blaiz didn’t know if that’d be possible, for akwa was the least boring person he’d ever known, however, he did believe that if she were constantly around then whatever it was they had would lose some of its intrigue. ❝ wouldn’t you have to be boring for that to happen? ❞ he teased lightly.

the prince kissed her back, his lips moving against hers eagerly, as he did so and when she pulled away, he couldn’t help the smile that overtook his features. ❝ if you’d rather, ❞ he shrugged lazily, letting his head fall to the side slightly and taking one small step backwards, but his hand didn’t move from it’s place on her hip.  ❝ or you could come with me. ❞ he offered, a grin pulling at the corner of his mouth. blaiz might not have been willing to take akwa back to his chambers, but there was still plenty they could elsewhere. it would be far from their first tumble in the woods. 

𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐙 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐎𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐍 𝐅𝐀𝐑 too flattering with her, and of course this would all go to her head. akwa was sure that they inflated each other’s egos, and maybe that’s why they were so drawn to each other. either way, she liked it. “that might be true. i’m far from boring.”

𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐎𝐅 the rare times that delta felt like she could relax. most people here wanted to have a good time, and that meant no one was going to go digging into her life. through all the people, though, she found someone that she recognized, someone that maybe she could trust. 

-

Niylah smiled at her words before nodding her head. “We have a few things you can go through and choose from if you want.” She paused, walking over to one of the many cabinets that were spread across the trading post. After a few moments, she came back with a selection of candied fruit and sweet cakes. She placed them on the counter and smiled at the other. “See anything you would like?”

𝐀 𝐒𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐄 𝐒𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐀𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐒 delta’s face as she looked over the treats and she picked up two sweet cakes. “these will ber perfect. thank you.” she didn’t want to assume that she would get anything else from the trading post. “have you been busy today?”

𝐋𝐎𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 : troit, azgeda 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐃 : present 𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐆 : n/a, open to all for the new years event!

“ 𝐈𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐊 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 to celebrate now,   just wait for our victory against the commander.    next year we’ll be celebrating in polis,    and it will be under azgeda control. ”

-

-

Niylah walked around the counter to meet the woman in front of her and took a look over the animals that the other had brought to trade. Nodding her head, she turned around to look at her with a smile. “You could get some nice things for this, is there anything in particular you’re looking for and would like to trade them for?” Niylah asked, approaching the animals and looking over them, they were fresh so that definitely increases their value. 

-

𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐍 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐔𝐋𝐀𝐑? well, she couldn’t remember the last time she had heard those words. delta and madi had been living from hand to mouth for weeks, if not months, and that question alone brought a smile to her face. finally, she could give her daughter something nice. “i’m not sure. maybe something sweet for one thing? i haven’t had a sweet in what feels like forever.”

𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐒𝐄,   venus almost starts trusting this grounder.   she allows herself to believe that the other doesn’t want any trouble,   but she’s sure she’d hurt her at a moment’s notice if she had to.   wouldn’t venus?    the grounder is travelling alone,   which either means she’s dangerous to others,   a danger to herself,   or simply mad.    venus doesn’t know which is worse.

her gaze is still wary as it flickers over the other again,   but vee takes a hesitant step forwards.    those nuts do seem appealing…    so do the berries in her hand as well.    but the currency here is…   well,    trading,   right?   “ but i don’t have anything to give you in return, ”   she says,   looking up from the woman’s hand and up to her features.    “ do you need anything?   i can sneak into arkadia to get it. ”   that’s probably stealing,   but whatever.    she could probably do it.   “ why…   why are you alone,   anyway?   isn’t it dangerous out there? ”

-

𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐃𝐄? 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐒𝐍'𝐓 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 delta had meant at all. the nuts were meant to be an olive branch, but she could understand why the skaikru would be skeptical. she shook her head in response, shrugging her shoulders as she did. “you don’t need to give me anything in return. consider them a gift. or a peace offering.” she shouldn’t let her guard down this much; it was dangerous. but she seemed to trust her.

-

Growing up the way that he did, being underestimated by everyone, judged for his weak health, it taught him not to underestimate anyone because of the way they looked or any possible problems they might have. And with Akwa it was no different. Enver actually had a lot of respect for the woman, it was impressive how she traveled all over the clans by herself. 

