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Luthie skidded down the bank of a dried creek and leaped up the other side, phasing through a thick patch of trees. He followed her into a clear meadow, finding the entry just as the mark was leaving. He pressed the button on the micro-comunicor collar around his neck, shouting out the directions he was following. He followed the trail she had taken, phasing through the fallen tree, saving time. Soon after passing the fallen oak, her trail went uncommonly cold and he stopped. Her prints had ended which ment that she went one of two ways, Down or UP. If she had burrowed under a hollowed tree there would have been turned soil. If she'd climbed the trees there would be bent branches. It was too dark to see either. He pushed another button on his collar, turning it off in case the person on the other end spoke with bad timing and he needed to hear her move from wherever she was. He waited and listened for her to either make her stand or run again.

Disorented, he pushed himself up from the tree roots he fell on after her swift attack. She was faster than he antisipated. Still a little dizzy, he swiped a hand over the scratch in his neck. It bleed a little but nothing to worry about. His world was still spinning as tryed to chase after her. As the ground stablized under his feet the fact dawned on him that if he didn't get that collar back, he wasn't going to be able to find his way out of the forest. Even in the desprate moment he smiled at the irony of a wood elf dying alone, lost in woods. He could already hear his eulagie, "He was human in an elf's body and died chasing skirts in the forest."

Clear-headed once more he followed until her tracks ended yet again, but this time moonlight was on his side. No dirt had been dug up but there was a breeze about so he couldn't pinpoint which tree she'd climbed. He too was tired and needed a break, plus the growing panic at not knowing his exact location, so he switched tactics. "Aright, you win," He shouted, throwing his hands up in surrendor. "But before you take off again, I have a proposition to make. We ditch the boys, you take me back to civilization, I PRETEND to turn you in for the bounty, help you escape, then split the earning with you 50/50. I get that the money might not mean diddly to you but your big into the charity thing and a few needy orphanages do come to mind. We got a deal or are you just going to run circles for the rest of your life? I can promise the pot doesn't get much sweeter...I can do 25/75."

Luthie didn't move an inch when she revealed herself. He figured that she would take him seriously at first but was aslo confedent that he could convince her. When she took off, he sat down. Now cross legged on the forest floor, he wondered how long it would take her to figure out he was niether following her nor joking. The trees may have been his native roots but that didn't mean he prefered them. The quiet was irritating and life out here was way too much work. He'd be willing to do just about anything to NOT get stuck there for the rest of his natural life, which was supposed to be rather long.

He heard her passing through the under-brush but played the good sport and jumped when she spoke. True he started out as a con-man but both his parents were straight arrow people just trying to make a living like everyone else, "You know, it's steriotypes like that that hold back good elven people from getting descent work these days. If all the Elves you've met were thieves and liers it's only cause society's fear of the different taught them to be. Besides, to be completly honest, you DON'T know if I'll keep my word or not but if you think about it, I don't exactly know that you'll keep yours and actually take me back. For all I know you'll just lead me about in circles until predators or something pick me off."

Bingo, "You have a deal. But I'm only listening to the orders pretaining to independant survival. Try getting me to rub your feet is a different story. Understood?"
Luthie stood, dusted himeslf off, and offered a hand to seal the agreement.

After the truce was struck, Luthie stuck his hands in his pockets. "Grand, now lead on."
Luthie followed Katie until she found another meadow for them to spend the night in. "Do YOU know where we're going?"