Altara Koloyros's Story

Merrowvale Brainde, The Minstrel's Mug
Server Down for 2 Days

Rushing to the now-broken window that the malevolent half-elf had leaped through, Altara poked her head out and let out a growl. It was too dark and too rainy for her to see anything properly out there. Whatever. At least she didn't hurt anyone...physically, anyway.

She slowly walked back to where the cover for her spear's blade lay and wrapped it around the silver edge once again, the aura of violet flames vanishing. "Whatever she was saying, if she was trying to make us sympathize with her, she sure acted her part poorly," she muttered, glaring at the bag the half-elf left on the table. "I bet that bag has even more poisoned stuff!"

But after getting all fired up for that battle, yet not even getting an opportunity to attack once, the red-haired knight figured she wouldn't be able to get to sleep easily. Great, what to do now... She seated herself at a table in annoyance, asking herself mentally whether she should get a light meal or just head to her room right away.

Seeing the tall elf girl leave, she sighed with relief. She knew her X-Scythe very well, but she didn't have any memories of actually fighting with it, so she wasn't too sure of her skill. She then walked up the stairs and stopped at the doorway where she heard Cardista's voice and gently knocked before whispering. "The lady ran away, so you should be safe for the night. My room is only two down from here, so if you need anything, I'll be there." Scarlet turned and continued down the hall looking behind herself and down the stairwell where she could see the twin blade and knight girls before turning into her room.

Kazu swung both blades in a tight arch on either side of his body crossing over in front of him before sheathing them. He glanced over at Altara who was wrapping the silver blade of her spear. "I guess that's over. She didn't really seem to care for a fight involving so many people. In her situation, I would have departed hastily as well."

Stepping over to the bar, He grabbed two of the bowls of soup that Kern had managed to bring out with two slices, more like crumbled piles, of the walnut bread and handed one to the knight with a slight smile of understanding before speaking almost as if he had read her mind. "I know. Me too. You were always like that before though."

He didn't know quite when or where the memory had took place, but he remembered their small party resting around a campfire late at night after a fight that they had gotten so worked up for to find they were only to fight a few slimes. Both of them had sat up until the early hours of morning before the day had broke talking about what the next day might bring, and where their journey would take them next. Kazu shook his head slightly bringing himself back just in time to catch a glimpse of the red cloaked girl pass through the doorway of her room.

"I think we were partied together for quite some time before, but I'm still just getting bits and pieces of information, and I don't know how reliable it all is yet, but as for now, it's all I've really got to go on." The Twinblade sat at a bench near the fireplace offering a place across him to the knight.

Esclava

Esk frowned at Tollun's words. "It's easy. She outmaneuvered you. Like this." He demonstrated what he meant, throwing one of his saxes high in the air, directly above him. As the dagger started to tumble downwards right towards his head, Esk remained still, posture relaxed. Just as the saxe was about to touch his head, Esk shifted almost imperceptibly to the right and his hand moved in a blur, grabbing hold of his weapon by the hilt as it tumbled past his shoulder towards the ground. "Faster agility, and prediction." he explained. Esk's frown turned thoughtful as he replayed the recent event in his head. Almost nicked her. Train agility and speed tomorrow. "I think I can take her, with training." he muttered to himself, sheathing his saxes.

Esk turned around and walked towards the bar, pulling out their things from the hiding spot he had chosen. He ignored the bag Slaver(?) Lady had placed on the bar table. It wasn't his right to open it, and it might contain something... Odd. He suddenly felt tired all over, and his stomach suddenly gave a loud gurgle, as if to remind him that he had missed eating something for the day and it really wanted some food inside it sometime soon, thank you very much. Esk frowned in embarrassment; his cheeks and ears turning red, and grabbed a bowl of soup from the waiter as well as a couple of slices of walnut bread, muttering thanks to the waiter as he did so.

