A small woman walked in the shadows, a glowing marking on her chest as she held a small bit of flame to light her path. She didn't like the dark much or the cold but it was what it was. As she walked she noticed a light. It wasn't a natural light, like her flame. It was eerie and a pale glow. She hopped up into a tree and moved from branch to branch until she could hear and see what was happening.
She caught onto the last of their conversation. What she was seeing was a spirit and... a dog? No wait. It wasn't a dog. Not exactly. She frowned and hopped out of the tree. Upon landing she flicked some of her red hair back, the flame in her hand dissapearing.
"Excuse me. I couldn't help but notice you... and hear your conversation." Her chest ceased it's glowing as she approached. "You know... for a being that's supposed to guide spirits to where they go, you're kinda sucking at it." She laughed and turned to the spirit. "I'm not one for beating around the bush... but there is no village up ahead. I just came from that direction... I think... it'd be best you go with this man, perhaps you'll be reborn." She smiled softly. "A spirit staying for so long... it must be lonely."
It was cold, and it was dark. Of course, it generally was like that during the night, wasn't it? The lone figure's mouth pulled into a slight frown as silvery eyes scanned over the area. A cluster of trees to his right, wide open area to the left with many boulders jutting out of the earth like stone teeth; all blanketed in the soft moonlight. He'd been wandering a while; the exact length of time was not one he knew though. All he knew was that he was no longer near where he had started from and, frankly, he was glad. Not like he could go back easily anyway, there had been a ship involved at one point and he was sure getting onto another wouldn't be the easiest, unless it too was haunted. Not likely though. It wasn't like he just stumbled on lingering spirits of the dead constantly, right?
Oh, wait.
No, he did. In fact...a blue-silver wispy shape among the trees caught his eye and he groaned, making sure to keep his face to the ground and continue walking—but it was too late. The wispy figure had noticed that he had noticed it; and essentially sealed his fate. It began to wave at him to get his attention and call. By the powers, why.
Finally he gave in and stepped toward the wayward soul, his sclera fading to black once he neared it; and then it was like he stepped through an unseen doorway as when he went past a certain point suddenly he had both long pointed canid ears and a long plaited tail both green like his hair, black markings scrawled on his body, and silver wisps coming off him as he stopped in front of the spirit. This was, of course, due to his proximity to the spirit. He was Cú Sídhe after all—a guide to spirits to the afterlife.
“Wow! You are! I knew you were one of them, I knew it! I could feel it, and not many can actually see me! Oh wow. I've never seen your kind before but I sure have heard of them! Oh I've always wanted to meet one, and now I have!” The spirit chattered, far too animated and excited for the man's liking, who in turn gave a quiet sigh.
“Yes, that's great. If you've heard of my kind then you know what comes next, right?”
“Oh yes of course! You're a spirit guide—oooooooh. Oh wait, but I can't! I need to stay here!”
The Cú Sídhe sighed once more. “Oh, good. Why exactly do you need to stay here?”
“I need to wait! He's going to be coming for me, and I'm sure he'll be here any day!”
“How long have you been waiting, exactly?”
“Hum...I have no idea! What's the date?” The spirit asked, spinning in place cheerfully.
The man gave the spirit the date and watched as they stopped spinning and seemed to think.
“Wwweeeeeeeeeelllllllllllllll...if that's true...it's been about 300 years!”
“What. It—wow. Okay. Well, I'm pretty sure no one's comin' if it's been that long, so you don't have to wait anymore. Will you come with me now?”
“Nooo you're wrong! He must be! It's super important and I have a message I need to deliver!” the spirit seemed to pout. The man was already tired of this.
“He's 300 years late. Look; what if you just tell me the message and I'll deliver it in your stead?”
“No it's top secret! I can't tell you! I don't even know your name!”
“...It's Ruairí.”
“Oh, okay. Well you know the village waaaaaaay over there? Over past those hills? It's in danger! And I was sent to deliver the message and get aid! There's a city through this forest and he was supposed to come from there and meet me near here!”
