"Why wouldn't we be?" One of the captured attackers spoke up in response to Aura's comment without pausing in her work. "Captivity to the highwaymen means freedom from our former masters. And once we've finished cleaning up our mess here, we'll be paid for any further work we do. After that, it's just a matter of saving up enough money to secure safe passage back to our homelands... But listen to me blabber on. You wanted to talk to us about something, yes?"

(Ignore this twas a goof)

Jørmund looked over the prisoners warily. They couldn't be blamed for wanting to return home, however their eagerness and enthusiasm about it left the genasi uncertain of them. It was only hours ago some of these were on the battlefield trying to storm the camp and kill the occupants. Many of the defenders were wounded, one being Plasm. He would need stop there to see if his magic could help them in the process of healing. While the rest he had helped deal with the fatigue of battle it was not enough to restore his reserves he drew upon for his divine magic.

Bringing himself back to the moment, the cleric stepped forward to address the first prisoner who spoke to the group. "I am surprised by this quick change of heart. Many of you were trying to break the defenses and slay those who fought back. I do recall a few of your companions trying to strike myself down. All in the name of some Sultan and for honor. Who is this Sultan, where are they, and why this sudden change?" he asked not entirely sure he would get the answers he sought. There was a decent probability that magic was involved that compelled them to follow Yosef and Ervdul's orders. Magic could also inhibit them from revealing what they knew of this Sultan, if their memories were intact at all.

"We weren't trying to kill you. Break your defences, yes, but not kill you." The prisoner said. "Orders were to take the camp's inhabitants alive and replace them once they were sent back to the Plane of Earth. As for our change of heart, none of us really believe all that stuff Yosef and Ervdul were spouting. It was more a fear of what the Sultan would do to us if we disobeyed or failed that drove us forward. But now that the attack's been driven off and we've been left behind, we don't have to worry about that anymore. We're just easily replaceable slave soldiers, so they won't bother coming back for us. And the Sultan? His name is Roshan and he is a dao noble who lives in the Plane of Earth. He recently formed an alliance with and efreeti noble to counter an alliance between their djinni and marid rivals. To obtain more slave soldiers for the feud, they've been sending forces to the Material Plane to take over highwayman camps, send the highwaymen back as slaves, and capture any martially inclined wanderers that pass through the camp."

The mention of genies, specifically an efreeti, definitely caught Flicker's attention, and despite their attempts to avoid eye contact with any of the captives, they immediately turned their head towards the prisoner who spoke, fixing them with a slight glare. They still didn't say anything, but anyone who was near by would notice the instant change in demeanor, and that they were now fully listening to this interrogation.

Aura's interest was as the captives continued to talk. "So you are saying this is all because of a feud between the elements? Jeez, Genie kind can be so short sighted." Aura scoffed mentally noting that she would have to see if she could get any more information from her father, if he knew anything about this he had been mostly detatched from others of his kind for some time, at least as far as Aura knew.

"To be fair on the 'killing' part Jormund, you did, intentionally rile the leaders up and one of them wasn't exactly capable of any self control." Aura smirked a little at her earthen friend, though she was watching both him and Flicker closely. Both because she wanted to see their reactions to the war of the Genies and also because she wanted to make sure that she didn't become the target of their rage, she doubted it would happen but the sudden mention of the allied Dao and Efreeti going to war against the Djinni and Marid made he a little nervous. She had been told neither were close to their Genie parents but it was still possible they were lying. Her paranoia spiked a bit as the conversation went on, though she tired her best to hide it behind her cocky smirk.

As they gathered the others and wondered towards the reconstruction site, Rala had silently pondered over her mixed feelings about these violent 'slaves' and their unique predicament. She too had done heinous acts out of desperation, and though she wanted an outlet for her anger when she saw how earnestly these unfortunate souls worked she couldn't bring herself to still want to extort information from them. Better yet, they seemed eager to spill any information for the party. They now knew what the djinn's plan was in the material plane, but Rala was more gungho and eager to exact her revenge for what these extraplanar nuisances had done. Part of her wanted to help these lost souls, but she had bigger fish to fry.

