[Freezair]

"Youth must learn from its folly. We should leave them."

Ikram began to turn her back. And yet... the vibrations she sensed in the air seemed to indicate that the Batti was worried. She seemed like she wanted to intervene. Meddling in the business of others was not Ikram's forte. Distancing herself from the travails of men and beast alike was one of the reasons she had retreated to the mountains. And yet... for now, she had accepted this Batti as her leader. She had made no oath of fealty, but there was an unspoken agreement between them. Ikram would honor her agreements.

"...But, if you wish to stop them, I will follow you. What do you recommend we do?"

[Jaykobell]

The Batti couldn’t tell if she agreed with Ikram’s statement or not. On one hand, she could relate to the boys because she had done quite a few reckless things that had gotten her into trouble – and so, she knew that getting scolded or injured wasn’t all that pleasant. But on the other hand, she would still be doing those reckless things had she not gotten injured and scolded for them. “Live and learn” came to her mind.

But despite that, Ikram seemed to be willing to help her stop the kids from potentially hurting themselves badly. While the eggs were harmless on the outside, there was no telling was could happen if they managed to break one. “Well, there is something I’d like to try on them.”

Putting one hand to her mouth, the Batti started whistling something. The only thing was that Ikram couldn’t hear anything, and nor could anyone; all they could see was the Batti looking like she was whistling at the boys. She seemed to whistle for a little bit until she stopped.

It didn’t take too long afterwards for all three boys to stop arguing abruptly. All three started looking around and over their shoulders, seemingly in a panic. “D-did you hear that?” one of them asked the others, eyes glancing this way and that.

“I sure did. M-maybe we should just leave this thing here and go.”

“Let’s just do that, guys, before we get caught!”

The Batti watched and giggled a little as she watched the three boys drop the egg back where they’d found it and ran away. Once the egg was alone, the Batti walked over and picked it up from the ground. “I don’t know what they heard, but it sounded pretty terrifying.”

[Freezair]

Ikram's already large eyes went wider at the Batti's ability. Even her expansive ears had not picked up on the whistling sounds. But the boys seemed to have heard it just fine, and whatever it had been, it had spooked them greatly. And for that matter, their reaction had shocked Ikram.

She did not raise her bow, but her hand went behind her back to stroke its curve. "W-w-what was that? Was that... sorcery? I-I-I had thought... all could hear and understand the words of a sorcerer!" She took several steps backward from the Batti.

"Are you sorcerer? Or charm woman? Did you make suggestions to them? S-s-speak quickly!" She tried to issue it as a threat, but fear made her voice tremble and quaver. "Charm women are noble women, but I w-w-will not trust my life to a wizard..."

[Jaykobell]

At first, she felt a little sheepish and bad for giving Ikram the wrong idea, but when the other woman started reaching for her bow, the Batti got more anxious.

She quickly tried to hold both eggs tightly with one arm while raising her free arm defensively. "I-I'm not a wizard," she promised the other, feeling the need to step away from Ikram as well, considering she didn't want to be anywhere that bow if it were going to be used against her. "It... could be called magic, I guess, but it's not malevolent. They're selective sound waves I can create. They can only be heard by whoever I want." Well, maybe saying it wasn't malevolent was a little farfetched now, considering the reaction of the boys.

The Batti scratched her head nervously as she continued to explain. "All I did was use specific sound waves to get a reaction out of them." How could she explain it? It was so natural to her that explaining it was like explaining why the sky is blue. "I'm not a wizard, honest. It's just a particular ability my people have."

Hopefully she wouldn't have to start fighting Ikram to escape or run away. Getting one of those arrows stuck in her wings just sounded terrible.

[Freezair]

Cautiously, Ikram took her hand away from her bow. The Batti seemed frightened. Perhaps Ikram had been too hasty.

But the word "Magic" made her uneasy as ever. True, the Leplora herself was a creation of magic. But that was an elder magic, from days long ago. "...Magic, I sometimes do not like," Ikram admitted. "When I was born, there were many wizards. Good wizards. But the foul ones slew the rest. Magic was not... trustworthy, after that."

But she tried to ignore the scene that had just taken place. "Shall I... take this egg-thing?"