Feala blinked, looking at Split with an unreadable ex
pression. She felt desperately sorry for the guy, seeing as many of the Markingless proved to be greatly skilled, and not nearly as ill treated as this one. Once again, the cruelty of people made her sigh in irritation, before she lightly elbowed Rufi in the stomach after she caught him winking.

As Split pointed out one of his older injuries, she seemed to automatically as.sess it from where she stood. It didn't seem too bad, which wasn't unusual considering it was an old bruise... But still. She shook her head then at the Markingless' question about asking for a job. "I'm afraid I don't know, and please. Don't apologise. My kind tend to get rather involved when it comes to people who end up needing our help." 

She waved a hand, pointing out the star that resided at the base of her neck, branding her as a Sorceress. "Your not imposing in any way, and call me Feala." She continued with a slight, apologetic smile, a small tingling making it's way onto her palms. Almost immediately, she moved forward.

Before Split could so much as flinch, she grasped both of his hands in her own, turning the palms so that they faced upwards and she could clearly see the cuts the young male had just inflicted on himself, not delibrately perhaps. She realised instantly that Split was probably causing just as much damage to himself as anyone in the Kingdom could cause, and after what had happened earlier, she knew she was probably right. Keeping hold of his hands, she looked over her shoulder at Rufi.

"I think your cottage might be a good idea." She smiled, communicating with her eyes a question that asked whether the warrior would help her in the long run. "Perhaps, Mi'lord, you wouldn't mind helping me get Split back on his feet?... You always did like a challenge."

((If three of us makes a female each then everyone will have partner XD For one Rufi thinks Aryia has fallen for his flirts so the only person right now is Feala or Accalia (Of course he doesn't know her and if she falls for his flirts then he won't).)) ((Great Kuro, you just had to post didn't you XD I have to reconstruct al of this XD))

Rufi grunted as elbow met empty stomach, staggering abit. How could such a beautiful girl be so violent? He thought But heck, the more feisty the better right? After a moment or two sighed and began laughing, pretty loudly in fact. By the time he stopped his eyes had small teardrops in the corner of his eye from laughter, "What kind of joke is that kiddo? I don't care if you're marked or not. Socially unacceptable? Am I the only one to never heard that?" He grabbed the blonde boy's bandaged hands and placed the bag of rabbit meat on it, "Don't stereotype me kiddo. Heck, how do you know I'm marked, unless you seen my butt, we aren't different," He winked slyly as he. He had a slightly worried but serious look on his face where he mentioned his black eye and jobless state. How could someone do such a thing to a young member of the town. 

"Hmm?? I'm unsure if I could offer a job for you unless you want to take care of my fish all day and that thing is a pain. Spits water on you and everything. I'm sure I can give you some sort of errand job or something," He grinned at the sorceress. The kid seems to surprise him every minute as he again apologizes for being born markless.

"My name isn't Mi'lord, it's Rufi kiddo, R-U-F-I," He smiled as he ignored the markless's words. It was mid morning by now and the knight hasn't eaten a thing so his stomach began to rumble, He blushed slightly when Feala had called him 'Mi'lord' He nodded happily and rushed around to get groceries. He got two rabbits, a bag load of various vegetables, and some sort of fish even the knight didn't know what, "Of course Feala-chan, anything for such a lovely girl. I would carry him if he allowed me to," He placed the grocery basket in his mouth and bended his legs with his arms at the back- piggyback position. 

"Gewt gwan kidgo (Get on kiddo)" With the wooden ob
ject in his mouth, talking became much more difficult.

((Edit- Nawh, It was my fault fro not refreshing the page before posting it >w<)) 

Split pulled his bloodied hands away from the two Marked as soon as the bag of meat touched his hands. Lifting a slice of still-hot meat out of the bag ans slipping it into his mouth he looked at Rufi in the piggy-back position, horrified. "Lord Rufi, please do not do that. I am not to touch one of your station, so please take the basket out of your mouth and s-stand n-normally."

Split stumbled slightly over the last two words, blinking rapidly. He seemed to be hyperventilating, his thin chest heaving greatly. "Please, Lord, I will recieve bad treatment from many if we stay here much l-longer. Where is Mi'lord's place?" The tall, thin boy glanced around, at the reserved glares from almost all present, observing the poor markingless talking to the two marked in the middle of the square. Several villagers had rocks clenched in fists, waiting for the high ranked Marked to leave to heave them.

