When he looked around the large boulder, he saw what looked to be a lady (their back was too him, so he couldn't be completely sure) that has short dark hair, and looked to be almost topless as she had nothing but her skirt and a corset on... both looking quite ratty.

He watched as someone came at her, and she dodged them rather skillfully, but ended up being caught by someone else that she hadn't accounted for. The one who had her said something he completely missed, befor ebring a sword up. She didn't looked scared though - as he could clearly see that she was indeed a she - instead, she looked absolutely unimpressed. Her face was... weird too. It didn't look right. After a few seconds, he was able to watch her face seem to split into too as her grin grew.

"Ahhh, nicely done." She sahid, and he was barely able to catch it.

"You just gave me the one thing you shouldn't have." She then said before falling silent for a moment. She had all she needed to deal with that one, as he'd made a proclamation that was rather advantageous for her. He was the boss of that group, and gave his name. That's all she needed to stop him, specifically.

---

As he swiped the blade across her throat, he found it went far easier than expected. So much so that her head came right off.

But her body didn't drop.

He was holding her head, but her body didn't drop as one would expect it to.

Instead, that spli in her face seemed to grow to be the entirety of it. Moments later, the head and face laughed. Before he could probably react, she spokje what it was that she needed, his name.

She sounded completely different, there was darkness to her voice, along with an ethereal echo. And as she spoke his name, the child could see something coming from him.

What it was... he could identify easier than he'd like to be able to, and knew he could strictly because of his mana, his family line.

It was his soul.

As she finished his name, he dropped, along with her head - which rolled away from the body.

---

He was there, hiding, daring to barely breathe, for long enough he couldn't properly ascertain the timing before he heard a voice from the are of his feet.

"Hey kid. Any chance you can pass me over to the useless one there?" her voice was rather.... Friendly, which was rather jarring considering everything he saw and heard before.

---

The head was silent before he met the body part way.

"Just pass me over." The head told him honestly. As he did so, the body accepted the head and placed it back where it should be - atop her neck and between her shoulders.

"Now, kid, you wouldn't happen to have seen where my ribbon went through all that, did you?" She asked with a small, almost hesitant, laugh.

---

She paused a moment, holding her neck and just sighing.

"That was... interesting..." she muttered before he called out.

"Yeah!" She responded.

"You find it!?"

---

She was silent before she accepted the ribbon.

"Perfect." She said before letting go of her head, and bringing the ribbon up to her neck. As she did so, he was able to see the blue flames that were licking through the separation, at least until the ribbon was affixed.

"Thank you." She said with a nod before looking him from head to toe.

"... what are you doing around here, anyhow?" She asked. "This... really isn't where one would expect to find a child."

---

She shook her head, it staying on as if it were supposed to be properly attached like his own.

"Not necessarily." She responded.

"Probably not the best though. When's the last time you ate? You look to be skin and bones." She added, looking him up and down.

---

She just sighed lightly.

"Yeah... how about I feed you?" she asked.

"You ever ride a horse before?" Followed a few seconds later.

"Because if no, then we can definitely get somewhere quicker." She continued.

"If not, then we'll walk. We're not horribly far from the nearest town. Cople days, I think."

---

She was silent for a moment before whistling. Before she could say anything, and before he could, an ethereal steed came through the trees.

"You can ride in front of me." She told him honestly.

"To make sure you don't fall off." She added.

"All right?" She wasn't sure if the fact that her clothing was rather... destroyed... would make it awkward for him or not.

---

She paused.

". . . really not surprised." She muttered before just sighing. She didn't say anything other than a quick 'sorry' and grabbing him and deftly climbing aboard the equine with him in front. It wasn't super graceful, but at least they were up, and riding away, before the group reached them.

"You ok?" She asked after about half an hour, when they slowed to a speedy, yet more reasonable, pace .

---