[b]Massacred Village[/b]

The boy ignored most of what Coco said (his facial expression made it clear that he was confused by her babbling) fixating on her simple question of what had happened. Rage crossed his features, he bared his teeth, and he visibly shook.“They lied!” He screamed down at her. “The creature of shadows whose skin writhed like a nest of snakes, the fire breather, the one with demon blood, and the never ending hunger beneath rags! They lied, lied, [i]lied[/i]! They promised that I would be able to protect my Kingdom through the ideology that my family is, was, built upon! Sacrifice, no matter what the cost in blood and pain, for the greater good! I went through with the ritual! I scattered their blood, I said the words, I sacrificed my soul for my Kingdom!” His eyes bulged, veins stood out on his face, and he practically frothed at the mouth. His next scream was several octaves higher, [i]”And what did they do!?[/i] How did they repay my trust, my sacrifice!? They took everything from me!” He began gesturing randomly behind and in front of him. 

“They butchered my people! They burned their homes! They rotted them as they begged! They set the Demons from the deepest pits of the Inferno upon them! They feasted upon their children! They left me with nothing more than weeping mama and weeping Beth and an accusing father in my head, and a pile of corpses!” Suddenly he calmed, all movement stopping. His next words were quieter, though still loud enough to be heard clearly by all present. “But they misunderstood the power they were giving me.” He giggled. “They think they’ve won. They think they’ve beaten me and escaped justice. Oh no. Not at all.” He giggled again and rubbed his hands together in anticipation. “Justice will be served. Very soon. But for now, I’ll have to wait till the scum that have come to loot my Kingdom have left.” He glared down at Grey and Coco. “Leave now, cockroaches! This is your last chance to scurry back to your homes! Any other word will be perceived as an act of war, and I will bring my vengeance down upon you!”

[i]Althalus[/i]

Althalus, in the mean time, hadn’t been paying attention to the ravings of the boy. After ascertaining that the child wasn’t a threat, and that nothing else was trying to kill them, he made his way over to Mar. He had noticed the way she suddenly paled, and her investigation of a corpse. A quick glance at the body of the young child himself was all he needed to guess what was bothering her. So he made his way over to her, carefully avoiding the remains of some of the Villagers. After all, he didn’t want to slip in some poor bastard’s guts. That would just end badly for everyone involved. He reached Mar just about the same time the boy began raving about lies. When he was close enough, he leaned towards her and spoke quietly. “You’re not fooling me Mar. I saw that, and you know there’s no way she’s anywhere but at the College right now. We left her in Alaira’s care. The only way she’s going to be in danger is if Alaira is turned into nothing more than a pile of flesh and bone dust. Lyn’s in the safest hands possible right now. But it’s nice to see you showing more and more emotions when Lyn isn’t around, even if she’s related to it.” He gave a small smirk. “At least now you can’t claim that you have a heart of stone, and emotions are nothing more than waves crashing uselessly against it. Does this mean I can expect passionate kisses, loving looks, and whatever else you care to come up with? He asked, winking exaggeratedly at her to show that he was only teasing. 

[b]Aramir[/b]

Everything was going fine for Aramir. They were getting questions answered, and laying down the foundation to make a plan of attack against the Roc. She was about to ask more questions, this time pertaining to how exactly they were supposed to get the wagon down from the nest, when Auriel started to play her game. As Eural was caught, as easily as an expert fisherman might catch a fish, she sighed and settled down for a wait. Her eyes rolled as the show began, and the Forest Elf grinned. She had seen this, or variations of it, far too many times to count, in the time she had known Auriel. This case wouldn’t be any different from all the rest. However, as the act continued, Aramir began to feel unreasonably irritated. She wrote it off as being annoyed at the delay in the planning that might vvery well save someone’s life. [i]Doesn’t she know that we have more important things to do then to flirt with the guide?[/i] She thought testily, a scowl crossing her face before she brought it back under control. It would do no good for her to let annoyances at petty games cause problems for them during the hunt. She thought no one had seen it, especially Auriel, but somehow doubted it.

After Eural spoke about the L on Auriel’s bow Aramir, somewhat pointedly, continued the conversation that they had left off. “If we reach the Roc’s nest in daylight, and are lucky enough to reach there while the Roc is gone, would it be possible to get to the nest, get the wagon, get it down here, and then leave before it comes back? Or would it be better to wait until it’s dark and we have at least a chance of not being seen?”