Lily cocked her head as Theodore and Novas introduced themselves, trying not to size them up too obviously as they spoke. She shook Novas' hand easily enough, shifting her burdens to one arm to do so, only barely slowing her pace a few feet behind Spook. To Theodore she gave a nod; this one seemed a snappy dresser, at least. She wondered what he'd be able to do with a corset and garters. She glanced over to the young man who hadn't spoken yet with interest, but when he remained quiet, she spoke up.

"You can call me Lily," she introduced herself, sweeping into a low curtsey, although the effect was somewhat ruined by the lack of an actual skirt. She rolled with it, though. "By trade, I am..." In other circumstances, she would have introduced herself as she was, but she glanced down at Amelia and her mouth twisted to the side in momentary discomfort. "A florist," she finished, smoothing over the pause as best she could but with a warning look to hush anyone who might know otherwise—for now, at least. "As for the leader, I say we let the chips fall where they may when the time comes. For now, darlings, we're naught but walking companions."

Amelia's small hand closed around hers, and Lily smiled, hefting the cages she'd claimed as they set off down the track. She let the little girl pull her forward, the city of Enn quickly disappearing behind them as they passed through a copse of trees. There went the last traces of an old life, she thought. Her sister was out here somewhere in another city; her mother lost amongst the wilderness—but Lily was perfectly content to step into the unknown largely on her own. If anything, it would be exciting.
{@needlingAsklepios @Irisity @Bornlucky @j8cob)

"What?!" Fiammetta spoke out. "Rutabaga? You mean like that vegetable that grows in the ground?!"

But he didn't respond to her cries of outrage. The noble girl followed the Traveller Spook with a wary eye. Somehow he was something... less than she'd expected. He didn't seem to carry himself with any of the dangerous poise or grace befitting someone with the title of "Traveller", a moniker one typically only earns facing the mightiest beasts and savages that lurk outside Enn's walls. If... when she became a Traveller herself, she wasn't sure she'd want to be associated with someone like this.

Just as she was about to speak up and voice her opinion of him though, she was greeted by a rather familiar face from childhood. Her smile brightened.

"Aha! You're Telio, right? Telio Lenocci? The painter boy from all those years ago!" she said with warmth in her greeting. Although it had almost been more than five years since they'd last seen each other, she still remembered the boy's bright, shining face and curious spark. "Oh it's been so long! We were both still children, yes? Ah, but someone of my stature never forgets the faces of her subjects!"

Or those bright green eyes. Telio had the eyes of a painter. That at least was certain. But those eyes seemed to have lost some of their brightness over the years. What perhaps had happened to him to make him lose that glorious shine? As a noble it was her duty to bring out the best in her people.

She started forming the words to ask Telio how he'd been and what he'd been doing with his considerable talents, and whether or not he'd ever consider doing any more paintings of her. "So, Telio, I-"

But before she could finish, a torrential downpour soaked her down to the bone. It was lucky for Fiammetta that she was wearing her breastplate and sword-skirt, or perhaps the deluge would have left her not only drenched but indecently exposed (in front of commoners no less!). The fabric her clothes were made out of was very light. Comfortable, but it clung to the body and would have become partially opaque when wet. To be unable to preserve her dignity in the eyes of her subjects... now that truly would have been a nightmare, especially for a noblewoman like herself.

She hugged her waist and midsection, both to ward off the cloud and to cover her exposed stomach with her heavy armor gauntlets. Fiammetta shivered, and glared at the militiaman.

"You! Soldier boy! Do you have any idea what you've just done?! You've dropped this... this filthy water on a member of the noble house of Anzivino! Do you have no sense of decency or respect?!"

She drew one of the swords hanging at her waist and pointed it at Alex.

"I demand we fight! Duel me if you think yourself worthy to humiliate a member of house Anzivino, and your punishment shall be metted out in blood, bruises, and blackened eyes!"

