Shadow Chasing [Vera]

[Vol'jin]

He had been travelling for days upon days, unable to reason or understand why he had been sent here. Why would that mage bring him here, he didn't understand why. the only part he had understood was the humans were too passionate and patriotic for their own good. How could the mage be so stupid as to jeopardise everything he was trying to achieve. He felt he had to be there. He had to find a way back.

Garrosh had to be stopped by all costs or there would b e no Horde left to keep them together. Vol'jin had believed in the Horde that Thrall had remade, there had been strength and wisdom then. But under Garrosh, everything had turned sour and it wasn't just the Darkspear who were feeling its effects. the Blood Elves, the Forsaken, but most of all the Tauren. After all, they had lost one of their most important chieftains by Garrosh's hands no matter how much Magatha tipped the odds in the orc's favour.

Much had been lost and there was still yet more sacrifice to be done before any hope of victory was in sight. But as Vol'jin entered the caves, he knew much of that probability of success darkened without his presence there. After all, he had spear headed the motion, the situation so dire that even the Alliance was lending a hand. Vol'jin was aware they were doing it simply in order to distract them from a landing party but they couldn't afford to turn the help away.

Vol'jin paused, he heard movement and the long ears so typical of his kind twitched. He slowly lifted his bow from his body and drew an arrow. He nocked it before pointing in the direction of where the noise had come from. He was nervous and wary, he trusted nothing.

"I know you're dere," he said between his tusks, dusky yellow eyes trying to pinpoint the other person.

[Vera]

Exploration and adventures had always been her favourite things to do and if her assumptions were right she might be able to find a dragon here. And if there was a dragon there most likely would be a treasure here to. The only thing that was nearly spoiling her adventure war, that she was still missing Carolyne. But it was no use sitting in Aldeon, waiting for her TARDIS to return and letting a lot of adventures pass without her taking part in them. Also it was more likely for her to find a way to get back to her timeship if she continued her journeys.

By now she had been able to exchange some of the things in her pockets for dark leather trousers, a leather coat and a warm linen shirt. The red dress she had worn, when her TARDIS had disappeared just hadn't been suitable for adventures in a dark cave. She had also purchased a small torch. It worked like medieval miner's lamps and was primitive for her standards, but it was very suitable for this adventure. The lamp's flickering light was casting shadows on the walls and made the stones look like mysterious creatures. Every now and then she stopped and listened. But until now she hadn't been able to hear something. It seemed as if there was nothing close. No dragon, no rat, not even a bat. Stalactites were hanging from the walls like spears and from time to time she encountered stalagmites that were even taller than she was.

The cave's silence was only disturbed, when she found a small waterfall. She drank a few sips of water and continued her journey until a deep voice made her stop dead in her tracks. Obviously she hadn't been as cautious as she had promised herself to be after she had lost a few of her regenerations because of her curiosity. Immediately after she had recovered from her first shock she extinguished her lamp and hid behind a huge stalagmite. But a few moments later her curiosity won, like it almost always did and she tried to see where the voice was coming from. Without her lamp she wasn't able to see much, but the things she discovered made her gasp for air. A large troll was standing in the shadows.

If the things she knew about trolls were right they were hideous and brutal creatures. Immediately she searched for cover again and tried to sneak away from the troll then. The only problem was that she wasn't able to see her own hand in front of her eyes. So she wasn't able to move very fast. But somehow she had to get away or she had to outwit him somehow. But she wanted to try the first idea first, because she supposed that it would be very hard to outwit a troll.

[Vol'jin]

He could not see much beyond the glowing enchants of his armour but his other senses had made up for the rest. Most of all his sense of hearing. He had heard the waterfall, the disturbance in the water, the being's treads on cold stone before the light showed her for what she was. So far all he had were human looking thing. Nothing he would find familiar in his daily life, no other trolls to call a friend. Even the spirits, the loa, were quiet. He did not like this.

She gasped and Vol'jin frowned as the light was extinguished but he could see that he had surprised her. She wasn't expecting to find him here so what had she been looking for. There was nothing here that Vol'jin could discern, nothing but the sound of dripping water. His bow remained where it was lifted into the air with a steady hold. He sniffed the air and he could smell a fear that he was all too familiar with. Humans. They were curious but equally irritating creatures, full of prejudice and arrogance. They were too willing for the kill than to see the bigger picture.

