Return of the Emblem Chapter Eight: Affairs of the World

[Snowy_One]

"Oh... Wow. That must have been awful for you. Surrounded by girls as one of only a few men. You must have felt horribly outnumbered."

Edited April 11, 2012 by Snowy_One

[Mercakete]

Norbert shrugged as his only reply to that particular comment. He didn't really have anything to compare it to. He'd only lived his childhood in one circumstance, after all. His eyes wandered around deck. He didn't really have anything to stay and so instead began wondering when Raquel would begin her talk to everyone.

[Snowy_One]

"You... Must feel at home being here then, with so many women in the party. It must also feel weird. You have seen them only as fellow orphans until now, falling in love with one must be like falling in love with your sister." Robin took a breath. "I am rambling again. You need some space? If so... Ummm... Would you be willing to spend some time with me later?"

[Mercakete]

That was a strange sequence of sentences. It was a bit suspicious. And also somewhat awkward. Do I see the women in this group as sisters? ... Maybe some of them sometimes a little bit, I don't know, but certainly not ALL of them. "Err... It was annoying being the only boy at the orphanage, yeah, but it was my life, so... I don't know. I guess a lot of the other men have been pretty quiet recently, too, but it's not really the same. I've talked to women who aren't my sisters before -- it's not like the only requirement for someone to be like a sister to me is for her to be a woman," the pegasus rider clarified.

And now to talk about that subject that never failed to make him uncomfortable which inevitably led to his being annoyed always at least partially due to the prior emotion. "As for love... I don't really like talking about it. It's something I don't know anything about and every discussion I've had about it has been just plain annoying. A lot of my sisters liked teasing me or something. I don't really know what they were doing but I didn't appreciate how often I'd hear 'so, do you have a girlfriend yet?' and things like it," his tone was shifting steadily from one of discomfort to clear annoyance, "I'll get a girlfriend when I find someone I'm interested in! You know? They need to stop bugging me about it -- it's none of their business! And who says I need to find a girlfriend anyway? Whatever I choose, it's up to me to decide what's right for me! Not some nosy, gossiping, romantic of a meddling, fantasizing, air-headed sister!" By now he wasn't even addressing Robin but making proclamations to some unseen proclamation-listener.

"I WILL MAKE MY OWN CHOICES, BY WRATH!!! YOU HAVE NO CONTROL OVER ME!!! I'LL PROVE YOU ALL WRONG AGAIN AND AGAIN, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!!!" he announced northward as he pointed an accusing finger at the very distant sisters he was apparently talking to, completely having forgotten any suspicion he'd previously had about Robin's awkward wording and the questions she'd asked as well as the fact that she was even still right near him. Apparently his sisters had pushed that button too many times and broke it or something.

[Phoenix]

Announcements

It was time; Raquel walked closer to the Dauntless and got the unusual idea to make the announcement from up there. She wasn't going to, of course, but the idea was there and she entertained it for a moment before taking her place nearby. "O-okay ... OKAY EVERYONE," she spoke up so people could hear her. Bert's announcement to the universe made her flinch since she only heard something about being controlled. She was about to go into the ground rules ... or rather sea rules of the voyage, so she feared he was ranting about her. Did she go too far with having him gather people up? No he seemed fine earlier so ... Robin. She finally noticed Robin standing nearby. It couldn't have anything to do with her. He and Robin were probably just arguing again. She quickly calmed down and composed herself.

Meanwhile the Captain began coordinating and the crew. Shadrak looked over his shoulder with suspicion as the loading ramp came up and the anchors were hoisted. They were about to leave and Raquel hadn't even explain the situation, yet? Something was amiss. He quickly walked over toward the Dauntless with his cloak being caught up in the breeze making him resemble some sort of badass. It was almost convincing but he wiped his nose on the way, ruining the illusion. Classic blunder. When Bert began yelling, Shadrak tossed him an annoyed glance. "Idiot." he muttered under his breath as he continued over to the Dauntless.

