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Gloaming Starlight	The road a day's travel out of Great Forks is the kind of place that's either busy or desolate, depending on the day, the time of year, the weather, and simply circumstance. In the middle of the night the road is generally pretty empty, but occasionally camp fires can be seen a ways off the road where people have circled wagons and settled in for the night. Other people hide their campfires in the hopes that nobody will bother find and bother them. This is more common for people traveling alone, since those are also the easiest targets for those passing by. At one of those hidden fires sits Gloaming Starlight, wearing brightly colored silks that express a woman of some means, but which are also cut in a practical style for riding. Riding, one would assume, on the horse that stands outside the dim light of the small fire, lazily foraging for anything worth eating. She's leaning against a fallen log, a now empty bowl on the ground next to her and her head tilted back a little to look up at the stars.
Obsidian Lily	Obisidian Lily has a knack for sneaking up on people, but this is just too easy. Fires stand out like a beacon in the wilderness at night, even small ones, if you happen to be at the right angle to catch them, and then they make it even easier to sneak up on them when their night vision is crippled by the light. Not that she's trying to sneak on Gloaming Starlight. It just kind of happens, and she appears out of the darkness across the fire at the same time that she speaks. "Good evening," she says in a quiet voice. "Don't worry, I mean no harm." Despite the words, she has a curved sword run through her belt at her left side, and her left thumb rests on its tsuba as if to hold it in place.
Gloaming Starlight	People don't usually get the drop on Starlight. She happens to be pretty keenly aware of what's going on around her most of the time. When the stranger with a sword arrives on the other side of the fire from her she's clearly taken completely by surprise, though, and she leaps to her feet with a yelp, falling easily into what's obviously an unarmed fighting stance, and one that suggests she knows what she's doing. It takes only a couple of moments of Lily not making any hostile moves before she starts to relax, arms lowering to her side, and she gives the stranger a nervous smile. "I'd warn you that sneaking up on people like that is a good way to find yourself in trouble, but you look like you might be able to handle yourself," she says, eyes going to the sword and then to the tattoos as she makes a couple of deft motions to smooth out the silks she's wearing. "If you don't mean harm, what do you mean?"
Obsidian Lily	Lily silently considers the question as she considers the stranger, which she does in the kind of way that suggests she was taking in all of those details about the way that Starlight moved, the martial arts training she obviously has, and what her first moves in a fight might be, but she doesn't make any hostile moves. She just stands there, her regard silent, until Starlight is done. "I'm looking for someone, but I don't think I'm going to find them out here tonight," she says after considering her answer for a moment prior to speaking. "I was headed back toward the road when I saw your fire, and when I saw you were another woman out here alone I thought I might stop and see if you'd prefer company, rather than simply passing by. We might both be less likely to have trouble that way."
Gloaming Starlight	Starlight looks in the direction of her horse, who has already stopped paying attention to what the humans are doing and turned back to its eating, and then she looks at Lily again. After giving it only a brief thought, she shrugs and makes a gesture toward the fire. "If you're interested in trying to rob me, I'll warn you that I have both little worth stealing and more ability to protect myself than you might think. I have a feeling that's not what you have in mind, but I figure that it's fair warning." She lowers herself back to her seat by the fire, pulls the braid of her long hair over her shoulder, and points toward the pot sitting on the ground by the fire. "You can have some of the soup I put together. It's not great, but it's there, and there's enough of it. I'm Gloaming Starlight."
Obsidian Lily	Again there's a hesitation from Obsidian Lily before she replies to any of what Starlight has said to her, like she's trying to decide how she plans to answer that particular statement, or set of them. It's brief, that hesitation, but it's there. "I'm Obsidian Lily," she says, and with a single deft jerk of her right hand she unties the sageo of her sword from her belt before she slides the scabbard out it with her left. She moves with precision, like every motion of her body as she removes the sword from her belt and lowers herself to a cross-legged position on the ground is a routine that she practiced a million times before, not just the thoughtless routines of life that things like sitting are for most people. The sword gets set precisely at her left side before she leans forward to investigate the pot of soup. "If I was interested in robbing you, I would have attacked before you knew I was here," she points out casually. "Fortunately for you I'm not a petty thug. Fortunately for me too, I suppose." She looks up from the soup and glances around. "Do you have another bowl?"
Gloaming Starlight	Rather than taking the statement about an ambush as any kind of threat, or bravado, Starlight just lets out a laugh. "Oh, you'd be a smart thug, then. You would probably be surprised how often that fails to cross the minds of bandits. Just attacking, I mean. More often it's threats and intimidation, and the hope they won't actually have to fight." She shrugs, picks up her empty bowl, and tosses it to Lily. "No extra bowl, sorry. I usually travel alone, so I don't have much reason to carry more than one."
Obsidian Lily	Lily deftly snatches the bowl out of the air and starts to pour soup into it without comment, so clearly she doesn't have an issue with this plan. "What if you break this one?" she asks, presenting a possibly reason for carrying a second. "Just make do without until you get to the next town?" It's not really an important question, though. She doesn't wait for an answer before she continues, while putting the pot back down and picking up the bowl. "Many criminals become criminals because they're not all that bright, and couldn't figure out a less dangerous way of getting through life. A lot of the rest are just greedy, and a few like hurting people. Isn't it dangerous to travel alone all the time?"
Gloaming Starlight	"I just get by without one," Starlight confirms with a bright smile. "I can just eat out of the pot, really. It takes a while to cool down, but once I make camp it's not like I'm in a big hurry. I can just take care of him while I wait," she gestures toward the horse, who looks up at the attention, lets out a soft snort, and goes back to what he was doing. The horse isn't even tethered. "It can be dangerous, but I'm a courier. Most of the time all I have with me is what I need to get to the next town, and a message. None of it's worth very much. I've had been robbed a couple of times, but most of the time I get left alone. Besides, when I'm riding, people figure anyone moving at that pace is probably just trying to get somewhere, not carrying a lot of value."
Obsidian Lily	Lily quickly seems like the kind of person content with either silence, or just letting Gloaming Starlight do all the talking, since she falls quiet as she eats and just listens to the other woman talk, only stopping to speak up enough to prompt more discussion. "You're a beautiful woman. Alone," she points out. There's a lot that gets left unsaid with that statement, but they both probably know what she means.
Gloaming Starlight	"Ah, there is that," Starlight says, smiling a bit regretfully. "I've always got something of value, you're saying? It's true, to the wrong people. That's why it's alost important to remember that I can defend myself." She winks, like that's their little secret or something. "Thank you for the compliment, of course. And, I should add, much of what you pointed out applies to you as well, though you seem to have a bit more of the steel deterent thing going on." She points toward the sword.
Obsidian Lily	"The first line of defense is just not drawing their notice," Lily answers, at leas after taking a few moments to just enjoy the simpl soup. "The sword only comes into play when that doesn't work, and usually just my having it is enough. It's unfortunate when it's not." She continues to eat, occasionally looking up Starlight, quiet and not evidently interested in continuing that line of discussion.
Gloaming Starlight	"Yeah, I guess the best way out of trouble is to not get into it," Starlight says with a wider grin. She lets the silence fall for a few minutes, then she gets up and heads over to where her pack is resting on the ground. "I'm pretty exhausted, so I'm going to get to bed. You're welcome to enjoy the fire while it's here, and camp out here if you'd like," she says as she starts setting out a bedroll.
Obsidian Lily	Lily nods her head, finishes off the soup with a quiet slurp, and sets the pot aside. "I'll be up for a bit yet, but I'm probably not far behind," she explains. "I may not be here when you get up in the morning, but if anything is missing you have my word it wasn't me that took it."