Savah sees the exchange and pushes past Relisha, perhaps her shoulder bumping the tiefling a little more than necessary before she swoops in and puts her hands around Thanara and looking at her in the eyes before closing in for an embrace. ”You’re okay! You didn’t come home last night! I was so-“ she chokes up and begins sobbing on Thanara’s shoulder, squeezing her tightly.
Relisha rolls her eyes and turns from the two. Since the altercation seems to be finished and her intervention isn't required, she returns to Ameiko's tent
Ahreni sniffs a couple of times and her eyes widen, before she grins and wriggles out of her tunic. It quickly becomes apparent that the wolf-girl has somewhere between very little and no experience, but she possesses curiosity and enthusiasm in abundance. If she seems overly fond of nibbling well... such things can be taught.
Some time later, as the two are retrieving their clothes, Ahreni grins widely. "Maybe this is how to remind dragon-Shalelu of elf side?" She asks playfully. "More learning later?"
"I'm okay," Thanara simply says as she glowers at Olaff as he walks away.
After dinner is finished, Thanara doesn't even take part. She simply walks off and down to the nearby stream. Thanks to her enchantment, the cold wasn't too big of a problem for her yet, but she still reflexively pulled her furs around her skirt and dress.
She found a quiet stone away from the caravan and sat down beside the bubbling waters. She so wanted to dip her feet in, but doubted how well her magic would fend off THAT degree of cold. Instead, she just sat quietly staring into the waters trying to calm herself.
Her mind drifted back to the last time she was near a stream like this. With Olaff. A happier time. But then thinking of him brought all of the recent events to the surface and caused her to grow agitated again.
Men. Idiots!
She sighed to herself.
After dinner, Savah follows Thanara to the stream. She doesn't do so at first, giving her some time to be alone. When she does approach, she calls off from the distance. "Thanara? Is it okay if I join you? I'll leave if you wish to be alone."
When Relisha returns, Ameiko is anxious "Alright? Are we ready to head out? Who's coming?"
"I'll ... I'll take you tomorrow morning," Relisha says, looking nervous. "I'll talk to everyone else about it tonight at dinner. Please don't open the warding box, yet, though."
"It's fine..." Thanara says as she stares into the water somberly.
Ameiko holds the box in her hands, wanting to open it. She shoots Relisha a serious frown "If I handed you a magical box and said don't open it, what's the first thing you'd want to do?"
With a sigh, she nods. "I suppose we can wait until morning. I'm sure you're exhausted from your excursion to the castle and probably need to turn in early to rest anyway."
Savah makes here way towards the water and sits down next to Thanara, but doesn't touch her. "Talk to me. Tell me what's going on, I just want to listen is all. If you'd rather, we can just sit in here silence and look at the water. It looks peaceful and relaxing."
She folds her arms in her lap, looking out at the cool water.
Thanara sighs. "So, I nearly died in the past two days more times than I can count. Shalelu was, like, unmade and turned into a dragon due to some kind of magic, I think? And Olaff..." she pauses, debating whether to drag him into it in front of Savah.
Screw it.
"When we were all arguing the first night, he just, like, made a joke of my fears! Then he swore an oath to kill Shalelu I guess. Not to mention apparently he has a kid by another woman who was a captive in there and got killed by Shalelu-Dragon? But before that he talked to her like a dog! Like, at one point he and Shay were considering just leaving her in that cell!"
She sighs and leans forward, her elbows resting on her bare knees and her face in her hands. "I don't know. I don't like the idea that he would possibly treat me the same way. It's not like...well...when you and I...that's different. This was...this was just pure meanness."
Sevah does an amazing job of keeping a straight face through it all, not showing disbelief at things such as Shalelu being a dragon, running into Olaff's old lover and him having a child.
"I see..." she says calmly, inserting some silence between her reply. "It all sounds extremely complicated and unnerving, I can understand why this is so difficult."
She looks over at Thanara and asks "How can I help?"
Thanara scoots closer and whispers "Just...just be you," as she leans her head on Savah's shoulder. She then sits there quietly, staring into the quaint stream in silence.
