The Tiran Wars: Liberty, at all Costs

DeletedUser13682

Loolayannie took a very long time to begin talking to the villagers again. It appeared that she was reluctant to convey the message to these people. There were several cultures that Red had encountered that didn't value spreading knowledge throughout the citizenry, for various but overall moronic reasons. Red didn't know how these particular people felt about it, but that didn't really matter in Red's opinion. If there was just one person in this village that wanted to learn something, Red would teach them. Although that might go against the intended diplomatic mission Red and Loolayannie had headed to this village to perform in the first place. After Loolayannie got the message sent to the villagers, they talked amongst themselves for quite a time, supposedly discussing the merits and drawbacks of receiving education from the two. It took a while, but they eventually got back with the delegation and the village elder delivered the result to Loolayannie, who then translated it back to Red. They were reluctant to learn new things, refusing to accept any knowledge of magic or what they believed were hellish tricks brought to them by evil foreigners. Red didn't think that any knowledge she possessed would be considered infernal trickery, but there had never been a group of people who had quite matched the scientific and technological advancement of Oak Village. Magical use was very prevalent throughout much of the world, but from what Red had seen, that magic drove away technological innovation and the desire to know more about how the universe worked. There hadn't been any other town that Red had visited that used significant amount of metal in their buildings. Red responded to Loolayannie again after a "I desire the villagers evil not to teach. I wish science to these people to teach. I can new technology these people to give. I can new ideas the people to give. I wish their understanding of the universe to improve. The world has beautiful wonders. They can these wonders to know." There wasn't much that Red could show without being able to draw things out. But it was doubtful that they had much in the way of paper. That would have to be on the list of things to bring along with the next diplomatic mission. But there was one technology that Red could demonstrate at the present moment. That technology was Red's sword, one of the last weapons produced by Oak Village, produced to the specifications of the swordsman from Bâloné. She pulled out her spada and rammed it tip first into the ground, burying it nearly a half foot. The sword was then bent to nearly 90 degrees and allowed to wobble back into place. "It has flexibility. It has sharpness. It has strength. It is a product of science. I can much technology to you to give."
 

Deleted User - 819397

Khalid didn't seem enthused that they were going to find Sync and Glasya, which Joshua did understand...however, Mei snapped out a response in a voice that barely hid her rapidly rising temper. Knowing what this meant, the monarch stepped in and added, "Besides, questionable status or not, if they're with us we know what they're doing. Means we can prepare if thy do try to pull anything. I don't think they will though, not because I'm naive, but because they have nothing to gain from doing something in a large camp...someone's bound to see them. It's safer all around, honestly..." Plus, though he hadn't even told Mei this, some part of him was a little worried about the two. They'd dropped off the face of the earth a little absurdly suddenly...and personal feelings aside, he didn't believe anyone deserved to be killed if it could be prevented. His part in placating Khalid complete, he turned to Gwyll. "It's your choice if you want to come with us, we're not ordering you and wouldn't think less of you if you didn't want to, so please be honest in your feelings." He wanted her to come, but didn't want to make her unhappy either...both of those would be a bad idea he felt. If she chose to come, great...if not...they'd have to think of something.

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The figure hesitated, then came shambling out of the trees, going on about having finally found Joshua and how now they could save Daner, seeming quite, quite mad. Sync didn't need to pull up Joshua's memories to remember the cowardly thief he'd freaked out a couple times before, but this...person, who was only identifiable as female from her voice...a brief, hesitant trip into his original's memories didn't reveal anything on her. He'd think it was a trap, except...a trap would surely have been better designed than some mad, raving woman. She'd collapsed, exhausted, after delivering her message, and the construct sighed. Great, another person to take care of. He hadn't signed on for this. Glasya, whom he was still embracing, was one thing...he cared for her, and she had done the same for him already. This newcomer he owed nothing, and he was strongly, strongly tempted to ignore her and to fall asleep holding his Ifrit lover. He tried too. He wasn't Joshua, he didn't want to pretend anymore on that front, and even his original didn't know who this crazy person was. He'd let his mask fade, and it'd be oh so easy to ignore the woman behind him and just fall asleep. And yet..."kraemen kayle, I'm going soft," he grumbled before gently extricating himself from Glasya's sleeping form, taking the cloak she had been wearing and with a tender expression on his face wrapped it around her both for warmth and to preserve her modesty. He then soured his expression and turned to the other woman.

She was in a lot of pain, and he didn't have healing magic aside from self-repair and the old magic...and after seeing how badly affected both the user and target had been after his last attempt he wasn't eager to repeat it. He really didn't know what to do. Neither he nor Joshua were healers...his original knew just enough to handle basic first aid, but this was beyond that scope. "Kist, I haven't a clue how to help her...why can't I just leave her be?" Sync had his answer before he'd even finished, and he groaned aloud. Of course he'd have Joshua's sense of honor. The only thing he could think of to even begin was to get the figure clean. After that there'd be a better indicator of what needed to be done. So deciding, he fairly unceremoniously picked her up and slightly rougher than necessary put her in the river. If that woke her up he'd instruct her to wash herself off. If not, he'd start pouring water over her, doing his best not to actually touch her. Gods knew what'd happen if he was physically cleaning this woman and Glasya woke up...she'd get the wrong idea, and he didn't want that...she was lucky he was helping her at all, he'd kill her before he let her mess up his burgeoning relationship with the Ifrit.
 

DeletedUser37114

Khalid seemed to accept her answer, which was good because Gwyll was not sure how to continue with that conversation. More importantly, he latched on to the topic of flight, which was something she could certainly talk about. He seemed to be amused at something when he mentioned Isolde and Kes, remarking that she had been spending a lot of time with them, which was quite accurate. She liked the woman and the Kestrel, besides Khalid, Joshua, and Mei, the two were the closest she had to pack mates. And with Joshua and Mei spending so much time with each other, making pretty babies, she was left with just the other three. And Red. Though she had only visited the soldier for more petting rather than conversation or other activities. Khalid finished up that part of the conversation by mentioning that it must be nice to see the world through a bird's eye. There was a note of... something in his voice that Gwyll wasn't very familiar with. The kind of tone he used when he talked about Jehanna. Better to go with a safe answer then, addressing that was beyond her experience and asking felt like a bad idea at the moment. "Birds do have excellent eyesight, and it is very easy to see the landscape from above..."

