Arizium

Chapter 27

Arro trudged alongside Phoenix, Amaria and Raven as they picked their way through weeds and trees. She was thankful for the silence that had fallen over their party, Amaria's previous lame attempts at small talk only ever served to annoy Arro further. Every time the little princess opened her mouth, Arro regretted not killing her. Their animals skipped alongside them, sometimes running off in search of prey, but always coming back empty handed.

Her mind inadvertently took her to her past, before she was a she. Back then, people called her Tomas instead of Arden and told her to chop wood instead of sew and cook. She was male, through and through, but somehow her thoughts screamed "Female" right back at her. At first she thought she was one of the Oras, those that strayed outside of gender, and usually outside of society, but she had immediately rejected the idea as soon as she began to think of herself as female. Having the wrong parts as well as the wrong mindset nearly made her give up on her endeavor, but she could not shake the feeling that she was destined to be a girl instead of a boy, a mother instead of a father.

She remembered her father's anger when she told him that she wasn't his son, but his daughter trapped inside a male's body. She still felt the sting of his fist and feet as he battered her and screamed that it was "Madness" and that "Tomas" better snap out of it quick before "he" got another bashing. She remembered her mother waiting for her husband to finish, and then scooping her up and telling her that everything would be okay. Arden was not stupid, she knew that nothing would ever be okay as long as she had these thoughts.

Not long after that, she finally decided to run away. Frustrated with society's dis-acceptance with her, she roamed the streets, begging and stealing for weeks on end, until she heard of this secret organization known as the Cilse. She hadn't even scratched a man before enlisting, but eventually the bow became more familiar, and her targets much easier to kill. Once she earned her place among them, she claimed the alias Arro and they branded her, marked for a life of servitude in the shape of a "C" on her chest.

Not once did she regret her choices. Not once did she fail a contract. Not once had she believed that the people she killed deserved to live, especially because they simply could not accept her as a woman. She failed the Vlivian contract only because she was unaware that Amaria was still a child. Children were not to blame for society's faults.

Her hand strayed to her chest, finding it flat and... male. Her dream was to simply wake up one day and find that her body matched her mind, but every morning was just another disappointment.

"Arro!" Someone shouted her alias and tore her from her mourning.

"What the fuck do you want." She growled, more than annoyed at the interruption.

"I asked if you knew where any villages or anything were around here." Phoenix said calmly.

"No." She lied, of course she could easily turn into a bird and fly over the treetops as a scout, but being so far from Guertena was difficult. Arden craved that bond between her and her little grey fox that accepted her for who she was without complaint, she could not stand being even a hundred paces away from the little ball of fur, much less half a mile or so.

Phoenix sighed, "Amaria, ask Lucius if Wolf has had any luck hunting lately." With a nod the Vlivian fell silent as she did a weird magic mind thing with her equally dolt-ish brother.

"He said that Wolf is not hunting since you are not around to command him to do it, but Madelina and Lynx have tried and they both have yet to find even a burrow."

Phoenix pushed her hair out of her eyes, "Then we will just have to starve until we find some inn or something. Hopefully they have at least some food, even berries would help." Raven let out a small groan at the thought of not eating and Arden had to sympathize with her, mostly because Arden could actually stand Raven and her sarcastic and quiet ways. She at least didn't flap her mouth as much as everyone else seemed so keen on doing, and Arden was eternally grateful for that.

"Are there even any berries we can eat?" Amaria asked.

Raven shook her head, "They are all poisonous, but if you want to take one, then be my guest, I won't stop you." Yes please take one.  Arden couldn't help but encourage the princess's death.

Arden had to admit that she was eager to find a village, she hoped that maybe she could find a way to slither back home and go back to peacefully working as a ruthless killer. The Vlivian contract had broken her drought of work, but now that that had fallen through she yearned for blood. /The contract fell through/ she thought sadly. Her boss would probably starve her of contracts for a moon as punishment once he got word of it. What am I supposed to do if I can't kill? Live a normal life? no matter how much she entertained the idea of attempting to live as a civilized subject of Armoria (A/N: Remember that's the name of the continent, I realize it's been awhile since I've mentioned it), she could not rid her need of adventure and excitement. Besides, she could never be normal with Guertena around I don't think shape-shifting is considered normal and civilized, she reflected and glanced down at her best friend, who took a second to nibble on some grass before scampering back up to Arden.

Tired of walking on two legs, she transformed until she was a mirror of Guertena. Doing so was a strenious process, as it molded your bones down and replaced your skin and clothes for fur and claws. How her clothes remained when she became human remained a mystery to Arden.

As a fox, she didn't have to worry about being male or female, she could just be a fox. No one would know the difference nor would they care, she batted at Guertena playfully and rolled away when she retaliated.

"Arro." Phoenix called her again.

With an annoyed huff Arden turned human and yelled back "Now what?"

"Mind scouting ahead?"

"Gladly" She muttered, and ran past the trio. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to be looking for, but she took any excuse to be away from people. They're easier to deal with when they're dead, she reflected coldly and strolled ahead.

(A/N: okay when i first wrote this it was way better than this, but I made the mistake of writing it on my iPod and the whole thing accidentally got deleted so I had to rewrite it *frustrated sigh*. This is a horrible substitute, but it has to suffice because I can't remember most of the original (totally not because I read Game of Thrones for 5 hours after it got deleted and before I got the courage to rewrite whaaaaaaat)

Anyway. Yaaaay backstory.)