Lord of Azure Flame Chapter 21: In Destruction's Wake

[-Cynthia-]

"Since we are traveling in the same direction, we are essentially following one another anyway. I suppose Arrin could identify similar signs as myself, but that is no reason for me not to remain vigilant. There is no use discussing this, I have already kept careful watch over all of the Crimson Weapon wielders. 'Twould be foolish to remain unobservant about things that are so critical to our success. I suggest you simply forget about the matter and proceed normally." Morgan said to Isotov.

The wyvern seemed to ignore the carrot. Tristan shrugged and put the carrot back in his pocket. Maybe he needs to be groomed or something. That's the responsibility of the rider I guess. he thought to himself.

Edited December 2, 2010 by -Cynthia-

[Snowy_One]

"Hello Ixion. I'm surprised to be honest. Not that you are looking and watching me, but that it took so long for you to use that ability. Ah well, how have you been Ixion? Damian and I were having a small chat, and I taught Howard his own name and simple concepts! A week more and I can have him doing math, and maybe even get him to abstracts. You should devote more time to teaching them and less to your experiments. Either way, Damian wants to send a message to his two ladies. You can do so easily enough, though I can as well with some hard work. Half-spirit drawbacks and all. Help him send the message, would you kindly? Damian and I can finish our talk later."

[Phoenix]

Isotov

Iso: Fine, keep an "eye" on me but at least remain out of earshot while you do. I'm sick and tired of being treated like a child by you of all people.

Levski and Krinkov

With her sword in hand Lev readied himself for her attack which arrived in full force. Not wanting to get deadlocked after his inevitable block, he decided to parry while stepping out of the strike's path! Meanwhile Krinkov hearing the metal clash turned to see the red haired human trying to kill his master with his own weapon. Humans practicing or play-fighting was one thing, but the red haired one was a female which made the entire thing pointless. A bit annoyed with his master's unproductive mating habits, he wandered back over leaving Tristan and his flying buffet behind.

Ixard

Ixion began by answering Damian's question.

Howard: Unfortunately no. However, if you truly need to send word back to your allies then I can relay one ... now or once I return.

He then replied to Mana.

Howard: ... mathematics. Whatever your aim is its purpose is certainly obscure. As for relaying that message, I could perform a far better one while not resting in the crop of a chimera. Sending one now means using a still existing mana thread and startling your allies.

[Ether]

As Levski parried her strike, Aiya let the axe continue to move.

'If I can keep my momentum, and keep adding force, eventually, his defense will break under the strain.'

As the axe retained it's downward speed, Aiya began to pressure the weapon into an arc.

'I lose a little bit of speed here, but it'll make up for it in positioning.'

The angle of the axe head shifted upward, as Aiya swung the weapon horizontally towards Levski.

[Mercakete]

"I'm not going to die because of a cold, I think... I'll just--" Tas replied, trying to remember what a cold entailed only to be interrupted by a sneeze, "--wait it out."

Tas' sneezes had at first worried Namid. Then he had found them amusing. Now they had him worried again. If his rider would get better then his anxiety would be cured as well. Maybe Tas just needed a good, long flight. ... No, that wasn't it. Whenever someone at the ranch got sick, they stayed in bed until they god better. Did that mean that Tas was supposed to be resting? But Tas was smart, so that couldn't be it. Could it? Tas' father scolded him for working too hard sometimes. Maybe he was doing that again. No one was scolding him though. But Riggs and his rider weren't around. They would know what to do. They knew what to do even better than Tas did. Tas was talking to someone... So Namid knew he should be quiet, but... When Tas talked to people, it normally didn't last this long. Did Tas finally start preferring to spend his time with his own kind? Where would that leave Namid? Namid only spent as much time with wyverns as Tas did with humans. Did that mean that Namid should try to make friends with the other wyverns? What was he supposed to do?

[Inactive Account]

"Right... So while we've been arguing about whether or not he needs babysitting, did anyone actually work out what to do with her?" Kelas asked, jerking her head in Dani's direction. "I dunno that we should necessarily kill her, but she did just try to kill us and all, we just might want to figure out something to do about that. Before, y'know, some of her new friends show up to collect her, and finish her job."

[Phoenix]

Isotov

It did seem high time to focus on the captive, but Iso preferred to keep at a distance this time. He wasn't going to show sympathy for an enemy after what Morgan had said to him.

