[center][h2][color=#008b8b]Fionn MacKerracher[/color][/h2][/center]
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[color=#008b8b]"Play nice, you two,"[/color] Fionn chided Gertrude and Tyaethe. [color=#008b8b]"Don't embarrass us in front of the king's mage, because I don't want to have to lock you in a closet until you can decide to get along."[/color] The damage may or may not have already been long done on that particular front, not helped by his own joking back at them—not to mention that it was mainly [i]Gertrude's[/i] inability to play nice—but such simple details wouldn't stop him from joining in.

With Fleuri, Arken, Tyaethe, and Fanilly already having their weapons out and ready, Fionn stopped just ahead of them, peering curiously at the trees around the group. [color=#008b8b]"Nice enough little thicket trying to grow here, I suppose,"[/color] he commented after a moment. [color=#008b8b]"Too dense to let much light through, though, sun [i]or[/i] moon. What's the one old Barukstaedian tale that kept on down here? [i]Der Erlkönig?[/i] Maybe we've wandered into the wrong entrance hall!"[/color]

In contrast to Fanilly, Arken, Fleuri, and Gertrude, Fionn's bright and cheery disposition seemed far more in line with Tyaethe's mood at their surroundings. More than anything, he was wholly unconcerned with whatever they'd managed to find, despite the twisted, gnarled faces glaring out at them from the trunks that lined and bent over their path. [color=#008b8b]"It [i]would[/i] be just our look to go looking for a Moonlit Queen and to run right into the start of an Alder King's domain,"[/color] he concluded with a nod. No clue if they were on a path towards the parts of the forest where alders might start to be the prominent trees, but that wasn't the important part of the story anyways.

Assuming that one of his old travelling partners before he'd become a knight was correct (and he had little reason to think otherwise, given the man [i]was[/i] from Barukstaed), the old versions of the tale had nothing to do with alder forests. [color=#008b8b]Elverkonge, [i]or something like that, wasn't it?[/i][/color]

Even without his blade at the ready, standing at the fore of the group as they peered into the ever-darkening depths of the forest, he held himself perfectly confident about their ability to deal with whatever they might face. [color=#008b8b]"You've got the rear, aye, Renar? Let's try not to get snuck up on, that always looks bad!"[/color]