He placed a piece of bread in his mouth, practically inhaling it as he ate, and walked towards the fireplace. He placed their belongings on a table close to it, and sat on the edge of the bench. Kazu was offering the other side to the Knight. He began to drink his soup in small, efficient mouthfuls using the spoon, careful not to burn himself. Once he took the edge off his hunger, he waited for the conversation between the Knight and Kazu to stop before asking a question that had been burdening him for sometime. "Excuse me," he began, placing his spoon aside. "Um. The lady from before. Why did a red flush appear on her cheeks when she mentioned Remeil's name when she met us?"

Merrowvale Brainde, The Minstrel's Mug
Server Down for 2 Days

Glancing up when she noticed that black-haired boy brought food, Altara sighed. "Well, you took the time to bring it, so I suppose I'd better help myself..." Accepting the soup and the collapsing piece of bread, she followed him to the bench near the fireplace, sitting opposite the boy. "Well, 'bits and pieces' is still better than what I've got."

Taking a spoon, she took a bit of the soup and put it right in her mouth--and nearly choked when she realized how hot it was. Grimacing and feeling her mouth and throat basically burning in the aftermath, she muttered something out of annoyance at her own carelessness.

They hadn't been sitting for long when one of the other people--the red-haired man with two knives hanging from his belt sat on the other side of the bench. He remained silent for a while before asking, "Excuse me. Um...the lady from before. Why did a red flush appear on her cheeks when she mentioned Remeil's name when she met us?"

Looking in his direction with a sidelong glance, Altara was the first one to respond. "Don't overthink it. She's mentally twisted or something. Couldn't you tell, from how she was acting?" After the words left her mouth, she realized that came out a bit more harshly than she intended, but oh well, no retracting her words now.

Another silence followed, before Altara glanced at the black-haired boy next to her again--the one who remembered things about their past. Even then, his memory was fragmented, too...

"Where will you go after this?" she asked him quietly, turning to face him a bit more. "I don't really have anywhere I'm trying to go right now, but...seeing as you remember at least a few things from my past, I think I'd best travel with you so I can get my memories back. Is that fine?"

Kazu laughed lightly at Altara's realization of the temperature of the soup. "May want to be a bit more careful when venturing into the unknown." Just as he said this, Esclava spoke up, asking about the slaver-girl. Kazu didn't really know anything about her, but as Altara's voice chimed in, he couldn't help but agree. " I would have to say the same. It could've been from excitement at finding an old pray, she could have even just held her breath for a moment to force the effect. Either way, the she doesn't have her wits about her."

At the knights request, Kazu reached into a small pouch at his hip and withdrew a piece of paper. As soon as he pulled it out, his mind rushed. What was this? When did i get it? What's on it? How did I know it was there? As the questions continued in his mind, he unfolded the paper across the table revealing a map of Amtophia. Scrolled across it, the names of major cities as well as encampments. he was glad to know that the actually had a map, but he made note that it was hand drawn, so wouldn't be very useful for navigation. Never the less, he turned the map to face the knight pointing towards Merrowvale.

"Nothing comes to mind as of now, but if any of the names on this map seem familiar to you, we should probably go there first. We may just end up backtracking to places we've already been, but if we do, then people are sure to have seen us there before" He looked over the map with the knight in hopes of something jogging either of their memories.

Watching Esk with his piercing gaze, Tollun saw as time slowed around him. The man moved quickly, yes, but not faster than an angry Tollun, and not faster than the half-elf. Everyone seemed to underestimate Tollun, he was a true, direct half-blood. His potential was well beyond a "normal" draconic's, and he had underestimated the half-elf. Still, she seemed to be beyond nature, and this man slightly so.

With a blink, Tollun's eyes took on the purple glow, quickly ending after another blink. He had managed to catch some of the average, natural people walking by.

Taking a seat next to Esk, Tollun waited for an opening. When he failed to produce a clear opening, Tollun chose the only other option that he saw where no one would be hurt. Moving only his hand, nearly invisible with its speed, he took one of Esk's weapons, the one closest to him, and stabbed it into his seat.

"First, you are not natural. No one in this bar beyond the two who have failed to serve properly. Second, I am not your normal draconic. I am a straight half blood, son of a dragon. Third, I underestimated her and you caught me when I was calm. However, I will admit that I would like to be even faster. That, however, is something we all wish." Tollun spoke, not caring if he caught Esk's attention. His point was made. Maybe not clearly, but he felt that if Esk paid attention, he would get the idea that all you would have to do was give Tollun even more time to get pissed.