Before the lady could reply, Kelsier noticed a disturbance and a very familiar face in the middle of it. Kelsier dipped his head polietly at the swordswoman. "I aplogize, miss, but there seems to be a lack of discipline. I will be right back after I take care of it." He walk quikly and surprisingly stealthily until he was looming behind the Prankster. Alex would feel a cold, iron grip settle on his shoulder and squeeze painfuly. "Well, if it not young Alexander Haile, fancy meeting you here! I see you are up to your old tricks!" Kelsier said, loud enough to make his ears hurt. Kelsier was smiling, but it was a cold, remorseless smile that did not reach his eyes. He shifted his glare to the offended noble girl. "Young lady!" His voice cracked like a whip, with an obvious tone of authority in it. His voice then settled into a quieter, more threatening tone. "Put that toothpick away unless you want me to use the flat on your backside. A sword is not ment to threaten your comrades, but to protect them." He also noticed a big, muscular man waving a equaly big axe approaching. He didn't seem overly threatening, though.

@Vee @jordy0403 @Turboshitter @Darinthus

Leaving her brother in his broken state weighed heavy in her heart, but Lux steeled herself, repeating the magic words Lowell taught her when she started to fear for the worst. Semper erit lux; there will always be light. Her brother said it meant that everything will turn out right, but she liked to take it more literally. For her, it was a promise that she will always be there for him, no matter what. It was inexplicably effective, and if she ever felt defeated and tired and close to giving up, whispering it once was enough to reignite a spark of hope within her. She will return with a cure and they will Travel the world in search of magic and wonders, just like they planned.

Lux arrived at the eastern gate past dawn without any worries of being left behind. It was sort of the perk of living with an uncle that was a guard and gatekeeper. She made him promise not to let the Traveller out if she wasn't there, but it seemed she didn't need such assurances. Even though she had come late just as she expected, the Traveller had yet to grace the awaiting group with his presence.

When another hour passed and still no Traveller appeared, Lux made herself comfortable on the ground, sitting cross-legged as she cracked open her casebook to the page she had titled 'The Masked Traveller.' She pouted at the nearly blank page staring back at her, mocking her. Lux spent half of Wednesday afternoon trailing after this mysterious Traveller, but even then, the only information she managed to gather was that he wore a metallic mask with an ever-present grin and that he was strange. It was the first time she had been unable to glean relevant information after careful observation and it fanned the flames of her resolve. Lux had quickly written 'figure out Traveller' as one of her side goals, right under 'cure Brother,’ which was written in giant letters and highlighted and underlined.

Below her new goal, Lux began to write down the names of the group that had gathered. They were made of mostly familiar faces (gallivanting about the city in search of cures and mysteries, as she did all her life, came with the perk of meeting someone new each day), although she couldn't quite name all of them. There were those she knew personally—like Mr. Taylor the tailor who made her spiffy cape exactly how she had imagined it (quite a feat, considering he only had her crude drawing as reference!) and Sweeney from Sweeney's whose desserts never fail to make her super happy—and those she'd only observed in passing. For them, she jotted down identifiers, like 'pretty, flaming red hair' and 'pretty but scary sword lady.' Lux hadn't expected quite a big turnout, but it wasn't all too surprising. It boiled down to three main causes, she surmised: boredom, curiosity, necessity. From the looks on some of their faces, she could tell which had belonged in certain categories.

Just as she finished listing the names, the first one on her list had approached her. Lux grinned, giving Emma a two-handed high-five in greeting. "Emmers!"

Her friend's unusually shaky words hadn't gone unnoticed, but Lux thought it rude to point out her obvious anxiousness. Emma, she knew, could never leave behind her master's apothecary without good reason, and that meant she was of the 'necessity' variety. Lux wasn't sure what this good reason was, and as much as she was dying to know, she owed it to Emma not to pry. She would tell her if she wanted to.

The Traveller finally came half past sunrise, still as odd and difficult to read as ever. He greeted the group with a simple 'hi,' which it seemed only she had returned with a simple 'hi' back and wave of her hands. Lux's hands itched to yank the grinning mask from his face, but part of her wanted to enjoy his oddity for a little bit longer. It wasn't every day that a mystery riled her up like this, after all.