Suddenly, Split gasped loudly and his eyes rolled back into his head, knees giving out under him, and he slumped to the ground, his breathing shallow and irregular. Although his eyes were wide and terrified lookinkg, nothing but the white of his eyes could be glimpsed. Split began to shake violently, gasping loudly.

((Nah, he's out cold anyways.))

Split's breathing stayed irregular, shallow, and jerky. His eyes rolled back to the front, and hesat straight up in the bed, looking wildly around, covered in a la
yer of cold sweat. Spotting Rufi, Split tried his hardest to move out of the bed, but didn't suceed, and istead stayed sitting up, and although his breathing wasn't completely normal, it was deeper and he said shakily, "I am, Lord Rufi. And I am sorry, I have been raised to call others Lord or Lady." Split drew the sleeve of his black shirt across his face wiping most of the moisture from his face with a sigh. "Lord Rufi thank you for taking me to your place. I have a condition that causes fits when I am over-nervous or have not eaten in days, both of which were true." The blonde boy leaned back against the pillow gently, staring at the ceiling. "Your fish is very nice, Lord Rufi."

"I am sorry for making you carry me." He added, twisting his head to look at the knight sideways. "You should have left me, I would have been fine." Split applied his teeth to the bandages on his arms, ripping the cloth off to reveal dozens of thin deep scratches, running every which way, up and down, back and forth. "Animals don't like me, especially cats." He said in the way of explanation, then struggled up in bed and tugged his thin shirt off, revealing a mess of bruises, from pale yellow to deep blue and purple. Lying back down, he scratched the side of his face, his hair lying over his pale skin.

Like Rufi, Feala was beginning to feel just a tad annoyed at the bahaviour of the people around them. Every time she made eye contact, she noticed each marked turned their face away, almost as though unwilling to look her in the eye.

She sighed, then turned back to Rufi, just as Split suffered some kind of attack. She'd been feeling his strain build, and as.sumed it was most likely panic. Not surprising, really. Before she could so much as move, Rufi took matters into his own hands, quite literally taking the sorceress by surprise. She was so used to his happy go lucky personality, she'd almost forgot he was still a knight. She smiled slightly as Rufi carried Split off with speed... Guess he could be mature if he wanted, no?

Snorting quietly to herself, she followed suit, easily keeping up with the Knight despite the dress-like robes she was wearing and throwing angry glances at people as she pas.sed. Again, many of them avoided her gaze, almost managing to look ashamed, though it probably didn't last long.

Once she'd reached Rufi's cottage, she immediately sat herself by Split, almost on the verge of casting another spell when the boy came around. Sighing in slight relief, she kept a close eye on him as he revealed other countless injuries; A small stab of pity making it's way into her stomach.

"There was no way we'd have left you. I would have been unable to, I'm bound by my mark to help people, Markingless or not." She replied to the blonde, her voice serious and solemn.
"Stay still for me. Bruises and the like are no problem to deal with." She moved both her hands so that one hovered over the Markingless' stomach, the other over his chest.A pale, white glow surrounded her hands as she placed them gently onto Split's skin. The spell was a simple one, increasing the rate at which injuries such as his would heal.

With a bit of rest, Split would look completely unharmed. Though naturally, it wasn't nearly as easy to heal emotional injuries.

"Hey, Rufi?" She asked, glanicing over. "Think you could make him something to eat?... That is, an actual meal?"

((In the process of a female character XD)) 

Rufi wiped his head with a stray piece of cloth as he turned his head to see Feala enter and rush immediately next to the markless. He then saw Split stir up and try to get up which he did fail at. Chuckling slightly sat on a chair next to the bed, He gently ruffled the seventeen year old boy's hair, "Kiddo, I ain't a lord just yet. I guess I'm a dog of the noble families heh. Thats some condition, well I'm going to cook you and Feala-chan something while she takes care of you," He laughed, "He might be cute but that fish is a demon, thing hates me,". He tried to ignore the hideous bruises that trailed his body.

"Why would I leave you to those people with rocks whom were eager to chuck them at you? How could you be fine if we had left you? Kiddo, I am a knight and knights protects the citizens of his/her town no matter who that citizen is, remember that right?" Rufi lifted his index finger up to poke his hat. He watched with semi-interest as Feala healed Split's wounds. As the sorceress spoke his head perked up and grinned, "Of course Feala-chan of course, rabbit and pigeon pie with roasted vegetables and gravy?" He literally skipped into his kitchen the in a moment the sound of stoves and fires sounded the cottage. Living alone has it's rewards, cooking was one of Rufi's strange unmanly habits as he refers it to be. 

