Where Lusser saw crooks and Thorvald saw fools, Feuertanz saw people - simple good people with families and hopes and dreams. Perhaps he's naive - he didn't spot a single one of Lusser's swindlers - but while he surely knows such things happen it's not the forward face of the city that presents itself. In some ways, he's removed from it by artifice - folks tend often to be less ready to shake down a man of the cloth, even one of such youth. But he waves here or there, calling out to this stallkeeper or that as they pass with none of the others' respective fear or cynicism or, indeed, awareness.

But he saw, too, Alina's fear. This time, this moment, he would not interfere; he would let Lusser talk to her. After all, he did not like to be overbearing - better for now to keep moving so they could get out of the city. But as they move northward, as the life of the city fades to rolling hills, Feuertanz becomes quieter. The acolyte himself begins to hang back with the rest of the group, staying closer as the trees rise around them, as the forest grows around them. Unconsciously, the weasel's ears fall a little lower as time goes on, and slowly a warmth builds up around him. There is no fire, no smoke - but as he ceases to venture so far from the group, and the cold of the morning ebbs, the warmth becomes noticeable. Still, he offers that same personable smile. "...I'm afraid this is as far north as I've been. There's a small village... north of here, I have family, I've never been - a fork in the road in maybe a couple hours' further travel, and if you go east there, my own village is three days by foot. Vater had a cart though..."

“It’s fine,” Lusser von Steigen said with a shrug. “As long as it’s nothing important, I suppose.” It made no difference who was staring at him as long as it wasn’t due to some sort of problem, or if he was up to something. Assured that it wouldn’t be a problem, at least for now, Lusser continued to walk in silence, though he was noticeably less at ease once the city proper was gone from view. Lusser turned his attention to Feuertanz, perking up a bit in the presence of the heat he was emanating; he was always pleased to be protected from the cold air, even if only subconsciously.

“Speaking of which,” Lusser said thoughtfully. “If it becomes convenient, and we have the coin to do so, perhaps it would be prudent to hire some pokemon to pull a similar cart for us. It could save us an extraordinary amount of time and legwork.” Lusser hoped for the time to come where he wouldn’t have to deal so extensively with the ground beneath his feet. Things such as carts would be almost irrelevant if he could simply fly wherever he pleased, the feeling of cold morning air nullified by the sheer exhilaration of mastering breakneck speeds and dizzying heights in tandem.

I didn't know what to do. On one hand, I almost felt dirty accepting the gold, given that it wasn't my own, and was only given to me so I could buy supplies, originally, however, on the other hand... I had almost no coin to my name, and, quickly checking my bag revealed that it was empty... seems that my own coin must have gotten mixed up with this, or dropped on accident. I'm sure that if I dropped it then the coin was at the market, probably picked up by one of the merchants within mere seconds of it dropping to the ground. I ended up accepting the gold, and saying "Uh, thanks," of course, I probably could have said more of that, I decided against doing so until I continued on with "Right, let's get going, shall we?" I then started heading towards the northern exit to town, passing my a butcher who, given his similar species and build, I almost mistook for Nihonto for a moment. I suppose it makes sense to have a fire-wielding butcher... after all, they can cook the meat without so much as a stove. I think as I look back towards where my teammates should be. Apparently, I left on my own, or they got caught in sudden foot traffic. I ended up waiting at the northern gate, and the butcher's shop until my friends arrived. For some reason, this particular butcher didn't want to display any of his product in the window to his shop. I suppose he had his reasons, but it made him a little suspicious to me, well, that compounded with the glare he gave me when I started waiting near his shop. He never said anything, but that look told me everything I needed to know, he didn't want pokemon just waiting there without ever entering his shop, or, in other words, 'No loitering'.

Erion fallowed Feuertanz all the way towards the outside of the city. This place was huge.... stalls and people everywhere of every kind and size. He never really went in the city back home, cause of how 'dangerous' it was for him to be seen be people, supposedly cause of assassin's and kidnappers. Funny that his own home was the most dangerous place now. He continued to move, hearing what his traveling companions were saying. He turned to Alina calmly.
"It is interesting to see the city in this perspectif." he says before hearing what Alina said next, thinking she might have seen what was under his cloth, looking at his cloth and then sighing. He waited for the group to arrive in the forest, farther from the city.
"Alright... well... I guess we go north. And fresh air... It does feel... great." he says, smelling the air around him.
"Much better then being stuck in the cas..." he start to say, before stopping in his sentence. A knight that dosen't leave his castle for quests isen't really a knight... that might suspect more about him. But deep down.... was that such a bad case if they knew? He felt like maybe... just maybe he could trust them. In the back of his head though, his brain was yelling that no one could be trusted. Though is everyone really against him?
"tle..." he ends his phrase. Well great... that is out... What next, he will out that he is a prince to those people? Only thing missing was a big flag saying he was a prince that was waving around constantly...

