~The next day~

"Hey! Come back! I'm not gunna hurt you! I just wanna talk!" 

A tall elezen, dark skin, dark hair, and wearing the crest that denoted him to be a Sergeant in the Twin Adder - was running after Ja'ren as fast as he could go. The man had seen Ja'ren in the forest the past few days, and was continually impressed with the boy's archery. He had yet to see the kid miss, and noticed he seemed to have some sort of sixth sense about where things were. Nothing caught him off guard, at least, as far as he had seen. The boy was perfect, and could be a great asset to the Adders, if only he could catch him to convince him of this.

Sadly, the boy was getting away, Ja'ren had climbed straight up a large tree well before the Sergeant had even gotten within earshot, and was leaping from branch-to-branch tree-to-tree with little effort. He was being led by a large red squirrel, the two seemed to be working together to escape the man pursuing them. "I said wait! Please! I'm not-"

The boy was gone. Vanished into the greenery that made up the canopy of the Shroud's forest. Why had the kid run off like that? He hadn't draw a weapon, nor had he made any sort of threat. Was the kid just jumpy? Or was there another reason? The elezen rubbed his forehead, trying to think of how to find the boy, when it hit him. The Alchemist - he would know where the kid was, or at least be able to help find him. That old coot always knew everything of interest about the goings-on in the forest, so he set out for the man's hut at a brisk pace.

It took a few minutes, longer than the Sergeant had anticipated, the path to the Alchemist's hut was overgrown with various plants, and the man didn't think it was wise to cut them down to make his path easier. The old man loved his plants, and quickly got into a bad mood if anyone disturbed them. He marched up to the doorway, and was just about to knock when he could hear voices from inside, along with the occasional squeek.

"He came right at me! He -chased- me, old man! What did you do?! Tell them to come get me?!

From the voice, he assumed the one speaking was the boy from earlier, seeing as he knew the Alchemist was much older, unless he had somehow discovered a potion to restore youth. Without knocking, the Sergeant burst through the door, and scanned the room for the mi'qote child, quickly moving towards him upon spotting him.

The minute the door flew open, Ja'ren had his bow up, an arrow knocked, and was aiming it at whoever stepped over the threshold, he hesitated for a moment upon seeing who it was, but once the man started coming for him, his arm locked in place and he snarled. "Stay the hell away from me. I -will- shoot if you take another step, pointy-ears." The Alchemist merely raised an eyebrow at the scene before him. Content to let it play out without interfering.

The Sergeant froze, raising his hands in the air, "I'm not gunna hurt you, kid. I just wanted to convince you to join the Adders. I've seen your skill with that bow, and how you somehow know when things are coming. Hell. You knew I was coming without even -seeing- me. We could use someone like that. Someone who could keep our other recruits out of unnecessary danger."

The boy didn't lower his bow, and gave the man a confused look, his eyes narrowing into slits with suspicion. Convince him to join the Adders? That was wildly convenient given the conversation Ja' had been having with the Alchemist the day prior. He glanced over to the old elezen, who was merely smiling, shaking his head. "Ah' didn't send for 'im, lad. Though it is well timed. I just finished the final touches on that enchantment, as well as made the cloth into an eyepatch for ye', so ye' have no excuse now."

Ja'ren huffed, lowering his bow and placing the arrow back into his quiver. He gave the Sergeant one last glare before marching over to the desk and gathering up the eyepatch for inspection. The Sergeant straightened, suddenly very glad he hadn't snuck up on the boy earlier. "Why the heck do you need an eyepatch? You seem to see well enough."

Ja'ren grumbled, "None of your business," before turning around to stare directly at the man, intending to see how he reacted to the color of the eyes staring him down. The Sergeant took a half step back as the boy's strong gaze bored into him. It felt like the boy wasn't quite looking at him, but at something around the edge of the man's profile. Appearing satisfied, the kid stared directly at the man, giving him a fierce smile. "Just like everyone else. -This- is why I wanted an eyepatch. So people like you would stop staring and freaking out about the color of my eye."

The man shook his head, as if trying to shake the boy's gaze off of him. "I don't care what color your eyes are. What matters to me is how you seem to have some sort of sense when potential danger is coming. We've lost too many good men and women to dangers that could have been avoided."

Ja'ren crossed his arms, after putting the eyepatch over his red eye. "I cannot promise anything." 

"I don't expect you to. I only expect you to put those skills to use, assuming you join."

Ja' looked over to the Alchemist, who nodded, appearing to give approval for whatever was being asked of him. The catboy looked back over to the Sergeant, then to the squirrel on the windowsill, who also nodded, before sighing, relaxing his shoulders slightly. "Fine. I assume I need to follow you back to the nest to enlist?"

The Sergeant smiled, a wide happy smile, "Yes. Then there's a small form to fill out, a uniform to make.."

~A few weeks later~

"Oy! Ja', slow down, not everybody can move on the ground as fast as you do in those trees!" A young recruit, about 20 years of age was panting from the ground, as Ja'ren paused to lean up against the tree he was in. Despite being a fairly new recruit himself, he had been put in-charge of a small group who's main objective was to stop poachers in the Shroud. Obviously, there was someone in the group who ranked higher than he did, but that man's objective was to make sure Ja'ren didn't lead his group astray.

