"Well, considering the five of you just relieved Gutwad of his head, I don't have to head back unless I want to," Shalelu says before taking a pull of her drink. "So, what's on your mind Soliana? Something the matter?"
"I can't fery vell hafe a party looking like this, can I?" Emi huffs. Grabbing a pitcher of water off the bar, she slowly pours it out over her hair and face, wiping away the dirt and grime with her free hand as she does. Unaware of the effect all this water has had on her white top (or at least coyly pretending to be), she draws her brush from a pocket in one of her scarves and begins vigorously pulling it through her wet hair.
Once the tangles are rectified she stows the brush and forces a smile. "I suppose that vill hafe to do..." she says as she begins to dance.
Even her dance, however, is uncharacteristically unenthusiastic, and uninspired. It also proves short-lived.
gods, I can't even dance in this state... maybe I'll should just have a few drinks and look for a suitable candidate to help me warm back up from that chill earlier...
As soon as Vigny discovers that Sandru's caravan has arrived, she ducks out on the others and disappears upstairs. A little more than an hour later she slips back downstairs and rejoins the others as if she'd never been gone.
Vigny is washed up and her hair is combed out. She is wearing a simple but fresh dress, and a braided leather headband. Same boots as always. she leans her sword belt against the chair beside her.
Throughout the celebration Jerukh keeps quiet and only meets with gaze of his adoptive mother Koya with an awkward smile.
His quiet satisfaction shifts to far more uncomfortable as talk turns to drinking and the fairer sex...
He nods politely, feigning agreement with Gkirkhan's words, then takes a polite sip of his offered mead. The tall alchemist suppresses his distaste and he grins awkwardly at offered toasts...
... then at the first opportunity Jerukh makes an excuse and slips away from the throng.
Ne. This is not me. Let the others enjoy the light... I belong in the dark.
Taking a deep breath, he throws away the tankard and moves off into the night, seeking somewhere quiet and more importantly where he can be alone.
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Reiko heads for her room as soon as the business of the day is concluded. She only emerges after a thorough bath and clothing herself once again in silk robes. Unconcerned about the treasure or rewards, she leaves the treasure and money matters to the rest of the team - with the exception of the Whispering Sword. That, she keeps in hand.
Much as she is inclined to spend her evening alone, Reiko knows that the bonds being formed with her new allies are still fragile. Reinforcing them is the right choice. So she enters the Rusty Dragon with the scabbarded Whisper in hand - replacing Haru's sword as her companion this evening. She makes a point of passing through the crowd to find Vigny, Soli, Emi, and Jerukh.
Vigny:
The ronin sidles up to the blonde and bumps shoulders with her, offering a small smile, "I have been a poor companion. I never thanked you for going through the goblin gate with me, or going before me into the goblin's hut, or each time you followed me no matter the danger. I knew I could depend on you. Forgive me for not thanking you sooner." She gives Vigny an assessing look before saying playfully. "I enjoyed putting your hair up... but I think it is prettier down. I believe the men here agree, judging by their stares." She leaves as a local with eyes for the blonde moves in...
Soli:
Reiko watches Soli twist with anxiety in her chat with Shalelu. Soli is too modest to trumpet her accomplishments, so... She inserts herself on the pretext of pulling a flagon of ale for herself. "Apologies for my interruption. Before I drink too much, Miss Soli, I wanted to thank you for your quiet wisdom as well as for saving my life from that cart-sized spider and the goblin chief. I might not have returned if it weren't for your fighting and healing skills. Thank you." She salutes the paladin with her flagon and retreats from their private conversation.
Emi:
Reiko glances at the over-flowing flagon in her hand... with no intention of drinking it. She catches Emi after her dance and offers her the refreshing drink. She notes the dancer's wet blouse - scarcely hiding her endowments and impressive cleavage - with a wry smile and a bit of envy... considering her own meager assets. She gives Emi a grin and a conspiratorial whisper, "You are a cruel beauty, Emi. Tempting all of them with what only a few will ever be blessed to enjoy." She continues more seriously, "At least, I know your mystic skills are as great as your beauty. You drop goblins faster than you are... raising most of the men in here." She gives the Varisian a quick peck on the cheek before moving off.
