Lord of Azure Flame Chapter 23: Rest and Resolve

[Mercakete]

Tas grimaced at Lev's last sentence as he walked over towards the kitchen, grudgingly giving, "I'll try to keep that in mind" in reply. Before the wyvern lord could make him promise to take it easy, the courier engaged in his business of getting some food for Namid and himself by striking up a conversation with one of the cooks. He was glad, hwoever, to hear that they were finally taking a break from their travels. Lev had brought up an objective that Tas already had: resupplying. However, Tas knew he'd have to be careful with his money seeing as he didn't have much. He hated to be a bother, but he might have to ask Lev or Irina for some money as a downpayment for the eggs and hatchling. He wasn't sure he'd have enough to buy what he needed otherwise.

Edited January 15, 2011 by Mercakete

[Ether]

'How many abilities does this guy have?' Damian inquired silently to himself, looking at the world through Viveka's eyes.

'Well... here goes nothing.' Damian resolved himself, and began to speak through the connection.

"Hey, Viveka... is something wrong?" Damian asked, a slight concern over the Elyisimian Captain due to her current apparent state.

***************

Arrin's squirming and struggling went unnoticed by the unconscious woman, as she simply continued to sleep, looking more peaceful than she had in several days.

Pulling the mage closer, Aiya gently nuzzled the boy, resting her head against his shoulder, muttering in her sleep.

"Thank you."

[Snowy_One]

As the morning sun rose up, Esphyr did not awake. Her blankets were twisted about her legs as her face was firmly buried into her pillow; snoozing softly as she slept through the morning. Her chest rose and fell as she twisted about, dreaming. At last, after a long moment, her eyes cracked open and she rose out of bed. Yawning luxuriously, she stretched out her arms before she stumbled upright. "Blarg." she groaned as she started to walk forwards. "Blarg blarg. Bla-THUMP! Owwwwww! Who put that wall there?" Esphyr tried again, clumsily gripping the door handle and opening it up to let her outside. Carefully navigating the hallways, she came upon the sight of Arrin and Aiya engaged in... something.

"Aiya? Arrin? Is something wrong with Aiya?" she asked, approaching the pair.

---

Altion had fallen asleep outside the inn, astride Gluebag... and had remained there throughout the night. Resting atop his steed, he had not gone inside the inn at any point and instead had just simply stayed there sleeping.

OOC: I know I need to do something with Kaileen and Mana, but I have a friend coming over soon. Will reply with them ASAP.

[Inactive Account]

"What are you--" Arrin asked, though Aiya clearly wasn't responding. He wasn't entirely comfortable being hugged like this, but he didn't want to push her down the stairs either. He tried to pull her up another step. Just a few more...

Esphyr's appearance was a relief. "Esphyr, can you help? She's drunk, I think she was up all night, I was trying to help her upstairs but then she passed out and I can't carry her and now she won't let go of me and I don't really know what to do," he explained hurriedly. Esphyr was Aiya's friend, right? he thought. Hopefully she'd know what to do.

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

Continuing his circuit of the barn, Tobe paused after filling one of the feed boxes: he'd noticed that Altion was still in his horse's stall. "Mister, why's you still here?" Tobe asked, prodding the knight's foot. "You know there was rooms in the inn, right? Is you drunk or something like that other man was?"

Edited January 15, 2011 by Kiryn

[Script]

Luc Altair

Following the departure from the broken city, the Count from Directus kept his distance and thoughts away from any of the others. Things had gone distressingly far out of control and that would need to change if there was any chance of this succeeding. But, with the clashes he had already seen between others, the task would take far too long.

Luc's thoughts were full of such things the whole way to some new town. He didn't catch the name of it--or care really--and wandered around the civilized land without direction. It was only when Thunder recoiled at some nearby event that the horsemen's notice returned to his surrondings. Some man had been screaming at Luc about being careful and all associated words with that. He offhandedly apologized before turning Thunder around. He was so increasingly careless these days, and that had to stop.