Savah nods "I'm just happy to have you back at the caravan. If I had to put up with another few hours of these idiotic brothers and their far-fetched sexual escape stories, I was going to lose my mind and drown myself in the river."
After her comment, she puts her arm around Thanara's waist and runs her hand gently up and down her back and humms quietly to herself.
Shalelu takes things slow, the experience of over two human lifetimes and plenty of trysts shines through. She has to slow Ahreni down from time to time, her enthusiasm getting the better of her, but Shalelu doesn't mind teaching and she is quite the capable teacher. While she wasn't a follower of Calistra herself, she had spent nights with other elves who were. The things she does and shows Ahreni how to do, open up a whole new world for the wolf-girl.
After some time, laying under the stars dinner having already passed by, Ahreni goes to get her clothes and asks Shalelu a couple questions. Shalelu grins "Perhaps..." She stands up, the moon light glistening off her naked skin, as she pulls her hair back and proceeds in tying it up again. Moving to retrieve her clothes she continues "You and Than both think I can master this so... by the gods that is what I'm going to try and do." She slips her shirt and pants back on and sits to put on her shoes then looks over to Ahreni "I might need he..." she shudders a bit, always hating to say it "... help to see this through though."
Completely dressed she slips her armor on, grabs her pack and bow and looks back toward where the caravan waits. She moves over to Ahreni and gives her another long kiss before noting "This was fun, a good release, it has been some time for me... I'd like if we did it again, but I would ask two things. First, this was something you and I shared, it's not for any others to know. Second, this was , at least for now, just a good time, I hope you won't read more into it than that."
She looks to Ahreni to make sure she understands before nodding and saying "We should get back to our hunt, its likely we missed dinner and will need to provide for ourselves."
Thanara closes her eyes and tries to lose herself in the melody of Savah’s humming. It had been a while since the two of them had had time to be intimate and relax. Not since...
She opens her eyed and sits up, pulling her furs tighter around her as she says ”We should head back to the caravan. I still haven’t had a chance to check on Ameiko. Relisha stole her away soon as we got back...”
Nodding, Savah stands and extends a hand as she helps Thanara to her feet. "Yes, of course. That is a good idea. You two should go spend some time together, hmmm? That is bound to make you feel better, I think."
She walks slowly with Thanara back to camp, not pushing or trying to intrude on Thanara as she helps calm the woman's nerves.
Olaff eats his dinner in silence and alone, taking the time to think about what happened recently. Many harsh worlds were said and he wasn't feeling comfortable with all the mistrust and misunderstanding among the others... And mistrust among companions usually leads to death.
He carefully watched the edge of the woods, intending to intercept Shalelu when comes back and when she eventually does, accompanied by Ahreni, he walks towards them. "Shalelu... I vant to talk to ye in prrivate. I vill not attack ye, ye have my vorrd..."
Without awaiting for an answer, Olaff enters the woods until he reaches a small clearing, where he sits on a fallen log and then awaits for Shalelu.
Once everyone in her close group has gathered for dinner, Relisha stands up awkwardly.
"Um, everyone? I know we just got back, but Ameiko has asked, um ... She wants to see the keep where we found the spirit of her grandfather. I told her that I'll go with her tomorrow morning. I would feel better if you all came with us, but even if you decide not to ... we're ... uh ... still going."
She avoids meeting anyone's eyes.
"Uh, well, that's all I wanted to say."
Shalelu is whistling an old elven tune as she and Ahreni make their way back toward the caravan. It is serene and somewhat eerie, but beautiful. When Olaff walks up to intercept her she suddenly stops and frowns. She gives him a nod, without saying a word. As he stomps off for her to follow she smiles and gives Ahreni a nod toward the camp "I'll be along shortly"
She takes a deep breath and then turns to follow after Olaff. "Okay, what do you want to talk about?"
Once Shae finally gets back to camp it is sometime after dinner and with everything going on she is just emotionally exhausted. As she is walking by the main fire and Rel see's here, as if waiting for everyone to be around before making an announcement, she pauses as Rel comments about heading back then keeps walking, letting out a big yawn and replying "I will go, but for now I am off to bed, it has been a long day..."