Jerukh:
Jerukh was the most difficult ally to find... which was appropriate because he was also the most difficult to understand. Asking people if they'd seen the alchemist proved to be useless. In the end, Reiko had to track him down like wild game. Once she followed him to his 'lair' - an isolated clearing in the woods surrounding a set of nice sitting stones - she crept up on the alchemist.
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Despite the somewhat flat performance, most of the people are too distracted to even notice the quality of the dance. WIthin minutes of sitting down, you are surrounded by your own harem, some of which you are certain wouldn't mind having to share.
Shortly after coming back down, a familiar voice calls out from the crowd.
"Vigny! How've ya been," Sandru asks as he opens his arms wide, inviting you to give him a hug.
Shalelu grins at you after Reiko leaves, but the smile fades as she ponders your questions.
"Maybe," she says as she looks down at her mug, "I think after having two of their chiefs and at least four of their heroes killed, I doubt the goblins have much of a fight left in them, and with Belor whipping the town guard into a rather skilled and highly trained force, I think it'd take something drastic for them to get up to their own tricks again."
As the celebration begins to hit its stride, Gkirkhan takes a laughing Iona into the middle of the hastily cleared space in the middle of the Rusty Dragon's Common room and the two begin to dance to the music by the quartet of townsfolk playing by the bar. Soon half the crowd, including Sheriff Hemlock and Kaye Tesarani, the owner of the Pixie's Kitten, are busy dancing.
Jerukh sits alone in the quiet dark, with only the faint glow of a fire for warmth. Upon it sits a small pot containing some crushed herbs and bubbling water...
Like the sword spoke to Reiko, the crackle of the fire and burble of the pot spoke to the half orc. These were conversations he was comfortable with...
:
Totally focussed on the task at pot, the lanky alchemist leans o'er, adding more herbs and some other reagents from his reserves...
After the talking part winds down and the celebrating part begins, Vigny wanders over to the bar to get herself an ale. It's the perfect time to celebrate and she would like to join in fully, but she too anxious waiting for Sandru to appear, surely he will, to really join in.
There is a funny dynamic to the start of the evening she thinks. Emi begins like one would have to expect, but doesn't seem to quite feel celebratory either, and soon her dancing comes to a stop.
Soli goes to talk with the elf she's heard a little about. Spying on them occasionally some things begin to click for her. Soli expressions and body language aren't hard to read.
I think I see why my night out with Soli didn't quite catch fire for her. Not so sure the elf is getting the message though.
Despite Gkirkhan's attempts to rouse some goods spirits from Jerukh, he slips away soon enough. Reiko has disappeared as well.
When Vigny hears Sandru call out her name Vigny hurries over to give him a looooong hug. "I came looking for you! It's hard to catch a moving target though so I came here, figuring you'd show up sooner or later. I've had a very exciting time here meanwhile!"
Vigny spends a little while catching up with Sandru, then lets him move on to other "hellos". She moves back to her old place at the bar, where she is surprised by a returning Reiko, looking beautiful and mysterious in her exotic clothes. To her words of thanks Vigny simply replies "You're the captain, I'm just doing what I can to help out." When she compliments Vigny's hair, she smiles and says "maybe sometime soon I could borrow that hairpin and have you do it again? I'd like to test the look more fully, but I'd never manage to do what you did on my own."
At least Reiko seems to be fully appreciating the evening after all. I guess I am now too.
When Reiko moves on Vigny talks to the approaching boy she mentioned. She flirts lightly with him and, every now and then, takes a quick, darting look in Sandru's direction to see what he's doing and if he's noticing at all.
To her words of thanks Vigny simply replies "You're the captain, I'm just doing what I can to help out." When she compliments Vigny's hair, she smiles and says "maybe sometime soon I could borrow that hairpin and have you do it again? I'd like to test the look more fully, but I'd never manage to do what you did on my own."