Gwyll trailed off at that point, unsure about continuing on the same line as she had a number of times now. Not to mention that note in Khalid's tone that she didn't know how to address. Thankfully, Mei walked up and greeted them. "Things are good... I think," she replied. She had heard that question enough times to know that there was a proper answer, but she was never quite sure with phrases like that. Apparently Mei wanted to go back to the old camp and find Sync and Glasya, since nobody had seen them in days. Her initial reaction was to agree and come with them, she liked Mei, she liked Joshua, and if she could help them, she would. The last few days had mostly been spent away from the two, taking care of Khalid, and it would be nice to be with them again. But then Khalid spoke up, loudly, asking why Joshua and Mei would want to find them, calling them trouble makers and traitors. Mei countered by saying it was her decision to make, which was totally true, and that she still wanted to find the two. Joshua spoke up too, saying he also wanted to find them, along with some other things that went over her head about knowing what they are doing and again that it was her choice. Which, from him, was actually annoying. He, of all people should know she wouldn't listen to him if she thought he was spouting nonsense. "I have never obeyed an order from any of you that I did not want to follow and I am not quite sure what you mean about thinking less of me, though I assume it is something like disappointment." Gwyll thought for a moment before looking at Khalid. He'd been improving over the last few days, but she still did not want to leave him... Maybe it was best to be honest with him. "Will you be okay without me?" she asked, quietly. "Stay safe?" Trusting him might be hard, but hopefully he would be fine on his own. With some reassurances or a promise, it would not be difficult for her to give Khalid a break from her watchfulness and telling Joshua and Mei that she would come with them would be easy. Otherwise...
 

DeletedUser28032

As he picked her up the girl slowly stirred within his arms "Daner...got to save Daner" she mumbled sleepily before letting out a shriek as she made contact with the water. After several moments of violent thrashing she eventually managed to drag herself up into a sitting position as she gasped for air.
After throwing back her hood Sync would discover a blonde haired, blue eyed Khitain girl; an anomaly to the norm if he'd ever seen one, staring at him with pure unadulterated terror. Hearing his curt command that she should wash herself she hurriedly starts tearing off her rags in order to comply with his demand seemingly uncaring of the either fact that he was watching her undress or whether her clothes, such as they were actually reached the bank or simply fell into the river "don't hurt me! I'll do as you say just don't hurt me no more!" she sobbed scrubbing at the dirt on her body. With the girl now completely naked Sync could at least see the full extent of her injuries which seemed to mainly consist of hundreds of yellowing bruises and scabbed over cuts that covered her body from head to toe. In truth it was only the three long and ragged cuts that ran down the side of her face and her missing fingernails that would cause him any concern as the rest seemed to be healing nicely by itself.
It was during this time that Glasya was roused from her sleep, no doubt as a result of the girls shriek with the Ifrit blearily looking over to Sync with obvious confusion on her face "Sync...what's going on? Who is she? And why is she naked?"

"Yes dear, its like disappointment" Mei replied patiently to Gwyll's questioning look, it was still hard at times to remember that the wild girl wasn't very good when it came to colloquialism's and phrases "...what we're trying to say is, we won't hold it...we won't be angry with you if you say no and don't want to come with us" which was true, as it wouldn't be fair to coerce the girl into doing something she really didn't want to do, especially seen as it wasn’t her problem.
It was then that Gwyll turned to speak with Khalid; asking if he'd be alright on his own for a while with the young man giving a weary sigh before replying "I'll be fine Gwyll, honest...just...promise me you'll be careful, especially around Glasya she's...dangerous" he could still remember seeing her that time during the battle with blood flowing down her lips like she torn open somebody's throat with her teeth. Part of him was silently hoping that she really had died in that battle and that all that Joshua and Mei would find was a corpse though he knew better than to voice such thoughts. He didn't know what relationship she had with Mei but it seemed far too complicated for his liking.

After having a question thrown back at them the two young men paused to glance at one another before the first man spoke up in reply “I am Sun Kairi and this is my cousin; Sun Ren, we are free men and this is our bridge, you pay to cross” Sun Kairi announced, once again holding out his hand so that Daner could pay him the required toll to cross “Their” bridge.
It would be easy to think them idiots or simpletons yet from the way that they held themselves, the slight tensing of muscles, the expectant gleam in their eyes and the quality of the long curved swords at their waists. The first swords that either Daner or Brahmoth had seen in the hands of anyone other than a soldier since setting foot within this country. The village blacksmiths he’d seen wouldn’t even make daggers let alone a sword with his own attempts to have a duplicate weapon made proving fruitless. It was clear that that was far from the case and that these young men were far more dangerous than they appeared.

Producing the blade had proved to be a disastrous idea; mainly due to the misunderstanding that first Red was trying to threaten them by producing the blade and then that she wanted them to produce swords for the rebels; an act that would see the entire village hanged if it was ever discovered by the Emperor’s men.
Thankfully once they managed to get across that Red had merely wanted to demonstrate the material from which the sword was made the villager calmed down with one or two of them even looking interesting in this strange new phenomenon.
It was eventually decided that Red should return another time in order to discuss some of these ideas of hers in more detail as well as reaching an arrangement for them to trade with one another.
It would be a long time until the villagers could be considered friends but at least both parties were safe in the knowledge that no attacks would be coming in the night.
 

Deleted User - 819397

Huh...the woman seemed to have been severely traumatized. Whoops. As she began to bathe herself frantically in hopes that he'd not attack her, Sync sighed. "I have no intention of harming you. If I had wanted to, I would've already." As she cleaned off, her various injuries swam to the surface...this woman had a great ability to survive...it was no wonder her mind was a little cracked...even her fingernails...the construct shuddered. He wanted to have healing magic once more to help her...but again his complete lack of any safe measures meant there was nothing he could do.