Without another word she keeps on walking toward her shared wagon with Ahreni.
Shalelu is up bright and early, and she seems to be in a bit of a better mood than normal. Once the sun is up enough for the humans to see ok she starts to go and wake the others so they can get a move on. She figures after taking Ameiko to the old, destroyed town, they would be heading back to Sandpoint and she was keen to stop in to Galduria and the academy there to see if the gnome had made any discoveries.
Ahreni nods to Shalelu's request regarding privacy with a grin. "No One else has my nose. They not notice." She says simply. It's a fair poi t, Ahreni is usually so dishevelled that she doesn't look out of the ordinary at this point.
When Olaff approaches she nods and fades into the darkness, before promptly circling back around to watch the conversation. She stays at the very limit of her superb night vision, since overhearing isn't the point, but remains ready to charge if Noisemaker does something... foolish.
Shalelu, takes note of someone watching from the distance. While she can't make out the individual in the dark, she has a pretty good idea who it might be and briefly smirks. Either way, she isn't concerned, Olaff was the one that wanted privacy. She didn't care one way or the other.
As Shalelu follows him, Olaff takes his sheathed sword and throws it a couple feet away from him, opening his arms in order to show he is now unarmed. "This drragon thing inside o' ye... Vhat is yerr plan? Can ye contrrol it? Can ye kill it?"
"I ask this because ye know frrom vherre I come frrom... The Land o' the Linnorm Kings... Linnorrms arre drragons and ancient enemies o' me people. Ye need to underrstand how vorried I am vith the otherrs' safety. I respect ye Shalelu, so I'm giving ye the benefit o' the doubt."
Shalelu nonchalantly shrugs "Honestly... I don't know. I didn't even think something like this would happen so soon. The person I consulted made it sound like it would be months before there was any sort of manifestation of the curse..."
She lets out a deep sigh and takes a seat on a fallen log across the way from Olaff. "The only thing I am now certain of is that I will do everything in my power to control this. For now, this is a part of me and I'm not going to just give up and let it take control. I'm going to fight and master this curse if it is the last thing I do!"
She looks to Olaff, her gaze lingering a moment before she finally adds "I'm sorry for what it... I... did. I mean you didn't seem to really like her all that much anyway, but you still shared a past and maybe there could have been some sort of future, but it... I... took that away. Even if I wasn't in control it's still my fault." She pauses and gives Olaff a side long glance as she offhandedly remarks "Though if you had listened to me and left her in the cell until we knew it was safe, then that whole thing would have never occurred either..."
Shaking her head to herself she looks down to the ground "Sorry..."
Olaff shakes his head dismissively of her apologies. "Think o' Asta no morre... My memorry o' vhat be sharred togetherr is full vith mistrrust, rregrrets and sorrrow, and forr the gods, therre could be no futurre betveen us. Asta vas a brrave shieldmaiden, but that vas herr only good quality... She vas unhinged, selfish, grreedy and a dangerr to all who vas stupid enough to get involved vith herr, like a good frriend o' mine who I had to kill after she charrmed him to kill me."
"She attacked ye not to save the rrest o' us orr anything like that... She just vanted yerr drragon head to become a queen back in my Homeland... She attacked instead o' fleeing to the supposed child ve have togetherr and that she abandoned to rraid south... She got vhat she deserrved. I can see it now that my head has cooled."
Olaff pauses, remembering that he honestly could not cry to Asta's death. "Howeverr, ye still have a drragon inside ye... a dangerous monsterr that ye are avarre could kill us all. Ye plan to fight it and contrrol it, but vhat if ye can't?"
