Reynault smiled when Pele asked the question. "Yes, he is. My mother was a paladin of his before she married my father." he said while sheathing his sword and putting his shield on his back.

As the pair of them continued their walk, he continued. "My mother taught me two very important things growing up. First, she taught me that all sentient beings are worthy of respect, regardless of race or status. Secondly, she taught me how to use a sword without stabbing myself."

"You're pretty handy with that staff, by the way. And the whole, burning your enemies thing was very impressive."

Pele listened as he spoke fondly of his god and the memories he had. Pele gave a smile as he mentioned that his mother taught him how all sentient beings are worthy of respect no matter the race or status, and that she taught him how to fight. When he complimented her on her skills, she rubbed the back of her head as she answered happily "Oh, Thank you! Learned that particular spell from Firespeaker Cerkonos himself,"

"Firespeaker? Is he like your chief?" asked Reynault as the pair of them kept walking through the muddy streets of the town. "If that's what he taught you to do, then he sounds powerful indeed."

As they walked, Reynault felt himself open up more to Pele. He didn't feel quite as tense as before, and it was good to have a friend nearby after being alone for so long. "Do you have any siblings, Pele? I'm sorry if that's a weird question."

Pele nodded and answered "Yes, the Firespeaker is the Headmaster of the Fire Ashari, just as much as the Voice of the Tempest is the Headmaster to the Air Ashari," She couldn't help smile at his comment about the Firespeaker being strong. She added, "Well, he did survive an attack from the Cinder King himself, so of course he's strong,"

When he asked about her siblings, Pele waved off the apology, "Oh, don't be. It's not a weird question," She then continued "I don't really have any siblings by blood...At least not that I'm aware of," She then continued, "I grew among the Fire Ashari, so I'd like to consider them my family, especially since my Mom is a Fire Ashari herself. However..." She grew silent before she could mention anything else. It was like something was bothering her.

But she seemed to shrug it off and she continued, "My dad, he's part of the Water Ashari as far as I know. I've never met him, but Mom has spoken a lot about him,"

She then asked, "How about you? Do you have siblings?"

Reynault felt a pang of anger at the mention of any siblings, but he did his best to suppress it quickly. "I have an older brother. He's the family favorite, set to inherit everything when my father dies." he said. "I have the distinct misfortune to be born second."

It took Reynault years to realize it, but his brother had been offered everything. Reynault had to beg or fight for everything he wanted, and sometimes it wasn't enough. Whether Maxim was sheltered and spoiled or just ruthless, Reynault couldn't say.

The young noble kept his bile inside, and tried to change the subject. "Will we be walking the whole way? I could do with a good hike."

Pele looked to him as he answered her question. She had covered her mouth and there was a look in her eyes that showed sadness. Was...she pitying him? That look quickly faded into one of pensive thought. She answered Reynault's question snapping out of her own thoughts, "Oh! Yeah. We'll be hiking the whole way. Sorry, I prefer walking to riding horses..."

She then mentioned, "If you get tired, I can always wildshape into a horse..." After thinking about her offer for a moment, she spoke up again clearly embarrassed, "No, wait a minute...on second thought, never mind. That's not a good idea,"

Reynault suppressed a laugh, but not very well. "Look, you're pretty and all, but we just met." he said, hoping he didn't accidentally make everything worse.

He was never very good at talking to women, and going to prison certainly didn't help. Trying to save himself and Pele from further embarrassment, he tried to change the subject again.

"So griffins are pretty dangerous. Why do you want to protect their eggs?" he asked, which honestly had been bugging him all day so far. Reynault had always believed that less griffins was a good thing. Maybe it was just another culture shock of being here.

When Reynault laughed and made his comment on her offer, Pele's face turned purple. Was she blushing? If so, then if she were human, her face would be really red! She loudly responded, flustered and embarrassed, "That's not what I meant, and you know it!" She was glad that he changed the subject, but her flustered expression was replaced with one of concern. She answered him,

"It's because at the rate the poachers are going after the griffon eggs, the griffons just became an endangered species, and will soon be extinct if they're not stopped. Not to mention, the griffons themselves may attack innocent people instead of just horses or other prey like them if this keeps up. You could say that in a way, the poachers are not just endangering nature, but also civilization as well,"

"Fair enough, I suppose." Reynault said after listening to her reasoning. "I admit that I'm not much of a nature expert. I did all of my growing up in the big city, where the biggest animal we had to worry about was the occasional giant spider. Even my grandpa could kill those."

Pushing the thought of his poor old grandfather out of his mind, Reynault shrugged. "I'll help in anyway I can. Just don't expect me to be very knowledgeable about nature."

Pele shrugged at his comment and she answered, "That's fine. I think I've got us both covered when it comes to knowledge on Nature," After she answered Reynault, the both of them soon reach the edge of Stilben, and are on the Silvercut road. They were about to embark on their journey, through the K'Tawl Swamp. Pele warns him, "OK. We're going into the K'Tawl Swamp. Stay on guard. There can still be some nasty things in there,"

Reynault nodded. "Right. Let's get to it." he said. Reynault wasn't worried about a few feet of water, even if it would make his armor rust. Still, the idea of a massive predator lurking just below the surface was enough to put him on edge. He checked the strap on his shield and drew his sword.

"Let's hope my first time in a swamp doesn't end with me getting eaten."