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Cali ran through the market, weaving between cramped stalls and ducking under the arms of giants and orcs, feet slamming against the asphalt as ast willed astraself to avoid tripping on the stray fruits and pebbles that littered the ground. Ast grabbed onto a banister, and, using the momentum to swing themself around, and rammed their knee against the nose of one of their pursuers. Ast felt bone break, and a hot spurt of blood against astra skin before ast took off again without stopping.
"You—"
The half-elf had no time to wonder what exactly ast was as they continued their sprint, the ground underneath them now turning to grass as they left the city center. Their makeshift weapon beat against their back as they ran, and their pouch of money felt considerably lighter — certainly they had lost more than a few coins in the commotion — but those were the least of their concerns. Without turning back, they could hear, judging by the noise of footsteps and labored breathing following them, that there were at least six others still after ast, a few of them ast knew for certain to be over seven feet, and ast was, for the first time, beginning to feel nervous about how astra would make it out of this.
Without thinking, ast took hold of a low-hanging branch of the nearest tree, and began to climb. The wood caught in astras skin, scratching against astras hands and face, but ast didn't slow down, continuing their ascent until they were at least forty feet above the ground. Here they finally stopped, their breath coming in harsh gasps, and took a moment to listen for signs of being followed.
They could have just looked down to check, but, well— they didn't want to look down, alright? They were always better with their ears than their eyes anyway, so, no point in that really.
Figuring they might as well, they reached for another branch, pulling slightly to make sure it'd hold their weight, and hoisted themself higher. A strong gust of wind blew, and Cali's ponytail fluttered wildly in its current, but ast maintained their tight grip on the branches until it subsided. They continued on, slowly, carefully, extremely aware that the slightest misstep would result in a fall that would break all of their bones, before settling in a fork in the tree fifty feet up. They leaned their back against the trunk, sweat streaming down their face, hands and legs stinging from the roughness of the bark.
Someone yelled at them from below, and they finally glanced down at the ground to address them.
Astras six pursuers — one ogre, two orcs, two goliaths, and one very small, broad chested halfling — stood at the base of the tree, growling in frustration and holding their weapons at the ready. One of the orcs swung their axe against the trunk as if to cut it down, but it hardly made a dent against the strong, thick oak. They talked amongst each other for several seconds as if forming a plan, before one of the goliaths picked up the halfling and threw him bodily up the tree. The halfling scrambled for one of the branches, missed, and plummeted to the ground with a thump.
Cali smirked. "Really!" ast called down. "You don't have to be smart to realize it's time to give up, you know!"
"Like you can talk about smarts!" the halfling yelled, from where they were scrambling in the dirt. The ogre roared in frustration, slamming their club against the tree, causing the lower branches to shake slightly, before he turned to address his companions. "She has to come down eventually. It won't be long."
Cali, for one, was prepared to spend the night right where ast was, and figured ast ought to strap astraself into the tree so ast wouldn't fall off in their sleep. Ast had only begun to fumble with the buckles of astra belt when ast heard — the sound so quiet ast almost thought astra imagined it — someone clear their throat.
Cali looked up, and immediately found themself looking into the brilliantly azure eyes of an elven woman. She was staring directly at Cali, completely silent, and Cali took the moment to marvel at the deep brown of her skin, at the elegant braid that pulled her hair back and wound it around her head. Cali wondered how she had learned to do that. Ast wondered, bizarrely, if she would teach astra.
Ast also wondered how long she had been in the tree — most likely, she had already been here when Cali began climbing, and had watched the whole scene unfold without making a sound. Cali was certain that the only reason ast became aware of her presence at all was because she wished for it. Even now, as she was perched in a small alcove formed by a few thin branches, she was extremely still. She barely seemed to be breathing, as if her heart wasn't beating at all, in contrast to Cali, with astras flushed cheeks and racing heart (from the physical exertion).
The elven woman lifted a single finger up to her lips, and Cali nodded to show that ast understood. The woman's eyes left astras own for the first time, and Cali followed their line of sight all the way to a —
Oh, shit.
