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Archives: A New Balance

Chapter 10: Morning on the Roads of Alania

    Nessa had woken up long before it was his turn to take watch, bad dreams of Jonas’ death haunted his sleep and he found himself both unable and unwilling to doze off again. As dawn broke the young man was deep into his sword training, he didn’t know any exercises so he made up his own with heavy rocks tied to his sword.

    Sweat poured down his face even though it was only a moderate exertion, he didn’t want to be exhausted for the journey ahead and his lack of sleep would make it difficult enough. Nessa looked to the sun and estimated it was just about morning, one by one the boy gently woke up members of his party.

* * *

    Aiyanna groaned lightly before forcing herself to open her eyes. She had been wandering around in her nightmare before she woke up early morning and then went back to more peaceful sleep. Aiyanna dragged herself up and poured some of her water on to a shallow dish and washed her face with it. Then she proceeded to straighten her clothing, lightly murmured a spell, and the fire burned brighter. There was nothing quite like nice warm fire in the morning. Aiyanna grabbed her staff and got ready to do some morning exercise before breakfast.

* * *

    Mia woke with a start when Nessa came to her, but she quickly relaxed. “Mornin’,” she murmured to the young man before yawning and stretching. Lucied slept next to her, having returned late at night from hunting during Dralock’s watch.

    The elf rose out of bed and straighted her gown before going over to Azala and poking him in the ribs with her toe. “Hey, you alive?” she asked, ready to jump aside if he decided to kick or punch at her, which was the reason she decided to poke him with her foot instead of her hand.

    With a groan, the common elf’s ears twitched irritably, it was fairly obvious what type of mood he was in. “You know, if it wasn’t for this raging head ache, I would probably be smiting you right now...over and over and over again...” he grumbled, holding his head and rising. “I still probably could, but the amount of pain I would suffer from summoning any of my big spells wouldn’t be worth it.”

    Mia tried to look her most innocent when Azala woke. She wasn’t really worried about him ‘smiting’ her, he was just her friend and she didn’t want him upset with her. “I never meant to hurt you, Azala. I thought you’d block or dodge it,” she said apologetically. “Thalia can heal you if you’re really hurting that bad. Just don’t try to grope her,” Mia finished with a smirk.

    “Don’t give me that look! I invented that look!” The common elf said, rubbing his head and wincing slightly. Nothing major, just a headache maker for a while. “No groping eh? But wheres the fun in that?”

    Still rubbing his head, he got up and his ears twitched as he picked up several conversations. The sorceress, although cute, still irked him a bit. At least she hadn’t burned more living wood. ”So, why are you really tagging along with this bunch? I wouldn’t imagine that your hanging around for the company, and none of them seem to be your taste in men or women.

* * *

    The priestess woke and gave a groan of discomfort. She had never slept on the ground before, or at least not since she was a child, and it was definitely not a pleasant experience. It felt as if she would have bruises on her hip, ribs, and shoulder from the side she had slept on; not to mention the tension in her back. Her golden hair was mused, but it only managed to frame her delicate face better.

    Thalia stood on her blankets and stretched her back, leaning side to side and rubbing at the sore spots. She considered casting a spell on herself, but it would be a waste of energy. Over the course of the year, she would probably spend most of it sleeping on the ground. It was best she got used to it.

    She went to wake Avion, who had fallen asleep against the log they sat on last night. How could someone sleep sitting up? It seemed so uncomfortable. Thalia laid her hand on his shoulder and shook him gently. “Avion, time to wake up,” she cooed.

    Avion let out a roaring yawn that fit his dwarven half, at the gentle cooing from Thalia. He opened his eyes and smiled brightly. “Morning Thalia.”

    Morning or weariness never seemed to daunt Avion. He hauled himself to his feet and brushed the dirt from his behind then looked around the camp. Having used nothing as bedding, he was ready to go. Picking up his massive maul, he swung it up, resting it on his shoulder. “How late in the day is it? I’m used to being awake with the dawn.”

    He looked at everyone at everyone in the game and smiled brightly, calling out. “Good morning everyone.” He was unusually cheerful this morning. Stretching his arms elicited a loud series of ‘pops’ as his muscles adjusted themselves. Another day in the saddle...he wasn’t looking forward to trying to saddle that damn horse. If worse came to worse, he knew how to ride bear back. Nothing said ‘country-bumpkin’ like bare back. He grunted at the thought as it raced through his mind. “I’m hungry...” He smiled at Thalia.

