CUVIN, kezia ananka

[kezia cuvin]

Alric was not partial to rude awakenings. Especially not when the awakening was called for due to trouble at the trading post, which he was responsible for guarding. He was a small-timer, a nobody. And in a state where the royal family and the military were everything, that wasn't the best type of person to be. When he'd taken the job, he'd hoped the opportunity would come for him to prove himself and move up in the ranks. Instead, all he got was a semi-warm igloo (which, combined with his thick cerberus-hide robes, became sweltering) and a handful of consecutive sleepless nights. Ducking into the igloo his partner had lead him to, whose opening faced the trading post for security purposes, Alric was temporary blinded. He blinked thrice in rapid succession while his eyes adjusted to the lamp light, and when they did, he took in the scene before him.

Bound to a wicker chair positioned by the far side of the wall was a sprite-like girl with a shock of pale hair. A ring of guards encircled her, though they all maintained a four-foot radius and twitched every time the girl so much as blinked. Scratching his head, Alric approached the youth who ran the night watch. He trembled despite the warm temperatures. Alric quirked an eyebrow. "What's the situation?"

"W-we c-caught the g-girl stealing a p-pound of v-venison from a t-traveler," the youth stammered. The girl echoed him in a sing-song, but otherwise perfect mimicry of the soldiers voice. He flinched, shot her a dirty look, then withdrew what looked to be a miniature sickle carved from a whale bone. "This is the only weapon we could find on her." He leaned in close and whispered, "But sir, I should warn you: it took all five of us to apprehend her."

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Alric took the whalebone knife in his hand. "But you did apprehend her. Which, I assume, means you were able to recover the venison?" The youth nodded. Alric asked, "Then why am I here?"

"Because, sir," Alric noted that the youth's stutter had dissipated, "She attempted to murder one of our men when we captured her. We're concerned she might be a spy from one of the other races, sent here to attack our military or compromise our champion."

"Well, we haven't chosen a champion yet," Alric reminded the night guard. "And most people would call that 'self-defense'. But just so you don't piss yourself, why don't I interrogate the girl alone?"

After a moment of contemplation, the youth met Alric's gaze and inclined his head in agreement. Then he looked to his fellow guards and jerked his head sideways, indicating the door. With the nod from him, they filed out into the cold, leaving Alric with the blond. He turned toward her and took a closer look.

She was slight of frame, and couldn't have been more than five feet, four inches tall when upright. To compensate for this fact, she wore chunky heels that added at least three inches to her height. She was also thin around the middle though her arms were laced with wiry muscle, no doubt honed from years of hunting with her trusty whalebone blade. While Alric studied her, she studied him with deep sapphire eyes and mischievous smirk. A silver ring pierced her left nostril, and two false diamond studs protruded from the interior ends of her collar bones, near the base of her neck. She titled her head to the side and closed her eyes, her smirk widening. She then proceeded to hum a tune Alric was unfamiliar with. The hysteria in her voice set him on edge. To distract him from it, he asked, "What's your name, girl?"

Unfortunately, she didn't cease. Instead, she rolled her head to the other side, kept her eyes closed, and answered in the same sing-song tone as before, "Kezia Cuvin, man." She then resumed humming.

Before he continued the interrogation, Alric thought it best to conceal the knife in the front of his jacket. "And how old might you be, Kezia?"

"Please, call me Kezzy." Her eyelids flicker, but did not open. Tease, Alric thought. He repeated the question, and this time, Kezia ceased humming and opened her eyes. She fixed him with an eerily bemused stare. "Seventeen." She blinked. "And you? You must have a wife by now, no?" When Alric clenched his jaw in answer, Kezia emitted a peal of laughter. "Touchy subject."

"Next question," Alric ground out. Amazing, how quickly and effortlessly the blond pixie had worked her way under his skin. "Do you have any family we could contact? Parents? Older siblings?"

"Obviously, I've had parents at one point," Kezia mused, "else I wouldn't be here." She bit the inside of her bottom lip, feigning pensiveness. "Vladmir and Iluiana are their names, but you'll find my parents don't care for me in the slightest. You're better off hunting down my older brother, though I'm not sure where he'll be."

"Does he have a name?"

"Dominic." Kezia's tone became clipped, almost irritated. Then, as suddenly as it had gone, the smirk reappeared and she swayed her head from side to side, picking up the tune from earlier. Alric began to question her mental stability.

"So, you're not close with your parents," he summarized. "That's why you stole from the trader."

Her head bobbed in what passed for a nod. "I needed the food, yes."

"Did you parents estrange you?"

"They had their reasons."

Alric's eyebrow ticked. This 'Kezia' girl shaped up to be quite the character. He mentally revisited everything he'd learned so far. Her name. Her age. She had a brother she was somewhat close with. Her parents had estranged her. "But your brother still takes care of you?"

Letting her head roll off the back of the chair, Kezia chuckled. "I take care of myself. He checks up on occasion."

"Was he the one who gave you the knife?"

Kezia's head snapped back up, accompanied by the cracking of vertebrae. "No. But he killed the whale I carved it from."

Good to know they're a whole dangerous whack-job family, Alric thought. What came out of his mouth was, "You two went whaling together?"

"Yep. Kezia smacked her lips. "I was responsible for steering the ship and dicing the whale when we finished." Her eyes clouded, as though she were glancing into the past. "We were quite good," she said dreamily. Then she shook herself, rousing from her stupor. "Do you have any more questions, or have you realized your friend was wrong?"

"You are mer, correct?"

"Am I?" The lamplight glinted off her eye as she spoke. A shiver ran down Alric's spine.

Gritting his teeth, he produced a canteen from a pocket inside his coat. He closed the gap between himself and the frightening blond pixie, pulled out the cork, and tipped the canteen just enough to pour one drip of water on the back of the girl's hand.

The moment the liquid hit her skin, her body began to change. First, gills were slit into her cheeks. Then, spines grew along her arms and back, slicing clean through both her shirt the ropes that bound her. Finally, her legs morphed together and grew green and blue scales. The result was a half-human, half-fish girl with pixie-like features. A triple threat. Her pants lay in shreds about her chair. A single blond eyebrow raised in a delicate arch. "Why would I compromise my own champion?"

"Why did your parents estrange you?" Alric challenged.

"I wasn't who they wanted me to be," Kezia answered.

"How so?"

She smiled, closed her eyes, and titled her head back. Then came the humming again.

Alric sighed. This conversation had gone nowhere, as far as he could tell. He was under the impression that Kezia should be kept under close watch, however. "I have to punish you," he began. "You know that."

The blond nodded.

"Let me call in the other guys. We'll dry you off. Tomorrow morning, you'll report her for training."

Straightening up, Kezia opened her eyes long enough to echo, "Training?"

Alric grinned. "You're one of our champions."

FACE CLAIM :: Sideara Nine
ALIAS :: Emskizzle
EXPERIENCE :: Four years
CHARACTERS :: Amarus, Darius, Lucas, & Kezz
HOW YOU FOUND US :: Was creepin' one day...
HOW ARE YOU DOING? NOT AS GOOD AS LADY ELENA!

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HEAVEN IS WRAPPED IN CHAINS ©

[LADY ELENA ©]

Kezzy sounds like an absolutely delightful character. I can't wait to see what kind of champion she ends up being. Plus, something tells me she'll be a hoot to roleplay with. Now will you stop with the character making?!