Iso: It's up to you guys what we do with her. Obviously I'm not expected to do much more than start fires and try to replace Katie here so let me know whatever you decide. I'll over by that crazy wyvern I guess.

He didn't have anything else to say. He was genuinely hurt, offended, and angry again. Knowing only two kinds of people in life: Allies and mortal enemies, made it just as complicated for him. What was he supposed to do having to fight alongside certain people who were hardly allies to him at all? For now he simply walked over and sat down by Kiev who was quietly observing his surroundings.

The fireproof Isotov wanted to use his body to lean on? That was new.

Irina

Irina: I guess all we can do is wait it out, still though. It'd be nice if we could speed things up a bit ... or if you could actually rest like you're suppose to be doing.

There was a bit of authority in her voice when she said "suppose to be doing". She couldn't help it since she felt so strongly that he shouldn't have even been up and about in the first place, yet alone in a small skirmish.

Irina: I'm pretty sure it'll go away much faster if you find a way to rest up. Maybe relax in the saddle for a bit or something, but it's really best not to keep wandering around.

Levski and Krinkov

Lev: (She's not slowing down ... hmm ... Lady luck, is this not my style of combat. Letting the enemy take first, second, third, forth, and fifth swing before doing or saying anything. Heheheheh. Better mix it up a little before the fact I'm not wearing armor becomes all too apparent.)

As Aiya's next swing came, Lev readied himself a second time and stepped into the attack. Both weapons crashed loudly but both were completely stopped mid flight leaving their respective wielders a bit close.

Lev: Watch out for these. A lance wielder won't normally be able to force you into a full stop without some serious skill, but a sword wielder can and will. If it happens abandon quickly and get back to a short distance before you get countered ...

He gave her outfit glance before adding ...

Lev: ... or fondled. Whichever.

Krinkov had drawn close enough to intervene if necessary but stood still minding the eggs and other half ton of cargo he was carrying. They weren't fighting too aggressively ... at least his master wasn't, so it was likely the female was testing him. That didn't explain why they had traded weapons but it didn't explain a lot of things really. He simply assumed he was missing something and continued to watch.

[Mercakete]

That was it! That was a combination of sounds that Namid knew. Tas was pushing himself again. Lowering his head, the wyvern glared and snarled at his rider, keeping a steady, low growl. Tas looked abck to Namid a little awkwardly. "Erm...looks like you two have the same opinion..." Tas replied, "But the thing is, I have been resting. I've hardly been doing anything besides flying on Namid. Sure I've been doing what I need to but if I did any less I might as well be unconcious." With a heavy sigh he let his shoulders drop. (I'll go crazy if all I'm doing is sleeping. And what if something happens to Niket while I'm resting? There are lots of other ways I can help out, too, I'm sure. I can't fight very well. Maybe I should practice that more. Or maybe I should gather more food. Irina and Namid might not like it, but it's just not in me to be idle...)

As Tas thought, Namid looked over to Irina, letting loose a puff of air from his nostrils as he jerked his head at Tas, then unfurreled his wings a little before returning to his resting position. Hopefully she'd understand his pantamime. If she could force Tas to rest, he would watch after his rider.

Edited December 2, 2010 by Mercakete

[Phoenix]

Irina

Irina: Come on, Tas. Being sick is supposed to be boring and uneventful. If your wyvern AND I think you should relax, then you should.

She wasn't sure if that was enough to convince him so she quickly continued.

Irina: Tell you what, if you rest up now ... we'll spend some extra time training later on, that way you can get your defensive skills up. I'll guard Niket and the eggs while you're resting too.

Again, she wasn't sure if that was good enough, but she was nearly out of ideas. She could always outright force him to relax, but she barely knew him. That would be pushing her boundaries and she knew it. She quickly gestured to Niket.

Irina: Niket wants you to relax too so you can ... give him more attention.

Quickly covering her mouth so Tas couldn't see her lips she made a strange voice impersonating Niket.

Irina: Do what she says.

Finally she laughed.

[Mercakete]

The first attempt to convince him to rest seemed reasonable, though it still clashed with his personality too much. There was so much more he could be doing to help Irina and Namid by continuing to offer his support. She could apparently see that wasn't enough to convince him, because she went on. Her second point seemed to be a sort of bribe. (I'm not sure I could even last that long. Besides, she'd be going out of her way...) As though reading his thoughts, she made a further attempt to convince him. Her attempt at ventriloquism quickly prompted him into laughter. He had been taken off-guard and was now laughing more loudly than he had in a long time.

