Chapter 18

In which Terebel hears an old fairy tale and Mune learns about Rainbow Ore

Early the next morning, Terebel left the safety of Aden's walls with the group he'd been set with to begin their scouting. His group was projected to travel towards the Forsaken Plains, an area which he hadn't to since his Palus Knight days. It brought back a lot of unpleasant memories to be there again, memories of his mothers, and the strange dream device they'd put on him.

He wondered how his mothers were doing at times, but most of the time he despised their memory. They'd made his life a living hell as a child, and even though Maeve hadn't been much of an improvement, he knew he had been better off in her care. Curiosity still ate at him however, and he resisted the urge to break off from the scouting group to venture into the Giant's Cave and see if they were there.

"Hey, you guys think that if everything's quiet out here, we can head back to town early?" Terebel asked his group as they walked. They glanced between each other; no one really appointed the leader, and none wanting to take a stand and answer. Terebel honestly wanted to get back with enough time to catch Narlafayn before she headed out with her scouting group. He'd never wanted to be with someone as badly as he wanted to be with Narlafayn at that moment, it seemed the more he was denied her company, the more he craved it. It was plain for him to see that she wanted it too, but her frustratingly nice side always won out whenever they were interrupted, leaving Terebel to deal with his bottled up emotions on his own.

"Bandits." A Hawkeye suddenly exclaimed, lifting his bow and fitting an arrow into it. Terebel jumped, his fantasy of Narlafayn startled away. About fifty feet ahead of them a group of five bandits were pulling on a Dark Elven woman in tattered clothing, trying to pry some sort of jewel off of her chest. The Hawkeye let his arrow fly, and it hit one of the bandits straight through the head. His companions dropped the Dark Elf woman as he fell and fled, taking off in opposite directions.

"After them!" a Plainswalker shouted, and Terebel's scouting party separated to chase after the bandits, eager for a fight. Terebel sheathed the swords he'd drawn in caution, and approached the woman on the ground. He frowned in confusion as stray bolts of green electricity coursed over the woman's body, causing her limbs to jerk. His lips parted as he recognized the vacant expression of Zraa, the supposed mother whom birthed him.

"Mom!" he breathed, falling to his knees and lifting her up. Her body still twitched as the electricity flowed over her, its source a strange green crystal that he instantly assumed was a modification from the Giants. Terebel glanced around himself in worry that someone would see her before lifting her up and carrying her over to a grove of close-growing pine trees. He sat on a rock placed at their center and sat her on his lap as if she were a child.

Her arms were drawn up to her chest with the electrical zaps, and Terebel wondered if the strange crystal was malfunctioning due to the strain the bandits had put upon it. He held her against his chest and watched her eyes as they rolled around her head like a doll's. She suddenly stiffened in his arms and then went limp, her head lolling backwards precariously.

"Mom? What's wrong with you?" Terebel asked, not afraid that his mother had suddenly died. He knew her better than that, whatever modifications the Giants had made to her would prevent her from ever stepping foot in the Abyss.

"The Life Crystal has been damaged, systems switching to beta." Zraa said, her head snapping back up. She sat upright in his lap and stared straight ahead for a moment before rolling backwards again as if the bones had disappeared from her body. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, surprising Terebel with the lifelike quality of it. It'd been so long since he'd seen any normal actions or gestures from his mothers, even something simple like breathing, that it was surprising to feel her do it now.

"Mom?" he asked again, as she stared up to the clouds. Her eyes were still empty and lifeless, but she blinked slowly as if in thought. She glanced at him, staring without expression for a moment before lifting a hand to pat his face lightly.

"Son unit, you have aged." She said in muted surprise. Zraa had always been more expressive than her sister Polar, his other mother. Terebel gave her a half smile and shifted her weight to lean more against his chest, his arm growing tired with supporting her.