He decided to take a risk and lowered his bow but the arrow remained nocked, "You tink ol' Vol'jin would eat you, little human?" he said in common, a language understood by Alliance and Horde alike. Even between enemies, there was need for communication. So hopefully, this woman would know what he was saying and hopefully would pluck up some courage to at least talk with him.

[Vera]

Of course she thought the troll was going to eat her or at least she thought, that he might do something that could lead to another regeneration. Although the regeneration itself sometimes felt like an adventure she had enough of this crazy regeneration thing for at least the next centuries and by the way that was a very bad way to loose another life. If she was partly eaten by a troll, her brother would laugh the whole day long, when he found out about that.

Carefully she glanced to the troll once more and decided to try to escape into the tunnel to her right then. She found it strange, that the beast had lowered his bow, but this also could be a trick. Slowly she walked into the tunnel, but it didn't take long until she noticed she was heading toward a dead end.

"Great.", she murmured to herself and turned around again. So much for her theory to escape the troll. Now she had only one option left and Vera didn't really like that one. Sighing she turned around and went to face the troll. From a different point of view it was an adventure, too, wasn't it? If her memories didn't fool her not many people had encountered a troll and got away alive, but maybe she would.

When she finally appeared from behind the stalagmite she straightened her shoulders and tried to look not frightened. Still her hand was resting on the pocket where she hid her sonic fountain pen and she was ready to use it if she had to. "Not really." she responded. "At least I wouldn't recommend eating me. I'm very scraggy and if you kill me something very odd could happen and might kill you, toll." She hinted at her special physiology and thought about telling him directly that she was no human for a moment, but then she decided against it. "So what are you planning to do now?" she asked curious and tried to stay as far away from him, that she might be able to react soon enough if he wanted to attack her.

[Vol'jin]

Vol'jin was wary but he could sense no direct threat from this particular human looking individual, or at least of what he had seen of her. As far as sight went, troll eyesight was only slightly better than of a human's. She was moving about in the cave, hidden by the stalagmites and stalactites that formed a part of the cave's internal structure. He was using glints of reflected light from the walls where water had been running down for unspoken years. Water could befall a mountain given patience and time, a force that never was in any sort of a rush.

Out of most things of power, nature's elements were the most enduring and the most powerful of all. A landslide, earthquakes, wildfires, tsunami's and storms... they all had the power to destroy but they were also powers of rebirth.

He sniffed the air again, knowing she was scared by his presence and proximity to her in that moment of time. He was a large troll, larger than most others and there was little about trolls he was familiar with that retained a human likeness.

His bow remained lowered as she reappeared in his vision. She was scared of him, yes, but he also saw her courage to face her fear and in that, Vol'jin found respect. Facing one's fears was never easy and always took a great personal courage and conviction of character to do. She spoke then and he understood it. Clearly, she had understood his use of common. Her words though drew out laughter and his was deep and lengthy. Most usually took offense when a troll laughed since when a troll laughed, it had the impression of laughing at you and taking the pee at the same time. But her words were also something of interest to him. He was in a strange land filled with even stranger creatures than he was used back on Azeroth and yet she was familiar with trolls and cannibalism.

"No, you wouldn't last me half a day, girlie, even if da Darkspears did eat their own," he said, looking at her with curiosity and amusement. "Da Darkspear no longer follow dat practice. Thrall asked it of us and we accepted dat condition when we joined da Horde." Vol'jin, as masterful and cunning as he was, could not hide the note of bitterness and pain when mentioning the Horde, even just in reference.

She was keeping her distance and Vol'jin was fine with that. The last human he had come into contact with had nothing but hate for him. "Finding me way back home," he answered sadly since he had no idea just how he was going to do that. The spirits weren's answering his calls to them, and his shadow magic was not having any effect. Besides, he was a hunter, not a student of the magi. Transportation was something that Mages excelled at, not hunters.

He decided that she was of no threat to him and he slowly put his arrow back in its quiver before looping the bow round his frame. He sat on his haunches which made him less intimidating that when he was standing. He stroked his bearded chin in thought before regarding her once more with a tusk-filled smile, "So, if I be a so called people eating troll, what you be, little human? What danger you be hiding?" he asked, not missing a beat with her pointer to her capabilities.

[Vera]

As soon as Vol'jin began to laugh she backed away and increased the distance between the troll and her. His laughter almost sounded as if he was laughing at her behaviour and her stupidity to face him. It took her a while to realise that he was laughing because of her words and not because of her adventurous nature. So she might not be in danger after all.

