Lazlo sees Hyre's discomfort and turns to his friend "I know you want to keep us safe. I know that this choice makes no sense... whatsoever. I've questioned whether or not Aelor is completely barmy...but what he says has helped us so far.  Maybe he is crazy- but I won't let him be crazy by himself. If I can help, I will." The satyr puts a hand on Hyre's shoulder, mindful of invading his personal space. "Stay or go- I will pledge to stand by all of you, until the end. My fate is, I think- not to be a hero- by any means... but I will be a companion to champions until my last breath."

Leon bows his head low as he heeds Geoffrey's words. The truth is, he's been having similar thoughts about his relationship with Ashwa as well. But deep in his heart, he's never felt this way before- about anyone. He wasn't going to smother those feelings. 

"I understand, Sir Geoffrey."

He's curious as Aelar pulls Hyre to the side for a private conversation. One by one, his other friends join the two, so he shrugs and gets up from the table to see what the fuss was about. 

After hearing the conversation, Leon's face was grim.  He could die if he went outside Guiston- and lose everything! He looked back at Sir Geoffrey, and thought of Duncan and Ashwa. He had a mentor now, a fulfilling job, and a...well, he didn't know what to call her. Would he be willing to throw all that away?

Leon steps forward. "If we're going to die outside the city, then we might as well die together. You'll have my blade."

He unsheathes his wooden practice sword with a dramatic flourish, and chuckles. But the look in his eyes made it clear that he understood the gravity of the situation.  

"I don't question whether Raia is there or not - we've all seen her. She helped us escape from the Skell. Whether or not she really does talk to Aelar or not doesn't really matter either. I don't think we should sacrifice our lives for her. What's the point in saving us if we die on the way to bring her food?" He started with his usual speech - calm, a bit distant perhaps, informative. As he keeps talking, however, it's clear that this is no longer the case. He's angry, very involved and very dogmatic. "If you're not a hero, Lazlo, does a hero get to drag those he's supposed to protect down with him? I'm not saying Aelar is trying to do it, I'm saying Raia is. Aelar thinks he can deal with the dangers of the outside because he was trained in his dream! One caused by the same incense that caused you and Leon to wake up next to someone in a bed with someone and both of you say you barely remember what actually happened before that!" He's definitely talking loud and as Leon says he'll join, he abruptly gets up from his seat. "All of Hon - almost ten thousand people - and only six of us were saved. If you die going to feed that dragon, none of them will ever be saved. Maybe none of us really has a chance to do it anyway, but dying out there now seals their fate while staying alive at least means we'll get another chance when we're trained and know what we're doing. Go ahead, throw your lives and all that away." He then turns and walks away from the table and exits the saloon. He doesn't have a place to go to but at this point, he's fuming and he knows that when he's so, he needs to take some time alone to relax.

Geoffrey listens and then rubs his head with his only arm.
"Truth be told, young Aelar, I'm not sure I would be the one who would be of the most use to you on this. I'll gladly come and help protect you all, but for us to make it there and back again safely, we'll need someone with a more appropriate library of skills. We'll need Artimus Grimbuld. He spent the better part of his life out in the wilderness alone, learning its ways. He'd know when to move, when to hide, where to rest, and he could probably also speed her healing." he states, then leans back in his chair.
"Besides... it's about time I at least try to clear the air between us. What happened with Diana.... doesn't matter now. I'm sure he sees that too." Geoffrey says.
"Hyre wanted to speak to him about the bullet hawk egg, anyway. It can't hurt to try... and if there's anyone who can teach you the art of the bow, it's him."

Aelar smiles at his friends.  Hyre's discomfort has not escaped his notice.  "This will be dangerous, I can't deny that.  No one has to go and if any of you feel that coming with me is more than you can do, please stay.  I'm totally OK with that.  I accept you all and this is a lot to ask and I'm not really asking any of you to go with me, just to help."  He's speaking to everyone but looking at Hyre.  "You probably feel like I'm nuts to do this and you're probably right.  But I have to do it.  Not only do I feel a debt to Raia...without her we'd all be slaves in Skell, or worse.  But I have a connection with her.  Like you and that egg, Hyre, or you and your lady, Lazlo, or you and Grimbuld, Kallista, or Leon, you and your lady and your new life as a smith and swordsman.  Barna, you're moving towards something too.  I know it.  I'm not asking any of you to risk that.  Just help me get stuff ready, see if Grimbuld will help.  I won't say no if you want to come...I'm damn scared if you want the truth.  But I can't let that stop me, anymore than we let it stop us getting here."

"Hyre, wait!" Lazlo calls after him.  "I .... I didn't mean to upset you..."   The satyr sighs. Maybe lettiing him cool off would help.  Dejected, he puts his head in his hands. 