"Earrlierr ye asked them to kill ye, but ye must be avarre none o' them vill... They arre young and love ye as a frriend, sisterr orr even morre, but that is not my business. I rrespect ye. It is differrent, and I know vhat must be done if ye can't contrrol the drragon. I've even made an oath to do that, even if I vill have no pleasurre in doing so... If I live after such confrrontation I vill burry ye somevherre nice and vill prraise ye forr the varriorr and huntrress ye verre, not the drragon, and I vill not claim yerr death as a prrize forr me own gain. This all I'll do only if it is necessarry... And I believe both o' ve vill agrree that it needs to be done if ye fail to contrrol the drragon..."
Shalelu listens to the Ulfan's words and as he finishes she simply nods "If I can't control it and the dragon takes over, I hope I don't eat you so you can put me down... If I..." she points to herself "If this Shalelu, me, if I loose and am gone and only the dragon remains, do what you can to protect the others."
She stands up getting ready to leave and then turns back to Olaff "I don't plan to loose, but if I do it is a comfort to know you will do what must be done. There may be another way though, possibly a cure... I don't know. In any case, I will fight and not let this dragon get the best of me, one way or another..."
Olaff nods in agreement, glad that Shalelu saw his offer for what it was: a way out, not a threat. Before she could leave, however, it was his turn to ask for something. "Good... I'm glad ve arre in agrreement. Now I vant ye to make an oath do the same to me... I've been hearring the vhisperrs... I have none o' my kin to guarrd me and honestly I don't think the otherrs can stop me if I listen to them."
Shalelu turns back around and quirks her brow "Huh? Wait you want me to kill you if you become a threat to the others? Is there some curse on you we don't know about too?"
Thanara looks extremely nervous at the topic. Eventually she stammers ”I...I’m sorry, I just can’t. I can’t go back there...”
Relisha nods at Thanara's refusal.
"I would never expect you to," she says. "I don't expect anyone to come with us. But Ameiko is going and ... I won't let her go alone." She turns away to hide the blush on her face.
"Most call it a blessing actually, but I've seen it and know it is in fact most o' the time a death sentence... Ourr Lorrd in Irron, Gorrum, sometimes vhisperrs in ourr head thoughts o' rrage, varr, blood and violence. I'm hearrin' Him... Right now, his voice is telling me to grrab my svorrd and pierrce yerr rright thigh... Then, as ye rreach forr yerr bow, He tells me to push ye to the grround, step in yerr arrm and then slowly push my blade in yerr belly, drraging it up like a saw until I rreach yerr hearrt... Finally, as yerr blood gushes up, He tells me to drrink it and paint my face vith His marrk..."
He shakes his head, clearing his thoughts of such delightful bloodshed. "Some lucky few arre able to ignorre His vhisperrs most o' the time and only hearr them in battle, vhen it is trruly a blessing... Most of us can't and have no choice but to abandon theirr families and go to varr, vearrin' bearr pelts as the only arrmorr, both to brring fearr to the enemy and to varrn theirr allies that they arre not men animorre, but veapons, and vhat they trruly vish to die vithout causing not too much harrm to theirr kin... And yet, some simply give up and embrace His vorrds, killing vhomeverr comes in theirr sight."
"In my land, I vould seek a trrusted frriend and ask him to vatch me... But I only have ye herre. If I lose myself to His vorrds, do not hesitate... Put an arrow in my head, but aim it trrue, forr ye might have only a single chance." As Olaff says this, it is obvious that he is feeling truly miserable. "I'll distance myself frrom the otherrs, at least until I know in vhich o' the categorries o' crrazyness my mind vill endurre..."
Shalelu nods to Olaff and then looks off to where someone had been hiding and listening in to their conversation, the looks back to him. "If it comes to it, I will do what is needed to keep the others safe. You have my word on that. You may want to tell the others though..." she says the last part with a shrug as she turns to head back to camp.
Olaff retrieves his sword before approaching Shalelu. He then spits on his hand before offering it to her on order to seal the arrangement. "I vill tell them, but not now. Knowin' ye have a drragon in ye is enough bad news forr now... Knowin' the two prrotectorrs o' the carravan have made an arrrangement to kill each otherr sounds like a bad idea."
He shrugs before joining Shalelu to return to the camp. "The vhisperrs arre underr contrrol forr now. I'll let ye know vhen they become morre serrious."
