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As soon as Nawen stepped inside she noticed that something was wrong as some of her companions seemed weakened. It didn't take her too long to realize what was wrong as the ones who were affected by whatever was in the cave were those who relied on spellcasting: something was preventing them from doing so. She knew a couple of spells herself, even though she almost never used them, but for some reason she was not affected at all. She wondered why for a moment before shrugging it off and continuing a bit forward but staying close enough to the group. She didn't like the stillness of the tomb. "Like the calm before the storm." She muttered quietly. "What?" The piratess asked as she stumbled towards the drow. Shalena had also noticed that something was affecting some of them but did not know what it was. "I just don't like the quietness of it all," the drow replied. "We are in a tomb. What, were you expecting to be jumped as soon as we stepped inside?" The piratess asked, but received no answer. Shrugging to herself she turned to the group. "My men have some bandages for the torches too." She said. "Better to keep most of them unused," Nawen suddenly said, "we will need them more than before."

Nawen smiled a little as she saw Zorica kissing kissing Amendale on the cheek. It appeared that some of her friends have grown closer and she was happy for them as well as hopeful that they will happiness in each others' companionship, something she didn't believe she'll ever find herself. Next morning Nawen was woken up earlier when she expected by Shalena's pirate crew mumbling something not to far from her tent. She tried to listen it as she didn't trust the other pirates who unlike their captain didn't even try to talk to talk to the rest of them. Sadly, someone else stirred from their tent and the pirates grew quiet. Later on when she was helping with the breakfast, Aera and Hazel stumbled into their camp and while the drow was glad to see them but at the same time worried about Hazel's condition as the dryad looked worse than the last time she had seen her, but thankfully more skilled healers had helped her but even so Nawen was ready to offer any assistance she could. =========================== After the breakfast, the group finished packing and headed towards the tomb. Shalena, as she didn't have her own horse, sat behind Nawen cheerily humming to herself. Nawen wasn't as calm. As they rode sometimes she couldn't help but feel as if something or someone was following them but whenever she looked back and watched the area behind them she saw nothing. As they finally arrived to their destination Shalena watched Hexol with a light smile on her face. "While I'm always up for a good looting, I have to agree with our dear Doomguide and Azuris on this," she said, "I've seen some pretty bad things happening to those taking things from creepy tombs. Flesh melting off your bones being one of the examples."

"I would say that Icewind Dale isn't that bad," Nawen said and smiled a little remembering the days when she was a little girl building snowmen and castles in the snow while they stayed at her guardian's friends' home, "but I guess it is that bad to those who lived in the south." The drow paused and for a brief moment simply watched the fire. "I spent quite some time in Icewind Dale," she said, "my guardian had a few friends there so we used to stay with them from time to time." "You never speak much about that guardian of yours," Shalena said. "There's not a lot to say about him," Nawen replied as she shot a glance at a newcomer, "he raised me and taught me about survival in the wilds until I was old enough to live on my own. He then left without telling me where he was going, and few years later I found out he died." "That's it?" The piratess asked. There was a short moment of silence before Nawen replied. "That's it."

Nawen felt relieved once they left Menarses's estate and continued their journey. Rhegar seemed to share the same opinion as the young wolf ran around the group happily, glad to be free from being confined in the stables for so long. All the while the group traveled, Shalena sat behind Nawen as they rode, as she didn't have her own horse and didn't really feel like she needed one, talking about any uses she might find for the outfit she danced in, but the drow was far too focused on someone following them to listened to anything the piratess said. Once the group camped, and all the tents had been pitched, the piratess sat before the fire, which Nawen occasionally poked. "You know," Shalena said, "I've heard that it gets really cold at night in these parts. Is that true?" She asked as she rubbed her shoulders to keep warm. It seemed that regardless if what she heard was true or not the piratess was feeling cold either way. "Possibly," Nawen shrugged, "I've never been in an area like this." She then turned to the piratess. "But don't worry, as you already know, during the day it gets really warm so if you'll freeze into an icicle we'll tie you to the horses and drag along until the morning sun melts the ice away." "Look at our little drow, everyone," Shalena exclaimed before chuckling, "cracking jokes at the expense of others." "Just be thankful you're not in Icewind Dale," Nawen said as she poked the crackling fire again, "you probably would freeze into an icicle if you ever went there."