Alina bowed her head at Lusser's response and continued walking with the party. Keeping her thoughts less disjointed and her gaze off of her companions. Her shyness getting the better of her again with how noticeably she was looking away, but it remained harmlessly at that. Thus, she kept herself focused on calming her remaining concerns. At least until they cleared the city, at which point she gave occasional glances back until it inevitably fell out of sight.

As the hills turned to Trees, Alina watched the various plants they passed by. Beginning to feel calmer, though not realizing that perhaps the warmth emanating from Feuertanz had some part in it as, she began to walk closer to the group. She was snapped out of her daze however, by Erion's comments. Looking over to him, she thought nothing of his momentary pause, like she would have thought nothing of the sword he had hidden beneath his cloak. Instead his comments only returned her smile to her, "You're right. This...It's a lot nicer out here like this." She held a hand to her chest, glancing down to the pendant hanging from her neck before turning her attention to Feuertanz as he spoke. She was, however, startled by how close she had apparently gotten to him in her thoughtless walking, quickly taking a step to the side as he talked. While her smile wavered at his mention of family, she was still quick to chime in. "Well if you have f-family..." She quickly gathered her voice back together and continued. "Y-You should visit, right? Since you _don't-" This time, Alina remained silent as her voice near completely fell apart from the thoughts rushing to her mind, but still kept her eyes on Feuertanz.

Perhaps the most surprising thing for Feuertanz was the way that Alina nearly fell to pieces talking about his family. He was a little saddened that she'd stepped away, as... he sort of appreciated the way she gravitated toward him. The young quilava swallowed his own nerves and smiled, expertly projecting a more optimistic confidence than he really felt. "...If you want to talk about it, Alina... whatever it is that's on your mind... I'm here, okay? I won't judge. I promise. But... my family can wait; perhaps we can visit them on the way back. I feel like we should get as far north as possible as quickly as possible, yes?"

And here, he was confronted with the fact that he was leading them along without ever having told them why. Because of course, it was about more than simply exploring for him. This occupied him for a moment while he looked down the road, where trees grew tall that had stood before the cataclysm and, deeper into the forest, had perhaps stood since the age when pokemon were like to animals. And the truth was, most still were - they were not all suited to the life created by civilized society, and fell outside of the notions of law and order. And while wild pokemon were present the world over, further north, the imprint of civilization and her ideals had faded, or so went the stories. Feuertanz had always wondered if the wilderness was as dangerous as was said - and yet he was not eager to find out.

...Finally, he shook the thought off and rallied, trying with moderate success to recover that smile and to regulate his body temperature; the air around him had, for a moment, begun to shimmer. And now, he turned to the others. He didn't seem at all suspicious of Erion. "...The air is certainly nice, in any case, you're right. But I confess I've... grown accustomed to those tall grey walls; I felt safe. Even if I've seen those walls breached before, and..." He folds his ears back a little. "You know, thinking on it, living in a castle is a good way to get caught in a siege. Ehh...heh... but... no more, yes? There are no armies left in the north large enough to attack a Moeri investment like Schwarzenburg. But enough of that, enough of that. I would suggest that Lusser were right - a cart would solve many of our worries - but we've a day or two of travel before we leave Sabiland altogether and... after that? There aren't any roads except those old pre-cataclysm causeways the humans built, and those are dangerous now..."

Erion just looked forwards, not saying anything, lost in though. The group was far enough from civilization right now, and he would probably give more and more clues about his blood line. Sooner or later the secret would probably be outed, as well as if his brother were to send assasins to him, the secret would be out really quickly there. He listened to what was being said, waiting. After a bit he stopped moving.
"I... have a confession to make... now that we are far enough from the city and there less risks..." he says, before breathing deeply, looking at the group.
"I am not actually a knight... I had to find a excuse for the equipment I have... my name is Erion Van Purr, from the royal familly of Aelvail... the younger son of the king... When I said before that I had to leave cause of the assassination, it was from my own brother..."
He then said, having outed the secret he was dreading to out. There.... it was out now, left in the wind, blowing around, making it feel like it was crashing into the trees. Inside, his brain was screaming loudly that he was a idiot, that he was asking to get killed, that those people would sell him out and such. But sooner or later the secret would have gotten out.
"I was lucky to have escaped, my father was poisoned by my brother and he sent Zangoose assasins to get me... This is why I wanted to find somewhere to go... I have to learn more, I have to become stronger so I can survive against what my brother might send to me... I am sorry for lying to you guys." he then said, looking down.
"And going north might make it that he would not have assassins follow me there." he adds.

