"Today is a winding road"

I'd always possessed a heightened sense of my surroundings. Call it a talent if you will, or merely a bi-product of an unhappy childhood; regardless, there were few things that passed me by even in my less attentive moments. As I was traveling through unfamiliar territory, this was certainly not the case. Though perhaps not going so far as to call it hyper-vigilance, I was still wary of all the sounds and scents that encroached upon me, sensitive to the texture of the ground beneath my feet and keenly aware of every sigh of wind brushing across my skin. I couldn't really pinpoint when the sensation of being followed surfaced from the subconscious, or why I thought so. It was... instinct. A woman's intuition perhaps, or simply the fact that I was more used to the presence of others than the absence of the same. It came to me nonetheless, as I followed down the path of a dried out creek, like a whisper on the wind and a new pressure in the air. Not close, not at first, but persistent, and when the skin along the spine began to tingle with the sensation of being watched, I paused to look around.

Narrowed eyes cut across the scenery with no pretense of hiding their inbred suspicion. Blowing away red strands from the eyes my ears caught the faintest sound, and in a swift, decisive move I honed in on the direction from whence it came - and found myself standing face to face with a stranger.

"Hello!" he said, a clear and cheerful greeting that was met with stony silence. He approached, dark and handsome in a young, boyish and very charming fashion, and with every easy stride I tensed more and more, ready to bolt, to fight, to do whatever it took to come out of this situation with the upper hand. The ease with which this colt had snuck up on me hinted at a familiarity with the land - confirmed as he indeed extended a welcome and mentioned a name that meant nothing to me and could indicate everything from this particular part of the hills, the forest in general or the overall region I found myself in.

A native then. Charming. Or at least he tried to be, but the greeting was crude and poorly phrased, clearly lacking the complicated eloquence I was accustomed to and framed by an accent that sounded foreign to my ears. Not incoherent, but decidedly strange.

(A worrying thought in itself. Was I perhaps not so far away from home as I had thought? Perhaps I should keep moving on, and stop only when the indigenous tribes spoke gibberish.)

Ah, decisions, decisions. What to do now... I could try to overpower this young rogue and demand truths from him, information that would prove vital in future dealings with the peoples around here. I would probably win, but there was always risk involved in open confrontation and if ever there had been a time to conserve ones energies, this was it. There were a few other options I could go with, but after weighing each in turn I decided to settle for the easier route, the long way around so to speak - more time consuming, yet safer in the long run.

Safety was imperative. I could accomplish nothing if I was dead.

"Master Erebos?" I repeated in a surprisingly deep, sultry voice, heavy with accent - and not quite as casual as I would have liked to make it. "It is this ones honor to be Tamaya, a traveler from far to the east and south. This one is pleased to be introduced to your esteemed self."

I made a show of hesitating before continuing to speak, quietly hating every second of this approach - the charades, the pretense, the sweetness in my own fucking voice!

"If one may be so bold as to inquire; this He-lo-vi-a, this is the tree region where one stands?"

Again; it was hardly even worthy of the comparison to a forest, and I was not going to honor it by calling it woodland either. To be crept upon in a place such as this was as close to disgrace as I had ever come, and while it was petty I took some pleasure in degrading the location - if perhaps in ways too subtle for this barbarian to notice. At least he should be able to pick up on my apprehension; I kept my horn firmly aligned in his direction, not openly hostile yet with a clear warning not to approach further without invitation.

Being beautiful had its down-sides. I was not nearly as flirtatious as my blushing coat and voluptuous physique could lead a young man to believe. If he tried anything funny, chances were this boy would find himself returning home without the family jewels, so to speak. Now, wouldn't that be tragic.

"Taking me to places I didn't want to go"