Eiyuu Kishi Den

As Toan stood by watching he was filled with a sense of loss, jealously, envy, and more. Many things he could not even pin down to a feeling. Kiran was doing a better job right now of taking care of Moryssa than he was. And it hurt. As the two talked as though he was not even there it hurt worse. He knew that had he grown up in Marmo instead of Blue Dragon Isle then he would possibly either not feel these things or he would simply eliminate the one that caused these feelings. However, he couldn't do that. For no matter what he thought of Kiran right now, his sister came first.

"Moryssa... I... I don't want to leave you alone again." He said as Kiran left the room. "I haven't done a good job lately of protecting you have I?"

Moryssa looked at her brother, her blue eyes seemed regretful. Had she been neglecting him? Her beloved brother she had set out to find so many months ago. They had been reunited, but Kiran drew most of her attention. Though, the kidnapping by Anubus and his terrifying control over her was a major part of the problem. For awhile, Toan had been obsessed with that feral little half-breed, Berry, but he seemed to have gotten over his infatuation. Either that, or he was much more concerned for Moryssa. That's how it should be! Moryssa thought.

She turned her head to the side and smiled, though it quickly faded to a more serious expression. Moryssa reached out and embraced Toan. "Toan, you've done all you could," she assured him. "Don't think you've failed."

Moryssa leaned back and placed her hands on her brother's shoulders. "Now I need to change, shoo!" Moryssa shooed him towards the door with her hands playfully.

Toan accepted the embrace and he fought to control his emotions. So many things have happened recently and he was very confused most of the time now. When she pushed away he nodded at her. "I feel like I have... But I will be right outside the door if you need me." As she shooed him outside he turned and picked up his sword. He needed it right now... He needed to feel better. He placed the sword belt around his waist as he stepped outside the room.

Moryssa closed the door after Toan and sighed. Cha Za, let me stay in control, she silently prayed. She was terrified of being alone, but the strange thing was, Anubus had never used her while she was. It was probably only a coincidence that Akaria was with her earlier, but Moryssa felt as if she wouldn't be safe anywhere. She stripped out of her blood stained clothes, and as she did, she cried softly to herself.

Kiran waited with Toan in the hall. He leaned against the wall for awhile, always shifting his feet, or rolling to the side. Then he paced in the middle of the hall. After a few turns, he leaned against the opposite wall. He was terribly anxious and the few minutes it took Moryssa to dress nearly drove him insane.

The door to her room creaked open and Kiran started. However, Moryssa came out in another of her fashionable white dresses. This one was strapless and cut in front in a thin V that opened down to her navel. The skirt was short and fitted, but also cut a little at the sides for better movement. Instead of her sandals, she had on a pair of white pumps. Kiran couldn't help but smirk a little. Were the circumstances not so dire, he probably would have been a touch lecherous.

Moryssa threw her white cloak around her shoulders and covered up a bit. "Let's go down," she said with a heavy sigh.

A number were looking around for maids to serve them and Deasa frowned. They would need some help. She looked to the three younger priestesses. "Girls, why don't you do our friends a favor? We could use someone to serve drinks," Deasa suggested to Ialin, Thalia and N'shara.

Thalia and Ialin agreed rather obediently. N'shara sighed, but agreed as well. The three priestesses went into the kitchen and did a quick inventory of what drinks there were; juices, water, a depleted supply of wines and hard liquor and a dwindling supply of ale.

With Falco and the other brothers at another inn, Zatch walked into Dabagon. Before three seconds had passed he was called over to the bar by his brother.

"Hey Crassus, over here." Said Kai as he stood behind the counter, playing barkeep for himself and anyone else while the owner gone. Zatch made his way to the bar, giving a nod to both Sakura and Fenix along the way. As soon as he sat down Kai placed two empty glasses in front of him.

"It's not a good time for that, Kai." Zatch objected, but he was ignored as the knight poured an amber liquid into the glass from a dusty bottle.

"It's the perfect time." he countered "The world may very well end in the morrow, and I for one want to face it with two things; a sword in my hand and a smile on my face. Any fool can simply die with honer, but it takes a real man love life." Kai then poured the drink into his own glass and raised it. "Here's to faith, courage, and steel. Cheers."

Zatch raised his glass to Kai's toast, but while his brother drained the liquor in one swallow Zatch sniffed it suspiciously. Then in a merciless gulp the drink poured down his throat and burned at his esophagus along the way. Zatch coughed and wretched as he slammed his glass on the counter. "What the hell was that!?" he asked still heaving.

"Not sure" the knight replied as he examined the bottle. "But it ate halfway through the cork." he then poured himself another drink and was about to pour Zatch one as well, but the scholar objected. Said Zatch before leaving the counter, a mild buzz already setting in. Kai shrugged with indifference and gulped down his second drink. He was going to wait for a little bit longer to see if they where going to try to bring order to everything and get some more planning done before he opened his big mouth.

