Having regained a little bit of energy---enough to function again---Sheerow starts, "Nice to meet ya, Malikily. Now, I can assume we're all kind of curious about this gang, the Rightful Queen, or whatever it is." She pauses for a moment, carefully formulating what she will say next. She takes a deep breath, and speaks slowly and carefully ."Now, Aaron, why do they want you dead, and just how dangerous is this gang? Is this the evil we were sent here to deal with? Are they still located at... what was it called... The Blushing Dragon, or something?"

The Tortle's eyes widen a little, and responds to the blue waterbender, "Hello, Mal-kle. Sorry about the rip." The Tortle attempts to straighten his slouch, but it doesn't do much, since he is a Tortle for crying out loud. "I am Xo. Xo the Odd, as my peasants call me." Xo breaths in, and then back out. "How are you, today?" He asks with a slight smile.

"I think we'd all like to know how dangerous this gang is, and what we're getting ourselves into."

”The Rightful Queen was a gang that started in Las Aminour, and they think that my rulership in that village is… illegitimate. If you can help me save my tressym, and secure my presidency, I can give you anything that you could have ever wanted.”

"All I want is safety in this god-forsaken world."

"Well, I have something obtainable that I desire." Rieka speaks up, having previously fallen silent, slightly overwhelmed by all of the new information loaded on her at once. "I'll help you."

She regards Malikily with slight hostility, the water genasi's previous sharp comment towards her not escaping her notice. "How come you got your drink before me?" she says, spying the purple liquid in his hand. "I ordered before you!"

"And Xo!" Rieka turns to the tortle, starting to let a bit of her inner frustration through. "What do you mean, your peasants?"

"Did you threaten the the barkeep?" Malikily raises his eyebrow.

"May seem shocking but people around here are afraid of water genasi's more than they are humans, so even if you did I doubt it would've done anything."

"Some of us don't threaten people unless we have to," Rieka mumbles grumpily in reply. "And I'll have you know I can instill fear in the fiercest of people, should I need to."

Malikily smirks, "I highly doubt that."

In response, Rieka flicks back her hair, revealing her eyes to Malikily. Her eyes have a completely black sclera, which surrounds stormy grey pupils. 

"Don't test me, waterbearer," she almost growls. "I have faced unimaginable horrors without flinching. You are nothing."

"That's funny, you think you are the only one here who faced unimaginable horrors" Malikily raises his voice for this part, "I was a prince! I had everything. I was a god to my people, and now I am here, talking to a-a-a human!" He spits out the last word as though it is taboo'd.

"OhKAY guys, let's not kill each other here," Sheerow stands up and tries to put herself in between the two. "I get that both of you can be sooo scary and dangerous but that doesn't mean you have to prove it, or that either of you has had the worst life so far." She gets slightly defensive with the last part.

"I watched my kingdom fall apart, my citizens slain unmercifully, I watched my family die horrific deaths, the enemy, they kept me alive put of spite." Malikily's shoulders droop at the last part, and he falls silent, reliving the memory of the day where everything changed.

Akyan seems almost amused by Malikily and Rieka’s verbal combat. Some of his previous stiffness has gone, since he can now see everyone’s face. 

Xo responds to Rieka with a surprised, and irregularly rapid voice. "Oh, sorry, I was not referring to you or your friends. I only meant my race of Tortles, of whom I lead. Or, at least, am soon to lead," he corrects himself. He steps out of the conversation for a moment.

(I'm watching a movie so I won't respond for a bit.)

Malikily walks to the barkeep, hands him a copper coin and comes back with a mug of water. Looking amused, he holds up his hand and the water comes out and starts to morph itself into a small castle, with small humanoids swimming around it.

Rieka softens, noticing Sheerow is upset.

"I'm sorry, you're right, Sheerow." she sighs. "Just don't expect me to get along with nobility who couldn't care less about their people's suffering."

Turning to Xo, Rieka sighs. "Is everyone here nobility?"

(oop I edited this too fast that's my bad lol)

Malikily responds softly, "I do suffer when my people suffer. My greatest regret is that I wasn't strong enough to save them. Not even strong enough for the enemy to kill me."

"Oh, what a neat trick. But, aren't we getting a little off topic? Aaron, what else can you tell us about The Rightful Queen? And does anyone else have any more information on this gang? If there's nothing else, then why don't we just get going already? Akayan and I have already been to La Aminour, so we sort of know the general direction." She gets off the table where she was standing, and goes back to hovering next to Akayan's shoulder.

(ooc: have fun with the movie!)