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Fire Emblem: Curse of the Goddess [IC / Conditional Acceptance / PG-16]

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Edrick was not going to admit it, but he felt like dog shit. His limbs were getting heavy, his chest hurt just about as much as anything ever had on him, and one of the people in this group he had the most esteem for was insisting he needed medical attention over it! None of this was anything more than what he could fix with some rest and a bath, and he was about to protest as such when Link started lifting him up and locked his arms behind his back. At least... that blurry shape mostly looked like link. What was he saying though? It sounded like his ears were full of cotton. All the same he found himself wiggling against the hold.

"Hey, c'mon, I'm not-" he started to calmly protest, and then another blurry shape occupied the majority of his view. "Who are-" he did not get to finish his question, because he was interrupted by a poultice being applied to his chest. He knew it was going to hurt before it actually did, he could smell the herbs and alcohol on it. The boy didn't expect it to hurt as much as it did, and just like that everything snapped into sharp focus. He could see a dark-skinned man who looked to be in his mid thirties standing over him, applying the mixture, while apparently looking as calm as ever. Even though the sensation of his entire chest being on fire was what took his attention, and meant Link was suddenly dealing with a very angry Edrick trying to tear himself out of his grip with suddenly renewed strength. Angry enough that he briefly forgot most people couldn't understand what he was about to say.

"Du-te dracu fiule de curva! Scoate mâinile de pe mine! Ce îți dă dreptul-" he momentarily fell into shouting actual gibberish for a few moments, but most of it sounded angry. There was definitely something about tulips in there as well. "Bou! Ceapa ma-tii! Futu-i, ma freci la icre! Plimba ursu! Făcea-mi-as schiuri din crucea ma-tii" And at this point he had to stop to take a few deep, strained breaths but from the look of things he wasn't quite done venting in his native tongue.

  1. "Go to hell(go to the dragon) you son of a bitch! Get your hands off me! What gives you the right to-" "Asshole(Ox)! Damn you(Your mother's onions)! Fuck, you're pissing me off(,you're rubbing my eggs)! Fuck off(Go walk a bear)! I'm going to make skis out of your mother's headstone!"

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"Such a breadth of knowledge is to be commended, good sir."

“My thanks, although I am sure your learning is-”

Abdul nearly jumped out of his shoes when he was interrupted by a torrential stream of foreign profanity from the injured boy. Apparently, his patient still had his faculties. If it were not for the other warrior holding him down, the boy would have ruined the poultice before it could properly set. Working as quickly as he could, Abdul worked quickly on securing the poultice with twine.

“I’m sorry brother, but you must bear with it a little longer! You must not remove it before it has set!” Abdul said through gritted teeth as he finished the knot.

His work now complete, Abdul attempted to restrain the boy’s legs in an attempt to keep him from shaking free. However, all of his attempts to grab onto the flailing limbs were met with a smart kick in the hand. Recoiling from the pain, Abdul backed a step away, attempting to shake the pain from his wrinkled hands.

“You must have trained the boy well, he has the strength of a horse!” Abdul quipped sardonically to Link as he nursed his hands, “Surely he will recover quickly if he does not tear his own arms off!”

Once the boy had stopped his cursing, Abdul addressed the boy before he could renew his tirade.

“My apologies, I would have been more delicate if I had known you were awake!” he said calmly before turning to address both of them, “I am Abdul, a traveling scholar, at your service.”

 

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Link grit his teeth and tightened his grip on Edrick. The boy was incredibly strong, especially for his age, but the soldier had leverage and experience on his side. “. . . . Scuze.” He only spoke a few conversational phrases in Pontic; most of them were curses. “Scuze… Scuze… Scuze…” Link repeated it softly after every one of Edrick’s curses, but with every iteration he seemed to strain more, struggling to get the word out.

Scuze…
                             Scuze…
                                                               Scuze…
                                                                                                  Scuze…

Spoiler

“Scuze! Scuze! Te rog, nu mă omori!”

 

The girl whispered the words fervently. Link couldn’t understand a word she was saying, but he knew she was begging for her life. That much was obvious; it was written on her scrunched up, dirty face, in her stiff, too-scared-to-move posture, and especially in the hot tears dripping onto his arm, clenched around her neck. 

He wanted more than anything to comply. She hadn’t done anything wrong. She had just been unlucky enough to stumble across him outside the camp, still half asleep, probably on her way to relieve herself in the bushes. But she had seen him. She had seen the note he was handing off to Darius, commander of the Night Wolves, a man who from looks alone could be identified as a Galtean. 

He wanted more than anything to comply. But he couldn’t. 

His arm tightened around her neck until she couldn’t breathe. “Scuze. Scuze. Scuze…” Link said, while Darius drew a dagger. 

Link snapped back to reality with a gasp. He noticed immediately that he had started to shift his hold on Edrick, inching towards a chokehold instead of just restraint. He released the boy’s arms and reeled back as if they had suddenly turned into snakes. “. . . .”

His composure was broken for only a second. Then, he was stone faced once more, rising to his feet to look at the merchant. “I’m Lincoln. A mercenary.” He gestured towards Princess Catriona and Princess Penelope with a nod. “In their service.”
 

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The stranger looked shocked at something Alois said, muttering "Dragon?" with a hand over her mouth. "That can't be..."

"The statue," Acantha pointed out, gesturing toward the floor. "He's talking about that."

"Oh, I see. Oh my, the mayor will be in a right fit about that, won't he?"

"Nah, he's fine. I'm surprised, but he's still saying the same things about Alois and planning a festival so I don't think him turning into a badger messed him up that badly."

Shortly afterward, Catriona's confusion on the woman's identity was resolved by Penelope. "So this is your sister, then..." she muttered. She had never heard Alois mention a sibling, but it wasn't as if he was expected to share every little scrap of history involving himself. She looks a bit old though for that...perhaps Alois was a late birth? That would explain the age difference too.

Putting a palm to his face, Alois said, "right. Cat," he looked back towards the elder princess. "This is my mom. Mom," the boy gestured to the two princesses. "It's like the short one said, they're my employers. I'm like a mercenary now or something. And I'm kind of amazing at my job." Despite what he said, it didn't have the boy's usual cockiness in the tone.

Wait, so she wasn't his sister then, but his mother?

"Oh my," the woman smiled warmly at Penelope. "Alois, wherever did you meet such a charming young lady? And it sounds like she has your measure too." She bobbed a simple curtsy toward the two princesses. "Thankee for taking care of my son. I apologize for any trouble he's caused. He's really such a handful." Despite her words, her tone was one of fond exasperation rather than anything else.

Catriona snapped back from her state of confusion. "There is nothing to apologize for," She nodded at her. "Alois has been an indispensable member of the group, Goodwife...?"

The woman tugged on her veil, flustered. "Oh, yea! Where're my manners? My name's Alcmene Reinhardt, but that's a mouthful. Just call me Mene. Everybody does 'round here."

"Mee-nee," Catriona tasted the name on her tongue. It sounded a bit strange, but then again, this wasn't Galtea. The names were different here. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Goodwife Mene. As for us..." she briefly introduced herself and the rest of the group, using real names. The cat had already been let out of the bag, so to say, and this was Alois's mother. She was probably trustworthy.

Interestingly enough, the woman did not seem to recognize any of their names, giving the group a broad smile. "Pleasure meetin' all 'o you." Her attention was momentarily diverted by Tsetseg's departure and Citron's preparation to follow. Or rather, it was diverted by Acantha's loud, put-upon sigh in response to the wyvern rider's request.

"Oh well, I suppose if I must," the girl rolled her eyes. "Just don't dawdle. I don't have all day, after all."

"That wyvern...it acted so intelligently I thought it was a human-turned-animal back then," Mene chuckled with some embarrassment. "Still, it did lead me to y'all." She looked around the hall again. "You've found yourself quite a group here, Alois." The smile slipped off her face then. "It'll be hard to say goodbye to them...won't it?"

Catriona frowned. Goodbye? Was Alois leaving?

Acantha snorted. "I doubt he's going to say goodbye at all. He didn't to us, after all. In fact, he's probably going to leave again, just like that."

There was a brief silence then that was swiftly broken by the sound of Edrick screaming something in Pontic. Not that he hadn't already been screaming, but it was only now that it was more noticeable. Abdul and Link had a quiet conversation with their patient and each other then, and Catriona's fingers twitched, itching to jump in herself. But she would leave it to those two for now.

"My...that sounds serious," Mene's brow puckered with worry. She seemed set on ignoring what had been said previously, surveying the hall and clucking her tongue. "This is no place to heal up either. What say you we all head on over to my house?" By now, the woman seemed to have gotten a grasp at speaking normally, the strange, garbled quality of her speech smoothing out into a more natural cadence, though it still kept its thick country burr. Mayor Dresogon and Acantha talked like that a bit too at the beginning, Catriona thought. Was it because they were animals?

"Does it look like Peaches is ready to move right now?" Acantha replied, gesturing toward the wyvern. "I'll be staying here till she can move."

Catriona glanced over at Edrick. "Once they get the bleeding to stop, perhaps." Still, it would be risky. It would be easier if Ciela were awake. The lord wasn't a fan of healing magic by any means, but she couldn't deny its usefulness at this point. "Thank you for the offer though. We will gladly take you up on it once everybody is stable. Unless..." she turned and glanced at the others. "Some of us can go ahead, though I think we should have at least one person who knows the way stay behind."

"Humph, I suppose that leaves me, doesn't it?" Acantha asked, crossing her arms. "I already said I'd stay behind, after all. And I'm not going to go back on my word."

This meant that any of them could depart then, barring Edrick and whoever wanted to stay behind and look after him. Catriona looked at the others for their decision.

--

Eventually, as Gunther and Sienna lingered outside, they would feel a set of hostile eyes amongst the villagers watching them, but when they turned to look, they couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. Were the two to head back inside then, they would likely overhear much of the conversation within the church, and if not, would quickly be apprised by Catriona on the current situation.