His first destination to stop such things was a blacksmith. Luc's Halberd had been through a fair amount of abuse--and despite the cavalier's best efforts--it was falling apart. It took some time--and a cache more money than the work required to hurry the man and force him to stay late--but his favored weaponed was returned to good form with an added more tip. It normally had a tip, but the current sharpened point looked--and handled--far better. Luc thanked the man, and payed more to get the breaks in his mail replaced. That took even more coin. If Paul hadn't been keeping money flowing in through unsavory means this might have bankrupted Luc.

After the sun went down was when Luc--and the blacksmith--finally returned to the outside. Luc had no idea where everyone else was staying--finding out would be easy of course--but this was a time for vigilance. Even towns were no longer safe, so Luc kept a foot patrol of the area during the night after tending to Thunder. This of course, also led to a confrontation with Paul, a replenishment of funds, and Luc learning Paul was also doubling as an insurance package. Smart. Councilman Richtor was thinking far better than Luc was. After the little talk, Luc retired to the driver's seat of the carriage--ignoring the snoring Fargo inside. He wanted to be able to spring to action if anything--wait, nothing could threaten Paul. But paying cautious was better, and the Count slept sitting up.

Waking up was agony on his back, but such pain spurred Luc into alertness quickly and--once he was sure Paul was in the bags atop the carriage and the area was safe--proceeded with his morning preparations. Cleaning his weapon, armor, and kicking Fargo awake.

"What's that for Captain?" the sleepy man asked as he rubbed his eyes.

"You're snoring," Luc remarked and walked away.

"Jeez."

Edited January 23, 2011 by Script

[Balcerzak]

Helios hadn't done much further last night, following the meal he'd briefly stood outside the door to where Elle had been assigned, contemplating knocking, seeing how she was doing. After long moments of indecision, he'd ultimately settled on inaction, though, and retired to a room of his own, grabbing some surprisingly effective sleep during the course of the night.

Waking up, he was trying to decide on a course of action. With Helenos gone, for now, and no more pressing threats, of having to recover any severed weapons, the group was without an immediate goal. Should he try, once again to push toward Tora? The wind sage, sage on the edge of the bed, elbows on knees, and pondered carefully for awhile, occasionally throwing a glance over to the rooms other occupant, Isotov.

That one was always either training or studying, it seemed. Working out, performing parlor tricks with little flame balls (well, not really parlor tricks, but...), or flipping through his tome. Not that Helios didn't do his own share for self-improvement, a small forest of rocks and trees could attest to that, for some reason he found himself feeling a little irritated. Taking a cue from what he'd remembered seeing the other man do once, he started to leaf page-by-page through Hellsety, searching for clues, or anything that might be important.

[the_whistler]

Early morning:

A vaguely familiar cloaked man appeared on horseback at the edge of town. Opening the door to one of the better stocked weapons stores, he tossed a scroll at the surprised merchant. "Give this to a knife-wielding thief named Heinz if he shows up. Dark brown hair, has a cloak. If he doesn't show up, keep the scroll. I'll be back later," he said curtly, leaving the shop.

The man blinked once, staring at the empty shop in disbelief. "S-sure... I'll give him the scroll," he cried out weakly, slumping to the ground in a heap.

On the outskirts of Worthington, the hooded man rode off into the distance, stopping once he was a few kilometers away. Ever since the chaos in Septimus, we've been shorthanded. But with these pawns.. "Let the games begin," he sneered.

General Jackson:

He had chosen to hand off Thunderbolt to the stable boys as soon as they arrived at the inn. Bringing a plate of food upstairs with him, the general took out a sheet of official paper and began writing. "This situation could certainly be better," he muttered to himself. Traveling around with this cumbersome group, we're accomplishing far too little here. I'll have to return to Elyisima soon as well, finishing off the first of his letters with a flourish. Dipping his pen back into the ink well again, Conrad ripped off one of the plain sheets of paper the inn provided, hastily scribbling out a message.

