Jigano's path towards his fire-kissed friend had been only briefly interrupted by the elemental woman's sudden change of attitude - and voice, he'd noticed with absent interest. A split personality? A duality of nature? The old, old river and the playful young fire embodied in one magnificent fleshly garment for a short while upon the earth?
Either way, he felt the warmth of their interest pass through him with a start, pressing a hand to his heart as something within his spirit seemed to expand - or perhaps it was that something hidden from him had just been revealed? A sense of power and speed and strength like he'd never known...
That he didn't have time to worry about now. The fire had vanished but not before Rory had fallen through it, landing on the ground with a bonelessness that frightened Jigano more than any fire could have, magical or otherwise. As he moved through the milling people he took care to note his other friends - Amalia, second only to Rory, the baker displaying wings for arms in a way he would remember to ask about later. Maea, sheathed in water. Deimos and Remi, Lucas, Are, and Phoebe, in various stages of unruffled aplomb or only slightly singed. His mind barely catalogued the others, strangers or those he cared for not at all, focusing as he did upon the man in the borrowed cloak who still knelt upon the earth, a fallen star whose light was dimmed but not extinguished.
Jigano did not know what the hunter would want, but he knew that he could not leave him, even if Rory's pride would be wounded by being seen in such a state. So it was that he knelt, using his body as best he could to shield the blond from the sight of those others milling about and beginning to disperse, and offered his friend his hand - to grip, to hold, to steady himself, to use to rise, or to use to pull the fox into an embrace, all would be welcome, but he made no move to touch his friend without permission yet.
"I'm here," he said simply, searching Rory's eyes with a gaze both worried and relieved that no more hurt had been done to him, due to the lorekeeper's failure to once more protect his friends.
Either way, he felt the warmth of their interest pass through him with a start, pressing a hand to his heart as something within his spirit seemed to expand - or perhaps it was that something hidden from him had just been revealed? A sense of power and speed and strength like he'd never known...
That he didn't have time to worry about now. The fire had vanished but not before Rory had fallen through it, landing on the ground with a bonelessness that frightened Jigano more than any fire could have, magical or otherwise. As he moved through the milling people he took care to note his other friends - Amalia, second only to Rory, the baker displaying wings for arms in a way he would remember to ask about later. Maea, sheathed in water. Deimos and Remi, Lucas, Are, and Phoebe, in various stages of unruffled aplomb or only slightly singed. His mind barely catalogued the others, strangers or those he cared for not at all, focusing as he did upon the man in the borrowed cloak who still knelt upon the earth, a fallen star whose light was dimmed but not extinguished.
Jigano did not know what the hunter would want, but he knew that he could not leave him, even if Rory's pride would be wounded by being seen in such a state. So it was that he knelt, using his body as best he could to shield the blond from the sight of those others milling about and beginning to disperse, and offered his friend his hand - to grip, to hold, to steady himself, to use to rise, or to use to pull the fox into an embrace, all would be welcome, but he made no move to touch his friend without permission yet.
"I'm here," he said simply, searching Rory's eyes with a gaze both worried and relieved that no more hurt had been done to him, due to the lorekeeper's failure to once more protect his friends.