--

Outside, Tsetseg would find that most of the villagers were acting a bit strangely for human beings. Many would walk on all fours before abruptly rising, faces flushing with embarrassment. Others would attempt to speak, but their voices came out sounding more like the barks and growls of animals than anything else. However, this happened less and less the more time went on. As for their attitude toward the archer, they all seemed to share the same wary sentiment. Initially hostile, as they recognized her the aggression in their body language died down. Still, it was apparent that these people were not used to dealing with strangers. Most turned their gaze away from her uncomfortably.

Eventually, Tsetseg would come across somebody who did not shy away from her. It was a girl wearing similar armor to Cora and Acantha, though the armor itself looked newer, and she seemed a couple of years younger than both of the other girls. Or maybe it was just the nervous way she held herself, eyes wide and trembling as they fixed themselves on the archer. "Um...uh...hi! I just uhh, wanted to tell you," she bit her lip, "uhh, thank you!" she bowed before straightening up. "Oh, rats! I probably didn't do that right. I mean, well, I'm in your debt, really I am." She shook her head. "No, that wasn't how I meant to say it. What I mean was, thank you. I know I already said it, but thank you! If it weren't for you, I'd probably be dead. And, oh, uhh, sorry for attacking you back then too," she chuckled nervously. "I didn't do it on purpose...well I guess I did, but I mainly did it because I was supposed to, you know? I joined the militia recently, so I gotta do them proud!" she straightened her shoulders with a good deal of pride herself.

 


OOC

Spoiler

Sorry for the couple weeks' absence guys, but I'm back now!

All right, so we have a choice now. You can choose to stay in the church or head on over to Alois's house. Or heck, leave to explore the village. We've already had a couple people do that, or start to do that. So basically, do whatever you want here. I will say that Edrick and Peaches are probably not in a good state to move around quite yet, but otherwise yeah.

If any of you need additional information or are confused on what you should do--the answer is "whatever you want"--or want to do, message me or Cow. Since I'm not usually online lately, if I were you, I wouldn't wait till I go online before messaging me. Just message me regardless and I'll get to it when I do get online. Cow's more reliable though, since he's online more often.

Edited by Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd

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Penelope feigned surprise when they were told that the woman was Alois's mother. "Goodness you must have had him quite young then." She smiled warmly at her. "I'm happy to have met you. While my sister is right that Alois has been helpful you, too, have a point about him being a handful." She flashed her smile at Alois for a moment.

When the woman, Mene, mentioned Alois not leaving with them Penelope honed in on the thought. Despite the reassurances that he wouldn't Mene seemed to not think much of it. It was clear she intended that Alois stayed with. It would be messy when they took him with for sure but for now she could let it slide. She wasn't concerned that she would convince him to stay, Alois was one of her people now nothing would change that, but she wasn't looking forward to the scene the woman would cause. She'd have to be sure to avoid the subject until they get what they came here for.

"My...that sounds serious,"

"Honestly he does this all the time." Penelope said. Not that it was fully true but she was used by now to the boy shouting at random intervals. It didn't concern her too much. If he was really in danger she doubted he'd be making much noise at all. That's when she'd start worrying.

Mene offered them to go to her home, which would be more comfortable than this place, and Penelope nodded. "I would love to. Perhaps you have some things of Alois's that would be interesting to see." She laughed at the idea of what toys Alois would have had as a child.

Clearly Peaches wouldn't be able to come with and the guard girl offered to stay behind to finish healing him. Penelope thought that Citron would also stay behind. Though she couldn't be sure. As well as Edrick and whoever stayed to look after him. She considered asking Gunther to stay behind but wasn't so sure it would be a good idea to have him be the one taking care of the young Pontic. Ultimately deciding to leave it up to him she mentioned to the group "Someone should try and rouse Adelaide and Ciela. I would rather not leave them unconscious on the floor if we can help it."

With that she stood with Mene and Alois. "Whenever you're ready, then."


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Gunther felt a chill down his spine. He could almost sense some sort of hostility somewhere among the villagers. He sometimes noticed that he felt this way. Something of an instinctive reaction to danger. But more often than not it was nothing and he was just being paranoid. He'd have to hope this was the case this time as he couldn't see anything clearly out of the ordinary.

Deciding to enter the church he came in just in time for two things.

One, to hear Edrick's curses and shouts in that terrible language. Which caused the young knight to tense up as well. Though when he saw what caused it he relaxed. Pitying the boy just slightly enough to let it pass.

He also heard the plans for some of them to go with to what was apparently one of the villager's homes. Who was that woman? Whatever the case Penelope seemed to trust her, and she looked harmless enough, so he wasn't too concerned. Apparently Peaches, and Acantha, were to stay behind as well as Edrick. They weren't yet sure what to do with the two unconscious women. Perhaps it would be good to move them but if Ciela awoke she could aid with the healing process of the injured, including Adelaide, so he hesitated to suggest bringing them along.

He wasn't even sure what he should be doing.

His duty was to look after Penelope, obviously, but she seemed to be fine at the moment and it wasn't as though she was going to be alone. On the other hand some of their number seemed intent to explore the city. Which would leave Edrick and the two unconscious girls here. He still wanted to keep an eye on Abdul and it looked as though he was tending after Edrick still. Then again Link was there as well. If he stayed, or if the other two woke up, that would be more than enough eyes. Even if he didn't, if Gunther was being honest, he was more concerned with leaving the princesses than Edrick.

In the end his duty, his guilt at not having done much lately, and the realization that he's been apart from the girl too much too often lately led him to decide to accompany Penelope. As he passed by Acantha he paused and then gave her a short bow. "I appreciate your help. I'm glad you understand animals like this." He looked towards Peaches. "I hope you feel well. Do be sure to keep the others safe, if it's not too much to ask." He said to the wyvern with a smile.

He joined Penelope and bowed again to the woman who had offered her home. "I give my thanks to you as well, ma'am, and I hope we aren't imposing too much."

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Thankfully both for Link's arms and Abdul's face, Edrick's momentary rush of strength ultimately subsided. Abruptly, in fact. One moment he was still struggling against the mercenary's grip, and the next he was laying there limp. He could have been mistaken for a corpse on account of the amount of blood he was soaked with were it not for the rise and fall of his chest. At first it was fast, shallow, and ragged as he recovered from his shouting. But quickly enough it slowed and deepened. The boy knew how to recover his stamina, not that he was having much luck with that right now. He had lost a lot of blood and now that the initial pain from the Vulnerary being applied had subsided he was just going off of the dull throb of medicine on torn muscles. He didn't want to admit it, but he was tired. He was tired, he hurt, and all he wanted to do was close his eyes and sleep for a good long while.

"Tată, mă pot ocupa de mine..." Edrick eventually said after a delay, barely above a whisper as he now much more sluggishly tried to pull himself out of Link's grasp. At least he wasn't shaking, whatever that was worth.

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Link took a few subtle, deep breaths, trying to assuage his nerves by telling himself he was okay while waiting for Abdul to respond.He was no longer a Night Wolf; no longer a soldier at the border. He was in a strange church in the middle of the very rural thickets of Histia, surrounded by a hodgepodge group that was attempting to stop the Goddess from returning. It did very little to help him calm down. His stomach further twisted itself into extremely tight, painful knots, like chains coiling around his midriff and slowly tightening until he could not squeeze in a single breath anymore. 

He was overwhelmed. He wanted to cry; his body screamed for him to run, but he was too exhausted to even get his feet to move. He was surrounded by people, moving around and shifting, some preparing to leave while others conversed, but he felt completely alone. 

It was only Edrick that pulled him from his momentary stupor. The boy started to tumble backwards after trying to sit up. Link rushed to catch him, gently propping him up, and the boy rested his head against the soldier’s chest. "Tată, mă pot ocupa de mine..." Edrick mumbled in Pontic.

Link felt a sharp stabbing in his chest. He could only translate some of it; “Dad”, “care”, and “myself”, but he could piece together the meaning. He was once again overwhelmed by the cruelty of the world. Edrick was still just a boy; older than Link himself had been when he arrived at the border, but nowhere close to a man, and here he was forced to fend for himself in a world that would take the first chance it had to rip his feet out from under him and force his head beneath the waves. “I know. I know. You’ll be okay,” Link said softly, running a hand across his head in an attempt be soothing. Anything he could to give the boy a modicum of comfort. He had failed to help so many others; the weight of his failures threatened to buckle his knees most days, but this group of stupidly headstrong, naive little kids evoked a spark of protectiveness in him that he had thought had long since burned out.

He would save them. All of them. Not just physically--he would not allow the world to break their spirit the way it had his. No matter the cost.
 

Edited by Cheshire Toon

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Alois's ego was doing great as his contributions to the party were complimented by both of the princesses for the second time today. He rolled his eyes at Penelope's secondary comment, but didn't say anything in response. Instead, he simply looked at his mother letting out a, "huh?" as she had mentioned saying goodbye to the group. It took him a second to process what she was saying, though he didn't respond at all as he simply glared towards Acantha. There hadn't been a moment since he had arrived here that he thought that he would stay behind, both out of spite towards his hometown as well as his growing attachment to the ragtag bag of misfits that made up the Valiant Seeking Flower Knights. As a result though, he hadn't quite thought about how he was going to say goodbye to everyone in his hometown again...well, for the first time. And having his less than ceremonious departure from last time did nothing to help him figure this out. 

Conveniently, that proved to be a problem for Future Alois as Present Alois simply had to deal with the fact that there was a boy screaming wildly in pain and Pontic. As his mother pointed this out, Alois nodded at Penelope's response saying, "in fact, Eddy could you shut - oh. You already did," he stated as the room got noticeably quieter. As the topic moved to going back to his house, Alois couldn't help but feel a sense of dread creep up on him as Penelope seemed happy to go along. Looking at the princess, he jokingly said, "well, don't expect too much. It's no palace after all." He then faced Gunther saying, "but you've seen the other places. There's not much space to impose on to begin with," the boy gave a light chuckle at his own joke before his face became notably more somber. The boy took a deep breath as he could feel a different sense of dread creeping up on him at the prospect of returning to his house. All the same, he was ready to get going. 