    Thalia turned toward the eastern horizon and saw that the sun was still low in the sky. “Oh, it’s not too long after dawn. The sorceress is cooking breakfast,” she replied to Avion.

    Thalia looked around camp at the mercenaries rising and preparing for the day and a thought came to her. “Maybe you should ask someone for a little training while breakfast is cooking? Maybe the warrior woman, or the dwarf?” the priestess suggested.

* * *

    Veriss woke up later than the others. Her body needed rest that she had deprived it of. The others let her sleep. If her wound was to heal properly, rest would be a requirement. When she did rise, others were already busy around the camp. Without a hint of grogginess, she too rose to clean up the camp site and prepare for the day’s travel ahead.

* * *

    Aiyanna stretched to get her body ready for the travel ahead. She noticed others getting up. “Good morning everyone,” she said rather energetically as she pulled out some foodstuffs to prepare breakfast. The fire burned brightly even though the logs had burnt out. She wasn’t ready to go into another fight over living or dead fire wood.

    “Nessa, don’t do that to a fine sword, you should get use to its weight. Swords from mages guild forge are special type of fine swords,” Aiyanna casually said over her shoulder as she glanced at the younger man practicing.

    “Yes ma’am,” Nessa replied to Aiyanna and then cut the heavy rocks from his sword. He heard that knights trained with wooden swords that were three times heavier than real ones to improve their speed. But by then it was apparent to Nessa that he carried an enchanted sword, not in the same way as the holy sword, but there was certainly some magic weaved into it. Perhaps the rules just weren’t the same for that one.

    “And don’t call me ma’am. I am only twenty, you make me feel like an old lady. If you want I can be your sparring partner while breakfast is cooking,“ Aiyanna said as she carefully poured oats to make porridge and set it to gentle boil. When she finished, she found her daggers and went to join Nessa. “I think these will serve me perfectly well for quick sparring.”

    Nessa chuckled slightly at Aiyanna’s objections but decided not to egg her on further. Instead the boy drew his sword and readied himself, he wasn’t used to sparring with real blades and made a mental note to be careful. Accidentally killing your employer couldn’t be good for one’s reputation as a mercenary.

    “Ready whenever you are.” Nessa then developed a cocky smirk, now he was egging her on. “That is, if you think those butter knives are gonna do the trick.”

    Aiyanna smiled sweetly, a little too sweet to be normal. “Oh don’t worry, these butter knives are very special butter knives.”

    Aiyanna then launched her self at the young man; she smiled. She hoped he had think she was foolish to attack first. She brought her right arm in a back arch, a sword movement she had seen in her master. Her left arm was bent, ready at her side. She was going to make sure he learned that daggers can be very dangerous weapons. She was only a few inches away from slashing his upper arm.

    Nessa tensed with anticipation as Aiyanna charged towards him. The boy opted to use his superior range and took a wide swing at the mage, as predicted it was fast and powerful, but not even close to precise. Even if she had held perfectly still he might not have hit her, and as she moved Nessa missed completely and left himself wide open and unguarded. Idiot! he thought to himself. You still think you’re using a claymore.

* * *

    Lady Trelem watched the two preparing to spar for a moment. Nessa, she could already tell, did not have a lot of formal training. Veriss couldn’t say the same for Aiyanna, since she did not know what proper technique was for knife fighting. The knight glanced over at everyone else. Most of the work was already in hand or was done. That left her to herself. A recuperative sleep had left her in peace with herself, so meditation was not necessary that morning.

    She dropped to the ground. She would exercise, if nothing else. The giantess wrapped her injured arm around her back and placed her good one against the ground. With a muffled grunt, she pushed her massive body up with one arm slowly, then brought it back down slowly. Veriss closed her eyes as she did this, focusing solely on the work of her single arm. The muscles on her arm, which were always prominent, bulged at the strain. She repeated this without ever touching the ground or stopping for a rest.

* * *

    “What sort of ulterior motive do you think I have?” Mia replied, hands on her hips. “I heard there was an interesting adventure out there, so I took it. What more motive do I need?”

    Mia turned to check on her clothes that she had laid out to dry. They were still damp, but Mia could fix that. Raising her hands in a summoning gesture, she spoke, “Fairies of the wood, draw the water from my clothes to nurture your growth.”