Reiko almost takes a step back. "Captain? No, I'm just a scout and sometimes a fool. But I thank you for the compliment." She laughs and touches the warpriest's hair at her second question. "Perhaps you should claim the pin as part of your share of the treasure? Then I can play with your hair whenever you like... It's like working with spun gold, which is enjoyable."
Jerukh leans forward to tend his lonely pot, when he sits back he finds he isn't alone. Reiko sits right next to him, legs curled beneath her on the rock, held fast by her robe. Her hands rest in her lap. She is so still and remote, she could be a statue not a woman... if it weren't for the bath scent and trace of heat coming off her, reminding Jerukh that she is alive and quite close.
Reiko looks to the sky and breathes deeply, eyes never straying to the alchemist. "I often come to the woods alone. I like it here; it's peaceful. But - if I'm truthful - I come because I feel less alone here than in Sandpoint. In the village, I am a Tien lost among Avistani. Your ways are not my ways. Your world is not my world." She sighs, then takes another cleansing breath. "I think... I hope... that you might have some understanding of feelings like these."
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hmmm... a pity Reiko left, with all these eager volunteers I could have shown her the Varisian quilt like she asked...
Emi seems revived by all the attention she receives and spends several hours smiling and laughing, and flirting. Eventually she selects two large, drunk men and heads up to one of their rooms. There she dances for them until they pass out. Then she has a hot bath drawn (and charged to the room) before snuggling in between them under a pile of blankets. Enveloped by the warmth of their bodies she drifts off to sleep.
The initial shock of discovering Reiko sat next to him in the remote glade causes the alchemist to first jump back up, then utter a low series of curses as he stares at her wide-eyed;
"Jestliže se v devíti pekel jsi přišel?! A jak jsi mě našel!!!"
"Where in the Nine Hell's did you come from?! And how did you find me!!!"
Shaking his head (and shaking in body) the tall half orc folds himself back down beside the warrior.
Jerukh, coughs and tries to regain a sense of control; something the calming words of the Tien assists with...
He nods slowly;
"I do. I know what it is to be ztracený... "lost"."
The alchemist does not meet her gaze, instead focussing on the embers of the pit fire;
"I... am also found. Here in Sandpoint... but inside I am lost... the side of my blood that I am not... but could be. You have..."
He coughs again, clearing his throat as the words stall in his throat:
"... grace. Poise. And possess an edge like your blade. I try to use my brain over my brawn. I try to heal not destroy..."
Reiko considers the fire as she tries to discern Jerukh's meaning. "You are in conflict with a part of yourself? What do you think would happen if this part came out?"
Jerukh frowns and pokes the embers with a stick as he mulls the warrior's question;
"I am half a beast. Orc..."
The word is bitterly spoken, and the alchemist grimaces;
"The orc is uncontrolled... Destructive rage. I have dedicated my life and skills to healing, mending...control. Reiko...I cannot... dare not let that dark side of me eclipse the light..."
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"You are not a beast, half or otherwise," a rather testy voice says from the shadows of the woods. A moment later, Koya steps into the clearing and sits down beside the alchemist. Her hair is pulled back with a red and gold scarf and even in the dim light of the fire, she is a riot of colors.
"I guess I should apologize for my tone, but my point still stands," she says much more gently. "I guess I should also apologize for interrupting this midnight lovers' rendezvous," she adds with a devilish grin aimed at both of you.
Shalelu turns to say something, but before she has the chance, she finds that you've left. Turning back to the bar, she finishes her drink and quietly slips away.
Before you can do anything about it, Ameiko sweeps you up in her arms and makes herself your dancing partner.
"Y'know this dance is for two, right," she says with a laugh as she leads you through the steps.
Sandru spends quite a bit of time catching up with you after teasing you about coming to see him. ("Are you sure it wasn't the goblins?") Every time you glance over, you see him giving you an encouraging smile as you talk and flirt with him. After a few minutes...