“Feh!” Lusser exclaimed, scoffing at Erion’s claims of good weather. “This air is about as ‘fresh’ as waking up to a bucket of water to the face! Such a beautiful land, if not for it’s abysmal cold…” Lusser didn’t really know why he was so much more vocal to voice his opinions on the weather than any of the more controversial feelings he held. Perhaps it was simply so banal that it wasn’t worth keeping inside, and he simply felt more inclined to vent about it; he didn’t get the chance to vent about things very often, after all.

“You should indeed consider visiting your family,” Lusser chimed in once the subject came up. “They don’t last forever, you see…” He trailed off with a sigh. Lusser managed to avoid thinking about such touchy subjects often enough, but even he had to be a little sentimental about his losses. He simply shrugged in acceptance when Feuertanz explained why the use of a cart would be inefficient, but he had a bit more to say about Erion’s revelation.

“Assassins?” Lusser repeated, not believing for a second that they wouldn’t follow him here. “As if we needed more potential problems…” He didn’t see any positives to turning on him; if there wasn’t a prior agreement, he could just as easily be rewarded with a mere “thank you,” and if they were either smart, or Erion’s story was true, they’d turn on him, too. After all, why trust a traitor? Whatever the case, it seemed to him that they would be stuck together for a while, so he might as well accept it.

Alina shrank back slightly at Feuertanz' offer, looking away as she muttered "I-I'm fine, really..." An obvious lie, not that she realized it was so. The thoughts of home that surfaced had already silenced her, that combined with Feuertanz' comment on how visiting his family "could wait", only muddled her head further. A hand again returning to the pendant around her neck, she tried to calm her mind and return to as she was only a moment ago. Once again finding herself wishing for stronger nerves. It was a shimmer in the air around Feuertanz however, that managed to bring her eyes off the dirt and back onto him. Listening as he talked, she relaxed slightly, managing to suppress the confusion clouding her own mind. She briefly pondered if she'd ever be able to go a day, or even a few hours, without being scared, freaked out, confused or similar, when Erion took her attention.

As Alina heard Erion's confession. Her remaining internal confusion turned to a more general one. As his explanation continued, she tilted her head slightly. Poison, assassins, royal family, she had no clue what to make of it. Those being subjects she had hardly followed during training, she was left bewildered. And so only quietly responded with "...W-What?"

Frey smiled at Nihonto's comment and explained with a confident smirk, "Well it's no issue. I've had to deal with thieves and bandits around town before, and I'm trained for battle. I've had a sword pierce my hide a few times and I've been able to fight through it. Training yourself to endure pain is important for combat after all...anyways, I will see you at the gates then?" She turned to wave to Thorvald and perhaps strike up a conversation, but saw he had already left to go to the rendevous point.

Due to this, she spun back around and told Nihonto, "Getting meat sounds a lot more complicated than grain. I guess killing game is harder than farming though. Interesting that some pokemon do not need meat and yet some do. Would probably be a pretty easy life if we could all just farm and eat, might be enough food to go around for everyone too. No need for fighting and things like that..." She pondered telling Nihonto she came from a poor upbringing in comparison to what she assumed him and Thorvald did, but decided against letting him in on her whole life story out of the blue. She left him to ponder why she had told him what she did and turned to follow Thorvald, "Anyways, we're keeping greenie waiting! Let's go!"

She dashed ahead towards the gate, making fairly good time due to her knowledge of the area. She actually makes it to the north gate on a shorter path before realizing she'd made it there ahead of everyone else. She turns to look for her companions and heads back into the market, waving to Thorvald when she spots him and hoping that it was the right Sceptile, "HEY!" She called out before running up to him and grinning nervously. "Sorry...I think I kept Nihon a little busy back in the square. He should be showing up soon though."

She didn't notice the butcher for a while, but eventually drew a look of confusion and followed Thorvald's gaze, frowning at the look that the butcher was giving in turn. There was nothing really to be said about it, expressions did well enough.

Erion looked at how the group reacted to his secret and gave a small sighed. He looked at them.
"Like I said, I am sorry, but with how far north we are from my home, I don't think my brother would be fooling enough to waste mans to go so far north against me..." he says as calmer as he could, before looking at Alina.
"Like I said, I am just trying to get away from my brother before he finish me off. And frankly, I didn't really like the idea of ruling over people that much, probably why there were words of me taking the throne instead of my brother..." he then confest. He breath deeply and shake my head.
"I... I hope you guys won't hate me for having lied like that about my origins. I just don't know who to trust in these lands." he then adds. He hoped he was not making a mistake by trusting these guys. At least if one of them was crooked, the others could fight and help him... At least that what he hoped.