What were the humans doing? This question reigned in the minds of both Niket and Namid.

[Balcerzak]

Charlotte had rushed off, leaving Tessa and Arrin alone to handle the sleeping Beau. The mage seemed still willing, and since she herself had suggested it, she motioned that they should go ahead with the matter. For the moment, Chase was still off making himself a nuisance elsewhere, so it'd be best if they could get the young Bellemire into the carriage before he returned.

As Arrin had already grabbed the youth's shoulders, she did close to what she had previously suggested. While she couldn't very grab the waist without someone minding the feet, if she took the latter herself, it would leave the midsection entirely unsupported, which would be bad. So, she had to settle for splitting her bases, one hand under the waist, and the other under his thighs, at just above the knee.

"All right, here we go then," she cued, and the two of them began to gently lift the little priest and guide him into the carriage.

Edit: Oh, I had just been about to add some Helios, but Merc posted, so I'll move it down below.

Edited December 2, 2010 by Balcerzak

[Mercakete]

Motion. The signals in Beau's brain were growing in intensity, furthering his rise to conciousness. First he simply stirred slightly. Then his eyes snapped open and as a reflex, he jolted, curling up a little. The sudden, large motions caused the young heir to fall out of the arms of the other two, landing once more on the ground. Only a slight grunt escaped Beau so far as sound went until he began to come more to his senses. A bit of a groan, then he looked up and blinked, glaring, though this was out of confusion, trying to remember what had transpired.

Then, recalling, his eyes calmed and he spoke, "Ahh, right. I'm glad to see you well. I must've fallen asleep." Getting up, he dusted himself off and slipped his heal staff into his bag before stretching, still not having noticed the dried blood on his face from his earlier nosebleed.

[Balcerzak]

It was hard for Helios to read Elle's reactions. When he'd touched her shoulder, she'd flinched, and he'd almost drawn back, but then she seemed to relax and ease into it. That seemed to be good enough for the moment, and without realizing it, a small smile was starting to cross his face.

The small group followed Kaileen's lead, and had returned to the main group, returning from their small gathering apart in the woods, and the arrival was greeted with yet more attention. Charlotte had come by, likely soon to be joined by who knew how many others. The improvised coalition of Dani defenders seemed to be managing more or less okay in defusing the situation, separating out people, and explaining things, with Alex and Derek splitting that responsibility while Helios himself was sticking tightly to the thunder sage.

Everything seemed to have settled in properly, and nobody was making any accusations or threats, rather the majority opinion seemed to be more on the lines of relief, spattered with bewilderment. This was most reassuring, and he made sure to say as much to his new charge, "Looks like things are going to go pretty smoothly, Elle. So, just, stay at ease and don't worry."