By the time he made it over, Raquel had begun her announcement in earnest. "Err-Okay, we've been given passage aboard this ship under one very important condition. I'll explain that condition shortly, but first, I need to go over a few ground rules. While we're on the Leverager, Captain Bogdan has the final say on matters affecting the ship, or in battle. I have final say with issues that only affect us. We will deal with problems people from our side cause, and Captain Bogdan will deal with his own men. So far understood ...?"

"Yeeees ..." Shadrak said, expecting her to get on with it.

"Okay. We're ... we're going to help Captain Bogdan capture a smuggling vessel, the Dark Utka. It's smuggling dragon eggs into Neviskotia ... the rebel regions where warlords enslave them."

"Wait wait wait, what?" Shadrak interjected. He looked back over at the captain and then back at Raquel. The captain is Skotian so he's probably a privateer working for the navy. These dragons are going to end up as warriors in the imperial army. I don't much like being a goon for their military. "So you signed the entire group up to help steal weapons from the rebels and give them to the imperials?"

"That's not the ... wording I would have used." Raquel replied quietly.

"Same thing." he said back. "Once again we're being used by a 'military' to do something we've got no business doing ...." he assessed, crossing his arms and leaning to one side.

Lessons

Cassandra's training had progressed quite rapidly, and after her ten opponents mercilessly beat her into the ground, Burke stepped in to provide the usual commentary. "Don't worry ... I'm sure you could have handled one of them ... but only a fool sends in just one man. If you can't take ten adversaries at once, you're no more a threat than a common thug as far as I'm concerned." he explained, his voice growing more and more serious and agitated as he went on. "Ten men. That's all it took to bring you down. It's a real shame, Cassandra, truly."

She practically growled as she picked herself up. "I was unarmed and they came at me from every direction at once!"

"They're unarmed ... real enemies will be carrying all sorts ... of 'eviscerating tools'~ These men kindly beat the stuffing out of you with closed fists. As for your defenses, yes I noticed it could use some work. If you tell me you're ready and then get punched in the back of the head by a well placed goon, you've got no one to blame but yourself, girl." he explained while pointing an accusing finger at her. You think it's impossible to guard from all directions? Allow me to remove any doubts. All of you, form a circle around me and then think REAL hard about how you're going to take me down a peg. Fair warning, don't hold back because I sure as hell won't. Volya's not here, so if I start breaking bones ... well you're just going to have to heal the old fashioned way~"

"I can heal them!" Naomi volunteered from the back, bouncing in her seat and waving her arm happily. She was so bored that having the opportunity to get involved without getting turned into a pretzel was exciting, even if it was healing duty. Burke lowered his head a bit in response, though. She'd somewhat ruined his scare tactic just then.

"... okay, well you'll heal the convenient way but I'll make damn sure you won't be able to walk or even crawl to her for help!" he amended loudly. "Now have at me you squishy laggards!"

And just like that, the men pushed aside any fear they had and began moving in on Burke. The first one to throw a punch was quickly grabbed, but before Burke could do anything with him, another one closed in and launched a roundhouse kick aimed straight for his head. Burke used the first as a shield and he took the kick to the face instead. "Oh please!" Burke mocked. Immediately afterward, an enemy closing from behind leaped for him, but Burke tossed his shield at him and the both of them went flying. The one who'd tried to kick him was grabbed before his foot even reached the ground and Burke quickly brought his elbow down and split the man's shin before kicking him in the head and sending him away. "Amateur!" In the time it took Burke to do this and get out his insult, two more had closed in and one of them tried to grab Burke's left arm while the other tried to grab his left. The first was elbowed in the chest so hard that he fell back and onto the ground like a brick. The second got a hold of Burke's leg, but he quickly back flipped and brought up his other leg, nailing his opponent in the head and sending him to the floor. "Piss off!" Burke yelled as he twisted through the air. He completed his flip just as another opponent reached him. Burke had the initiative this time and simply punched him in the face. "Duck." he warned after the fact. That one punch was all it took; he couldn't well fight with a broken nose. One by one those who hadn't been broken in some way attacked him ... and he countered each and every attack with stunning and brutal maneuvers. In about twenty-five seconds, they were all finished and moaning on the ground like stampede victims. Everyone had at least one limb broken except for Mister Nose. Burke stood at the center of the pile up with his arms akimbo and laughing. "I warned you, didn't I? Hahahahahaahahah."