Barna sees Hyre leave the saloon and gets up swiftly to follow.
"Hyre!" she calls out, and bolts out of the saloon after him.
She catches up to him and stands by his side, looking confused and concerned.
"Hyre... I can't disagree with you on what you said back there. I don't want you to risk your life for this 'Raia'." she says, putting a hand on his chest.
"But maybe there's another way besides just foolishly rushing out the gates into the wild. Aelar hasn't thought this through. You think EVERYTHING through. Maybe there's a way we can do this sensibly and safely. I'm not saying that Aelar isn't being... impulsive... but if it was you out there alone... I wouldn't hesitate to try." she says, loosely holding the sleeve of his tunic.
She doesn't like seeing him so upset. She'd never SEEN him so upset. At least, when it comes to feeling overwhelmed by emotion, Barna can relate.
"Do you need some time to cool off? I know a place... if you'll let me."

Leon watched sadly as Hyre stormed away. He agreed with Hyre, but he wasn't embarking on this misguided because of Raia. Leon knew he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he let his friends travel outside Guiston and potentially, while he stayed behind. 

He says to Geoffrey, "Well, it can't be all bad. I could use some field training, yes?" 

Aelar watched as Hyre left.  He was wrong about Raia but Aelar knew that Hyre needed some time alone to tame his raging emotions.  He frowned as Barna got up to follow Hyre...she didn't know him at all, though she obviously cared.

"Thanks for being willing to help, everyone.  I'll be back.  We'll start planning then.  I'm not going to rush into anything."

Getting up, he went outside in time to hear the last bit from Barna.  "I know you mean well, Barna, and I'm glad Hyre's got someone like you on his side. But what he needs is a little time to himself, by himself.  Do what you think best, but, I've known him a long time and that's my suggestion." Turning to Hyre, he says, "For what it's worth, Raia's actively trying to talk me out of this.  I sensed her distress and pushed her to tell me, but she's still trying to talk me out of it.  I'm just being stubborn...because despite what she says to me, she's vulnerable right now and I just can't leave her like that.  It's not in me.  I know the danger and am not asking anyone to share.  There are other ways to help.  I trust whatever decision you make."

He nods to Barna and goes back inside. "So, anyone got any ideas?  Oh...and this isn't coming from Raia.  She's still trying to talk me out of it but I'm being stubborn as I just told Hyre.  She wants me to stay safe but I can't leave my friends in danger...I just can't.  Now, I've taken this as far as get some back packs and load them with food and water."  He smiles because he knows it can only generously be called the start of a plan.

"You're a fool then!" Hyre says as he pulls away from her. Hyre knows it's his anger talking through him, but it's not like he disagreed with it. "If I was out there alone, I'd want no one to come and save me. What good is there if more people die trying to save me? Then I'll only be guilty of dragging them down with me. I might usually think things through but it never matters because I can never really persuade others to listen. It's like people knowingly refuse to listen to logic. Don't follow me, Barna, I'll come back here when I've calmed down." Hyre is ready to try to outrun Barna if needed, but then Aelar comes out. He turns back and responds to him, unable to just let it pass. "What could you do to help a dragon? What can any of us do? If something that can hurt her attacks her while you're there, you won't be more than just a fly in their way. She was shot with cannons and survived, if you were shot by a cannon, you'd be nothing more than a red puddle. At least I know now that Raia doesn't try to make you do this. Just like on the train, you need to know when you can't help others. Leon almost got killed back then for trying and would have probably died if Raia didn't come to help. If you push your luck to help Raia, she won't be able to help you herself." With that, he walks away. He doesn't run just yet but he might if pursued without calming down first.

((Not that I have any goals with this but I am giving Barna a chance if she tries again. I was tempted to have him acquiesce and follow her but then Aelar came out. If not, just say Hyre will come back late at night... or early morning. Unless you have other plans, of course.))

Barna isn't letting Hyre off the hook that easily. She doesn't listen to him, her orcish blood has been lit up. She marches right after him.
"We take risks every day, Hyre! What about when you helped me when we first met? You had NOTHING to gain from helping me but where to find some damned books, but everything turned out all right then." she calls after him, matching his pace.
"You want logic? How about THIS: If you let Raia die out there, you will have just sacrificed an ally who wields more power than all of us combined who could help all of you. She was only injured because she couldn't use her full strength to fight back without killing everyone! She's the only weapon you HAVE against your enemy. What SENSE does THAT make to throw her away?" she hollers at him, careful not to divulge any pertinent information as the she yells at him in the street.
"If you don't like the plan, then THINK and come up with something BETTER rather than act like ME and let your pride get in the way of using that mind I fell in love with!"
She suddenly stiffens up, having let slip that last part. Her own emotions got the better of her there. She has no idea how he's going to react when he's this upset.

Hyre has to put out the flames underneath him. The pot itself was about to melt.

