Although Alice felt rankled at the Elf's comment any negative feeling towards Verya turned to sympathy as she was set upon by the same sorry excuse for flirting that Settionne had fruitlessly tried on her half-sister. Alice made a mental note to point him towards a few good novels, if only so she wouldn't have to endure this humiliation again should their travelling be for any amount of time and she be associated with him (let alone if he tried it on her.)

It was a relief when Ursaren took the helm of the conversation, who had remained contemplative up until this point. She was glad to see hermitry hadn't softened his tongue all too much.  [b]"What sort of troubling news is it my comrade?"[/b] he spoke strongly, directing her attention. Almost too strongly for a man his age. Alice dismissed it, he was clearly of the stern stock she hoped they were all a part of. He had probably eaten his greens as a youngster. 

[color=violet]"Indeed, though I fear any more trouble in these parts might make the countryside look like my old dormitory!"[/color] She couldn't help but smile at the memory, before realising the statement was probably wholly unsuited to the company she kept and completely irrelevant to the circumstances at hand. [color=violet]"Clearly trouble enough to hold travellers at weapon-point along the roads, hmm comrade?"[/color] she spoke in an almost accusatory tone, and immediately regretted it. Maybe she went hostile because she wasn't fond of elves, but there was no way she could expect to cow an apology out of this Verya. In fact, Alice bet she looked the prime example of a typical arrogant human to the commander and a touchy noble to the rest of the party. [color=violet][i]Well botched,[/i][/color] she thought to herself, and made an effort to avoid the angry elven soldier's eyes as she tried to make her presence as small as possible while she changed her damp socks