"Yeah, it's been about fifty years since I saw you last." He said with a wry smile. "Those of us living in the real world do tend to age in that time." He wrinkled his nose and drew away as she stuck one of her fingers into his nostril, like a child. "It's ironic that I was just thinking about you and mom, and then here you are. What are you doing outside of the Giant's Cave? Does mom know you're out here?" Zraa's lips parted slightly as her empty eyes searched his face, and Terebel wondered if she had even understood him.

"The chaos is there…" she breathed, her voice tinged with fright. Terebel frowned, his eyebrows furrowing. Real fear showed in her expression, surprising him yet again.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, becoming impatient with her. She took another breath and shut her eyes; something Terebel remembered her doing as she tried to recall some purposefully forgotten memory.

"Once upon a time there was a woman…a beautiful woman…a Celebrant of the Abyss…" Zraa began, her voice sounding more normal and alive than he'd ever heard it before. "She was sought after by many men, but took none to her bed for in her dreams each night she had a lover. A dark lover scented with the things that made the Abyss desirable." She opened her eyes slightly and looked at him, to make sure he was listening to her. "This man…this…being of chaos…visited her so many times in her dreams that one night, while her body was fertile; it believed that one of their encounters had been fruitful. She conceived with dream seed and in a few months' time gave birth to twin girls."

Terebel stared at her in disbelief now, trying to make sense of what she'd said. Was this their story? Was Zraa trying to tell him that his grandfather was some dark, chaotic dream being…?

The words 'dark chaos' suddenly tolled through Terebel's mind like a funeral bell, shaking him to his core and chilling it with ice. Chaos. Darkness. There were only a few beings in the world that were well known to take mortals as lovers while they slept…

"Who is your father, mom? Who is my grandfather?" Terebel asked in a hushed voice, recalling Maeve's words before the siege on Innadril. Zraa opened her eyes fully and tilted her head at him, her face back in the expressionless mask.

"Ballard." Zraa said simply. Terebel's eye twitched suddenly feeling stupid for asking. Of course Ballard wasn't his grandfather as well as his father, not even his insane mothers were crazy enough for something like that. Zraa was obviously loosing what was left of her mind, and it didn't surprise Terebel one bit. Unless she meant…Ballard could tell him?

The grass behind him rustled as someone passed through it, and the sharp edge of a blade pressed against his throat before he could turn and look at who approached. He swallowed hard and glanced up to find Polar's vacant expression staring down at him now, her eyes twitching as she tried to remember his face.

"It is the son unit." Zraa explained, always knowing her sister's thoughts. Polar's eyebrows rose in interest and she removed the blade of her sword from his neck and sheathed it again. Zraa shifted in Terebel's lap and stood shakily, still weak from the crystal's malfunctioning.

"Thank you son unit. You are still functioning, this is exemplary." Polar said, taking Zraa by the arm to help her walk. "Come communicate with us some time, we are always here." She began to lead Zraa away towards the Giant's cave, a journey which threatened to be slow due to Zraa's weakness. Terebel just watched them go silently, Zraa's story eating away at him despite feeling tricked by it. Desperate to know what it meant he took a step after them.

"Wait." He called. Polar and Zraa turned to glance at him, and he wet his lips in sudden nervousness. "What did you mean by just saying 'Ballard'? Are you trying to convince me he's my grandfather or something? I already know he's my father." Terebel said, shifting his weight onto one foot. Zraa and Polar glanced at one another, speaking to each another in their silent manner.

"The seed provider will decipher all inquiries." Polar said simply before leading her sister away. Terebel watched them until they were but a speck in the distance, unease slowly gnawing at his insides until he could stand it no longer. Hissing under his breath he dashed back in the direction of Aden. So Ballard could tell him what he needed to know? Maybe it was time that he sat down and had a heart-to-heart with his old man…

The comforting darkness that had overtaken Mune's vision began to fade, and she shifted as consciousness returned to her. She opened her eyes and blinked as they focused slowly on the wooden crossbeams above her. How'd I get here? She wondered, understanding that she was in a room. Evzen's face came into focus next, hovering over her head with his eyes shut. She realized his hands were on her head, the comforting light of his healing spell warming the skin there.