"That's not funny." Cassandra spoke up bitterly.

"Not as funny as the fact that when I'm done with you, you'll be able to do the same. You still want your tome, or do you want to know how to survive without one, first?" he replied, turning his attention back to her while Naomi began treating the injured ... virtually everyone else in the training room.

"I ... think understand what you're trying to do. You don't have to turn me into some kind of ultimate warrior, though." she protested.

"Immortals are the ultimate warriors, not people like you ... and you'll never best them. I'm trying to give you what you need to oppose everyone else. You may think my methods are ... harsh, and let's face it, they are ... but we don't have a lot of time. You weren't born trained but you must 'appear' to be. The skills I instill in you will be necessary, but they will be yours, and you can use them to achieve whatever it is you feel that you want once this is all over." he explained. "At least ... that's what I think he would want for you. We'll find out."

"Do I really need to know how to take on a whole battalion to get what I want in life?"

"It's not about being able to beat a group of your enemies all at once. The simple fact is that right now, all it would take for your enemies to get rid of you are ten or more unarmed thugs charging in all at once. You don't have to be able to smash them all to pieces, but you've got to at least be able to get out alive ... or your life ends then and there."

"I don't have any enemies. I'm ... not Raquel." Cassandra replied, wincing as she said it again.

"Whatever you say ..." Burke retorted, rolling his head to the side. "I think we're done for the day, you're probably a little sore from the exercise and these boys are all over the floor so there's less room to practice."

"I haven't even decided to help you and you're still putting me through boot camp ..."

"Just giving you the tools to survive. What you do with them is up to you."

Edited April 11, 2012 by Phoenix

[Mercakete]

The conversation between Gytha and Faatina just sort of ended. Soon, the mariner found herself standing near the Dauntless as Raquel began her speech. Raquel had gotten her attention with that rallying shout at the beginning of it and that was a pretty good sign for it, after all.

After his outburst, Norbert took only a short moment before remembering himself and noticing the meeting was starting. "It's already starting! Come on, Robin," he exclaimed, this time out of the rush of being late, "We can talk more later." With that, he hurried over to the meeting, Rizen running along behind him.

He came in at around the time she began talking about how the captain would take care of his own men and they'd handle their own disciplinary actions. Well that's good. And then she mentioned dragon eggs. Shadrak's reaction was the one addressed, though Norbert wasn't without his own. "WHAT?!" He couldn't believe it. Shadrak's summary -- oh hey, so they didn't lose him in the desert after all -- was different from what was going through the Ursian's head, but it did make sense and only added to Norbert's fury. Raquel weakly attempted to defend herself maybe. Shadrak stood by his point and went on to what was annoying him.

Norbert's own anger was being fueled by the fact they they were helping dragons and in the process, helping Neviskotia in the war against his home country. He was seething. And he would've gone into a rant if he hadn't heard a click.

"Don't say anythin' stupid. If ye do, ye could be separated from us n' be stuck in that port fer longer than ye want t' be," he heard Gytha warn from nearby. He could hear her put her pistol away and she didn't say anything else. So he just quietly stood there, focusing on Raquel, feeling his rage roil within him. He could only just barely contain himself as he pondered which fate would be worse: helping keep dragon eggs from Neviskotian rebels or being stuck in Rex-Avaz for even a minute longer.