Hyre stops in his place as if he hit a wall. You can see his shoulders rising and his chest slightly expanding as he's taking in as much air as he can but not quickly, rather as slow as he can. Then, he blows the air out until nothing is left in his lungs. Again, very slowly. It takes a long moment of silence to do it. He then turns to Barna. His expression is unreadable. No, Hyre wouldn't be able to hide his emotions from others. They're always written on his face. Rather, it seems he just has no expression.

"You're right." Hyre starts. His voice completely calm and flat like a lake, but also quick and non-stopping, not leaving any space for anyone to stop him until he's finished. "I didn't have much to gain. I was new in a strange town I've never been in and knew less people than I have fingers on my hands. The amount of people I knew from this town equals the amount of horns on my head or wings on my back. I was lost and I was angry about the few people I knew for getting us into needless trouble because none of them could keep their mouth shut when someone else was harassed, as if we weren't completely at their mercy. I wanted to find something familiar, something I can sink into for some time without worrying. The first thing I thought of was looking for a book I can read. Of course, I had no books, so I asked for a library. I asked a few people but no one answered. Finally, the first to answer was a Half-Orc girl who seemed like she was wearing the same dress ever since she was born. She lied to me though and tried to fool me. Why? I don't know, she could have asked for a favour in return for the one we were asking of her. If Aelar wasn't with me, I would have not even thought of suspecting her. When she revealed the truth, I was suspicious of her but decided to give her another chance because I had no other way to achieve my goal. We may have done something risky but the chances of us dying because of it seemed low. At the time, our lives were all we had anyway. And, if you remember, I asked Aelar not to risk himself for me then multiple times so that if anything does happen, I'll be the only one to suffer the consequences.

"You're right. We owe Raia a debt we could never repay and we want to ask even more of her. Yet, I don't think there's any good with us losing our lives just to bring her food. It won't help her nor us nor anybody else. There is nothing we can do if anything happens. Just a few days ago we were still a bunch of kids playing outside in the streets of Hon, pulling pranks and folling around. Many things have changed since then but not as much as we'd like to think. Think of it - I wasn't even able to evade a dummy attack from you, an untrained girl who doesn't know how to use a weapon more than I do. What could I possibly do against anything that can threat a dragon, that can hold a cannon in its hand and is made out of pure metal? I could use my body to block the shot and hope that it doesn't just pass through, at best.

"You're right. I hate this plan but I can't think of anything better except abandoning her. That's why I got so angry. I may have let all that anger out on Aelar but he's just trying to do good. If I'm the one who is supposed to think about a better plan but can't do so, am I not just letting everyone I care about march towards their own demise? I won't be of help if I come with them and I'm failing to be of help to stop them from going. On top of it all, I take out my frustration on the others. What kind of friend am I? Whenever things get complicated, this mind malufunctions and stops working. I'm always more burden than I am help to all those around me.

"Maybe when I can start using this beloved mind of yours efficiently, I could finally trust myself to be of use to others. Maybe then I could have any pride. Maybe then, I could walk straight to the girl I love and tell her that with confidence, and not by mistake just because some old man embarrassed me out of control or because she told me that first. I want to prove to her that it's genuine."

After all that, Hyre finally goes silent. He wasn't sure about anything but he believed in all that he said. He also noticed that, despite trying, he didn't put all the flames out. Not all he said was thought out. Definitely not the last part. It doesn't feel like the clarity he felt earlier at the showers, yet he no longer feels angry and the desire to bury himself deepnunderground after the last thing he said is more of a small, annoying voice than something that would make him act. He dimmed the flames but couldn't extinguish them entirely. Now he has to go back and check what damage was done. As his feelings return to function 'normally', his face turn redder than ever before. He looks at Barna to see what her response would be. He said a lot. She said a lot. He focused on her to avoid looking around, hoping that the street is as empty as a cemetary now, having no courage left to check who might have heard the entire exchange.

Barna stands there for a moment, then sighs and grabs him up and holds him tightly to her.
"No one said you had to think of it alone, Hyre." she says.
"The fact you're upset shows how seriously you're taking this... and that's good. We can't just assume everything will turn out all right, but we also can't be paralyzed with caution. We'll think of something, together, that will minimize the risks. We have time."
She loosens her hold on him; she was a little terrified he'd run off.
"And you may call it foolish, that I would come running to you if I felt you were ever in danger... but love makes fools of us all." she says.
Her eyes fall then, to his hands which she holds in hers.
"So... that makes me your fool." she says quietly.
The streets are quiet, as the foot traffic decides to give the pair a wide birth, especially since some of them are expecting Barna to deck Hyre, but not once did the thought even cross her mind. She doesn't suggest going back in just yet, she's trying to see where his mind is at now.

