“Thank you. As do I; they were gifts.” Elodia doesn’t pull her hands and rings away from Ling, or shy from the woman’s touch to her hair. “I’m of the opinion familial relationships are all dysfunctional, regardless of wealth. But perhaps that’s a narrow view; I’m willing to be proven wrong about it, if your experience was different.”

She gives a simple, knowing smile. “I am human, and thus have all the more reason to protect what I hold dear; I have less time to enjoy it. As someone in your profession, I can only assume you can relate. But perhaps that's another thing to educate me on.” Her gaze is thoughtful on Ling, turning her fingers beneath the pale, pretty tiefling’s to close gently around them before releasing. “I would help him, or those close to him, if I had the means. Some fathers’ influence don’t stop at their children.”

    "Your past will catch up with you." Astrid waves her hand to dismiss the orcs and turns to the others. "Doesn't feel right to just let them get away... Will it do any good to let the watch know to keep an eye out now that we know who's the cause of the trouble," she asks of Alaris, but loud enough for the orcs to hear.  

Once Caio has spoken, Zalika nods to her companions who immediately begin to strike their camp and pack-up to leave. They pay no further heed to their attackers, but keep weapons nearby at all times.

Ling laughs, clapping her hands together. "So rich families are no better! Everyone looks the same with their clothes off, don't they? Mhhm, enjoy what time you have on this earth, yes. I'm particularly good at that." Emboldened by Elodia's reaction to her touch, Ling's smile grows wide enough to show her canines, slightly too pointy for a human. "If you are looking for an education, I'm sure I could show a rich girl a thing or two. And we could find out if we really are all the same underneath." She giggles, laughing about her own joke. Leaning on both arms across the table, she brings her face closer to Elodia's. "Why don't you have another drink and tell me how you would like to help me."

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    "Your past will catch up with you." Astrid waves her hand to dismiss the orcs and turns to the others. "Doesn't feel right to just let them get away... Will it do any good to let the watch know to keep an eye out now that we know who's the cause of the trouble," she asks of Alaris, but loud enough for the orcs to hear.  

"They shall be alerted, certainly -" the paladin continues in a softer voice, just to Astrid as they begin walking away. " -but I'm not laboring under any illusions that they'll be terribly motivated to act on behalf of the children of Bednik. Gods pound it... maybe we should just kill them and be done with it. But who will take the warning back to their settlement?"

"Another, when you've hardly touched your first? My mother would never forgive the rudeness. If it's not to your liking, I'm happy to order you something that is." Elodia tilts her head and gestures toward Ling's untouched cup. Her hand falls back reflexively to her necklace, absently brushing the pendant across her skin. "A drink you enjoy is the least I can do, if we're on the topic of how we can help one another."

Looking on as the orcs begin to pack their camp and prepare to depart, Shiva sighs heavily, then looks to Nikolai with frustration. After a wordless moment spent glaring at her friend, she finally speaks, "It seems as though my feelings are in the minority. What do you want to do? I'll follow your lead.

Nikolai glances to Astrid and nods before turning back to Alaris. "Only one need send word back." He offers up suggestively. "I don't like that we are letting them off with nothing more than a slap on the wrist. What of the children? What are we to do about them?" Nikolai looks over at the slaver's cart with a sneer and takes aim at the wheels with astra furora before blasting the them into pieces. "You do not get to keep that. It is ours now."

Quote from Lyrel >>

Nikolai glances to Astrid and nods before turning back to Alaris. "Only one need send word back." He offers up suggestively. "I don't like that we are letting them off with nothing more than a slap on the wrist. What of the children? What are we to do about them?" Nikolai looks over at the slaver's cart with a sneer and takes aim at the wheels with astra furora before blasting the them into pieces. "You do not get to keep that. It is ours now."

"I have done for them what I can, Master Nikolai. I do not possess the power of resurrection. I have done what I can to honor the light that was within them, to honor the light that is within the orc children threatened by Shizani as well as the children of Bednik, and to honor the light in ourselves. If you wish to do more, to steal their souls for your own master - be my guest. I would not presume to command your mighty Trio Infernale." Alaris sighs and shrugs, girding themselves for another iteration of the argument.