Rolling up both papers, the general stamped them with his seal before setting them aside. Spending the greater part of the night cleaning his armor thoroughly, he promptly fell asleep as soon as he was finished, having barely touched his food.

Conrad woke up in the morning as a result of his stomach, earlier than he would have liked. He could already hear the clamor of several people downstairs though; the general tucked both sheets inside a spare bag and went outside, knocking on Captain Viveka's door.

Heinz:

Hearing the monk begin to hum something, Heinz looked up puzzledly from his food but decided not to comment. Laying down on the floor nearby the entrance of the room, the mercenary slept uncomfortably for the night. Waking up, he stretched stiffly, scowling as his muscles protested their treatment. Opening the door grumpily, the man looked outside, hoping the shaman was already awake.

[Snowy_One]

"Huh? No. Nothing like that at all." said Altion, standing upright. "It's just that I've noticed in the past that people who care for their horses often sleep with them. I know I don't understand Gluebag all that much, but I figured it was the least I could do. Smells like a horses rear end in here though... but I suppose that is to be expected."

---

Esphyr sighed as she approached the drunken girl. "There isn't much more you can do. She's drunk. Outright drunk. If there were other drunkards here, I would be worried that she might be hitting on them. The best thing I can think of doing right now is getting her to a place where she can lie down, preferably with her head over a bucket to vomit into." she sighed as she placed her hand on Aiya's back and rubbed it softly. "Come on Aiya. Damian needs you sober. Arrin, help me get her to a bed."

[Inactive Account]

"Y'don't need to sleep in th' barn unless you works there," Tobe said flatly. "Would prolly do better to give th' horse a chance to lie down, too, even if you's set on passin' up a perffitly good bed." He would certainly have slept in the inn given the chance, but figured that someone of his station probably wouldn't be allowed.

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

"I know we need to get her upstairs! That's what I've been trying to do!" Arrin replied, getting a little exasperated. "Just-- can't-- carry her-- myself! Can you at least help me drag her?"

[Phoenix]

Disturbance

Viveka's eyes widened as the voice came to her. She shot up from the pillow and darted around looking for the source!

Viveka: (That voice sounded familiar ... but I can't tell where it came from. Who the hell's in here?!) Whoever you are, come out right now and I promise I won't snap your neck ... no guarantees though.

Ixion: (This should prove interesting.)

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Viveka immediately figured that the voice had come from the door and slowly got up to answer, though audibly the voice sounded to be much closer ... that had her slightly suspicious. She couldn't trust it really came from beyond the door.

Viveka: Umm ... w-who is it?

[Ether]

"Relax, Viveka. This may sound crazy, but there is no one in the room with you. You probably recognize my voice, but it seems you can't quite place it. This is Damian, and I'm speaking to you via a mana thread, from Irvinheim. There is no need to be alarmed." Damian said, seeing the Elyisimian Captain's distress.

"Apparently, you are the only one there I can get into contact with, so I would like to ask you a favour."

*************

As Esphyr appeared, and began attempting to move her, Aiya's grip on Arrin loosened.

"Why...?" Aiya mumbled in a somewhat distressed tone, curling up slightly.

"Why is this happening?"

[Snowy_One]

"Because I care for you Aiya and because I don't want to see you as a drunken mess choking on your own vomit." said Esphyr as she approached Aiya, slinging her arm over her shoulder and lifting. "Ooph! Either your armor is heavier than I expected or you're putting on some weight Aiya!" groaned Esphyr as she and Arrin carried the drunk knight up the stairs.

---

"I wish it was that simple." said Altion with a sigh. "You have it easy Tobe. Kelas is a good teacher and you've grown up around horses. If Kelas was a ninja, I would be a fat sea cow in comparison. I was hoping that, by staying out here, I could both get more in touch with Gluebag, and... not have to see her."

