"So, how did you end up wandering around this place for three weeks?" Nightblossom asked after a while of walking. She took the lead which it seems her companion had no problems with. Glancing back as she talked she noticed his expression go sour.

"Boss Lady, can we agree to not talk about some things?" He said with a forced smile. Nightblossom raised her eyebrows but shrugged and turned her attention forward again. It was pretty fair to draw some boundaries, after all she didn't want to talk about why she was being targeted by people and needed a bodyguard in the first place. But still it was frustrating, she wanted to figure out this kid's angle. How much did he know?

Now it wasn't like every single housewife and salary man in the world knew her face. In general it was only people who cared about stuff like this that bothered with it. Most people were content to go about their daily lives and not give a flying fish about the prophesy. It wasn't on the front of everyone's minds, this thing had been said 50 years ago after all. Sure there was a big gossip spell about it when she was born and again when it was concluded that the girl was her, so most people knew about the prophesy, just not everyone cared.

No the people who caused her all the trouble weren't ordinary townspeople. But that was part of the problem. It was the extraordinary people that cared. Rich, powerful, strong people. People that had power and wanted more of it. They may be a smaller portion of the population but the fuss they caused was all the bigger.

Another factor that helped is that the wanted posters that were everywhere were a little off. It had been several years since they'd been drawn, and in the process of being drawn over and over again they got some details off. Still they had her general looks, name, and reward posted on them. As well as some nonsense about being missing, ran away from her marriage, other moronic excuses that just meant they wanted her alive and untouched. After all the posters were made by people in power wanting to possess her themselves so they didn't give the real reason she was being looked for. Of course most people knew it anyway, but sometimes she did just get general idiots who were concerned for her welfare and trying to return her to people who 'cared' for her so they could live the rest of their lives in luxury thanks to the disgustingly high reward offered. So whether it was money or power a lot of not ordinary people were looking for her using a fairly good but not perfect thankfully drawing of her face.

So yeah having some kid from the boonies not know wouldn't be weird, but that strength he displayed earlier, that made her suspicious. People after her tended to be strong fighters after all looking to prove they were the most powerful. Though so many turned out to be just deluding themselves like the guy they left unconscious behind them. They saw her as a quick way to gain ultimate power without the work to actually get general power to start with, lazy scumbags.

So she wanted to know where this guy stood, did he know and was just a great actor or was he really clueless? It was aggravating and potentially dangerous for her. Trying to think of another track she could use to find out more about her new bodyguard she kept an eye on the trail. See the Pith was rocky, canyon ridden desert which was easy enough to travel if you were careful about it. Inside the canyons were often small streams and places to get shade from the sun or rest at night. The different towns which dotted around the Pith were connected by paths, paths not roads. Just dirt tracks through the terrain avoiding the worst crevices and marked by old campfires and and some trail markers. Long as you kept your eye on that it was easy to travel through the area though uncomfortable with frequent hot winds blowing sand around.

This made her more curious though about why in the world this fellow spent three whole weeks out here. But since he wasn't talking about that... "So where exactly were you heading out from, going too?" She asked instead.

"Same as you, going to Valdean from Pinhorn." The guy said sounding a little embarrassed. Traveling the same way as her huh? That was suspicious. But, he really did look, and act, like he'd spent the last few weeks out in the wilderness. So he would have completely missed all the fuss she kicked up in Pinhorn yesterday evening. Ugh, whatever. She'd just have to play this by ear and hope her gamble worked.

They continued in silence for a while after that. When the grumbling of his stomach got so loud that even from several feet ahead Nightblossom could still hear it clearly she stopped. "Do you want to eat?" She said looking back at him. He was still standing there completely at ease looking, but the loud grumbling destroyed the illusion.

"Can I?" He said eyes zeroing in on her bag. Nightblossom sighed. Well she was heading back to town anyway, she'd just buy more supplies and head out again. No need to save these. Besides, she really didn't want to listen to his stomach from now till sunset when they'd roughly be arriving in town from her estimate.

"Sure, sure, come on let's sit down and eat." She said waving him over and sitting on a flattish rock. Thankfully the part they were walking was pretty shady right now so the rock wasn't burning hot to touch. She pulled out some dried meat and fruits as well as a rather large water bottle. The food she tossed to the guy and while he tore into them she sipped her water.

Doing so she realized something peculiar. She'd tried a little to question him, but he'd never asked her a thing. Immediately she was suspicious and on guard and glanced at him from the corners of her eyes. "So, you aren't curious?" She asked lightly.

"Ahrout hrat?" The boy said without even looking away from the dried meat he was ripping apart with his teeth. The lack of table manners, or rather pure barbarism, was very... off putting. Taking a slice of dried fruit Nightblossom nibbled it neatly. Displays of at least moderate etiquette though seemed to have no effect on his method.

"About me, why I hired you, my name. Stuff like that." She continued once her mouth was empty.

"Nah." The boy said finishing off what she'd given him. "Though I am wondering about one thing."

"What's that?" Nightblossom prompted trying not to sound too eager.

"Is there any more?" The kid asked looking at her.

"More?" Nightblossom said confused. Travel companions? Did he want to make sure she was alone before carrying her off or whatever?

"Food." ... ... ... What?

"No. No there isn't." Nightblossom said finally not even caring if her disgust showed in her voice and face. In fact she wanted it too.