Drifting slightly after he stated his point, Tollun entered into thought. His underestimation of the woman, and restraint to protect those who had raised blade with him, he left his speed in question. The most effective way to improve his speed would be to simply train his control of both his instincts and his rage. The next best that he could think of was to simply improve his brain's speed, making him quicker to respond. The third, and possibly hardest, of the methods was to push his body to its limits, a feat difficult to do.

Merrowvale Brainde, The Minstrel's Mug
Server Down for 2 Days

Scanning over the map quickly, Altara shook her head. "I can't remember any of these places at first glance..." she muttered, lifting another spoonful of the soup. This time, she made sure to blow on it for a little while before drinking it--ugh, it was still kind of hot. Oh well.

Putting the spoon down, she grabbed a bit of the crumbled bread and kept looking over the map. It was almost completely hand-drawn, and various words covered it--definitely the names of cities and landmarks. The general shape of the land somehow seemed familiar, but it was homemade--would it even work?

Second look-over, nothing. Third look-over, nothing. "Guess neither of us have a clue," she lamented finally. "I suppose we could just wander through the land, but that's not really going to help us much..."

Just as she was reaching for another handful of bread, however, her eyes landed on one particular location. Among the many names scrawled over the slightly-crumpled map, there was a name scrawled in very tiny letters, far to the south, in the kingdom of Crystalden. It read "Alde Woods."

Somehow, that name evoked a strange feeling in Altara, and she slowly repeated its name verbally, in a quiet voice. "Alde Woods...that name seems the most familiar." She looked over the map again for Brainde, but groaned when she saw just how far they really were from Alde Woods. "But it looks like we'll have to go real far out of our way to get there...what do you think?"

Right when she finished asking that, there was the noise of metal cutting through wood, towards the far side of this bench. Immediately, Altara sat upright and turned around in time to witness the half-dragon saying something in harsh, furious tones to that red-haired man who was sitting on the other side. The red-haired man's knife was stabbed into the bench between them, the hilt angling towards the half-dragon.

What's he trying to do, start a fight? Looking on with disdain, Altara moved her eyes back to her food, but retorted in a loud enough voice for the two on that end of the bench to hear. "Right now, all you seem to have inherited from your dragonic parent is a huge ego. We don't need a second fight in here; calm down."

"If I wanted to fight, odd one, I would fight. Dragons have more than just egos, we have the willingness and ballsiness to speak our minds and prove our points, and if we want a fight, we don't start one with words." Tollun shot off. The fact that she would even say that he wanted to fight. He had not draw blade, nor punched another. He had simply proven a point, nothing more, nothing less. Tollun then just thought to himself about how humans had such strange ways of handling conflict. He had just never understood them.

Esclava

Esk's posture remained relaxed, his expression unchanging even when his weapon was taken and stabbed into his seat with incredible speed and strength. He only saw a blur of movement. After the half dragon had finished speaking, Esk nodded in acknowledgement; placing his finished bowl of soup on the table before standing up and going in front of him. He knelt with one knee on the ground, head bowed, in a pose of supplication. It was the only way Esk knew how to apologize for grievous offenses he had made, and he seemed to have made one here.

"I see. I apologize for offending you, Tollun; Son of Dragon. In atonement for my actions, I offer myself, to train together with you tomorrow. The lady from before and I have similar weapons and fighting styles. She uses knives and speed for battle, as do I. Although I am not up to her standards, by training together, you should be able to gain some experience in defending against her, and we might be able to come up with a satisfactory way of beating her the next time she arrives for battle." His tone was sincere and apologetic, and he radiated an aura of apology for causing his ally's anger.