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Tsetseg was caught off guard by the girl as she was approached. But as all the girl did was thank her, she smiled at the praise. As she continued to try and correct her thanks, though, Tsetseg looked at the girl more analytically. With a finger to her chin, tapping it, the girl tried to appraise the thanks that she was given. Given that she had said she was a militia member, she was attempting to remember how Urvan would have instructed her to give thanks in this kind of situation. She was coming up blank on such a lecture, and the more she thought about the girl's words, the less she was sure that Urvan would have ever talked about a scenario quite like this. Not to mention Tsetseg was having a hard time understanding what the girl was even talking about. Studying the girl's face, the girl curiously asked, "have we met before?" Tsetseg was generally good with faces but she could recall neither saving this girl's life nor either of them fighting. Oh well.

Shrugging it off, the girl's bright smile returned as she patted the girl on the shoulder. "Well, thanks for thanking me anyway! And I totally get what you mean! Once you're part of a fighting force you want to do alllll you can for it right? It's a real tough job but it's all the more fun when you do it right and everyone thanks you!" Thinking back to her time on the patrol, the girl remembered something as she patted the girl on the head smiling even brighter. "Good job on making your patrol proud!" 

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Sienna's ears twitched as she looked around. She could feel as if someone was giving her a nasty look. The villagers were all back to normal, yet they still treated her and the group as outsiders. Understandable really, especially for her considering that she wasn't even human. Still, why couldn't some of the villagers see that the group meant no harm to them? They were the ones that broke the curse in the first place.

Sienna shrugged and let out a quiet sigh. Maybe she was overthinking things. With all that has happened, she needed some time to unwind a bit. So she decided now was a good time to wander the village, maybe see if anyone needed some help fixing things up. Hopefully in doing so, she could figure out where Licorice could've possibly run off to. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't worried about her fellow fox, especially after that panic attack she seemed to go through before running out of the church.

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Citron couldn’t help but find Acantha’s reply reassuring, even if it was worded in quite the rude way. Walking over to Peaches, Citron couldn’t help but find herself putting her good hand on the wyvern’s nose, tapping it ever-so-slightly. “Now you!” She tapped the wyvern’s nose, eliciting a quiet skree from the overgrown lizard. “Don’t give the kind woman any trouble, okay?” She tugged a bit on the wyvern’s cheek, doing her best to pump-up her enthusiasm as she used Peaches as a proxy between her and Acantha, giving her thanks in a bit of an underhanded way. “She’s doing us a favor by treating your wounds, and keeping you safe, so try not to talk her ear off, ‘kay?” She joked, getting another murmured skree from the lizard as she rubbed under the wyvern’s head. “So be good!” She smiled, pulling away so that she could finally leave the cathedral-like-town-hall, as Peaches let out yet another skree, this time towards Acantha.

Now came the difficult part for Citron, because as she was no longer trying to pump-up her enthusiasm for the sake of Peaches, she was then left alone with the onset of panic as she finally made it out of the town-hall. On one hand, she was exceedingly glad to be outside the building, the stuffy, stagnant air being replaced with something a bit more fresh. On the other hand, however, she couldn’t really find it in herself to psyche herself up for this… Confrontation? Meeting? She wasn’t even sure what to think of it as! Was she going to get scolded? Was she going to get yelled at? Imprisoned for destruction of private property?! It was… Hard to tell, really. She had never crashed into another person's stall before, so she didn't really have any personal experience to call upon. Instead, now, all she really knew is that she had to get to the marketplace…

… Which was easier said than done, considering that last time she was walking these streets, she was half-awake with the world's worst ache living within her skull. Taking a deep breath, she pressed her good hand against her temple, glancing around as she did her best to recount the actual steps needed to get to the marketplace, and following after them. She wasn’t sure that the stall-owner would actually be there, but… Well, without any other leads to go off of, that was the best idea she had for now on where to start.

Edited by Feral Pistol

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“I’m Lincoln. A mercenary. In their service.”

“It takes a great deal of experience to be able to shrug off an intense battle so quickly,” Abdul replied with a polite chuckle. However, behind his lighthearted attitude, Abdul knew that he was lying. He recognized the vacant, glassy stare on Link’s face as he became unresponsive, haunted by the ghosts of his past. Trying to hide the look of pity on his face, Abdul turned his attention to the younger warrior, who was muttering in a daze, and the rest of the retinue, most of whom were leaving the ruined building.

“The boy looks like he will need some bed rest,” Abdul said curtly, “Unfortunately, Isaurian vulneraries are not as...gentle… as most, and sleeping on stone will not help his recovery. Let me help you with him.”

Abdul crouched down and managed to get his shoulder under the boy’s arms, gesturing to Link to do the same. Edrick squirmed as he was slowly lifted off the ground, but seemed unable to offer anything but a token resistance, contrasting starkly with his ferocious struggle earlier. Abdul strained under the weight of the boy’s armor, but managed to keep his grunts under his breath as they slowly moved towards the open doors of the cathedral.

“If you do not mind me prying, how did you end up in service to the Crown of Galtea?” Abdul asked in between his heavy breaths, “You must have a decorated history of service to be picked as a royal guard.”

 

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Catriona had seen Penelope win over many a person, but this instance seemed a bit much even for her. Usually, her sister's winning demeanor had been used to ameliorate tense situations, but Alois's mother had already shown feelings of goodwill toward the group, so the lord didn't see how it was quite necessary to cater to this woman. Still, her sister's actions were usually beyond her to begin with, so this situation was no different.

"My, my, you sure are good with your words, ain't ye?" Mene smiled at Penelope. "Alois, you could stand to learn a thing or two from this girl," she said. "And as fer things of Alois...well, I know he has a couple o' books," she scowled briefly, "but other than that there's not really much at all."

Catriona took note of those going to Alois's house and those who had already left, most likely to explore the village. While she didn't feel entirely comfortable with all of them splitting up like this before they could take stock of the situation, there wasn't much she could do about it, short of ordering them to stick together. And a few people were already gone, including--no, Gunther had just returned, but Sienna was still out there. Tsetseg and Citron had left as well. The merchant aside, those two are the ones I'm most concerned about being off on their own, Catriona thought. Penelope and Ciela were the only ones she'd worry about more--the former because of her royal status and the latter because of past experiences. But Penelope seemed set on accompanying Alois to his house, and Gunther with them. Those two were some of the most trustworthy people in the group. Ciela, though, was passed out and by herself. Adel was as well, but Catriona had significantly more faith in the pegasus knight's ability to take care of herself than she did the troubadour.

Penelope seemed to think of that as well. "Someone should try and rouse Adelaide and Ciela. I would rather not leave them unconscious on the floor if we can help it."

"I'll do that," Catriona volunteered. As she began to look over the two, she looked up at the sound of voices.

Gunther had addressed Acantha with a bow. "I appreciate your help. I'm glad you understand animals like this." He looked towards Peaches. "I hope you feel well. Do be sure to keep the others safe, if it's not too much to ask." He said to the wyvern with a smile.

Citron joined in with some instructions of her own, to which the wyvern replied with a set of noises that sounded more like a "skree" than anything else. From what little Catriona had heard, wyverns tended to roar, but this one seemed rather unusual for wyverns in general. Perhaps it was just a young wyvern? The lord couldn't say she was an expert on wyverns, after all.

She couldn't say she was an expert on people either, though. For instance, she had no idea why Acantha's face turned about as pink as the wyvern she was tending to. "It's not that I understand them, or that I'm being kind!" she turned her head away. "I just...it's my job as a cavalier. That's all." She humphed, not meeting anybody's gaze. "J-Just go and do what you need to get done, okay?! Don't worry about me or Peaches here!"

The knight then gave his thanks to Mene with another bow, who shook her head with a flustered smile. "Oh, nay, not at all. Any friend o' Alois is welcome."

Then the others began to leave the town hall, joined by Edrick, Link, and Abdul at the last minute. Catriona couldn't say she approved of the lancer moving about quite yet, but it would be better for him, in the end, to be resting on something that wasn't stone or hardwood. So, against her better judgment, she did not speak out against the action, turning her attention back to the two unconscious people nearby.

--

Wandering the village under the evening sun, Sienna would find that there were quite a few people who looked in the process of repairing their homes who looked in need of aid. However, each and every one of them turned her offers away, their eyes respectful but wary. In fact, all of the villagers kept their distance from her, save for the children who stared up at her ears and tail in abject fascination, though they were usually herded away by their parents before they could get too close. Only one person, who was sitting atop a barrel in the village square and whittling out a long piece of wood, accepted her offer for help. An older man dressed in the leathers and mail of a hunter with a small beagle puppy at his feet. The puppy looked quite curious about Sienna, approaching her and sniffing, barking multiple times before turning back to the man.

"No, Icleias, that isn't a fox, just a fox person," the man shook his head before turning back to Sienna. "You want to help out? Sure. My home's a bit of a mess right now after Icleias here started going wild as a human. Guess some of yer friends came over and he got excited. Even got my chimney banged up for some reason." He had a gruff way of speech, but he didn't seem particularly afraid of her like the other villagers had been. "Name's Amas. I'm a hunter. I'm usually the one who supplies the meat 'round here. The stuff that ain't livestock, that is." He wouldn't say much more than that, urging Sienna to "go on, git a move on."

If the Protean inspected his house, which was just outside of the village square, she'd find that the man had been correct in that it was a mess. It was little more than a hut made of wattle and daub, with a floor that was little more than packed dirt and a small bed with the blankets in disarray. At the far wall, the chimney looked a little cracked in places, as if something, or someone, had taken a tumble down it. A wooden table lay knocked over, food and a stone plate scattered around the floor. A washbasin had fallen on its side and soaked the ground nearby, causing a small muddy area to form. Various leather garments lay strewn on the floor, and a small wooden shortbow had been cracked in half.

