John is leaning up against a tree. He says to himself “Isn’t like walking in downtown.” They have been walking for about an hour now. Nasha is looking at him impatiently. John quickly starts looking around for something.

Nasha says slightly annoyed “What are you doing?”

John says while still looking around “A piece of wood suitable for a walking stick. It should help me walk better.”

Nasha joins him realizing John has a good idea. They find a stick suitable to John to use and start walking again.

As they walk John notices that Nasha typically keeps herself at about the head height of five and half feet tall.

Soon night has fallen and they make camp for the night. Nasha had gone hunting and has come back with some small game for them to eat. John managed to start a fire, which impressed Nasha a bit. Nasha says to him “So you know how to start a fire at least” as she hands him what looks like a skinned rabbit on a stick.

John says as he sets the meat near the fire “I was a boy scout when I was younger.  I never thought I would be using those skills later in life.” John looks up at the night sky and says “Wow, You can see hundreds of stars.”

Nasha sits next to him and looks up at the stars too saying “What you don’t see any stars where you come from?”

John says “No, the city lights drown them out.” John seems to study them for a bit.

Nasha says “What are you doing?”

John says “hoping to see something familiar up there.”

Nasha says “I doubt you will.”

John says “You may be right there” He checks the meat to see if it is ready.

John starts eating once the meat is ready. He finds that there is not a lot of meat, but he thinks there is enough there to keep his strength up. He notices that Nasha isn’t eating and says to her “Why aren’t you eating.”

Nasha says “I’m not hungry. I got the second one case you needed more.”

John says “I’m good. You should eat away to keep your strength up.”

Nasha says “I know that much.  I’m a hunter by trade.” She then picks up the other piece of meat saying “but you are right, I should eat something” and starts eating as well

John and Nasha get ready for bed after they finish eating. As John lays down he notices that Nasha is moving in a wide circle around the campsite. She then lays down on a matt just big enough to cover her upper body and the start of her tail. John looks confused then he looks around and sees Nasha’s tail encircles the camp site. John realizes that Nasha can’t carry bedding big enough for her whole body. John then closes this eyes and tries to get some sleep.

John wakes to the cold morning light. He finds himself limited in movement as he starts to shift. He looks to his side and sees Nasha next to him asleep with her arms around him. John tries to move only to find that Nasha has also coiled around him. John tries to slip out of the coils, only for Nasha to grab him and tighten her coils around him. John then tries to wake Nasha while trying to escape her grip on him saying “Nasha…Nasha…wake up.” Nasha mumbles something about warmth and tightens even more. John soon realize that Nasha stops tightening when he stops struggling. He is able to get is arms free and starts to try and shake Nasha awake. Suddenly Nasha rolls on to her back bringing John on top of her, face to face. John push up to get some distance between them. She wakes up at that moment and sees him on top of her. John then realizes one of his hands is on her chest and the other has pinned her arm to the ground. John feels Nasha’s coils loosen, then she gives him a look of furry. John quickly seize the moment and pulls out of the coils and runs for it. John can sense her grabbing her weapons as she shouts something at him. But he soon stops and looks back.

Nasha has barely left the campsite. She looks almost sluggish and unable to move much. John can see her fighting herself just to give chase to him and almost collapsing at a point. John walks up to her and says “You’re cold blooded, aren’t you?” Nasha looks up at him, her face still full of anger and he says “You need warmth to be active, don’t you?” Nasha seems to start thinking about that. John says “You coiled around me during the night because you were cold and I was warm.” John walks pass her and starts to get the fire started again. Nasha come back in to the campsite and once again encircles the campsite laying on her belly. John then pulls some branches out of the morning lights way right over her upper body. Nasha looks at him and he says “Sunlight should help warm you up faster.”

Nasha begins to be more active after about an hour and they start to set off. They have barely talked, John can sense Nasha is embarrassed by what a happened earlier and he doesn’t want to upset her anymore. John says “well let’s hope today is as easy as yesterday” as he puts his mask on.

John holds his walking stick up to block an attack. The massive figure stands before him has a sword in hand. John was able to catch his opponent’s arms and stop them from bringing the sword down on him. John looks his opponent in the eyes, their face is covered in scars and two tusk stick up from their mouth.