Approved. :tongue: Welcome aboard, Cade. :laugh:

Nawen smiled when Aodh landed on her shoulder again. It seemed he took a liking to her, and she was more than pleased with his company. She glanced at the table and noticed some cheese on the platter. She took a small piece of it and split it to smaller pieces for the pseudodragon to enjoy. Aodh noticed the cheese in her palm and squeaked in excitement. Nawen smiled a little at the sound, picked one piece and gave it to Aodh which the tiny dragon happily ate. While it seemed that her attention was fully focused on the small creature on her shoulder, she still listened to what the priest was saying. Shalena listened to what the priest said. This new meaning to their dancing yesterday made it a little less fun. She always knew that they danced to honor the Gods, and while she believed in Gods the dancing to her was just that - dancing. Well, dancing and reveling in the attention. "Usually, doing whatever is necessary is okay with most people," she said, "you people have some high standards. We'd rather be overrun with undead than accept help from people who may or may not be common thugs." "I think you're exaggerating a bit there, Shalena." Nawen said as she fed another piece of cheese to Aodh. "I'm sure he understands what I meant." The piratess replied before turning her attention back to Sirensis.

After departing the fair grounds, Nawen went to check on the animals and only then she went back to the estate. While sleeping in a large, comfortable bed felt great she couldn't help but look forward for leaving this place, and it wasn't only because the increased number of guests made her uncomfortable. Just like she said to Shalena, the day seemed to have been long indeed, and thus the drow fell asleep quickly. Shalena spent most of the evening, and some hours of the night celebrating. Eventually she found her way back to the room, with a bottle in hand and pockets full of trinkets she stole from the drooling drunks who were far too enraptured by her presence to notice their pockets getting emptier whenever she was nearby. ============================== Nawen woke up shortly after dawn and immediately started packing her things. She spent some time in her room before heading to the commons only to see that some of her friends had gathered there already. She greeted everyone before watching the man dressed in priestly garbs. Shalena entered the room minutes after her. Both of them heard the priest addressing Rhaine and after the priest was done talking, the piratess felt the need to say something. "While some of us enjoyed being paraded about on a stage yesterday," she spoke, "was there any reason why you couldn't speak to us, or just our dear Doomguide, before the festival?"

Nawen wandered around the fair for a bit until she stumbled upon Shalena. The piratess had changed into her casual attire, her dark red hair tied to her usual side braid and the elaborate makeup was all but gone. The half-elf had a bottle of wine in her hand and felt right at home in the chaos surrounding them. "I didn't know you danced so well," Nawen said as she approached the piratess. Shalena grinned as she joined Nawen for her walk out of the fair. "Why, thank you, I didn't know I could dance that well as well," she said, "I knew how to dance of course, but it's nothing compared to our performance today." She added but then noticed that the drow was looking around as if searching for someone, "if you're looking for our friends, I don't know where they went, perhaps still busy with all that affection and kissing, but knowing our group and their fairytale romances I didn't stick around when more interesting things are happening here." Nawen raised an eyebrow, "what are you on about?" The piratess chuckled. "For a scout you're not very observant," she said, "or your friends' happiness makes you sad and jealous that yours didn't turn out like you hoped so you chose to ignore theirs?" Nawen stopped walking and turned to face the piratess. The sudden stop surprised tipsy Shalena quite a bit. "I'm not jealous," she almost hissed, "I am very happy for all of them, I didn't notice it because I'm not spying on my friends," she paused for a moment and sighed realizing her words sounded harsher than she intended, "today was a very long day. See you tomorrow." With that said she headed towards the estate, while the piratess went back to the fair grounds. And after a few drinks, was dancing again, this time less gracefully and on the table with a few other women. Orion stood in the shadows, though his white hair and bright attire did little to help him hide, even if hiding wasn't what he tried to do. After talking with a few servants he found out which people were the adventurers staying in Menarses's estate, and he spent the rest of the day watching all of them. They seemed like a remarkable and colorful group, somewhat similar albeit smaller group than the one he used to travel with, should he be accepted into their group then spending weeks in this dreadful land wouldn't be for nothing.

