Mutual Distrust -[Rrah]-

[Amur]

Our arrival here had gone largely unnoticed; however, that was as much a curse as a blessing. It made acquiring much needed resources more difficult than it needed to be, and since our people only had a small number of items from Empire Nirvana to barter with our start had been a slow uphill struggle. But now we were making progress, the area we had landed on was spacious and uninhabited, flanked by only the sea and a mountain.

We had originally spent several days going over the terrain with a critical eye, deciding whether or not this uninhabited stretch of land was suitable for our people to settle in. After that we had decided that we had found as good a place as any to settle in, it was an easily fortifiable and defensible location. And the fact that it was uninhabited was a plus as well, after all, we had no idea where else we could even begin looking. We already knew that this land overall was populated, but lacked overall knowledge on anything else.

Which is why we had made our request of Baldur, he had been reluctant, but using his disposition of knowledge against him had proved to be a simple matter... We didn’t take pleasure in having to manipulate Baldur as we had done, but at this time it was necessary.

That had been a little over two months ago, now we had a moderate-sized building to reside within –its back to the mountain- and a number of our people likewise had small wooden domiciles of their own. And those that had yet to build a home for themselves –or finish one as the case so often was- were living nearby in tents.

Things were still moving a less than comfortable pace, but now we had enough food and supplies to last a good while. Our next goal would be to make sure we built what we would need to allow for trading, we still have very little to barter with, but ultimately, we would get somewhere.

We were aiding people where we could with our magic, but, many of them were insistent that they were going to construct their homes with their own hands. The logic of the singulars confused us, but we accepted their determination, it would have been folly on our part to expect anything less of our people, Nirvanian’s were all this way, after all.

So, we had spent our time constructing the other small things that we may or may not have needed, one of which being a chair that would be large enough for us to sit in and that would visually convey our status. It was that very chair that we now sat in as we took stock of our situation. Things had most definitely improved since our landing, that much we could feel good about at least, spending the last few months travelling across the sea on the back of Ascalons shell had taken its toll on everyone... At least now they had some chance to recover.

Our Right Hand had recently returned to us and was getting ready to deliver his full report to us, and if we were honest, we were concerned with what we might hear.
---

Kaime absently looked at the clawed-fingers of his gauntlet, subtle things, but with his left arm being as it was made them as lethal as any blade... And over the last several months they had served him well, very well indeed. He had kept his actions quiet in order to minimise the consequences that they may eventually reap, and for the most part he had done well on that front.

He flexed the fingers of his gauntleted hand, now used to the lack of feeling following the movement and managed to actually smile absently. He had long since compiled all the information that he felt was relevant for his report –a good portion of it detailing what Solomon had been up to- and was now just passing the time he knew it would require for Lord Morona to finish up on his other duties. After that Kaime had every intention of finding his bed and just passing out, sleeping outside had taken its uncomfortable toll on Kaime, and he was looking forward to having the opportunity to have a comfortable night’s sleep.

“I was telling you repeatedly to stay at an inn; I can’t see how you could stand sleeping outside like that.”
Kaime contained the weary sigh he could feel coming as his initial response. They had already been through this more than once, without the proper money he was surviving on the merits of his own strength.

“Yes, Princess, I remember the many heated discussions you had with yourself over that.”
Kaime replied casually, at once he felt Alexia’s frustration at his dismissal of her concern. However, Kaime just allowed himself a rare chuckle at her exasperation, she may have taken to teasing Kaime for his loyalty to Lord Morona, but he had now taking to teasing her in return about her overbearing nature.

“Calm down, Princess. I knew what I was doing.”
---

We sat in silence as we waited on the arrival of our Right hand, Delian Terminus waited in silence with us. He had said that he needed to know just what Master Hunter Latro had done and how much damage control he would need to do... We found his concern admirable, likely futile, but admirable nevertheless. It was the very reason we had allowed him his request, the concern that he and his brethren may have been fighting a tougher battle than our people was, after all, a very valid concern and it was one we understood.