Sync's aura flashed through a mixture of emotions as he heard Glasya's voice behind him, asking who she was and why she was naked. "Your guess is as good as mine on the first...she showed up ranting about having finally found Joshua and needing to rescue Daner, but neither I nor he have any memories of her. Daner I know, her I don't. As for her state of undress, she collapsed after her message, and I discerned cleaning her off was the best course of action as far as determining what further care she needed. It also had the side effect of waking her up, upon which she did the undressing herself." His aura was reflecting his honesty and hope that his lover would believe him better than his words could convey. "Either way, I'm a bit out of my element here...I'm not a healer and I don't really know how to handle someone not mentally sound..." Sync grinned a little sheepishly. "I can handle the heavy lifting if you direct me though, I definitely don't want you to overexert yourself right now." Glaysa was still weak from her illness...he wasn't about to let her endanger herself for some stranger. Especially not a stranger who seemed to know Joshua without him knowing her...and who was a Khitain with no reason to know a foreign monarch.
 

DeletedUser31931

The two swordsmen seemed thrown by his question, glancing at one another before one of the pair made up his mind and introduced himself as Sun Kairi and Sun Ren. They have the same first name? No Daner, they put surname before first name… How do you not remember this after the incident with… Remembering the incident with Mei, Brahmoth ran his hand over his head, popping the hood down and running Daner’s hand through his spiky black hair, which had grown out slightly over the last couple of months, thinking. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” The words were muttered under his breath, barely audible even to himself. Looking back at the two men in front of him Brahmoth smiled, his mouth curving upwards in a kind manner. Observing the gleam in the eyes of the two men in front of him, he realised that it was probably better to handle things now rather than leave them in suspense. “Before I hand over any of my money, sorry but another question: Are you two related to a girl called Sun Mei? Only, it’s her that I’m travelling in search of. Well, her and her friends.” It was gamble. After all, he had no idea how common the surname Sun was in Khitai. Still, the present situation left him no choice and considering that this might be the biggest break he’d get in the near future, it made a certain amount of sense for him to ask. Still, as he spoke, his left hand, which had been resting innocuously within the folds of his clothing, slowly began to sneak its way up his clothing and towards where Daner kept his throwing knives. His right hand, which was hanging by his side, had the hidden blade on it and so if they attacked he could use that weapon to surprise them to his advantage. It always paid to be prepared in case of a fight.
 

DeletedUser37114

Mei's explanation did a lot to clarify her phrasing, confirming that Gwyll had been right in her assumption before. Though why they would be angry if she did not want to come with them was somewhat odd. More importantly, Khalid assured her that he would be fine, which wasn't as reassuring as it could have been since he was still having difficulty with breathing, of all things. Still, if he was fine and was healing and adjusting to the mountains, she could probably let him out of her sight for a few days. His soldiers and Red could watch over him for her. The man did warn her about Glasya, who was someone she did not particularly need warning about. The woman and her companion had both reeked of magic, she was not going to underestimate them. And she wanted to spend more time with Joshua and Mei, she had not seen enough of them lately. Regardless of how often Khalid had told her the two needed privacy she found it difficult to understand why. "I will go with you two, then," Gwyll said. "I will need some time to retrieve my pack and say goodbye to Isolde and Kes, but that should not take long." Not like her goodbyes to her pack back in the Northlands, that had taken a whole day of hunting, talking, and being with them. This time, she knew that she would be back before too long.
 

DeletedUser13682

This was threatening to turn very bad, very quickly. Producing the steel blade had done the exact opposite of what Red was trying to go for; she very nearly sent the villagers scattering rather then fill them with awe over a piece of steel so flexible yet so strong. Fortunately, the situation was deescalated through a series of frantic translations, through the villagers were now under the impression that the rebellion wished them to manufacture weapons, as poor as the villagers no doubt were. It was only through another series of careful translating that Red was able to get across that she only desired to demonstrate the superior steel of Oak Village and let them know that she could give them knowledge to make such a product. After the villagers understood that there was no ill will towards them, they began to warm up a bit, with a couple of them cautiously moving towards the spada to investigate it further. Eventually, Red and Loolayannie were able to establish a second meeting several days from the present to discuss Red’s suggestions and the establishment of an official trading agreement between the two groups. It was then time for the delegation to leave the village and return to the camp. It was a fairly quiet return trip, with Red utilizing this time to contemplate how best to improve for the next meeting, though she would answer any questions Loolayannie might have on life, the universe, and everything. When they returned, Red set out to find Joshua and Khalid, eventually discovering them in conversation with Gwyll and May. “We have from the village to return,” Red announced during a lull in the conversation. “They have worry about us, but they have the will with us to cooperate. They are a simple village of farmers. They desire peace. I have the villagers knowledge to promise to teach. They have with us to promise to trade. I will a full report to write. Have you questions?”
 

DeletedUser28032

"Oh I see, well that makes perfect sense, I mean it’s everyone's first instinct when confronted by an emotionally unstable young woman to get her undressed!" Glasya snapped clearly not buying Sync's story. Angrily pulling herself back onto her feet she snatches up her discarded nightdress from where it lay on the grass before rounding on him again "you wouldn't even look at me whilst I was bathing but this young girl clearly needs your help, I mean I kind of feared that you'd lose interest in me in this form, I just didn't think you would work so fast!" she shouted before storming off.
During the course of this rather one sided argument, the girl would continue to bathe with a distracted look in her eyes as if she didn't really know where she was or what was going on.
Apart from occasionally muttering that they had to ”save Daner” she would remain silent and with her eyes firmly fixed on the water in which she was sat. Making it abundantly clear that she would remain where she was until Sync or someone else told her to do otherwise.

