The dying light of the cackling fire illuminates the small campsite set up under the protection of a dense thicket of trees. Curls of smoke waft lazily, filling the air with the scent of charred meat. The remnants of dinner have already been tossed into the dying embers. Cyran stokes the fire with a stick just enough to keep it lit for him to see, but low enough that it won’t attract unsavory characters. He has been in these woods a few times before in his travels, and those experiences weren’t the most pleasant.

Now, though, he is here for a purpose.

Cyran pulls out a folded piece of parchment from his pocket, skimming the contents inside. The writing is brief, accompanied with a couple of sketches of scarred faces. At the bottom, a reward is scribbled in bold lettering. The amount isn’t much, but Cyran can’t afford to be picky if he wants to feed himself. He had been told that a few bandits had wandered into Moonveil Forest, and even though his tracking skills have improved over the years, the chances of finding them in this large area are slim.

He places the parchment back in his pocket and leans back against the fallen branch, one hand resting on his knee. The moon is reaching its zenith overhead, but he doubts he’ll be getting rest anytime soon. Not when he‘s on the hunt.

After a long day of tracking bandits around the forest and gathering plants and leaves for food, Xyla started looking for a place to rest. It has been three long years since she started protecting the forest and she has not gotten much better fending it. The forest rarely has any intruders that go deep within it except criminals or bandits wanting to hide from the villages outside so a small tree grove or a river bank is suitable for nights rest.

While wandering for a bit, Xyla noticed a glimmer of a campfire and its smoke flying high in the sky. *Only foreigners would do this* She thought to herself, so she headed there sneaking in the shadows[1] to gather information.

A medium figured humanoid was standing near a campfire, Xyla also noticed that they have the same ears as her, but does not have tails or scales, their eyes are also different.  Xyla is intrigued so she keeps her distance observing the strange new creature. 

==========
Shadow hiding 

As Cyran sits, unaware of the presence watching him from the shadows, he watches the sky above him, unconcerned. As he sits, ravens circle overhead, perching in the branches around him. As he counts them, he remembers a rhyme about ravens from his childhood.

One for sorrow,

Two for mirth,

Three for a wedding,

Four for a birth.

“Two ravens, huh?” He asks out loud to himself, smiling faintly. “I guess that means I’m in for a pleasant surprise.”

He reaches into his pouch and pulls out some rations, tossing them out onto the grass in front of him for the birds to peck at. He feels considerably more lighthearted than he had moments ago, though. He isn’t an especially superstitious person, but bird augury had always been a fun hobby of his, and it had never steered him wrong before.

Seeing how the stranger threw precious food on the ground , Weirdo Xyla thought to herself. Still Xyla examined the rations from a far they were some pieces of bread, a village people food.

Xyla waited a couple of minutes then got out of her hiding spot towards the bread sat on the ground on all fours and started eating the bread slowly, locking her eyes on the stranger to see and gauge his reaction keeping her tail away from sight in order not to scare them since they do not have ond. 

Munching on bread...

At first, Cyran wonders if the faint sound of rustling bushes belongs to an animal, and his hand drifts to his dagger on his belt. When he sees the girl come out into the clearing hunched on all fours, though, he pauses. She doesn't look hostile- in fact, she looks more interested in whatever she found on the ground than in him. Cyran's grip relaxes on his dagger, and he settles back against the log. He stays perfectly still as the girl picks up the piece of bread he tossed aside and makes eye contact with him while she eats.

She looks like an elf, but not any kind Cyran has ever seen before. Even in the dim light, he can still make out the strange color of her eyes. Careful as not to make any sudden movements that might startle her, Cyran reaches into his pouch and pulls out more food- a piece of dried meat this time- extending his hand outwards. To himself, he mumbles, "I guess this is the surprise that I've been expecting."

Then, he speaks again, a little louder so she'll hear him but not loud enough to startle her. He has enough to share, and she looks hungry. "Hello, there. Would you like some more?"

Seeing how the stranger reacted to her Xyla feels more at ease and continues to munch on bread Meat bad,  me no meat. Xyla responded with a broken tongue. After eating a bit more bread Xyla moves towards the campfire and sits next to it for a bit enjoying the warmth. She never learnt how to make such a thing but has seen a few before. 

She continues hiding her tail hoping the stranger not notice it to not scare them then speaks after holding her elf ears and stretching them with both of her hands You same as Xyla? then points at the elves ears.

At the girl’s response, Cyran nods understandingly and puts the meat away. “I have more bread if you’d prefer that.”

He tenses when she gets close enough to the fire on instinct, but he can tell she means no harm. She almost reminds him of an animal in a way, given her movements and speech. He wonders if she’s from around these forests, or even from Moonveil Village nearby.

When she gestures towards his ears, Cyran wonders what she could be referring to for a moment before he realizes what she means. “Yes, I’m an elf, like you.” He pauses, reconsidering his words. The girl, Xyla, isn’t like any elf he’s ever seen. Now that she’s closer, he can see the strange color of her eyes and the strange markings on her cheeks. Now that she’s closer, he can notice something shift behind her, but he can’t quite make out what it is in the dim light.

“Your name is Xyla? I’m Cyran. Do you live in the forest? I’m just passing through, I promise I mean you no harm.”

Elf... is that what I am and the stranger... Cryan? Humans and elves can speakk..

After hearing Cryan saying he is not bad and no harm Xyla eases her self more and moves closer and digs in her hay bag. She takes some wild berries, wood bark and leaves handing them to Cryan to return the gesture of the bread!  She also understands he is new to the forest and is just passing by from what he said responding:


Yes name Xyla, I live forest. WELCOME Cryaaaan. 