It was as if a fight had taken place there. She would have her work cut out for her trying to fix it up.

--

As Citron stumbled her way through the darkening village, she would eventually be pointed in the direction of the village square by a concerned-looking woman. Upon arrival, the wyvern rider would catch sight of Sienna talking with an older man who looked to be a hunter, but also the fruit stall that she and Peaches had ruined earlier. Several villagers were congregated around the stall and working to fix it. One woman, in particular, seemed to be doing most of the work. Dressed in modest clothing, with most of her brown hair covered under a veil, similar to Mene, she had gathered some fruit into a large basket that she carried atop her head. The rest lay in a large pile to the side, the same pile that Citron and Shiro had made. "All right," she said. "That's that done, now fer the next. Don't forget I need good stout wood fer this part, ya hear?"

"Aw, we know, we know, Thile," a man shook his head. "Don't you worry 'bout that, all righ'? My lumberjackin' skills ain't nothin' to sniff at."

"Nor are your armpits, Achos," an older woman nearby waved a hand in front of her face disgustedly.

"It's called the sweat o' hard work, Pheodea, summat ye'd know nuthin' about."

"I'm here now, aren't I? Now stop working your jaw and start working your arms, or are they just for show?"

"Yeah yeah, I hear ye--oi! Who're ye?" the man, Achos, pointed at Citron then.

"Ack! It's her!" the brunette woman pointed at her. "She's the one who broke my stall! She an' that winged lizard!"

There was a slow pause then, before, "Hang on, ain't she the one who came back and tried to help fix it too?" Achos asked.

"Well, aye, but she still's the one who broke it," Thile replied.

The tense atmosphere was shattered as a familiar wolf cub came barreling into the plaza from the direction of the mayor's house. Upon seeing Thile, its tail started wagging, haunches wriggling, then leaping into the air and landing in a pounce directly on top of the woman's foot. The brunette started to scream then, the sound akin to that a hare would make when frightened for its life. "Aiiiiiiiiii! It's back! It's back! The demon wolf is back! Get it away, get it away!" she screamed again, dropping the basket and fleeing for her life, eyes glazed over as she began to run around the plaza, Rohns bounding along behind her.

The others took a second to register what was going on before they scrambled into action as well, chasing after Thile and the wolf pup behind her.

"Hey, hey, calm down Thile! It's just a baby wolf, is all."

"I don't care, get this blasted beast away from me!"

In the ensuing chaos, Citron had been completely forgotten.

--

After leaving the town hall, the main group, which consisted of Alois, Penelope, Gunther, Edrick, Link, and Abdul, followed Mene out the main entrance of the town hall and down the main street. They would find themselves passing by people going about the task of cleaning up the village in the remaining daylight, though a large group was in the square as well. Oddly enough, they didn't look to be working, save for an old man carving out a piece of wood at the edge of the square and Sienna next to him. No, most of them seemed to be chasing after a harried-looking woman fleeing from a familiar-looking wolf cub. Every so often it would catch up to her and nip at her heels, prompting her to scream like a frightened hare and run faster. Citron was also nearby.

"Oh my, looks like some sort of ruckus is going on over there," Mene said, stopping to look over toward the square. "Goodness, Thile seems to be in a right fit, don't she? And her stall's a ruin. Wonder what happened to it?" She shook her head. "I know we were all in a complete panic after the curse struck. Wonder if that's what caused it. And that wolf...ye don't think it's a villager still ensorcelled? Must be one of them wild forest wolves, but it makes ye wonder where its ma is. Anyway," she turned back to the group with an airy smile. "Let's just move on, shall we? I'm sure Thile and the others can handle it, and we need to get this boy to a bed."

They hadn't gone much farther, still within view of the square, and just beginning to pass the gaudy-looking mansion that they had seen before when they found their way blocked by two people, one of whom would look a little familiar to the few who had been quick to glance about their surroundings in the aftermath of the recent battle. He was a stout curly-haired brunette wearing a maroon vest and pink satin ribbon over a clean white shirt and olive green trousers. This kind of colorful attire was uncommon amongst the villagers, yet when compared to the man beside him, he looked positively homely. By all appearances, the other one was a nobleman from head to toe, adorned in a rich ruby overcoat inlaid with gold thread over a silken white shirt and wine red bottoms. From the shoes that had been shined so one could see their reflection in them to the ruffled cravat at his neck and the polished wooden cane in his grip, every aspect of him screamed nobility.

And yet, there was something about him that seemed off to those familiar with such things.

"Oh, Pylauses," Mene's voice fell a bit flat. The woman coughed and spoke again, though this time her voice was more cheerful. "What brings ye here today?"

"Exempt me the peasantries, Mene dear," the man said, turning startling green eyes to the group. "Ahem, allow me to inundate myself," he cleared his throat and performed an elaborate bow. "I am denominated as Pylauses, Pylauses Gaston, at your servitude. This one here is Hanikap LeFou," he waved dismissively at the man next to him.

"Hehe, nice ta meetcha," the brunette grinned and waved at them.

"Yes, yes, moving on, I have arrived hither to congenially invitate you to reside at my chateau," he gave a grandiose wave toward the mansion behind him, "for the extension of your sojourn here in this...humblesque hamlet," he sneered as he spoke the last words.

"Huh? Wuzzat you say?" Mene asked, appearing quite bewildered by the man's words.

"In layman's terms, I am taking these people off your hands, Goodwife Mene."

"Hang on a moment, Pylauses. Laying men aside, I'm already taking these kind folks to my house."

"Yes, and while I am surfeit that your homely hut is quite...splendiferous," Pylauses replied, "I do not quite accredit that it has capacity enough for the plenitude of the group. Whereas mine has more than sufficient traction to comprise all of you. Or to say it in a language you are sure to understand--your home is too small."

"Er...well, I s'pose you might be right 'bout that bit," the woman admitted, deflating slightly. "Still..."

"Yes, yes, indeedulosity. Now, shall we be expatriating?" he asked, turning toward the mansion. "I am indubitable that we shall have plenteous to confabulate with reference to this commune."

"Come on, let's go!" Hanikap urged.

--

After the group filed out of the building, Acantha's shoulders dropped as she let out a sigh.

A hush fell upon the town hall then. "My thanks," Catriona spoke up, breaking the silence. "Your aid today has been most appreciated. I doubt we'd have made our way through the village quite so easily or as quickly without you." The beaver had been one of the first animals they had met after entering the village, and certainly the most helpful.

Acantha jumped then. "Egads, warn a person a little, will you?!" she grumbled. "For a royal, you certainly don't have that much presence."

Catriona paused. "I...suppose," she admitted. As a regular rank-and-file soldier, she had been drilled on the necessity of being only as important as the next soldier, and that training had stuck with her, perhaps more so than her private tutoring. "If you go about shouting that you are the princess of Galtea in battle, that will only put a target over your head," she had been told. "You might get to strut about in fancy dresses and balls back home, but here, you are a soldier first, and a royal second. You got that?!"

It had been a hard lesson to learn, and one that went against her natural grain, but in the end, Catriona had taken it to heart, just as she had all the other lessons she had learned.

"Don't go acting like a kicked puppy, I didn't mean it that way," the cavalier crossed her arms. "Just, you surprised me, that's all. But not that much. Just a little bit."

The lord nodded in slight bemusement. She couldn't really understand this girl's turn of phrase. A kicked puppy? Surprised, but not that much? If the girl was only a little surprised, then why act so aggressive after Catriona had spoken?

There was another silence then, during which the princess inspected both Ciela and Adel. The two were out cold still, but from what she could tell, there wasn't any serious injury to their skulls. However, she wouldn't be able to know for sure until they woke up and she could inspect their eyes and body movements.

"Hey," Acantha's voice caused the woman to pause. "Don't mention it."

Catriona said nothing for a couple of seconds while she worked the words over in her head. Don't mention what? That she was surprised? "Pardon?" she finally asked.

"Don't mention it."

"Exactly what am I not supposed to mention?"

"Gads, you're denser than a brick, you know?!" Acantha's voice rose, face reddening. "I said, don't mention earlier. Me helping you out. I only did that because I wanted that stupid curse lifted, that's all."

"Oh."

"What, you don't have anything else to say?!"

"I am abiding by your instructions," Catriona pointed out, her flat tone belying her underlying confusion.

"Aaargh!" the other shouted, pulling at her reddish-blond locks.

This girl is unnecessarily antagonistic. Yet, her actions lay at odds with her words. She had gone out of her way to help the group, had led them through the village, and even tried to assist in the fight against the stone statue. Therefore, Catriona could tolerate her attitude. Deciding that staying silent was the better course here, the woman continued to tend to the two unconscious patients in front of her.

With some effort, Catriona had finally managed to rouse Adel, though Ciela was still giving her trouble. She could only hope that the troubadour would wake soon, though she knew a noble girl like her was likely unused to such strains to her body.

After treating the pegasus knight's head with a vulnerary, Catriona nodded. "You should be fine. But I recommend staying here for now until you feel up to moving around."

"What, you're babying her then?" Acantha snorted.

The lord shook her head. "Carelessness can lead to greater injury," she explained, before turning back to Adel. "When you think you're ready, I have a task for you." As she focused her attention on her remaining patient, she decided to voice something she had suspected for a while, but hadn't had a chance to confirm. "Pardon my asking, but were you one of the beavers we were fighting back at the river?"

The cavalier blinked. "That? Yeah, that was me. Me and a few others, anyway. We decided to head out on a patrol around the village perimeters, make sure nobody would try to enter while we were in the state we were in. We'd have succeeded too if we'd been human!"

"Then that injured one...were they...?"

"Oh, Melesus?" Acantha shook her head. "No, he's fine. We got him back and applied a vulnerary to his wounds right away. None of you did any lasting damage. Actually..." she paused, "I should probably thank that archer girl for saving Phai's life. I'd have done it if I were closer, but I was busy trying to keep an eye on my troublesome siblings," the last part ended in a mutter.