In one very quick and vague introduction, Spook arbitrarily separated them in vegetable-themed groups (go Team Eggplant!) and headed off after an even quicker and vaguer instruction. Sensible-as-always Emma was probably right in greeting the rest of the group, but Lux was raring to go.

"Let's go, Emm!" she grinned, hooking her arm around Emma's and dragging her toward the wheelbarrow to retrieve their cages. Lux turned to the elegant raven-haired guard who hadn't the chance to introduce herself because Guard Captain Solidor started hitting on her. "You too, pretty sword lady! C'mon!"

There was an incident unfolding right behind her that took all of her self-control to ignore, even after she heard the Anzivino daughter declaring a duel. The late Marquis' daughter had already scampered off after Spook, and they should probably get going as well. Uncle once told her that the gates can only be opened for so long, and she told Emma and sword lady as much.

Lux headed out the gate with two birdcages in hand (two, because Roy was Team Eggplant but he probably didn't know that), but she didn't get too far before she caught a glimpse of the chaos brewing behind her. Not only was there some feud going on between the Guard Captain, who found another person to hit on (this time literally) in the Anzivino noble, but green-haired giant Roy was running toward them, his giant axe swinging menacingly.

She doubled in laughter at the sight, the iron cages clanging as they brushed against each other. It was like what her brother used to say: when a day started out this interesting, she could be sure that what lay ahead would be much more so.

^{@Diggerton@Vee@Darinthus@t2wave}

Ouch, I thought, as the jacket hit me. Why did people take a little water so seriously? And then, Fiametta was outraged that I dropped 'dirty' water on her. And challenged me to a duel. Then Solidor came over to try and defuse the situation. "Ok, two things, one, that water wasn't dirty, and two, why is everyone taking water so seriously? It's just a little bit of water, the stuff you drink. And, I'm not going to accept that duel, because right now, Spook seems to be leaving. Now, I'm just going to go grab a cage..." As I attempted to slide past the pair. This little joke is going to cost me, I thought. Damn it, why can't they just take it as a joke?

@Crimson Raven @Turboshitter

Sanaa didn't recognize her. Thank god, Sanaa din't recognize her. Emma nodded at the girl as she introduced herself. She pushed out a meek, "Nice to meet you," but it seemed to be caught under her breath and likely gone unheard. Luckily Lux was here. At first she was uncertain, having the detective on their team was dangerous for her, but that didn't change the fact that Lux was a friend and Emma couldn't help but smile at the girls exuberance. When Lux hooked her arm with hers she let herself be dragged along.

It had also seemed, to her luck, that her nervousness had gone mostly unnoticed. Things would be hard, but Emma was finding her confidence. It appeared that one of the Rutabaga's had set some sort of trap for his team, which wasn't received well. Fighting was brewing in the other teams and Emma momentarily considered interrupting, but Lux, along with a multitude of others were already chasing after the Traveler, which seemed to be the most prudent action. So Emma took a birdcage in hand, an unassuming one that she could hold comfortably, and ran after the small girl.

To think that her team appeared to be one of the less dysfunctional ones was a surprise, all things considered. I just can't let anyone find out. Maybe I'll tell Sanaa, but not yet. I want to make it up to her, if I can. How the hell can I make up for killing someone's dad?

Emma soon caught up to Lux, who was quickly catching up with the so-called 'Spook'. Emma fell in line with the girl, and reached out to her, ruffling her hair affectionately. "So, investigator, I have a mystery for you to solve..." Emma held her birdcage in front of her, examining it. "Why exactly do you think a Traveler has conscripted us, and how do these birdcages fit into the equation?"

@Skittles @t2wave

Scarlett Autumnwalker

Goosebumps trailed up and down Scarlett's arms, the feeling of nervousness pulsing through her vaguely visible veins. Her brown eyes flickered with excitement, yet her heart beat with fear. She was finally going to venture outside the protective walls of Enn, something the had been longing to do for a long time. In return for this newly awaiting adventure though, the woman had to leave many people behind. Her neighbours, her students, and her grandfather.

Oh, how she would miss her grandfather.

