"I feel like I've stepped into a Renaissance Faire" Merin says looking around at the small country town they'd just entered.

Kalie is silent for a moment before saying, "A what faire?"

Merin sighs, "Never mind."

"Um, ok then..." She stops and looks around for a moment before sighing and looking back at Neeshka. "Ok, Neesh, help."

Neeshka sighs shaking her head as she walks past Kalie and take the lead. Everyone follows. It seems as if this happens a lot, whatever it is.

Merin looks between Kalie and Neeshka, then asks, "Umm... out of curiosity, how come Neeshka's suddenly leading?"

Kalie's face turns pink and she examines her boots as she walks. "I um... Don't do so well in cities or even towns for that matter..."

Khelgar grunts. "What she means is she can't tell right from left in any kind of civilization."

Neeshka makes a 'pshaw' noise. "I doubt you could tell right from left anywhere, Khelgar, so shut your mouth!"

Merin looks back to Kalie. "Ah, they make you all discombobulated?"

Kalie avoids eye contact as she says, "Uh, yeah... I'm fine anywhere else, just not places populated by people..."

As they follow Neeshka around the corner, an old man is seen sitting on a bench in front of his house. There's a cane next to him. He smiles as he sees the party. "Ahh, welcome back, Harborman. Do you hold any good news for me, I hope?"

Kalie steps up to talk to the man. "I certainly hope I do. I spoke to the Lizardmen's chieftain and he has agreed to leave your ships alone and peacefully coexist with the townsfolk, as long as they stay off the tribe's land and act peacefully with the Lizardmen" She gives a large grin as though she is quite pleased with herself for accomplishing this task.

The elderly man looked very taken aback. "You spoke to them? How... Never mind. What matters is that I do not believe these creatures should be trusted. We will have to solve this matter a different way..."

Kalie looks hurt. "But he said..."

The man interjects, "It does not matter what it said, it can't be trusted!"

That's when she got mad. "You know, that's the same thing 'it' said about you, old man" The man grew silent though his mouth was still slightly open. "I put my life and the lives of my friends in danger so that I could make a peaceful bargain with someone, when it's not even my problem in the first place! I just want to get on that boat and get to Neverwinter before my pursuers catch up to me. Now, you can accept that this is the way it's gonna be, or you can't, it's up to you. But as for me, I'm getting on that ship before you make some stupid decision to attack the lizardfolk. At least they had better manners than you do..." She breaths deeply as she finishes, anger still evident on her face.

"Perhaps... Perhaps I was mistaken." The man says slowly, "I will... Monitor our meetings with the Lizardmen carefully, but I will allow your negotiation to take place until I have real reason to doubt it. I... Thank you, young lady. You did what we villagers could not. I never believed peace could be reached, and so your news shocked me. We thank you for all you have done. If you speak truly, then you and your ship are free to leave our harbor."

Kalie gives a sigh of relief and smiles at him, though it is a slightly uneasy look. "Alright then. Now, that wasn't so hard to admit, was it? We'll be leaving now. So long, Elder, and your welcome, by the way" She turns and heads down the path before stopping and saying, "Uh... Neesh? Could you..."

Neeshka sighs, grabbed Kalie's arm and pulls her along while saying, "You're hopeless Kalie..." Kalie whimpers in response.

So the group makes its way down to the beach and stood before the ship named the Double Eagle, and they now all stand looking up at it in all its glory. She's ready to hit the sea, although the recent patchwork done to the hull because of some serious damage that had been done is very visible. It doesn't look like cannon fire though, so it's assumed that tearing huge holes in the hull was what the lizards had been doing to the boats.

"Whoa... Big ship..." Kalie said staring straight up at it. Merin realizes for the first time, that no matter how big it looks to her, she's the tallest person in this group and so she will see it as smaller -no matter by how much- than everyone else.

"Wow! We get to go sailing! Woo-hoo! I've never done that before!" Austin says bouncing up and down. Merin smiles and ruffles his hair. Naloch looks up like he is glad he is no longer being carried in the boy's arms, because he would get motion sickness.

"Well, shall we?" Elanee asks as she picks up Naloch.