Reality returned in an instant and she thrashed wildly, the shock from being burned alive finally catching up to her. Evzen drew back as she flailed, and watched her in worry as she jumped up. Mune backed across the room until her back slammed against the wall farthest away from where Evzen sat. She was dressed in a nightgown again, she noticed, and Evzen had positioned a chair at the head of the bed she'd been lying on.

She glanced up as she saw herself against the wall opposite of where she had plastered herself. Her breath caught in her throat in a gasp that refused to surface as her throat constricted. She was sure she was staring at herself in a mirror, with the ornately decorated frame that surrounded her image. But that couldn't be her…it had to be a trick mirror…

"I'm sorry, I wasn't finished yet." Evzen apologized with a sympathetic expression. Mune's hands shook as she reached up to touch her scalp gingerly. Where her hair had once been now was smooth skin barely dusted with short hairs like peach fuzz. She let out a screaming wail of agony as she recalled everything that had happened up until then. Evzen was with her as her knees buckled in shock, catching her before she fell. Why had Shizuka been with the dragon Valakas? Why did she attack her own clan mate? Why was Sentinel Rayen part of a mercenary group killing innocent travelers? These questions she felt would never be answered.

"My hair…" she wailed, and then sobbed loudly. Evzen sat down on the side of the bed with her and rocked her, shushing her gently. He rubbed her back as she cried, and was surprised somewhere in the back of his mind, that Mune was allowing him to comfort her.

A merchant who traded with the Varka Silenos had passed by not long after Evzen had emerged from the cave to find Mune nearly dead. He'd helped Evzen gently transfer Mune onto his wagon and had taken them the last of their journey to Goddard. They'd been painfully close to their destination, they'd just somehow gotten lost in the outskirts of the Varka Silenos Outpost southwest of Goddard.

Evzen had been working all night on healing the extensive burns covering her body. He made sure to give thanks to Eva many times as he healed, knowing that it was the rain water that had buffered the fire from the dragon's mouth to harm her no more than cooking her skin. He'd seen Valakas' work before, and knew that usually only a charred skeleton remained after the unlucky person had faced his fiery breath. Mune had regained consciousness just as he began encouraging her hair to grow, much to his dismay. He had hoped she would've stayed asleep until he'd grown it out to the length it had been before the attack, to help ease the shock.

The door to their room opened an hour later, and Mune emerged alone. She stared at Evzen's back as he rolled over, shutting the door gently as to not disturb him. She walked down the hall of the inn, hugging herself, her eyes downcast. Downy soft hair floated around her head in the length she'd chopped it in before, but it didn't feel like her hair. It was too soft, too fresh, and just added to the discomfort of her memories. Evzen had assured her, before falling asleep with exhaustion, that it would eventually take on the texture it had before being attacked, it would just take a few hours.

Her armor gleamed in the dim light of the hallway, freshly polished to rid it of the searing stains from Valakas' flame. The red and gold dress she wore underneath her armor had been burned with her skin, but Evzen had a new one brought to the room long before she had gained consciousness. Again something else she owed Evzen for, she thought bitterly. She began to wonder at that point if she'd ever get out of that man's debt.

"Did you hear? They say those Aden bastards are declaring war!" a man whispered to his companion as Mune passed them. She paused, her eyes large and slid out of sight to listen to them. Her ears strained to pick up more threads of their conversation, and she narrowed her eyes in concentration.

"Those rich bastards, first they send mercenary groups up here to steal what little provisions we have, then they send more when we do the natural thing and try to reclaim them! An entire family was slaughtered by some Aden bastards for the sheer joy of it, can you believe that? Nothing was taken of their possessions!" Mune's lips parted and her forehead wrinkled as she raised her eyebrows. Normally she wouldn't believe the words these men said, but after witnessing first hand how cruel the people of her country were, she began to wonder. She began to tremble in rage as the men continued to describe the horrors they'd seen caused by Aden troops who were overstepping their country lines and attempting to force their law upon the people of Elmore. Hearing enough, she pushed herself onward, her fists clenched at her sides. It shamed her to be from Aden, after hearing those men talk.