Once again the pair hesitated; this wasn't going the way it was supposed to be and they were having to think on their feet with Sun Ren muttering something to his cousin in Khitain before the spokesman for the two of them cautiously answered "I have a sister called Sun Mei...though why she would know a foreign Barbarian is a mystery to me...describe her to me if indeed you know my sister then we shall talk, if not I will remove your lying head" he said as both his and his cousin's hands moved to the swords they wore though neither made a move to draw just yet; their eyes glued to the foreigner in front of them studying his body for any form of aggressive move that would signal for the pair of them to attack.

"That's alright, Joshua and myself need to get our own things packed so we won't be leaving straight away" Mei assured the other girl with a relieved smile on her face "…we should only be a couple of days, I just want to find out what happened to them" she explained so that Gwyll would know that they weren't going on a long journey.
It was around about this point that Red and Leilani would arrive after having made a trip to the local village "That's understandable, I am not sure I'd like an army pitching up just outside my home either...though its good to know they're willing to trade" Khalid said in response to the news. He didn't have any immediate questions as it all sounded fairly straight forward to him and any he thought up later would no doubt be answered in Red's report. If nothing else they were always very thorough.

With a bundle of winter clothes under her arm, the walk back to the camp was mostly quiet with Leilani's only question being whether or not Science could fix an aching head as magic didn't have an answer to that particular problem, or at least not in her particular school. From what Mei had told her no one had been able to master the Spirit element; the one required for healing in centuries and although she kind of fancied the idea of being the one that would break that trend she knew that that wouldn't be the case.
Upon arriving back at the camp Leilani listened as Red told the others of their findings with the girl offering Gwyll and Khalid a shy smile as her only way of a greeting; still too afraid to actually speak to them in her badly broken and accented Tiranian.
It was with the completion of Red's report that Mei would address her friend "Red, Joshua, Myself and Gwyll are returning to the old camp, no one has seen Sync or Glasya in days so I want to see if I can find any trace of them" she explained before moving on to her requesting that Red keep an eye on her apprentice whilst she was gone; instructing Leilani to continue her studies whilst she was away and telling Red to punish her any way she saw fit if Leilani even considered casting. Mei's own method usually involved a slap and a verbal beating that left Leilani in no uncertain terms over what she had done wrong and what would happen if she was ever foolish enough to do it again. Needless to say when Mei asked her to do something or more importantly not to do something she made damn sure she did as she was asked.
 

Deleted User - 819397

Kist...Glasya didn't believe Sync's true story, overlooking the argument about the woman being hurt for the fact that he (admittedly had) told her to undress almost immediately upon meeting her. She started to storm off, with the woman sitting blankly in the water. Kraemen kayle...glancing over at the injured person, the construct got a quick "Get dressed and wait here, we'll be back in a moment," out before taking off after the Ifrit. When he caught up to her he forced his aura to bloom so that even "I don't understand magic" Joshua could have seen it. He knew Glasya had at least some ability to understand what was being shown in a person's aura, so making it easier to see had to be beneficial. "I swear to you I'm telling the truth. She was exhausted and her aura was filled with pain. I'm not a healer, I only have the Old Magic and after last time I'm loathe to use that again. She was absolutely filthy, so I couldn't see the extent of her injuries, so I chose to have her clean off in order to at least see what kinds of wounds I was dealing with. I also didn't want to turn her away because she has, or thinks she has, some connection to Joshua and Daner. If we let her get away and she was important, we'd be even more in their bad books. I promise I had no desire to do anything with her. I meant it before, I think you're beautiful regardless of what color your skin and eyes are. The woman back there means nothing to me...I love you." The honesty and guilt in his aura never shifted throughout Sync's passionate, hurried speech. He may have been able to project it, but he couldn't fake what it showed...not a person alive could, he figured. It reflected the owner's true feelings, no matter how much they tried to hide them. He'd made his case...now he just needed to see if Glasya would be more accepting this time.

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So Gwyll was coming with them. Joshua couldn't help but smile at this...the girl was everything they needed on the trip, and he was glad she was willing to help. As the wild girl left to prepare to leave, Red returned and made his report about the village, that they weren't thrilled to have an army just outside their walls but were willing to trade with them. Khalid reflected much of his own sentiments on the matter, meaning Joshua didn't have much to add. Instead, he turned to Mei. "We should probably start packing then...no sense waiting around when everything's lined up. Thanks for holding down the camp Khalid, Red." A smile and nod at Leilani, and he turned to depart. Unless anyone stopped him, he'd return to his and Mei's tent and throw together a light pack for the few days they'd be on the road. No need to travel heavy, especially not with this thin air slowing them down. Plus it'd be getting warmer as they descended the mountain, so there'd be less need to pack warm, though he did intend to take a heavier blanket just in case. The monarch wasn't thrilled about going to find Sync and Glasya still, but he'd agreed to help, and it wasn't in his nature to drag his feet at that point. He'd made his choice, he'd follow it through to the end now.
 

DeletedUser31931

They knew the name Mei. This was good. That said, being called a “foreign barbarian” was not exactly the highest point in Brahmoth’s life. Not that he could exactly argue as two months of wandering had done little for his personal hygiene and though he’d been able to wash dirt off once or twice in a stream, he imagined he was probably a slightly sore sight. As he was instructed to describe Mei or face decapitation, Brahmoth hurriedly struggled to recall Daner’s memories of the girl. The boy had a fairly good eye for details, one of the things that had made him more useful to the guild and it was as if Brahmoth could see the girl in crystal clarity. Focusing his mind, he began to describe her. “I’d say she was about this high”. Using a hand, Brahmoth demonstrated on Daner’s body roughly where Mei could come to. She hadn’t been much shorter than Daner as the thief stood at about 5 and a half feet. “She’s also a couple of years older than myself.” This part was true of Daner’s body even if not Brahmoth. Brahmoth was around 35 or rather he had been when he’d died which he guessed made him nearer to 40 now. He wasn’t entirely sure of his age as a result of the ‘abandoned by his parents’ thing so he usually just made a rough estimate. Daner, by contrast, was not much older than 18 or 19 by this point. In some senses it wasn’t much of a surprise that the boy had reacted in the manner that he had, but that was a train of thought for another time. “And she’s quite a slim build. You wouldn’t know by looking at her that she’s a mage but she definitely is and a reasonably strong one at that. She has long black hair that she holds up with sticks” Brahmoth shaped out the rough outline of her hair as best he remembered it at the time trying to ensure that his explanation was as detailed as possible surrounding the girl’s description, especially given that whether he had to fight his way out of the situation or not depended on this fact.