"Phai?"

The girl looked reluctant to answer. "I suppose you deserve to know since one of you helped her out. Though she wouldn't have needed help if we didn't have to fight you off," she grumbled the last part under her breath. "Phai, well, Phaidra's her full name. She's my cousin, and new to the militia. Hasn't been in it any longer than a week or so..."

--

"Well, thanks for thanking me anyway! And I totally get what you mean! Once you're part of a fighting force you want to do alllll you can for it right? It's a real tough job but it's all the more fun when you do it right and everyone thanks you!" The archer then patted the militia girl on the head. "Good job on making your patrol proud!"

At that, the girl started to tear up, eyes wide and watering. "Yes, yes, you understand!" she sniffled. "I try so hard every day, but it's really hard, but I keep trying, because, you know, it's really an honor to be in it, protecting the village and all!" she shook her head. "And that's why I tried to attack you all! And about that...I'm so...so sooooooorry!" she burst into tears then. "I can see now that you're a good person! You know, I've been told that outsiders are bad, but I don't think they're all bad, you know? Or at least not you, anyway! You saved my life! For that...thank you so much! It would've been so scary to get crushed like that," she sniffled.

Hiccuping slightly, the girl continued. "A-And I know you said you don't remember, but it happened just this morning! You saved me from the falling tree! Or at least, I think it was you. I was a little out of it then." She rubbed at her eyes, before opening them wide. "That was so brave of you! I had just attacked you, but you still risked your life to save me! Like a true hero or something!" Her eyes sparkled with adoration.


OOC

Spoiler

I apologize for the Pylauses part. I'm sure that was...fundiferous to read.

Anyway, hopefully I gave everybody something to do in this post. Sienna can help out Amas if she wants or join in on the action going on further in the square, Citron can do the same or whatever else, the main group can also help out but if not they have another choice to make--where they want to go. Ciela can wake up at any time, Adel is already awake, and Tsetseg can respond to the crying girl in front of her or do something else.

If you're still having issues figuring out what to do, message me or Cow.

Edited by Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd

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Link shouldered most of Edrick’s weight as they followed Princess Penelope out of the town hall. “Me?” he asked, looking over at Abdul. “I’m nothin’ special. Used to be a soldier in the Galtean military. It was pure chance I stumbled into a group with the princesses.” He made sure to avoid explicitly lying. The merchant was an unfamiliar face, one not to be trusted as of yet, and he had learned it was easier to keep his story straight when he just creatively bent the truth. “Thank you for the help though. Never seen any magic like that statue before; didn’t know anything like that was even possible.”

Along they shuffled, through a town packed with bewildered citizens doing their best to reorient themselves and begin to repair. Mene (who was apparently Alois’ mother?) called attention to one group fussing over a stall. Link didn’t think much of it until he spotted Rohns chasing one of the women around playfully, and he heard her shouting about a ‘demon wolf being back’. Did that she mean she had been the hare that Rohns had chased around earlier? Link felt guilty for not stopping the situation sooner, in spite of the minor bit of amusement he got from the scene. 

He was about to get the wolf cub when two new faces approached. One of them was the fat, haughty nobleman that had fled from the town hall. The other--and obviously more important of the two--wore threads fancier even than the short one. Link tried to listen in on their conversation at first but found himself lost by all the large words almost immediately. Bah. Nobles. Lucky enough to be born into a station with the world at their fingertips, and yet many of the so-called elite chose to waste their time memorizing long and hard-to-know words to flaunt in the face of the honest smallfolk who made them their fortunes. “Not a fan of big houses. Too hard for my poor, simple brain to navigate,” he muttered. 

He carefully let Edrick’s weight off his shoulder and walked away after that. “C’mere Rohns,” Link whistled. The wolf cub paused at the sharp noise. That gave Link just enough time to close the distance and snatch him up by the scruff, just as Licorice had shown him hours earlier. Which speaking of… Damn it, he had so much he needed to do. 

Edited by Cheshire Toon

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The group moved along and Gunther had to admit it was somewhat amusing. A sizeable group that contained soldiers and royalty following behind a commoner lady. She seemed a bit scatterbrained but the way she led them along so casually reminded him of his own mother. He wondered how she was doing. Perhaps he should try and write her some time. He smiled as he thought of how she would respond to some of the things he'd gone through. She probably would think that he was making it up. "The young princess is telling you another tall tale isn't she?"

It took him a while to realize that Link had followed along with Edrick and the supposed merchant. Well that certainly was unexpected. Was Catriona going to stay behind? Not that he was concerned that she would get into any sort of danger she couldn't handle.

He was startled even more to see the...nobleman that had appeared before them. Why was someone such as that living here? Something was strange about the way he talked. Mentally he matched it up to those that he met at the castle and it didn't quite match up. Still, he knew there were many different kinds of nobles. All he could say was that this man was many times less impressive than some he had spoken to before. Even just compared to Penelope and infinite times less impressive than the king. Though that was a given.

As such his most prevalent thought was annoyance that the man was being so rude to Alois's mother. He took a step forward and next to the woman he looked even larger than he already was. "Excuse me, sir. I would be more comfortable in this woman's house. Call me simple but I prefer small but practical to, er...otherwise." He had to stop himself from calling out the gaudiness of the man's dress. But it was close.

And then, behind him, he heard Penelope's voice speak up "If your clothes are any indication then your home may blind me with its poor taste."

He tried, very hard, not to smile.


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Usually she would be much less confrontational. Yes, the man put her off. He was just so...phony to her. Having lived so closely with a multitude of nobles, and intellectuals, some rather pompous, she could tell the measure of them fairly easily. This man was not only pompous but, as far as she could tell, he was undeserving so.

What really set her off was how terribly he butchered their language. Every sentence was like a nail driven into her skull. By the end of his flippant disregard for the spoken word she was already entirely fed up with him.

So in spite of herself the young princess snapped at him. She didn't regret it, per se, but she knew that it was rather undiplomatic of her. So she quickly followed her statement with "We have had a rather long day. I hope you understand that we would like a sense of...normalcy, after all that."

There was something more important after all. She had seen his companion before at the town hall. More specifically she had seen him running from the town hall. She couldn't afford to fully lock this man out if she wanted to discover what was going on there. So she looked to him, next, and gave an, admittedly aggressive, smile. "I believe I have seen you before. I don't forget a face and yours is particularly...memorable. Before we go anywhere I would like to know what you were trying to find back there. And you were there for a reason."

She was only barely keeping her cool. She didn't want them to run but part of her just wanted to lay in on them. As she had said it had been an incredible, frustratingly, long day.

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“Me? I’m nothin’ special. Used to be a soldier in the Galtean military. It was pure chance I stumbled into a group with the princesses.”

“Then it would be wise for me to stay and hear how you stumbled upon royalty by chance!” Abdul said with a chuckle, “Clearly you have been blessed by fate!”

“Thank you for the help though. Never seen any magic like that statue before; didn’t know anything like that was even possible.”

“Think nothing of it! I just hope whatever was animating that statue is gone forever. That kind of power is best kept to the old tales.”

Abdul squinted as his eyes adjusted to the warm light of the setting sun, painting the village in the warm tones of the hearth. Now that the evil within the cathedral had passed, all the villagers had come out of their secret hiding places, now focusing on repairing the many ruined stalls and huts that surrounded the town square.

“Strange...Where would these villagers hide in a place like this…? Why wouldn’t they try to defend their cathedral from that thing...?” he wondered as he and Link followed behind the rest of the entourage, “These villagers appeared out of nowhere like worms escaping the summer rains...Surely the walls are a better defense from bandits…”

Abdul’s train of thought was interrupted by a commotion ahead of them, where a small wolf was chasing around one of the villagers, who fled in terror from the beast which playfully pursued her. Were the villagers hiding from animals?

"Goodness, Thile seems to be in a right fit, don't she? And her stall's a ruin. Wonder what happened to it? I know we were all in a complete panic after the curse struck. Wonder if that's what caused it. And that wolf...ye don't think it's a villager still ensorcelled?”

“Sorcery turning the villagers into animals?” Abdul muttered to himself, “Surely a tall tale, but with those animals watching me come into the village, and that strange statue...Who, or what, could conjure magic that powerful?”

The revelation of the presence of such powerful magic disturbed him. The fact that the sorcerer was still at large bode great trouble in the future of neighbouring villages. This one had escaped its doom by circumstance, but its neighbours might not be as lucky. However, Abdul saw that the villagers around them seemed completely unconcerned with such things as they hammered and sawed at heaps of rotting wood and canvas. Perhaps they were just happy to be humans again, and nothing more.

The group stopped in front of one of the larger houses in the village. Despite clearly having much more attention given to the integrity of the building, being made of wood and brick rather than mud and plaster, it appeared that the architect was not educated in the aesthetic canon of the land, or any aesthetic canon at all. Little attention was given to symmetry or taste, instead focusing on putting as many flourishes and gaudy decorations as possible, making the whole building look like something out of a fever dream. Abdul shuffled to the side to see who had stopped the group, only to see the proud owner of the eyesore.

"Exempt me the peasantries, Mene dear. Ahem, allow me to inundate myself, I am denominated as Pylauses, Pylauses Gaston, at your servitude. This one here is Hanikap LeFou."

Clearly, this dandy Pylauses was the owner of such a frivolous affront to the art of architecture. In stark contrast to the honest and simple villagers around him, he was a prime example of the excesses of city life. From the way he spoke, it was clear that he spent more time trying to appear rich and educated than he did actually enriching himself. His flagrant disregard for the beautiful and the elegant extended to his speech as well, making him appear to be the court jester rather than the courtier he clearly presented himself as.

"If your clothes are any indication then your home may blind me with its poor taste."