With a bow and a set of arrows strapped to her back, Scarlett shuffled through the spectating crowd and towards the group of soon-to-be Travellers. It was a surprise, really. Scarlett hadn't expected to see this many people volunteering to follow this masked man on a journey, in fact, there seemed to be too many to even count. In response to this, the Traveller split them up into groups, all of them names after a certain vegetable. Odd, yes, but practical to say the least.

Broccoli… I actually quite like myself some broccoli…

Soon enough, the groups followed the mysterious man outside, the gates cranking up to reveal the plant covered path before them. Scarlett gulped, reaching her hand to her back and gently tugging at her red hair strands. She seemed to have a habit of doing so whenever she got nervous in the slightest… Whether that was a good thing or not, Scarlett really had no idea whatsoever.

Don't worry, grandfather… I promise not to let you down!

"Sorry, I'm just a bit on edge, keen to throw out a name and get going, you know? I picked you because you were the first to speak up, you're a bit older than me and my cousin here, you didn't wander off like that other guy, and she"- a much smaller girl said, indicating Scarlett - hasn't said anything yet."

Scarlett blinked. Damn, she wasn't paying attention again! It was always at the worst of times when she would suddenly zone out completely. Now that was something to be fully aware of.

"Oh, me?" Scarlett responded, heat rising to her cheeks. "Please, forgive me, I tend to space out sometimes… I'm Scarlett Autumnwalker by the way. It's lovely to meet you all."

Before Telio could even learn the names of his other teammates, he suddenly found himself dripping with water. Telio had expected that as a traveler there would be days where he would end up soaked from the rain or covered in mud. As such, he made sure that his pack was covered with a water-resistant material to protect his supplies. Likewise, his vest was made of a fine silk that the water ran off of rather than soaked into, so at least the core of his body was spared. His sleeves and pants would be soggy for a while, but after an hour or so of sunlight he was sure they would be more or less dry. Were it a hot summer day the bucket of water might even have been refreshing, but on an overcast day like this it was obnoxious at best.

It seemed that team rutabaga was taking the prank rather harshly, and it seemed unlikely that they would leave Enn without somebody getting injured. However, Telio was only half paying attention to the altercation unfolding around him. In his hand, dripping wet, was the sketch he had just finished before he went to greet his team. He stared at the lines -- no they weren't lines anymore. They were vague smudges coming together in such a way that one mighty identify it as "a city," but it was no longer his landscape of Enn. Telio had been dissatisfied with some pieces before, and had disposed of many failed ideas in pursuit of his craft. However, never had anyone vandalized his work before.

He looked back up from his desecrated drawing and saw that a man from team broccoli had come over with the curious strategy of preventing a fight by antagonizing Fiametta. The man called their prankster Alexander Haile. "Just a moment Mr. Haile, if you please," Telio said as the young man tried to push past everyone, shrugging off his actions as insignificant. "There is something I'd like to show you."

He walked over to Alexander, not with anger behind his eyes like the other, nor with sadness, but with stoic solemnity. He held the ruined drawing up for Alex to see and spoke in a stern, sincere voice. "Although I am leaving this city, most of my memories of it are fond. This will likely be the last time I get to see Enn for a long time, so I wanted to draw one last picture here. You cannot make it out from what is left, but I also added some details from memory that I thought complemented the present very well. This picture would have been a comforting reminder of home in bleaker times, as well as a way for me to show any strangers we may meet 'this is where I'm from.' But, you saw fit to take that privilege away from me. I care little about the water, and I am sure that this," he gestured to the ruined drawing once again, "was not factored into your scheme. I would like to leave this city on pleasant terms so I'd be happy to toss this drawing away and treat it as another failed attempt, but I would also like you to think before you decide to act like a child again. Let us have this be the end of it, yes?"

Telio did not wait for a response. He tore out the ruined drawing, crumpled it up, and tossed it over his shoulder. Then, he flashed Alex a quick smile, patted him on the shoulder and looked up at Kelsier, not intimidated by the lash of authority in his voice. "Perhaps the gentleman from team broccoli could select gentler language when seeking to defuse an altercation." Then he turned to Fiametta. "And perhaps miss Anzivino could overlook these grievances for the sake of a pleasant departure." With that, he returned his sketch book to his pack to save it from further damage, then proceeded the grab a bird cage and fell in with spook. They could finish their introductions once everyone's temper had cooled.