Tilting his head to look at Adali and smiles "Adali remember you need to talk to Glosin, I know it is not my business but I want to make sure you remember. I hope you don't mind me reminding you " Edwin in truth didn't want Adali to get into trouble for not telling Glosin to get back to the temple of Myrii.

After a hearty dwarven dinner, Granite realized just how late it was and hurried Thangroth back to Dabagon Inn. They had a bit of conversation with her family, but Muli was the only one who spent most of the meal at the table. Everyone else was rushing between their meal and the forge. Apparently the dwarves were building their own militia to defend the city, or at least their little section of it. Granite couldn't tell much of the coming battle, just their enemy himself. If needed, Granite could go and get the dwarven militia to battle Vesper if he only battled them in one place.

When they reached the inn, Granite saw that the gathering was beginning. Elves were scattered around the square, waiting patiently and talking amongst themselves. Upon entering the common room, Granite saw that it was filling as well with a wide assortment of warriors and magicians.

Granite pursed her lips and looked over the room's occupants for some familiar faces. Aiyanna, Jinn, Alera and Aiyanna's brother were at a table. Kitsa and Terin were at a table with an elf and a knight. Nipa was at a table with some elves, and Granite decided to join him.

The bearded dwarven woman went to Nipa's table and pulled up a chair. "Hello," she said warmly to the group.

Thangroth enjoyed the meal and the short time with Granite's family, as they hurried back to the inn he noticed several dwarves getting defenses ready for the section of the dwarven community. War was indeed coming and soon. After entering the inn, the red-headed dwarf followed Granite then pulled chair for himself, while nodding to the group.

Rain had to bite her purse pert pink lips to either stop from laughing aloud or offering words of comfort, at the moment she wasn't sure what might have erupted out had she not; she too knew that Cassandra was proud and anything of the sort would have offended the seeress deeply. She winced slightly watching her re-situated herself on the chair; knew that she'd never take the simple act of sitting down for granted again. As she sat between the former centaurs, her eyes watch those staring at them with strange looks, some people's mouths even hung agape, making Rain very comfortable. Her small frame shook with a start when Cara leaned down to joke with her. The half elven face smiled, "Yeah, you hair certainly does make a statement. But I like it," she smiled touching a lock of white hair that brushed against her shoulder in his leaning. "They'll just have to make do," she giggled.

Nipa grinned and welcomed her like she was a long lost sister. "Ah welcome back Granite! How are things with you and oh, I see you found another friend." He did not want to say another dwarf. "Granite, these are my Friends, um, the Lady Cassandra, and the Lady Rain and these other two are Caradithil and Dinalindel..." He leaned in closer to her, "The one with the funny hair is Cara."

"Thank you," she replied politely to Nipa. He introduced each of his elven companions and Granite smiled to them all, though she was rewarded with some very confused looks from them. "Hello. This is Thangroth," she introduced her own companion, placing her hand on his shoulder.

Cara smiled at her, he was glad that she liked his hair... Though he was also glad that she liked several other things as well. He made a mental note to talk to her about what else she liked later, but for now he turned his attention to what Nipa and the others were talking about. He was slightly surprised to realize that there were two dwarves at their table, and even more surprised that one was a female. The dress said all that needed to be said about her gender, though he's never seen a bearded woman... Though he guessed that no one had ever really seen centaurs before either. Shrugging his shoulders at his own mental debate he grinned. "Greetings Granite and Thangroth. I take it you have met this little one before," he asked nodding towards Nipa.

"Little!" he exclaimed, "I'll have you know that I am 4 foot 2 and a half inches! I am tall among my people."

Dina just shook his head and greeted them. "Welcome my friends. Have you heard much about what is going on?"

Cassandra was a little confused by Granite at first, with her beard, but everything else about her was very feminine. Cassandra knew a little of dwarves, but not this detail. She was very cool about it, however. The Seeress was not one to openly gape at strangeness, after all, so many had done that to her herd mates when they encountered humans on this journey. She spared Granite a curious look, then greeted her eloquently. "Greetings, dear Granite. And Thangroth," She said with a nod of her head.

Dina looked around at all of those assembled and he wondered aloud. "I've always wondered what they do when they come into a place like this..."

Nipa looked at his confused, "What do you mean?"

Cara though chuckled and placed a hand on Rain's leg under the table. "He means that every time we come into a place like this people usually stare..." With his free hands he pulled some in front of his eyes... "Though I am not sure what the problem is, I thought My hair looked nice."

Dina began to chuckle and Nipa too laughed a little at that comment.