[Moofius]

The wind was rather calm, for so high up in the mountains.  Elindess was grateful for that, atleast.  Being one of the cold blooded teigu she knew she couldn't come up here without risking her own mortality.  Perhaps that would be a quicker way to the Gods, but then, she'd be dead.  The teigu was rather knew to the pen, but noticed very early on that most believed in some higher being.  Most (if not all) followed the teaching of the Triumvirate.  Be it they followed Xai're, Zu'hai, Yepha or all three, they all seemed to be rather comfortable on where they stood with these beings.  She felt left out, unsure.  Who were these Gods?  Whaqt did they mean to her?  She'd gone her whole life not caring and now she wondered if maybe it was time to do some research, find out what the big deal was.  Where else to start but the Great Basantha shrine, right?

She was regretting the decision though, when she realised just how cold it was in the mountains.  She'd changed to her human form; small yet oddly lanky.  Lanky was saved for tall people but Elindess proved that wrong.  She was, at best, five feet in this form but closer to four feet and 10 inches.  She wore over sized arm warmers and leg warmers that matched the colour of her natural colours as a mint teigu.  Elindess didn't trust her arms, they always seemed to knock into something; atleast in this form.  So, to keep from harming others (and herself) she kept them tucked infront of her, fingers playing over her lips.  She looked shy, uncomfortable and cold.

Blue eyes stayed on the ground, looking up now and then to make sure she was still on the right track to the Shrine.  She wished it wasn't so cold, but the Shrine was ahead.  Once at the base of the stairs she booted it, running to the heavy doors and pulling hard.  The door opened easily.  Just because she was small didn't mean she didn't have some muscle, especially with motivation like warmth.
Closing the door behind herself, she set off down one hall to find a source of heat.  The Gods could wait for her to warm up, right?

[Kyrit]

Three.... Two... One.. Pounce! His heavy crystal body fell from atop a statue, crashing to the ground with his paws gently cupping a tiny little mouse. The loud noise from his body slamming in to the ground might've scared it to death, but he had been careful to do no physical harm. Pulling his paws slightly away from one another, the Emerald Hunter's eyes peered in at the little creature and gave a small chuckle. Moments later it was scurrying away, not harm done by the over grown feline.

"You're going to scare away visitors to the shrine..." a tired voice drew out from underneath a hood with a sigh. "They hear such racket echoing through these halls and they'll run out of the door the moment they came in." Yerenthor, a Sky Serraptor in human form, knew many Hunter quite well. Mostly Kh're though. He had taken it upon himself as sort of a parental figure of sorts. Always trying to straighten him out, make him calm down a bit.

This time, Kh're wasn't about to calm down that easily. He was bored for crying out loud! All the others told him to stop bothering them, so what else was he to do? Well, for now he had found a new target. Quite agile, his body swept from where it had been to pounce upon the poor monk, knocking him down to the stone floor. Unharmed, well maybe a bump on the head, and with a stern look on his face, which didn't seem to last long as he saw how happy the Hunter was. A Hunter... wagging its tail was quite the odd sight. They weren't dogs after all.

(Hehe. Yerenthor won't continue on with them, but I figured it'd be neat to have someone that knows him. One of those 'if you bonded to me we'd both be in misery. You'd still be in Basantha and I'd have to put up with you even more'. XD *pets Elindess* Scary noises~ o-o)

[Moofius]

Huh.  She wasn't expecting it to be this quiet.

Elindess had found a fire they had going for new arrivals which Elindess was basking in gratefully, she'd stay here a moment longer, go back to being a teigu and-

CRASH!

The teigu froze, starring into the fire, her eyes wide.  What was that?  Her gaze returned to the front door.  Maybe, maybe it would best if she left now, before whatever had crashed would get her.  She stood up, her arms pulled up against her chest hands and arm warmers doing a fine job of hiding her face.  Yes maybe leaving would be for the best.  It was quiet again though, only the sound of the fire crackling, her own breathing and the murmuring of monks further down the hall.

At the other end of this entrance were three statues.  They had to be the Gods.  Her attention went between the door to the outside, the cold, but away from the unknown and to the three halls at the other end with the statues of the three Gods and muttering monks.  Elindess gathered her courage (which didn't take long as she didn't have much of it) and set off towards the statues.  Which God was which? She didn't even know enough about them to know if Za'ire... no, Xai're, was the one with the mekkayena or maybe the cup?  She'd rather avoid anything to do with... Xai're was the death god, right? well she didn't want to provoke ending her life by going down his hall.  Perhaps she could... Could visit the God of Life... But which hall was that?