Ahreni ghosts back into camp shortly before Shalelu and Olaff and is in place by the fire when they make their way into the light. She shoots Shalelu a brief look and then returns to her work, cleaning her teeth with a twig.
A little while she moves over to her big brother and speaks quietly. "Sandy. What is love?"
Sandru quirks a brow at Ahreni before waiting to see if she was serious. Quickly realizing that Ahreni is not a jokester, he nods to her and looks away into the distance "Cub, love is a complicated thing that is more than one thing. Let's say it is when your heart in your chest beats an extra beat for someone else. It takes many shapes and forms, but you will know what it is when it overtakes you."
Turning back to her, he asks "What love calls to you, Cub?"
Early, before most of the rest of the camp is awake Shalelu slips into the wagon where Rel and Ameiko are sleeping. She gently shakes Ameiko awake "Ameiko... we need to talk..."
Ameiko nods to Shalelu "Yes, of course. I'm anxious to get to Brinewall, but we can certainly talk before. Come, walk with me."
Thanara stays out of the return trip to Brinewall, hanging back under Savah's care and feeding. Ameiko states it will not be a multi-day expedition and she will be ready to set out later this afternoon.
Sandru accompanies all of the party except for Ameiko who return to the castle and they find it very much like they left it. Giving a quick grand tour of the building, she takes time to study rooms where signs could be found of what happened there and the history of her family. After several hours she announces she's seen enough and thanks you for helping her original reach her goal of seeing the Brinewall Castle.
Once she returns to the group she gathers everyone together to make an announcement "Well, it would appear that our journey and quest to reach Brinewall is now complete. We set out to find this place and find out what happened which has been accomplished thanks to you all. You have my undying grattitude in helping me uncover the secrets of my past and now this task is complete, I have another favor to ask. While we could turn around and head back to Sandpoint, I think there are still questions that require further investigation. There is ... something pulling me towards my homeland. There are forces at play here far greater than I could have ever imagined."
"It is a lot of me to ask, but I will do so. I would like to continue our journey north and not return back to Sandpoint but head towards Kalsgard to find this ancient blade and locate a guide to take us over the Crown of The World. Should this journey be too much for you , we can send whatever wagons of people who wish to return back home to Sandpoint with enough supplies and coin to do so."
"Will you travel with me once more to see what this next piece of the mystery of my past holds?" she asks
They walk for awhile and Shae keeps quiet until Ameiko eventually prods about what she wanted to talk about. Shae pulls Ameiko aside to a quiet spot away from any prying ears and then goes on to tell her what actually happened at the keep, how her curse is worse than she thought and, while she plans to master it and not let the dragon inside control her, she fears she may be a threat to the others. She tells her everything she knows about the curse and meeting with the gnome in Galduria. Overall, she just wants her best friend to know what is going on, especially if something should ever happen where she looses control around the caravan.
Shalelu frowns a bit knowing this means not returning to Galduria, but is the first to speak up "I will do what I can to see you safely to your homeland. You are my dearest friend and I don't have many of those, so I will keep you safe to the best of my ability." She pauses and hesitates before continuing, remembering everything she told Ameiko just hours before before she adds "If you'll have me..."
Relisha wakes as Shalelu enters Ameiko's wagon. Rubbing her eyes, she looks up nervously, but when it seems that the elf's goal is simple conversation, she rubs Ameiko affectionately on the arm and burrows back down below the warm blankets.
~~~~~
"There's nothing for me back in Sandpoint, Ameiko. I know that my destiny is to follow you," the tiefling pronounces with barely concealed emotion. "I will follow you as long as you wish."
Olaff, who had been keeping himself away from the others the whole day, approaches the group to announce that he will also follow Ameiko. "I vill accompany ye to Kalsgarrd forr surre. Beyond therre, howeverr, I can not prromise now... as ye might know, therre is the small chance o' me havin' a child back in me home... if Asta vas telling the trruth this time, I can't leave me child behind vhile making this grrand jourrney, but also can't bring him vith me, since it vould be too dangerrous..."