Khelgar's stomach rumbles. "Eh, my stomachs churning already... Couldn't we stop by the tavern first?"

Merin looks down at the Dwarf with a smirk, thinking, "This should be rather interesting..."

Neeshka smirks at him. "What, scared of the water, Khelgar? No, we're not going to go to the tavern. Your breath smells bad enough without any extra ale..."

Khelgar scowls up at her. "Hey, now that's uncalled for! I thought I might just get one more good fight in with those sailors before we got on board. Humph!"

Kalie rolls her eyes. "Will you both please shut-up?" Both companions give her annoyed glances before turning away from one another and mumbling curses under their breath. Kalie sighs shaking her head before she puts her hand to her mouth and gives a long whistle. For a moment nothing happens. Then Merin can see a black blur flying down the beach so fast she can't make out what it is until it's right in front of her. It looks at Kalie and seems to say "You called?" with its facial features before it turns and regards Merin coolly. Then the large Black Panther gives a menacing snarl.

Merin sees the cat snarl and nearly jumps out of her skin. She takes roughly ten quick steps back, pushing Austin protectively behind her once more. Her eyes stay the size of saucers and she mumbles some incoherent nonsense, looking a bit like a fish on dry land. Austin peeks around his sister's legs, his eyes wide as well, but still taking the childish aproach and thinking this whole world was just a game. "Well aren't you a bright ray of sunshine?" the boy nearly stutters out.

"Arty! Back off, will ya! She's a friend" Kalie scolds the animal. The panther straightens up and stops snarling but does not turn her untrusting eyes from Merin. "Yes, I know that" Kalie says to the panther, apparently named Arty. "Exactly, she isn't from this world at all. But she's a friend none the less. Be nice" The feline's eyes narrow at Merin before she turns away and meanders past Kalie to sit behind her.

Merin watches the cat for a moment trying to calming herself, before she takes a deep breath, clears her throat and tries to act civilized again, "Quite the people-cat, isn't she?" Her voice cracks as she tries to say this and she gives a small frown inwardly at herself.

"Heh, yeah. Don't mind her. She doesn't like anyone" Kalie opens her mouth to say something but stopped and she glares over her shoulder at the panther. "Not like that, idiot- and he's terrified of you in case you didn't notice" Merin almost thinks she can see the cat smile at her mistress at this comment. "... That's just... Okay then, I'm not going to comment on that..." She turns back to Merin, "Just ignore anything she says, she's just permanently dismal I think."

Merin cocks her head in confusion. "... What was she saying?"

Kalie does a face-palm. "Ehh, sorry. I'm always forgetting that other people can't hear her. After all, she can understand everyone else."

"I can understand her..." Elanee says cautiously, and almost nervously as she looks at the great cat.

"Yeah, but you're a druid. You understand all animals" Kalie points out. She turns back to Merin, "You really don't want to know what she said. Just forget this ever happened, 'k?"

Merin shrugs. "If you say so."

Someone approaches Kalie just before she's about to say something else. "Excuse me, Miss Thell..."

"Hm? Yes?" Kalie says turning to the man walking up to her. "Oh, hi. You're the captain, right?" She says pointing up to the ship.

The man nods. "Yes I am, and I've been told I'm allowed to set sail again, and that you're requesting passage to Neverwinter, yes?"

"Uh-huh. So when are we going to get going?"

The man sighs. "Unfortunately, I'm afraid we can't set sail until the ship's ready, and she's in pretty sorry shape as it is now..." He frowns up at his ship.

"Erm...what?" Kalie says like she didn't hear him. He sighs again and looks back to her. Kalie sighs. "Alright, so how long is it going to take, exactly?"

"I'm not sure miss, but I'll be sure to fetch you when the repairs are done. There's an inn just up the road that you can stay in, if you'd like" The captain explains.

Kalie sighs and throws her hands up. "What the heck, why not. Come on guys, I guess we do get to go to the tavern after all" Khelgar grins up at the ranger, and then to Neeshka. Neeshka sighs and rolls her eyes at the Dwarf. Two days later, the ship's finally sea worthy again.