As she emerged into the tavern area of the inn, Mune had to jump back as a group of Dwarven children raced by her, shouting at each other as they played. She stared at them in surprise as they tumbled over each other like playful ferrets, wondering why someone would bring such rambunctious children into a tavern. She slipped into the first chair she found, frowning as more Dwarven children joined the group, and they began to climb over each other as if they were using the other as a ladder.

"TEN MILLION ADENA, WASTED!" a drunken voice cried, startling her. She spun quickly in her chair, her jaw dropping open in surprise. Her brother Calisan, face ruddy from alcohol, sat next to her, a large mug in his hand. His head dropped heavily to the table and Mune winced, knowing that it had to hurt.

"Calisan? What are you doing here?" she asked, never expecting to find her brother so randomly, outside of the country. Calisan lifted his head and brought his face in close to hers, inspecting her with blurred vision. Mune scrunched up her face in disgust at the smell of his breath, which reeked strongly of Dwarven mead. "You reek like Grendel ass." She said, waving a hand to diffuse the stench. Calisan drew his lips into a comical 'o' shape and quite purposefully blew a breath of air up her nose. Mune gagged and turned away from him to cough.

"I could ask you the same thing." He slurred, sitting back in his chair and taking another drink. "Does Lavinia know you're out rampaging the countryside like a mad beaver?" Mune's eyebrow quirked and she stared at her brother evenly. "No matter, since you're here you can share in your big brother's misery." He lifted a hand to catch the attention of a barmaid. "Miss, a tankard for my little sister!" he called.

"He's lying, I don't want any!" she snapped over his voice, turning slightly in her chair. She swung back around with her teeth bared and glared at him as he grinned smugly into his pint.

"I'll take it if she doesn't want it!" an aged female dwarf shouted. Calisan's eyes widened as he glanced at the Dwarves, and suddenly filled with tears.

"Waah, my money!" he wailed, burying his head in the crook of his arm on the table. Mune sighed heavily and patted her brother on the back. "I hate those Pixies." He suddenly said darkly, lifting his head to glare at the Dwarven woman and the aged Dwarf man she sat with.

"What happened?" Mune asked, bored. Calisan was well-known for his business savvy, but was also horrible at accepting any other merchant competition. He sat up straight in his chair and pointed a trembling hand towards another Dwarf that stood in the corner of the inn, busy with customers that bought strange bottles of liquid from her.

"That…THING…has corrupted my business!" he said hysterically, staring at the orange-haired dwarf with an insane gleam in his eyes. Taking notice of him the Dwarf smirked and then pulled down her lower eyelid and stuck out her tongue. Calisan lowered his hand and narrowed his eyes, hugging his mug close to his body. "Curse you Spicy Pixie…curse you…" he growled. He whipped around to face Mune and gave her the most pitiful set of puppy dog eyes he could express. "Listen, listen. So I was happily selling potions, right? Great potions that I'd bought directly from the Ivory Tower's alchemists, when suddenly that little sewage rat comes in and starts selling the SAME potions, not only at a discounted price, but with an extra free gift as well! I spent ten million adena on my potions, I can't lower my price any more without loosing money!" he broke down into loud sobs that made Mune cringe in embarrassment as people turned to look at them.

"Mune, I'm going to go restock our travel packs." Evzen's voice came as he approached the table. Calisan ceased in crying in an instant, and peeked over the side of his arm. Her face red in embarrassment, Mune shifted in her seat and tried to pretend she didn't know the Dark Elf in front of her.

"Um…that's great." She said dismissively, looking away from him. Evzen frowned at her sudden cold attitude and turned away hesitantly.

"I'll see you later." He said warily, eyeballing Calisan whom was eyeballing him in return from over his arm. Mune covered her face with one hand as Calisan's head shot up like a rocket as Evzen departed, a sly smile on his face.

"So who was that? I thought you hated Dark Elves." He asked her smugly. Mune glared at him from underneath the hand that rested on her forehead.

