Seble sat perched in a tree, a bow in her hand as her eyes scanned the area on the forest floor. In her sight sat an old, abandoned camp, one that looked as if it hadn't been used in years. The stones had mostly been moved away from where what would be thought of a campfire place. However, even that had been overgrown. To most passing by, it wouldn't even look of a campsite, however Seble knew what it was. Which was not for the site, but the large tree beside it.
The bark of the tree was woven together, swirling up to the highest peaks of the tree, covered in vines and life. Though as the days grew shorter and colder, the leaves had drifted from the tree top, leaving it bare and lifeless. Yet it was still the tree, the tree Seble had learned of her entire life, her entire childhood. Her mother was the one to tell stories of the tree, the stories of her grandmother who had passed away, and the tree she raised her son in.
The tree, although from the outside looked normal, was in fact hollow on the inside. Most wouldn't notice at first sight that the tree held a large hole at its base, but Seble's mother always told her about it. Inside, the hollowness echoed up for quite away before the tree had begun to regrown. Why the tree was hollow at the base, Seble had never found out, but she did know that when her dad was younger, he had spent so much time in the tree for protection that he carved the inside full of images. Most of which being drawings of dragons and wolves.
Seble had found the massive tree after Rasnath had disappeared and she left the home the two shared. The memory of Rasnath pained Seble as she sat on the branch of the tree. She truly had loved him, just as she believed he had her. However, one day he disappeared without a word. Seble waited for days, but her heart began to break and she couldn't bare to sit around anymore. It didn't help that Seble and Rasnath's shared friend, Thrazak, continued to whisper words of Rasnath abandoning her into her ear. Deep down, she believed he was right.
So she fled to the Chetwood forests, where she found her father's childhood home. There was another pain that stabbed her in the heart. Although in theory she was never there when her father had been murdered, it was her who gave the permission for it. She never blamed Rasnath for murdering her father, she understood why he did. She could never bring herself to blaming him or being mad at him. In fact, she blamed herself for her father's death, and for that she couldn't forgive herself.
Suddenly, a snap of wood, as if someone stepping down on a twig as they walk through the forest. Seble notched an arrow onto her bow as she aimed it at the target as a large man would seem to show himself in the forests- Seble's forest. However, this man looked different from the other men in the bandits moving through the forest. So instead of shooting him immediately, much how Seble tends to like to do, she lowered her bow and lowered herself to the ground.
The man had paused in that area, giving Seble time to lift her bow again and point an arrow at him before he noticed her. Though the moment he did, he faced her and the two began to talk.
Seble had little trust for anyone on a daily basis, especially people she met in the forests. This man was no different, in fact, he was more of a threat to Seble. He was larger than the average, and he was different from the average. So she did not let her guard down, well, not until he mentioned the Bloody Dawn. In all honesty, Seble did not know that much of the organization, but she did have two friends in the group. It made her want to trust the man, but she didn't.
Instead, she choose to not attack him, but follow him when he went to walk off. He didn't seem to notice her follow her, he just walked and kept walking. However, when he stopped and sat by the edge of the lake, Seble made it clear she was there. She shot arrows into the ground around him, not intending to hurt the man. However Seble did want to scare him from her forests.
It didn't work.
The second attempt Seble tried was an annoying tactic. She had found with many men, if she insulted them enough they would either leave or attack her. At the time, Seble had nothing really binding her to her life anymore, so she was willing to take the risk of the man attacking her. Which is what happened.
The massive man had quite a punch, Seble found. Although she did manage to strike him back, where he had punched her on the side and in the cheek did form deep bruises. Though Seble soon found those to be the lesser of her injuries in those few days. But anyway, the man stopped attacking her after her hood fell down, claiming to not enjoy fighting young girls. Anger burned in her, as she took the comment as an insult to her, but she never let that anger show, instead putting on a condescending mask to cover the pain of her bruises and anger.
Seble had found since the day her father died, she was good at building masks. Typically in times she was afraid. Sarcasm was a large one of those masks, her go to safety net. However, she also would bare the mask of indifference towards a situation she was thrown into. Either way, she managed to wear these masks in such a way few were able to see through them. In fact, the only one ever able to see through Seble's false masks was Rasnath.
A few days after the encounter with the large man, who later Seble found to be a friend by the name of Habjorn, Seble had returned to her forests before turning her path to the Midgewater Marshes. There she followed the steps left behind from one of her fewest friends, Thrazak. The two had formed an odd bond over time of protectiveness between each other. Which was both odd yet natural feeling to Seble.
It didn't take her long to track Thrazak down, who stood at a massive size, much larger than Seble. However, it did not take long for the two to find Seble was not the only one to track Thrazak down. Rasnath had too returned to the forest and follow the footsteps of his old friend. It was true that Thrazak and Rasnath had known each other long before Seble and Thraz had known each other, but it still did not help Rasnath that Thraz and Seble had formed a bond with one another.
The words Seble and Rasnath shared were far from friendly.
"Oh look," Rasnath had said, "there's my wife, who though she could change me."
Anger burned through Seble at his words. She never tried to change him, but she tried to help him. Inside, Seble had always seen Rasnath as a lost boy, who had a monster inside controlling him. She always longed to free the lost boy from the monster, longing to let him be happy. She loved him so deeply, all she wished was he to love her back. She asked for nothing but that, and she prayed the love she desired from him would be enough to help his heart turn to love and turn away from the evil that controlled him. So his words, they ached into her heart and burned her deeply, making her gaze to harden as she snarled out to Rasnath:
"No, your wife who loved you no matter what, and only wished to ever help you."
The words between the two did not grow sweeter as they spoke, but in fact led to their fight. Though Rasnath was not focusing his words on Seble the time she attacked him, but on Thrazak in hopes he'd attack Rasnath. However, Seble grew too angry to wait, lunging forward to the man she loved so dearly, slicing at him with her sword and axe. He fell back, not even fighting back as blood dripped from the wounds Seble had produced. Anger filled her more as she began to scream, and when he raised a knife to throw to her, Seble shot his arm to prevent him. But, she was not fast enough to stop the sword from slicing through her leg, which Rasnath successfully landed. But that was when Thrazak entered the fight, taking Rasnath to the ground. The man didn't even fight back, allowing Thrazak to claw at him, breaking his jaw in the process. Seble cried out for Thrazak to stop, but he wouldn't, not until he felt Rasnath's knife on him and he leapt back.
Seble didn't want to see Rasnath injured. For all the pain and anger she felt, she cried when she saw him covered in blood, and fought to stop him when he held the dagger to his throat. It is odd sometimes how no matter what some people do, you'll always protect them and love them. To Seble, the man in front of her was the man she agreed to marry long before any of their fighting began. She didn't agree out of anything but love, and that compelled her that day to forgive him and fight to heal his wounds.
Seble knew then that no matter how evil others may perceive one, there is no way to judge what was right or wrong. The only true judgment that she could determine was how much do you truly care to fight for someone.