@turboshitter @jordy0403 @Crimson Raven

Walking forward I picked up a cage, thinking about what I had done. Before seeing the drawing Telio had made, I had only half regretted dropping the water, now I regretted it completely. I'd have to find a way to make it up to the rest of them... but how? For know, I just put one foot in front of the other, following Spook and thinking of ways to make things better. One thing was certain, I was not going to do another thing like that again.

After Theodore introduced himself to his fellow carrots, he looked over his group and wondered why they became travellers, but he will sooner or later if ever. The woman introduced herself as Lily and as a florist, but there was a pause. Is she an illegal Florist? Is there such a thing? Didn't he seen her before in the lower parts of Enn? Well it's only so big he must've seen everybody at least once in Enn. Theodore put his thoughts of illegal flowers behind in the back of his mind when the little girl grabbed the black smith's who wad namrd Novad and Lily's hand and guided them though the City's doors. Theodore smiled at the girl's smile as the sun rises over the hill, it reminded him very much of his daughter, even her smile as the sun set reminded him of her. He smiled himself as he followed the trio out of the door while carrying the young girl's birdcage and his own bags and birdcage.

As the trees passes the Carrot patch, Theodore couldn't help but speak up in a wistful tone, "I wonder how long Owen and Nino walked though here...?" He looked at each at each tree and plant on the side of the roads, his hilde must've walked here for hours at least if he knew his son, he would look at each plant and flower and say 'look Nino! They don't have this in Enn!', which Nino would reply with 'you idiot! They do have those in Enn! we're barely out of the city walls!' His nostalgic smile over the plants slowly turned into a weaker, sadder smile. He misses them dearly.

Excitement thrummed under her annoyance and she sped up after Spook. She slowed when she was a step behind him and a bit to the side. Meryn didn't bother to hide the way she looked up at him out of the corner of her eye, a question on her face.

Spook loped on ahead for awhile, slightly hunched under the mediocre weight of his bag, completely oblivious the screams and shouts and surprised murmurs that erupted at the rear of the company. He might as well be a thousand miles away, as much as he ignored the existence of his volunteers.

Up close, the bit of skin that showed between his sleeve and glove appeared ghostly pale. Runes had been drawn on his inner arms.

Eventually Spook turned his head a fraction toward Meryn's steady stare.

"Hm? What?" His slightly muffled voice still held that quality of smiling behind the mask. "Look at the scenery. You've never been outside, have you? Though I guess this looks nothing different from Enn's forest. Weeds aren't that exciting when you've seen them before. The outside of the wall, on the other hand -- that's a novelty, isn't it?"

As if on cue, the gates of Enn rumbled, clacked, and began to swing shut.

They were an odd bunch, that's for sure... but it's not like she was the paragon of normalcy herself, you know being a noble's daughter who became an engineer and very recently decided to join a Traveler's party practically on a whim. So to quickly review the members of team broccoli were, Scarlett a women who seemed to be really spacing out and was just starting to tune back in, otherwise Sharie had no option of her. Andica and Samieh somehow shared some sort of history, although between the two of the Andica was probably the most interesting. Now for the most part it was really too early to tell who these people are, but the most basic bits were coming together.

Oh then there was also that guy who wandered off, Sharie had no idea what his deal was.

Sharie sighed and again rubbed her goggles, she wasn't looking for any additional responsibility this early into the expedition... it was then she noticed they were being left behind, damn they were wasting too much time just standing around. Sharie pointed to the remaining cages, "Alright, fine let's call me leader for now, but uh we have to get moving now or else we're not going to be traveling in the first place." Without any time to lose, she jogged over to the wheelbarrow and claimed her own cage. "Someone grab another and then we get to play some catch up."