"I do hate Dark Elves; I'm just tolerating that one right now because he's useful. Other than that he's annoying as hell with his prim and proper grammar and his over use of etiquette. You should see how he folds EVERYTHING that goes into his travel pack!" she snapped. Her hair prickled out in agitation as Calisan continued to smile smugly at her from over the rim of his mug.

"Why is it that you hate Dark Elves anyway? That guy seems like he might be nice." He said, setting his mug down.

"I told you before; one stole my first kiss without my permission. Since they all share that god-awful trait of overzealous hormones which means I still risk getting taken advantage of thus they all must die." She recited, clenching her hands on the table and seething. The amusement melted from Calisan's face and he stared at her in masked disbelief. He sighed and leaned back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest.

"That's why you hate them…? Over something as menial as a stolen kiss?" Calisan repeated in disbelief. Mune turned her head to face him again, glaring.

"I was SAVING that for someone special." She said through clenched teeth. Her annoyance gauge went up another notch as Calisan snorted.

"Oh please don't tell me it was the 'honorable' Sentinel Rayen. I swear that guy is gay with Starden." Calisan said, rolling his eyes. "But still, for a tomboy Mune, you're incredibly girly. I don't even think Cesa was that bad, and she's got that burning love for trees." When Mune didn't stop seething, Calisan sighed and reached over to grab her by her chin. Before she could react he pulled her face to his and kissed her lips. Mune's soul exploded and she jumped out of the chair, her eyes bulging out of her head with the back of her hand pressed to her mouth.

"YOU DISGUSTING FREAK! YOU"RE MY BROTHER!" she screeched at the top of her lungs. The tavern's constant buzz of conversation quieted for a moment as everyone turned to look at her. Embarrassed, Mune tittered nervously and returned to her chair. It took a moment before people realized she wasn't going to talk loudly any more before they returned to what they were doing.

"There, since I've stolen your second kiss, are you going to hate Light Elves too?" Calisan asked, grinning in satisfaction as he reclined slightly in his chair. Mune glanced up at him with a frown, scrubbing her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Why would I hate all Light Elves for something my freak brother did?" she asked, smacking her lips in disgust as she realized he'd left a mead flavor there. Calisan lifted a hand and patted her on top of her head.

"Ah, now think carefully about what you said and you will have learned something new!" Calisan said with a smile. It faded a second later as the Dwarven woman and her companion ambled over to their table, drunken blushes high on their cheeks. He froze and glared as they invited themselves to the table, sitting heavily.

"Calisan Teristen, I see my little Spicy has out smarted your business yet again." The Dwarven man, who was none other than Papa Blackstaff, said smugly. Calisan clenched his fists and glared at the older man, narrowing his eyes to intensify his anger.

"Mune, I'd like you to meet Papa Blackstaff and Mama Pixie, two of the worst Dwarves alive." Calisan seethed. Mune lifted an eyebrow as the two Dwarves laughed as if he'd said the funniest thing in the world. She yelped in anger as a spray of cold water hit the back of her head a second later and jumped up from her chair to see what had assailed her. The group of Dwarven children looked at her with large eyes before bolting into the crowd, giggling.

"Where did those monsters come from? Someone needs to sell them to a circus." She grumbled as she took her seat again.

"I know, aren't my babies beautiful?" Mama Pixie said with a proud sigh. Mune's mouth dropped open and she pointed to the children whom now raced around the bar, trying to spray each other with the weird toys they'd filled with water. Mune lifted an eyebrow and inspected the two Dwarves in front of her, then glanced at first the children and then Spicy Pixie in the corner. Each child resembled each other in facial features, but their hair was an array of colors ranging from orange to pale white-blue and purple. Mama Pixie had long, pumpkin orange colored hair that was streaked with red and white, and Papa Blackstaff's hair had turned completely white, although it looked as if it could've been black at one time.