There, only a single branch above the two, was a hive swarming with wasps. Had they made any sound, Cali was sure they would be buzzing violently, but as it was, the insects were noiseless as they moved. At the sight of dozens of them — each with its own sharp stinger full of venom — flying in complete, unnerving silence, Cali reconsidered astras over reliance on hearing alone.
The woman was studying the hive carefully, glancing from the wasps to the ruffians still waiting below, and Cali could see the plan that had formed in her mind. Cali glanced at the wasps — silent and unmistakably dangerous — and then back at the woman.
She was grinning now, her eyes glittering, and withdrew a long, thin knife from the layered fabric of her skirt. Cali felt astras thoughts racing clumsily, but could only put together that, while ast had no doubts about the dexterity of this tree-climbing, knife-wielding woman ast had just met, the thought of her getting so close to the wasps made astra —
"Wait," ast whispered in Elvish. The woman turned back to her sharply, eyebrow raised.
A sneer was playing on her lips, and her expression made it clear that it would be unwise to stop her. Cali met her eyes, and then cocked astras head to astras weapon — a large blade fastened securely against a strong, sturdy base of bamboo — still strapped on her back. The woman's eyes brightened in instant understanding, and when she grinned Cali found astraself returning it quite involuntarily.
Ast carefully unsheathed the blade and held it out in front of astra. Ast knew it was clearly homemade, the kind of weapon forged from scraps of items found in months of traveling, but it had served astra well, and ast was rightly proud of it.
"Can you do it in one stroke?" the woman breathed, her voice lilting and musical. "I'd loathe to consider I've wasted my time entertaining you."
Cali felt astras grin split astras face, and fought the urge to laugh. "I'll make it worth your while."
Holding the hilt firmly in both hands, Cali angled the blade directly above the branch holding on to the hive. Ast took a deep, steadying breath, and, with one powerful movement of her arms, swung the blade downward, felt it cut cleanly through the branch, the momentum carrying the weapon forward—
—causing astra to lose her balance, stumble off the tree, and in the last second catch themself one-armed on the branch where ast had been standing. Astras watched from above as the hive fell, almost in slow motion, astras pursuers only just beginning to notice something was happening, before it smashed against the ground and burst open.
At the sound of the ruffians’ screams, astras grin finally gave way to laughter, and ast watched as they collided with one another in their frenzy to escape the swarm of wasps surrounding them. The wasps stung at them furiously, and they cried out in pain as they desperately tore out the stingers. Cali looked up to see the elven woman fixated on the mayhem beneath them, and her expression could almost have been considered blank, except her eyes were alive with what could only be described as rapture.
The last of them had finally run away, pursued by the majority of the wasps. The broken hive pieces lay harmlessly on the ground below.
"Good plan," Cali called out, and the woman's gaze flickered back to meet astras own. "Little help?"
Ast held out astras glaive so the woman could take it, and, with both hands now free to take hold of the branch, Cali pulled astraself up, and smoothly swung a leg over the branch so ast could sit down properly.
The woman blinked at her slowly, her cheeks flushed, before she seemed to come back to herself.
"It is of your own creation?" she asked, returning the glaive to Cali.
"Yep!" Cali declared, and puffed astras chest out a bit, feeling proud. "Put it together bit by bit along the way."
Her eyebrows lifted. "Along the way to where?"
"Around." Cali shrugged simply. "Everywhere, you know?"
"I do," the woman answered, her lips turning up into a smile. Cali thought about how pretty she was, when she did that. Cali also thought ast needed to stop looking at her mouth.
Ast looked away then, wildly, suddenly conscious that it was obvious ast had been staring. "So," ast began, looking back down, beginning to imagine the path for astras descent from the tree. "Are you, like, spending the night here, or…?"
When ast turned to look back, the woman was gone.
Cali blinked, eyes darting across the branches of the tree, reflexively holding out astras glaive in alarm. There was no trace of her.
Lowering astras weapon, ast inexplicably felt astraself smiling, the feel of it on astras lips the only proof that the woman had been present. Ast closed their eyes, leaned against the trunk, and sighed. Up here, all ast could hear was the gentle sound of the leaves rustling in the wind.