Esk turned to the Knight and Kazu, still in the same pose of supplication. "I apologize to you as well, Lady Knight, for causing so much trouble. The pair of you, thank you for answering my question. It was my transgression towards Tollun that caused him to react this way. Please," he said to the trio, slight distress entering his tone, "do not quarrel. It is late, and we do not need another battle to erupt; especially among allies and friends." Esk mentally prepared himself for a hit to the head or any other body part, forcing his body to relax just enough so that it wasn't noticeable that he was anticipating a blow. He also knew that if his body was relaxed, the amount of damage the hit; if they chose to, would be less.

Esk spoke again, head bowed. "As I am at fault, I will gladly accept any punishments you can think of, without complaint." Esk did not request forgiveness for his actions. The last time he remembered asking for it, Master had raged at him and punished Esk by forcing him to fight monster after monster without pause until he was near death and utterly exhausted. Master casted a healing spell on him whenever he was dying, prolonging the experience. It had been horrible, and after that, Esk never asked for forgiveness again; simply accepting whatever punishment he was given.

No, he would not expect forgiveness. It was his fault, after all. Esk kept his posture of supplication and patiently waited for them to give out whatever they saw fit for his transgression.

Waiting for Altara to speak, Kazu watched her intently.

He flashed back to a scene he was sitting at a table with the knight as he watched a young male knight and a woman in blue robes a bit off from them at a separate table. Instead of the knight girl, sitting over the map, the robed girl hovered her fingers over many destinations. Kazu had been listening then, and now he had heard almost the same remark about Alde Woods as the young knight now. 'But it looks like we'll have to go real far out of our way to get there...what do you think? 'Just as the robed girl had said this, the male knight had leaned forward and poked the sorceress on the tip of her nose, continuing with 'It shouldn't take us too long to get there maybe a few days if we take our time.' He then sat back down.

Kazu moved to do the same to the knight sitting across from him, and after tapping her nose lightly, he sat back into his seat. "It would probably only take us a few days at most to get there. We could start at first light." The Twinblade awaited her reaction just as the Draconian and Esclava seemed to be 'arguing' but Kazu seemed to understand that the Draconian was just wanting to prove a point. When Altara stood, Kazu grabbed her hand to pull her back to her seat, but it was already too late. so he stood with her. "I'm sorry Tollun, but from a non draconian perspective, our bodies aren't meant to take quite as much as the natural armour you have, so for humans and elves, words can display a show of force. I know you didn't mean anything by it. No blows thrown, no blade in hand."

After giving a small nod, understanding that Remeil did not want to rejoin the others soon, Cardista made way quickly down to the main dining area. She stopped a moment peeking her head around the wall at the bottom of the stairway making sure the crazed woman was gone for sure. All she could spot was the others going about their own conversations and Edvisg calling for Kern as he sat out last of the meals on the table to come aid her in cleaning up the mess that was left from the confrontation just moments earlier. She stopped her own pack and bow by the table they had when resting at before all the trouble had broke out with Syn and figured she might as well head over and collect her treasured possessions. While slinging both over her shoulders, she shot a friend smile to everyone, "Remeil, is in a room. He seems..eh...shaken? Yes shaken...Thank you for helping." She took one of the meals, eyeing the crushed bread suspiciously but shrugged figuring it'll taste the same.
Turning to head back up her eyes caught the strange sack left behind, not knowing who had left it or what it was for...Her interest peaked. Sitting down the plate she moved over to look inside not stopping to ask. It was not like she intended on taking it's content, but it was in her nature to want to just know what was in there. Pulling it open not sure what lay hidden inside...coin, food or something else altogether...

With a questioning gaze to Esk, and a look of only half understanding, Tollun spoke in an abnormally questioning tone, "Offending me? No, I simply disbanded ignorance that persuaded your words." He could never understand why the humans placed so much value in simple words that were just that, words. It is not like he stole gold, or something of that nature.

Then Kazu spoke up, after attempting to stop the knight from speaking. Her actions, as far as Tollun knew, was that of every other knight, walking around in their shiny silver armor believing that everything starts fights and that violence is the most efficient way to "solve" other races. However, that mentality must have come from the money that she had to have just to keep that armor up to snuff.

Looking at Kazu again, Tollun spoke, with seemingly not expression in his voice, "And then they wonder why they find themselves at war so often. Words are only dangerous because you place unnecessary value in them." Catching himself before going on a rant, as he did not want to take an extreme amount of time on such a simple fact, Tollun forced himself to the next human he had to respond to.

