[h3]Freagon, Irah, Lhirin, and Yanin – Upstairs Guest Bedroom, Bor Manor, Borstown[/h3]
Vela listened to Yanin and – going into significantly more detail – Irah's report of the situation without opening her eyes, her body-language speaking of regret and relief in equal measure. It might be easy for Irah and Lhirin to forget with how they were mainly used to dealing with other deigan, who were as ageless as themselves, or humans, among which even the ancient-looking were rarely as old as them, but penin lived quite long lives. For a penin to seem as old as the baroness did, chances were that she was nearly three hundred years old, which would make her far older than either of them. Given the stories they might very well be familiar with since they were here now she had spent at least a human lifetime as an adventurer with the Melody of Freedom. As much as the two deigans had a wealth of experience that was already beyond what was achievable for most humans, old Vela Bor had likely seen more than both of them combined.

“Assistance will not be necessary,” Caleb supplied when Irah reported on his intention to return to the Neverrealm and the probable willingness for one of them to kill him to send him on his way. “I can break my tether to this vessel by my own will... though I suppose I can let you slay me, if you worry that I will try to trick you. So you know for certain that I am gone.”

Only once Irah finished the last part of her did the penin open her eyes, her posture straightened and the heavy weariness that had assailed her was pushed back through sheer force of will.
“The scout, as you say, returned just a few minutes ago,” she told them, her demeanor abruptly turning focused and disciplined. “I'm glad that you're already rarin' to go get Bren, 'cause I was going to ask for your help. I'll be going myself, along with at least two of my hired hands. We already know where they took him.”
“The mages might need rest first,” Freagon spoke up from his place by the bed, seemingly much more attentive now than he had been throughout their conversation with the thalk, “but the boy and I are ready to go. Probably Sir Yanin and his boy, too.”
Vela nodded her head, a bit curious about just what had happened in the short time since this group had been introduced to each other. Irah and Lhirin were the only ones that had actually introduced themselves to her yet, so she was able to deduce that the “Lhirin” Irah mentioned before was likely the abbreviated version of Lhirinthyl, and the old knight's reference to Sir Yanin as someone other than himself suggested that it was likely the human swordsman... which meant that Irah had prompted those two to speak, but not this nightwalker. She wondered why.
“You will be rewarded for this, too, of course, and there is more to discuss... though I think it would be better to save it for when everyone is present. Time is of the essence, and Quintin probably has more answers for you than I do. For now, I'd like all of us to assemble in front of the manor.” She shot a sidelong glance at the fallen angel. “You, too, Caleb. Even if we couldn't use all the help we could get, I'm not cruel enough to stop you from finishing what Feevesha gave her life to do.”