The last thing Quilodor and Sariandi had been expecting was for the woman who'd taken Yalathanil and killed Tenestrae to walk right into their laps, but that's exactly what happened. They'd stopped at a human tavern in the city of Nen Othrond for the night when a man had come over to them to ask about their origins - whether they came from a tribe or whether they'd lived among humans their whole lives. It had turned out that the man had been hired to seek out their tribe by a woman whose name was Keona. They informed the man that they'd be happy to meet with the woman to see what it was that she needed with them, as the man had not known what she wanted. The man had then pointed out a woman walking by the tavern, arm-in-arm with a man, and when they recognized the man to be Yalathanil, they'd realized that the woman must be the one who'd killed Tenestrae and taken him.
They'd asked the man to arrange a meeting between them and the woman on the edge of town the next morning. They'd specifically requested that he tell her to pack her things and be prepared to be gone for a few days - that way, if anything happened or they ended up taking her back to their tribe, the man wouldn't be looking for her and they'd have time to figure out what to do with her. He'd agreed, and he'd headed off to make the arrangements. They'd slept in the inn for the night, and the next morning, they'd gone to the meeting place. The woman had arrived, and they'd realized that they couldn't kill her in good conscience because the damn woman was pregnant.
They had asked the woman what she wanted with them, and she asked if they'd had a human in their tribe some years ago, describing Yalathanil in great detail. When they told her yes, she'd flat-out confessed to having been responsible for the death of Tenestrae - his 'girlfriend', she'd called her, though Quilodor and Sariandi knew that Tenestrae had been his betrothed. They'd apprehended the woman with ease, but then came the tricky business of figuring out where to take her. They had paced about on the side of the road while they'd discussed it, having left the woman tied up and unconscious further in the brush. The humans likely wouldn't take kindly to them staying in a tavern with one of their own kidnapped, but fortune had smiled upon them as an elven couple had been riding by in a cart and had stopped to ask them if they were lost.
After explaining their situation to the elven couple, recognizing them as kin and hoping they'd be willing to help, the elven couple had aided them in loading the unconscious pregnant woman into their cart and had taken them to a run-down inn within the city slums - a refuge for elves, they'd been told, where human laws didn't apply. The elven innkeeper hadn't even batted an eye when Quilodor had carried in their human hostage, simply took their money and given them keys to two rooms. They'd taken the woman up there, but next had come the matter of figuring out how to get Yalathanil back - a matter that had quickly been resolved when their hostage had awoken and had angrily informed them that her brother, her anil, would find them, and they realized that she thought Yalathanil to be her brother.
Quilodor had gone back to the tavern where they'd met the first man, and he'd requested that if the woman's brother came asking about her, to send him their way. He wrote down the address of the inn where they were staying, along with a note that read bear no arms but your own, and then he'd left it with the man who'd been hired by their hostage to find them. If Yalathanil went out looking for this woman and asked for information from this man, he'd surely be given the address to their elven inn and would come find them on his own. They simply had to wait.
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Lenandel raised an eyebrow when Valery punched him in the arm, looking down at her. "Damn mosquitoes," he said, brushing his arm gently where she'd hit it before heading inside with the girls. There was an elf by the door keeping an eye on the people who came and went, but he apparently seemed to know Valery. When Valery said that he was the one who needed to be here, Lenandel stepped forward with his arms showing. "I'm looking for someone, but I don't know who," he said. Before the man had any chance to respond, though, a man with a tankard of ale in his hand came forward, with lightly-tanned skin and long dark hair, and a grin on his lips. "Yalathanil!" he said, opening his arms as he approached them. Lenandel's eyes widened when he saw the man. "Quil!" he said, and the two men hugged. Quilodor clapped Lenandel on the back as they pulled away. "It's been too long, brother," he said with a smile. "It's good to see you." He then looked past Lenandel at the two girls, eyeing Valery in particular. "I'm sorry, miss, but you look terribly familiar. I just can't quite place you. You're here with Yalathanil?" he asked, and Lenandel nodded. "Yes," he said. "We're looking for my little sister."