"Mr. Grimbuld's still recovering from the troll fight," Kallista says quietly. "I'm not sure if he'll be ready to go out again. But we can ask him I suppose."

"Even more reasons not to go outside. Now I know that if I do, you'll definitely follow. If you insist on being a fool, my fool, then I must make sure I don't give you any chance to be more foolish than you already are. Likewise, I hope you won't give me a chance to be a fool for you because I can't promise I won't be.
"If everyone else left... I would probably follow them in the end, despite all I've said. I wouldn't be able to live with myself had I known I left them to die while I stayed alive. If that's how you'll act, however, it's clear to me that going with them is no longer an option, which means I can not let them leave. I have to think of a better idea." Hyre looks at Barna. It was the first time someone managed to calm him down. Well, it was done using a cruel method, but it worked. Despite everything, his feeling always got the better of him, and Barna had a way to get the better of his feelings. How come, someone whom he only met a few days ago, someone who tried to deceive him for their personal gains, have so much influence over him? He knew what he was feeling but he couldn't understand why he was feeling so. How did it happen?

"Come," he says eventually as he begins to walk back towards the saloon, still holding her hand, pulling her with him. "I may have a plan, albeit it's an awful one. Regardless, it's better than Aelar's plan."

Quote from BaconExpert982 >>

"Mr. Grimbuld's still recovering from the troll fight," Kallista says quietly. "I'm not sure if he'll be ready to go out again. But we can ask him I suppose."

 Aelar nods.  "Right.  I, and whoever might go with me, don't have to leave tomorrow, or even the day after, and she's not far. I think only a day or so, but I'm waiting to hear back from her to confirm.  There might even be time to wait for Kina, which would be great.  She's not dying, not yet, but she's getting weaker by the day without food and water and less able to protect herself.  Sooner or later, something will find her and then, something else.  But there is time to make a good plan.  We have time to gather supplies and figure out how to bring them.  I think that, working with Grimbuld and Raia, we can probably figure out pretty closely where she is and I'll bet Grimbuld would know what we can expect between here and there and how to prepare for it.  We also need to make sure we can leave and get back in.  And also, when to retreat and maybe try again if that become necessary."

He stops here, emotion clogging him up.  "I can't tell you how much it means to me that you're all willing to help me on this hair-brained trip.  I know it's loony but I've got no choice...none I can live with anyway.  Thank you all so much."  He makes eye contact with each person, including Hyre and Barna when they return.

"Look at us, we ARE a family- we fight just like one!  Between Kina, Sir Geoffrey, and Grimbuld- I think we'd probably get the best advice about the safest way to do this. That actually makes a lot of sense. I wonder if we should have a sit down with all three together? It might be a nice way of smoothing over the tension between the two old friends."

Leon nods. "But we'll be a dead family if don't prepare for this properly. Lazlo and Aelar, you both are right- we need to gather supplies and capable people to support this expedition."

He has a fierce look in his eyes. "If we're going to be doing this, we have to start our preparations now. We should pool our money to purchase supplies, equipment...weapons. Meanwhile, I have no doubt we'll face danger out there. Starting tomorrow, all of us should train with Sir Geoffrey. Aelar, you may have your dream weapon, but the rest of us are still novices. We have to learn as much as we can before we go out- learn to fight as a team, to be organized. Of course, we'll have to continue working to earn more funds."

He sits down and takes a deep breath. 

"All I'm saying is that we need to coordinate all of our actions now. We should draw up a plan immediately- we can't continue with this emotional dawdling." 

"Aelar, how much time do we have? How long do you think Raia could hold out?"  Lazlo's mind raced. He was afraid, excited- and also steadfast in his belief that this is what they should try to do. He did, however believe that Hyre had a good point- they should be as careful as they could.  here was something larger than the group at play here, he felt it. It was almost like some force had aligned things in a way to facilitate this journey. He thought of all the stories he heard, at the edge of the tavern in Hon. This was a story in the making.  He was a part in it.  "The Journal..."   This has to be written down, documented, sung about. Pulling out the gifted journal- he begins to draw, write, and compose the random thought of the group into some semblance of order. 

"Raia's been cagey about that but I believe we have several days.  The problem she's got is that she's not in a good condition to defend herself." He glances around to be sure no one else can hear.  Assuming that is the case, he continues.  "She says she had to change to human form to conserve energy and get to a better place to hide.  But, I'll ask her how long she has, realistically, not her 'Oh, I'm fine.' crap."

Raia, how long do you have before this lack of food and water becomes critical.  We're planning to bring you stuff but want to make a good plan.  Also, you're about a day away, right?  Can you give me some sort of idea of where you are?  I mean a description, or maybe send me some images...can you do that?  I think this Grimbuld guy will probably be able to figure out what's in the area if you can and that'll be a big help.

"OK...I've asked her," Aelar says.