Edited January 16, 2011 by Snowy_One

[the_whistler]

"General Jackson, your commander in the Elyisiman army," he responded, smiling slightly as he opened the door. "I wanted to talk to you about-" ending his sentence abruptly when he saw the pegasus knight's expression. "Something wrong?" he asked, frowning.

[Phoenix]

It's Complicated

Viveka: W- ... what? Y-y-you're talking to me from Irvinheim?!

She paused for a second with a completely hostile and disturbed look on her face. When the pause ended ...

Viveka: GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!! YOU WANT A FAVOR, SEND A LETTER LIKE A NORMAL PERSON-HOW ARE YOU EVEN DOING THIS-WHATTHEHEEEELL?!!!

Ixion: Hmm ... I suspected that she would be upset by this but I think we may have added fuel to some preexisting stress.

Viveka: Wait ... two people? (Two people? I know that voice too ... Ixion? Is that how Damian's doing this?) Ixion? Damian is that Ixion?

Ixion sighed. He had a feeling that Viveka wasn't going to be as cooperative as he initially thought. Jasmine was still asleep however preferred tool or not. As Conrad entered, Viveka went silent again for a moment. Not really caring how insane she sounded, she simply explained in one short sentence.

Viveka: Damian, and Ixion are inside my head.

OOC: Yes. She's yelling. Loudly.

Edited January 16, 2011 by Phoenix

[Inactive Account]

"Almost there... okay, here we are," Arrin said with a sigh of relief as they reached the top of the stairs. He steered towards the nearest available room.

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

"You's goin' t' run into her sometimes anyway, an' I don't think she's gonna like throw stuff at you or whatever," Tobe pointed out. "An' sleepin' on yer horse en't goin' t' give you some connection or sommat, it's workin' with him that helps with that. Takin' care of 'im, and just paying attention when you rides him, and practicing and suchlike."

[Ether]

Damian winced as Viveka began yelling, rather loudly, might I add, directly at him.

"Yes, Ixion is here, and is the one who provided the link. As for your idea of sending a letter, I would have, but it takes too long and communication by letter is so broken and laboured. Had I other options that did not require an incredulous amount of effort, I would have utilized them already." Damian said with a bit of a sigh, as Conrad entered.

"Now then, panicking will do nothing for anyone, and General Jackson probably thinks you've gone crazy, as would anyone within a square block of you. Could you please just make this simple and save face for both of our sanities?"

*******************

Aiya, having finally stopped struggling against the movement, was lead up the stairs and towards a nearby room.

[Mercakete]

Beau had wound up watching Arrin and Esphyr help Aiya without his having to find someone. So, when the thunder sage handed the task off, he approched him, "Now that your self-appointed business is complete...Arrin, do you have a reply to the proposal I offered you last night?"

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

It wasn't long before Tas had managed to get a small goat for Namid and a bit of breakfast for himself, which inluded a roll of bread, some stips of ham and some eggs. After he'd filled up on food and water, he carried the goat -- which had apparently been a disappointing runt so he got a discount on it -- out to Namid. As soon as the grumpy mountain wyvern caught wind of the goat's scent, his head lifted and he stared in the direction Tas was coming from, letting loose a twitter of excitement when he actually saw the goat. This did not do anything for Tas as the goat started bleating and kicking. It was all Tas could to to get it to where Namid could easily snatch it off from his shoulders.

"Well, it isn't a mountain goat, but it just as well might be based on how happy you are," Tas laughed as Namid ignored him and focussed on tearing the little goat to shreds. His smile disappeared as Namid spread his wings and fluttered them in the prcess of changing his angle on th attack continuously. "Namid, I told you not to strain your wing! Namid!" with a frustrated groan, the rider grabbed a gold of the injurred wing and forced it down, finally gaining namid's attention as the wyvern shot him a bloody growl. "I told you to take it easy. I know you're excited, but your shoulder is still recovering, not to mention you can't see well enough not to knock a few things over. Namid continued to growl but ate with much less movement now.