"How did you guys get that range of color out of your genetics?" Mune asked, jerking a thumb in the direction of the Dwarven children. Two of them had climbed up on the bar and were doing a strange kind of jig, much to the dismay of the bartender. Another on the ground had grabbed a bottle of carbonated alcohol and shook it as hard as they could. The cork flew off of it as pressure built up and pinged around the room before smacking a rich looking woman in the center of her forehead as she raised a spoonful of soup to her mouth, and knocked her over, chair and all.

"Oh that's easy!" Mama Pixie said, delighted that someone finally asked such a question. "You see, Papa here is what they call a 'rainbow ore'. He's a rare catch amongst the Dwarves in terms of genetics." Her eyes gleamed mischievously and Mune began to regret asking her question.

"What's being a 'rainbow ore' have to do with your kids having more hair colors than candy?" Calisan asked with a frown, raising an eyebrow. "What is a 'rainbow ore' anyway?" he muttered into his mug. Without a word Papa Blackstaff stood up, unfastened his belt and let his trousers drop to his ankles, proudly displaying his genitalia. Mune nearly fainted and Calisan choked upon his mouthful of mead. There around his reproductive organs, quite magnificent in its own way, was a bush of hair, shaded in such a way as if a rainbow had left an imprint.

"Impressive ain't it? It's all natural too!" Papa Blackstaff said, swaying his hips back and forth. Calisan groaned in disgust and shielded his eyes from the sight as things began to sway, and Mune found that she couldn't break her eyes away from the sight, and covered her mouth with her hands.

"HEY!" the innkeeper suddenly shouted, noticing Papa Blackstaff's state of undress.

"Whoops, time to go!" Mama Pixie exclaimed, jumping out of her chair. She stuck two fingers in her mouth and whistled, her children stopping what they were doing and obediently pouring out the door. "Bye bye darling, make sure you put this stinky Elf out of business!" she called to Spicy as she and Papa Blackstaff slid out the door.

"I will mama!" Spicy promised, grinning wickedly as Calisan turned a dumbfounded glare upon her. Mune let out her shocked breath in one great whoosh before looking at her brother with a traumatized expression.

"I don't think I like your friends." She said in a tiny voice, the sight of Papa Blackstaff's swaying hips still fresh in her mind. Calisan sighed heavily and let his head drop back to the table, letting out a tiny noise of pain upon impact.

Mune emerged from the tavern a little bit later, letting her brother sleep off his budding hangover in her room. She was just beginning to wonder where it was Evzen had wandered off to, as he'd been gone far too long for a restocking trip, when she spied him up the stairs in the city's richer level.

He stood outside of the church and looked down at his feet sullenly, a distinguished looking man standing in front of him, staring down his nose. The man was surprisingly tanned for living in such a northern climate and his hair was a strange color of blonde that resembled the yolks of hard-boiled eggs. Her eyebrows twitched together slightly at the expression Evzen wore, and she jogged up the stairs towards him. Her armor clinked with her movement, announcing her approach to the men and she winced inwardly.

"Mune!" Evzen exclaimed, relief at her arrival flooding his expression. He moved to greet her, but the yolk-haired man put a hand out to halt him.

"Lord Evzen, you know this riffraff?" he asked in an oily voice. Mune's mouth dropped open, offended by his words.

"Riffraff?" she repeated, incredulous. Evzen put a hand up to halt her as her face contorted into hateful rage, ready to let a colorful set of verbal insults rip into the man.

"Krystof, this is Mune Teristen, she was the one to save me from the occultist group in Rune and has been escorting me back to Schuttgart." Evzen said smoothly. Mune shut her mouth and frowned at him. Half of what he spoke was a lie; it was the occultist group that had helped THEM because she went nuts in Rune. Krystof tilted his head in Mune's direction, gazing at her with sudden interest.

"Teristen? Are you perchance related to Ballard Felagund?" Krystof asked in a polite voice. Mune glanced between the man and Evzen with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah…he's my grandfather…" she said slowly. Krystof suddenly bowed politely to her and took her hand to kiss it. Mune jerked it out of his grip before his lips met her skin, glaring at him.