    A few tiny glowing fairies appeared from the grass near the log Mia’s clothing rested on and gathered around the articles. The wet spots began to quickly disappear. Once the spirits had taken the water and absorbed it into the log, Mia thanked them and picked up her belongings. The water would nourish the pants that would later grow from the rotting wood.

    Giving her pants a good shake, she stepped into them and pulled them up underneath her skirt.

    “Cause we’re more human than we like to think. We each have our own vices, mine is women and knowledge,” the common elf said, motioning to where most everyone was gathering to watch the sparring match. “Yours are to numerous to state. Speaking of which, you can’t get mad at me until at least tomorrow. This headache is proof of that!”

    Azala noticed exactly who was fighting, and he gave a rather evil smile. “Well, you don’t see that every day... Time for me to get some revenge on your employer. Don’t worry, I won’t hurt her... well, beyond her pride anyway,” he stated, ruffling Mia’s hair—a habit he had picked up and never gotten rid of—before making his way to the sparring circle.

    “You humans, I swear you are far to obsessed with hacking each other up into itty bitty pieces. Besides, who needs a sword when one can bind the enemy in nigh indestructible bonds of wind? Its ludicrous,” he said to nobody in particular, and a rather oxymoronic statement it was considering at his hip hung a sword similar in structure to any elven ranger carried.

    Aiyanna stopped her attack mid way before she struck Nessa and landed gracefully back to the ground. And looked at Azala, “I do prefer to use magic but it doesn’t hurt to learn to fight physically as well. And if you are looking to kick my butt, you are welcome to try but I won’t fight with an elf.” Aiyanna flicked her finger discreetly and her staff flew to her waiting hand. She turned back to Nessa, “I am sorry Nessa, but we might have to continue this when others are kind enough not to interrupt us.”

    Nessa expected to pay for his lack of foresight, but at the last moment Aiyanna pulled away and called off the match. Nessa stared at the mage in surprise for a moment before sheathing his sword.

    “Whatever.” he said trying to sound indifferent, though he was deeply disappointed in himself. His clumsy attack ended the match before it had even begun, he knew full well that he would have lost.

* * *

    The giantess continued her exercises off to the side. She kept a keen eye on the events by Aiyanna, but did not care whether or not they practiced. She did not understand why Aiyanna would not fight an elf. Perhaps she had not heard the entire conversation or paid enough of a keen eye to comprehend the events.

    Lady Trelem sat up quietly and stretched for her sword. She dragged the massive item to her side and pulled the sheath away. The blade was custom-made to match Veriss’ extraordinary muscle mass, size, and style. It was off balance, which actually helped her. It had more weight and had much more cutting and side surface area. Most people could not wield such a weapon simply because of its weight distribution, but it fit her fine.

    Veriss wondered when they were leaving. Sitting around got people nowhere. Veriss never took more than an hour to break camp and get back on the move, but it seemed like this camp would not work as such.

* * *

    “Ahem, dear, you surely think to highly of yourself. If I wanted to smite you down, you would be smote. And none of your body guards, that includes Mia, would be able to stop me from doing so,” the common elf said casually. “What I lack in melee prowess, I more than make up in shamanist abilities. Besides, I could still, as you put it, human, ‘kick your butt’ without magic. For one thing, that charge was predictable, and reckless. A swordsman of merit would know well enough to step aside and counter with a thrust to your ribs. Knives are mediocre melee weapons, best used for throwing,” he chuckled, unsheathing his sword and making the same movement he had just talked about. “As for your sorcery, you show the mastery of a drunken idiot. Any sorcerer worth his or her salt would chastise you for how recklessly you use magic. I studied enough sorcery in my travels to know that one doesn’t arbitrarily use it for minor tasks. Using a fire spell to start that fire? Or to pick up that staff of yours? Do you use your magic to bath yourself to? I’m surprised another of your ilk hasn’t bound your power to keep from hurting yourself.”

    Veriss bit her lip. She did not like how the tone of the current conversation was going. Every word that came out of that elf’s mouth was full of insult and harshness where it was not needed. A spark of emotion struck her, but she suppressed it swiftly. Veriss knew well her trigger and she would not let Azala start poking it. It needed to end. Veriss decided that she shouldn’t need to concentrate just to stop from attacking her companions. She stood, putting her massive weapon onto her shoulder and walked swiftly up behind the elf.