---

@DFTBA @Jay Kalton @Magnato

@Crimson Raven @Damiann47 [Jay Kalton] @Magnato

"Good. Great!" Andica replied hastily. "Well, congratulation on making Brocco-Boss, good luck and all that, and let's be on our way." With that, she yanked on Kavinika's leash and took off for the nearly empty wheelbarrow of completely empty cages. She snagged one and was practically sprinting for the gate as it started to rumble shut, with the bog hound loping beside her.

She shot out the other side onto a wide expanse of dirt at the base of Enn's wall. The novice Travellers were scattered out across it, not having formed much of a coherent travelling band yet. There were a few up the front with Spook, but otherwise things seemed pretty disorganised. A rough trail in the dirt marked the direction they were following, and a bit of scrub was growing up further out from the wall. This wasn't anything you couldn't see in Enn.

The thing that stopped her, the thing you couldn't ever see in the walled city, and the thing she had never seen before, was a horizon. All her life, the world had been bounded by walls. There had always been stones or timber at the end of her vision, either in the walls or other buildings. Out here when she looked, the world just kept on going until it ended somehow where the sky bent down to met it.

That was dead creepy.

She felt like she imagined a flea must when she picked it out of a dog's coat. It only knew of a world forested with hairs for as far as it could go, and then she plucked it out and into somewhere completely different. There were no hairs then, only what (to a flea) must have been a terrifyingly large and open expanse. The flea didn't live long after the borders of its world disappeared. She could only hope her metaphor didn't go quite that far.

There was a moment – however brief – when Meryn let herself be distracted by the Traveller's words. She'd spent countless hours sitting atop the city wall between the guards' patrols, gazing out at the horizon. Watching the sunrise set fire to the endless space, wondering what lay out of reach. What sort of plants, animals, people, mysteries… Meryn glanced over her shoulder as she heard the gate rattle shut behind her, the corner of her mouth twitching up into a small, child-like smile. Droplets of water dripping from her hair measured the growing distance between her and the town she'd called home, and with every step she only wanted more and more to break out into a sprint and just run.

Meryn turned back to regard Spook more conspicuously, curiosity lighting up her pale green eyes. True, being outside was a wonder. But thus far it wasn't anything particularly new to her. This man, though. This Traveller. Her eyes drifted over him, taking in the feral mask, exotic clothes, the flashes of pale skin. He was a new world. She could only imagine the places he'd been to, the people he met. The things he'd seen.

Her eyes fell to the patch of bare skin on his arm, and Meryn squinted a bit as she looked at the strange markings there. They didn't look like any letters she knew, but then again her literacy level wasn't particularly high. This one sort of looked like S if she tilted her head… That one looked like a squashed G… Were they another language? A simple design? Questions spun in her mind, one after another, all of them centered around the odd man beside her. What was the mask for? What were those markings on his arms? Why birdcages, of all things? Were they going to catch something?

After taking a moment to work up her nerve, Meryn raised her hand between them and tapped her knuckles against his arm to get his attention. Lifting the hand carrying the birdcage, she took her free hand and drew her fingers along the skin of her bare arm, eyes never leaving Spook's masked face. She let her eyes fall down to his own arm before looking up again.
@Mokley

Roy found himself having a particular set of people linger close to him, which was rather odd considering how normally most people tended to avoid him. Inf act looking around at the group as a whole he could see many people start to group up, if only to generally cause conflict with one another...

Wait...do these people hate me?

Roy double checked his companions once more, trying to see if there was any sort of disdain in their personas. They didn't seem too angry though, and rather than direct any sort of malicious intend towards him they mostly found themselves talking among each other. Two of them in particular seemed rather familiar, though he couldn't really quite place them. They both strangely as well were holding birdcages, though the smaller of the two found herself holding two. In fact most everyone collectively were holding bird cages as well, making Roy look at both his ax in his left hand and and his book in his right. Was he missing something yet again, or was this contributed to the idea that these people wanted to cause some sort of conflict with him?

But why would the group arguing from earlier have birdcages as well?

