"I've left my family behind in Marrenfell. They were good people, but ultimately I wanted to go out and do things, not stay in one place forever, so I left for Arcadia."

Closing her book, Lyullia seems lost in thought for a bit. It'd been at least a year since she'd last seen them, and now that she was part of a Caravan she'd be heading back to Marrenfell.

"Perhaps I should visit them if I get the chance, tell them I'm okay, see how they've been doing."

Ilruvae glances at Daelin, then grimaces. His family.... He sighs “Letd day there’s a reason I left Kel. They were... heavily involved. I suggest you content yourself with that answer.” He doesn’t like to dwell on his parents, not his problem anymore.

"Three 2s," Zay said quietly, placing his cards on the table. By now, their Caravan was nearing the edge of the commercial district. Noru didn't concern himself with the conversation happening across from him, and played his card quietly.

"One 3."

Flin narrowed his eyes at Daelin briefly as he layed his card, and he did the same when Zay and Noru followed up. But he soon regained his usual relaxed look. He stared at his cards, but held them close enough so nobody could peek. He pulled two cards from his hand and placed them face-down on top of the other cards in the middle. "Two 4's." He stated, and placed his cards face-down on the table as well. He turned towards Lyullia briefly. "I enjoy travelling and experiencing new things too, so I definitely understand your point. It's part of the reason why I decided to be a Knight, to go out with caravans. And also because it's a good and secure way to earn money." He responded to her.

Daelin looked at the two 4's in his own hand and spread a toothy grin. "Callin' your bluff." He challenged. Luck was on his side. Fat chance the other two were in Flin's hand. Or so he thought.

Seemed like Lyullia had opened up a little. She had a good soft side for her family. That much couldn't be said for Pyra. Daelin had no idea what was going in with that one. He seemed like he wanted to stay a stranger for the time being. Estranged family could be a hard thing. Daelin really couldn't relate.

Flin's eyes widened as Daelin called him out. He frowned, and revealed his two cards to Daelin. They were in fact two 4's. "I guess I got lucky, eh?" He stated with a smirk, despite the fact that his back was still hurting. He let out a painful murmur as he rubbed his back. "Well, some luck, anyways..."

Daelin chuckled. "Guess those weren't your tells then." He excused. Reaching across the table he swept the pile of cards to his side. "Now I have options." He said with a wry smile.

"Take your options and shove them up your ass," Zay barked, placing four cards down. An obvious bluff, but the uncharacteristic ferocity in his eyes was a sight to behold. If he wasn't wearing a goody smile alongside it, it would've been hard to tell he was just messing around.

Their little card game went on for a while. Unfortunately, the time it took to reach the sunken ramparts wasn't nearly enough to break the social tension. Pyra, Lyullia and Marilyn hadn't participated in the games that followed. Marilyn especially was utterly silent for the entire trip, not that she could really step away from the Venbu for long. But she was within earshot, and the door to her seat was wide open. Maybe she was just anxious, or too dedicated to her duty, to interact with the rest of her team.

Upon reaching the Sunken ramparts, the crew was met with a familiar face. Lieutenant Colonel Yvette Eridal was the Knight in charge of inspection of Caravan's exiting through the Lion Gate today. Moments after the Venbu pulled them through the massive arch-way, they were stopped next to a stone-built checkpoint building, where the lady Colonel stood with her clipboard at the ready.

Zay looked over his shoulder at the giant metal gate that lead outside of the city and knew exactly what it meant. "Give me a minute," he whispered, placing his hand face down on the table before jumping out of his seat. Noru put his hand down as well and returned to his bunk.

"I'm done for now, anyways," he groaned, "I'm going to rest for the first stretch."

Outside of the Caravan, Yvette was already giving their Caravan a once over with the help of two assistant knights, one of whom was a Paladin. It was no ordinary paladin either, not that any of those holy freaks were ordinary in the slightest. For some reason or another, Major Lucas Brent was aiding Yvette with her inspections today. The other knight's face and armor weren't familiar. It was probably just a nameless newbie who was stuck on inspections. It wasn't uncommon at all, learning about Caravan's was an important procedure.