"We'd like to keep anyone else from suffering what you did. I can't imagine what they threatened you with that would be worse than death on the battlefield, but I think I'll sleep easier if you don't tell me" She said to the more talkative of the prisoners, a surprisngly gentle tone to her voice before her face hardened.

"Could you tell us how they are getting to the material plane? I'd like to show your former captures why they call me 'The dagger'" She added harshly, patting the various daggers on the bandolier across her chest.

"I can't imagine what they threatened you with that would be worse than death on the battlefield, but I think I'll sleep easier if you don't tell me"

"That's an understatement" The talkative captive said, her smile fading then. "I'm sure you've noticed how the Sultan marks us as his property. The punishments only get worse from there."

"Could you tell us how they are getting to the material plane? I'd like to show your former captures why they call me 'The dagger'"

"I'm afraid we can't help you there." The captive said. "Our forces are brought to and from the Material Plane by the power of the Sultan, not through any magic of our own. And even if we did have a way for you to make the journey, I would warn you against it. The Sultan and his ally? Both of them are Wish Granters. That kind of power isn't the sort you reckon with lightly."

The smith grunted at Aura's comment about riling the attacking leaders up. In truth he had started it mostly due to his own drunken wits telling him yelling insults to his foe was a good idea. "To be fair Aura I can't let you be the only one to piss people off. Besides, I'm sure I've done other stupid things between growing tired of you and Flicker debating plans for how to deal with a task, and after having to much to drink and thinking I can fall from a balcony and not get hurt." He paused for a moment begining to take out his mail. The rings that were right over his chest had taken a dull blacked color. A quick gentle prod was all the genasi needed to see the metal had been damaged from Yosef's burning bile. This repair was going to taken more time than he cared for to do this morning

"On the brighter side the taunting paid off. Neither Yosef or Erdvul could coordinate until after Yosef had taken a few hard blows. By then their forces had started to waver and break. Yosef's recklessness left him exposed and vulnerable. Take out the leader and often times those that follow him will flee or surrender."

Jørmund looked over the captives again. They seemed sincere about their task, least a far as he could tell. It was likely there was little else they could tell then at this point, though on a whim the cleric figured one more might not hurt. "At least we have one name. Do you by chance know the name of the efreeti who is working with Roshan?"

"I don't know his name, but someone else might. Hold on." The talkative captive said before calling out to the others. "Do any of you know the name of the efreeti the Sultan bought Yosef from?"

"Not me." One captive said

"No." Another replied.

"I know his title." A third chimed in. "Yosef referred to him as the Sheikh in a conversation with Ervdul I overheard."

Aura remained silent as Jormund questioned the former slaves. She was thinking, this alliance thing rang bells in her head. It took her a moment to remember something she remembered just as she was leaving home. A messanger had arrived proposing an alliance but at the time Aura hadn't though much about it, but now it seemed much more significant.

"Once we are done helping out Cascade we should head to my home. My father might have more information, I remember a messanger arriving before I left offering alliances. I am not sure if he would have accepted but...If he is powerful enough to parade around as an elf and give me my spells as well as a familiar and a vessel I would imagine he is likely on wish giver power level. It's likely something the Marid and Djinni would want on there side. As many strong Genie as possible seems like the ideal option. Hopefully he is still around. Not that I exactly want to put myself into Genie drama. After all most Genie don't really accept us Genasi." At least she assumed this was the case otherwise they would stick around to handle there offspring in more cases... She silently wished she was not the outlier in Genie to Genasi relationships, at least on the material plane. She couldn't speak for things like that on the various elemental planes.

Rala's eyes widened as she realized how out of her element she truly was. While she did not know much about magic, it was common knowledge that wish magic was unparralled in its power. She shuddered at the prospect of dealing with an enemy capable of wishes, what else could the manage? It quickly became clear to here why these slaves had been so easily swayed towards their work. How would you even begin to defy a being that dangerous? Dejected and frustrated, she let out a heavy sigh of defeat and slumped her shoulders as her compatrioits continued to talk and bicker between one another.