"I wouldn't last you a minute." She retorted, while she thought of the abilities timelords developed during regeneration. It was not good to disturb a regenerating timelord, although killing him in this period of time could kill her for good.

"That's good to know." She answered again and noticed the bitterness in his voice. Had he been separated from his group like she had been separated from her TARDIS? Maybe he even was an unwilling guest in Aldeon like her. Whatever it was he seemed to miss his horde and Vera couldn't help herself but to feel compassion for the large troll.

Only a few moments later he confirmed her thoughts and Vera nodded slowly. "You're not the only one who is searching a way home. Is my assumption right, that your home is farther away than this cave?", she asked and when he put his bow away and sat down on his haunches she finally allowed herself to step a bit closer. Since this still might be a trap after all she left her hand resting on her pocket where she hid her sonic fountain pen and kept watching him carefully.

"As you said yourself you're not a human eating troll." She retorted once more and looked to the ground then. Obviously she had compromised so much about her abilities by now that Vol'jin was wondering which dangers she might be hiding. If she didn't find an excuse soon she would have to tell him about her special physiology. So it might be better to show him his fountain pen than to tell him that she was a timelady.

"I won't do anything to hurt you either.", she promised while she drew her fountain pen out of her pocket. With her hand open she showed it to him. "That's my weapon. It's small and doesn't seem powerful but if it's used in the right way it's very dangerous and it might have killed you if you ate me.", She told him, while she was holding the fountain pen, that looked like a pen from the 20th century on earth and not like a piece of technology. Looking at the fountain pen it was her time to laugh now. Her laughter sounded warm, but still there was a little bit of sadness hidden in her voice. It was strange that this was the only weapon she owned especially in a world where she couldn't hide away inside her TARDIS. She had a very peaceful nature, but somehow she was starting to think that it might be good if she started learning to use a sword or something similar.

Carolyn had suggested something like this before and immediately she felt the sorrow rice in her heart again. It would be great if Carolyn was here too. She would love to see a troll, but sadly she was somewhere lost in the timevortex along with her TARDIS. "How long have you been here?" she decided to lead the conversation to another topic, before Vol'jin might ask if the sonic was the only dangerous thing about her and before she thought even more about her lost companion.

[Vol'jin]

Even though his bow was stayed away in a non-active manner, he was still watching her back with a level of guarded wariness. Just because someone didn't show any immediate threat did not go say they wouldn't later become one. So, he watched and she seemed to be following the same lines. He smiled slightly, that was a good thing if it was the case. With that premise, they knew where exactly their boundaries stood. Which was more than Garrosh knew about his boundaries and where the line had to be obeyed.

"This cave is not mine, it is just a cave," he nodded softly, "My home be on an island surrounded by clear waters and fresh air." The air in here was damp from the moisture than ran solidly through stone walls. Vol'jin blinked and looked back at her sharply before his expression wordlessly warmed up. From what he was ably to read from her words, it seemed that like him, she was lost from all that was previously familiar. He also wondered what place she held in her society.

A wry smile curved round the two yellowing tusks, "Darkspears gave up dat practice, mon," he reaffirmed, feeling it necessary. Humans were so flighty and fidgety about that sort of thing, even in discussion.

He watched her as she reached for something unseen and his guard rose but what she brought out to show him was small and discernable. Fountain pens were not a technology he recognised. Anything written in his world was either on stone or on papyrus or parchment with brushed ink or the use of a quill. The fountain pen was foreign to his understanding. And yet she seemed adamant this was a great weapon. He regarded it lengthily over his pointed nose, his upper frame arching for a better view before deciding that accepting her word was the better road.

"Being smaller has its advantages, ol' Vol'jin does not need that skill however," he replied, often referring to himself as third person and he did it intentionally. Whilst those who knew him often knew his reasons or accepted his oddities, it was useful with new people.

She asked him how long he had been here and he took her to mean the time he had spent in this unfamiliar world that knew nothing of Dakspears or the loa, "Three cycles of this sun, I tink, but I am unsure what that means in what time frame you be usin'," he replied, sorting out his wayward mohawk as means of putting his distraction to good use. He was a leader and leaders always had things to do and thus he was starting to actually miss all the paperwork.

"An' what about you, little human? How long you stayed?" he returned it, wanting to affirm his previous suspicions of her being in the same boat as he. He almost wished it was so, having someone else know what you were going through at the same time was extremely helpful.