Once the animals were free, Nawen quickly retreated into the shadows before the invisibility spell could wear off. While she was glad that none of the guests, as stuck-up as some of them were, didn't get hurt when the animals ran away she was somewhat upset that it didn't interrupt the dancing so that Rhaine and Zorica wouldn't have to dance as they were clearly not as excited as Shalena and Sybille were. Since one part of her plan failed, she figured she could at least stay and watch the dancing. As she stepped to the back of the crowd she bumped into someone. "Sorry!" She exclaimed as she stepped to the side a little and looked at the person she bumped into. It was a tall man, clearly not local as his skin was pale white and from the ever reappearing frost on the glass he held in his hand the drow assumed it wasn't solely because he wished a cold drink. "Is this some bizarre custom to bump into-" he spoke but then stopped as he looked at her. Nawen wore her cloak, as she always did, but because of the heat she had to give up on the idea of wearing clothing that covered every inch of her skin. The pale man said something more but she didn't listen to it as she couldn't help but look back at him, even if his gaze made her uncomfortable. Thankfully for her, he seemed to have realized that and turned his attention to the stage instead. "It's impressive how the host managed to pick just the right women to dance," he said, "the drooling drunks in the crowd are far too focused on staring at the exotic flesh paraded in front of their noses than notice these women aren't real dancers." He scoffed and the frost on his glass grew thicker. "How did you know?" She asked. "Besides the fact that one of them in particular looks uncomfortable to be on the stage?" He chuckled. "I may have overheard some servants talking about a group of adventurers that are staying in this very same estate, and that some were asked to dance for this festival." He looked back at Nawen. "I take it you're one of them." "Eavesdropped that too?" Nawen asked. "You're a Drow, and not welcome here," he stated plainly, "so unless you're spying for your kin dwelling underground, you must be one of the adventurers." "I'm not spying," Nawen said with the light frown on her face, "and why are you so curious?" She asked suspiciously. "Want to join us?" "I haven't decided yet," he said, "though I am not without skills that could prove useful if you are real adventurers." He said with a slight smile as a glass in his hand turned into ice. "My name is, Orion, by the way." He said as the ice in his hand shattered and he simply walked away. Nawen watched him as he disappeared in the crowd before turning her attention back to the stage just in time to catch Rhaine dancing as the Doomguide molded the flames in her hands as she danced. When the dancing was over and the crowd cheered, Nawen was among them.

Nawen was about to say something about Aodh but then much to her surprise, Amendale's owl flew over to her carrying a spell as well as a message. She thanked the bird and ask to bring thanks to Amendale as well. "Much needed help," she said to Conall, "this will help nicely." When Conall walked over to distract the traders, she shot a quick glance at the stage, before putting the invisibility spell to use. She approached one of the cages and began working on the lock. Luckily for her, Conall's distraction, and if the crowd's reaction was anything to go by, her friends on the stage kept everyone's attention away from the animals. As the drow unlocked one cage, she left it closed before moving on to another cage, setting them free one by one could make unlocking other cages more difficult should the traders decide to guard the locked cages instead of chasing after the animals. While unlikely, she didn't wish to take any risks and settled for unlocking them first. Nawen worked swiftly, and while she was far from a good lockpicker, determination to free the animals helped, and she unlocked the last cage just as the musicians on the stage started playing. The drow shot a quick glance at Conall, thankfully, still invisible, before opening the cages and letting the animals free.

"Well, of course he does," Shalena chuckled, "he just wants to ogle you first." After Imhiros finished translating the speech, the piratess glanced at the Doomguide. "I guess we should go and prepare now." While Nawen didn't like the idea of mingling in such a crowded area, it was perhaps better than to stay by the cages. The owners might get suspicious if they continued lingering by the animals. "Good idea," she said even though she sounded far from pleased. As she was about to walk away, Aodh landed atop her shoulder and buried his head in her cloak. "Why hello there," she greeted him warmly, "haven't seen you in a while." As they walked away from the animals, the drow shot a quick glance at them. "Don't worry, soon you will be free." She spoke to them, and whether animals believed her words or not they did not show it, and neither of them answered her.

"I suspect I'm much worse at it than you are," Nawen smiled a little, "if you prefer we can wait for the festivities to start. Might be easier to distract them and I doubt they'd hurt the animals with us around." Shalena only nodded. It was a similar response she expected to hear from the Doomguide. "I've heard that imagining your audience in their undergarments or even naked helps," the piratess said, "but that depends on how good your imagination is," she chuckled and glanced at the stage for a brief moment before looking back at Rhaine. "Or... we could simply tell Menarses to stuff the stage where this blasted sun doesn't shine and run away. I wouldn't be opposed to the idea, actually. He's less interest than I thought he was when we first met him."