Abdul could not hold back a chuckle at the princess’ sharp tongue. He was glad that he would not need to suffer this pretender alone. However, the weight of the young man around his shoulder reminded him that despite his reservations, this man who was offering his home to them may provide better accommodations, however frivolous, than what the village matron leading them could muster. Abdul attempted to move closer to address Pylauses and his companion, but noticed that his burden was significantly heavier than just a moment ago. He then noticed that Link had taken off to chase down the wolf pup, leaving him to bear the burden alone. Not used to handling such heavy burdens, Abdul knew he would need to put the boy down before he dropped him by accident.

“Sir Gaston,” Abdul said through his teeth, attempting to hide his disdain for the dandy’s poor taste, “Your hospitality is much appreciated by this humble traveler. Unfortunately, one of our companions is injured. If you would be willing to lend a bed for him to rest, it would be greatly appreciated.”

 

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Alois couldn't help but feel slightly anxious as the group made their way to his house, unsure why he felt so. His mother hadn't been lying, it's not like he had much of anything that kept around at his place apart from the few books he had "borrowed" from the mayor's abode. Simply looking every which way as they made their way there, Alois did hear a comment from the new man. Given everything he had seen so far, Alois couldn't help but just say, "yeah, people turning into animals. Crazy stuff." The sarcasm was quite apparent in his tone. He was then further distracted by the group being intercepted by the town's faux nobility and his yes-man. 

As the man spoke, Alois realized something about him. He had always known that he was incredibly obnoxious and probably had an ego bigger than was justified. He had always taken the man's words at face value - at least the words that existed - and just wrote him off as a pompous noble man. Yet, traveling with the princesses had made something about him feel incredibly off. Not just how he spoke and how he seemed to be different then any of the upperclass  people he had met so far in his journey. But there was something about him that he just couldn't put his finger on. A single nagging question about this noble man. Before he could ask it, or felt to for that matter, something much more entertaining presented itself. The boy snickered at Penelope's response to his offer, and though both the princess and the new merchant mage seemed to take a more diplomatic approach Alois had no such inclination to do so.

"I'm dreadfully sorry Penelope," Alois said, concern apparent on his voice as his tone seemed to almost be mocking Pylauses's. "I really should've warned you about the village idiot before we got here, but lo and behold! He's even worse off then I remembered. Come now, pay him no mind." Alois then looked to the supposed nobleman with a smirk on his face, "you heard the group moneybags, scram." Alois then made a shooing motion with his hands. 

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Tsetseg had continued to pat the girl on the head as she started to break out in to tears, though less because she was congratulating her and more so just because she found it soothing. Tsetseg was still confused about what the girl meant when she had mentioned that she attacked her. Going through her memory she didn't remember being attacked by any human of any kind during this day. As the girl spoke up more, talking about the tree, Tsetseg had finally managed to connect all of the dots together. Albeit after a few moments of thinking more. "Oh! You're the beaver!" The girl pointed and excitedly claimed. As she was praised, Tsetseg smiled proudly saying, "well when a cute fluffy creature like that is in danger I have to save it!" The girl nodded to herself. 

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Citron couldn’t help but let out at least a quiet sigh of relief as she arrived at the scene, and found the townsfolk working together to repair the stall. While it didn’t fix the situation at large, it at least helped lessen the load on her conscience to know the woman’s stall would recover… A load that would nigh immediately be added back, and then some, as the townsfolk began to notice her. First was the woman’s who stall was broken, crying that ‘she was back’. Citron winced as the larger man spoke, only for her recoiled wince to lessen as she realized he was… Defending her? Or at least bringing to light the fact that Citron had tried to help. “S, Sorr-”

Citron’s stammering voice was interrupted as a wolf-cub, the same one that Lincoln had been taking care of back at the Mayor’s house, came onto the scene… and began attacking one of the women? Citron was practically blind-sided by this, as the tense edge was almost completely taken away from her; the suffocating aura of the villagers staring at her, at least one of them with contempt, was gone. Once again, she couldn’t help but find herself releasing another sigh as the events unfolded fairly quickly, taking the moments that ensued to psyche herself up. 

“Thank you, Mister Lincoln,” Citron gave a quick bow as the guardsman snatched the wolf-cub up off the ground. “And,” Citron started off, pausing as she rose from her bow, and began to once again approach the villagers. “I wanted to once again, apologize deeply for the damages my Wyvern and I caused. While it doesn’t excuse her actions, it is worth noting that she’s still… Getting used, to landing in different towns. I realize now that I wasn’t as specific as I needed to be in the landing procedures, and that using scent to mark the stalls was, by nature, folly, but-” Citron shook her head, waving her hands a bit. 

“I’m… Getting off topic, I’m sorry,” she swallowed nervously. “I was wondering if you’d be willing to forgive me, and allow me to pay you back for the stall in some way or manner, even if by labor. I’ve not got any actual money on me, but I donated some of my stock to you to replace some of what was lost, and I… Was planning on continuing my travels, and I would be more than willing to send you a percentage of my profits, or foreign wares I come across or… Something valuable back here,” she paused again. “However, if you have any other ways you can think of, or would want me to pay you back, I would be more than willing to listen and comply.” She finished; channeling just a bit of her father’s merchant-speak to try and smooth things over; at least, she hoped.

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It seemed that Sienna's attempts at finding something to do to help out the villagers wasn't going so well. No matter who she went to, the villagers all turned her down. She let out a quiet sigh as she continued to wander the village, while she found it understandable why they would avoid her, it still didn't make much sense to her. She was one of the people who saved them from living their lives as animals, why were they still so intent on avoiding contact with her? She crossed her arms in thought and walked to one more house, if she couldn't make herself useful to at least one person she was just gonna head back to the group.

 

As she approached the old man sitting outside, his puppy ran up to her and barked at her. "No, Icleias, that isn't a fox, just a fox person," the old man said. The pup, Icleias, bounded back toward his owner. Sienna couldn't help but giggle at the little dog. "You want to help out? Sure. My home's a bit of a mess right now after Icleias here started going wild as a human. Guess some of yer friends came over and he got excited. Even got my chimney banged up for some reason.

Name's Amas. I'm a hunter. I'm usually the one who supplies the meat 'round here. The stuff that ain't livestock, that is."

Sienna nodded her head along as the man spoke, so he supplied the village with food. Interesting how the humans only had one person to take care of the hunting. Back at her village, Sienna would usually see several hunters at once, this Amas must be a very skilled one.

"go on, git a move on."

Shaking herself back to reality, she quickly bowed her head and headed into the man's home. It was a modest little hut, and to say it was a mess was an understatement. A cracked chimney, food scattered around a knocked over table, clothes and blankets scattered about the place, and a washbasin that had spilled and soaked the floor. Sienna also picked up a shortbow that had been cracked in half. She quietly sighed to herself and looked around the hut, to the chimney, and back to the bow. She would have an easy enough time cleaning, but the bow and the chimney were a little bit out of the question. Maybe she could find something to tie the bow back together?

 

She shook her head, she would have to think on that later, right now she could attend to what was simpler. She put the broken bow down and went to prop the table back up. As she did, she could hear a commotion coming from outside. She looked up for a moment and shrugged, might've just been the villagers still coming to terms with their situation. None of her business at the moment, she had a job to do.

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Alois, Penelope, Gunther, Edrick, Link, and Abdul

The metamorphosis of Pylauses's expression was a sight to behold. Going from an assured smile to a smug sneer after Link and Gunther spoke, to confused annoyance after Penelope's remark, easing up slightly after Abdul's concession, before finally settling on red-faced acrimony after Alois's insult. What was equally interesting was his companion's coloring, which had paled to ash white after the princess's question.

"I...I-I..." the stout man stumbled over his words, obviously not having expected this particular subject to come up. Before he could continue, Pylauses interrupted.

"Affirmative, so you have descried Hanikap priorly, and so?" his tone was one of clear dismissal. "It is no felonicity to be so witnessed in this unpretentious community. Indeed, though I am loathsome in admittance, we are ourselves burgesses of this burg."

"Yeah yeah, right!" Hanikap nodded along. "What he said! We're burger burglars!"

"Not burglars, burgesses, you bumbling buffoon!" the taller man tripped him with his cane. "Extend him no attention, ladies, and gentlemen!" he shook his head. "Though I cannot assert the nobility of your personages in aggregate, most keenly in regards to conclusive particulars," he finished with a sneer at Alois and a point of his cane toward the boy in question.

"Now hold yer horses," Mene cut in, bristling slightly. "I don't know what all this is about burgs and burglars, but I know Alois ain't part of it," she finished with her hands on her hips. "So beggin' yer pardon, Mister Pylauses--"

"It's Lord Pylauses to you, Mene--"

"But I'm thinkin' ye'd best git going."

"Non, non," the man shook his head with a superior-sounding sigh. "Mene, Mene, sometimes I am stricken with the most awful of awes over you and the other settlers. I am not presently present to give offensiveness to any figures. That is an occupation that your most...esteemed scion has undertaken himself. Non, I am in attendance merely to offer a more decorous dwelling for these fair foreigners."

"Um..." Mene rubbed her head, her eyes swimming in confusion. "Then, thankee? But to me it sounds as if'n these 'ere good folks want ter follow me," she finished.

"That is purely by virtue of them not being conversant in the particulars of my manor's manners," the man replied. "Not to mention, though I am uttering such presently, but they are not in overflowing accord," he spread his arms wide, turning toward Abdul. "And my responsiveness is...indubitably! I would be most acquiescent to take in this impoverished fellow. And as he is currently leaking his sanguinity all over the terra firma, might I advocate for a most alacritous evacuation?" he nodded at the boy's wounds, which had reopened somewhat after being moved.

"Oh dear me!" Mene gasped upon noticing the boy's condition as well. "It's a good thing I have some vulneraries at home."

"As if mere vulneraries are what this youth necessitates," Pylauses sneered. "I am in possession of concoctions and even, conceivably, elixirs."

"Well, ain't like they'll bring his blood back," Mene frowned. "We jus' need to get the wounds closed and all, an' vulneraries are good enough for that."

"Perhaps, now that these visitationers are au courant of my giantesque inventory, we should let them adjudicate."