[Vera]

The island Vol'jin described sounded almost idyllic and she promised herself that she would visit this island as soon as she got her TARDIS back. Maybe she could take Vol'jin back to his island, too. But at first she had to find her timeship and sadly that wasn't easy. When he confirmed once more, that he didn't eat humans Vera simply nodded.

While she reached for her sonic fountain pen she smiled a bit to show him, that she was not planning to attack him with her weapon. After all the sonic pen was not an offensive weapon but something she was able to use to manipulate technology or make rocks fall down and bury a foe beneath. So it was completely different from the bow Vol'jin used and it seemed as if he did not believe her, that something so small was able to kill a man if it was used right. Obviously he was not used to more modern weapons than bows and possibly swords. Maybe he even thought that larger weapons were more powerful than smaller ones.

"I'm more used to handle smaller pieces of technology. Are you only trained to use a bow or are you also able to use sword or a crossbow?", she asked, while she put her sonic back into her pocket and once more her right hand began to rest close to that pocket.

That he referred to himself in the third person was not strange to her. She knew several cultures who liked to talk about themselves that way, so she didn't say anything about that. Instead she nodded slightly, when he told her about the time he had spent in this strange place. "We use a similar timeframe for days. Only the distance light passes in that time is often different. I have spent twelve days here by now and I suppose I'll have to spend much more days until I will find a way home. It seems as if this place likes to bring people here and trap them then.", she answered and sighed a bit. She wished she knew a way to escape from Aldeon, but it seemed as if there was none. At least nobody she had talked to seemed to know one and she had not been able to find one either.

"That's why I'm exploring this cave. I hoped to find a way home or at least a clue why we are all trapped here.", she stated and did not tell him that she was also searching for adventures, because several people did not like it that she was always searching for the next adventure or the next mysterious thing to discover. "Would you like to join me? Maybe we can find a way together."

[Vol'jin]

As he watched her, Vol'jin instinctively stretched out his languid spine revealing his true height again. The height of male trolls was always deceptive and no one knew exactly why the males were so hunched and the females not. The pen did not seem all that an offensive weapon, of least to him but he was content to let her think she had some kind of advantage. She seemed to be on a similar train of thought as he tilted his head.

"Yea mon, but I can work with the shadow magic, the spirits... Ol' Vol'jin is a Shadow Huntah," he replied, "You only use dat? he returned, gesturing to the hand the pen had been in before.

Her words did not lighten his mood but he also saw it as a challenge. He would find a way and maybe with this human's help, then that would be achieved. So for the moment he would have to endure the situation he was in and if there was anything that Vol'Jin knew how to do well, it was the ability of endurance. He nodded slowly before slowly moving closer, "I was just t'inkin' da same thing, little human,"

He grinned as he stretched out his hunched frame again, "I don't t'ink we be findin' any way out in here though,"

[Vera]

Shadow magic? As soon as Vol'jin had said he was shadow hunter Vera became even more interested in his words. She knew that several cultures believed in magic although she had learned that almost every kind of magic was based on scientific knowledge. Most of the times the science behind it was not known to the people, who used magic and even more often they hadn't made enough scientific progress to be able to understand, how their magic worked, but there were mostly no strange powers.

"Can you tell me more about the shadow magic?" she asked friendly and hoped that it was no taboo to talk about shadow magic.

"Yes at least most of the times. I also use my knowledge and my ship. But when I arrived here my ship disappeared." she explained and the sad intonation returned to her voice once more. She would give almost everything if she was able to get her TARDIS and her companion back. But at least she had found a new friend. Vol'jin agreed that it might be better to work together and even said, that he had had the same idea, too.

Smiling she nodded and let him step closer to her. "I'm glad that you thought the same." she answered and looked to the cave's walls again. Maybe Vol'jin was right and they wouldn't be able to find a way out here, but somehow she had the feeling that there was something hidden in this cave and as if the cave itself wanted to confirm her assumption she suddenly heard a strange noise.

"Maybe…", she said at first, but then she stopped and looked at him. "Did you hear that?" she asked, because she was not sure if she had heard this noise right or if her ears had misinterpreted an unknown sound.