Our other concerns had been addressed, now it was just a matter of waiting on Kaime’s arrival. We sat with our right hand closed into a fist and had it placed gently upon our right cheek, one of the easiest ways to sit in comfort, and one that we realised often tended to make us look bored... We would have to adopt a more seemingly attentive way to sit when dealing with more official matters, looking bored with necessary proceedings was not a good start.

We were not left waiting much longer as the doors to our makeshift audience chamber swung open silently. Kaime walked in his usual calmly-measured pace; stopping short of us he dropped himself to a knee and bowed his head.

“Lord Morona.”

[Mali]

Note: Varden speaking Varden speaking to others[/b],
Taured speaking, Taured mind[/b], Ancient language is Bold Italics

It had been a short vacation for the rider pair and one that came all too soon to an end. They had chosen to travel the world for the reason that they would rather be out spreading the word of peace than stuck in Ilirea waiting for orders. However, they hadn’t realised when they’d been given the head spot on the rider’s council under the resources department, that they would be doing the same thing. The only difference was instead of waiting in one area for orders; they received their orders no matter where they were.

Just recently, he had delivered a message for Solomon Latro to Niko Danta and that hadn’t ended very well. It was safe to assume that the message had been to taunt the elf although; Taured couldn’t see how the message would have infuriated the elf so. It had been a simple message, similar in format and style to those that Solomon had left with the dead body trail. Who would have known that the calm and reserved Niko Danta could be so vicious and vengeful?

However, this wasn’t what Taured was on about now. He wasn’t on a mission per say, it was by special request. While in Ilirea, after delivering his report on Solomon Latro, he had mentioned a Nemesis Morona a few times. Thinking it, something he should look into, Taured requested that he be given some time to try to track the person down and see their side of things, try to find out about empire Nirvana, among other things. The council had asked how this would spread his word of peace, quoting him so eloquently, and his smart reply was to, ‘welcome them to Alaga¸sia.’

Finding the encampment hadn’t been hard to do. It turns out that they had set up their camp relatively close to Ilirea’s borders. As well as travellers through the spine had spoken of a new town popping up out of nowhere over night. It was suspicious enough to warrant some attention to it and even the council had become intrigued with the return hawk’s message.

Flying high around the sides of the camp, Taured and Varden dipped into a sharp banking turn before flying lower and closer to the ground. “What do you think their reaction will be?” Taured thought about what Varden asked, sharing the link of his thoughts between them. It was easier than having to explain himself when he was done thinking.

Taured thought about how Solomon had reacted to Varden—with his head held higher—and what Solomon had said about Morona, although brief. “I think—“ However, he didn’t get to finish his speech when shouts of ”Wyvern attack! Wyvern attack!” came from the village below. He looked at Varden, who looked back at him with curious but excited eyes before they swooped down and glided over the encampment. Now that the village had been alerted of their presence, no need to hold back their friendly greeting. Although, announcing that the village be attacked by wyverns wasn’t exactly how Taured nor Varden would have liked to be introduced.

[/size][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Amur]

We remained silent as out Right Hand got back to his feet, we had told him on many occasion that he had no need to pay us such respect, it was only fitting that our Right Hand should stand before us as an equal... We had no idea why he insisted on acting the way he did, however, for the time being we chose not to address his behaviour and opted instead to wait for him to begin talking. He drew in a shallow breath and then nodded slightly.

“First off, Lord Morona, allow me to bid you a very belated welcome, getting here was not easy. Second, allow me to offer my sincerest apology for the loss of the men you first sent here with me. It was outlined in my initial report.”
He paused.

“You need not blame yourself for that Kaime, if they turned on each other there was nothing you could have done about it.”
We stated simply, the look in his eye, however, suggested to us that he did not accept what we had told him. But, he kept quiet about it; we had some trouble trying to find a reason behind his clear sense of responsibility... He was not to blame, we knew it, but why did Kaime insist that he was? We had trouble understanding him, but we didn’t voice our confusion, no, we would need to be tactful in our investigation on this front.

Kaime was about to resume talking when the door was once more flung open, revealing an out-of-breath warrior to be stood with his hand rested on the hilt of his sword.