"Captain Copp," Yvette said sternly while the shirtless man stepped out onto the pilot's deck. He clung to the door's frame with one hand and hung behind Marilyn, smiling at Yvette as she greeted him. She was a rough woman, hardly anything to look at. Her dark hair was short, her jawline was sharp, and her purple eyes had a dangerous intensity to them. But she wasn't an imposing person, standing much shorter than most at only 5'1. But her voice commanded a great deal of attention. She wasn't somebody you wanted to disappoint, and unfortunately for Zay, she was the type with zero tolerance for people like him. But she knew Captain Copp better than most. Yvette understood his predicament and ideals, even if she didn't agree with them in the slightest. The colonel demonstrated some manner of respect for the way he presented himself. After all, she wasn't about to break her professional demeanor to belittle him. That would be a waste of time for both parties. "You're headed for Marrenfall, specifically the Candein Farmlands, correct?" She wrote something down as she spoke.

"That's right. My crew numbers 7, including myself."

"My records show six-"

"I added Daelin last minute. Your papers won't have anything about him, but I went through Sir Norwell to confirm. You can speak with him about it."

"I think I will." Yvette lowered his arms and reached into one pocket, pulling out a small glowing stone with red symbols etched into its side. They couldn't see what was happening, but those stones were a common tool in Thoris used for long distance communication, Psy Stones. Some worked far better than others, depending on the type of gemstone used for its core. The type Yvette used was the most powerful model. It was made with a ruby core, and could transmit psychic mana over 3 miles at the very least. Of course, those stones could only be used by people that could use psychic magic, but it didn't take too much mastery. Even better, you didn't need to have proficiency in psychic abilities to receive messages. You just needed to be touching a stone with the same frequency, set by the rune on its side. Yvette nodded to herself after about a minute, while Zay stood there blank-faced. He wasn't fond of those stupid little stones. You could never tell what the users were talking about without a matching stone. "That's fine," She finally said, softly. The two knights that gave their Caravan a once-over finally turned to Miss Eridal and nodded. She nodded back and quickly climbed up the front of the cart. "I just need to look inside, and then we're done here." Zay stood upright and stepped aside to let her through with a tired wave of his hand, but Marilyn did her best to not acknowledge the woman. Yvette was one scary lady.

Once she stepped inside however, she wasn't pleased with what she saw. Noru had met her before during inspection. That was part of the reason that he'd ditched the card game. Miss Eridal's eyebrows lowered slightly, but she kept her resentment to herself and closed her eyes. "Ladies, Gentlemen," she said quietly, moving past team Centaurus towards the storage bay. Zay slowly made his way back inside, and gave everyone a light shrug.

"I'm sure you've all heard of Miss Eridal," He quipped, resting himself in the door frame with both arms clasped to the top support.

Flin had stopped playing at the same time Zay and Noru stopped, and stood up. "Yea, I believe I'm done as well." He responded, and leaned against the wall. When the caravan came to a halt and Yvette eventually entered the caravan, he glanced over at her. He nodded at Zay as he stated her last name. He stood straight, and bowed forward slightly. "Miss Eridal. Nice to meet you." He stated. It wasn't the most formal greeting, but it wasn't a sluggish or blunt response, either.

As Lyullia wasn't even part of the game, she didn't have to worry about stopping with playing. Instead, she simply put her book away again as Yvette entered the caravan.

Standing up, Lyullia gave Yvette a polite nod. "Good to meet you, Miss Eridal." Lyullia said, glancing around at the others. She had a feeling that Yvette probably wasn't going to be happy with the fact that her 'colleagues' had been playing a card game.

Pyra raised an eyebrow when they stopped, but didn’t move or even get up. Instead, when Miss Eridel entered, he simply gave her a polite nod, his cool gaze never leaving her as she moved through, tapping one hand impatiently.