"Would you care to dance," the young lad almost, but not quite, blurts out.
Your company is properly appreciative of the performance, and it isn't long before both of them are out cold. After the hot bath and slipping between them under the covers, one of them stirs, one arm wrapping around your shoulders and holding you close and tight.
"Don't die Carmen, please! I can't lose you too," he mumbles in his sleep as scalding hot tears soak the pillow and your hair. Somehow, you'd missed the old scars on his arms from burning fire and wretched blade.
Reiko rises quickly, smooths her robe front and bows respectfully to the older woman, "An honor to greet you, Esteemed Mother. Thank you for making a point I was just about to argue." She makes a show of tucking her robe beneath her knees as she returns to her seat to gloss over the 'lovers' comment. She is quite sure it unsettle Jerukh.
Jerukh grimaces as Koya steps from the shadow with words of chastisement tempered with a mother's love;
"Vai mamă! We are not... I... am not... Reiko is my... friend."
Awkward and hushed in his words, the alchemist furtively looks to Reiko as she introduces herself formally.
He rubs his brow wearily, as the realisation of the words to come sinks in.
Ach. I wish this cauldron would swallow me up.
Reiko is surprised at being described as a friend. Perhaps he thinks being called an ally or comrade would offend me?
She presses ahead with a subject that might be slightly less awkward for the shy man. "I don't know the drives of orcish blood... but I think most men - most people - have inner-demons to fight. It helps to give them a little air or they will escape when they shouldn't."
Koya gives a chuckle and shakes her head.
"Good luck convincing him of that, dear. He's always been a disciplined child. As for me, 'Esteemed Mother' is far too formal, even for one well versed in the Harrow. Besides, I'm much too young for that. Koya is good enough for me," She says with a grin before turning her attention to Jerukh, "and now that I've spoilered your friendly get together, would you mind if I had a cup of tea, then you two can tell all about what you two have been up to since I last saw you."
Emi looks with pity at the broken man. She nuzzles back into him and rubs the arm wrapped around her to comfort him while she drifts off to sleep.
Reiko nods, "No offense meant, Koya-san. Among my people, you being even a few years older than me deserves respect. But we are far from the Dragon Empire... Koya, it is." At the first part of Koya's statement, Reiko turns an 'ah ha!' look squarely on Jerukh, repeating his mother's words, "He was always a disciplined child? So, have you ever let this 'beast' out or is it a shadow you don't truly know?"
Reiko leaves Jerukh to mull that question (and make the tea) while she recounts in detail their adventures, the mysteries uncovered, enemies fought, and goods found. She lightly sketches her own actions while expanding on Jerukh's acts in detail - usually with an emphasis on how kindly-intentioned and thoughtful his choices were, even when he could have been justifiably enraged by their enemies. Reiko concludes her tale with a final point that trails back to the beginning of the conversation. "... Your son has spent days among women - guarding us as we slept, eating with us, camping with us, and healing many indiscreet wounds... and he has not been inappropriate ever. I sense no wolf dressed as a sheep here."
Encouraging looks from Sandru isn't quite what Vigny was hoping to see.
But what did I expect to see anyway? I'd have to be mental to expect he's going to run over here in some sort of jealous huff.
I need to stop thinking about it. I'll just put it aside. It's wonderful to see him again after so long. I'll be traveling with him soon. I'm sure he'll let me come along. Plenty of time later for the rest.
"Sure!" Vigny grabs the guy by the hand and leads him out to dance.
At Reiko's question his brow furrows;
"I... have seen enough of it to know to fear its lure... My alchemy subdues the beast..."
Then as his mother and Reiko continue to pick apart the complex tapestry of his character, Jerukh busies himself making the tea...
The alchemist focusses intently on its production, giving it the due care that a complex concoction might require... clearly he is stalling to avoid direct conversation.
His concentration is punctuated with the odd grimace and cough as the two women converse at depth.