Roy found his pace to match the girl who loved birdcages the most, blankly staring at one of the two in her hands. She seemed a little too distracted to notice his presence as Roy began to compare to two items in his hands to the cage. He would have to drop one to pick them up, though both of his carry on items were out of the question to remove. His ax was a part of his soul and his book was his map, dropping both would have serious repercussions on his mission but-

If I don't have a birdcage....wait is what why they hate me? (Didn't we just already cover this?)

Roy thought of sheathing his woodcutters ax and asking the bird cage lover about this. Yet as soon as he noticed his surroundings...

...his jaw fell.

All around him was a vast and open world of trees, contrasting nicely with the dull city gates that he was waiting in. Shimmering green and gold filled his vision as Roy clutched deeper onto his carry on baggage, now shaking a little bit of the world around him. His eyes formed the shape of stars and his mouth quivered, being close to crying and drooling if he wasn't distracting himself analyzing every branch and leaf on these trees.

Most people didn't give this world a passive thought, the trees out here were the same breed as back in Enn's forest district. But they were wrong.

"These trees are different..." He murmured to himself, now not even paying attention to the group of people who might or might not hate him. Sure these trees were the same breed, however if someone even paid an even remote amount of attention they would be able to tell immediately what the difference really was. Roy found himself stepping further and further off the path, grazing his hands on the nearby bark as he walked with the group. These trees presented a presence unlike any he ever felt back inside Enn. They felt free, wild, a little more open compared to the more uniform woodcutting forest. They represented a presence of raw energy, possibly none of them ever feeling the blade of a woodcutters ax inside of them. It was then that the green haired woodcutter started to cry.

He looked over towards the group he was following, clearly placed in a very uncomfortable situation. He needed to follow them to fulfill his life goal, however he couldn't leave these trees without at the very least feeling the fresh inner wood. He clutched his book and ax even tighter now, his hands growing red with the strain of frustration that he was receiving. These tree felt special, unique, beautiful, and he was NOT going to leave them behind. Roy stood firm, look at the group preparing to shout his demands before-

But wait don't they hate me?

His words caught in his throat, immediately prepared to leave confidently but now finding themselves forming a little whimper. Roy realized earlier that he should have prefaced this journey explaining his love for trees to the others, but now many of them were too distracted with their birdcages to even notice. Why did that girl have two birdcages, why couldn't they understand the beauty of the world around them, and why did that girl have TWO birdcages? Roy felt himself overloading with many different emotions, staggering to keep up with the group as he still remained close to the trees.

Yet as soon as he began grazing the bark once more his emotions found themselves soften. This world and this beauty was presented before him, and despite not being able to cut one of these trees he could at the very least appreciate the raw power of his environment. This was only the start of his journey, and along the way he would be finding trees beyond any of his wildest dreams. For his dream Roy could find the patience to wait until the group would stop, to then and only then take the time with following the proper procedures of the Woodcutters Creed. No matter what the green haired woodcutter would see the trees in his book, and no matter what he would achieve his life long goal.

Roy marched(staggered) forward, assured of his confidence but still distracted with the multitude of trees around him.

...

..

.

Wait a minute...

WHY DID THAT GIRL HAVE TWO BIRDCAGES???

@Skittles @Diggerton

The blood rushed to Fiammetta's head as her right eye started to twitch in a crooked blink. Anyone who had a passing acquaintance with reality could tell someone had just made the noblewoman very, very angry.

"Why you... insolent little..." she said between ground teeth. "You think a lowly soldier can speak to nobility like that? Threatening someone of my stature... I'll see to it that you're stripped of your rank! No... Mongrel, I'll have your head!"

But just as she was about to draw her second sword, someone stepped in to interrupt them.

"Telio?!" she said, confused. The young painter shoved a ruined piece of wet canvas in the two soldiers' faces, the remains of a farewell present to himself. The last taste of home he'd see for a while. A beautiful hand-drawn map of Enn. Fiammetta could tell it was spectacular even with the colors dripping away, because she'd seen Telio's art before with her own two eyes. This map had had passion put into it.

Which is why it just broke her heart to see something that could have been so beautiful being ripped to pieces in front of her.