"To your health, Milord!" Hanikap said, bringing out a handkerchief and offering it to the other man.

"I said adjudicate, not achoo, you dimwit!"

"O-Oh," the squat man replied, lowering the handkerchief. "Er...sorry, Lord Gaston."

The nobleman sighed before turning back to the group. "Neglecting priorous events, what is your determination?"

--

Citron

As soon as Rohns had been removed from the square, Thile crumpled to the cobblestone ground, legs trembling underneath her. "That...was too much..." she panted. "But at least...the demon wolf is gone."

"It's 'cause yer outta shape," Achos snorted. "An' yer scared o' a baby wolf," he whistled, shaking his head. "Never thought I'd see the day."

"Oh can it, ya overgrown lunkhead. Not all's of us can turn into a moose. Sees how ye likes becomin' a hare an' afearin' fer yer life," the woman shot back, though her tone sounded more exhausted than angry. Upon Citron's approach and subsequent apology, she went silent, though there was still a furrow present between her brows.

"Money ain't the problem," Thile frowned. "With my stall destroyed by yer overgrown lizard, I won't be able to sell my stock till it's fixed. An' I don't know 'bout other places, but here in Phar, we don't use gold or even silver to trade. That's more the mayor's thing. We just barter here. So unless you can gimme summat'll cover all the days lost from my destroyed stall," her frown deepened, "yer gonna have ta work it off. And not by lettin' ye run off with empty promises of sending stuff back. Mightn't be ye never come back." She glared at Citron, hands on her hips. "No, no, yer gonna hafta stay. Could use some help 'round the house for a tennight or two, make that a month if'n ye wanna get fed an' housed too."

The older woman who had been talking with them earlier coughed. "Well now, let's not get too hasty. I don't think this young'un really needs to stay that long. Probably has things to do and such. Youngsters always do." Unlike the other two, she had a more refined air to her, though her back was slightly stooped from age and covered in a shawl. "What about this? You, girlie, what was your name again?" she gestured toward Citron. "Why don't you help us rebuild this stall first off? And then see if your friends can help cover the cost of the damage. If need be, you might have to give the rest of your stock to Thile here, but I think that's a better offer than sticking around here for a month."

"An' this is why Pheodea is Pheodea," Achos nodded. His dark hair was cropped close to his head. Shirtless despite the cool autumn air, his burly figure made it clear that he likely hadn't been lying about being a lumberjack. "She always knows jus' what t'do."

"I guess that'n might work as well," Thile said reluctantly. "Though I wouldn't 'ave minded a housekeeper fer a month."

--

Sienna

As Sienna set about cleaning up Amas's house, she would hear Icleias start to bark, before being told to "siddown" by Amas. The puppy went silent then, but it wasn't long afterward that it followed her into the house, literally dogging her steps. It seemed pretty fascinated with her scent, as it kept sniffing at her, tail wagging.

"Oi, Icleias, don't go makin' this lass's job any harder than it needs t'be," Amas's voice caused the pup to sit down with a thud in the corner of the house, tail thumping against the ground still.

It wasn't long before Sienna finished up with her cleaning. The shortbow and chimney were still broken, but that would take more time to do. Amas ended up saying as much himself. "The bow's shot, so forget about it. I'm workin' on a new one right now, see?" he showed the piece of wood he was slowly working into a bow shape. "As for the chimney, well," he scratched his cheek, "that thing needs good stone and lime, two things I don't have right now."

The man paused. "Tell ya what. Here," he handed Sienna a few furs. "If it helps, these aren't fox pelts. See, that's rabbit," he pointed at a gray one, "that's beaver," he pointed to a brown one, "and that's pine marten," he pointed at a darker brown one. "That should be enough for some stones and some lime. See if'n you can get some from Theusido. He's the local quarrier, supplier o' rocks and stuff. He'll be over thataway," he waved toward the other end of the square. "Over there's where all the shops are. The ones that ain't stalls, anyway. Theusido's probably busy, but if ya tell him Amas sent ya, it should be fine. I'd go meself, but I want to get this bow done afore dark," the man shrugged.

"Remember, we need chimney stone and lime. Tell him exactly that. 'Bout five pounds worth maybe. Oh, here," the hunter pushed a small wheelbarrow over. "If ye can't carry it all, just put them in here. Git going then," he returned to the barrel and his carving.

As Sienna set off, she would find that the puppy, Icleias, seemed determined to follow her. His owner raised a brow but continued working without comment. He didn't seem too worried about letting the pup follow the fox.

--

Tsetseg

The militia girl seemed to calm slightly as Tsetseg continued to pat her on the head, but the archer's first words caused her to straighten in shock. "Huh? Y-Yes, I'm the beaver, I mean, I was the beaver. Did I forget to say that? Oh, rats, I did didn't I?!" the girl started to flail her arms around in panic. "I can't believe this! Argh, I'm so stupid! Not a good fighter, can't even introduce myself right..." she drooped slightly before sitting up higher, face set in determination even while tears still streamed down her cheeks. "My name is Phaidra! Phaidra Francos at your service!" she gave a sideways salute that made it clear she was still learning how to do them right. "But you can just call me Phai. Everybody else does."

"Well when a cute fluffy creature like that is in danger I have to save it!"

"W-Wow, you really are a hero. You even talk like one!" Phaidra's eyes shone. "B-But I've been pretty rude, haven't I? I didn't even ask your name? So...on that note, what is your name, Miss Hero? And uhh...do you like fish?" the tears had finally stopped, though she was still sniffling. "I might not be very good at fighting, but I'm pretty good at fishing! See, I was gonna try and be the village fisherman, but then I wanted to fight like my cousin! Oh, you might not have met her yet. Her name's Acantha! She's a little..." she cringed slightly, "sharp. But she means well! At least...I think so," she trailed off. "Anyway, uhh, I got off track again, but I wanted to say that I have fish! Or that I fish. Er...if you want fish...I have fish?" she grinned sheepishly.

--

Catriona, Ciela, and Adel

"Yeah, Phai's a bit of a scatterbrain, but she tries hard," Acantha said. "It doesn't really make up for her mistakes, though."

"With time, her efforts will bear fruit," Catriona pointed out.

"What are you, a fortune-teller or something?" the cavalier snorted. "Anyway, don't let me hold you back. Didn't you have a task for that woman?" she pointed rudely at the pegasus knight.

The white-haired woman shook her head. "I am not comfortable with having her set off at this moment. Her head--"

"I'm fine, Your Highness," Adel said, walking over to stand in front of the princess. "My injuries were light, and I am steady on my feet now."

Catriona glanced over the other before nodding her agreement. "In that case, I need you to deliver a message to," she paused, "my father." This had been an idea she had considered since the pegasus knight had joined their party. It's too risky to send a carrier pigeon because it could be intercepted, she thought. But a verbal message through a trusted pegasus knight should be fine.

"If the guards refuse to let you through, show them this," she handed over a signet ring. The crest on it would be recognizable to anybody familiar with Galtean heraldry. The crest of House Nabudis. It looked slightly different, as it showed the personal coat-of-arms for Catriona, but the crest itself was unmistakable. She had mixed feelings over giving the other her ring. On the one hand, she never parted with it, not even after being kidnapped. It was a mark of her identity. On the other hand, if discovered on her person, that would reveal her identity immediately, which would only hinder her attempts at anonymity. "Bear this to my father along with the message that I am in Histia, and not to trust Lord Sebastian. Also..." she paused, before stepping closer and lowering her voice. What was said afterward was heard only between the two of them. Stepping away, her voice returned to her normal pitch, though it was still rather low for a woman. "It may be difficult to find us afterward. See if my father has any further instructions for you."

"By your command," Adel nodded, her stoic face belying the torrent of emotions she was feeling underneath. Confusion was dominant, mixed with some amusement, fear, and relief. I'm not sure I want to go back to Galtea, but at least I'll be leaving this village. Still, there's something ironic about me of all people being sent to that place.

Catriona stepped back once more. "You may leave when you see fit. And...thank you," the last few words came out awkwardly.

"You're welcome," the reply was much more natural, the amusement showing more openly. "I'll go now, while there's still daylight left," the pegasus knight began to walk toward the exit. She stopped at the doorway, turning back once to look at the princess, who had returned to the bench where Ciela's prone body had been placed. "Good luck, Your Highness." Without waiting for a reply, she faced forward and left the building.

It didn't take long for the woman to find her pegasus. Tyltalis hadn't wandered very far from the mayor's house. Getting on the pegasus, and ignoring its annoyed whicker, the woman kicked its sides, spurring it to gallop forward and flap its wings before powering itself into the air. The two flew higher and higher, then farther, until they became little more than a dot in the sky.


OOC

Spoiler

And with that, Adel is no longer a part of the RP. Ciela still is, though, and currently unconscious, though that can change at any time.

Hopefully I gave everybody enough to work on. If you need any more information, message me or Cow.

Edited by Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd

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So far, Edrick had passed most of their journey from the town hall in a daze. Having as much blood outside of you as he did tended to do that. He was quite talkative as they went along though. In Pontic. And it was mostly either actual nonsense to the tune of "Oh, uită-te la ceapă" or protesting the fact that he was being carried. Lots of "pot să merg"s and "picioarele nu mă doare"s as they went along, in combination with some mostly ineffectual efforts at pulling free from the other two men's grasp. Though he was managing to keep his feet mostly straight as they walked, and had somewhere gotten his hands back on his lance. Well, hand anyways. Though it was dragging behind him as he went along. Much as he protested and insisted he could handle himself, he was quite obviously not in the best of shape. Though his shredded gambeson and shirt were probably evidence enough of that.