“She’s got a fiery spirit and a mildly short temper.” Now he was just grabbing for details that he remembered, his voice still calm though he wasn’t as calm inside, especially not with Daner experiencing a mini freak out still after the threat of head removal. “Hazel eyes and she said she was terrible at cooking.” Description over, Brahmoth figured he’d throw in one final detail before he let Ren and Kairi decide his fate. “As for how I know her, I was with her, Joshua Jehan and a group of other fighters as we travelled from the Northlands back to Khitai. We were split shortly after our arrival in Khitai and I’m headed after the rebellion, figuring that that is where I’ll likely find them, or where I’ll at least find a starting lead on them.” His explanation finished, Brahmoth gave a brief, dramatic pause before bowing. “Daner Risert, Leader of the Theives’ Guild of Tiran and supporter of the anti-empire forces, at your service. Does that explain the issue?” Bramoth chuckled internally as Daner went through another panic attack and a fit of near hyperventilation, despite being placed inside his own head, at the introduction. I doubt your name carries any weight, at least not here, but at least then they might start to see us as a human being rather than a target for robbery, especially since they don’t seem like typical robbers. We’ve said our part. Now if they believe us we might get some help in our search. And if they don’t, well… that’s why I have a hand on a throwing knife. If it did come to a fight, Brahmoth would attempt to fight in as non-lethal a style as possible, after all he didn’t want to kill the family of the ally he was looking for, but he would probably have to injure one of them at the start of the fight to give himself a fighting chance. To that extent, a knife in a shoulder would likely suffice and would be healable damage but, even so, he hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
 

DeletedUser28032

"Sync you're a damned idiot and I should make you suffer for it!" Glasya snapped at him before delivering a stinging slap to his cheek "Now remember how much that hurt because if I ever find you with a naked woman that I haven't invited into our bed I'll put you through so much pain that that will feel like a love bite" she snarled still clearly furious with him, though at least she believed him when he said that nothing had happened and that he loved her. The Ifrit's voice and attitude softening towards him a little as she continued to speak to him "I'm going to make you prove that last statement of yours tonight" she said with a seductive gleam in her eye as she took his hand in her own "Now...let us go and talk to your new friend and see if we can't get this all sorted out"
They would find the girl sat by the bank; shivering in her waterlogged clothes, her eyes looking up expectantly at Sync as he returned with the hooded figure that he'd been arguing with. The blonde Khitain girl's voice filled with child like hope as she asked him "we are going to go save Daner now?"

With Leilani now in Red's care and nothing further to discuss Mei bid her friends farewell before departing to go in search of food for the journey. Returning to the tent a short while later in order to pack her own bag, with a sigil scratched into the dirt ensuring that the possessions they chose to leave behind would remain untouched by any light fingers that may be lurking within the camp.
With her bag packed she joined Joshua outside of the tent eyeing the blanket he was carrying with a mischievous gleam in her eye "Do you think we'll be needing that? I know of a few more enjoyable methods of keeping warm" she said with a giggle before moving to take a seat by the remains of the campfire. She wasn't sure how long they would be waiting for Gwyll to join them so she may as well make herself comfortable "You know...this will be the first time that we've actually been on the road since leaving the North" she said in a conversational tone. She didn't count her and Joshua's little trips through the Khitain countryside as they had never been in any real danger making it more like a stroll than a mission "I wonder what Ral and Alexandria are doing? You know, I do miss having her around she'd have been over the moon about our engagement" having Gwyll as a friend was nice but she just didn't understand these things and the boys didn't really seem to care, or at least not to the extent that she did. It sure would be nice to have another girl to talk to again...even if it was Glasya, she’d at least understand how much getting married to Joshua meant to her. After all she had spent a rather long time in her head.

The two young men failed to show any form of reaction as Daner began the task of describing Mei, with the girl's height, age and hair colour describing practically anybody living in Khitai though his mentioning that she was a magi did cause a surprised look to briefly appear.
It was only when Daner mentioned her fiery spirit and short temper that Sun Kairi broke his silence and spoke "yeah that sounds like her"
"and the cooking confirms it...your baby sister was capable of burning water even as a child" Sun Ren added with a chuckle prompting all involved to relax though their hands never strayed far from their swords " I should have known she'd get tangled up in the rebellion, its just like her" Kairi grumbled with a wry shake of his head that said he'd never understand women and their crazy ways before turning his attention back to Daner "so tell me Daner Risert what is my sister doing associating with thieves? Magi or not she should be married by now not gallivanting where she doesn't belong... or with foreign barbarians for that matter, mother is going to have a fit if she ever finds out about this!"
 

Deleted User - 819397

Sync winced as Glasya struck him, understanding her anger even if he wished it was otherwise. Good intentions or not he'd not thought it through, so he couldn't really fault her for her actions. Not for the first time he cursed his age...he compensated for it well enough most of the time, but he was simply lacking in life experience that everyone else had. Unfortunately, it had gotten him in trouble this time. It wasn't all bad though, as after she threatened him and told him in no uncertain terms to never do that again, Glasya started to calm down and even had found it in her to flirt with him, which sent a thrill of positive emotion through his aura. She even decided it wouldn't be all bad to at least see what the girl had to say, which told the construct more than anything else that she was calm again.

The pair returned to the Khitain girl with the abnormal hair, who had gotten dressed and who sounded rather childlike asking if they were going to go save Daner now. She was also sopping wet, which Sync opted to fix by gently heating her clothes with fire magic. She'd caused him enough trouble, if she got sick now he'd be really frustrated with her. "Ok, look. First off we don't even know your name, which makes it really hard to get a conversation going. Second, I hate to say it but I'm not Joshua, I'm...his brother, Sync." That felt weird. "Third, how did Daner get himself in trouble? Last I saw the coward was doing just fine with the others." He knew his bedside manner was lacking a little, but he had no clue what he was supposed to be doing. If he didn't ask his questions, how'd he come to understand what was going on?