"Donnneee," Rufi sang after only half an hour (Although he started when Feala came in), the smell of pie and gravy carried by the wind. He placed 6 portions (One for Feala and five for himself) on the dinning table which was a couple of feet away from the bed and he placed the last dish on a side table he found in a corner which he moved next to the bed, "It's hot kiddo, eat it slowly," He smiled before looking at Feala, inviting her to eat.

((Rufi is the man who can cook quicker than light itself o.O))

"Yes, Mi'lady." Split said, a bit unshakily, staying perfectly still. You could count every one one of his ribs, through the bruises and scratches. He smiled slightly, and said to Rufi, "It is indeed, Lo-..Rufi."  He corrected himself in the middle of calling Rufi a lord, and his mismatched eyes roamed around the cottage, taking in every detail, and he answered Rufi in a slow and measured voice, "I would have come out of the attack, borne the pain, and gotten up. My mother used to say that if you are in pain, it teaches you your place." He looked at the pie placed next to the bed and murmured, "I'm not especially hungry, Rufi."

Getting to his elbows, Split pulled a roll of gauze and started wrapping his arms once again, down the the wrist, then split the gauze in half and wrapped all ten of his fingers individually, then started on the other arm, using and almost humurous amount of concentration for the task at hand. Finishing, Split swung his legs off the bed, and staggering a bit, stood releativly steadily, and went over to the wall and sat with crossed legs. "Rufi, none of the other knights have ever lifted a finger to protect me, or to punish the ones that threw the rocks."

With that said fact, he ran his fingers through his hair, and a long, leather string laden with metal bars slipped out from under his shirt and thudded against his chest. The bars were made from vairied metals, from what seemed to be lead, to a bar of bright silver. Seeing that the necklace had slipped out, Split's face reddened and he stuffed the eather necklace back into his shirt and looked intently at the ground.

[[Bleh, alrighty then XD Me so slow x.x]]

Aryia watched the weird person named Rufi zoom by, followed by a girl and another boy. "What a strange crowd." Aryia noted, getting up and walking in their direction. "What are you doing?" Aryia heard Amirith hiss. "Um... Following them?" Aryia replied. "Are you asking me or telling me?" Amirith's eyes were glas.sy. "Um... Telling you." Aryia said, her voice a little more firm. "Ah... Bring the markingless boy along, then." Amirith flicked his tail in Korvan's direction. "Hey, Korvan!" Aryia jumped up and down. "Follow me!" She ran over and tugged him by the arms.

---

"Ugh... What now?" Korvan mumbled, as he stumbled onto his feet. Aryia was already running in the direction of Feala, the blonde boy and the other kid. "I really hate following you on your little crusades, you know, Aryia?" Korvan said, but the witch was too busy following their trail. "For heaven's sake..." Korvan clenched his teeth and darted forward, almost surpas.sing Aryia. 'Stupid. This is stupid.' Korvan thought.

Rufi seemed to be concerned under his smile as he stared at the visible ribcage the boy harbored. Malnutrition most likely. Even though he was the cheerful mad person he was, the knight knew when to remain quiet and listen. An invisible frown spread across his face. He didn't know what to say to the comment on his mother, "Kiddo, what is your place then? Does anyone have a certain place they stay forever? Can't a peasant become a noble through hard work and dedication? Or marriage in fact? No one ever has a place, got that?" He looked at Feala as he acted like a mother tell her child to eat, "You should eat, that rabbit meat from earlier won't fill someone who hasn't eaten properly in days, I pack some in a bag for you to take home. Those knights aren't true knights then," With that he sat on the table holding his fork up.

"I would take that as a compliment Feala-chan, A true knight has his pride and courtship to ladies," He winked unconsciously at the sorceress. He looked at the tiny portion the female blonde took, "I see you still try and retain such a figure, I work a lot so my metabolism is good compared to many of my fellow knights," His eyes focused on the various metals that somehow slipped out of his shirt.

"Ooohh what is that I see?" He laughed as he began to stuff himself with the unhuman portion he had. In a matter of minutes the first plate was finished and he moved on to the second. Of course if no one was in his cottage the knight would probably eat like a pig but with such a lady, he had to eat more politely.  

"Rufi, everyone has a place. They stay in the place they are born with, according to their mark, a peasant cannot become a noble, and according to my mother, There are Nbles, Healers, Witches, Knights, Peasants, Animals, dirt, then Unmarked." Spit stated this as if it had been drilled into his head as a young child would recite times tablels. He pulled the plate of pie off the small table and placed it on the floor, taking small, calculated bites.