Well that was surprisingly easy to get out of them. Ruairí blinked and then looked over his shoulder. They had pointed where he had come from, and he had seen no signs of any village anywhere. Of course, it was 300 years ago whoever this spirit had been had lived. Wait....he faintly recalled hearing of a village in this area being destroyed when no one came to protect them and no word had come back from their messenger. One of the many stories he'd been told on the ship ride over. It was apparently a well known story. He looked back over to the spirit. “...Yeah, okay sure I'll deliver the message. Will you let me guide you now?”
“...No!”
“What? Why not!”
“I like it here! And maybe I can even meet more people!”
Ruairí just stared blankly at the spirit, ears pulling back in annoyance. Why was it always so difficult to get spirits to let him guide them? It was his job! Hell, he was born for the damned task and yet apparently that still wasn't good enough. “Look you—you can't just stay here.”
“Yes I can!”
A deep sigh escaped the Cú Sídhe as another voice spoke up. Silvery-blue eyes turned toward the newcomer but he said nothing to accompany the deadpanned stare he gave instead.
“What? That can't be true! It's always been there! Clearly you must've just missed it.” the spirit said with a glance over at the woman, getting defensive over the statement. “It has the best ale for miles though, a shame you did. And! AND! It isn't lonely! I have a lot of friends. Like, uhm...Jeoffry.”
“.....Jeoffry?”
“Yeah! He's a cute little stick insect. And there's Velma, she's a red squirrel that lives in that tree over there.”
“....You're tellin' me your only friends are bugs and some random squirrel?” Ruairí said flatly, ears laying back in annoyance. “Really, look, you can't stay here. I can't stay here listenin' to you baltherin' for bloody ages, either.”
“I can SO stay here!” The spirit said indignantly, pouting.
“You realise there's beings that eat spirits like you, right? How you haven't been eaten yet is beyond me. Now, unless you want that to happen eventually, just cooperate with me, would you?”
“W-What?” The spirit seemed shocked and slightly horrified of the thought of being eaten. “There's—s-something would eat me?”
Finally, something that seemed to have some effect on the wayward spirit. “Yes. They're drawn to your types so they'd find you eventually.”
The spirit gave a frightened sound and nearly leaped forward, grabbing onto the Cú Sídhe; sending waves of intense cold through him that he never really could get used to. “Okay okay okay! I don't wanna be eaten, please take me with you or whatever you do!”
Oh, good. All he had to do was threaten them, apparently. Well; it was the truth. He honestly had no idea how this one had escaped such a fate all that time. “Good. Stay still—actually, let go of me first, would you?” he grumbled, taking a slight step back. The spirit did so, looking over their shoulder in a paranoid fashion. It was probably a good thing he was getting them to cross over. The wind seemed to pick up very slightly, and the glowing wisps around him seemed to almost burn brightly with whatever odd energy they were made out of as a symbol appeared below the spirit and they began to fade away into a silver light.
A few moments later, they were gone. Thankfully, they hadn't put up any fight at that point. He'd used the simplest variation of the ability to let spirits cross over that he could, knowing they were fairly weak in power—that they seemed to make up in stubbornness.
A moment later Ruairí was in his most human form again and looked over at the woman who had just suddenly appeared. He could tell she was a phoenix; he could sense it clear as day. Perhaps that was due to his race. Finally he gave a slight frown and seemed almost tired as he spoke to her. “Who're you, then?”
The woman frowned sadly at the spirit. What a poor being... Never facing the facts. She really hoped that denial wouldn't put them in hell. Lying and denial was a serious crime. She watched the Cu Sidhe as he worked. It wasn't as interesting as she thought it was going to be. When the man spoke to her she couldn't help but to sigh. What a boring man.
"My name is Edana. A pleasure to meet you... Or so I would say but jeez... You could at least sound more friendly." She allowed her body to heat and small flames sparked around the woman. Tattoos on her arms, chest and ankles glowed and the colors seemed to move like a flame. "No wonder you suck at your job."
How rude. She had come over and attempted to help them and they just stared at her... bored. He looked cold, she almost wondered if her touch would burn him. She had never been too good at regulating her body temperature. The small woman walked around the man examining him. "Lets make a deal." She spoke suddenly after being quiet. However she would wait for the man to speak up again. Though she really wanted to leave the creepy woods. Something about the woods at night just made her skin crawl. She'd never admit she fears what lingers in the dark however.