Caio gives a heavy sigh as well. “And you call us the reckless ones. They’ve done awful deeds but this is an awful world, your pettiness won’t bring the children back. Let’s go.” He sheathes his greatsword with a pointed motion and stalks off towards town whether the warlock follows or not.

Shiva watches as Nikolai proceeds to destroy the wheels of the orcs carriage, her face creasing in anger as emotions churn within her, but she doesn't move from her spot beside him. Ignoring the words of the others, she asks again, "What are we doing, Nik?"

     "Moradin's beard!!" Astrid spins on her heels hearing the blasts slam into the cart. "Wha- !" Quickly glancing around, she finds Nikolai pointing his weapon toward the orcs.  With eyes wide in anxiety, a long breath comes from the cleric. She again tenses and waits for the response of the orcs. She mutters the beginnings of a spell should the orcs retaliate. 

Two of the younger Orcs seethe and jump in reaction to Nikolai's aggressive action, but Zalika quickly extends an arm in front of them, meeting the Tiefling's eyes with a hard stare.

"I believe you were leaving," she tells him coldly as the other Orcs gradually simmer down.

Nikolai meets her cold gaze with one of his own before turning towards Shiva to address her. "You heard the fine lady, Shiva, we are leaving."

He doesn't immediately address Caio and Alaris until they are a good distance away from the orcs. Caio, Astrid, and Shiva all notice the slight shaking of his hands and the knotted, tight clench of jaw muscle as they stalk away. He stares ahead for a time, before remembering the wispy, black material still swirling around his off-hand. He dismisses it with an abrupt motion of his hands. "Firstly, Alaris, I nor Shahar care at all about the souls of those cowards. It was a rouse, an attempt to become a scarier monster than a dragon. A very old, cunning dragon at that. Whichever monster they fear the most is the one they will avoid angering. It's a very simple tactic, no different than how animals work really. The bigger the than animal, the less like a predator will come after them. I was trying to make us the bigger animal." He slips astra furora back into the shoulder holster and draws out his tarrock deck. He begins to immediately shuffle the deck absently, clearly still fuming. After a moment he turns to Alaris and jabs a finger into their chest, looking up at the larger paladin. "You know something, Alaris, if you got off your gods-damned high horse once in a while, you might realize there is more going on around you than you realize. Did you ever think maybe, maybe there might be a reason I reserved a particular loathing for those orcs? No, you didn't! Because you're trying to save everyone! Perhaps there are people in this world who are not worth saving! Filth like them who did not even flinch about the fates of those children they took. They did not just end the lives of those children, they touched the lives of all their family too! Their friends! The ripple effect from their actions will be felt in numerous people and families and generations! It's not just a simple thing they did. And the worst part is...THEY DID NOT EVEN CARE! This was not their last resort. It was the easiest thing they could have done. They didn't try to run and hide. They did not try to fight. They ran off like the cowards they are to steal children, Alaris. The most defenseless beings they could find! They have nothing of value to contribute to this world. NOTHING!" At this point, Nikolai's eyes begin to glow a dark silver light and his tail twitches around behind him extremely aggressively. He opens his mouth to say something else, but just looks into Alaris' eyes with a snarl of disgust before turning abruptly away and storming off. "You're not even worthy of knowing my reasons. You would not care anyway. We are just a bunch of 'wild tieflings'." He calls over his shoulder.

Caio's brows raise sharply at Nikolai's outburst, surprised that there was so much weight behind what he assumed were petty actions. He allows Nikolai to storm off before quickly closing in on Alaris, hoping to prevent a response. "Perhaps going forward, we should try and sort out these moral conundrums before we engage our prey. Those who seek to undo us will find it quite easy with this much blatant discord in our ranks." Though Caio's words aren't exactly comforting, he does clap a friendly hand on Alaris' shoulder.

As they walked, Shiva knew that there would eventually be a heated exchange, but this degree of anger was unexpected. She grits her teeth as Nikolai yells and rants at Alaris, but stays silent, eyes cast to the ground. She feels her frustration being drowned out by a feeling that she can't seem to name, and she continues on beside the group in silence. As Caio slips in next to Alaris to speak to them, Shiva opens her mouth to speak, but closes it and crosses her arms, turning her gaze back to the dirt of the road.