Shalena noticed Rhaine walking about, and decided to approach her. As she got closer she noticed the Doomguide looking rather anxiously at the empty stage. "Still not very fond about this thing?" She asked as she stopped near the winged half-elf. Just seeing how badly the animals were mistreated, Nawen had to fight off the urge to attack the people standing beside the cages, who were presumably the owners. "Owners," she scoffed as she looked at them, "no one should treat animals like property." She then looked back at Conall. "Now I wouldn't be against knocking them out and locking them in those cages to see how they'd like it," she said, "but that would do more harm than good. Perhaps we could distract them in some way?"

Nawen nodded when Conall gestured towards the side exit. "What you said was more than enough for me to decide to help those poor animals," she said, "but, yes, I'd like to see it for myself." Shalena meanwhile, stopped mingling with the guests and went to the courtyard to see how things look so far.

Nawen frowned as she noticed that Zorica's hands were indeed shaking. "Look on the bright side," she said, "Menarses might slip on the tea and break his leg so maybe he wouldn't be in the mood for any of these festivities." The drow thought over Conall's words. "At this point I wouldn't care if helping those animals involved troubled," she said, "but perhaps the good old method of distracting people while one of us frees the animals would work? As long as we don't get caught of course. Maybe with animals running loose our friends could avoid dancing since not all seem thrilled with the idea."

"I take it running away isn't an option?" Nawen asked, the tone of her voice indicating she wasn't joking. "I wish I could help, but the only thing I can offer is to make some tea to calm your nerves, I think I still have some herbs for it," she said but before she could say anything else Conall approached them and said something that she really didn't like. "Well, that's something that needs to be changed," she said to Conall. Words alone were enough to anger her. "If only our dear host paid as much attention to what's going on as he does to the women."

Shalena woke up unusually early. After eating breakfast with her crew and listening to them bragging on how much expensive looking items they stole, she walked around watching everyone preparing for the festivities. Something she was really looking forward herself. Nawen also woke up fairly early, and after brief breakfast went to check up on Rhegar and their horses. As soon as she made sure they had everything they need and that the animals weren't frightened by so many people wandering the grounds, the drow left the stables and went back inside only to find Zorica pacing the area anxiously. "Nervous?" She asked the half-drow.

Shalena loved how lively the estate became as more and more guests arrived for the festival. When she wasn't practicing dancing or trying out the costumes, the piratess talked with the guests as well as pickpocketing them on occasion. The fact that quite a few of them looked down on their group made it all the more tempting and easy to steal from them. Nawen on the other hand stayed away from the guests. She was really looking forward for the end of this festival, and hopefully an end of their stay at the merchant's estate. Gods knows to what more 'uses' Menarses might put them to if they stayed longer.