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

Mei's comment about there being more enjoyable ways to keep warm prompted both a roguish grin and a blush from Joshua. "Gwyll would probably encourage that too with all her talk of pretty babies," he added, laughing as he shook his head. He still packed the blanket though...while he was sure the wild girl would give them the space if they so desired, it wasn't like they'd keep it up all through the night, meaning they'd need the heat at some point. Aside from that the packing was pretty quick, a benefit to being on the road so much. The monarch took a seat next to his fiancée once he'd finished, wrapping an arm around her. "Yeah, no army with us...just a small band...granted, that small band successfully freed Jehanna somehow, so we had luck at some point." It was strange to think how they'd managed that particular task...of course, having had knowledge of the inner workings of Jehanna Hall had certainly helped them take out the head before the body had a chance to react, but still...it had been a shockingly simple solution as opposed to the massive army they had to stop Khitai from falling. Mei's question about what Ral and Alexandria were doing prompted a shrug from Joshua. "Ral said they planned to gather support against his father, right? Either they're still up to that or they decided they had enough to oppose him directly...unfortunately there's no real safety in the world right now...even in Jehanna if we were to turn a blind eye to the world and lock ourselves away the magi would come for us before long...as much as I want an end to the bloodshed, we're a long ways from done, aren't we?" It was a sobering thought that the only way to bring peace was to keep fighting, and one he hated. How had his mother managed to run Jehanna without any sort of violence? Would she have found a way to do so here as well? He had no idea. "Alexandria would've been thrilled about our engagement though, I agree...and Ral would've teased me about waiting so long for ages." Joshua had to agree with his fiancée...he missed the pair and their honest, kind mannerisms. Besides, he owed them for getting him and Mei together in the first place. If the small ceremony happened before they encountered the noble and the bard again, he'd have to apologize...and they were getting an invitation to whatever circus his nation would demand of their king and new queen regardless.
 

DeletedUser31931

As Brahmoth related the details, he scanned the faces of the two men in front of him. Distrust and suspicion slowly gave way to surprise, followed by acceptance as Brahmoth rounded off his acceptance. As the two men shared a joke about her cooking, the laughter broke the tension that had hovered over all of them and Brahmoth’s hand left the throwing knives within his robes, hanging loosely at his side. As Kaire… Kaira… Kiari! Asked his question, Brahmoth let out a chuckle of his own at the mention of marriage and Mei’s mother. “As far as marriage goes, I don’t know if he’s proposed to her yet or not but she certainly seemed serious with a member of our group, Joshua Jehan. And though he might be foreign, he’s the King of Jehanna so he’s not exactly a barbarian. And for the mother, she might well know as the last I knew they were going to go see Sun Lee who was her… brother?” Daner paused for a moment, before realising he hadn’t really answered the question properly. “As for what she’s doing, she was summoned back to Khitai to answer for being an unregistered mage but I get the feeling that things on that front have gone south. To cut a long story short, the child Emperor is possessed by the spirit of a demon and the forces that work with him seek to free a dragon and bring Khitai, and more, under their thrall. I’m looking to avoid that option which is why I seek the resistance and Mei and Joshua likely do to. Wherever they go, trouble usually seems to follow and I didn’t hear of them being captured so my best guess is that they’ve been running with the rebellion this time, or maybe even running it. Hence why I stand before you today.” Daner, throughout all of this, was still having a panic attack, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the threat had been averted and it took a mental slap to the face, for which Brahmoth nearly reflexively winced, to bring him out of his spiralling train of thought. With Daner thanking him and apologising, the guild leader mentally chuckled as he listened to whatever response he was given. You’re young yet, and anyway, hopefully this’ll be a learning experience for you.
 
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DeletedUser37114

Mei explained that she and Joshua needed to pack their own things, which wasn't really what would take time for Gwyll, but she appreciated the time to go say her goodbyes. She passed Red and the Mei's Apprentice girl whose name she couldn't remember while leaving, making quick goodbyes to them as she went. A short jog across the camp and she was giving Isolde a tight hug and helping Kes get an itch scratched. She explained the situation as helping Joshua and Mei, describing them as part of her flock for Kes, and asked the older woman to watch Khalid if she could. It would have been so wonderful if she had the whole day to say goodbye, but Joshua and Mei would be waiting for her and it would be best to get on the road while they still had light to travel by. So Gwyll just focused on making do with the reassurance that she would be back before too long. One last trip to Khalid's tent to grab her pack, make sure everything was in place, and a quick trip to grab some thin strips of dried meat from their food stores. She had known about the technique for storing food over the winter, her master had taught her about it, but she loved the spices these people used in flavoring the food as well as preparing it. So different from her homeland's meals, but absolutely delicious. Joshua and Mei were finishing a conversation about something when Gwyll found them at their tent. Good, she wouldn't be interrupting anything. "Are we ready to leave, then?" she asked the two. "I would prefer to travel as far as possible before the sun sets."
 

