision so he would have to manage scouting duty with his bare eyes. It was no use, from that angle he couldn't see anything but the canopies of the other jungle trees that sheltered the area. He would have to get closer to see what he was up against. Yet another problem arose as the foliage was too thick to see through without moving through it and making a risky amount of noise. As foolish as it may have been, he drew even closer. He had made it to close enough proximity to the falls to take up a position without having to hack his way through too much of the verdant surroundings, but needed to proceed upstream to find his target. While in the process of making another jump from one tree to a second adjacent to it, for just the few milliseconds necessary to make his whole plan go up in smoke, he caught a glimpse of his target's elegant form. The distraction was more than enough to catch his attention and he promptly forgot what he was doing and slammed right into the trunk of the tree he was trying to leap onto. Vivian happened to hear the loud thud from the impact, looked down towards her own chest, and with a smile commented to herself that "they work like a charm every time, looks like I've hooked another one..." Nadiel's element of surprise was now gone for good, and it took him a full five minutes to properly curse to himself to gain satisfaction from this most spectacular of blunders.
After taking the time to regain his composure, he cautiously skulked forward hoping to perhaps find out something useful before a direct confrontation ensued. The one thing that he noticed was that Vivian hadn't so much as rolled over even after he had so clearly announced his arrival. Perhaps he could outrun her if he needed to, but before he could devise any clever escape plans she had lost interest in waiting for him to work up the nerve to show himself so she made quite the warm welcome, involving some inviting finger gestures and seductive small talk. Nadiel was at a loss for words and had to plug a sudden nosebleed, but even in this state of mind-numbing blood loss he could tell that this had 'trap' written all over it. But that would be his solution to the problem, and he decided to play along. He strode from the tree cover confidently forward, but stopped just shy of Vivian's reach. This would not do, and she beckoned him to "come closer, I'll make it worth your while..." as she began to lick the length from her forearm to her fingertip with a deep moan. Nadiel tilted his head with interest "you don't bite, do you?" Vivian now began to lean towards him as she responded "maybe a little" with a wide smile. Disbelief remained that this amorous naga could be the supposed wise alpha female of the area, until she said something peculiar. "Ellis, darling, how long as it been since you've paid me a visit?" Nadiel couldn't believe his ears. "The old man was your beau, was he? I knew he had some weird tastes in women but this is a bit much. But the one you're thinking of is long gone. I'm just his grandson's nephew." Vivian gave him a round of soft laughter "Not true, I'll show you..." she drew him near and delicately pulled his rifle from under his cloak. She gingerly held it between her thumb and index finger and inspected it closely. With a blink of her eyes magic was cast and the seal hidden within the shells was brought to life, enveloping the rifle in ribbons of glowing words and phrases from a long forgotten language. Vivian now turned to Nadiel "You see, he's still with us."
Subject: Ch. 9 -Epiphany 
Sun Apr 06, 2008 1:05 am