       Astrid's shoulders sag, disheartened by both what they have discovered of the children and group's continued infighting. She gathers her belongings and slowly begins making her way up the road to Piotrgrad, trudging through the muddy road and leaving the others to their arguments. 

     What am I doing here? Again... why did you bring me to these people?!  She glances at Nikolai as he storms past. They can barely get along with themselves. So much raw emotion. If you don't want to be called wild, don't act like it. Another heavy sigh escapes her lips and she removes a spear gear from her bag just to have something for her hands to do. She continues on at her slow, methodical pace, rolling the cog through her finger. She looks up again at Nikolai marching down the road then back to the party. She looks thoughtfully through the spare piece from her broken clock. I can't fix this...? 

Tears well in the mithril-silvery eyes of the aasimar paladin, as Nikolai's rage hammers into them over and over, like tidal waves driven by Vidoanoy's wrath. Their hands clench tightly around the haft of Hope's Edge, and the resultant pain gives them a focus, a place to center their mind to allow some measure of control over their breathing and their expression. Their pale lips almost vanish, so tightly are they locking their mouth. 

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"You're not even worthy of knowing my reasons. You would not care anyway. We are just a bunch of 'wild tieflings'." He calls over his shoulder.

Nothing has changed, they swallow as the last angry words find their target with perfect accuracy. They still hate me just as much as they did the day we met. I have failed. 

Alaris Forien takes a deep breath and leaves the salty tracks across their cheeks. They nod to Caio and give the shadar-kai a wan and inscrutable half-smile. Long strides allow them to catch Nikolai with relative ease. As they pass the warlock, they offer in a somber tone, "You are right. I give you my word that once we return from Paragon, you will no more have to suffer my unworthy presence." They stride farther past Nikolai, head and spine erect as they face the empty road and the empty future.

As they head back up the road towards Piotrgrad, Caio glances back and catches a glimpse of the Orcs in the distance through his eyes of the eagle. One of their number is crouched besides the broken wagon and appears to be slowly mending it.

 Nikolai turns with fury in his eyes, but falters as he sees the wet streaks down the front of Alaris' cheeks before they deliver their dejected words. Nikolai's shoulders slump as his rage deflates with a weary sigh and his forehead drops forward to stare at the ground as Alaris continues onward. "...not again..." He stops, closes his eyes, his shoulders roll back, and allow his face to look up towards the sky as he takes several deep breaths, remembering what old Vadoma used to tell him.

"My little Nikolai, you are made of fire. You need water in your life to balance you. You see... everything is about balance. Without the balance, the scales will tip and anarchy covers everything. This is true within as is without. You must find your water, little Nikolai, or else your fire will consume you. Be wary of too much wind, for wind will stoke your fires. Water, little one."

He could almost feel the little twinge on his cheek where she used to pinch him with that toothless, matronly smile of hers. 'Babushka... Shahar... I am in need of some water.'

As if in response to his plea he could feel a calming voice speaking in his mind; it spoke of patience and stoicism. It was a voice he was becoming more comfortable with. 'How did you find your water? With everything you suffered... how are you so in control?'

'The short answer? Because I had to be. Ponder that later. Fix this now, you need Alaris. Fix this.'

Nikolai rolls his eyes behind his closed lids and heaves a heavy sigh. He immediately reaches into his pouch and begins to anxiously shuffle the deck before he lengthens his stride and picks up his pace enough to catch up to Alaris. "Alaris, stop! Please..." His voice has changed, softened and the rage was gone. "I'm sorry. You..." he sighs again as he searches for the right words. "You did nothing wrong. You did not deserve my ire, I'm just-- I'm just so damned angry at the injustice!" The pace at which he shuffles the cards accelerates. "This experience was... difficult for me. I..." he sets his jaw and lets out a shaky breath. "You should know what happened to me as a child, but not here. Somewhere private, I will tell you, but you must promise me, Alaris, you must give me your word. You will not speak of it to anyone. Do I have your word?" Nikolai's eyes hold Alaris' gaze and there is a fierceness there, like a frightened animal stuck in a hunter's trap... that desperate fierceness that few people would ever know... "Your word, Alaris."