This time nothing appeared to block her path. The way lay open before her, wet sand stretching out in a fading line until the smooth shoreline was swallowed up by swiftly rising cliffs, the flatness interrupted as the landscape heaved and rose towards the north. Relieved she marched on, an otherwise smooth gait jarred and distorted by the horrible limp, swaying youthful curves marred by the stiffness brought on by pain constantly present.

He thought it peculiar that she could be brave in the fact of threat, but to be perfectly honest Erthë just did not take him seriously. After staring down a God and watching it fall to ruin, it was easy to get blasé about what was dangerous and what was merely annoying. That he could harm her, injure her, cause her pain and agony and even death simply did not cross her mind; it was too preoccupied with mundane worries of the long road she would have to walk before she found a hill tall enough to take flight from, how troublesome it was to walk over the shifting sand and whether she had made herself justice in the battle of words and prestige just then...

In short, she had already dismissed him as she began to leave, and it was with a certain annoyed exasperation she heard Rikyn continue to rant behind her. The words he used were blunt and poorly phrased in her opinion, his threats and curses childish and as immature as she had branded him; quite easy to overlook actually. And she very well might have done just that, simply went on without flicking an ear in further recognition... if only he hadn't snapped at her.

She felt him come, felt his bulk with all it's excessive heat and oppressive size close in on her, and with an audible crack like the closing of a door one had barely begun to swing open his childish, violent attempt to bite her tail removed every trace of sympathy she ever might have felt towards him. Though he missed, though she felt nothing more than the draft of his nose passing by the slender, coiling appendage it was enough to project her forward in a startled jump. Tucking the precious, sensitive tail tight against the rounded buttocks Erthë let out a squeal of shock and fury and kicked towards his head, ignoring stabbing pain of wobbly fetlock joins for the suddenly spiking need to retaliate. How dare he aim for her precious, beautiful tail!?

"You're an idiot Rikyn!" she snarled as she spun around, pupils narrowed in feline fury. The dainty woolen ears had all but disappeared amidst the soft curls, and though she was so small, so lithe and doll-like and pretty there was something very dangerous about the way her eyelids narrowed and the swelling, ruffled wings that suddenly appeared to double her bulk. The air around her was growing cold, the ample amount of water in the atmosphere freezing as her temper caused magical energy to spill over; frost glittered in the pale light where it spread across her back and when no water remained to freeze, the freezing dry air zapped and crackled with static electricity.

"Who would ever want to be friends with a thick-headed self-absorbed prat like you? You can just go drown yourself all on your lonesome then, since you so obviously do not want my company! Did you ever consider just letting me leave? Because if you simply shut your flapping gums for more than a second I would be out of your hair already, and I'd be much better off for it!"  

Behind her the threatened tail thrashed back and forth, snapping through the air like a ceremonial whip, all silk and ivory yet quite capable of serious damage. The familiar weight of a weapon resting against her side was enough to make her teeth ache in longing to pull it out, to ply the string and watch Rikyn cower in the face of the lethal beauty of her Niquesse.

But Erthë did not really want to use the bow on the likes of him. It would sully the weapon to use it for petty arguments like these, and when it all came down to it, Rikyn just was not worthy of such a glorious demise as the one she could offer him.

With difficulty she tempered the overwhelming desire, and for the second time the vicious dove made to turn and leave, this time attempting to increase the distance between them so that he would not reach her with a sudden move. She was so done with this person already, so tired of getting dragged down to his level.

He didn't have to tell her to get lost twice - she couldn't wait to get back home and not see his ugly, twisted face ever again!

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Waiting for the rain I'm bracing for the thunder
A twig that wouldn't sway in the wind