Enver placed the wood on the ground and started to work on getting a fire going. “Do you want me to pay for those? I mean, I don’t want you losing merchandise because you decided to share your fish with the angry looking prince.” A smirk spread across his face, it was meant as a joke but it had some truth in it. Enver would definitely pay for the fish if he had to. He looked back down at the pile of wood and started the fire, watching as the flames started to burn aggressively. 

-

𝐒𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐔𝐌𝐏𝐘 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐄 can joke. she smiled back at him, even adding a playful roll of her eyes to let him know that she was joking with him. “i told you, no charge.” and she meant it. havung emotions may make you weak, but she could be nice every once in a while, couldn’t she? especially to someone she had a vague connection to. “besides, there’s more where this came from.”

𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐔𝐒’ 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐒 𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐎𝐖 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 other significantly,    her mere expression proof of exactly how terribly akwa is doing to hide her bitterness.    venus had originally thought that tori was a jealous lover,   but this…    oh,    this takes the cake.    “ uh huh, ”    venus responds,    her own arms folding across her chest now.    “ and is your business here screwing my boyfriend? ”

boyfriend.   calling blaiz the word is almost comical.   she might feel bad for saying these sorts of things if venus wasn’t used to taking this tone with most people already,   and to be truthful she has some pent up irritation from her interaction with enver just moments prior.    perhaps she should be nicer;   perhaps she could do with some allies here,   but…    venus has never been good at making friends.   why start now,   right?

-

𝐀𝐊𝐖𝐀 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃𝐍'𝐓 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐏 𝐓𝐇𝐄 laugh that escaped her mouth. blaiz? being a boyfriend? did he even know what that meant? “i’m sorry,” she said through laughs before pulling herself together. okay, serious time now. “i already did screw him.” and she wasn’t ashamed of that. it didn’t take long for him to take her to the hunter’s cabin in the woods once she arrived; they never could keep their hands to themselves for long.

Location: Trading post near the border with Azgeda

Who: Open to Anyone

Niylah was organizing a few items in the back when she heard someone entering the trading post. It had been a rather calm day, not a lot of travels were stopping by and part of her was thankful for it. Lately there had been more Azgeda spies coming through and the last thing she wanted was to get into any sort of trouble with them. Some of them asked questions, which she had managed to answer the best way possible without saying too much. Some of them asked about Wanheda and those were the questions that worried her the most. 

Making her way towards the front of the trading post, she stood behind the counter, offering the traveler a smile. “Hei! Ha na ai sis au yu, lukot?” 

-

𝐃𝐄𝐋𝐓𝐀 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐀 𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃 hunting day. there was a few rabbits, a duck, and a stag outside. normally she wouldn’t trade it all, but she figured she and madi deserved a treat every once in a while. she was in a good mood, but it was still odd to her when someone else was that perky. it gave her a little pause, but she couldn’t help the smile that crept across her face. “hello. i was wondering what i could get for all of this.” she gestured to the animals behind her.

𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐔𝐒 𝐆𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐒 𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 suspiciously.    is this what she thinks it is?    from the way the other looks just a little bitter,    venus wonders just what her relationship with blaiz is.    she hadn’t considered whether she might be a homewrecker before.    don’t enough people hate her already?    she doesn’t need an actual reason to be hated;    azgeda hate her just because she’s skaikru.

“ yes, ”   venus responds with mock irritation,   her head tilting upwards,   “ it’s my room too. ”    if she’s going to convince everyone that she and blaiz are intimate,    she should probably imitate this woman’s behaviour.    if murphy started spending more time with someone other than her…    yeah,   she’d be upset.    it’s not too hard to pretend to be annoyed,   either,   because everyone keeps gawking at her like she’s a damn caged animal.     venus’ gaze lingers on the other’s garb before she asks,   “ are you looking for him?    you don’t look like you’re from around here. ”

𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄'𝐒 𝐍𝐎 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐎 be jealous. that’s what akwa keeps telling herself. there’s no reason for her to feel the way she does, especially because she and blaiz weren’t a couple or anything. he’s had to have other lovers before and that never bothered her, until now. she didn’t like this feeling at all.

𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐅𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐘, 𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐔𝐒 𝐇𝐀𝐒𝐍'𝐓 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐃 of any grounders breaking the ceasfire in the weeks that have passed after the mountain.    she’s just seen enough,   been through enough,   to know that they can be bloodthirsty and cruel.   the only other experiences she’s had with them were when they were trying to kill her;    why would she assume they would do as they were told?

the grounder asks her about food but venus frowns,   too focused on what she’d said beforehand.   “ get some—get some heat? ”   she repeats.   “ we don’t want to kill you.   we never wanted that. ”   they just wanted to survive,   and then they managed to unknowingly start a war they didn’t know how to finish.   it had ended in fire.    gesturing back in the direction of camp,   venus continues,   “ they’re spooked by movement,   though,   so i mean what i said about…   about not getting too close. ”    venus pauses,  and then—   “ do you have any of those nuts that make you see things? ”

-

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐊𝐘 𝐏𝐄𝐎𝐏𝐋𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐃 such strange sayings, and delta forgot that not everyone could understand what she meant. “catch some heat. as in, your people might get angry with you.” hopefully that made more sense. she was never good with words, that was more of her husband’s thing. “i’m not looking for an explanation. i personally don’t want to hurt any of you, either.” the others were just scared.

𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐔𝐒 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐓𝐑𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆 to rush past anyone and everything in order to get back to blaiz’s room after her encounter with enver.   but when she tries to brush past one in particular,   a grounder who looks like she doesn’t belong here,   and when she starts to speak english,    venus knows it’s for her.   

she closes her eyes,   trying to ignore the stinging in her neck as she covers the cut with her hair,    but she’s not sure she’s successful.    venus spins slowly.    when her eyes settle on the woman in front of her,    she hopes she’s right in assuming she’s not as much of a threat as the last person she ran into.    the woman says she’s not here to hurt her,    but can she really trust anyone here?

venus bites back what she wants to say—i’m not some pet you can gawk at—and instead responds,    “ i’m just trying to get back to blaiz’s room. ”    the words come out smaller and quieter than she would’ve liked.   i’m tired,   and i’m certainly going to be all the more tired when blaiz finds out i left.    with a deep sigh,   venus asks,    “ is there something i can do for you?   i’ve been instructed to stay out of trouble and i’ve already failed at that today. ”    she just wanted to see the sky.

-

𝐀𝐊𝐖𝐀 𝐃𝐈𝐃 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐀𝐒𝐇 on her neck, but she didn’t pay any attention to it. was she supposed to care that the skaikru was hurt? because if she was, it didn’t register. instead, she keeps her eyes level with the other woman, crossing her arms to show that she wasn’t reaching for a weapon or anything. 

maybe she would get attacked and that would prove to blaiz that his plan was idiotic and that he couldn’t trust this person. she wants to get to blaiz’s room. that stung more than akwa cared to admit. “that would be your room too, right? from what i hear.”

-

Enver definitely wasn’t the type of person to be joking around with. Unless it involved torture and killing, he didn’t like to joke around. He was pretty much serious all the time, with an angry or expressionless look on his face. And it was hard to get a rise out of him, most saw him as a crazy bloodthirsty killer but he could have self control, when he wanted. Most of the times, he just didn’t want to. “Oh I have no doubt about that, not everyone would travel all around the clans by herself.” 

Shrugging his shoulders, Enver finished eating his food before taking a final sip from his drink. “I usually eat, practice my aim. I let the warriors who are out on patrol take care of it.” He didn’t feel the need to mention how much riding a horse hurt him so he tried to avoid it as much as possible. Mostly now, that he didn’t have the herbs for the pain from the healers to help him. “That sounds like a good idea. I’ll get some wood.” Enver stood up with a groan before walking over near the treeline. He searched for a few moments, picking up the pieces of wood that were drier before coming back to her.

-

𝐀𝐓 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐄𝐍𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐊𝐍𝐄𝐖 not to underestimate her just because she was a beautiful woman. akwa had dealt with that plenty of times in her life, only for the people to be surprised when she knocked them flat on their asses. she had to take care of herself; she’d been on her own since she was a child. she looked over at him, nodding along as he talked. “i’ll get the fish ready.”