With the festival getting closer and more guests arriving each day for the upcoming celebration, Nawen spent most of the time outside with animals. The estate for all its size was getting too crowded and loud for her to stay indoors. It also seemed better to avoid the locals as she caught a few of the guests looking strangely at them and even if they talked in a language she could not understand it was evident that what they said was far from friendly. Today wasn't any different. Shortly after lunch, Nawen brushed past the guests and stepped outside. Leaving the leftovers of the food outside for Rhegar, she went to her usual spot near the stables. It had a good view to the whole area where she could watch the preparations for the festival without getting in the way and it was the only place with large enough trees for shelter from the heating sun that wasn't taken over by Menarses's guests. She enjoyed the quiet here and it was one of the very few places where nobody looked at her with concern or even pity in their eyes. Gods, how she hated when people pitied her. Arland navigated and pushed his way through the throngs of visitors, trying his hardest (for Rhaine's sake) to ignore the snide comments he heard directed in the way of both him and his friends. If someone got in his face he saw fit to give them a glare and a quick bark to back off before he continued on his way. These last two days had been a real pain for him, being forced to put up with all of the arrogant high-strollers. His reading lessons with Rhaine had been going well enough and served as a healthy distraction from the crowds, and he made sure to consult her about Nawen once or twice. Now he intended to talk to Nawen directly. He found her in a shaded alcove near the stables, keeping to herself as usual. He leaned up against the stables and wiped his forehead. "Doin' alright?" He asked simply. "Stlarn if these stuffy bastards don't have their noses past the clouds. Nawen noticed Arland approaching the stables and when talking to her which in itself was rather surprising as they haven't spoken much at all. "I'm fine, thank you for asking." She said as she shot a glance at the guests walking outside. "If only they covered the sun with those noses of theirs," she said and smiled a little, "at least that way they could be useful." For a few moments she kept her attention focused on the guests before looking back at Arland. "Is there anything you need?" She asked. "Nah. Actually I was here 'cause I was hopin' to talk." Arland stated with a shrug. "Don't think you're a drinker or I'd have brought you something, and we just had lunch, so I don't got anything to make it worth your time." He grinned. "With any luck the talking does that." "To talk?" She asked, curiosity clear in her voice. "What about?" She had an inkling on what he wanted to talk about as it was pretty much the only thing people brought up whenever they spoke to her, but she still wanted to know. "If it's about what happened-" she paused, "you don't have to do that. I'm fine." "Not gonna lie, it sort of is." Arland confessed. "I was just wondering how you've been holding up last few days. I hear they've been a pile of nice, steamey droppings for you. Don't know for myself, though, since we don't talk much. That last bit I was hoping to fix." Nawen sighed a little, but not out of annoyance, she was tired of everyone bringing this up even if she appreciated them caring enough to ask how she was doing. "I'm not good at lying," she said, "so I won't even try to. It was bad at first, and it still isn't completely fine but I'm doing better or at least I believe so until someone mentions it again." There was a moment of silence before she spoke again. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to sound ungrateful," she said, "it's just that I'm used to deal with problems on my own, and I don't want to take up anyone's attention from more important matters." She looked at Arland and for a moment it seemed she had something more to say but then she looked away. The truth was, her usual method of dealing with problems was just keeping them all inside and focusing on other things and for a time forgetting about them, but now she can't push the problem aside nor did everything she feels became less painful: sadness, anger and worst of all - guilt. Arland looked sidelong at her, and then hopped up and sat on the fence beside her. "Sorry to talk about it, then. I didn't know. Still, you ever want to talk about it you've got me around. I'm hardly the best listener and you've got Rhaine around for you too, but....well, I mean it." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Just a word to the wise: your problems matter too. Just because you don't think they do doesn't mean they don't. If it's got you feeling bad, try to fix it or talk about it. Keeping it all in...it's all gotta spill out some day. That much I know because it's happened to me." "But hey, I also get it if you don't want people all over you all the time, so if you wanna switch the topic, we can do that, too." He gave her a sincere smile. "Thank you for the offer, Arland," she said as she looked at him again, "I think my problems mattered too much and for too long at this point. And believe me, I do know it's certainly not the best way to go about your problems but I've spent one hundred years and-" she thought for a moment what to say before continuing, "let's just say that old habits die hard." "Do you... want to talk about that?" She asked. "I'm sorry, I'm not very good at... talking to people." "Talk about what?" He asked, genuinely confused. "Old habits, or do you mean what I was talking about?" "Good job at confusing him." She thought before saying. "You said that if you keep emotions inside they're going to spill out someday. You said it happened to you. I wanted to know if you wanted to talk about that." She explained. He cleared his throat and thought his words through before he began to recount his tale. "Not sure how much you know about why I was on the lamb before I joined up with this bunch or why Rhaine and I used to hate each-other, but I'll give you the basics. All of us- 'cept Weyland when he got snatched ages ago - lived on a farm in Westgate. We were poor and the wench-born bastard that owned it piled on the taxes. Marie and Annette's pa, actually. Good thing they're not much like him. Oh, right, he was the lord that taxed the hells out of everyone till we were all poor, by the way." He shook his head. "Anyway. Killed him and had to run. We slaughtered a bunch of his men because they held us at crossbow-point while they went and took our food for the winter to pay Ilen his "dues." Bolted our dog when he tried to protect the house. So we killed 'em all, then I went and killed the bastard himself, too. My sisters and my parents went to Waterdeep, I went the other way. But everywhere I went I saw the same stlarning greed. Might not've been from puffed-up lords and their toadies, might've been some ball of fat that ran a store or lots of times it was the local underboss with a whole bunch of toadies to kill people that didn't pay him enough. I was stupid.....well, stupider than usual, I thought maybe killing them might help people and might help the world change. But it never goes away." Nawen listened intently to Arland's story as while she knew some of what had happened to his family, it was only but a little as she wasn't exactly close to any of the Greys. She was surprised to hear the reason why he killed Annette's and Marie's father as even if it sounded bad she didn't think it was good enough reason to kill anyone, but on the other hand Nawen never had a home but even she knew how bad and unfair some nobles could be. It was also that Ordain sisters seemed to have forgiven Arland for what he did and it was good enough for her. "I'm sorry about what happened," she said, "but it doesn't explain bottling your problems bit." "Getting to that part." Arland said simply. "So I go ahead and kill him and then run the other way. Wound up in the Dales for most of the time. Same story everywhere I go and no matter what I do it doesn't change. It never changes. There's that and how I was so far away from the others because of my own hatred and it just kept piling up. I was alone out there, didn't have friends at my back, and it just kept adding up. I wouldn't let myself lose it, which is what I thought I was doing. What was really going on was my bottling it up every time I lost a bit of hope, or missed my family, was what was MAKING me lose it." "Not gonna lie, for a long time it was like I couldn't feel anything but anger and loneliness. That long on my own and I started thinking. I thought to myself that things weren't going to get better for me. I might never see any of my family again, won't change anything no matter how hard I try. Figured I might as well start to look out for myself more instead of trying to "save" other people like us. And you know what? When I loosened my grip on my old hate, I started to feel better. Even today I can't let go all the way....but damn if I'm not feeling better." As she listened to Arland's words Nawen tried to think of an appropriate response, but the more he told the more difficult it became. Her life before... she never had any friends or family to miss, nor did she ever tried to make the Realms a better place. All that time she was on her own, the only thing she wanted was to be left alone, and while they both bottled up emotions it were different emotions. "So... the moral of your story is to let go of negative emotions you keep bottled up inside?" She asked and sighed, a little. "If only it was this easy for me. What I feel isn't hate towards anyone, never was. What I feel is-" she paused, "it's more complicated I'm afraid." Arland agreed with a dip of his head. "It always is. But it's a start, at least." "It is." She nodded and then shot a glance at him. "I guess changing the subject idea worked after all, though not in a very pleasant way." "Yeah. Sorry 'bout that." Arland shifted his weight before a loud SNAP coincided with him yelping and plunging through the rickets to the ground, where he landed with an audible thud. "Ow! Stlarning fence! What'd they make it to stop, a breeze?" She was about to say that there was no need to apologize but then the wooden fence broke sending Arland onto the ground. "Are you alri-" she started but then the part of the fence she was sitting on broke underneath her, sending her to the ground with a surprised yelp. Rather ungracefully, she landed beside him feeling quite thankful she didn't fall on him and which could have possibly resulted in a few bruises. Slowly, she sat up on the ground and shot a quick glance at the broken fence before looking at Arland, and then suddenly burst out laughing. Arland began to laugh too. "Good to know I took you with me, at least. You alright?" Nawen laughed for a little longer before composing herself. "Yes, I am alright. Better than I was actually." She said, standing up and offering her hand to help him up off the ground. "I guess unintentional damaging of this poorly made fence was all I needed to feel better." She chuckled and then smiled slightly. "Thank you for coming here and talking with me. It really helped." Arland took her hand and let her haul him to his feet. He shuddered and shook his head, blinking. Once he was done, his own lips curled into a grin. "Yeah, wrecking someone's fence is always fun." His face broke into a full, meaningful smile. "I'm fine to talk when you want to. Anytime."