About this time, Tristan had walked up, and started to inquire about whether things were finishing up, and if they were ready to depart. After a small and unexpected distraction from Lev's wyvern, with nobody else answering the prince, Helios piped up, "Since there don't seem to be any real problems with it, I guess I'll take the responsibility for minding her, and I think if nothing else is tying us up, then we probably can be on our way." Shrugging a bit he added, "Up until now I think it was mostly minding the wounded, and collecting ourselves again, but it looks like that was all finished while we were off investigating in the woods."

~~~~~

Despite their efforts, it seemed their attempt to transport the priest was somewhat less-than-smooth, as he flailed a bit, and had shaken himself out of Tessa's grasp, and since Arrin couldn't handle the whole thing by himself with his current grip and position, the end result was the young lord landing himself directly on the ground.

"No need to apologize!" she quickly offered back, "You did fall asleep, but I guess we were a little rough in our transport. If anything, the fault was―"

At about this time, she noticed the blood on his face, and broke off. It was dried... so it can't have been caused just recently. But when, and how...?

"Were you... injured in the course of the conflict?" she carefully asked Beau, indicating with a gesture towards the spot in question.

Edited December 2, 2010 by Balcerzak

[Phoenix]

Irina

Irina: So whaddya say? Rest and once you get better, then you can overwork yourself?

She asked the question with a defensive smile on her face.

[Mercakete]

(I was appologizing? I wonder how... Injurred?) Raising his hand and placing a finger on his face experimentally, he felt the dry blood. (What is this? It must be blood but...) Quickly glancing himself over, it was affirmed that he was otherwise stainless. "I was never attacked," he replied as he began to rub away the dry blood. Pondering it further, he remembered the immense strain he'd put on himself while healing Charlotte. Now that he thought about it, he was still quite fatigued and even had a residual headache. Ignoring the pain and tire, he replied, keeping as regal as he usually did, "I believe I understand the cause: I was healing Charlotte when I heard Arrin's sister calling for a healer. Since you, Tessa, were preoccupied as I was and Charlotte was in the midst of her healing, I forced the healing to a speed that required quite the strain on my own body. The nosebleed must've been from that."

Glancing about, he continued, "She seems to have left. I assume the task was completed."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Well..." Tas trailed off. He still wasn't quite convinced, "It makes sense, but only to a degree. I can help so much more if I just ignore--" he sneezed again, "--my cold. However, if you and Namid insist, I'll...not practice such tricky maneuvers as often. ...And, if the event occurs where we come under attack, I'll stay on the ground...unless heavil prompted otherwise."

As his words undoubtedly portrayed, this was something Tas was not quick to give up. In spite of his usual, conciliatory behavior, when it came to standing still and being out-of-use, Tas was quite bull-headed.

Edit: Added Tas

Edited December 2, 2010 by Mercakete

[Phoenix]

Irina

Irina looked over at Namid wondering how much more it would take to get his rider to give up and focus completely on recovering. She didn't really mind his suggested compromise, but she felt like sticking with general principle when it came to sickness, even mild cases. At that point though, she had no idea what else to say.

Irina: Erm. I guess I can't stop you, (not without some rope) but I really wish you would just focus on getting better first. What if one of these days you get the FLU and you're still pushing yourself too far? That would be a nightmare.

[Mercakete]

Namid only returned Irina's look with a glance. The message communicated was that it was useless to get Tas to get the rest he needed without force.

"The flu? Humans can get that? I know some of the wyverns back at the ranch sometimes got it, but none of the humans ever contracted it from them. There's a flu that humans can get?" asked Tas, surprised at this new bit of information. However, after his question, a few sneezes in a row had to be redirected to the ground on the opposite side of Tas from the others.

(This is a little annoying, but I can work with it. It's nothing too bad. Ung... I need to stretch.) Closing his eyes and grabbing the middle of his upper arm, Tas began stretching from side to side a bit then relaxed his arms again, seeming confused. (Why does my chest still feel tight?) The confusion was apparent on his face as he cleared his throat a little. Half a moment later, the air rushed out of his lungs in a few coughs, which he redirected, though not with the same urgency as his sneezes. (Wait, I'm coughing now? Oww it hurts... I've never had to cough this hard before. Oh no... If they pick up on that I'm getting worse, I won't have much of a choice... At least Namid won't fly near enough to the ground for me to dismount the next time we go up. How do I hide this?) As he thought about it, it was painfully visable that he was trying to think of a way to explain the coughing away. Namid started growling louder than last time now - he was being more insistant on Tas resting up.

[Ether]

Lev had managed to stop her attack completely with a rigid block, and while his explanation accompanied it, it was obvious that particular technique was rather situational.