"Tch!" Nightblossom resisted the urge to grab his stupid stick and hit him with it when he loudly clicked his tongue. Was she just a walking market stall to him?

"What was that? You want me to leave you alone and go off by myself?" Nightblossom said with a look that could only be called threatening despite the wide smile she wore. The boy finally seemed show some sense of humility at that.

"Of course not Boss Lady! Would never dream of that Boss Lady!"

"Good. Let's keep going then. I don't want to spend any more time out here than I have to." Nightblossom grumbled getting up and not even bothering to see if he followed since she knew he would.

Just as before he offered no commentary or chatter, just walked silently, both his mouth and stomach this time, behind her. It was a bit unnerving, but also a relief since she didn't have anything to say to him. Still it made for a boring walk and without even realizing it Nightblossom started humming to herself.

She'd only gotten a few bars in before suddenly here was a hand on her shoulder. She nearly screamed, and she certainly did just about jump out of her skin. She hadn't heard anyone approach her! She may not be some fancy martial artist with super senses but get chased by enough people and you began to develop an automatic caution for these kinds of things! But she hadn't heard or felt them approach at all! Looking over her shoulder she saw the guy standing there, grip tightening painfully on her shoulder till she had to cry out.

"Aaaaagh! It hurts! Stop it! What are you doing?" She said loudly. Was this is, was he really after her and now was making his move? She needed to get away! "Let go of me!" She continued wailing, trying to draw attention though she doubted anyone was out there. Her voice died out though when she looked up into his face. The coldness in her eyes, brutal ice, made her plans to kick him in the crotch and several other cheap below the belt tactics wither and die. She felt real fear course through her like she never had before. She was going to die. He was going to kill her. He didn't care about the prophesy one bit, he just wanted to kill her and there was nothing she could do to stop him.

"You, that song you were humming. Where did you hear it?" His voice was steady and even, but she could almost feel the threat and tension contained in it and the grip on her shoulder tightened further causing her to whimper involuntarily. Still she didn't voice any protests or ask him to stop, just answered his question as best she could.

"I-I'm not sure. I mean, I traveled a lot and, and I tend to learn songs quickly." She stuttered unable to look away from his intense gaze and terrified at what would happen if he didn't like her answer. "My, my mother was a performer be-before she had me, she, me, I mean she t-taught me a lot t-too." His gaze was still freezing cold and hard as stone. Nightblossom felt tears, from pain or fear she didn't know, running down her face. "I don't know where I learned that one, I can't be sure, please..."

She didn't know what she was pleading him to do, let her go or kill her quickly. Either would be better than having to stare into those eyes any longer. But he just stood there looking down at her without any reaction at all. When she thought she might wet herself he turned his head away with a snarl on his lips, letting go of her shoulder finally. No longer held in place her quivering legs couldn't take it and collapsed under her. She sat there on the dirt path not even trying to get up and go away, just taking in loud shallow breaths as she sobbed hysterically. She couldn't even think of running away, and she was fairly sure that even if she could get her legs under her and was able to stand she wouldn't be able to get anywhere before he caught her.

He did nothing though. He paced a little, face still twisted in that savage snarl. Blood thirst seemed to radiate off him in practically palpable amounts. Finally with a shout e lashed out and punched a large rock and just froze there. The loud sound of the impact echoed around the cliff faces which they had been walking by. The booming noise finally silenced Nightblossoms noisy attempts to breath. It felt like the whole world was holding her breath with her. Waiting to see what violence would be unleashed next.

After spending a moment just standing there, fist still connected to the rock, his body just relaxed. He pulled his hand away, completely ignoring the blood on his knuckles which seemed to be been the rock's revenge for its assault, and just picked up the staff which he had apparently dropped before he even grabbed her shoulder. Continuing to ignore his injuries he slung the black staff over his shoulders and then walked toward Nightblossom without once picking his head up or looking up from the ground.

Nightblossom still didn't have strength in her legs to stand but she was able to breathe again. When he reached her he continued without saying anything or looking at her. Just trudging off away from the path and into the wild parts of the Pith. Finally Nightblossom was able to move.

"Hey!" She grabbed a rock and threw it at him, her aim a perfect shot at his head. He caught it with his injured hand without even looking up. Dropping the stone though he finally did look back over his shoulder at her. A kind of insanity was in his gaze, but yet also a hollow emptiness. It made a shudder run through her but she kept going. "What kind of bodyguard hurts his charge?" She said boldly, wiping away the tear tracks on her face. "And what kind of man goes back on his promise! Besides you're going the wrong way idiot! Moron! Dumbass!" She yelled names with all her strength. She was just yelling things to be yelling them now, forcing her fear into anger because she couldn't deal with fear like that. Anger was much easier to cope with. So she continued to call him everything she could think of even if they didn't make any sense. When she finally was out of swearwords and breath she just sat there breathing heavily and wondering if she was going to live long enough to regret completely losing her mind.

She glared up at him, daring him to do his worst with her eyes. He just stared at her, then back at the way he had been walking, then to her again. Finally he reached his free hand up to his face so his palm covered one of his eyes and in a shaky voice finally spoke. "I messed up again.” Though Nightblossom couldn’t tell if he was referring to his outburst or just the direction he'd been walking.