Kalie turns and looks up at the ship as her friends board it, before saying to Merin, "So, I suppose this is where we part then." Kalie turns back to Merin, "We took you back to town with us, they'll take care of you here, don't worry. The spell that brought you here should wear off real soon and you'll go home. I think you'll be safer here than with us now..." She does look kind of sad that she's trying to convince Merin to stay, but she's also convinced herself not to put a little kid's life in danger. Kalie blinks a couple times at Merin and her brother as they just stand there staring back at her. "Well?" She pauses, but after seeing Merin is intent on simply standing there, she continues, "Look, you might be safe in Neverwinter, but I don't think coming with us is a very safe option for you... I mean, you don't even know how to hold a dagger properly in combat, you can't very well defend yourself..."

Merin scowls at her and crosses her arms firmly over her chest "I happen to have taken fencing lessons when I was a teenager. It would not be too hard to relearn and use it for real combat"

Austin gasps, "You never told me that! That's so cool!" He starts bouncing again. Merin has to smile at his cute bubbly-ness.

Kalie quirks an eyebrow as if to say "oh really?" then replies, "Hmm perhaps I misjudged your value then. Alright, then, if you want to come, you're welcome to it, but be warned, I'm testing your fencing abilities once we make it back to dry land again." She gives Merin a joking smirk before she looks down at Austin and worry takes its place. "He's a problem though..."

Merin looks down at Austin, also looking slightly worried "Maybe we can find a place for him to stay."

Kalie looks at the village at the top of the hill "Hmm..."

Austin looks up at Kalie, shocked and hurt "No! I won't let you leave me here! I want to go too, you know!"

Kalie gives him a pitiful look "Uh, no offense kid, but even if I underestimated your sister's capabilities, I know you can't defend yourself very well. Those bruises on your arms speak for themselves..." Austin quickly throws his hands up to cover the bruises that were undoubtedly received from that bully at school, and then looks to Kalie like he's about to start crying. "Uh..." Kalie rubs the back of her neck and looks at Merin sheepishly.

Merin rests a hand on Austin's shoulder "Don't worry, Austin, we're not leaving you behind" Austin sniffles, nods, and sniffles again.

Kalie looks like she just had an epiphany "Hey wait a second! I know exactly where he can stay!" She says exitedly, "We're going to Neverwinter to find my uncle- Duncan. I'm sure he'll be happy to let Austin stay at the tav... inn. It's an inn..." At the last part of this sentence her eyes get slightly bigger and her face looses all it's excited-ness as she becomes very straightfaced, suddenly realizing how it would sound to Merin if she said "tavern", also known as a "bar".

Merin smiles a bit but regards Kalie curiously, wondering about her change in phrases. "That sounds good to me" She looks at Austin, "What do you think?"

Austin wipes his eyes then gives the best tear-stained grin he can. "Okay" He looks to Kalie, "Is your uncle nice?"

Kalie gives the boy a sheepish grin. "Heh, I don't know. I've never actually met him..."

Merin raises an eyebrow. "You've never met your uncle?"

Kalie shakes her head. "No, I've lived in West Harbor all my life. Actually, there are a lot of people there I don't know either..."

Merin's eyebrow remains raised. "How big is West Harbor?"

Kalie blushes. "Uh... It has about 30 households all in all..." She stares at the ground.

Merin blinks a couple times "... Wow... You live in a really, really small town."

"Heh, yeah..." Kalie says, and still avoids eye-contact. Finally she sighs and looks up. "I've only been gone about a week and a half and I already miss them..."

Merin smiles at her. "Well, there's nothing wrong with that."

Kalie laughs. She has a cute bubbly laugh that might have been mistaken for a giggle had one not been looking directly at her to see that it was not. "There is if you've ever met my father, or the Mossfelds."

"... I'll take your word on that" Merin responds. Kalie merely grins.

Above Neeshka is seen leaning over the railing of the ship as she calls out, "Hey, Kay, are you coming or are you gonna stay on the ground all day?"

Kalie sighs. "I'd prefer that actually... Coming, mother! Jeez, give me a break Neesh!" She looks back at Merin and admits, "I hate sailing..." Merin laughs as she follows Kalie aboard the Double-Eagle.