Looking back to Esk, Tollun adjusted his tone to more of the normal way he spoke, before saying "I will gladly train with you, as I have certain aspects of myself that I am always looking to better, but put that slave mentality away. I have dealt with it far to often, and it will give you nothing but problems in the days to come. It is far better to learn to be your own than to stay forever someone else's."

That was about the time when Cardista spoke up, catching Tollun's attention. "He will be for some time, if he is as new to freedom as I believe." Was all Tollun said in response, as he hid a small yawn from the silver clad knight. If she kept acting like she was, Tollun might have a problem on his hands, one that he didn't want, but was perfectly ready for.

Esclava

Esk nodded towards Tollun and stood up, frowning in puzzlement. "Understood." He placed Tollun's words at the back of his mind, intending to ask Tollun what he meant by 'slave mentality' tomorrow. From what Esk could remember, he had been raised like this his whole life; that others came before his own needs or desires, with his master above all. "We start training tomorrow, then." He walked over to his seat, pulling his weapon from the chair with ease before placing it back inside its sheath. Esk grabbed the second piece of badly sliced walnut bread he had taken from the tall man earlier from the soup bowl and used it to mop up the remains of the soup before eating it. It had gone cold, but Esk ate it all. Food shouldn't go to waste, after all, and it was still delicious.

After he was done, Esk walked over to the table and grabbed his pack. As he walked over to the landlady, Esk slipped his hand into his pocket and palmed the silver coin he had taken out earlier, handing it to her. "I'll be sleeping in the public room, please. Thank you for the food. Um, I'm sorry for the mess we have made. I'll help you clean up." Once they were done, Esk turned and walked towards the others. Cardista had arrived to take some food and Tollun had replied to her, but Esk didn't catch what they were saying. As she went up the stairs with the food (maybe she was taking it to Remeil), something Tollun had said earlier came to mind.

"Just now, you said that I was not natural; that everyone in the bar except for the landlady and the waiter was unnatural. What did you mean by that?" He asked Tollun, slinging the pack onto his back. Esk kept his face blank, but he was interested in what the half-dragon had to say. "And what do you two plan to do tomorrow?" He asked Kazu and the Knight. He turned to face the trio, hiding a yawn from the others behind his collar. Esk hadn't known them for long, but he had made a pact with Kazu, and the Knight seemed nice; if a bit curt. They seemed to know each other, so they would probably leave together. Esk forced away another yawn as he waited for the answers, intending to head straight to the public room and sleep after he got them.

"No, Edvisg is not normal. The waiter and the boy who should be handling the rooms are the normal ones, but not real good examples." Tollon replied before blinking, his eyes glowing the purple hue when they opened. "Dragons can see beyond normal sight, an ability which I am close enough to have, but I have no understanding of what exactly it means. What I see, in the little group, is a whole bunch of people who are different. They have different colors and patterns than everyone else, hers being the weirdest." Tollun then pointed to Altara.

With a moments thought, and a blink that made the glow go away, Tollun brought his arm back to rest at his side.

She didn't read the note, but did notice resemblance the ring held to Remeil's necklace she had stowed away in her pack. It was meant for him. Cardista took a moment to ponder if it was left by Syn for moment. Of course it was. With a heavy sigh she deposited the bag and it's contents into her own pack. She would give it Remeil but only after he ate and rested for the night. Right, now she did not want to add anymore stress to him.

She proceeded back to the room, bowl of stew on a plate accompanied by a simple wooden spoon and a mangle slice of walnut bread. Bringing the barely warm food over the end table near the bedside Remeil was still sitting at. "Food is here!" Smiling, though biting the tip of her tongue like a goof in deep concentration, Card lit the oil lamp that sat unused on the end stand thinking a little light in this deary room may lighten his mood. Quite happy with the soft light that now flooded the space, she turn her attention back to Remeil, leaning in so close that the tip of her button nose touch his, smiling wickedly.


