The quiet was one of the things Nyk enjoyed the most. Especially the quiet of the forest. Even if he was hardly as at home in the trees as many of his elven kin, he was drawn to places of untouched wilderness, for not other reason than to bask in the calm. This was one of those rare days. He had found a meadow nestled between the thick trunks of the forest where the sunlight shone through. He had shrugged off his cloak and went to the center of the meadow. There was a large, flat rock jutting from the earth, perfect to lounge upon, which he did.

So now he was laid out flat on his back, katana in hand, his hair appearing as though there was gold spun within the silver, where the bright sun hit it. He daydreamed, a careless expression on his face while he let his mind drift... another rarity for him.

((Pretty dull, I know...))

Something odd had just happened. She couldn’t quite figure it out so, like so many other times when she just wasn’t sure, she froze. Standing perfectly still, not unlike a statue really… though she was the wrong colors. Aether Draka looked around herself. She wasn’t quite sure how she got here. One minute she was in Taras, attempting to talk herself into going in the library. She was afraid to though. She didn’t know why, but she didn’t feel ready yet. So she had been stalling and she thought back to this stretch of woods where she had first made her choice, the choice to accept that she was evil in some way. Then, she wished she could go back and perhaps do things differently. She didn’t know what she would do but, she at least wanted to go back to those woods.

The next thing she knew, it was like she had jumped here without moving at all. She felt something then. The shadows were laughing at her. She had done it; she had just teleported herself and was in complete shock. And the shadows just laughed in their purely silent way. So she frowned at them and mentally pushed them away. She understood now, at least partly. So she could handle it. Then she turned and saw a cloak lying on the ground. She went over and knelt by it, reaching her hand out to make sure it didn’t belong to someone’s she knew. Then, she saw a figure, lounging in the sunlight she looked at the resting figure for a moment before her curiosity became to much. Not wanting to wake him, as she believed him to be asleep, she crept forward in near silence, almost like she was stalking pray… She would have preferred to be without her boots, but they were new and she didn’t want to misplace them. She hadn’t figured even figured out how to make them fly yet! Her mind shifted gears again and she wondered if she could make it up to the sunlight without him stirring. Aether would be rather proud of herself if she could do that.

While laying in the sunlight, he was suddenly surprised by a quick of flash of light to the side in the forest. It blinded him for a moment, and he was not sure if what he had seen was an actual flash of light, or magical in origin.

Instead of immediately, he chose to lay still, though his hand did tighten around the scabbard of his weapon fractionally. He didn't see anyone immediately, but knew he probably wasn't alone anymore.

No, he definitely wasn't alone... he caught the slight shuffle of a foot brushing the ground. Whoever it was, was not close enough yet for his magical vision to truly see her and they were trying pretty hard not to be noticed. His muscles tensed, ready to move in a moment's notice.

Once she was close enough to harm him (if that was her intent... he was not sure, but the very fact that she was trying to sneak up on him made him suspicious), Nykolas moved, drawing his blade from the sheath smoothly in one fluid movement and rolling to a crouch. This brought him even closer to the stranger, his blade pointed up, close to the stranger's neck.

Nykolas was silent for a moment, looking at her with his magic sight. She didn't seem awfully dangerous, but appearances were deceiving. Erring on the side of caution, he held the blade evenly.

Then he smiled a little. "Hullo." Besides the weapon in hand, it seemed as though he was greeting a passing neighbor.

The sudden movement surprised Aether Draka, but she was fast, faster then he was at least. She instinctively leaned back away from the blade, drawing her own dagger to knock it sideways with a soft click as they hit and the sound of metal running along metal as she hopped backwards out of reach, at least for the moment. She stood then and held her blade by her side, flipping it back along the length of her arm. She hadn’t meant to wake him and now she was tempted to just go… but…

Her curiosity held her there, unhidden by the shadows for the moment. She would wait a moment longer. He hadn’t actually harmed her at all and greeted her kindly enough if one overlooked the cold steel. Being what she was, AD easily overlooked the blade. The person she considered her best friend was a vampiric demon, or close enough. She didn’t see this man as any sort of threat and her new found ability to travel nearly instantaneously from shadow to shadow gave her a bit more courage and had restored much of the confidence in herself that she had lost not too long ago. She wasn’t blindly bold again, yet, but she did enjoy her newest power and the sense of freedom it gave her.

