Leandra put a change of clothes into her bag and grabbed her short swords. She strode out of the house, knowing no one would stop her with as late as it was. No one would be up. No one would care. She slept near the house that night, and the next day, walked deeper into the Haon'Dor. Every swing of her sword cut down the plants in front of her and let her feel just a little bit better about leaving.
She hadn't been keeping track of how far into the woods she was, nor how long she'd been swinging her blade with little grunts of anger. But soon enough, a boy holding an orb of fire caught her attention. "Who are you?" he asked with a scowl.
The idiot. Leandra raised her hand, pointing at him. There was no way this snot was going to do something to her. "You'd better not," she said, and inwardly kicked herself. What a stupid little kid thing to say.
"Oh, you're just a little girl," the boy said, lowering his fire.
"Shut up. You don't look so big yourself," she snapped back.
Though they had never met, Askari (as she learned was his name) knew Orn because Mirin and Orn were a couple. A fact that they both found disgusting. They both found parents to be morons. They both felt they wanted to be left alone. They both seemed to think a lot alike.
Leandra looked at this boy with purplish-reddish-purplish-red skin and black hair and reddish-blackish eyes, his lean face that seemed very manly and very boyish all at once, his smell that seemed like forests and campfires, and found all of a sudden that she really liked him. Like... a lot.
Leandra went so far as to show him she could talk to some of the trees, and watched him look amazed and irritable all at the same time. Then, he offered to help her get really far away from her parents. And Leandra found herself liking him even more as he took her hand and walked with her through a black swirling vortex.