DeletedUser13682

The walk back to the camp had been exceedingly quiet; Loolayannie had only asked about curing headaches, to which Red replied that several such remedies were known, including a tree that unfortunately didn't grow in mountains that lacked a sizable water reserve, but tobacco helped, at least for a bit. After they arrived back at the camp, and Red had given the report, May delivered a report of her plans. Sync and Glasya had been discovered missing since Red and Loolayannie had departed on their diplomatic mission, and now May, along with Joshua and Gwyll, were mounting an expedition to the old campsite to ascertain the whereabouts of their missing comrades. Red stood there, silently absorbing it. There was certainly paperwork detailing the camp relocation; it could be determined how many supplies the army had lost due to the transfer, down to the ounce. So how had Red missed two people from the muster, probably the easiest thing to track in an organized transfer? A thorough paperwork audit would have to be performed as soon as practicable to help Red determine what went wrong. A critique would have to be filed as well as a lessons learned and a corrective actions statement. Red also desired to travel with them to correct this blunder, but that option was rendered impossible when May ordered Red to watch over Loolayannie, and punish her if she performed any castings. Red didn't know that metal working, or perhaps it was glass working, was part of magic, but if the magician girl wasn't allowed near molten materials, then Red would make sure she stayed away from the blacksmiths. After that was all done, Red departed with a simple goodbye and made for the strike team's campsite. The only greeting offered to the strike team was a terse 'disturb me not' as Red entered Red's own tent. There, a very long and tedious search would reveal that the muster reports had lacked mention of Sync and Glasya. The critique report cited this, along with Red's failure to properly verify the paperwork, the lessons learned file stating that all paperwork must be properly verified, and the corrective actions file laying out a plan to update all paperwork and files, with specific emphasis on muster reports and personnel files. With the ink still drying on revision A to the muster master list, Red collapsed on the spartan cot, bureaucracy and the events of the past two weeks forcing an involuntary sleep on the scientist soldier.
 

DeletedUser28032

"What?...n-n-no you m-must be him! I tried so hard!" the girl whimpered in a pitiful voice upon learning that the man in front of her was not who she had sought out. With tears slowly rolling down her bruised cheeks it was clear by her aura that she felt that she was an abject failure and had doomed her friend as a result "Maybe we shouldn't have told her you weren't Joshua just yet?" Glasya quietly spoke, clearly surprised by the girls reaction to the news, not that either of them could have known that she’d react in such a manner.
Crouching down in front of her Glasya proceeded to speak to the girl using her best impersonation of maternal instincts to try coax what they needed from the distraught young woman "its alright dear, we're friends of Joshua's. We can take you to him but first you need to tell us your name" she said, completely glossing over the fact that; not only were they not Joshua's friends, but that they also didn't have a clue as to his whereabouts. Thankfully however the girl bought the lie as she replied in a voice barely above a whisper "Lucy"
"Lucy, that's a pretty name, now Lucy why don't you come with us and we'll find you something clean to wear and something to eat and then we'll have a nice long chat about what's happened ok?" Glasya continued in the same tone of voice as before.

With Glasya leaning heavily against Sync the three of them would make their way back to where the tent was hidden with the pair of them having to persuade the disbelieving blonde that their tent truly was disguised as a tree and that they weren’t both madmen.
Once inside Glasya; still shrouded within her hooded cloak would pull a simple cotton dress from out of her chest and hand it to Lucy. The dress would require some serious tailoring as Glasya’s rather shapely figure was completely different to the petite and almost boyish one that Lucy possessed; a single glare from the Ifrit telling Sync that he’d better turn his back whilst the other girl changed if he ever wanted to sleep beside her again.
Dressed in the clean if very baggy dress Lucy would then proceed to haltingly tell her story; describing how she’d come to meet Daner and how the pair of them had been tricked into aiding what she described as a Yaoguai wearing the boy emperor’s skin and finishing with the enemies plan to release a Dragon into the world.
With the girl quietly sniffling to herself in the corner Glasya turned to speak to Sync clearly shaken by what she’d just heard “Baby boy…we need to find the others…I think we’re all in serious danger”

The pair of them had just finished their conversation about their absent friends when Gwyll arrived, asking if they were ready to go with her wanting to get as far as possible before the failed went “Yes, that sounds like a good idea to me, the less time we have to spend looking for them the better” Mei said as she got up; shouldering her bag as she did so. Her little bag had seen some pretty heavy service since she’d joined the resistance and like her boots the wear was beginning to show, though it should last a little longer before she needed to replace it.
Leaving the camp the trio were able to set a good pace as they descended the mountainside with Joshua finding that his breath was returning to him the further down they got.
By nightfall they were all but back within the jungle, the group setting up camp in amongst the trees; cooking a meagre meal over the tiny campfire that Mei produced for them. Although they were still a long way from their former camp and by extension the site of the battle that had taken place it was decided that it would be best to err on the side of caution less the enemy had scouts within the area.
Chewing on a strip of beef that was only marginally softer than her boots Mei sat with her arm about Joshua enjoying the sensation of being beside him. She couldn’t wait to be married to him; to be his wife and raise his children despite the whole being a queen business that came with it.
Looking over at Gwyll, Mei softly smiles at the girl before speaking “So Gwyll…I’ve noticed that you and Khalid are sharing a tent, is there anything happening between the two of you or are you just good friends?” she asked genuinely curious as to whether the pair of them were an item.
After listening to what the wild girl had to say on the matter Mei would then offer to take first watch; the downside of not travelling with an army being that there were no sentries to keep her safe whilst she slept though it was more likely to be Khitai’s wildlife than enemy raiders that she’d have to keep an eye out for.
Once it had been decided that they should turn in for the night Mei would kiss Joshua good night before making herself comfortable against a tree; already counting down the hours for when she could wake up the next person and get some sleep, maybe she’d even be able to get a little time snuggled up against Joshua before it was time for them to wake up and carry on moving. Now that would be nice.

After listening to the strange foreign barbarian’s tale the pair exchanged dubious looks with one another “well…she is stupid enough to join a rebellion” Ren said with a shrug that said he bought that much of Daner’s story at least “she’s also stupid enough to go marrying a foreign barbarian, they have ways of tricking a young girl you know” Kairi stated in a tone of voice that said the tricks of foreign devils were well known and that it was the responsibility of the male siblings to guard against them lest their sister were to become enamoured by them.
Turning his attention back to Daner, Kairi smiles brightly at the thief as he spoke “friend, you’re crazy but we’ll go and see my sister anyway, it would appear she needs saving from herself” he said before moving to cross the bridge with his cousin in tow, neither seemingly bothered as to whether Daner followed or not. The news that his baby sister was not only running with the rebellion but also on the verge of marrying a foreigner being enough to abandon his life as a highway man in order to save her and his family’s honour; a irony considering the damage he had already done by leaving to become a Ronin. It would be a noble quest of sorts he decided, if one that would never see the pages of a book or inspire bards to sing his praises “Do you know which group she is with? There are a lot of rebel groups within Khitai” Ren asked over his shoulder only to be interrupted by his cousin “Don’t worry Ren, we’ll ask our Ronin brothers, they will know where she is, maybe they’ll even have a quest worthy of our talents, come Crazy Daner you will meet our brothers, though no tales of dragons else they will remove your fool tongue” Kairi said in a way that said that there was only one answer to his request for him to join them. After all the man wanted to find his foreign barbarian friends who were currently warping his sisters mind, so it was in his interest to follow them besides which it never hurt to have an extra set of eyes with a blade with you. The roads of Khitai had grown very dangerous as of late with brigands at every bridge demanding payment from honest people, such degenerates shouldn’t be allowed to get away with such an act…or at least that was what Kairi thought.
 