"Now eat...please." And just like that she pulled away, back to her original plan of getting cleaned off, skipping over to the brass tub happy that Edvisg had been so generous to give them a key to one of the finished rebuilt rooms, for if she had to spend another moment with the mud caked in her hair and on her clothing she was going to scream. She put in the stopper and then played with the copper handles, making sure the water was warm that poured out the spigot. She knelt there in awe of how convenient it was to have such a thing as the tub filled.

Edvisg

"Oh Tollun, you make an old dwarf blush." She called over playfully before pulling herself up carefully from the floor, wood in hand. She limped over to the half dragon giving him a small pat on the back. She took a moment to watch her poor Kern, as the gentle giant finished collecting the last of what had been a chair, standing straight and obediently throwing the pieces into fireplace. "Kern's a special one you know, if I didn't keep an eye on that boy, someone would of snatched him up and forced him to fight in some damn pit. Sad part is all they would have to do is ask him to follow them and he would with no two thoughts about it." She shook her salt and pepper head at such a thought before moving slowly back behind the bar knowing rooms may needed shortly for this lot shortly.

Zeebarl was slightly distracted when the neko girl reassured the tall wiry fellow that he didn't have to pay for anything before going to the inn, a little annoyed he was still clutching her change and complementary pair of trousers as the recently mention man gave a confused nod. He shrugged it off however, as the effeminate swordsman suddenly asked the price for a whetstone the vendor had in his pile of wares he kept crammed together in his cart. The merchant was just about to answer the latest customer until he was annoyed to see the tall red haired man enter the inn also, calling out after him; "Excuse me, sir? Does this mean you won't be-?", but stopped himself mid sentence as he saw the charitable stranger having already wandered indoors, much to Zeebarl's chagrin, still clutching the pouch of coins and trousers.

He was about to turn to the effeminate swordsman and sell him the whetstone, who had an extremely puzzled expression on his face for some reason, before Zeebarl suddenly began staring into space. He suddenly had a few flashes of memories flying past his face, bizarrely all of patrons who sold him the very goods he was attempting to sell now. A desperate frowning tramp, literally begging for a higher price for his trousers at Zeebarl's feet, hoping to pay for more than just his next meal. A young crafter's apprentice, who must of been but seven looked down disappointed that her hard work of crafting buttons was worth so little in coin, giving a kick to the dirt. A boastful warrior with a meager appearance constantly blathers of tall tales about how his leather armor had saved his life countless times, his expression changing to a somber one when he finally relinquished ownership for gold. A blissful unaware cobbler grins cheerfully and cheers ecstatically as he is handed far more than he expected for the whetstone, believing it to merely be a simple rock. These simple ordinary, and if anything else, boring memories kept shifting and swapping and replay before Zeebarl's eyes, faster and faster, until eventually, he was given the quick flash of a face he vaguely recognized, before it returned to normal.

When Zeebarl came back to his senses, the effeminate swordsman was nowhere to be seen, most likely wandered into the inn as the merchant had his momentary drop insanity, to which he sighed to himself pessimistically for losing another customer. The merchant sighed and cursed to himself at his sudden moment of flashbacks without warning, and sudden panic washed over him if anyone had stole from the cart while he was distracted, and began feverishly rummaging around the cart, doing inventory of his wares. As he continued to check and search his belongings, the vendor found that nothing had been taken thankfully, and begun to ponder on who was the face he saw and why he couldn't remember any of the details of that face when he thought about it other than green eyes, until he merely decided the whole experience was pointless nonetheless.

He was then suddenly met with a new surprise, as a raven haired woman clad in purple clothes burst through one of the inn's windows and fled to one of the nearby alleyways, shortly followed with the red haired knight from earlier peaking her head out of said window furiously, obviously agitated at the newest strangers escape. Seemed he also missed some commotion at the Minstrels Mug as well when the merchant began to take a non-optional trip down memory lane. Immediately deciding it would of been a terrible decision to chase after someone than to hand over the change and trousers for the neko girl, Zeebarl began trying the painstaking task of getting his cart through the door. Not practical or often socially acceptable to an inn, but he was damned if he was going to leave his cart outside unattended.