    The massive woman tapped Azala on the shoulder from behind. “I would request that you change your tone of voice.” She could feel Hyuri scratching at the very edges of her mind, yet she did not allow the spirit any leniency. The warrioress stood for a few seconds, thinking about how to express herself correctly. “It... unnerves me.” Veriss explained no more. Instead, she simply stood there, towering over the elf, her sword hanging limply over her shoulder. She looked down at him. Her eyes were devoid of anything human. Simply staring into them drew chills out of most.

    Aiyanna only stopped from openly attacking Azala by Veriss’s intervention. “Leave now or mind your own business, elf.” Aiyanna struggled inside to stay calm, without showing it outside. She never much encountered that many elves in her life and they were very snobbish at best. Aiyanna lost her appetite for breakfast, as she looked at meal that was finished. “Breakfast is done, if anyone wants it. I will be back in a little while.”

    Then Aiyanna walked off, mumbling about rude and snobbish elves. She hoped that Azala would leave the group before she came back.

* * *

    Mia turned her back to the camp as she changed tops. She heard Azala and Aiyanna arguing again and rolled her eyes, but there wasn’t much she could do until she laced up her vest. Azala did have a point, Aiyanna used her magic far too wantonly, but the sorceress was her employer and it wasn’t her place to tell her where she was right or wrong. That was up to her peers.

    Once she was dressed, Mia turned and stormed across the campsite. “Azala! Do you want another welt?” she shouted, then switched to speaking in an admonishing tone in elven. “{I don’t care what you think about Aiyanna. Personally, I don’t think she’s very mature either, but she hired me for protection, and that is just what I’m going to do. Leave her alone, or leave the group.}” Mia asserted her final statement by poking her finger into Azala’s chest.

    “{Ah, you’re so cute when you get angry,}” He said with a sickeningly sweet smile, brushing off the finger with a motion. “{However, can you protect her from herself? I only have a rudimentary understanding of sorcery, but I do know shamanism. Arbitrarily using magic isn’t a good idea, we elves know that shamanism is taxing on us, but shamanism is entreating, and the spirits come to us because we are kin. What does that say about sorcery? Forcing something to one’s will sounds a great deal more taxing than asking for assistance, correct?}” he replied in elvish, wagging his finger from side to side. “{Me, I don’t want to see what happens with sorcery when the mage loses consciousness, I still have another six hundred years I’d like to see before I return to the land of the faeries, and unless I’m mistaken, so would you.}” He smirked, doing the same action that Mia had done, although he was smart enough to stop his finger a few inches from her chest.

    Nessa raised an eyebrow at Azala’s strong comments. On some level he agreed, coming from a life of labor it seemed unearthly to do simple tasks with a wave of the hand. But even by Nessa’s unrefined standards the elf displayed a sickening lack of tact, especially on a matter he was never asked to comment on in the first place. He almost fired off vulgarities reserved only for the people that truly tore at his nerves, but Veriss and Mia beat him to it.

    Instead Nessa gave a solid shoulder check to the elf as he walked past. If Azala wanted to fight about it then fine, Nessa had started brawls over less and it’d be nice to see Azala do something other than complain.

    Another spark of emotion hit Veriss’s heart as Nessa practically shoved Azala out of the way. The hostility between the entire group only encouraged the spirit of rage and anger to prod at the warrior’s will. Veriss knew well that Hyuri would not break through with nothing but this altercation, but the hostility among friends was unnecessary. “I will only ask once more,” Veriss stated solidly. “Please end your disrespectful comments,” she requested of Azala with her deep, monotonous voice. “Let them be and let it go. I will ask nothing of you but this.”

    Mia clenched her teeth in frustration as Nessa intentionally bumped against Azala. He was no match for Azala, and a waste of skill to fight, hopefully Azala realized that. Veriss pleaded—as much as was possible in a voice devoid of emotion—for them to stop. If the berserker was so concerned, there had to be something bothering her. Mia could only guess what it was. “Veriss, Nessa, why don’t you get yourselves some breakfast and I’ll talk to Azala?” Mia said, looking over her shoulder at her party members.

    The soldier nodded in respect to Mia and turned away. Simply not looking at the arrogant elf helped her keep everything in check. With each step, that spirit became farther and farther away from her heart. She approached Nessa as she let her large sword down. “I would ask that you join me for a meal, Nessa,” Veriss said as darkly as usual. She did not wait for a reply. The warrioress approached the fire and sat, partaking in the food before her.