She stood infront of all three, looking back and forth between them before finally decided to use eeny-meeny-miney-moe.  She picked the Hall of the Lost.  She didn't know that, of course, she had no idea what she was doing.  But first she had to get comfortable.  Shutting her eyes she concentrated on shifting from this human form to one that was comfortable and better known.  The teigu, now clearly a teigu, stepped forward into the hall of the lost.

[Kyrit]

Eeny-meeny-miney-moe seemed to have a way of betraying people. Not only had it picked the longest hall to walk down, but also the darkest and coldest room. Had she gone down one of the other halls, there would have been candle light and warmth. This was was barren though. Cold, only the light from a tiny hole in the roof... and some beast attacking a monk!?

Okay, well it wasn't attacking but when someone first came in it was highly likely that it would like like that. Kh're, being ontop of Yerenthor and in turn the monk trying to shove the huge beast off of him. Likely looked like he was fighting for his life to get him away. When the Serraptor succeed in finally causing the crystal beast to tumble over on his side, causing more racket, it did not last long at all. Kh're had bounced back up and pounced right back on him.

Must've been lovely to see a Hunter 'attacking' someone for the first time meeting one. Could probably be taken as Hunters actually being vile beasts that needed to stay locked away within these halls forever instead of being freed. "Come on. Get off already." came the gruff words of Yere, tired of 'fighting' to free himself from being underneath the heavy beast.

[Moofius]

It didn't take long for Elindess to feel the affects of the colder area of the shrine.  Her movements were sluggish.  She was more dragging her feet then really walking.  The thick tail dragged behind her, the sound like that of a large snake pulling itself along stone.  Her claws clicked softly against the ground.  She wasn't being quiet, she didn't make much noise naturally, even the clicking of her claws was very quiet so when she came upon the scene, chances were she hadn't been noticed.

Being terribly lathargic because of the cold it took Elindess a moment to access the situation.  Big scary crystal monster on top of monk she should be feeling.... scared.  Right.  Though she really hadn't figured out what she was seeing till she was out in the open.  She tried to slink back the way she'd come, maybe go and get help for the monk.  Elindess wasn't a fighter even when she was fully concious.  But just as she was turning around her thick tail betrayed her, knocking something over.  Her attention snapped towards whatever had fallen (and by snap I mean turned-very-slowly), then back up towards the blood bath she was trying to avoid.

There was no blood. So how was it a blood bath? A part of her mind wandered down that train of thought as the rest of her mind worked on how to get away.  Blood pumped through her veins atleast a little faster, but not fast enough that she could really run, just lumber away quickly.
"Perhaps I'll just meet the gods, face to face. Probably the best way to figure them out," Elindess said to herself, trying not to slur the words as her mind worked on the fact that she was probably going to die right here.

[Kyrit]

Well if there was on way to let it be known that she was there, it was the noise of something crashing to the floor below. His head jerked up instantly and the human form Serraptor let out a small grunt as he felt the Hunter spring-board off of him in the direction of whatever the noise had been. Large cat made out of fancy rocks plus jumping meant a good bit of pressure on whatever it was jumping off of after all.

What was this creature? Something new had finally came to the shrine. Bounding toward her, Kh're slid to a stop in front of her, nose almost bumping in to her. No fangs met flesh, no blood was spilled. This beast hadn't attacked her after all. "Hey! Hey! I've never seen you around here before!" his voice squeaked out cheerfully, fidgeting a bit.

Pushing himself in to a sitting up position, Yere let out a small sigh before calling out, "You know... You could be the reason we're getting less visitors to the shrine these days. You're going to scare everyone off if you keep running around like some crazed monster." He pushed himself to his feet and brushed off his robe before beginning to slowly walk toward the two of them. With any luck he'd be able to explain that she hadn't seen anything horrible. He figured from where she was and how she tried to take off, it must have seemed like his life was going to come to an end.

"I'm sorry if this big brute scared you, little one.." He was unsure as to if Elindess was male or female, so just used what he could come up with. "I assure you that he's completely harmless though."

