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Shaheen didn't give two shakes of a tail feather over the small hut she had once called her own. The reason she had left Thrain a note to meet with her had very little to do with anything, and most definitely had nothing to do with the possibility of teaching him how to rebuild. No, she had sent that note for one reason, and one reason only.

She was, for lack of a better word, lonely. Shik had gone off to who knows where to do who knows what, and for the last two days she had spent her time holed up in the house, mostly alone save for when the executioners sister was in, wondering where her roomate had mysteriously disappeared to, wondering if he had given up on her so soon, after saying that he would not....

No no no...she couldn't just give in to the whispers in her head, the ones that surged forward to feed her self doubt and paranoia. Wherever he had gone off to, there was no reason to panic. Even if she had basically been relying on him to help her, to keep what little of her there was left sane, sane. No, what she needed was a distraction, a way to take her mind off of him, off of the voices in her head, and the way she was sure she could visibly see the grey swirls creeping steadily across her skin.

Still, when she heard the foot steps that pounded against the ground, and when an impossibly large shadow fell across where she stood in wait, she turned her head, with just the smallest fleeting hope that it would be to the sight of dark hair and skin, and wings spread out in greeting.

It was not.

"Thrain." She greeted the man with a wan smile, her eyes circled in darkness from lack of sleep. "I am glad you came." Her gaze couldn't seem to settle just on him, however, as she continuously glanced beyond him, and to each side, and sometimes behind herself.

"I..I thought that maybe you would like to spar with me."

It was the best distraction she could hope to come up with.

Of course it made sense when he said it out loud. She had left him a note, a summoning to meet with her. Why wouldn't he show up? Why would she wait, with anticipation and anxiety both clawing their way up inside of her, threatening to explode out of her at any moment and send her fleeing for the relative safety of the forest once more. A place where she could just be alone with the voices in her head. A place where nobody could see her, where she could hide away and never come back again.....

She had gotten a distant look in her eyes, like she had completely spaced out for a moment, only to snap back to attention as the rest of Thrain's words suddenly sank in.

"Fiend?" She focused her golden eyes on Thrain, her voice lilting with a note of confusion. "You mean Shikoba?" Shikoba was gone, he had left after saying he wouldn't leave. He wasn't coming back. He wasn't coming bac---

She closed her eyes and gave a sharp shake of her head as though to clear it, and took in a deep breath to fight against the sudden rising panic."No. No he is..." Her voice sounded so hoarse. Weak. Why was she so weak? She cleared her throat and opened her eyes once more. "He's gone. Likely away on some mundane task or maybe he decided to go on a hunting trip. I don't know how should I know I'm not his keeper he certainly doesn't need to tell me what he's doing or need my permission or anything like tha---" She quickly snapped her mouth shut. Now she was rambling! This was quickly becoming the worst idea she'd ever had.

"YES a spar would make me feel much better, thanks." Finally they could get off the topic that was causing her a world of discomfort right now.

"No talking." She gave another sharp shake of her head, her hair, which was tighed in a high pony tail, whipped around her shoulders.

And then she summoned her dagger, because fighting yes please can we start now?

In all absolute honesty, Thrain should have understood why Shaheen seemed so uptight, so confused, so off. The little gray tendrils that crawled across her skin were easy to see for she had not bothered to hide them like others. There was too much pride in her to do such a thing and the Guardian had heard tale of the disease that rotted one from the inside until they were a farce of their former selves. Maybe it was because of how prideful the war horesewoman was that Thrain just assumed her affliction did not really bother her. Never before had she really shown weakness, especially not to him, but the Guardian was just a little dense to understand that.
"Shikoba? That's his name?" What a fun little factoid! Didn't really improve his opinion of the man, not that Thrain had honestly really formed one. All he knew was that Shaheen had moved in with him, that she was probably very involved with him, and that he liked yellow dresses. Go figure.

The casual crossed arm pose Thrain had struck when he repeated Shikoba's name tensed and dropped when Shaheen went on her little speaking tirade. Two owlish blinks of golden eyes was given before a smile cracked his face.
"You miss him!" He said with a laugh that whooshed out of him. With a wheeze he began to chuckle, the heel of one palm reaching up to lightly smack against his forehead.
"By the goddess, I had not expected that! Is that why you called me? Because you were lonely?" The laugh petered off and he grinned at her.
"I am touched that you called me in your time of need. It is good to know that we are friends." His voice bordered on teasing, but the hand placed across his heart, as well as his face, showed that he was genuine. And honestly he was, for she was one of a few people he could actually call friends. It meant a great deal to him that she could count on him as such, but it was also quite a lot of fun to poke the bear, as it were.

The presentation of her dagger only made the Guardian bounce from foot to foot, his own sickles still not summoned.
"No talking during a spar? What fun would that be? Come! We must chat as we hit each other!" Yes. Yes he was going to be a pain for the poor, suffering horsewoman.