When Menarses began talking to her, Nawen couldn't help but frown. "Did that lecher just called us leeches?" She thought while trying her best to hide her actual feelings towards the man. From the very beginning she hated the idea of staying in this man's estate, and now she hated it more than before. Even if she understood what he said, she still believed they would be better off on their own even if the locals were distrustful towards some of them. They were always like that towards her, yet she never got into too much trouble because of it. But then again not all in their group were able to hide as well as she did. "So... there was no other way for us to be useful to you, good sir, than have some female members of our group dance in a festival? I see." She said, keeping less polite of her opinions unvoiced. Nawen didn't wait for the merchant's response, but she wished he did when Azuris, Hexol and Lucas started a discussion of their own. She paid little attention when her race were mentioned as she was used to this, but when her name was mentioned she frowned and she wanted nothing more than for the ground to open up and swallow her. "How much coin do I have to pay for you all to stop bringing this up? I doesn't do any good to anyone." With that, she excused herself from the table and went outside to look for Rhegar and Kiira. She spent most of the day with her animal friends, making up for the time she spent in her room. Shalena meanwhile listened to the discussion between Azuris, Hexol and Lucas with the slight smile on her lips. "Oh please," she laughed when Azuris shared his opinion on why Tannin hid his heritage, "this group consists of some of the least judgmental people in the Realms, no one would have kicked him out or tried to kill him if he told the truth. If you're traveling with a group of people and expect them to have your back in a fight, you shouldn't hide pretty much everything from them, even I know that." The piratess grabbed a bottle of wine off the table and stood up. "Though I'd very much like to hear his side of the story as well but I doubt it would change anything. Our dear Doomguide already heard his side of the story and he's still leaving."