When Reiko praises his conduct, Jerukh quickly produces two wooden cups of nettle tea;
"Mulţumesc... Thank You Reiko... She makes more of my deeds mother... I was just there - helping where I could..."
Reiko accepts the cup with a small bow, sips the liquid experimentally, and nods with surprised approval. "This is quite good. Thank you." She weighs her next words carefully, "Jerukh, I apologize if I've spoken in unforgivable ignorance or overstepped the bounds of friendship. I hope you will not hold my bad manners against me." She is sincerely apologetic.
Jerukh pours himself a cup of the nettle brew, then smiles weakly at Reiko.
Desna's Gossamer Wings! She's so polite! Even to one such as me!
"No... I..."
He furtively looks to his mother, conscious of her thoughts and scrutiny, then sighs deeply before he continues;
"... It is me who should apologise Reiko. I do not wear the mantle of praise or kind words easily... Mamă knows this. Has told me oft enough. I am sorry to you both."
Reiko sips her tea and glances at Jerukh over the top of her cup, the ghost of a smile on her face. "Someday, I may learn to understand you, Jerukh... but it won't be today. You have said nothing to me that you should regret."
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"Same here," Ameiko says before noticing the glance you give where Shalelu was.
"Hey, everything okay," she asks as quietly as she can manage as she leads you through the steps.
"So you know Sandru," he asks as he follows you onto the dance floor.
"Thank you Jerukh," Koya says as she takes the tea and gives an appreciative sip.
"It is true, and I wish you luck in understanding him," she says, "he is a remarkable young man and I'm lucky to have been the one to have raised him, but even I am surprised by him at times."
The Desnan puts a hand on Jerukh's shoulder with a warm smile.
"He's still my little boy, and I'm proud to be able to claim him. Now my dear, what about you," she asks Reiko with a grin.
"...I'm proud to be able to claim him. Now my dear, what about you," she asks Reiko with a grin.
Reiko looks confused. "I'm sorry, what about me? Are you asking if I have a man?"
"Yes, among other things. I'm sure you are just as modest as my Jerukh is, and I want to get to know you better. Besides, I've an insatiable appetite for stories. I'm afraid you will being hearing me beg you for them before too long," Koya says as she gives the young swordswoman a beatific smile.
Vigny's eyebrows raise in surprise. "You do also?"
As they start to dance she adds "Sandru has been a benefactor of mine I guess you could say. I met him a long time ago, and I owe him a lot."
Reiko's ruddy face breaks into a grin. "In spite of the silk, I wasn't noble-born, Koya-san. Modesty was a luxury I rarely knew. Until 13 years old, I didn't have shoes. So, no, I have no man now but I've..." she searches for the right word - candid but polite, "bedded a few, none recently. I think Varisian men prefer more curvy women. Or they are afraid of a woman who can beat them - decisively - with a blade." She taps the hilt of the katana that has been resting against the rock at her side. "To be fair, studying swordplay doesn't leave much time for romance."
Jerukh looks a strange mix of pride and embarressment as his mother extols his virtues.
He focusses once again with intensity on his tea cup, then chips in with a comment as Reiko discusses her own feelings;
"She is a truly amazing swordswoman mother. An artist... if a lethal one..."
"Old Haru is still my better at the sword. Shalelu, as well. But someday, perhaps, I will surpass them."
"If you can call meeting him once knowing, then sure," Raul says before spinning you right around and back into his arms, "my oldest brother, Ion, worked for him as a guard until a few years ago when he struck out on his own and began running a shop in Ordellia in Magnimar. Still has to put up with goblins every now and then, but the people are nicer."
As he finishes, the current song ends and a new, much more energetic tune begins, leaving little time to hold a conversation. After that, and a third song, Raul leads you to a table and grabs a couple of ales for the both of you. Once he's had a moment to catch his breath, he rubs his chin in thought before looking up and asking, "so, how did you meet Sandru anyway? If it's too personal, then just tell me, but I would like to know."