Daelin got out of the seat to properly greet the Lieutenant Colonel. He flashed her a smile and a two-finger salute, raising two fingers pointed to his head before waving them out and relaxing. "Pleasure, ma'am." It was kind of a scout thing.

The outside was so close now. The real job was about to start.

Yvette merely nodded towards each person that greeted her as she passed by. Her little inspection didn't take very long, maybe only a few minutes, but there was no space to speak while she was on board. As she emerged from the storage room, she looked just as stern as she did going in. "All clear," She assured Zay, turning to look towards the table where the cards were splayed out. She smiled for a brief moment and made her way towards the door. Before leaving through, she stopped and looked over Team Centaurus one last time. "Fresh faces. If anything happens to them, I won't go easy on you, Copp." Yvette patted the Captain's head sarcastically and made her way out of the cart, to which Zay reacted with a wide roll of his eyes.

"Nothing's going down on my watch."

"I'd hope so!" Yvette hopped down from the Caravan and signaled Marilyn that she was clear to go. The massive iron gate before her slowly began to rise, leaving just enough room to clear Centaurus' departure. "Safe tidings, Centaurus!" With a jostle of the reigns, Marilyn got the Venbu moving almost immediately. Centaurus darted out into the wilds, leaving Yvette and her two assistants behind to keep watch of the gateway.

"Miss Eridal," Lucas began to speak, "Was that the last Caravan Headed to the south?"

"It was, Lucas," She responded curtly while glossing over a copy of Centaurus' mission report, "Don't worry. It's a simple supply check. They're taking the safest route."

"They seemed green-"

"You didn't even get a look into the cart."

"That pilot, I meant. She looked like the type to fall over at the behest of a small breeze." Yvette sighed.

"That's none of your concern. We can't show concern for every single knight that shows signs of weakness. If she didn't have the qualifications to be on the road, she would have never made Second Lieutenant." Lucas wanted to say something more, but simply nodded. "Captain Copp is in charge of Centaurus, and it's not entirely composed of newbies. There's no need for a rear escort."

"You're just going to leave them to the wilds, then?"

"Hopefully they can manage. We're booked too tightly to be escorting every last greenhorn that signs up with the knights, Lucas." Lucas nodded again and smiled.

"I suppose it's best for them to learn from experience." Yvette looked at Lucas and chuckled.

"You're too much like Father Exodar. The Paladins cannot save everyone." She checked something off on her clipboard and returned to the nearby building. Lucas smiled to himself.

"I take that as a compliment, Miss."

Caravan Centaurus was finally out of the Nation, taking their first steps into the wild. The Caravan began to pick up pace rather quickly, but the inner quarters were very well supported. It almost felt like nothing, despite the fact that they were moving over 40 mph by now. "Ah," Zay started, "Finally back outside. Wonderful!" He made his way out of the Caravan, towards the roof. "Feel free to do as you please in there, it'll likely be quiet for a long while."

Daelin went to the front with Marilyn briefly. He knew this part of the woods and would do his best to help navigate through safe paths. He noted the trees and their surroundings. This close to the city usually didn't harbor great dangers but the wilds changed just as much as the technology that humanity developed or the magic used by the eldin kind. It was foolish to not keep on your toes and stay ahead of the beasts. "Marilyn, take a left at this fork. Ironbristles have moved into the other path. Them giant armored boars aren't as dangerous as they sound, mostly eatin' the vegetation, but they attract a certain kind of predator that can strip their armor clean." He knocks a hand against the side of the wall. "They aren't known for being choosey. Might very well take a crack at us too if we don't watch for 'em."

The scout continued to lean against the side of the cockpit, using one hand to hold tightly onto a handle lined against the interior for gripping. "So where'd you learn to handle those reins?" Daelin asked the venbu driver.