"Why can't we just leave if this dancing idea is so unpleasant?" Nawen asked. While the estate is beautiful and big, and she was grateful for the chance to spend some time alone with her thoughts she wouldn't have been able to do if they were in an inn, but still, if the idea was so displeasing they should have left. Before anyone got a chance to answer, Rhaine entered the room and she looked quite angry. When she told that Tannin was leaving the group, she didn't say anything, and as she mentioned him being a Bhaalspawn, she only sighed, louder than she wanted. "Great," she thought, "another important thing he deemed I didn't need to know." If because of what happened between herself and Tannin was the only reason why she wanted him gone, Nawen would have protested as he's still an ally but it seemed it wasn't the only reason. She frowned a little when Rhaine mentioned her as she couldn't help but notice some people glancing at her. She's been pitied too much already and she hated the idea of her friends thinking that she's some fragile flower or how utterly heartbroken she must feel because of what happened, while in truth she was handling it better than she thought she would. Shalena pouted a bit when the Doomguide told that Tannin's leaving. "Such a shame," she said, "whenever he wasn't skulking in dark corners he was quite fun to have around." When she heard the word Bhaalspawn being mentioned a few times the piratess grinned. "How wise of you, our dear leader, not to mention this when we first met, or that other time we were traveling across the sea," she said, "my men would have thrown him over board if they knew."

Nawen too had noticed Rhaine's absence and she wondered where did she go after they talked in her room earlier. She thought she caught a glimpse of her talking with Azuris but now she wasn't anywhere in the common room again. She was about to ask if anyone knew where she was but then a conversation about dancing began. "Dancing?" She asked. "What dancing?" Shalena smiled slightly at Nephis's words. She caught the insult but it didn't offend her at all. Not in the slightest. She shot a glance back at Llhunarra and chuckled, they haven't known each other long at all but she already liked the half-elf more than some people who were in the group when she joined, before turned her attention to Nephis. "I can image worse things," the piratess said, "like having people whose idea of entertainment would bore undead to death as an audience."

"Oh, we're not only staying for the festival," Shalena chuckled, "but some of us are going to take part in some... activities too." She said not even bothering to mask excitement so evident in her voice. While she wasn't basking in attention, she always liked it.

When Conall sat beside her, Nawen looked at him and offered him a slight smile. "I am alright, thank you," she said to him, "I guess I just needed some time for myself, but I'm much better now. I appreciate your concern and..." she paused for a moment, "thank you."

Nawen was quietly eating her breakfast when a woman walked in. For all her impressive attire, she sounded quite arrogant, something Nawen didn't like. She said nothing, just watched the woman cautiously before continuing to eat her food. Shalena meanwhile stared at the woman without even trying to hide it. She wore fine clothing as well as accessories, which made her wonder how did this woman and her valuable possessions managed to stay unseen by her crew as well as herself. "I am rather surprised to see neither of us have met." The piratess said as she watched the woman curiously. =========================================== Orion walked through the streets sticking mostly to shadows. He hated this heat. It was too unbearable for someone like him who preferred much cooler environments. The streets were crowded too. The sorcerer had to push through countless of people which made it all the worse. Scoffing in disgust he quickened his pace until he finally reached the inn. He pulled enough coins for the room out of his pockets and threw them on the counter. "I need a room filled with shadows." He said to the innkeeper. The woman watched him with the raised eyebrow before directing him to one of the rooms downstairs. As Orion entered his room, he seemed somewhat pleased. It was dark, though still too warm for his liking. "It's like this land has sun beneath it." He muttered to himself as he cast a few spells, which covered the walls, floor and the ceiling with white frost. While it was still not how he preferred, it was enough to keep him satisfied. At least for a few hours.