She stops to think about her next sentence then spouts

Careful. Bandits around forest. Xyla hate bandits. Bandits bad careful 

Xyla’s honest attempt to pronounce Cyran’s name, dragging the syllables as if foreign to her, makes him smile. He accepts her offering, unsure what to do with the twigs and leaves, which don’t seem all that edible. Those, he puts in his bag, and he slowly eats the berries one by one, savoring the flavor.

When she mentions the bandits, Cyran’s eyes widen in interest. The birds really did leave a surprise for him. “Bandits?” He repeats, pulling out the parchment he’d been reading earlier.

“I’m actually here looking for some of those bandits. I’m a bounty hunter.” In case she hasn’t heard the term before, he explains, “I track down bad guys… like the ones hiding here in the woods. Have you seen these men around here recently, Xyla?”

He holds the paper out for her to inspect. He doesn’t know if she can read the words, but with hope, she can identify the men from these crude drawings.

Xyla felt pride in her speaking skills, she has not spoken to a "friendly" living being for a while. Xyla also added the word "bounty hunter" in her vocabulary by repeating it to herself loudly and pointing at Cryan Bounty hunter bounty hunter bounty hunter etc...

Then she started examining the paper, look at the front and backsides of it. Putting it on the ground and examining the faces drawn on it and the big "WANTED" at the top of it. waa n tod  she mumbled to herself then her eyes widen as now she understands what Cryan Bounty hunter means by his long sentences and sophisticated manner of speaking (at least to Xyla).  

Xyla jumps in the air with excitement forgetting that she hid her tail and focuses and speaking more clearly: 

I Saw bad guy in leaf (pointing at the wanted paper) He walk morning to river. Name bad guy Vaaaloor (Valor) he had 3 bad friends and three ladies. Ladies were sad. Vaalooor had two wood box with shinnies. 

Xyla then stops speaking hoping that whatever she spouted made sense to Cryan her tail moving left and right without her notice in anticipation  

“Yes, those are exactly the people I’m looking for!” Cyran says as he pieces together her description and matches it with the one he’d been given- four men total, who’d taken women as hostages and stolen their prized possessions. “You saw them by the river this morning? If they have hostages, they probably aren’t moving that fast. I still have time to catch up to them.”

As Xyla jumps in the air, clearly excited, Cyran finally spots her tail, waving behind her in a back and forth motion. He blinks, momentarily taken aback, but given the strangeness of the rest of her appearance, he had a feeling she wasn’t entirely elven. He’s seen all types since leaving the city, though- he knows better than to judge or make crude comments.

Instead, he gives her a grateful smile. “Thank you, Xyla. Without your help I probably would have been stuck wandering around in circles looking for them!”

Now, he just has to figure out how to get to the river from here…

Xyla surges with happiness. It has been a while since she had a positive interaction with another intelligent life. She usually speaks to frogs in the nearby pounds. All they do is ribbit and stick their tongues out. 

After standing there pondering about the meaning of Cryan last sentence for about 10 minutes. 10 minutes of starring into each other, Xyla jumps and heads towards the forest for 5 minutes. Then come back with a big stick. Xyla starts drawing on the ground what seems to be map to the river where she last saw them. In the bottom left corner she drew two stick figures one with a tail (forgetting that she wanted to hide it yet gain) and another with long hair. on the top middle there is a river with a stick figure that resembles valor. The river  seems to be straight northwest with two landmarks drawn between the campfire and Valor. The first one is a giant rock written under it Pretty sky rock big. The second one is a big spider net written under it Scary Legs... Person? . 

After finishing drawing Xyla's Eyes darken and her "pupils" appear all of the sudden with red hot coloring. [1]
Can Cryan Bounty Hunter see in dark? if no you should sleep. Forest is danger in no light.


====================
Dark vision: stealth 

Watching Xyla draw out a crude map, Cyran pulls out a small notebook, in which he copies down the landmarks Xyla drew, including the place on the river where Valor has made camp. He notes down the “pretty sky rock big” and the “scary legs… person”. He can’t help but smile at her renditions of them, and copies those down as well.

“Scary legs person? Do you mean a spider?” He asks. “In that case, we’ll have to avoid it.”

When Xyla asks about dark vision, Cyran suddenly remembers why he made camp in the first place. In his enthusiasm, he’d forgotten that he’s not exactly equipped for night travel. He blushes in embarrassment, shaking his head. “No, I can’t see in the dark. But if they’ve made camp, then they’re not going anywhere, either. It would be smart to go after them and retrieve the stolen goods in the morning.”

But he’s gotten ahead of himself. He’s not sure if Xyla wants to help, though given her description of bandits as “bad guys”, he can’t imagine she holds any love for them.

“That is, if you wanted to join me. I could use all the help I could get.” He says. “But if you don’t want to put yourself in harms way, I’ll take care of it myself. Either way, you’re welcome to spend the evening here in my camp. It’s not much, but I have more bread and a warm fire if you want it.”

Spider... Spider spider spider. Xyla repeats to herself to add the new word to her vocabulary. 

Xyla got even happier when she heard Cryan request. A party to get rid of bad bandits? How could she refuse. A camp stay near hot light stuff is also great! 

Yes we go make bandits run. Cryan Bounty hunter and Xyla forest person!!! Get good sleep Cryan bounty hunter we must be ready. Xyla watches night forest for safety!