With a sigh and a half-hearted smile as Namid shifted his position to stubbornly keep his back to Tas, the courier scanned the area. for the big, red blur he knew would be Krinkov. He was getting a little anxious about how the eggs and Niket were doing. However, the first blur he could make out was Irina. It was good to see her, but he didn't really want to explain the visable scratches and bruises, not to mention his slight limp. (I doubt I can go unnoticed now anyway... And besides that, she probably has Niket.) Giving a bit of a guilty smile, Tas offered a little wave and greeted, "Hello, Irina."

Niket himself was quite happy with how regularly he was being fed now. However, his head titlted curiously at the scene the bigger wyvern was making about...that delicious-smelling food. He was full, but he still wanted to know what it tasted like.

[Inactive Account]

"Yes, I'm coming, and Tessa is too," Arrin told Beau, sidling out of the room where they'd deposited Aiya. "I'm not sure if she's up yet, though. She also mentioned inviting Charlotte. Do you think we should?" He checked himself over to make sure he hadn't got any mess on him: no, Aiya hadn't thrown up on him anywhere. As soon as Tessa and maybe Charlotte were ready to go, they could set out. This should be fun...

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

After finishing breakfast, Kelas headed out to the stables. Someone had already groomed and fed Amari-- she suspected Tobe-- so she fed the mare an apple she'd pocketed at breakfast, then set about finding Tobe.

She found him talking to Altion again. "Tobe, you got a minute?" she asked: it didn't seem like a particularly involved discussion.

"Yeah, lady?" Tobe asked, giving Altion a "told you so" look before turning to face Kelas.

"What were you meaning to do with those horses you collected?"

"I donno. Only it seemed like leavin' 'em there was as good as killin' em, so's I had to bring them along," Tobe replied warily. Was he in trouble?

"Yeah, I know. See, last time we got spare horses we ended up selling some of them. Pays our inn expenses, and there's fewer mouths to feed. Would you be all right with that? I can get a good price for them, and save a chunk of it for you." She realized that they should probably be finding somewhere for Tobe to stay as well, but she'd have to consult some of the others about that.

"Aw, lady, no!" Tobe replied. Seeing Kelas' expression, he elaborated. "I mean, I can't take yer money, lady. Course you can sells 'em, but I can't take no money for it. Be like stealin'. Only, if I could keep the littler one might be nice, but you can sells her if you needs to," he added in a small voice. It cost them enough to let him stay, didn't it? Least, that's what they'd always told Tobe in the palace.

"Course I can pay you, you caught 'em," Kelas argued. "Most of us aren't nobles here, Tobe, there's no stupid class system that makes you less of a person in this group. Tell you what, I'll probably be buying clothes for my brother, if it makes you uncomfortable to hold money I can deduct some of your portion to get clothes for you-- gods know you need 'em. And yeah, you can keep one of 'em, no problem, I know you're good with taking care of them."

Kelas' matter-of-fact statement shocked Tobe deeply. "Lady, is you crazy?" he yelped before clapping his hands over his mouth. "I mean-- and make sure you sells them to someone good, right? They's all good sorts, they don't need noone who hits them or anything." He inched backward, ready to hide behind Altion's horse if his insubordination provoked some kind of reaction.

"Of course I'll sell them to someone reputable," Kelas replied calmly. "Thanks. I'll bring your stuff by later." She headed back inside: her next priority, now that she'd waited in case he wasn't awake yet, was to find Arrin and find out what he needed to get.

"She's crazy, in't she?" Tobe mumbled, still shellshocked, as Kelas exited the barn.

[Phoenix]

For Sanity's Sake

Viveka: You're going to barge into my head and tell ME to cooperate? This isn't even legal!

Ixion: Viveka, we only need you to relay some things.