The urge to shout how they should sink the ship with the eggs still on board and the urge to let his tongue fly to slander the Neviskotians in general and to curse the dragons was very strong. But he remained silent as he stood there with his arms crossed. The next issue to come up would hopefully be a good distraction from this outrage. Those are my sisters fighting out there, you dragon-lovers. Those are my sisters who lost their families and became orphans. AND YOU EXPECT ME TO JUST HELP THOSE WHO ARE ENDANGERING THEM?!! He took a deep breath, his jaw tightly locked in place as he slowly allowed the air out through his nostrils. The attempt to calm down wasn't working very well.

[Acacia Sgt]

<What's with him?> John thought, looking over at Bert when he screamed. However, Raquel was finally going to begin his explanation so he decided to get closer to the Dauntless.

Meanwhile, Sophia had also taken care of Filat, and also turned to pay attention.

<Ah, so that's why...> Indeed, knowing this now made everything make sense. <Clever for them, taking them from here to send them up there. At least this captain found out. Those dragons are certainly going to be far better than ending up with those guys. Though, we still need to catch up to them.> Yeah, there still was that problem.

What, enslavement?! Sophia was surprised at this. That's horrible. I guess that's a side of Neviskotia not seen by Ursium. Although, with things as they are, it wouldn't matter to them, unfortunately.

However, it seems this course of action wasn't seen in the same mindset, some more vocal than others.

''Weapons?'' John decided to speak to Shadrak. ''Aren't you a little hasty to make such an assumption?''

Edited April 11, 2012 by Acacia Sgt

[GoD]

Relieved to see Shadrak alright and actually talking to someone, Chelsea gleefully placed her right hand atop the dark Mage's head and patted it with gusto.

"Nice to see ya talkin with us U- Shades! But we're talking about Dragons Eggs here, not weapons."- Chelsea grinned gleefully at her friend.

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

"You have some sort of problem with the Neviskotian military Shadrak?" she asked him, raising an eyebrow in his direction. "Besides this isn't the military...well not exactly anyway," she admitted.

Nadya

"So...what's the goin' rate for dragon eggs on the market anyway? Just academic curiosity and all," she added quickly, in hopes not to offend the more draconic-loving members of the group.

[Ether]

Faatina had eventually wandered over to the Dauntless when Raquel had gathered the group for the briefing.

"D-dragons?! I... that... that's incredible!" Faatina exclaimed, wholly unused to thr concept in it's entirely and rather dazzled by the notion.

[Snowy_One]

"Shadrak! You are alive! I thought you hit the bottle hard or got arrested in Sanctuary. Glad to see you!" said Robin with happiness. "And if this will help my country, I will gladly do my part to help defeat these rebels. Rebels are scum anyways. Rebel scum should not have dragon eggs! They will probably hurt them badly or use them for <omelets>."

[Mercakete]

"They're weapons all right," Norbert spoke up, his voice sounding almost like a rumbling grow, "And it's idiotic to think otherwise! Do you realize how hard it is to take out a dragon?! Those giant, magic-belching beasts are a big reason why many Ursian soldiers die in the war! I don't intend on sending more of them to ravage my home country! I say we'd be better off with the lot of them dead!"

Gytha sighed. Her threat only worked for a short time, it seemed. "Have ye ever even met one?" she asked him.

"I've met plenty of people who've lost their homes and families to them!" he snapped back.

[Acacia Sgt]

Well, Shadrak wasn't the only one, it was understandable, but still...

''Did you took the time to think through it even a little?'' John asked Bert. ''These are just eggs. Even recently hatched they're not exactly combat-capable. Not to mention, not all of them would be joining the war anyway. And if they do, well, Ursians kill their kind for sport. Do you expect the dragons to just stand there and allow them to do it?''

[Mercakete]

"That's a lie! Everyone knows how dangerous they are -- that's the only reason why it's worth telling people, not because we kill them for sport! And eggs hatch and grow up. I don't want anyone using them against my home country! Better to kill them before they can kill us!" Norbert fervently snapped in reply to John, "I have a lot of sisters fighting in the war and I'm not about to help reinforce their enemies!"

Edited April 11, 2012 by Mercakete

[Acacia Sgt]

''Tell me then, do you know why the countries are at war in the first place? What exactly happened hundreds of years ago that started it all?'' John asked him now.