[Moofius]

Elindess was turned around almost in a full circle, her tail wrapped loosely about her as she shut her eyes and waited for it to all be over.  If the gods granted second chances, new lives, she reminded herself to never come back to Basantha.  But nothing seemed to happen, the clinking of crystal on stone stopped right in front her her.  Slowly she left one long ear towards, where she assumed, the crystal beast was.  At the same time she opened one eye seeing the beast right infront of her, it seemed excited.  Perhaps it had never had Teigu.
Today's your lucky day...

But then... Had it just said something? Her other eye opened slowly, a sort of frown on her lips.  What had it squeaked?  Never having been here...  Something about her...?
"Wha...?"

The mauled monk was talking, her attention turned to him.  Elindess found that he didn't look mauled, maybe a bit ruffled, but not mauled.  Did mauled people speak in legible sentences?  She decided not to wonder that, it would only upset her more about her own mauling that was to come.  She sat down then, finding she was too tired to remain standing.  Big brute... meant no harm?
"But he was..." Elindess frowned, returning her attention to the crystal creature, barely missing hitting in the head with her own head, "Ah sorry... Wait..." She squinted at the crystal cat.  Crystal cat... Now why did that...?
"Oh!" she gasped, eyes opening wide, "You're a... a erm..." she frowned, having lost her train of thought.  It was too cold.
"You're a... a hunter, right?" she asked.  Were hunters mean? well he didn't seem really mean, atleast not killer mean.  If he was a killer she really doubted she'd be thinking at the moment.

[Kyrit]

Poor dear. Judging by how she had just sat there, stiff as a board, she really had been given quite the fright by him. He would give Kh're a nice long talk later about the importance of not cashing after those that were doing their best to run away. Moving a bit closer, he waited to see if Kh're could answer her question without causing her to have a heart attack.

Inching a tiny bit closer to the Teigu, the feline gave a few quick nods. "Uh-huh! Yup yup! In the fle... uh, stone! What're you? I've never seen something like you before! You're almost the same color as me even! But, you have skin and-" His words never seemed to end. Just a jumbled mass of words that continued on and on. What gave him so much energy to chatter, fidget, and all around be so hyper in a place where there was almost no light and definitely no heat?

Then again, it was only natural, in his opinion, to be curious. He didn't get to see many new things these days. Most of the time if he saw a person they either didn't notice him(haha. Not notice a Hunter?), or went running because he accidentally scared them. Shouldn't they have known though that Hunters were vicious beasts? Or maybe they didn't know about Hunters at all. Just like he didn't know about whatever this little creature was infront of him. Just about all he saw these days were monks, who had learned to pay him no mind for the most part, other Hunters, who deemed him as far too troublesome to bother with, the stray Mekkayena here and there that he quickly tried to make sure didn't see him, and a few humans that didn't seem to manage to see him.

[Moofius]

From his quick speech Elindess gathered that he was a hunter and he didn't know what she was.  Man he sure did talk fast.  Even when fully awake Elindess wasn't a huge talker, she kept to herself.  Probably one of the leading reasons that she didn't know the Gods or any of the like.
"I'm a," she paused, opening her mouth wide in yawn.  She had rows of smaller, rounded teeth.  Good for eating vegetation or maybe bugs.  The whole of the teigu was rather non threatening (even her tongue looked friendly and pink), besides the claws which were only minimally so.  They looked more accustomed to helping her grip onto things then slashing anything open.  Her ears drooped back down, blinking lethargically at him.  How could he be so hyper?
"I'm a teigu. A mint teigu to be more precise..." Was there something more she wanted to say? She couldn't think of it right now... or...

"I'm .... I'm Elindess..." said said, raising her right arm to wipe at her eyes, "Is there anyplace warm I could go?" It was one thing to find a cool spot to catch a few z's, another to try and have a conversation in the cold.  She didn't mind hyper people, they were rather fun to watch, but in this state it was much to difficult for Elindess.  The cold had played a good part in allowing her to meet the odd hunter and this monk.  Had she been warm enough to run away she wouldn't have gotten to know him.  He really was rather curious and... She didn't know his name yet.  She wanted to ask but another yawn stopped her.

And what about the Monk? She had so many questions to ask but her attention span was short right now and her thought processing ability was hindered by the cold.  She hoped that she didn't look stupid.  She wouldn't be making a good first impression for teigu's if she did.  Really she wasn't stupid, not overly intelligent, but not stupid.  Or slow, goodness know she usually understood things when they were explained.  This really was the cold, it slowed everything down.