Ahreni looks to catch her brothers eye and, when she does so, nods firmly. She's ready to follow Ameiko (or is it Shalelu?)
Sandru nods as well "Of course I will lead you there, Ameiko.
I still have a hard time swallowing it. So your old man was an emperor of sorts? I mean, your dad, Lonjiku, was no hero, and your brother... Would he have been the one who would have been the next emperor? And why was your old man here, instead of on the throne of Minkai?!?"
Ameiko is taken aback by Sandru's straight talk: "W- Well... Y-Yes... Yes!" She looks down for a moment, thinking, then looks back at him "I am not Empress, I am in Exile, and as such, I must take risks in claiming my family's legacy. I appreciate your concerns, but I won't be able to free my people if all I'm good at is telling them to revolt from the safety of a wagon. I should think that bad things are going to try and find me soon."
She moves her head to look at each of you "Destiny has called me and you to take on an impossible journey. On the other side of Golarion, thousands of people we don't know live one day at a time, with the fleeting hope that the rightful heir of their kingdom will come back and vanquish oppression. How strange a destiny, but we all feel it behooves us to face it with an open heart."
Looking around she adds "I should make sure I'm not by myself when wandering. You'll call it a guard, I'll call it a friend, if it's all the same to you. Someone should probably always be with me?"
Sandru smiles, "Well, let's move! North it is. We'll make camp again in a few hours, but for now, let us listen to the fair warnings and put some distance between us and Brinewall Castle. I still can't believe were now the only people in Varisia who have any idea of what happened here."
Koya laughs to the large Ulfen, "Olaff, it looks like we're going to give you a ride home after all!"
Looking around she adds "I should make sure I'm not by myself when wandering. You'll call it a guard, I'll call it a friend, if it's all the same to you. Someone should probably always be with me?"
Relisha looks pensive for a moment. She opens her mouth to say something, but then thinks better of it.
The tiefling finds Shalelu after dinner as she's readying to head out to walk the perimeter of the camp. "C-could I ask something of you?" she asks nervously. "I'd ask Olaff, but I think he would just laugh at me and tell me how pathetic I am." She looks up at the elf, and the fear is visible there that Shalelu will do the same.
She pulls from behind her back, a battered scimitar.
"Would you show me how to use this?"
Thanara listens anxiously as Ameiko asks them all to cross the Crown of the World with her, casting eyes towards Savah to get a read on her, but she remains expressionless. So she turns her gaze to the turf as she thinks.
Eventually she speaks up meekly ”I’ll go. Everything I care about is here...” her eyes move between all the members of the group. When they meet with Olaff’s, her face reddens a bit and she quickly turns her eyes to someone else.
When Amieko's call to aid doesn't seem to specifically mention Shae not going, due to her curse, she smiles a bit glad to see that her friend, like the others don't see her as broken, like she herself continues to struggle against.
As she calls for a guard Shae suggests "It may be worth having a few people to keep you safe at all times. I can do so as long as we are together, but should we need to split up, it would be wise to have others here in camp as well. Perhaps Sandru or Savah?"
When Rel approaches her to ask her help in training with the weapon Shalelu purses her lips "I can do my best, but as I'm sure you are aware my skills are much more focused on a bow than a blade. I will do what I can, but as you alluded to, Olaff would likely be a better teacher in regards to your blade."
Olaff gives Koya a courtesy smile in return to her comment. "I vish it could be trrue, aunt, but motherr made me make an oath not to fight Irrrisen anymorre... I'm no viking, I vas a varrriorr frrom Blackrraven Hall, but I can no longer rreturrn therre."
"If I do have a child vaiting forr me, I'll be prretty f$$$ed forr a vhile..."
Later as the others mention about a guard for Ameiko, Olaff also makes a suggestion. "Once ve rreach Kalsgarrd, ye could hirre some o' my kin to serrve as yerr perrsonal guarrds. Not surre ye hearrd about the famous Ulfen Guarrd... if they arre good enough forr the Grrand Prrince o' Taldorr, they might be good enough to prrotect ye as vell."