Viveka: Go. Away.

Ixion: What exactly has you so upset?

Viveka: Let's see. Never ending nightmares. I'm trapped here with these idiots with a very low chance of survival thanks to their dumbass dispositions. I just lost another friend in battle yesterday thanks to that pompous axe toting bastard Jace. It turns out you're still linking into my head and are probably spying on me like some sort of sick disgusting pervert. Now I'm supposed to relay messages for you people just because you're already inside my head? Screw both of you!

Ixion: ... hmm ... I'm not sure what I could say to persuade her. I would force her to do it but that would most likely aggravate the situation further. I suppose it's up to you to negotiate, Damian.

Irina and the Wyverns

Irina looked over when Tas spoke to her. What would have been a smile and a happy greeting instead turned into worry at the sight of his wounds. Minor didn't really matter to Irina much.

Irina: Tas, what happened to you? I know you and Lev didn't get back until late last night, but ... um ... ... I wanted to go look for you too but ... the wyverns. I don't trust anyone else in the group with them so ... yeah.

[the_whistler]

The General:

"...Inside your head?" Conrad repeated with a touch of skepticism. Ixion may be powerful enough to form such a spell. "Why are they doing such a thing, then? Has the colonel finished his business in Irvinheim?" Not good, if Ixion and possibly Damian can spy upon us through Viveka whenever they choose.

Heinz:

The mercenary walked a few steps curiously towards the Halton soldier, who was being carried by the combined efforts of the sword-wielder and the thunder mage into a room. Looks like she threw up again, wrinkling his nose slightly at the smell of drink in the air. At least I'm not dealing with it.

Walking away, he knocked on the shaman's door and waited for a response.

Edit: Added a word.

Edited January 16, 2011 by the_whistler

[Phoenix]

Viveka

Viveka shook her head hard and fast before answering her commanding officer. She couldn't suppress the alarm or anger in her voice.

Viveka: I've got no idea why or how he's doing this but I want this link out of my head as soon as possible.

Suddenly she lowered her voice a bit giving Conrad a bit of a worried look. Her voice came far down to a very soft tone as well.

Viveka: Trust me ... I know how bad this could potentially be, Sir.

[Mercakete]

"I...don't see why we couldn't bring Princess Charlotte along," Beau replied slowly with a bit of a grimace. (Well... This interrupts my plans... Having royaty along for this... I suppose we could split off every once-in-a-while so that I could speak with them individually... Though it would have been much less complicated if the suggestion hadn't been made. I cannot simply outright say I do not want one of the potential royals coming with us... Well, this will have to do. Perhaps she won't be able to come...) His former expression dissolved into one of his smiles, "I glad you both can come. And perhaps the princess as well. I have to warn you, however, I have to ration my spending. The funds I have with me are below two-hundred gold as it is and I have offered to pay for this group's expenses here at this inn. The innkeeper already knows this, so I'm not certian how much I can spend, especially when I am unsure as to how much longer I will be away from home. At any rate, I have annother to see about inviting. If you would like, Arrin, you can go and have breakfast with Tessa while you wait, if you are prepared to leave. I must fetch my bag as well and it does not take much to fill my stomach, especially in the morning, so I can assure you the wait will be minimal."

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

"Well, I..." Tas started awkwardly. Apparnetly she hadn't noticed him until he greeted her. "Well, I was flying with Namid to see if we could catch some food in the plains when this litterally blinding light filled the sky. Namid panicked and we crashed. I'm not sure what would've happened to us if Lev hadn't found us when he did." Realizing how it sounded, he added quickly, "Not that it was all that dire. It's just that neither Namid or I could see and Namid had a dislocated wing and I had a dislocated shoulder. There were bruises and scratches too, but it's not like we could get back with Namid's wing-shoulder being how it was." That wasn't helping. With a sigh, Tas weakly attempted, "Namid's doing much better now and he's beginning to see light and shadow again, but neither of us have our vision completely back yet. Namid's fine now, though, and we've eaten, so we're not about to pass out from starvation anymore." That wasn't helping. Finally, he finished, "Namid should just stay on the ground for the rest of the day but should be able to fly again tomorrow without consequence. His vison won't be back for a week or so at most, I'd guess. My vision is almost recovered, but everything is still blurry. My shoulder's back in place, too, so there isn't anything to worry about."