DeletedUser37114

Mei and Joshua were ready to go, which was good, because they really did need to get moving. Even without a crowd, the journey was not going to be particularly quick. However, they did manage to make it back down into the jungle before the sun went below the horizon. If Mei had not forbidden her to go out because there might still be enemy scouts, Gwyll would have tried to get a little hunting in. As is, the meal was a decent one cooked one a very small fire. And, of course, watching Mei and Joshua sitting with each other was a wonderful way to pass the time. Though when Mei did talk and ask a question, she chose a confusing one, noting that she and Khalid were sharing a tent and asking if there was "anything happening between the two of them" or if they were just good friends. "Good friends... I think," Gwyll replied. "We are good friends, but I do not understand all of your question. We settled our argument days ago and I do not see anything special about sharing a tent, so what do you mean when you are asking if there is anything happening between us?" Gwyll could think of several possibilities, but all of those were silly, nonsensical ones. Mei would know better than to ask about silly, nonsensical possibilities.
 

DeletedUser31931

This was going to be interesting. Well, we achieved what we wanted. Though not exactly how I thought we would… Brahmoth chuckled to himself as Kairi and Ren set off, apparently deciding that the threat of their sister marrying Joshua was enough to convince them to abandon their present lives and set off in search of her. I doubt that Mei’s going to take… umm… being told what to do… well… Images of large fireballs and cursing sprung to mind as Daner directed this thought at Brahmoth. Agreed. Still, she’s a big girl and she can handle it herself. This way we get an extra pair of what look like reasonably skilled blades travelling with us. Plus they have much better local knowledge than we do so it’s a win-win on our side. Ren asked which group he thought she was with and Brahmoth started thinking about how to best phrase “I have no bloody clue” when Kairi cut across and saved him from having to make that slightly awkward admission. As he was told to keep his mouth shut about dragons, he nodded. “I’ll let you two handle the talking. Seems like the best idea.” Inwardly, he laughed at the fact that they’d called him Crazy Daner. If only they knew… They kept walking and, deciding he’d had enough of the quiet, Brahmoth broke the short silence with a simple question. “So then, how far away are your Ronin brothers?”
 

Deleted User - 819397

Gwyll came to get them right as they had finished preparing, which was nice timing on her part. With none of them wanting to waste more time, the trio took off from the camp. The air must have been getting thicker as they descended, as it was easier and easier for Joshua to not feel tired the longer they walked. They'd all but reached the jungle when the decision to stop for the night came, and everyone seemed reasonably satisfied with their progress. It was as they were relaxing after dinner, the Swordmaster enjoying the comforting presence of his fiancée next to him, arms around each other, that Mei asked a question of Gwyll, inquiring as to whether there was something going on with Khalid or if they were just friends. The wild girl expressed confusion at this, prompting Joshua to smile. "Most times when people of differing genders share a tent, it's assumed they're together...for example, if Mei and I weren't engaged or otherwise in a relationship, we wouldn't be sharing a tent like we are, lest people talk. I imagine we'd still be good friends and would trust each other enough to be ok with sharing a tent if we needed to, but we wouldn't go out of our way to do so. Granted, there's nothing wrong with sharing a tent with a friend, people just tend to assume there's more going on. That's why Mei was asking." He hoped this would be enough to explain the question and nuances to the wild girl...he knew his attempts were very hit or miss with her, but it was a far better option than to not try.

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It seemed the girl had really, really wanted Sync to be Joshua, succumbing to tears as the revelation happened, her aura darkening to a truly depressing degree. Now thoroughly frustrated with the happenings of the last five minutes, he let Glasya take over the talking. She was far more successful and got her name, Lucy, within a moment, thank whatever gods existed. From there it was a fairly simple matter to get her back to their tent (though convincing her that yes, it was in the tree was irksome as well.) Inside, the Ifrit quickly found a change of clothes for Lucy, glaring at Sync to turn around, prompting him to raise his hands in a gesture of surrender before turning around, rolling his eyes after he was no longer facing the pair. He wasn't interested in a crazed girl who had severe issues...and who was apparently yet another female lusting after his original. Glasya had thoroughly ensnared him, and if he had to put up with a little bit of jealousy to prove that...it was worth it.

Once Lucy was proper again, albeit in clothes that didn't fit her at all, she began to explain what all had happened. Apparently Daner had gotten the poor girl involved in a plot that had revealed the emperor was a...something. It wasn't a word Joshua had known, nor was it something Sync knew, so that wasn't insightful beyond the fact the boy wasn't himself. The thing about dragons though...that was problematic. Dragons were not good. Kraem, his fa...Riev had set up shop in a place called the Dragon's Gate, and had made it apparent he wasn't going to be using it to live up to its name. If that man was wary of the beasts with all his power, a dragon here would be devastating. Glasya had seemed to come to the same conclusion, telling him she thought they were in big trouble. "Yeah, doesn't sound good...we need to actually find the others now...the only issue is I have no clue where to look. I can track based off of aura, but we were out of it for so long there wasn't enough of a trace left to follow." The construct frowned, thinking hard for a moment, then shook his head. "I really don't know...do you have any ideas how we're going to locate them?"
 
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