After a ridiculous amount of effort and time spent on maneuvering his cart indoors, Zeebarl, began peering around in hopes of seeing the neko girl, with unfortunately little success. The people he had seen however was a rather large young man who seemed to one of the staff members, lumbering around while sorting out the recent carnage of whatever events unfolded during when the lady in purple was still here, as well as a fellow half-dwarf, an aging woman with a nasty wound leaving her without an eye and black and white hair, standing at the bar, and most likely the proprietor of inn. He also saw the red haired knight once again, sitting alongside the effeminate swordsman with some map of sorts, as well as the tall wiry man from earlier seeming ready to head off to his room, and last but not least, the draconian man named Tollun. Realization washed over the vendor as he saw him, that due the neko naming the fellow earlier, they were most likely on first name terms, and ergo, most likely he was the one that knew where she was. The merchant plastered on his defensive smile as he approached the only person he knew the name of, with cart in tow and with no attention for the staff of The MInstrel's Mug.
"Ah, hello again, Tollun was it? Sorry to bother you so soon in a place of rest and relaxation, but you see the kind neko lady from before, who doubt is a charming friend of yours, had purchased these trousers for you, most likely in generosity for simply to supply you with them in case a moment of misfortune were to befall on the pair you are currently wearing I suppose.", he chattered away at Tollun offering out the cotton trousers to him, hoping the man would take them off his hands, and turned his attention at the group on a whole.
"Also there is some change she has forgotten, bless her. Probably was just eager to get in to this lovely and cosy establishment. Any chance that one of you mine fellows have an inkling to where she is?", he added hopefully, looking at them all expectantly, until his memory kicked in about the dark haired effeminate swordsman and hastily told the man; "Oh and of-course sir, as soon as this minor mishap has been dealt with, I shall discuss on the sale of the whetstone you were interested in earlier."

Merrowvale Brainde, The Minstrel's Mug
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Out of nowhere, the red-haired man suddenly started apologizing to the half-dragon and to Altara. This action completely stunned the red-haired knight, and she had no idea how to respond before he went back to talking to the half-dragon again.

Though she still hated the half-dragon's attitude, Altara turned back to the black-haired boy and replied, "Fine by me. Then, I guess we'd best turn in at this p--"

Right at that point, the half-dragon pointed in her direction while saying something about "weird." That did it. This half-dragon definitely had everything against her. Without another word, the frustrated red-haired knight stood up and walked off, leaving the black-haired boy behind, heading up the stairs and to her room.

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Sitting up on top of the hard bed in her room, Altara let out a small grumble and gently rubbed a hand over the top half of her face, over her stinging eyes. As it turned out, the food hadn't helped her sleep, and that half-dragon's arrogant talk worsened her mood even further. She didn't sleep at all for the past 4 hours.

"Wonder if this was what I was like in the past, too," she mused, pushing the rough blanket to the edge of the bed. Rising with cramped muscles, she carefully set foot on the floor of aging wood beneath her. Stretching her arms over her head, she extended them to their full length and kept them like that for about six seconds before letting them fall back to her sides.

Putting on her silver armor and picking up Acubens, which was leaning against a wall, she opened the door and headed down the stairs, back down towards the front desk. The tall clerk still sat there, though he looked very sleepy now.

Figuring she probably wouldn't still be in this town by the end of the day, Altara placed the key to her room lightly on the desk, trying not to wake the tall blonde. At present, he lay with his head against the table on its side, a little bit of drool coming out of the corner of his mouth. She was just about to walk out the door, when she suddenly remembered she had asked that black-haired boy to come to Alde Woods with her. And here, she was just about to walk out the door without him...

But Altara didn't want to stay around with that half-dragon--his attitude was even worse than hers, and that was really saying something. I suppose this is the best I can do... She looked to her left hip, reaching for the pouch that hung there. At first, she had wondered why it and its contents were there, but now they'd be put to some use.

Inside was a number of small, uniform pieces of white paper--each about the size of a card--as well as a stick of charcoal, about 4.5 cm in length. (It's best not to ask how the charcoal didn't make a huge mess in there.) Taking out one of the cards and the charcoal, Altara started to write, leaving letters in black dust.