“Hello?” She said, more of a question then a greeting as her curiosity started to build. She wondered, first of all, what he was and then, why he was blindfolded. She didn’t ask yet though. She could wait.

The retaliation caught him off guard, the blades connecting in the shrill song of steal. Still smiling slightly, he jumped back lightly, putting even more space between them. His stance was then deceptively casual. The response he got from this woman was more than he had expected, and the way she moved made him regard her with much more wariness than before. For a moment, he though he would either have to fight or flee.

But when she greeted him back, he relaxed visibly and nodded. "You're quicker than I expected. I'm Nykolas," he again smiled a little, his head tilted to the side as he evaluated how she might respond, glad at least she seemed just as willing to talk as cross blades.

She didn’t answer right away, rather disappointed by the fact he didn’t want to play the game of questions… Perhaps later then, if they met again. Her expression was nearly unreadable though as she hadn’t quite decided on how she flet about this situation yet.

“I’m Aether Draka.” She said and held back the urge to step forward to fight again. It was something she enjoyed and had not really had much time or means for it, not a true fight anyways. One that would require not only quick action but cunning as well. She liked the ringing sound it made much more then the actual killing that others she knew seemed to enjoy. He was a vampire though, her friend that is.

At this distance though… there was no reason to hold on to her dagger. She would have time to draw it if she needed to. Flipping the blade back around she sheathed it next to the green-hilted elven blade at her hip, keeping her hand on the hilt for only one more breath before letting it go. Her hands then rested by her side and she wondered, even if he wasn’t playing the game of questions, if he would. So what question stirring about in her mind was she going to choose? …

“Do you know much about magic?”

It seemed as though she continued to radiate aggression and anticipation, like she longed for the fight to keep going. Nyk hesitated at the idea, since he had little to no idea what her intentions currently were, if bloodshed would be involved or not. Nykolas avoided fighting on others' terms and at the very least preferred to know what his opponents terms were.

Relaxing his posture even more so, he sheathed his katana in a practiced motion as she asked him about magic, of all things. For a moment, he considered how much he should say. He was hardly a talented spellcaster in the eyes of his people. Granted, he had his supernatural sight and generally could have a vague sense of magic around him if the magic was strong enough. Subtler magic was more or less invisible to his magical sight.

"Magic?" again he paused, as though thinking. "My people have always been closely tied to magic... the elves, that is. But I'm not much of a mage, myself. I have certain innate, er, skills, I suppose. I am obviously a little more aware of my surroundings than the average blind person. But beyond that..." he shrugged vaguely.

“My people…” she echoed the words back on him. She herself was nearly half-elven, but she knew little of them as a people. She knew little of most types who considered themselves part of any people, as they tended to look at her as, well… not fitting in. She didn’t, and knew it. That was why she had no home, no place, nothing. Nothing but what she had on her at least.

She turned from him abruptly, finding that she didn’t like that feeling. She found herself hesitant to go though, her curiosity about him being blind and what an average blind person holding here there almost against her will, but it was her will that was holding her back from the library.

“Never mind that then.” She tried to be dismissive, knowing that what she wanted to know more then anything was how to summon. An elf was probably the wrong person to talk to about summoning demons anyway. Summoning Angels was a different thing. That sort of thing could be talked about. Demons were just a bit to tabboo for you to walk up to someone and simply ask, ‘Hay, I was wondering if you knew anything about summoning a demon prince from the pits of the Abyss?’

AD bit her lip with a tiny fang, unsure of what to do now that she had basically got no answer and didn’t have one to reply to. No game of questions then… Lost at what to do now she shrugged and waved bye to him. “Perhaps I'll see you around then!” With that, she turned around to vanish into the shadows, disappearing as abruptly as she had arrived.