[Mercakete]

"The dragons have always been dangerous animals. The Neviskotians wanted to protect them even though they were attacking us so they split off and began to stupidly defend them, turning them into weapons," Norbert answered, still steamed about their job.

[Acacia Sgt]

''Always? Perhaps thousands of years ago. But just a few hundreds they were already in a state of keeping a low profile.'' John said. ''Dragons weren't turned into weapons but rather started fighting for survival. Besides, you'd think they would stop fighting themselves and help Kigen with the Fallen issue. Since, well, the dragons aren't planning our complete demise.'' He shrugged.

[Mercakete]

"They're a terrible infestation problem and need to be exterminated or kept completely away! I don't believe for one second that they're capable of intelligent thought! I don't care which the government chooses to fight but as long as dragons are killing people, I say they and their supporters are a viable threat!" he answered, only getting more wound up about the issue with each reply.

[Acacia Sgt]

''And who do you think caused them to attack in the first place?'' John asked. ''If they had just let the dragons be in the first place, that whole mess wouldn't have started in the first place. But at this point it has reached a vicious cycle, unfortunately.''

[Snike]

Blake pointedly ignored Veronika's jab with regards to the... incident, instead preferring to continue down to the front deck and wait for the announcement. He didn't have to wait long, as Raquel almost immediately returned to the party, and began by laying down the ground rules. Or tried to, when a scream that pierced the heavens rung out. It was Bert. Of course. Well, after a few moments, she tried again. All went well this time, but things went to hell as soon as the poor girl announced their shipping condition, namely the salvage of dragon eggs. The shaman -Shadrak, judging by what the others were calling him- stirred up trouble by declaring that they were being used by a military - again? Last time he checked, they weren't used by the army, unless aiding the pursuit counted. Regardless, his employer failed to solidly rebut that charge, and with that, the games began. John and Veronika, a wyvern rider and a Skotian respectively, put Shadrak to the grill by asking him about his stance. Robin voiced her support for this venture, and then Bert finally broke, what with the aiding of the 'enemy' from his perspective. John then, unusually, spoke up and began to talk with Bert over the latter's homicidal attitude. The discussion, while quite intriguing, was less important than the reaction of the other members of the party, and so, Blake broke his focus on that argument and swept around the deck. The knight in shining armor was back, it seemed. Where had he been?

***

Tempest in a Teapot

That detestable villain who ruined his precious mirror was nowhere to be found, but trouble was a-brewing elswhere on this mighty convoy. Zel could only watch in horror as Raquel, the once-fair leader of this group of curs and beauties, spoke of saving the eggs of those infernal hellspawn called 'dragons'. Indeed, as the villain spoke of their mission, her features seemed to worsen and worsen, until he only saw a plain young maid. That was it. He had had to associate with the savage Skotian dogs, and their terrible demon-mounts. That was bearable. He had had to sit in the wagon in the sweltering heat, which fogged up his mirror. That was less tolerable, but the knight had survived it. But this? This was inconceivable. It was time to deliver justice to that wench!

"How dare you betray your own country!?!" Zel yelled in a authoritative manner. "Enough is Enough! Prepare to taste Justice, scalewhore!!" To emphasize this point, the knight threw his gauntlet to Raquel's feet, and lowered his lance and raised his shield, ready to gut the traitor like a pig.

OOC: That was a challenge. Raquel can pick it up, or she can leave the gauntlet there, but I'd ask that no one else interfere. This will settle itself in a few posts, more or less.

Edited April 11, 2012 by Snike

[Mercakete]

Norbert was going to respond to John, but it was true that this was basically the first thing they'd started arguing on and now Zel -- he was still around too? -- was accusing Raquel of betraying her country. She is a dragon-sympathizer, but I don't really think that's a bad thing unless something like this happens. Still, is he crazy? "Hey, lay off," he warned Zel, "She may have gotten us into this mess, but she doesn't deserve you trying to gut her."