The boy turned bright red at Rufi's question, and pulled the bars from under his shirt and pulled the leather string over his head, getting up and splaying it on the table. He pointed at the bars one by one, naming the metals from left to right. "Lead, tin, iron, nickel, copper, zinc, bras.s, silver." Finishing the list, he scooped the string up and slipped it back on, slipping it under his shirt. "I find bits of metal around the town, and when I canconvince the blacksmith to do it, he makes the bits into bars."

He resumed his small, nervous bites of pie, staring at his bare feet. "I do wonder what my mother will do to me when I come home. She isn't kind when I'm late. She's ashamed because I am an Unmarked, on about half those bruises were from her after I had lost a job or had come home late." Split sighed and set aside the pir half-eaten.

Aryia approached the cottage where she saw them enter. She shyly knocked the door, making sure that the three raps on the wood didn't sound threatening. 'How about we just bust in?' Aryia heard Amirith hiss into her ear. The witch looked down at her companion, and Aryia thought she could almost see her snake grin. "Did you eat too much, Amirith?" Aryia hissed back. "We'll look threatening!" Amirith gave her a mental eye roll and coiled back into her pocket.

---

Korvan tried to look around Aryia to see her black mamba. Those two were strange, plus, having a companion was a huge advantage. He wondered if he had enough magic in him to summon a particular companion. He sighed, and tried to imagine what trouble Aryia had gotten herself into this time.

[[I hope they are in a cottage -.-]]

"It's got nothing to do with retaining my figure," Feala replied with a slight smile after swallowing a mouthful of pie. "It's simply that I don't eat as much as you," She pulled her eyes away from Rufi to glance at Split sat by the wall, watching as he tentatively made his way through the Knights cooking. She was relieved to see him eating, despite the fact he clearly wouldn't finish it, not that it really mattered. Any amount of food would do him good in his current condition.

Turning back to her plate, she continued to eat her own meal, pausing only to listen as Split spoke of the clas.ses, her face blank and her eyes frustrated. She just couldn't understand how he could accept such facts with such certainty... The whole idea of him being forced to believe this was incredible, especially considering that everyone he said was untrue. There were, afterall, other Markingless in the Kingdom, and many of them seemed to be far more respected then he.

Sighing in resignation, she watched as the blonde male revealed the necklace he had been hiding; Pointing out and naming each of the metal bars that resided on the leather string.

"It's an unusual ornament," She paused, looking up at the blonde headed Markingless as he hastily stuffed it back under his shirt. "Whatever made you confront the blacksmith in order to make them?" She asked, her voice both soft and intruiged.

She was curious, having seen for herself just how this Markingless had suffered at the hands of the general public. She as.sumed he probably had quite a bit of difficulty getting the Blacksmith do to anything for him, and the fact he'd been willing to face the risk of more mistreatment in order to get some scrap metal shaped was what forced her to ask the question.

Before she could recieve an answer, a knock on the door prompted the healer to look over her shoulder. "You expecting anyone?" She asked, glancing back towards the Knight.

Korvan blew a bit of hair out of his sight. "I really don't want to be mixed up with her, sir." He replied gruffly, hoping that it still retained the normal politeness. Korvan tried to stand on his toes to peek behind the man. Inside, he could see a blonde boy and Feala, though Korvan couldn't know or guess what they were doing. 'I'm trapped with a bunch of weirdos.' Korvan thought hopelessly. He cast a glance at Aryia, who was still smiling. 'Hope she didn't fall for his flirts.' Korvan thought, wondering if this man at the door was trying to charm her. He then grinned. 'Aryia is too dense to understand love.' Korvan reminded himself. If this guy wanted her to fall for him, he was in for a lot of trouble.

---

"We saw you taking in some kid!" Aryia gushed. "Is he okay?" Amirith glared at the man named Rufi. "You do understand what Rufi is trying to do, do you, Aryia?" Amirith hissed helplessly, knowing the answer. Aryia glanced at her pocket. "Of course I do, Amirith!" She whispered back cheerily. "Rufi is a nice person, and look, there's Feala too!" Aryia waved her hands. "Hello Feala!" Aryia hopped up and down. She then paused. "Oh, thanks, Rufi. And don't mind Amirith. And him." Aryia grinned and dragged Korvan into the small cottage.

[[Bleh. Sometimes I think I type too little.]]