“Apologies, Lord Morona... But, we. We’ve just sighted a Wyvern.”
We blinked slowly and looked at Kaime, whom likewise blinked his eye slowly before shaking his head once, clearly confirming something with Alexia.

“... No, not a Wyvern.”
We stated simply, had it been a Wyvern attack, he sounds we were hearing from outside would have been completely different... Wyverns attacked quickly and they attacked relentlessly, there was often no time to warn of a Wyvern sighting if its intention was to attack. Something was off here; perhaps it was a stroke of luck we had yet to finish our ballistae.

“Delian Terminus, ready your brethren to strike, but do not make the move to do so yet. We will have to calm our people down.”
We rose to our feet to find The Faceless-One already departing to follow our request; we looked at Kaime, whom only nodded slightly.

“I don’t believe we’re under attack Lord Morona. But, I can’t be sure; I only had very limited contact with the lizards here.”
We arched an eyebrow at his words, “limited contact”? We felt that there had been something that Kaime had been meaning to tell us but had been interrupted before he had, had the chance to do so, well, that had not been his fault either, so we had little reason to chastise him for it.

“Limited contact? Is there more to this than we are aware of Kaime?”
We questioned calmly.

“The Lizards are sentient, Lord Morona.”
He concluded calmly, we blinked once more, the idea not as foreign to us as we would have liked. However, we managed to hide our concern behind a mask of quizzical interest; we would need the time to draw our own conclusions on this.

“Interesting, come, Kaime, we may need to see this for ourselves.”
We said informatively, strolling casually past our Right Hand, knowing without seeing that he is following us in his usual spot at our right. We already have mental contact with our allied Hunter’s waiting for our signal that they should strike; we could feel their anticipation to do so, their knowledge that whatever this thing is will make for a fine kill.

We continued our casual walk until we found the defensive line that our people were forming, many of them already fitting arrows to their bows and we looked up, assessing the sight before us. We kept even our thoughts on what we did see silent, yes, we had definitely not been expecting this, though, our reasons were just a little bit “more” than a simple distaste for Wyverns... Only Baldur and perhaps two other beings among our people would know exactly why.

We watched in amusement as our people began taking aim, we did briefly consider telling them to stay their hands. But something stopped us, we were interested now, we wanted to see if this creature would expect a counter-attack. Of course we were concerned for the well-being of our people should their counter-attack only provoke an attack from the creature. But, we were now among them, we could state with confidence that we would be able to use our magic to protect them from whatever this creature might do in retaliation.

And because that simply added to our sense of curiosity, we allowed our people to loose their arrows at the creature.

[Mali]

Taured didn’t know if he would be seen atop his beautiful, Persian green dragon but assumed that these people had believed the dragons to be wyverns, as Solomon probably had his first time seeing them as well. However, Taured knew that Solomon had been clever enough to figure otherwise, eventually, these people would learn as well, even if they didn’t see the elf riding Varden.

As they flew over the camp, Varden began to grow worried as the people started to panic as well as string their bows with arrows. “Um, Taured, should we be flying so low while they’re setting up bows and arrows?” Taured leaned over the side to get a better look at the commotion going on below before sitting upright upon Varden.

“You make a very good point Varden,” pulling up quickly, they swerved gracefully up and to the left to make their way back around the camp. That’s when the volley of arrows came at them. Thinking quickly, Varden performed some sharp and banking aerials to avoid the first volley. As the second volley came at them, Taured decided that he would help out. “I command the wind, disperse from the arrows’ grip, drop to the ground.”

[/i][/b] And as soon as the arrow was sent, it dropped to the ground. Smiling at his handiwork, Taured moved to make a downward dive toward the main entrance to the encampment.

Pulling up at the last moment, Taured made the perfect landing within the camp’s gates and walls. He didn’t pull his sword, although considering it greatly. He was here to promote peace and to follow up on what he’d learned from Solomon. He had said so himself, if he would like to know more, then he should find Nemesis Morona. Of course, he was paraphrasing. He waited to see if anything would come flying at him before hopping off of Varden and landing, feet firmly placed against the ground. Varden watched his rider, as well as keeping an eye on the people who moved to surround them, bow and arrows slung and ready to shoot if proven to be a threat. As if they hadn’t learned from Taured’s spell already that the wind will be taken from their arrows. Unless, someone had dispersed his spell of course.