They had ended up in close, and Levski continued to speak, his advice on the matter reaching her once again.

"...or fondled. Whichever."

Upon hearing that, a rapid blush assaulted Aiya's face, followed by a blank expression.

Instead of falling back as the wyvern lord suggested, Aiya applied pressure to the axe, keeping the two weapons in deadlock. As she did this, Aiya stepped in towards the Wyvern lord. With the axe and sword still in deadlock, Aiya clenched her armoured fist, swinging it towards Levski's stomach.

[-Cynthia-]

Morgan shrugged. "If she were some sort of spy, it would make more sense for her to act as such before attempting to kill us. We were attacked by this group without her in our group anyway, so keeping her along should not cause us more problems than we already have. Perhaps we can gain more imformation about the group who attacked us if we question her further. If she attacks us again I suggest we kill her, but for now wwtaching her carefully should suffice." Morgan replied to Kelas.

"We all seem ready to go then. Well, except for them," Tristan said, jerking his head towards Lev and Aiya "but I think we have more important things to do than spar anyway. Let's kill this demon...dragon thing and move on."

"Helios, please take care of Dani." Charlotte said. "I do not really know what happened to her, but hopefully we can make her better again." She gave Dani a sad smile and returned to the carriage. "Oh Beau, you're awake. Sorry about not helping to lift, but I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Dani is back, but she's...not well." Charlotte said to the other people in the carriage.

[Inactive Account]

"So we're dragging a hostile along again. Lovely," Kelas sighed. "Of course it's not like I've got any better ideas, being delusional and all, so I guess I'll just get ready to go." She turned away, and looked around: it seemed that part of the group was ready to go, at least, but others were clearly going to be a while. A quick glance showed her that Arrin and Tessa were just fine, so she headed after Isotov. She was a bit hesitant to go near Kiev, but she figured if Amari had decided he was safe despite being a large carnivore, she probably wouldn't get attacked. "Well, that was fun," she muttered, sitting down next to him. "Don't suppose working out what to do about the people what just attacked us would've been more useful than bothering us, but..."

--------------------------------------------

"Ah-- I'm sorry--" Arrin had tried not to jostle Beau, but apparently he had anyway, and Beau had woken up and immediately fallen. When Beau asked after Charlotte, he replied, "Yes, she's up. I think everyone's healed for now, and it looks like we're getting ready to go. I should probably see what's going on with the others, but you should probably just rest in the carriage." He surveyed the group; it seemed like some sort of effort was indeed being made to get going again, but it was going slowly. Kelas at least looked to be ready to go, though Amari wasn't with her, so he guessed that it would be best to get ready before she got impatient.

--------------------------------------------

Amari wasn't sure what to do. Kelas was talking with the thief-woman, and she might need backup... but the small human was apparently determined to sit there until the injured stallion calmed down, and she couldn't very well leave him to get trampled. She glanced at Thunder: could she trust him to leave the small human alone? Ah, well... it looked like Kelas was done talking anyway, but she still should probably check on her...

Edited December 2, 2010 by Kiryn

[Balcerzak]

Wait... pushed his healing... strained to the point of nosebleed... Could it be? Tessa's face immediately paled a considerable degree, as she contemplated what Beau had just told her. Not good, not good.

Tuning out everything else for the minute, it felt as if time had slowed to a crawl. The troubadour's gaze immediately flicked to the young Bellemire's eyes, staring into them intently, trying to catch a hint of anything that could confirm or deny her fears. Would there even be a clue? The only one that ever noticed with me was Arrin, and that was more my behaviour giving things away than anything else. It seemed there wasn't a sign. If he's good at keeping up a mask... like I'd expect of a duke's heir, then...

Beau had turned his head back and forth, said something regarding Charlotte, and Arrin was responding. That was... inconclusive. The vision impairment did have several degrees of severity, after all. Frustrated with her inability to be sure, and distracted by her concern, Tessa didn't quite realize how thoroughly her protective instincts had kicked in until she had reached out, wrapped an arm around him and pulled him to her breast.

"That nosebleed is a bad sign," she said firmly but lowly, almost a whisper. "That level of stress is dangerous. If that was the only thing that went wrong... then good. But don't push yourself that hard again. You might not always get off so lightly." With a final squeeze of reassurance, it suddenly dawned on her just what she'd done, and she loosed her grip and stepped backwards, bowing an apology.

"Forgive me, your excellency! I acted without thinking." Raising her head again, she saw Charlotte quickly returning, and the princess gave a quick explanation of where she'd gone, a brief apology, and an update on the current state of affairs. This took charge of and filled the moment, hopefully defusing any possible tension. But Tessa found her gaze flicker back to Beau, continuing to wonder and worry, both about his condition, and whether she'd earned some negative reaction for her impulsiveness.