I'm sorry for leaving early, but that half-dragon was bothering me too much. It seems apparent to me that he's got a lot against me...so I decided it was best not to hang around. Sorry about not meeting you directly to tell you this.

Nonetheless, I'd still like for you to meet me at Alde Woods. I don't know what route I'll take, or how long it'll take me, but if you manage to get there before I do, try to ask your party members if you can stay there for a while, and wait until I arrive. Let's hope we can both get our memories back...

--Altara Koloyros

As soon as this was over, Altara gently knocked on the table, causing the clerk to awaken with a startled jump. "Sorry for waking you up," she told him with a sheepish smile, "but...you think you could do me a favor?" Folding the card, knowing the writing on it wouldn't smudge too much, she held it out to the clerk. "You remember that black-haired boy who arrived here last night, correct? I'd like you to give this to him, if he shows up down here later."

Staring at her with surprise, then back at the note, the clerk gingerly took it with his hand, which was notably larger than hers. "Um...got it," he replied in a meek voice. "Y-you can, uh, count on me."

Her smile shifting to contain more genuine happiness, Altara tilted her upper body slightly downwards in a short bow. "Thank you," she told him. "I didn't take the change back when I paid for my room, so consider that as payment for the favor." With that, she turned on her heel and walked out the door.

The sky was dark blue on one side, and tinted paler and paler until it reached the other side, which was dyed light yellow. The sun hadn't quite risen yet, so everything was bathed in a faint blue, almost ethereal glow. There were still large puddles everywhere, and water dripped down from the rooftops in some places.

Right then...time to look for some supplies, and then I'll be out of here. Turning on her heel, Altara started walking down the street, towards where she remembered there were some specialty shops.

Out of nowhere, it happened again--the blue magician girl with violet hair suddenly sprinted past, a huge smile on her face. Though she stared after the fading mental image in surprise, this time, Altara smiled. "Don't worry," she whispered under her breath. "So long as I can see you...I can keep running, until I finally remember everything."

Her pace quickened, and soon she broke into a flat-out run, under the cloudless dawn.

Kazu stretched his body, joints cracking as he did so. it seemed like he wasn't used to sleeping in beds and would make note of that the next time he stayed somewhere. He stood from his bed with a bit a laziness lingering as he gathered his belongings and dressed, donning his lightly armoured coat and blades across his back before shrugging to adjust the weight. "well, time to go see if Altara is ready. It would be best to leave as soon as possible."

Leaving the room, he glanced about to make sure he wasn't leaving anything then turned out of the door. He stopped a few rooms down where Altara had entered the previous night and knocked gently and waited, then a little harder. still no response... "Maybe she's getting breakfast. Kazu walked down the steps and an empty room except for the large Kern, his head resting on the table with a bit of drool pooling about. Kazu didn't want to wake him, but decided he should inquire about the knight.

The twinblade tapped Kern on the shoulder and received a muffled response that he couldn't quite understand, but a hand reached out with a slip of paper. Kazu took the paper and opened it. He read the note with a slight displeasure at it's contents. He looked back up to her room and frowned before giving Kern a pat on the back with thanks and set 5 copper coins beside him.

He left the inn and walked around to the side by the facet and turned it on. the water was freezing, but that's just what he needed to wake himself. He splashed his face and wet his hair, shaking the moisture out until it was just damp. He pulled a fine brush from his coat and started brushing through his hair as he walked down the pathway the lead out of the city.

"Alright... Alde Woods, hopefully I meet her on the way." He placed the brush back into a pocket of his coat and followed the trail into the wilderness.

Scarlet heard someone rustling around in the room next to her own and quickly dressed, gathering her X-Scythe and belongings before rushing out the door. She felt as though she were missing a great opportunity, so she hurriedly ran down the stairs just in time to see the red haired knight girl leaving. Scarlet looked on with a smile and followed her out the door and down the street before speaking up with a bit of excitement. "Hello Ms. Knight! Where are you going?" Her face showed a ponderous look of adventure and question topped with a little smile.