    Nessa slowly walked away from the group, half expecting - and silently begging - the elf to attack his rear. It didn’t fail to dawn on the boy that Azala was likely several times his age, experience, and skill. But there were a lot of people in Lodoss who could beat him, Azala was not so special.

    Not long after Veriss caught up to him and invited Nessa to breakfast. The mere mention of food made him realize that aside from a small chunk of dried meat he hadn’t eaten since the morning before. “Gladly,” he replied as his scowl washed away and joined the warrior woman.

    Thalia watched the conflict from the campfire, but she didn’t intervene. Azala didn’t fit the aloof, noble perception she had of elves, neither did Mia for that matter. Azala was lecherous and crass, and seemed to enjoy pushing people’s buttons. He seemed more human than anything.

    The priestess filled two bowls of porridge—one for herself, and the other for Avion—and sat beside her personal warder. It seemed the conflict with Azala had cut the sparring session short. Once they finished eating, Thalia assumed they would be on the road; Avion and the other young man would get their training later, hopefully.

* * *

    Taking Azala by the arm, she led him a few paces away so they could speak without disturbing anyone else. Mia began speaking in elvish again, “{There are some things a person must learn on their own. Confronting Aiyanna will only make her more stubborn, but maybe she’s taken your words to heart. There is nothing we can do but let her make her own mistakes. I’m her body guard, not her mentor. And you are neither.}”

    “{Yes, that is true. Its also why I don’t care at all about her, she can go off and get splattered by a troll for all I care. You, on the other hand, are a friend. This display of power will only serve to jeopardize your lives and those around her,}” he replied in elvish, in a slightly annoyed tone. “{Of course, I’m probably not going to head along with you. I was traveling with the priestess and the dwarf only because they were heading in the same direction as I. I believe they plan to head along with you, which is the opposite direction of where I intended to go. This leads me to an impasse. I don’t have anything important in the way I was headed, but Aiyanna is also not going there... a major plus. Of course, I don’t entirely trust you with her, shes likely to blow herself up before you reach your destination, which is a major problem to my conscious to not go with you.}”

    Crossing his arms, his right ear twitched irritably. “{Of course, there is the third option. I hire you for a time, and you relinquish your contract with her. We then say good bye to the whole mess, and not have to worry about haughty little witches. What do you think?}”

* * *

    Aiyanna wasn’t feeling exactly best with what happened yesterday, but that elf really pushed at her patience to the limit. She grudgingly walked back as her stomach started to complain. She saw Azala and Mia talking and the rest eating. Aiyanna grabbed a bowl from her back pack and gently poured herself some porridge. She could feel the tension but she wasn’t going to help it by dragging the unpleasant situation on either. She was frustrated; she wondered how her mother and masters ever learned to be so patient. Maybe it came with age or hardships. But what happened years ago didn’t help her to learn patience either. Her mind wandered around, leaving the porridge to go cold in her hands as she stopped eating.

* * *

    “{Azala, as fun as that sounds, I took this job, and I’m not going to just ditch these people, even if you’re ‘technically’ hiring me. I want to keep an eye on the berserker, and I still intend to investigate the mission that started all this,}” Mia replied. The elven woman looked back at the rest of her party gathered around the campfire. Aiyanna had returned, thankfully, which meant she didn’t need to go find her once she finished talking to Azala.

    “{Strikes you as odd that she, a berserker, hasn’t killed anyone in your group yet?}” Like most elves, he was not fond of berserkers. Hyuri was a dangerous spirit, it could make a warrior ignore all pain and fear of death, but it also drove them mad. “{Whats this mission eh? I thought it was just to serve as a body guard to the brat.}”

    “{Some berserkers learn to control themselves—for the most part. She’s been in battle and kept her cool. I suspect she has good control,}” Mia replied. “{And why are you so persistent in asking about my mission? I told you about it last night, or did that flask to the head screw up your memory?}”

    “{Hmm, I don’t know. That explanation last night just seemed rather... short to me,}” he said, crossing his arms. If there was more to it, she wasn’t telling, and he wouldn’t push the subject to far. “{I’d be wary of that berserker. What could be misconstrued as ‘control’ could be just bottling it up for it to gather in malice. My personal opinion is that if released regularly, the Hyuri spirit won’t do as much damage as if it was held in. But who knows? Most of the time we just kill or flee the berserker without consequence.}”