[Vol'jin]

She asked to know more about his capabilities and he smiled slyly as his frame sat on his haunches. Even at a lowered height, Vol'jin's vibrant mohawk made up to her own height give or take a few millimetres. He stroked his beard in thought, yellow beady eyes looking back at her with some unexplained amusement but then all Trolls had the weirdest quirks. They weren't the easiest to predict, especially Vol'jin. Add to that fact that the Darkspears, whilst not the strongest of all the Troll tribes, were by far the most intelligent and the most cunning.

"Why don't you ask me dat again when we know each other better," he finally replied, not wishing to be so open on such details right now. He hardly knew her except for sight and name, neither of which constituted trust. She would have to earn his trust before he felt comfortable explaining how it all worked.

Whilst Vol'jin knew the value of endurance and an open mind with all things, he also knew that trust was a commodity rarely given so freely in the world he understood. Vol'jin never had liked leaving things to chance.

His head tilted, she was sad and he could relate. He didn't even know if his favoured raptor would answer his call. He hadn't deemed it safe to try. But she seemed willing to at least work together to find an answer and that was as far as his trust of her went right now. Two minds were often better than one. He grinned and nodded, his hair dancing all about the place. He could hear the steady drips from the water carving its way through the stone in its ever steadfast mission to wear the stone away.

She started talking but something made him frown with concern and she seemed to have noticed it too. His ears twitched as he rose, removing his bow from around his frame and knocked an arrow. It sounded again and he knew it was not water nor was it a collapse of the internal structure.

"I hear it mon, it seems to be coming closah," he said, looking into the blackness that filling the rest of the cave system for quite a substantial way.

[Vera]

Obviously it really was a taboo to talk about shadow magic or at least it was something you didn't mention, when you were surrounded by people you didn't know well enough yet. "Alright, let's talk about it later." she answered with a friendly smile. She was sure that she had enough time to gain Vol'jin's trust and to learn more about his culture, because at the moment they were both still trapped here and Vol'jin was the first friend she had found in this strange place.

When Vol'jin's ears twitched like the ears of a cat she also started listening even harder. It definitely wasn't water dripping from the ceiling which was responsible for the curious sound. There was someone or something nearby and she agreed with her new friend that the person was coming closer. Like he had done with his bow she removed her sonic from her pocket and pointed it in the direction where the sound was supposedly coming from. It was hard to detect the right direction, but after a while she thought that it was coming from a place close to the waterfall. So she pointed her sonic there and stared at the waterfall. Black spots where dancing through her vision because of the almost impenetrable darkness, but suddenly she thought she had seen a dark shadow. But as soon as it had appeared it vanished again.

"There it was." she pointed in the direction and switched her sonic's blue light on. Now she was at least able to see the closest drop stones. But the shadow was gone. "Did you also see four legs and a big tail?" she whispered to see if he had seen something similar or if he had seen more details. Maybe he even knew where the shadow had disappeared to.

[Vol'jin]

He returned another sly smile to her words. He was not willing to spill the beans about everything and if they did make it to the stage of trusting each other on a deeper level, the conversation would return our of her human necessity to be curious. For the moment however, she was all he had to understand this strange world right in this instance of time.

His eyes searched in the darkness around them but in truth, he was following what his sense of smell and his sense of hearing were telling him, what hit gut was instinctively trying to say was there. In the end, all one could entirely trust without a fault was their senses if they learned to keep them well honed. All Trolls were adept at listening for what they couldn't see, especially amongst those who lived in denser places of the world. It was an instinctive need to know by sound what was possibly stalking you in the dense undergrowth. Here, however, he had to pick out what was the start of the sounds from their echoes.

She spoke then and he glanced with mild irritation before glancing back to where she had been pointing. Lucky break, he mused as his hold on the bow he had in his hands. Despite his hand only having two fingers and one thumb, his hold was as natural as his stance.

"It tryin' ta be stealthy, but it make poor job," he said quietly, waiting for the right sounds that would let him know the precise second to fire the arrow. His ears twitched and his stance grew a little more arched before he sneered, letting the arrow fly. Vol'jin heard the whistle as it pushed through the air and the sudden squeals let them both know he had hit true.

"Definitely a beastie," he replied, looking at her with a grin on his face that most would freak at. He moved, pulling another arrow from the stock before he reached whatever it was that was failing to stalk them. Lions liked long grass, birds from the skies... this one seemed to prefer the dark. However, he didn't know what this was though the closest he could pin a name to was a Saurok, a half humanoid reptile creature back on his world.