Nasha had sensed them right before they attack calling them Orcs when she saw them. There were three or four of them in the initial attack. One rushed John while the others tries to get Nasha. Nasha drew a pair of twin daggers and held them in a reversed grip and held her own against two of them.

John pushes his opponent back a swings his walk stick to strike them in the face. John lands a solid hit, but the Orc just turns and looks at John. John has a feeling he just pissed it off more.

Nasha has been slowly backing up to the tree line. With her snakelike body she has been able to avoid all the Orcs attacks. She even injured one of them. Nasha finally knocks one down then quickly turns and starts climbing a nearby tree as she sheathes her daggers. She grabs her bow off her back and lets’ loose an arrow at her opponents, downing one while the other runs for it. She then aims and hits John’s opponent in the back as it stands over him. It staggers back then falls to the ground.

John gets up as Nasha comes down from the tree. John says “I should have known there would be bandits out here.” Nasha moves over to one of the downed Orcs and starts searching the body for things they can use while trying to retrieve her arrow. John knows this is not his world so he leans down and says to the Orc “sorry dude, or dudette” and also starts looking for things they can use. Afterwards John and Nasha move the bodies to the side of the path and continue on.

They soon come across a small river and John decides to clean himself of the dirt and blood. Nasha keeps watch from the path. John hears a commotion downriver after cleaning off and looks to find it.

John sees what looks like a woman on horseback burst through the tree line and almost into the center of the river with several Orcs chasing her. But John then notices that the woman’s waist is attached to where the horse’s head would be. John watches as the woman brings her large sword about and strikes at one of the Orcs. She calls to them and taunts them. They looked confused for a moment then try to encircle her. She donkey kicks one of the Orcs behind her and sends it into another knocking both of them down. The bottom Orc pushes aside his companion, who seems to be either dead or unconscious, and grabs his bow, and starts to notch an arrow. John can see that the female centaur is unaware of the archer and runs towards the archer. John grabs a low-hanging branch and yells “Lookout” right as he swings from the branch and kicks the archer in the face with both feet, knocking him down and sending the arrow way of course. The centauride looks in his direction then goes back to fighting the other Orcs. Soon arrows start flying in, striking the Orcs down. John looks towards the source of the arrows and sees Nasha up high with her bow drawn. The Orcs run when their numbers start to fall.

The Centauride sheath’s her sword when the last Orc leaves. She turns to John and says with a hint of anger in her voice “Why did you intervene?”

John says “You looked outnumbered and unprepared for the archer.” He is finally able to get a good look at her. From the waist up she looks mostly human except for her horse-like ears that stick out to the side and back like they were human ears. She is lean and muscular, John thinks her build would make her at least six feet tall if she were human. Her horse-like lower body is larger than most horses John has seen. The clothes she wears to cover her upper body seem to be made well and her sword looks to be forged steel.

The Centauride looks surprised and says as she turns her head up and away from him with her arms across her chest “well you ruined my training.”

John says “Please tell me you didn’t seek them out just to fight them.”

The Centauride looks at John and says “Only a fool would go looking for a fight. I was training by myself when they attack me.” Once again turning head up and away from John

John says as Nasha joins them in the river “Well my companion and I were just passing by and meant no harm. My name is John and this is my traveling companion Nasha. May I ask your name?”

The Centauride looks at him and says “Kenta, You seem odd.  Not many people outside our kind know our tongue.”

John says with a smile “I am a traveler and I have learned many tongues. If I may ask, do you have a settlement nearby so we can get some more supplies for our journey?”

Kenta says “Yes, follow me.”

Nasha grabs John and says in hushed tone “John what are you doing?”

John says “We need to keep our supplies up and besides the Orcs wont attack a village of centaurs. So we should be safe.” Nasha glares at him and John says “Like or not we can’t turn our backs on an opportunity like this.”

John quickly tries to catch up to Kenta and asks her “Why were you training out hear alone?”

Kenta says “I was preparing myself for a challenge later today.”

John says “oh, I wish you the best of luck then.  Maybe we can watch and cheer you on?” John looks back and sees Nasha is staying back a bit.

Kenta says “Does your companion only talk to you? Is she afraid of me?”

John says “I don’t think so. Why do you ask?”

Kenta says “I heard you talking to her in my tongue.”