But then he felt Link shifting his weight off so he could go do...something. A cursory glance in the direction he was walking told Edrick all he needed to know. Yes, Link was collecting his puppy. Such a cute little guy Rohns was. He reminded the boy of the various dogs his friends had had back home, and now he was once again hit in the gut with a profound feeling of homesickness. He'd never gotten hurt this bad at home, and even if he had he could always count on finding his parents if he needed help or advice. Even if it meant getting a scolding from his mother about not asking how to do things without getting hurt the first time. But right now he missed his house, his parents, and his bed. For a moment he thought about just going back and leaving this whole thing behind him, but he knew he couldn't. With or without Elba, he'd gotten in far too deep at this point. Whatever else he thought, he had actively opposed The Goddess now. Even if he went back and tried to forget it, this would forever mark him in some capacity. He would always be a Heretic, and eventually that would catch up to him.

Thankfully his dark thoughts were distracted by the presence of someone playing at nobility. Having been around the princesses long enough, and having been in the company of the lords of Ithome, Edrick knew what nobility looked like outside of Pontus. And this wasn't it. This was someone imitating what they thought a noble was, and as Penelope mocked his choice of style. It was enough that he started laughing, which he almost immediately regretted as his chest moved too much and his already slightly reopened wounds lanced with pain. Yup. He was pretty drippy right now. The laughter was still worth it, mostly.

"Ia-mi unde să pot sângera în pace." He ended up groaning as the conversation dragged on, and ultimately summoned enough strength that he could prop himself up on his own feet and his lance. Pain was wonderful for waking someone up. "Înainte să o fac eu." With that he took to making his way forward, as slowly and unsteadily as a man with his chest open for all the world to see could anyways. Did he know where he was going? Absolutely not. "Excuse me, princess." He finally managed to say in Galtean as he came alongside Penelope and tried to pass her.

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Link let Rohns down onto the ground while Citron spoke with the villagers. Each time the cub tried to run, he would scoop him up by the scruff of his neck and hold him in the air for a moment. He repeated this a few times while they discussed reparations for the stall that had been wrecked by the failed landing, until the wolf cub finally sat down by his heel and whined when he let him down. Link tossed him a strip of his dried jerky rations as a reward, then stepped forward to be at Citron’s side and cleared his throat. All this talking was growing to be exhausting.

“‘Scuse me,” he started. “Wasn’t tryin’ to eavesdrop or anything but felt I should step in. This lady fought in defense of the Galtean crown, and both she and her wyvern were injured in the process.” He coughed, then cleared his throat again. “Probably doesn’t look like it now but her arm was badly injured. She needs to focus on resting it. It was also my… companion who chased after you when you were hurt, ma’am, so I think it only fair I repay two debts at once. I can handle any manual labor that you would have had her do, if that is alright with you, as well as anything else you may need done.” 

He cleared his throat a third time, then swatted at Rohns with his boot, as the wolf cub had devoured his strip of jerky and was beginning to stare eagerly at Thile once again.
 

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Penelope was amused by how this Mr Gaston wore his emotions so readily. He would do unwell in a debate she thought. She was particularly amused by how upset at Alois's much more blunt insult he got. It seemed that Alois knew this man well and wasn't all too impressed by him. Which was enough proof that his act was just that, an act.

He talked a lot, and a lot of people responded, but there were a couple factors that really stood up. He had gotten defensive in place of his comrade when questioned about what he was doing. "No, you're right, being there isn't a crime. Yet I would question it still. I will be upfront, sir, but I believe your companion to be of the shady sort. And I would think a man such as you would want to investigate so as to not have such a person at your side." She smiled at him. "But we have plenty of time to learn the truth. And we will that much is certain."

She looked over to Mene. "As it stands I would, personally, prefer to go with this lady. And that is where I shall go. I won't stop anyone from taking you up on your....generous offer but I will not be one of them."

"Excuse me, princess."

"Ah. Ah ah ah." Penelope said. She shook her head and moved to the front of the young farm boy. Placing a hand on his front, avoiding the blood, she looked up at him with a stern look. "You should not be trying to move on your own just yet. We aren't far and it wouldn't do for you to fall down and get your injuries all dirty." She gestured for Gunther to come over and noted the slight hesitation but said nothing about it. "Come here." She said. "Lend a hand so he doesn't hurt himself even more."


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Gunther had remained silent as the others spoke. Though he nodded along with what many of them were saying. Though he shifted to shaking his head when Abdul mentioned going with the man. He had made up his mind already that he didn't want to go with the nobleman just based on how rude to the woman he had been. "What they said." He simply said, referring to Penelope and Alois.

He cringed as he heard Edrick speaking in Pontic again. He had no idea what he was saying but he could only assume it was something unpleasant.

Speaking of unpleasant that feeling grew when Penelope called him over. He really would prefer not to, in part due to the smell of blood on the boy being rather disconcerting, help him. But he would, as always, do as asked. So the tall young Knight came up beside Penelope and stiffly offered an arm to Edrick. "As she said. Feel free to use me to support yourself as we go to the lady's home."

He looked over to said lady. "I apologize for all this trouble, ma'am, truly. But if you'd be so kind to lead us the rest of the way so that our fr-our companion can rest."

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Citron wouldn’t lie, in that she couldn’t find it in herself to be surprised when the older-woman turned down any and all of her own suggestions. Letting out a quiet sigh, Citron slowly nodded, listening to the demands the old lady gave off; slowly nodding with each one. “Yeah, that… Unfortunately makes sense, makes… Sense…” She frowned, wincing. “I guess I could do that, if I needed… Oh?” She paused, glancing as the second of the two older-ladies began speaking, giving a much more… Reasonable, set of demands. “Citron, Citron Paridisi.” She smiled, giving a slight bow. “And that definitely sounds like something I can do.” She finished, rising from her bow.

“I may not look it, but I worked on a farm back home, so even with this bum arm…” She paused, gesturing at her arm in the make-shift sling. “I can still help repair the stall, so just point me in the right direction and we can get to work, and-” Citron cut herself off, as someone… Unexpected, joined the conversation; Lincoln coming to her defense, and offering to work in her stead. He also spouted off something about doing it because she ‘was injured in service of the Galtean crown’, something she didn’t REALLY understand, but was thankful for, nonetheless.

“H-Huh? Oh, um… Thank you, Mr. Lincoln, but…” Citron trailed off, wincing with more than a little guilt. “I don’t think it would do for someone else to work off my debts, but, um… If you really want, we could work together?” She smiled, trying to, in her mind, reason more with herself than with Lincoln. “Like, I could carry stuff around, or help with transportation, and you could… Do the things that need two hands?” She paused, returning her hand to scratch at the side of her neck. “If that sounds okay? At all?”

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Alois couldn't help but pinch the bridge of his nose as the nobleman would not stop talking. It was one thing that he was nothing short of insufferable and that Alois had to continually think through his words to make sure he actually knew what he was trying to say. But that he was making a habit of talking down to his mother, Alois couldn't help but get more and more annoyed. As Penelope focused on Hanikap and why he had been at the town hall, Alois thought back on the man a bit more. Looking at the man's face, he tapped a finger to his chin before he remembered what happened before they got into the building. With a mischievous smirk on his face Alois just commented, "yeah, it'd be real shame if you were harboring a rat."

As everyone else seemed to be yet again in agreement of not staying with the nobleman, Alois looked to the man in question now. "Well, there you have it. Again. We'll be making our way now, but I'm sure all of your other guests and visitors and friends will love all of those fancy concoctions and elixirs that you have at your house. So until next time, to your health Mister Pylauses." With that, Alois began to walk away in the direction of his house calling back to Gunther saying, "this way." 

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Tsetseg brightened up as the girl introduced herself and then asked for one in turn. "Right! Nice to meet you Phai! My name is Tsetseg Altansarnai. But everyone calls me Tsetseg." The archer then figured that the name of Phai's cousin sounded familiar but couldn't quite place it nor was that exactly the top priority in her mind. "Fish! Sure thing! Fish are great but I never get to hunt them. They aren't always around and other people always take charge in getting them." The girl then huffed and crossed her arms saying, "people say that I'm not the right kind of person to fish, but I can hunt other things plenty good already." Her expression brightened again as she said, "but you got these fish yourself, right? That's awesome! I can't  wait to have some." 

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"I'm dreadfully sorry Penelope, I really should've warned you about the village idiot before we got here, but lo and behold! He's even worse off then I remembered. Come now, pay him no mind. You heard the group moneybags, scram."

Abdul had to look away for a moment to stop mocking laughter from escaping his lips in front of Pylauses. There was nothing quite like seeing a faux intellectual being brought low. Pylauses continued his charade and amplified his abuse of language, making it hard for Abdul to understand what he was saying behind his thickening layer of condescension. The mewling sycophant to his side only served to showcase his master’s incomprehensible speech.

"As it stands I would, personally, prefer to go with this lady. And that is where I shall go. I won't stop anyone from taking you up on your....generous offer but I will not be one of them."

Although he had accepted the nobleman’s hospitality just moments ago, Penelope’s firm dismissal of the offer made him reconsider. After all, it was abundantly clear that the quick witted princess would be much better company than a tasteless petty noble, even if it was in more humble accommodations. Abdul then felt stirring from the boy he was carrying, who mumbled something in what he thought could be Pontic. The boy had started carrying his own weight, albeit weakly, shuffling slowly towards the front of the group despite his injuries. Abdul’s confusion turned to shock when he noticed that the boy was leaving a trail of crimson in his wake.

"Excuse me, princess."

"Ah. Ah ah ah. You should not be trying to move on your own just yet. We aren't far and it wouldn't do for you to fall down and get your injuries all dirty. Come here. Lend a hand so he doesn't hurt himself even more."

"As she said. Feel free to use me to support yourself as we go to the lady's home."

As Penelope and her knight fussed over the injured boy, Abdul moved closer to the self-proclaimed burgess to address him directly.

“My apologies,” Abdul said with a courteous bow, “I will reiterate that your generous offer of hospitality is well received by this humble travelling scholar. However, it pains me that I will need to accept your offer sometime in the future, as I will need to attend to my patient closely. Perhaps we can have an engaging discussion on your work in this village over some tea once his injuries have been treated.”

With another quickly bow to Pylauses and his assistant, Abdul moved quickly to the boy’s side to attend to the reopened wound.

 

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