"You know what dis be?" Vol'jin asked, before putting the beast out of its misery, the arrow piercing its heart. It jerked for a moment before stilling. Least, they wouldn't go hungry.

[Vera]

It really looked as if the creature wanted to hide, either because it was frightened or because it was planning to attack very soon. Maybe it was even trying to get closer to them. Vera wanted to answer Vol'jin, but when she saw, that he had raised his bow, she became quiet and watched him taking aim. While doing so she still held her sonic in front of her and waited full of tension. Finally the arrow flew towards the beast and although there was not much to be seen, it seemed as if the arrow had hit the creature.

Instantaneously she felt sorry for the poor monster. Maybe it had just tried to hide and didn't want to harm them. But now they had hurt maybe even killed it. "Yes.", she answered not very content. She would have liked it much better if they had tried to chase it away. But the smile in Vol'jin's face showed her, that he was very happy about his catch. He truly was a hunter, who was always searching for the next prey. That was something they did not have in common at all. She did not like to kill someone or something and she thought she never would.

Still not happy she tried to smile back and stepped closer to the monster then. At least Vol'jin didn't wait until the monster had bled to death, but killed it with another arrow. Only when it had stopped moving Vera dropped to one knee, made the light of her sonic shine even brighter and had a closer look at the monster. It seemed partly humanoid and instantly Vera wondered if it had been a sentient being or merely a beast. Touching its scales she immediately noticed that everything felt very soft and tender. Maybe it was a subadult. But that led her to the question, if there were any adults nearby. "I'm not sure. It looks similar to the Eipigons on Uruigh I" which were sentient in a basic sense, she thought and felt her heart throb. "but the fangs and the color of its scales are different. Possibly it's a subspecies that was brought here as we have been brought to this place. I only suppose that it was not the only beast here. Possibly it even has parents nearby." she told him and stood up once more raising her sonic above her head, so that she was able to see at least a few things inside the cave. Maybe the beasts were even frightened of the light and would stay away then, because her new friend was as lethal as he looked like and she didn't think that it was necessary to kill another beast that hadn't attacked them yet.

[Vol'jin]

Vol'jin remained silent, watching as she went towards the creature that was curled on the stone floor of the cave system. He was listening for further activity but could detect nothing. Either its companions were too far away from where it had tried to go on the offensive or it was only a matter of time before they did. They couldn't stay in this cave forever, that much was certain as the fact he knew that this woman had not approved of what he had done.

Vol'jin was not going to apologise as he looped his bow round his upper frame again and joined her at the carcass, sitting on his haunches whilst removing a dagger that was as long as Vera's forearm from his belt. It wasn't decorated and was plain, fashioned more for functionality.

The Troll leader listened to what she thought the beast was before he offered his own, "There be a creature on my world. It not native but it be flesh-shaped, created by the Mogu. Saurok be nasty little devils," he said, poking the chest cavity with a nail-chipped fore-finger. He found the light source off putting but he said nothing to her about it. It was her form of security as his bow was his. "But he be wearing no jewellery," Saurok clothing was simple and didn't consist of much, but they usually did like to wear trinkets.

Vol'jin removed the arrows from where they had struck, one was going into the abdomen and the other which had been the killing blow had struck through the chest into the heart of whatever this creature was. "It could be anyt'ing, but least we won't go hungry, eh?" he replied but didn't smile this time before he spoke in his native tongue. He was a hunter but he respected what he killed, they had souls too. Once Vol'jin finished his whispered chant, he used his dagger to remove the creature inedible parts from the inside out. He was precise as he made sure the blood ran away from the both of the true humanoids in the cave. Once its stomach and entrails were all cut away, he deposited them away from where they were. Whatever else lived in here or came to the place, they would make use of it. Nothing was wasted, you had to make the most of what you had in order to endure.

"Dere, all done," he pronounced, glancing at with a thought in his mind, "We jus' make a fiah an' we can find a better place to eat too," starting a fire in the cave wasn't the best of ideas, they were a fair way in and it would take smoke an age to ventilate properly, so they were better off with going back to the cave mouth.

"I don't tink we've introduced each ot'er properly," he added then, looking at her squarely as the dagger was cleaned and returned to its sheath. He asked because he could not recall if she had given him her name. He had said his countless times, typically in third person. Another typical trait found in Troll culture. Still, it was still a good thing to know what names they went by. Humans may not like to admit it, even to themselves, but Trolls were still a civilised race.

"Got a name, little human?"