"Mune is not accustomed to our habits, Krystof." Evzen tried to say, covering up her obviously rude gesture. Krystof stood up straight and adjusted his jacket, embarrassed.

"Yes well. Since the granddaughter of Tetrarch Felagund assisted you, I suppose I will believe your story." Krystof stated, sniffing in a snobbish manner. "Now, gather your things Lord Evzen, we've delayed the ceremony long enough." Krystof turned to Mune and bowed stiffly. "Miss Teristen, it would be an honor to the Greyhelm and Dominick families if you would accompany us as well, and we shall reward you for keeping our wayward Lord safe."

Evzen grabbed Mune by the arm and dragged her away before she could protest, leading her back to the inn. He was silent as they walked, his mouth set in a thin line. Once they were back in their room he began to hurry around, repacking. Calisan was already asleep on the bed, snoring loudly in drunken unconsciousness.

"What is that all about? Why did you lie to him? I don't want to go to Schuttgart!" Mune protested, standing in the middle of the room. Although she could see her grandfather, she realized, it would be nice to check up on him. Mune hated cold and snow, a lingering effect at having her first kiss stolen at a Grand Saint's Day party, and Schuttgart was constantly covered in the stuff.

"There's nothing that can be done about it now, it was the only way I could keep you from being formally charged for kidnapping me." Evzen said in a low voice as he shoved his clothes into his travel pack. Mune's mouth dropped open in disbelief and she clenched her fists.

"KIDNAPPING you?" she said, louder than intended. Calisan's snore broke with a snort, and she and Evzen stared at him until he smacked his lips and began snoring again. "I didn't kidnap you! In fact I saved your ass from those Elves out there!" she hissed, gesturing in the direction she thought the Silenos Outpost was.

"Actually it was over there." Evzen corrected politely, pointing in the proper direction of the Outpost. "But that doesn't matter," he said dismissively before she could voice any angry retorts, "I'm afraid the Dominick family only sees that I was missing the night before my wedding and are prone to assume the absolute worst of any situation." He sighed heavily and sat down in the chair still positioned by the bed. Mune blinked rapidly as his words clicked in her head and she frowned.

"Wedding?" she echoed, as if she'd never heard the word before. "You're engaged?" A stab of pain went through her heart and she rubbed her chest absent-mindedly to ease it. Evzen sighed and stood again, and began to pack her belongings.

"Yes, I'm engaged to be married to the daughter of the current Lord of Schuttgart castle. She's the Gatekeeper of our city, a very elegant girl named Bilia." Evzen said in a tired voice. "The marriage was arranged as a last-ditch chance to reclaim some part of Schuttgart's throne. My parents were once the Lords over the land you see, back when it was honor and valor that made you a Lord, not physical prowess and war. The current Lord seiged our castle when I was fourteen and we lost it. My father was much too old to form a clan to reclaim it in the same way, so they struck up a deal in the only way they knew how; by marrying one of their children off to the castle Lord's daughter. Bilia was the one who got to choose which one of us that she wanted, and unfortunately she picked me." He handed over her travel pack with his eyes downcast. Mune took it automatically, trying to take in everything he said and figure out why her heart suddenly ached so. "I won't make you come with me, but if you do, it'll give me a few more days of freedom, and perhaps I can convince Bilia in that time to take my younger brother as her husband. He's had a crush on her for a few years now, but for some reason she refuses to look at him. I suppose it's because he's an Orc, but one could not say for certain." He gave her a half smile, and Mune averted her eyes as the pain in her chest increased.

"I'll go with you." She said sullenly, staring at the ground. "It'll be nice to see my grandfather again at least." She frowned as her heart skipped a beat as Evzen's face lit up in a relieved smile.

"Thank you." He said, shouldering his travel pack. "Shall we be off?" he offered his arm as he spoke in a truly gentlemanly fashion. Mune hesitated, still embarrassed when someone treated her as anything more than a tomboy, but then slipped her arm through it. He beamed warmly at her and escorted her out of the inn and towards the Gatekeeper, where Krystof waited to take them to Schuttgart.