[Kyrit]

As the Teigu's mouth opened in a wide yawn, Kh're's face got a bit closer, peering in at the little rounded teeth and pink tongue. He pulled back as her mouth started to shut once again though, knowing that he was quite possibly close enough that those little rounded teeth would accidentally hit crystal and it would exactly feel great for her. Probably wouldn't even bother him, but biting crystal didn't seem like it would be the best taste in the world for something that looked like its teeth couldn't even tear apart meat.

So, she was a Mint Teigu? What were those? Were they mammals? Were they bugs? Well, okay. The second one was sort of obvious, but those were the sort of questions that were currently running through his head. Scales... Seemed to have scales. Reptile? Cold blooded? Oh! Maybe that was why she was yawning so much! "Endless? That's a funny name!" he quickly let out a sorry as he received a 'No, she said Elindess' from the monk that was now standing directly beside him.

"Erm~ There's no warmth anywhere close to this room really." he let out a small laugh at the thought of this room being warm. Heat? Someone had certainly told her to go down the wrong hallway for that one.

"I'd advise we slip over to The Halls Of Purity. It's safe to say that's likely the warmest room within the shrine." The Serraptor had finally slipped in a bit more useful information. He was always here though, so it was only natural that he would know where to go to get warmed back up. "Would you like for us to escort you there, Miss Elindess?"

Escort? Oh? She wasn't going to run away the moment that she figured out where to go for heat? Well, maybe she still would. Depending on what she said he'd figure out. Kh're was really hoping that they'd get to go with her though. It'd be great to get to talk to her and figure out more about what a Teigu was! Maybe she'd talk to him more if she was warmed up. "Yeah, yeah! We can take you there! Yerenthor and I know this place like I know the back of my paw!" Quite luckily, he didn't end up saying anything along the lines of 'Hey.. Where'd that come from?' about his paw.

[Moofius]

She actually giggled when he called her Endless.  She'd never thought about what her name might sound like to others.  Endless.  That was rather nice too, but it was a word.  She'd always found names that were words kind of strange.  Lily?  Just weird; Lily wasn't a name it was a flower... and her mind had wandered a bit.  She shook her head, really trying to focus.

Of course she'd managed to pick the one hall with no warmth.  Elindess was rather good at making bad decisions; atleast that was how it seemed to her at the moment.  First coming up to Basantha in the unholy cold, then going down the one hall that was dark, creepy and of course cold.  But this meeting was making up for it.  She had a sort of guide, now.  Two, actually, if the monk decided to stay.
"I'd like an escort," she said quietly, trying very hard not to  doze off right then and there.  Maybe if she got up and moved she could stay awake.  She was surprised by the effort it took for her to get off her  butt, she paced to wake herself.
"Chances are I'd," yawn, "get lost getting back.  I don't know what hall I'm in right now, much less where the Hall of Purity is.  I feel rather stupid for," yet another yawn, "coming down here.  I'm glad though that I met.... Somebody who might beable to help me," she sounded (tired) grateful.  Really the two were great so far (besides the whole, thinking she was going to die bit.  Oddly enough her slow reactions sped up her ability to get over the shock she'd barely felt) and friendly.  Especially the hunter, she'd heard they were a rather glum bunch.  Though she really didn't know much on hunters, either.  Perhaps if she had she wouldn't have come to Basantha.

[Kyrit]

More laughter came from the Hunter. Get lost on the way back.. and she was in the Halls Of The Lost! How silly~ Were Teigu always this silly? Maybe it was just her? Either way, his laughter died down a bit after a sharp glance from Yere. "Sorry. Sorry." Still a bit chuckling, but not too loud. "I couldn't help it~ This is the Halls Of The Lost by the way, Elindess." He was still laughing quite loudly in his mind though. Seemed like it didn't take much to amuse him.

"Come now. If we just keep standing around we'll only get colder by the minute." His hands slipped inside the hood of his robe, pulling the white and blue scarf that had been wrapped around his neck and tucked in the robe for warmth. "Here. You may wrap this around yourself until we manage to get you to the other room and warmed up." He knew what it was like for a reptile to get too cold. Was a Serraptor after all. He had just gotten used to this place by now, doing things like wearing layers under his robe.