Once Yvette had left the caravan, Flin resumed his usual lazy leaning against the wall. As the caravan began to move again, and Zay made his way to the roof, Flin began to relax somewhat more. It seemed like the captain was in charge of being the look-out for now. Fair enough, he'd get plenty of chances to peer outside himself, anyway. The man walked over towards Noru, and glanced over at him. "So...you seem like you've had a lot of experiences in the wilds. May I ask what your most interesting discoveries were?" He asked Noru. He was quite curious to learn more about the wilds, and Noru seemed like he knew his stuff.

Ilruvae looked over to Lyuilla, and gave the girl a nod, standing up to move next to her, since apparently it would be a while, and he might as well learn his other knights.

“So, you work with metal? Sounds... difficult, yet rewarding.”

Marilyn bounced at Daelin's words, and turned towards him slightly. She hesitated as he went on about the dangers of their path, keeping true to the road they were meant to follow. Before she could verbally object to his suggestion, entirely due to panic, he asked her something about her proficiency with the Venbu.

"The reigns? Um, the reigns... I taught myself while training under Major Juliana with the Chauncy-" Marilyn stopped herself and struggled for a moment to keep the Venbu in check. "Sorry, 'Chauncy' might not be- Ehm, well it's like..." She continued to stumble over her words for a moment before regaining any semblance of clear thought. "The Venbu we kept around our training area. He was kind of like a mascot... Oh, I'm sorry-" With one finger, Marilyn pointed at the road that Daelin advised her to avoid, "That's our appointed route, wouldn't it be safer to follow instruction? I mean..." She couldn't quite find the mettle to tell him outright. She didn't want to change their path at all.

Noru found himself locked into conversation with another of his teammates. It was Flin, the one he'd had the least respect for thus far. This man had demonstrated a combination of problematic traits, ranging from carelessness, to impulsive ideas. Even if he assured Zay otherwise, Flin seemed like the type to jump in front of a Titanic beast with little rhyme or reason.

"I've been party to several ruin discoveries, and excavations. Most of my previous Caravans were involved in just that. If I were to claim a specialty, it would be in excavation. But excavations are not exactly a daily occurrence." Noru stopped himself before getting into the details of his occupation. It was true that locating ruins in Thoris, especially after a millennia of discoveries, was not very common. But Noru wasn't about to go on a tirade about that now. He paused and thought to himself carefully for a moment, trying to remember the most interesting ruin he'd helped uncover. "I found it most interesting when we'd located an old shrine to Maeti. That's what the Paladin's concluded, anyways. Inside of it, there were human corpses and an artifact that rests in the Ivory pillar as we speak. I can't say much else, but it was an... Experience." He looked at Flin for a moment before following up. "I don't suppose you've seen much. Please don't take this the wrong way, but you seem relatively inexperienced."

Lyullia had been considering going over to chat with Marilyn, but the scout - Daelin or something - had beaten her to it. So, instead she decided to go and read her book.

Only to be interrupted by Ilruvae. Sighing, Lyullia closed her book again.
"Yeah, I work with metal. It can get complex, but it's fun and useful."

Lyullia considered following up with a question of her own but she decided against it. She didn't really feel like socialising. At least not yet.

Flin listened carefully, feeling even more curious when Noru mentioned the artifact that he'd found. "Well, you're not wrong. I've only been riding with caravans for three months." He admitted. "I'd like to learn more about this world and the creatures within. There's still too much that we don't know." He stated calmly. "During one caravan run, we were assaulted by Acid Stingers while I was the look-out on the roof. Y'know, the wasp-like creatures that can shoot stingers coated with acid from a good distance. Unfortunately, my crew were careless buffoons besides the captain himself, as we were going through a more dangerous section of our route. If I'd known just what those creatures were capable of, I could've avoided this." Flin stated, revealing his shoulder underneath his shirt for a moment. A serious burn mark was visible, before he hid it again. "That's why I consider knowledge to be so important.."

Ilruvae gives a nod, unsure of what to say next. He was never the best at talking to people, although his father wanted him to be. He wasn't a lot of things his parents wanted to be. He smiled at that, for what they did, the least they deserved someone who wasn't what they wanted.