A taste of the future

As Ryu and Tayana walked back together towards the entrance of the Nexus, Ryu tried talking to his companion a bit more. He was particularly curious about how a society could survive in this place, and how the sylvan society was made up. He didn't always get a willing answer, but he did find out quite a bit. Tyrana was one of 5 Sylvan society groups still left on this continent, apparently called Gha's Im'dar by the Sylvan people. Being neither the biggest nor the smallest society, Tyrana had a population of about 35.000, from which the most part (27.000) lived up in the huge branches of the Nexus. Well...that's what she said, Ryu had a hard time believing it. Furthermore a whopping 10.000 the population were soldiers, either part-time or full-time, called elites. This particular Sylvan Society was one of mainly warrior caste. Tyrana's crest was a golden bird on top of a dark green tree, presumably the Sey'in Tree. Because of the categorization of Tyrana's layout (Magic, Mundane and public services) there were 4 rulers at all times. The 3 smallest, each corresponding to one group, had to answer to the last one being the Oracle, the political and religious leader of Tyrana.
Ryu felt a good bit of interest for the sylvan people but he still had a hard time focusing his thoughts. Whatever effects of the healing broth, he still felt quite woozy in the head and he had to constantly think about Kaz, dark feelings that seemed to infest and fester in his mind. It seemed to be written on his face as Tayana suddenly yelled out. "Ryu watch o--"
But it was too late, Ryu saw a flash of a person in front of him before being harshly bumped into and losing his balance. As he looked up from lying on his back a male voice sneered at him "Watch out where ya walk, fool." Ryu didn't feel like kindly taking the insult and prepared a retort as he scrambled up "Look here you, I'm sorry bu--" His sentence was cut short as he received a violent shove, pushing him out of balance and into Tayana. Luckily she was alert enough to keep him on his feet. "Look who we have here, the hu'man that was collected from his early grave. And the mysterious little punk girl under protection from the Oracle. It's fun time boys... " Menacingly, 3 elven youths stood besides each other, barring the way. "Look, we don't want any trouble, just-" Ryu began, but was cut short by laughter. The apparent leader stepped forward and raised his fist towards Ryu. "Just nothing, you filthy k'hran, we don't know how you got here in our lands, but we have no need for the likes of you. And we'll be making that very clear now..."
As Ryu tried to confront them, Tayana held him back by his arm. Drawing him close for a moment she whispered. "Stupid, don't underestimate them. Those are warrior's clan members. The one in the middle is Dho'kas, brother of the leader's best pupil. They're lots of trouble. Don't take them lightly..." But after looking into Ryu's eyes she nodded slightly and whispered "...too much."
Ryu suppressed as smile and nodded back, turning towards the three punks. He stepped up to Dho'kas , faces closed together. Ryu began "What's your problem dickhead? trying to mark your territory here? I've seen enough punk-ass weaklings like you where I come from, and I'm pretty sure they were worth more than you. So just piss off and let us pass." Dho'kas' face turned bright red at the insults and his scowl deepened as he felt his favourable position being threatened. Ryu sensed movement to his right as Dho'kas glanced at his cronies. Instinct made him trip backwards, a fall that was barely controlled, making Ryu hit his elbow harshly on the stone tiles. As he gazed up he saw a closed fist where his head was a moment before.
"Son of a bitch."
Suddenly he noticed Tayana running towards him. He rolled back and crouched low as Dhokas' buddies lunged forward. Quickly dodging the first adversary he punched the other one neatly in the stomach, making him double up. The following swift knee to the chin quickly fell him. Ryu spun around as the remaining punk scrambled up and started towards him. All the time Dhokas quietly hung back, observing the unveiling fight. Ryu quickly established his balance and dropped into a street fighter's stance waiting for the punk to come to him. Adrenaline was high in his blood, and despite last night's "recovery" he felt no ill effects.
"Come on you bastards!"
As soon as his enemy got closer, Ryu darted to the side and launched a low side kick at his knees, making him drop down with an agonized shout. A sharp pain suddenly hit Ryu on the back of his head. As he glanced he saw Dhokas standing behind him with what seemed to be a wooden practice blade in his hand and a very broad grin on his face. The blade rose and Ryu prepared for the pain as descended towards his skull. But instead of a numbing pain he saw a dark purple figure block Dhokas' blow and pull him back. Ryu tried to focus and saw that it was Tanaya who had interrupted his offender. Dhokas wrenched free and called for the first punk that Ryu felled, who had regained his posure and was limping towards Tanaya, knife in hand. Spinning easily, she back-handed the guy harshly in his face, making blood splutter everywhere from his mouth. Dhokas took a swipe at her head, but she ducked neatly and arched her back as she slammed her heel in Dhokas' face with a sublime forward bend. Dhokas staggered back and Tanaya ducked low, sweeping Dhokas of his feet, landing him on his back with a bash. Standing up in a fluid motion she brushed her hair out of her face as she quickly grinned and winked at Ryu. He nodded and grinned back. "Nice!" He also hoped that she wouldn't notice the blush he suddenly felt on his cheeks, he was unsure himself why he was blushing now.
The sudden sound of rushed footsteps made them both spin around in alarm. Ryu dropped back low in his stance, fearing for more goon buddies. A sudden Tayana seemed to relax, but Ryu noticed that her hands were crossed behind her back, which seemed an unlikely pose for her. Probably hiding something...
A heavy voice seemed to come with the footsteps. "What in the hells is going here?"

Life's wisdom!

We're here with you this time to share a bit of internet wisdom which happened to come true lately. It's not 100% accurate to the situation, but the gist of it is present.
(Taken from www.bash.org, link at the bottom!)

A woman has a close male friend. This means that he is probably interested in her, which is why he hangs around so much. She sees him strictly as a friend. This always starts out with, you're a great guy, but I don't like you in that way. This is roughly the equivalent for the guy of going to a job interview and the company saying, You have a great resume, you have all the qualifications we are looking for, but we're not going to hire you. We will, however, use your resume as the basis for comparison for all other applicants. But, we're going to hire somebody who is far less qualified and is probably an alcoholic. And if he doesn't work out, we'll hire somebody else, but still not you. In fact, we will never hire you. But we will call you from time to time to complain about the person that we hired.

Life's wisdom!

--Warynn and Mor Rioghain