“Hello, I was sent by Solomon Latro,” he was hesitant in speaking. Solomon had used a foreign tongue at times and Taured had to wonder if these people would know the common language or if they would even understand him at all.[/size][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Amur]

Our patience had indeed been rewarded, the creature knew that the arrows were a threat and to top that off, it had another, smaller creature riding upon its back. We know since we were able to detect to use of magic as it happened, an unusual moment, to be meeting one adept at the use of magic. It always was for us, so few possessed the necessary “spark” for it, after all. We made no move to use our own magic to keep the arrows on course and simply allowed them to fall to the ground.

And already our people were readying their next volley of arrows; however, now it was time for us to interrupt, they were not hostile, that much we had come understand.

“Hold! Stay your hand, but remain cautious.”
We ordered, at once our people obeyed the order, yet still managed to find the time to complain about it. We simply waited, checking on our allied Hunters briefly.

“You as well, keep watch, but keep back.”
We advised; we caught their responses to the affirmative, and nothing more. It was easy to forget how well trained Hunters were, it was little wonder they had thrived for the past four-hundred-and-fifty, or so years. We cast a brief look back at Kaime.

“During your brief contact with them, what was your opinion of them?”
We asked.

“... Not good.”
He said flatly. We turned away from him, following the creature’s movements carefully. Kaime’s response hardly inspired confidence in this matter; it had been unfortunate that his report had been interrupted. We were now in a situation that was limited by our lack of knowledge... We sincerely hoped that Baldur was having better luck than we were.

Our people moved position as the creature dove toward us, eventually using its wings to slow its descent, everyone around us was forced to cover their faces as they were buffeted by the sudden wind this created, we, however, merely used that moment to clasp our hands behind our back. There was a moment’s pause and once more our people moved position and surrounded both the creature and the one that had leaped from its back, bows and arrows at the ready. They were determined, we knew that much, but they had already seen the use of magic halt their arrows hadn’t they?

We began to walk toward this humanoid, when.

“Hello, I was sent by Solomon Latro.”
We shook our head gently, of all the ways to earn the distrust of a Nirvanian that was by far the fastest way to do so. This was made obvious as at once we began to hear the chatter among our people, many of them opting to speak in the common tongue we had taken the time to teach them, apparently to allow this humanoid to understand.

“Latro!?”
“He’s allied to a Hunter, we should kill him now!”
“What kind of person would befriend a Hunter?”
“... Isn’t Hunting Clan Latro extinct?”
We merely stood in silence and observed the humanoid for a moment longer, no, we had no reason to believe that he knew anything about The Hunter’s; otherwise he wouldn’t have announced the name as casually as he had done.

“You will stay your hand!”
We ordered once more, as before our people obeyed our order, but were visibly unhappy about it. It was at that moment we singled out Faceless-One Delian Terminus.

“You and your brethren keep up an act of surprise; we wouldn’t want Alma suspecting anything.”
We felt his acknowledgement and then withdrew from our contact with our allied Hunters, taking the time now to walk toward this humanoid. Kaime followed at his ever-present spot to our right, we stopped, giving them a respectful distance and continued to stand in silence. In terms of magic this one certainly was skilled, we had seen that much, he also still maintained an air of youth about him... Though, if he was an immortal –which we suspected that he was- then we already knew appearances to be deceiving.

We cast only a quick glance in the direction of his larger companion, not wishing to look at it for too long before we inevitably returned our gaze to the humanoid.

“Not a very auspicious beginning, is it?”
We said calmly.

“However, we can see that you’re not hostile towards us... We are unsure of the customs observed in this land, so we shall introduce ourselves first.”
We continued.

“We are Morona.”
We said, moving one of our hands and placing it upon our chest to indicate that we meant ourselves. We understood that singulars often became confused when speaking to us.