Edited December 2, 2010 by Balcerzak

[Snike]

Resolution

"...Yes, sir...," the sage replied, and otherwise remained silent.

The group had mixed reactions, with some people not liking the idea as others, and others still were apathetic to Elle's fate. It seemed, that, for now, she would stay with the wind mage, who was named Helios from what the cleric said. Speaking of that cleric, she called the prisoner "Dani" again. It was odd, how they kept calling her that. Regardless, it was time to get moving. The thunder sage held close to Helios, and waited for him to lead her wherever they need go.

Settled

Consensus was that Dani would come along, but be killed as soon as she attacked the group. That would have to do. After the... traitor incident, he couldn't blame the group for not being as trusting as before. Derek returned to Ann, slightly less tense now, and saddled her, being ready to go within moments.

"Yes, prince," Alex said, returning to her own horse, now that the subject was resolved for now. Apparently her hypothesis was correct. Who knew?

Edited December 2, 2010 by Snike

[Dark Sage]

The group had seemed to decide to keep Dani alive and take her along. That was good, Alferis didn't want Dani to die. Perhaps at a later point Alf could suggest something about his idea for a cure. Following after Helios, he nudged him a bit and whispered into his ear.

"Hey, I think I might have an idea on how to cure her amnesia. You see, I heard Morgan knows stuff about mind magic or something. Specifically, altering the memories of somebody. Maybe she knows something about how to fix it?"

--------------

Reika

Throughout the discussion on Dani, Reika had been standing nearby, surprised on the fact that it was Dani who attacked them. Of course it seemed like Dani didn't know who they were or that she even knew she was Dani. Instead, she was "Elle". She'd have to interrogate Dani, pump her for info on her employers. Reika knew she'd need to know on what her bosses had for her, especially the clown.

[Mercakete]

Beau was quite surprised and confused by the sudden hug, though he appreciated the appology. He liked the respect that so many others of the group seemed to lack. She'd given him advice about not pushing himself, but the situation had been dire. Normally he would've simply allowed those requiring his staff to wait for the normal healing. Arrin had brought up the carrage and Charlotte had come with an appology and with information of her own.

"You needn't trouble yourself on my behalf, Princess Charlotte," he replied before returning his attention to the other two, first adressing Tessa, raising his hand in a motion that said that the hug hadn't been all that big a deal, "It was a rare event that is unlikely to arise again. As for your embrace, it was sudden, yes. I appreciate your sense of respect, however. Thank you for that." Then, he turned his attention to Arrin, "I have every intention to take the rest I need." Now his words were directed at all three as he guestured to the open door of the carrage, "Who will enter first? Shall we seat ourselves in our previous order?"

[Phoenix]

Irina

Irina: Of course humans can get the flu. I got it once and ... oi bad memories. Just trust me, it's bad.

As Tas went into consecutive sneezes Irina flinched at each one jostling Niket in the process. She wasn't sure if the new sneezes were a sign of things getting worse or not, but she had become resolute once again. She needed to find a way to reason with her friend and make him rest.

She became even more determined the moment he went into a short coughing fit. That was the last straw, she thought. He was either suppressing coughs for longer than she'd ever imagined possible, or he was getting worse.

Irina: Alright, that does it. You stay here. I've got to go find someone who knows how to deal with this. (He doesn't have the something worse than a cold does he?) Hold on, wait a second.

Coming up to Tas she held out her hand trying to feel his forehead.

Isotov and Kiev

Iso kept his head down but replied in a normal if not slightly fatigued tone. At that point, he couldn't help but vent a little.

Iso: I'm not sure how much more of her crap I can take. I've wasted less energy on the enemy and I'm tossing fire spells at them. In some ways ... she's actually worse than Ixion even though I keep trying to compare her to him. This mission is already hell itself, I just want some peace from these jackasses and their crap in between our fights is all.

Kiev listened to their words trying desperately to decode the human dialect. He was getting nowhere as usual and could only lie there frustrated.

Levski and Krinkov

As Aiya's fist came in, Lev tightened his abdomen and moved back with the punch softening the blow considerably. He'd almost fully expected some sort of follow up from her and when it came he was ready for it. The attack still hurt slightly, but he effortlessly managed a smile.

Lev: So then, do you have a good feel for my weapon yet, or should we keep going until we get gathered up by the others?

Krinkov watched and listened wincing slightly when his master was punched. He seemed perfectly fine afterward though.

Viveka and Susann

Everything was soon confirmed as she came over to the crowd atop her pegasus. Derek's sister had been captured. She was close enough to inquire further, but wasn't sure what to say to the cavalier. She supposed that at the very least she could try to get him talking since in her experience it wasn't uncommon for people to simply begin expounding on pent up issues the moment the opportunity arose. Riding up alongside Derek, she cleared her throat.

Viveka: So, what's going on?