Now that Ja' had stopped dancing from tree-to-tree, the other recruits stopped to catch their breath. They weren't out of shape, Ja'ren had just been moving extremely fast, completely focused on reaching their destination and finishing the job they had been assigned. He still wasn't used to interacting with other people, so he tried to keep his missions as quick and painless as possible. Something the higher-ups in the Adders were beginning to notice. They continually assigned him bigger and bigger jobs, and each time, the task was completed promptly and with no casualties or injuries. Yet.

"Caught your breath yet? We're almost there."

The Sergeant assigned to their group looked up at Ja'ren, scrutinizing the boy for the hundredth time. The kid was gazing off into space, but the man knew better. He knew Ja' was sensing, seeing things the others couldn't. What the boy saw was unknown, but it had kept everyone safe so far.

"Ready your weapons. Couple more strides and we'll be upon them. There's a couple animals around, try not to hit them. I'll take out the forward scout, rest of you take down the resistance. Set the animals free before moving further." Ja' sounded like a Sergeant himself just then, barking orders, his tone low, serious. A rare thing for the boy. The recruits obeyed, knowing it would be a waste of time to try and argue, and the group moved forward, quietly.

It took but a few moments, before Ja'ren could clearly spot the forward scout, though he could only see the poacher's aura, it was more than enough for him to make the shot. The poacher went down, without any noise, the arrow Ja' used was tipped with a paralyzing poison, as were the other arrows he and the recruits had, and the group quickly moved in, the recruits fanning out to take down the other poachers. Just as they were beginning to set the captive animals free, Ja'ren yelled, leaping down from the tree and ripping off his eyepatch, revealing his red eye. "ANGRY COEURL. MOVE. MOVE. GET OUT OF THE WAY OR YOU'RE CATFOOD."

All of the recruits immediately moved out of the way, except for one. A small female mi'qote, who froze with fear as the large female Coeurl bore down upon her, claws out, about to strike. Ja'ren moved, quick as a blink, shoving the girl out of the way, and turning to face the large clawed paw as it slashed down at him. At the last second, he backstepped, but not enough to avoid injury. The coeurl's claw sliced across his left eye, opening a gash that started to bleed. Thankfully, it didn't actually damage his eye, a product of his backstep - it had put him just far enough away to keep the claw from piercing his red eye.

He staggered, ignoring the pain, it was nothing compared to how his eye throbbed some days, and stared the coeurl down. The mi'qote female whimpered, and crawled over to the other recruits who had taken refuge behind an empty cage. The Sergeant watched with interest, yet again the boy had seen, or sensed, incoming danger, and yet again he had kept someone from getting hurt.

The coeurl snarled, circling Ja'ren as the boy stared straight into the animal's eyes, as he turned to follow the wild-cat, the other recruits gasped quietly at the wound, and the eye. In the light, it appeared to be glowing red, and someone whispered, "Red Eye..."

Ja'ren snarled at the coeurl, attempting to assert himself over the female. He knew these animals respected strength, and would attack if he showed any weakness. The image of Ja'teeh jumping infront of him when he was a child flashed through his mind, and his face contorted, making him look even more fierce, almost scary - demon-like. The coeurl continued to circle, growling low in her throat, before she finally noticed the small catboy's eye. She froze, growl sticking in her throat, and stared back at the boy. Ja'ren stared back, face frozen in a snarl, and the coeurl female slowly stepped forward, sniffing at him and his eye. She seemed curious, like she had never seen something like this before, but suddenly her eyes softened, as she suddenly stretched her neck out to lick the boy's wound. 

"Wha-"

Ja'ren's face suddenly swapped from the snarl to shock and surprise as his eyes grew so large they almost popped out of his head. The female ignored his protests and continued to clean the wound, when she finished, she inspected her work, and appearing satisfied, turned to leap into the forest.

The Sergeant and the recruits looked on in unmasked surprise. Had that coeurl just..treated Ja'ren like one of her kits? As this realization suddenly sunk in, a few started chuckling, and soon, the entire group was shaking with laughter. Ja'ren just glared, before scooping up his eyepatch from off the ground, and wiping his face on a sleeve.

"When you're all done wasting time, let's get back to give our report."

The small female mi'qote, who Ja' had shoved out of the way, slowly walked up to him and looked up into his face with tear-filled eyes. "Thank..you." She mumbled before scurrying off, recruits following, but the Sergeant remained behind. He walked over to clap Ja'ren on the back, "That was well done, kid. Let's get you to a healer."

Ja'ren rolled his eyes, shaking his head no at the tall elezen, "It's just a scratch, I can handle this myself." He reached up, pulling his glove off of his left hand, and held it over his eye as a healthy green glow illuminated his face. The cut slowly healed, skin knitting together, leaving behind a scar over his red eye. The Sergeant chuckled, "Just full of surprises, aren't you."