Utu-ja just kept polishing his dagger while the other scouts arrived and Farid farted out his usual breath of human wisdom.  The attitude was normal from him.  It wasn't that bad, compared to some other humans.  At least he kept it to words.  The misshapen argonian had long since established his value to Daelin.  The opinions of his peers didn't matter so much.  But, the air always seemed to sour whenever that mouth of his lolled open.

Keegan's arrival drew a sideways look from Utu but there wasn't much that was different from before.  His eyes went back to the dagger.  It was almost as polished as his skill could achieve.  It would do.  He put it in its sheath and turned an impassively reptilian expression on the rest of the assembled scouts and volunteers in time to spot the wildly rushing nord as he burst in.

A nord running through camp wasn't so uncommon, especially when Dumhuvud was in a mood.  Though, this time the nord said something odd.  Not many nords would say "potentially urgent".  This nord must read a lot.  People who read a lot used odd words sometimes.  

Farid opened his mouth and Utu's nostrils twitched.  Whenever he said anything it made everything smell worse.  Well, it didn't matter much.  People like him usually ended up smelling bad for awhile after thinking too little of something dangerous.  At least the stink faded when only bones were left.

At least the rest of the things this running nord said were normal, and didn't make the air stink.  But, it was a little silly.  The camp wasn't large but there were many, many things that a person could get stuck doing for an hour or two.  Running around like a startled rabbit after his friend didn't check-in for not even one hour didn't say good things about the nord's manhood.  But, the worst part was that now they had a bard to look for on a scouting job.  Bards made noise.  It was what they did for a living.  They could be quiet sometimes but it was usually on those rare occasions when they weren't drunk enough to snore.  Never had Utu seen a bard who was both awake and quiet.

So, Daelin actually approved the search and promised results.  At least they didn't have a handicap coming along from the start.  It was just when he was entertaining that thought that Maduras bumbled in and proved that counting chickens was a fools pastime, hatched or not.  That handicap was coming anyway.  It just was painted ink-black instead of lily-white.

Utu took another pinch of the herbs.  They didn't seem strong enough anymore.

Finally, Jorwen arrived and Daelin told Maduras his proper place in this job.  It was time to get down to business.  Utu answered Daelin's wave by standing silently and coming closer.  The darkness of the hunt was waiting.  He didn't have a strong adventuring spirit but the dark always felt more like home than the day.  He would be more comfortable once everyone started trying to be quiet.