She hit the ground running, not feeling the branches grab at her clothes and hair, not feeling the rush of air passing by her. She didn’t see the obstacles that she instinctively bypassed, she didn’t hear the abrupt hush her passing brought to the forest, or the pungent scent of crushed greenery she left in her wake.

She only felt the overwhelming grief that had surrounded her for the past three days, skewing her perceptions and driving her to go further then she ever had before. If she had been in her right mind she might have been proud of the fact that she had finally reached her full potential. As it was all she appreciated was that she had not dropped from exhaustion yet.

The forest abruptly gave way to a small clearing and she stopped. The trail had vanished; there was no sign of her quarry. Swearing loudly she looked for any signs of passage. Noticing a crushed patch of grass near the far edge of the glen she headed for it, unhooking her water bottle and drinking as she went.

The chance to breathe was appreciated, but dark was approaching quickly and she couldn’t afford to lose the trail at this point. There was a port not a day ahead and if he got there before she did there would be no chance of catching him. Kneeling next to the marking she passed a hand over it looking into the brush beyond hoping to find the trail again.

A branch snapped to her right. She whirled around to face it, still crouching, hand on her scabbard and topaz eyes flashing. The figure that stepped out of the forest caused her to lower her guard slightly, but she still didn’t remove her hand.

Hands raised in supplication, a grinning elf took a tentative step towards her.

"Hey Quinn, it’s just me. Relax a bit will’ya?"

She stood up and sighed, Mik always had a knack for showing up when he wasn’t wanted. Now being one of those times.

"What are you doing here Mik?"

His smile widened and his entire body seemed to brighten, from the top of his green head to his leather boots. "You need me on this one cuz."

She opened her mouth to protest but closed it again; it wasn’t smart to argue with someone who had been a shaman longer then you’d been alive.

"Do you know what way he went?"

Violet eyes widened at her brusque tone, but he nodded and started walking back the way he came. She replaced her water bottle and followed.

"We’re about an hour behind him. But we’re only half an hour away from the nearest village, which will have horses. We’ll catch up to him in the city, no worries."

Quinn marveled at the way her normally light-hearted cousin changed so drastically when he was working. Being only half-blooded herself, some of the elven temperaments were beyond her ken. Maybe it was being a shaman and living alone for such long periods of time, or maybe it was talking to dead things-

"What’d he do?"

"Huh?" It took her a moment to shake herself loose from her thoughts.

"The man, who we’re chasing. What did he do?"

"Oh." Images of his many victims ending with her uncle flashed through her mind. "He killed people. Like Uncle Adam."

"Your mother’s brother? The one you were apprenticed to?" His tone was cautiously curious, so she didn’t react badly, only nodded, even though he couldn’t see her. But it didn’t seem to matter because he stopped abruptly and caught her in his arms. Mik held her close, his tall form surrounding her completely, letting her heart know that she still had family left.

It took them long past dark to get to the port even with the horses they procured, although it wasn’t hard to find the port, even in the dark, it’s lights could been seen at quite a distance, making the path leading to the gates easy to navigate.

Mik stopped his horse a few hundred meters from the gate. Quinn stopped alongside him pushing a few wayward strands of dark hair away from her face before speaking.

"What’s wrong? Do you sense something?" She didn’t ask the other question on the tip of her tongue; ‘do you see something?’ as the last time she had asked that she hadn’t enjoyed the answer. A shaman’s power was quite overwhelming at points, thinning the veil between the worlds to their eyes. What they saw couldn’t be defended against, which gave reason to their staff being the only weapon they carried.

She dropped a hand to caress the long-sword at her waist, almost causing her to miss her cousin’s softly spoken response.

"It’s been awhile since I’ve been near so many people." Quinn looked closer and saw that Mik was trembling slightly.

She exhaled a soft ‘damnit’, knowing that she had to deal with this somehow. She couldn’t lose her quarry, but wasn’t about to force Mik into a situation he was uncomfortable with.

Looking longingly at the town that now seemed furlongs away she reached over to pat the elf’s shoulder. "We can stay out here tonight. No ships will run before dawn, and he’ll be hard pressed to find passage tomorrow as well. Small town people are wary of those in a hurry. We can stay at that inn we past awhile back, it looked fairly deserted." And she could make her way into the town before first light, make a stop at the mayor’s manor and give the town clerk the murderer’s description to give to all the

captains… She spun her horse around and started towards the manor, feeling a brief flicker of relief when Mik followed. Sometimes he could be quite stubborn, and she didn’t have the patience to deal with that tonight.

They made it through the night with little fanfare, save the inn keeper’s strange looks at having a shaman elf and a mixed blood warrior staying with him. It wasn’t until she was getting ready to leave the next morning that there was any trouble.

"Talaquinn Aen Setrine. Where do you think you’re going?" She stopped in her tracks. She had been trying to leave without Mik realizing it, had even made sure to request rooms fairly far apart so she wouldn’t have to be delayed.

"Town." Her voice sounded almost meek. Her cousin could sound a lot like her father when he felt like it. "I paid the innkeeper for another night, you can wait here for me. I’ll bring him, because I’ll need your help to transport him back home. Please, I need to hurry." She could feel the urge like an itch between her shoulder blades, time was running out. She didn’t turn around, even when she heard him take a few steps forward. The inn was silent. The sun was barely pinking the horizon; the tides would be turning soon.

Mik sighed. "I’ll be here, just don’t get yourself killed. If you catch him alone it will be a toss up on what will happen."

Quinn bit her lip and turned around, walking the few steps across the common room to her cousin, giving him a quick hug before heading back out the door and into the morning.

She walked as quickly as she could without running towards the town gates. Slowing marginally she flashed the guards a smile as she passed them. Then her pace quickened to a full out sprint. He was close, she could feel it in her bones, and her senses heightened to a preternaturally fine edge. She dodged her way through crowds, heading towards the docks, slowing to a stop at a gap along a long street of small shops.

She could see him standing at the end of the alleyway. Stereotypically dark haired and eyed, the man looked around frantically searching for a way to escape. He found a doorway opening into the building and slipped inside. Quinn swore and followed.

It turned out to be a apothecary, with it’s herb filled shelves and overwhelming scent. The few customers scattered as she chased her quarry through the store and back onto the street. She spared a thought for the loss of patronage that the store would suffer, but forgot as she noticed that the man had stopped in the middle of the street.

He was staring off at some unforeseen point. The people of the town went on their way around him, like he was a dark pylon in a swiftly moving river.

She approached him with no little trepidation; this was a man who had taken down one of the Queen’s most valued investigators. She unsheathed her sword and reached out to grasp his shoulder, her entire body tense with anticipation.

He didn’t move.

She gripped a bit tighter and shook him slightly, still no movement.

Speaking his warnings she tugged him around to face her. "As an investigator for the crown I place you under arr-" Her voice stuttered to a stop as she saw the arrow protruding out of his chest. Her uncle’s murder was weakly grabbing at it, wheezing softly, a pale red foam forming at his mouth.

Quinn let go abruptly and he collapsed onto the cobbled road. Her mind reeled, she could feel her knees hit the ground, hard, but all she noticed was the dying body in front of her. She was supposed to bring the killer to justice, not have him die at some archer’s hand. Her hands formed fists and she squeezed her eyes shut, but the view in front of her seemed etched to her eyes.

It just wasn’t fair, she should be relieved that he wouldn’t be able to hurt anyone else, but it should have been her to get him.

She opened her eyes and scanned the street for the archer, finding him, a young human, heading her way, his face awash with horror.

An accident.

His death, an accident.