Just as Rala began to lose hope, however, Aura was quick to remind them that they had friends in high places as well. Her father, her patron, could reasonably be just as powerful as the evil Djinn and this seemed to reignite the fires in Rala, a small glimmer of hope perhaps, but enough to get her back into the conversation.

"How exactly would we get to your father anyway? If he's anything like these two, he isn't even on this plane!" She asked with a small bit of bitterness to her voice, but was quick to try to move on to a lighter note.
"In any regard, it's all the more reason for us to make haste. If your father got an invitation we can only that Tymora Blesses us and he hasn't decided to join any side yet"

With her thoughts on the matter made apparent she turned to the men and women working on repairing what they destroyed.
"Thank you for your answers, I sincerely hope you can make your way home soon"

Well, their reactions wasn't what Cascade thought.

Upon reaching the prisoners, Cascade thought she was going to have to make sure that they weren't going to do harm of their own will. But, part of her expected their reaction, while another part of her was pleasantly surprised by how they were happy to be freed and were willing to work to repair the damage done to this place.

Of course they would be happy to be freed from slavery. Who wouldn't be?

She noted the name of the Dao Sultan, Roshan. Her anger flared once again upon hearing that this sultan made an alliance and was currently trying to enslave more people. But she didn't lash out at anyone. Her hair simple roiled once again. The way punishments were mentioned made her hair roil even more.

She didn't really have much to say to the prisoners. The wind was taken out of her sails, so to speak.

But then, Aura brought up her father and how he may be able to help. She looked to Rala as she asked her how they were going to get to said Father in the first place.

After a moment of silence, Cascade piped up, "Actually...while we're in Zephyr and helping them, I can try and get a message to Mom. Maybe she can help...?"

She nods to the prisoners and gives a smile as Rala bids them goodbye.

Anyone who had been keeping an eye on Flicker would notice the fire genasi's expression becoming more and more grim the longer the conversation went on. As things started to wind down, and both Cascade and Aura made mention of contacting their genie parents, Flicker crossed their arms. "And we're really all okay with possibly getting involved in some... elemental war?" they said. "Considering how well today went, I'd suggest distancing ourselves from that kind of thing." It was obvious from their tone that they wanted to say more than that - a lot more - but were attempting to keep themself from getting too upset.

Aura's attention moved to Rala when she asked about how they would get to her father. She always forgot she didn't talk much about her genie parent, not any more at least. Not since she realized it bothered Flicker. Her eyes darted to the fire Genasi in question just as Cascade mentioned contacting her mom. It was easy to notice their expression darken as the conversation went on. She was just about to answer Rala's question when Flicker finally spoke up.

"I don't want to be involved but something tells me we don't exactly have a choice. Those two leaders saw our faces, some of us pissed them off enough that I am sure they will remember them. Not to mention they probably know we are Genasi and if not it wouldn't be too hard for the Genie that have them under their thumb to figure it out...Plus this unfortantely seems to involve at the very least my father if not also Cascade's mother. This is at least our fight as well. You are free to do as you please but your help would be appreciated." The last of her statement was directed souly at Flicker, though there was a hint of annoyance bubbling in her voice as she spoke, almost daring Flicker to say something else. Aura was getting tired of dancing around the subject for Flicker's sake so the fact that the Fire Genasi was annoyed with the whole conversation only made the Air Genasi annoyed as well. Hawk shifted on her shoulder sensing the female's change in mood.

Her attention moved to Rala to actually answer the human woman's question. "My father and I lived here, on the material plane. If he hasn't accepted the alliance he will likely be home, and if he has accepted, and he has left, he usually leaves me a way to contact him. Either way it's worth a look espesially if Cascades mother doesn't know anything. Either way we have a ways to go to get answers." Aura shrugged after she finished speaking and her eyes passed over each of her party members gauging their reactions. Stopping finally on Flicker almost fanning the fire genasi's flames, begging them to say what was on their mind. Air and Fire were almost always an explosive mix and Aura was ready but wouldn't start the fight.