Gytha simply readied her pistol. This was getting crazy. If someone tried to attack Raquel, they'd be shot and she made no effort to hide this.

[GoD]

Chelsea sighed as Norbert, ONCE A FREAKIN GAIN, ruined the harmony of the group by making comments about how saving the demons that were dragons, (Which BTW is a total lie) and how he was generally pissed at everyone for doing this without his say-so. Chelsea puffed up her cheeks in anger and told Norbert. "But if we don't save them, they'll just become mindless soldiers, they won't ever be free. And were not talking any old dragons, we're talking about lives that have not even reached this world! Would you rather kill infants Bert, cause that seems like what ya wanna do right now."

And suddenly Zel was freaking out and threw something at Raquel, which caused Chelsea to grab Shadrak roughly by his shoulders, and position him between the knight and the troubadour. "What in Mercy's name is YOUR problem?"- Cheslea yelled meekly at Zelatus.

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

Veronika rolled her eyes at Robin's explanation. Rebels use dragons for war, they're not stupid enough to use them for food. she thought to herself. Bert began arguing vehemently with John, something about dragons being a threat to his sisters...a sympathetic cause she supposed, though entirely opposed to her own.

"If you don't like it, then find your own ship out of here," she said to Bert coolly before Zel threw down a gauntlet in some sort of challenge to Raquel.

"Have you gone completely mad?" she asked Zel, sword drawn, standing in front of Raquel.

Nadya

First Robin and Gytha, now this? I'm glad we decide to make a spectacle of ourselves when there's a whole crew to see us. Nadya grumbled mentally to herself. She was ready to heal if needed and things seemed to be heading in the direction very quickly...

Connor

Raquel began making her announcement near the Dauntless...and people weren't taking it well. Something about dragons, Connor was too busy loading to be paying attention. Then the arguments got louder and that cavalier guy seemed ready to charge.

"Uh...I think I'm gonna go now," he informed everyone, stopping the loading process and heading inside the Dauntless, hoping the problem outside would just resolve itself.

Edited April 12, 2012 by -Cynthia-

[Acacia Sgt]

And the opposition kept coming, though much less civil. At least Zel had left a warning instead of outright attacking Raquel.

<This is getting out of hand.> John thought. <It's not like the choices were varied. Then again, who knows with how many captains Raquel spoke to before settling on this one.> With Bert ignoring his question and the awareness Zel got, there wasn't much to do. So he just near back to Gil and leaned on the wyvern's side. They certainly weren't going anywhere at this rate anyway.

Sophia watched as it all unfolded. Well, at least it's all being kept to words. She thought, though with Zel this could prove her wrong...

[Phoenix]

Conflict

The crewmen of the Leverager could hear and see the infighting from anywhere on the main deck, and with the ship already drifting away from the docks, many of them abandoned the nonessential work and slowly drifted toward the argument out of curiosity. The captain stopped barking orders and watched as well, not showing any tell tale signs of anger or dismay just yet. He was just ... watching.

Chelsea detracted even more from Shadrak's badassary by patting him on the head. "I was only consolidating my note to try and sort this whole mess out. The rest of you people seem content to just let the enemy come to us, but if somebody doesn't figure out where they are, we'll never get to them. And I also think Lilith isn't being honest with us ... about several things. I needed to look into that too, and I wasn't needed for anything in particular." he explained, to Chelsea and anyone else listening. "And yes, dragons are weapons; living breathing weapons. Sentience just makes them even more dangerous and is a moot point." he added coldly.

"Hey just ..." Raquel tried to speak up but her voice was far too quiet to cut through all of the arguing breaking out.

Even Shadrak didn't hear her, so he answered Veronika in the meantime saying "I have a problem with being used to do a country's dirty work and getting nothing for it. We could have caught another ship to Ursium and not put ourselves in danger for the sake of a weapon procurement."

Finally Nadya spoke up and she asked a question that only the captain was in any position to answer. He crossed his arms and spoke up. "One hundred thousand gold an egg, and the rebels will pay even more than that." He didn't seem offended by the question, fortunately, and continued to observe the unfolding chaos.