She gasped. "Telio, what are you-"

But it was too late. He threw the pieces to the wind, scattering his magnificent painting. She glared at the two soldiers, but at Alex in particular.

"Do you see what you've done?"

Hurrying to pick up the pieces before she got left behind, she brought them back to Telio, leaving her birdcage for Alex to carry as punishment.

"Here," she said, offering the damp and slightly muddy paper back to Telio. "You shouldn't just discard this. Especially not after I went through all the trouble of digging through the mud just to get it for you."

Fiammetta smiled, hoping he'd take the paper back. This mud on her gauntlets really would be hard to get off without wiping it on her freshly laundered dress...

Samieh found herself unable to get worried, the whole situation was oddly familiar to her, the anxiety of the crowd was the same of her group on their first poaching trough a noble's forest. Of course leaving the wall and going into the few woods of Enn had a gargantuan difference in danger, but she theorized that the key would be the same: awareness. The beauty of mankind was the ability to learn with other's mistake so it was mostly a question of not being the first fool to get in trouble right now.

She followed the trail of newcomers and their leader, her cage on her hand, she was still trying to figure out Spook and his distance to the people he personally called but it looked like it would be useless until he decided to actually explain the mission to them.

Her team didn't really look like a team at all, Kelsier had left to do gods know what, Scarlett had zoned off until now, Sharie was being an unwilling leader and Andica was, well, as much of a soft girl as she remembered. Many would hate such setup, she however liked it, she had never liked the city because of its rules imagine having to deal with a harsh leader outside too?

The vision outside of the wall was fabulous even if a bit expected, wilderness, unclaimed and probably unexplored. She started to wonder why she had never tried to reach this place before, those woods were probably full of game and with no noble to chase her out... though the thought about what substituted the nobles and their hounds on these forests was a bit scary, she would say to herself to be aware and to leave the job of committing the first mistake to others one more time.

"Its funny to see the earth meeting the sky isn't it? We are accustomed to have this damn wall between those two" she commented to Scarlett, who she guessed to be a huntress, considering her gear and all, though she was unsure if she was officially one or a poacher like her, but was nevertheless a sister in trade.

@Crimson Raven @Damiann47 @Jay Kalton @DFTBA

Situation diffused. Kelsier thought, as he released the obviously miserable prankster and watch the others walk off. I hope that is not an auspicious start to our journey. I probably should have handled that better, I must remember that I do not have any authority over them, unlike my soldiers. We all all equal, age and status means nothing. He reflected for a moment over his dislike of the girl that had led to the harsh words. Why did I get so riled up over her actions? Could it be because she was a noble? That reminded him of something he had heard once and he shook his head at himself. Only human indeed. He grabbed his stuff and caught up to the moving group. He returned to the swordswoman and said, "Sorry about that. So where did you learn swordsmanship?" He asked. "I am mostly self-taught with some formal and informal training."

@Vee

Telio returned Fiametta's smile when she approached him with the drawing. It was a kind gesture, and he certainly hadn't expected a noble such as her to dig through the mud for his belongings, but the truth was that he didn't want to see it anymore. The drawing was ruined, unintentionally vandalized by his teammate, and nothing was going to change that. If he kept it, he would just become bitter every time he saw it. Alex seemed to get the point, so Telio didn't want that dark cloud hanging over them as they continued on their journey.

"Thank you," he said, "but I think it would be best if I left that one behind." However, as he spoke he saw a genuine concern in her eyes, as if she had been the one hurt by the vandalization. He sighed. "How about this: if you like it, then you keep it. If a connoisseur appreciates one of my works, then far be it from me to deem it lesser."

It was rare when somebody appreciated the effort and soul that an artist put into a work rather than the physical results of that effort and soul. As successful as he was, Telio was no stranger to public scrutiny. He remembered reading a review of his atlas that called it "a confused hodge-podge of scribbles that doesn't know if it is a map or a picture book." He had learned to take such criticism in stride, but when your very soul resides in every piece, it's hard not to care what others think. Thus, accepting a work that even the artist rejected was a kindness that perhaps neither of them would explicitly understand.

@Turboshitter

((Double post is double post.))