Ameiko looks surprised for a moment, though her expression becomes more thoughtful as she works the two of you out of the crowd and off the dance floor. As she comes to a stop next to the bar, she finally answers the question.
"I don't know. My father always prattled on about honor and doing what's best for the family, then my brother," she gives a shudder, leaving whatever she was going to say unsaid. "I wouldn't mind seeing new places or meeting new people, but as far as my family's history goes, I'm not certain that I want to know more. It's in the past, well in the past, and anyone that know of us is probably long dead."
The normally self-assured, some might even say cock-sure, young woman takes a deep breath and smiles at you.
"As for you, I'd say that you know yourself pretty well, it's just history that you're unsure of, and that's only baggage and dead weight. What do you hear in here," she asks, poking you in the chest where your heart is.
"There's always someone better, someone to strive towards, but that makes you no less of an artist," Koya says, her eyes showing the wisdom she'd accumulated over the years. "As for Varisian men, I'm afraid that you're right on both accounts, though that's not to say that Varisian woman can't take care of themselves. We just happen to be more subtle in our arts of mayhem. Practicing anything worth mastering, though leaves little time to yourself, which is why you should use it for you and find someone to have a little fun with! But later, I want to hear how you became a woman of such noble bearing and how you ended up in Sandpoint instead of Magnimar or even Absolom," Koya demands, politely, and with child-like eagerness, but still demands.
Some time in the night, you awaken to find just yourself in the bed. One of the men is gone, but the other can be seen getting dressed in the moonlight. As you watch, you notice that it's the one that was having the nightmare earlier.
Reiko hesitates briefly. "The night is growing long, but I will tell you ONE tale." She then sketches her past in broad strokes. "I was a low-born in Xa Hoi... working the rice fields. They were like your Brinestump marsh but hotter. The estate's overseer heard my poems once and liked them. I was allowed to study in the rainy months at the shoen, the 'big house'. There I saw the ladies of the court and the samurai. I admired them and imitated them in secret. I tried to walk like the ladies and treated sticks like swords. It was forbidden, but I did it anyway. An old samurai, Haru, caught me. He was a kind man and saw my potential not my insolent behavior. He spoke to our lord and was permitted to train me in the sword." She smiles at the recollection, then continues. "Small wars are very common in the Dragon Empire. When a lord loses a war, his loyal warriors and family die - either by treachery, on their enemy's swords, or on their own. Our lord was in a war and he lost. But Old Haru wanted me to live and perhaps wanted to live himself, so we fled. We escaped north and joined an Avistani caravan. We crossed the Teeth of the World to the Linnorm Lands. It was very cold there, so we kept moving south - to Varisia." She finishes her cup of tea, indicating the end of her story.
Vigny has a delightful time dancing with Raul. He's very good at it, far better than her, and she adjusts her estimation of him upward. She does think though that his brother received the better name.
Later, when he asks about how she knows Sandru as they sit with their ales, she is more than happy to tell him.
"Oh sure I'll tell you, no big secrets there."
Vigny begins to tell the story with gusto. She goes into her origins in Southmoor, and the death of her family in a Nolander ambush when she was nine. She gives a lurid description of her seizure and the march south into the Nolands with her captors. Then comes the dramatic encounter with Sandru's caravan, and his bartering away much of his goods and stores for her. Finally there is her delivery by Sandru to the Caydenite orphanage in Riddleport, and how he occasionally checked in on her during subsequent years.
"And now it's my turn to protect him. I've come to Sandpoint to link up with him and travel with the caravan."
The story hews well to the broad arc of what took place, but the specifics are improved in several places to make for better entertainment.
Her parents and relatives died in a sudden hail of arrows. (Not so much an improvement as a way for Vigny to avoid speaking of the hacking and gutting that truly occurred). Vigny has told the arrows version enough times that she has almost come to believe it is actually the way things happened.