In all honesty, his shoulder was still sore. He wasn't about to worry Irina with that, however.

[Inactive Account]

"I don't need any money," Arrin insisted. "I've got a little of my own, and I don't have too much I need to buy, probably just some vulnerary and some snacks. Anyway, I've already eaten; do you want me to go try and find Tessa?"

Kelas found Arrin in the hall, talking to Beau. "Oi, Arrin, I may as well minimize the ordeal for all of us-- what clothes do you need more of? Oh and I can mend them if there's only minor rips," she added.

"Oh, good morning, Kelas-- I don't think I need much of anything, really," Arrin replied.

"Nonsense, I haven't fretted over you getting hurt because you've always been patched up before I can start worrying, but I know you've been punched almost as full of holes as I have."

Arrin winced. "I guess I could use a few more shirts..."

"More like all of them," Kelas noted, tugging on Arrin's sleeve: it had gotten a bit too short. "You went and got taller. No, don't worry bout it, I'll have plenty enough to buy them after I've sold those spare horses. What are you up to today, anyway?"

"Walking around with Tessa and Beau, probably."

"All right..." Kelas hadn't seen anything that made her particularly worried about this town, but all the same, there were sometimes pickpockets, and Arrin and his friends were fairly young and probably sheltered. "Tell you what, take Amari with you, you can use her to carry stuff if you buy any." And she'll break the arm of anyone who messes with you, she didn't add.

"I don't think we'll have that much--"

"Take her with you, it'll make me feel better," Kelas instructed. "Have fun." She headed off down the hall: her laundry was probably back by now, and she needed to take inventory of what clothes remained before setting out, as she'd been too tired to properly take stock the night before.

[Mercakete]

Beau tilted his head curiously with a look of puzzlement on his face as he watched Kelas leave. "Is that what sisters are like...?" he wondered aloud, thinking he'd asked the question in his head, "The seem to worry a lot... But at least they legitimately care. Seems nice..." Still apparently not knowing that he'd spoken aloud, the young heri returned to his usual demeanor as he adressed Arrin's earlier question, "Yes, you would be the better between the two of us to speak with Tessa, I believe. After all, you are much closer to her than perhaps anyone we are travelling with. I will seek to locate the other around our age and if you would like, you may seek out Princess Charlotte. Does that sound reasonable?"

[Inactive Account]

"She worries about me too much, and barely cares about getting hurt..." Arrin muttered, then got back to the original topic. "That sounds fine. I don't know if Charlotte is awake yet, but I suppose I'll find out after I find Tessa." He set off down the hall, hoping that he would bump into Tessa somewhere, as he wasn't sure what room she was in.

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

A new place. The cat knew its purpose: To explore. Well, and also to steal from the kitchens. Having feasted on stolen scraps, it was now on patrol, sticking it head into every room with an open door. The ones with closed doors it needed to check too, but its sad lack of opposable thumbs led it to save those for later.

For the most part it had found the rooms to be empty, but some contained people. Some it recognized as the Boy's traveling companions; others were unfamiliar. Layers upon layers of scents suggested to it that this was a place where many people came, but few stayed for long. It also had mice, which it helped itself to.

Another room with familiar people. This one contained the one that smelled of sparks, and... that one! The one that screeched so well when pounced on! This one wasn't even paying attention, just sitting there, looking at the dead-tree thing in its lap. The cat got into place behind the man and leapt, catching its claws in his messy green hair and climbing up onto the man's head, waiting for the screeching.