At Aura's words, Flicker's arms seemed to cross tighter over their chest and their shoulders hunched up defensively. It became apparent from their demeanor that what they were feeling right now wasn't annoyance, but a mixture between insecurity and a creeping dread. "Obviously I'm not letting you guys go into this by yourself," they muttered as they tried to pick their words very carefully. "Just... this whole situation is not giving me... the best feelings... right now." That was clearly an understatement, but they weren't sure what else to say right now without getting into some serious emotional baggage that they really weren't ready to unpack right now. Especially not in front of Cascade. As a newcomer, she hadn't gotten to see just how bad Flicker could get when their emotions burned out of control, and the fire genasi would really like to keep it that way, at least for a little while.

Cascade looked to Flicker. At first, she was going to answer their question, but Aura beat her to it. That in turn, seemed to cause Flicker to curl up, like a hermit crab moving to hide in its shell.

While she doesn't know what's bothering them, it's clear that she sees Flicker's emotional baggage. Her mind immediately went into big sister mode. She's seen some of the younger members of Zephyr like this, and she's helped them calm down and possibly through their problems.

She couldn't make tea or coffee for Flicker right now...
He's clearly not ready to talk about what's bothering him...
That left her with one possible option to help Flicker...

"Do you need a hug?"

After she asked, she held out her arms, ready to accept Flicker into an embrace should they accept. Whether or not they accept, she tells them,

"I know I'm still new, but...you do have friends, an Ohana, who are here for you,"

Flicker looked up at Cascade in surprise before shifting uncomfortably once more. "Not the biggest fan of physical contact," they said after a moment. They gestured to their hair, which was currently glowing a very bright yellow. "For obvious reasons but... I appreciate the offer, at least. Thank you." They didn't say or make any response to Cascade's second comment, and were now making a concentrated effort not to look any of their teammates in the eye.

Rala wasn't surprised by how Flicker was taking their new motive. She herself was uneasy with meddling in the matters of higher powers, and the others likely shared her concerns even if they hid it well or pragmatically reasoned their way past their concerns. Aura particularly seemed to be the most adamant that whether they liked it or not, they were in the middle of this strange interplanar power struggle. Rala's anger and desire for revenge were strong but she was no fool, and she saw the reason in both Aura's words and the anxiousness of Flicker. As the two began to brow testy with one another she contemplated how to find a middle ground, luckily Cascade had given her time to thing with her ever-present kindness.

"I'm not happy with it either, Flicker. If we can help it, I would rather not deal with this threat directly, but Aura is right: we're in this whether we like it or not" She finally added with a sigh. As if to reaffirm her thoughts she motioned to the slaves they had just been fighting moments ago.
"In any regard we have a different goal right now. Cascade's family comes first. We did offer to help them after all" She added, hoping to move to topic along.
"once that's dealt with and done, maybe then we can start worrying about the bigger picture. For now, I say we just take things one step at a time alright?"

Aura took a deep breath. Realizing she wasn't totally upset with Flicker. Despite everything the idea of going back home made her nervous. There were reasons she hadn't gone back and hadn't spoken about her home, reasons beside Flicker's discomfort. "I really don't want to be involved in genie stuf. It's the whole reason I was raised on the material plane rather than in the elemantal plane of air Genies are fickle beings, spitful too, at least that is what I was told. If that Doa and Efreet decide we are the reason the attack on this camp failed they will come after us, or at least send their lackies to do it...We help Cascade and then we see what information we can get from the genie we potentially have access too."

The thought of going back home...Aura shivered at it, but did her best to hide her nervousness. If she was worried about being find way the hell out here...going home would be paranoia central. She had grown her hair out and gotten several peircings since she left but still if she wasn't careful she would be recognozed. She took an even deeper, calming breath, Rala was right, one thing at a time. If she thought to hard about something they may not even go do she would end up having a panic attack. When she finally managed to calm herself down enough that she knew her voice wouldn't shake her attention went back to the rest of the group "I am ready to get out of here whenever you guys are."