The Nolanders were thunderously terrifying Barbarians, tough as iron, and capable of incredible endurance and carnage. (The Nolander band was no doubt a dangerous group, but they were half-starved and desperate curs. This actually made them more dangerous because they were easy to underestimate.)
Sandru prevented the betrayal of the barter he had struck with the Nolander leader by unnerving him through the sheer force of personality and will in his flashing eyes and grim stare. (The Nolanders did very well in the bargain, and saw no reason to risk their lives when they had a good portion of what was to be had already.)
Vigny had already set to work planning her escape before the encounter with Sandru's caravan. She had gotten as far as lifting the key to her manacles from the Nolanders' leader's toady. So, when the deal with Sandru was struck, she unlocked the manacles herself, letting them fall to the ground to the Nolanders' consternation. This act produced the Nolander leader's second thoughts, which in turn required Sandru's stern gaze. (Vigny was not bound. She was nine, and where was she going to escape to anyway?)
She also might have overstated how much Sandru traded for her, but she also might just not remember those details all that well.
Emi sits up in the bed with the blankets wrapped around her. She watches the man for a moment, glad that the darkness is hiding the pity she feels for him. "It's cold in here alone," she says softly, "come back and hold me. Please."
"That certainly is a good tale," Koya says with a warm smile, "but whatever happened to Old Haru? I thought you were the only Tien to make their way to Sandpoint since its founding."
"Well," Raul says, his eyes as wide as saucers, "I have to say that you've earned the round I'm buying for you. For the next month."
The young man shakes his head, laughing as he gets past his astonishment.
"I figured you could handle yourself, but if I'd been in your shoes, I would have peed myself."
He looks up, and his smile fades into a grimace as he looks away.
"And with that spectacular fiasco, I should go get us something to drink."
"It does," Ameiko answers with a sad smile, "and what have you to apologize for? It was my father's and my brother's fault that things turned out like they did, although Nualia's contribution certainly didn't help."
Ameiko suddenly shakes her head like a dog shaking off water.
"No, I should be apologizing. I've apparently lost all sense and keep trying to be a mopey, depressed homebody," she says before taking a pull of her drink.
"I think I need some fresh air. Wanna help see if we can find Shalelu?"
The man starts, his shoulders tensing before he realizes what's going on. Slowly, his shoulders slump and he moves to sit on the edge of the bed.
"Sorry, just thought I should leave you be," he says, his voice deep and husky.
Reiko takes a moment to orient herself based on the village lights then nods at a particular spot of darkness beyond the firelight. "I lost him to a goblin ambush in the woods outside the village. He's buried a short way over there. He never saw Sandpoint with his living eyes but I like to think he came with me." After a brief silence, she rises. "Well, it is growing late and I have some tasks to complete before bed." She bows to the mother and son, "It was lovely speaking with you both. I hope to see you again soon."
Scabbard in hand, silk robe swishing, Reiko moves off confidently into the darkness toward the spot she identified earlier.
"I did pee myself a couple of times" Vigny replies. "When they were.. killing everyone. After, we walked almost nonstop during the days. Once they wouldn't let me stop so eventually I just had to without stopping."
"But really I'm just telling you what happened, not much of a story really. Now your griffon tale, that was a story and I salute you for it!"
Vigny pauses, then lets out a snorty giggle. "Well I guess I did already a couple of nights back huh?" she says with a sly smile.
When Raul goes for that round she looks around for Sandru again, but she's thinking about how Raul has been bumped from "quite acceptable" to "rather desirable".
Jerukh listens intently to Reiko's tale, clearly hanging on her every word.
He shifts a couple of times to interrupt, but a knowing look from Koya stays his words.
Then once the woman had further conversed in their calm, sage tones the alchemist watches his companion and mother in evident pride.
Good women both. Wise... and capable.
The lanky half orc smiles to himself, then as Reiko makes her farewell for the evening he rises and nods politely;
"And you Mistress. On the morrow then... Sleep well."
He settles back to his seat by the glowing embers... awaiting the inevitable hearth wisdom to come.