    “{You think I’m an idiot? Of course I’m wary of a berserker! You speak of her as if she’s an object, but she’s a living, breathing person who has a terrible curse. If you were in her place, do you think that you would want to release it regularly, lose control of yourself, and threaten those you care about?}” Mia replied with a rebuke. “{So what are you going to do? Go on alone, or stay with us and do your best to not piss people off?}”

    “{Don’t get sanctimonious with me, Mia. After all, you’ve been ‘studying’ her like an animal who has caught your interest,}” Azala said dryly, crossing his arms and raising his nose slightly. “{Remember, pride comes before the fall...}” He grumbled, looking back at the group and staring at Veriss. “{Did you forget what I just said, Mia? I’ll go along with you as long as it suits me. As soon as your employer gets snippy with me, I’ll take off. And I’ll be wary of the berserker. First time she loses her cool, I’ll use my most powerful spell without thinking twice. Unless you have some sort of item that represses Hyuri’s influence on the host, I’m not going to risk my neck to save an already tortured soul.}”

    “Feh,” Mia said, waving her hand dismissively as she turned away. “I’m just going to go get myself some breakfast,” she said, heading back to the campfire.

* * *

    As Thalia ate, her blue eyes wandered the camp, occasionally falling on Mia and Azala. She could hear them talking in a beautiful language—elven, she assumed—which she did not know a word of. They didn’t sound very angry anymore, but that was all Thalia could tell. She hoped they were saying goodbyes.

    eyes drifted across the camp and realized one face she wasn’t seeing, and one extraordinary horse. The half-elf, Song, was no where to be found, nor was her pegasus. The small camp she had set up away from the main was gone.

    “Did Song leave?” Thalia asked the group around the fire.

    The dwarf spoke up for the first time all morning. He spent the morning packing his bedroll and taking care of other duties around the camp, and now was slowly eating a bowl of Aiyanna’s porridge. “The half-elf girl? She packed up and flew off on her pegasus in the middle of the night. I tried to ask her why, but she just glared at me, didn’t say a word,” Dralock replied.

    Veriss Trelem, a women who once held the graces of being a daughter to a lord in Alania, sat with her rather unbecoming companions by the fire. Nessa had clashed with this elf character that Mia seemed to know. The knight thought that Azala was nothing more than trouble, but her employer thought otherwise. Veriss decided that, as usual, she would say nothing about it to Mia.

    Nessa and Veriss sat in silence for most of the meal-time. Nessa probably thought Veriss was ignoring him, but she was thinking about how to express what she wanted to say. Her thoughts were far too uniform for something as deep as what she was hoping to convey to the young man. Finally, words came to her. “A true warrior knows that when battle can be avoided, it should be so. Bravery, pride, and anger...” she said, pausing at the word that drove her, the very word that kept her from following her own philosophy, “ should not cloud the decision to do battle or to keep peace. It takes someone worthy of the word ‘hero’ to understand this and act accordingly.”

    Veriss hoped he understood what she was trying to say. She knew that he was ready to start a fight over Azala’s lack of kindness and respect. She wanted to avoid such occurrences, whether she was involved or not.

    “I hope you’re not telling me to be afraid of him.” said Nessa, apparently missing Veriss’ point. Though he tried not to sound offended. “Unless Azala knows I’m willing to stand up for myself then what’s to stop him from walking all over me?” Nessa’s opinion reflected his former life in a remote village, constantly threatened by goblins, bandits, and a greedy baron. If you chose not to fight you could watch everything burn to the ground, only for it to happen again as soon as you rebuilt it. Or you could fight back and maybe die, but at least it will be for something and not of something. This is what kept Caena safe, the farmers haven’t had to fight in almost a decade because it was well known that they were willing to fight. The mere fact that they wouldn’t roll over and die was enough to keep most bandits away. Fight back. That’s what his father taught him, no matter how outmatched you think you are you always fight back. The alternative is always much worse.

    Aiyanna neatly stacked her bowl and spoon near the other bowls and dragged out a thick leather bound book. Aiyanna started to write into her journal, which she filled in every second or third day. She could pass her time with this, until the others were ready to clean up and get moving.

    The elven woman sat down cross legged next to fire and served herself some of the last bit of porridge. “Azala will still follow us,” she informed the group. “But he’ll keep his opinions to himself. He just wants to look out for all of us.”