As Yerenthor offered up his scarf to the lady of their odd little group, Kh're bounded toward the entrance and hopped in to the hallway to strike a pose like a proud lion cub that had pounced on its first mouse, trying to show off to its mother.

[Moofius]

When the joke was explained to her she, too, laughed.  Well that seemed rather appropriate.  Lost in the hall of the Lost?  She wondered how many were lost here... She was glad for the monk who was taking care of the situation.  If had just been her and the hunter she might have gone into hibernation and remained in the hall of the Lost until somebody decided to be kind and haul her heavy reptilian form into the warmth.
"Thank you so much," Elindess said, padding towards the monk and stretching up to accept the scarf.  With clumsy fingers she wrapped the warm scarf around her neck and draped it over her back.  It wasn't fantastically warm like a fireplace but enough to revive her vitality a bit.  Enough to get her out of the hall and maybe even keep her attention on her two companions.

"So... I meant to ask earlier, but what are your names?" she asked, walking with the monk.  The hunter had run off ahead and she wasn't sure she had the energy to run just yet.  Even if she had she was nowhere near as fast as the hunter.  Besides, the monk seemed to have a better attention span for short and sweet answers.  Elindess couldn't handle ranting answers at the moment.  In the hall of the Lost it seemed more likely she'd get lost in a long winded explanation.
"And why are you in such a cold hall way?" she looked around.  The whole hall of the lost, from what little she'd seen of it, was rather depressing.  Just because somebody was lost didn't mean they had to be sad.  The whole hall leaked a sort of feeling she didn't really like.  But then she was cold and tired and maybe a little bit nervous still.

[Kyrit]

"My name is Yerenthor." A much more calm reply than she would have received had she been talking to Kh're. Maybe he was usually chipper and bouncy too but was sluggish for the same reason she was. No, no.. Surely he was always like this. Since when was there a happy monk? Things just didn't work that way. "You may call me Yere if you so wish though. That's what our dear friend prefers to call me. As for him.. His name is Kh're."

He was about to answer the second question when the Hunter had made his way back to them. "Yere tells me it's not very safe to be out when lots of people are around. Said seeing a Hunter would cause too much commotion. So I was back here waiting for things to calm down."

"Yes.. Seeing a Hunter, especially one like him, appear in a large crowd of people would cause quite the stir. He also tends to cause trouble from time to time, so it's just all around safer for him to stay in one of the calmer halls. Some people were complaining about scary noises, so I had to come see what he was doing." Poor dear. She had only been looking for simple answers, yet it seemed as though everything had drug out so much. Oh well. They were passing time at least on their way.

"Hey. Hey. Elindess!" Kh're bounced over to her side, rump raised a bit higher than his shoulders as he wiggled it sort of like a puppy. "Wanna ride on my back? Wanna? Could get there a lot faster!"

[Moofius]

"It's nice to meet the both of you,"  the teigu was all smiles.  Maybe a tad on the sleepy side, but still friendly and smiling.  She'd been scared earlier but now she knew they meant her no harm.  Kh're was just hyper and Yerenthor was just making sure he didn't get himself into trouble.  So not all hunters were as hyper as Kh're or else all the monks here would have to do what Yerenthor did.  Hunter sitting; the very idea seemed just so silly Elindess laughed to herself quietly.  That would be a pretty difficult job, she decided and was happy she didn't have to stay here all the time.  She would never beable to handle the hall of the lost.  Though she seemed to be doing okay now.  Maybe if she bundled up...

But she had to stop thinking on that (she couldn't multi-task her thoughts just yet, still too cold for multi-tasking which wasn't a strong point for her anyway) when Kh're bounded back.  He really was cute, running and jumping around like that.  She couldn't help but respect somebody who could keep their spirits up in this hall.  But even with all that respect and happy feelings to see this hunter happy she couldn't help but frown at the offer.

"Er, ride?  Well... I don't know, I mean," she shifted nervously.  Not because of him being there, but the offer.  She'd never ridden another creature.  Looking up at his back the frown did not feel comforted.  What if she fell off?  She'd have nothing to hold onto.  She voiced her concern and paused before adding, quietly,
"Will you go very fast?  If it was a bit on the slower side..... maaaybe," she said, drawing out the word, "I mean, if you're sure.  I'd... I'm not as light as I may look,"
To be honest she felt she looked rather heavy.  Mostly because of how thick her tail and limbs were.