Even Robin seemed to think something bad happened to him. He sighed and shrugged. "Like I said, I'm here when needed." As John and Bert began to go back and forth with the occasional interjection from third parties, Shadrak finally noticed Raquel trying to speak up again, only for her voice to not carry very far and giving up without much effort. Shadrak then shook his head at the two. "It's true, the Skotians might not turn each and every last one of them into weapons, but you can't honestly expect any self respecting Ursian to help rescue them, can you? They'd be traitors to their own people."

"Traitors? Heh," the captain spoke up once again. "Maybe in thirty years. In the meantime, those eggs are on their way to the rebel warlords. Have any of you ever considered the kind of power it takes to control a dragon? It is not like training a dog who is only eager to please to begin with. Dragons are sometimes more intelligent than human beings. It takes mind magic, not large chains. If we let the Utka get away, you will be sentencing every dragon aboard to a life as the thrall of a warlord."

"You should just sink the ship and be done with it, then." Shadrak chimed in.

"That is not what my crew and I are being paid to do. I doubt you would be making such suggestions if there were human children being smuggled for the same purpose ... and don't even think about saying that humans are not weapons. There is a tome right on you, boy. You might raze a village yourself, one day." He then turned to Bert. "And all it would take for you to ruin people's lives is a torch or a few fire runes. I'm not trying to convince you people that 'dragons are people too', but you people would not kill a bunch of orphans just to keep them from joining the military some day, would you?"

Maybe that would have gotten through to Shadrak and Bert, but it the build up of adrenaline from Raquel being challenged by Zel demanded their attention. Even one of Bogdan's own men tried to step into the mess, but Bogdan blocked him off with his arm, shook his head negatively, and then once the sailor settled down, he said "This is their problem. Let us see how people from Ursium and people from Neviskotia solve their problems when religion and territorial disputes are not involved."

Raquel was stunned. She knew she might upset the other Ursians in the party by agreeing to help retrieve the eggs, but she never thought she would be staring down one of her own lances. Veronika was there defending her quickly, though, allowing her just enough relief to hang her head sorrowfully. Shadrak was also on the defensive, having taken out his tome, and gathered enough energy for an attack. A sphere of dark energy was already forming in front of his outstretched hand. "You're out of line, Zel, and that armor won't protect you from me. Step away from the girl." he warned. Again Raquel tried to speak up, but she didn't know what to say, so she just found herself with her mouth partially open and no words coming forth, this time. Just ... stop arguing for a minute. she pleaded mentally. Please ... just stop. "Zeeeel, I said step away from her!" Shadrak warned again. Stop. she closed her eyes this time and began shaking her head. I have to think of something but this argument has been going on for centuries! How am I supposed to deal with that?! How am I supposed to get everyone to be okay with what we're doing, here?! She continually tried to think of ways to placate everyone, but each side had its points, and she couldn't counter any of them. All she could see in her mind was Lilith descending onto the deck in a blinding light and silencing the entire ship through sheer power. She had to wonder if such overwhelming power and might was the only way to handle such things. Words certainly didn't cut it, and she couldn't find any to begin with. It was maddening, though, thinking about Lilith and how the woman could get virtually anything she wanted just because of how powerful she was. The thought ate away at Raquel so quickly, that she didn't even realize she was outwardly furious again until she opened her eyes and saw her fists raised up just above her waist and trembling, almost like she was about to lash out at someone. Finally she could speak and looked out over the group, again.

"Stop! Stop arguing! JUST STOP IT!!!" she demanded, and as soon as she had, she was nearly blinded by a golden light that came from the emblem in her gemstone. Her upper body was completely obscured by the light, and when it passed, her gem was green again, and the emblem piece that had once fused with it had fallen to the floor and landed in the palm of Zel's empty gauntlet. Needless to say, she was speechless. Lilith could not have done that. She wasn't there. Only she could have forced it out like that just now, she realized.