    She was aware that many of her companions wouldn’t be happy with that, but Azala would follow them whether they liked it or not. There wasn’t much Mia could do besides get in a fight with her friend, and she didn’t want that.

    Veriss shook her head slowly. “To show that you are wise enough not to start unnecessary battles would... show that you are better than he. By letting him excite you, you show him that you are weaker of heart and mind. That is worse than being weak of body.”

    The warrior’s head fell, thinking. She wanted to say more... to elaborate it, but she could not find any feeling to drive it. She hoped Nessa would understand better. She was trying her best to imitate normal people. She chose words that seemed like there should be emotion involved. Although her voice could not convey them, she hoped he could imagine that there was something there.

    Nessa bit his lower lip and tried to process Veriss’ lecture. As hard as he tried the boy still couldn’t see the logic in her words, at least not as they concerned him. Veriss was a strong warrior, she probably had the luxury of choosing her battles. Nessa however was still a novice, he felt he still needed to prove his worth, if not to others then certainly to himself. How could he do that if he ducked out of every conflict?

    “Whatever,” he said once more. That had become the word he used whenever he tried to sound indifferent, but so far it was pretty clear each time that he was troubled.

    Veriss finished her meal in silence. Nessa was not receptive to her words. It appeared that he was not interested in them after all. If that was the case, the lady knight decided, she would not bother him further with a warrior’s attempt at philosophy. When she finished, she placed the dish with the others and sat across from Nessa by the fire. The knight closed her eyes and began the familiar form of meditation that she did so often. It was elven in nature. It was a common position and form made for relaxation and intense inner understanding. It was supposed to create inner peace, which was exactly what Veriss had always needed. Despite her condition, she believed that all warriors should practice it. It helped her in more ways than one.

* * *

    Aiyanna raised her eyebrow first at Mia’s speech, “As long as he keeps his opinions to himself, that will be fine.” She looked at her journal and pondered about what elves were really like. She hadn’t encountered more five of them in her entire life, mainly near the Mirror Forest, but not around this area. Maybe it was good for her to take this trip, to see this world filled with things she didn’t understand.

    Mia practically shoveled the porridge into her mouth, eating quickly so they could get on the road. Every one else had eaten, and they didn’t need to dawdle here any longer than was necessary. Once she scrapped the last bit of bloated grain from her bowl, she passed it to Aiyanna who had stacked the others and hopped to her feet.

    “Alright everyone, let’s get going! Pack up if you haven’t already, we’re hitting the road as soon as possible,” Mia ordered the mercenaries and moved to her sleeping spot where she left her belongings. She was ready for the most part, there were only a few more things she had to tuck away that she had left out when the conflict with Azala started.

    Nessa finished the rest of his food with an impressively massive gulp and began packing his modest belongings. As he did, the boy tried once more to grasp Veriss’ lecture. He felt bad for dismissing sincere advice, advice that he desperately needed as a novice. But he wasn’t ready for that lesson, for that he would still need to learn what it means to be a warrior rather than a thug. But in time he would understand. Nessa’s path had barely began, in time the answers would come.

    Veriss’ eyes blinked open at Mia’s summons. It took the knight a moment to fully remove herself from the strong form of meditation that she practiced. Quietly, she stood and began to gather what little she owned. Her horse was investigating a tree, as he usually would do. The warrioress gathered her armor and hooked everything into place over her chain mail and prepared to depart.

    Aiyanna poured a little amount of water from one of the two water skins she carried. She was really too lazy to go to the creek again, so she carefully controlled the water’s motion to get much wash out of it as possible. With that done, she packed up all the bowls, snuffed out the fire and covered the pit with nearby soil. Aiyanna lifted her back pack to her back and adjusted it, getting ready to go. Her mana had returned fully and she felt much better.

    Thalia and Avion quickly prepared to leave on Mia’s order. Thalia rolled up her blankets, attached them to her saddlebags, then she and Avion went to saddle their respective mounts.

    The camp cleared out, everyone packed, the three horses were saddled, and everyone headed for the road. Mia supervised, as she felt it was her duty, Lucied sitting by her side. Suddenly, she realized who was missing, someone who was rather hard to miss with her pegasus.

    “Hey, where’s Song?” Mia asked.

    “She left last night,” Dralock said, again having to explain. “Wouldn’t say a word, just packed up and flew off.”

    “Hmph, too bad. Hope she doesn’t get into any trouble,” Mia said, then turned to join the group on the road.

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