“And this is our Right Hand, Kaime.”
We motioned briefly to Kaime, whom gave a raised fist in greeting, but otherwise remained silent. We moved our hand to be behind our back once more, standing in the least threatening way possible regardless of the height we had over this humanoid.

“We would ask your names, both of you.”

[Mali]

Even before landing, he felt eyes watching them with caution and a curious gaze. It was intense in a way, waiting to see what they would do. He believed that they had made their impression with the magic as someone—whom he assumed to be an influential person among the people—shouted to stay their hands and the arrows stopped coming. He was glad that he didn’t have to keep the spell going any longer now. It was straining to have to stop that many arrows as well as more to come. Of course, it hadn’t strained Taured enough that he would be much weaker, but it could have after a while.

As the wind swept around the people from their landing, Taured mentally remembered no fancy aerial landings when so many people were around. Oops. However, he had an excuse to cover his mental lapse and that was that he had been under attack. Even if small and barely an issue for him, it was still a valid excuse.

Apparently, his first greeting hadn’t been the right one to use. He looked around curiously as the people seemed to be in an outrage about what he had said. Not knowing the culture of Empire Nirvana, he doubted that things would go well from here on out. It was decent in this land to state why you were in someone’s presence. You wouldn’t walk up to an important political figure, requesting an audience without first stating why you were there. Even if he didn’t know how their system worked, he knew that there was someone in the group who was an important figure and he should state his reasoning for being here.

Of course, that had been wrong to do so. Varden mentally smacked Taured upside the head. “Of course you can’t assume their culture is the same. You should apologise.” Taured nodded his head, agreeing with his wiser dragon. Younger than him and still wiser than him, he would have to talk to Varden about this later.

At the shouts about Solomon, Taured wondered why they felt so deeply against the man. What was wrong with the hunters? And he wouldn’t say that he had exactly befriended Solomon. More like they had encountered, he’d embarrassed the man and they had gone separate ways afterward.

He was reassured as the central figure of authority told the people to stay their hands. Varden caught the quick glance and gave the person a quick once over. They were tall, taller than Taured, however, shorter than he was. He looked down at Taured, as the person seemed to agree with him about the greeting. Taured prevented his face from growing hot, telling Varden that he knew and he should stop making this more difficult for him.

Taured held his tongue as the main person started to speak. Instead of replying, he scratched the side of his head sheepishly. He should really reply to his comment about the greeting, but he would save that for later. It was also polite to allow the person to finish speaking before replying. Interrupting was rude.

He was confused as he introduced themselves. He had said that they were Morona, which Taured assumed to be the name of their clan, however, he had pointed to himself while stating the name. Was he referring to himself or the people in general? He wouldn’t ask about it as he hadn’t finished speaking yet.

Clearing his throat, it was his turn to speak. “I am Taured Doenning and this is my dragon, Varden.” introductions aside now, he should really apologise about the greeting.

“I apologise if my greeting wasn’t proper or caused commotion. I had thought it fitting to state who informed me about finding you.” it was true. Solomon had said that if he wanted to know more to find Nemesis Morona. He’d also said that he couldn’t vouch for what Morona would tell him about Empire Nirvana. That was why he was here after all.

“We come on behalf of the Rider’s Council to welcome you to Alagaesia.” he would wait to hear the response before continuing on with why he was here.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Amur]

Our observations had been correct; it seemed that our long-life had served more than just to sharpen our magical abilities. But, we couldn’t help but raise a quizzical eyebrow to this humanoid’s, this Taured’s response to us. That was how they made their presence known? That seemed unlikely, had they had a discussion of any length with Master Hunter Latro then they should have known that no-one among our people would know who or what they were. We dismissed it for the time being, their overall introduction had clearly not left our people with a favourable impression of them, and their almost childish display before landing. Was their intention to actively startle our people? We remained quiet, however, and allowed Taured to speak.

“There is little need to apologise, our people cannot expect you to immediately know the inner workings of their... Distrust towards The Hunter’s, since it is likely that Master Hunter Latro neglected to tell you much –if anything- of it.”
We assured him, taking a moment to commit these details to our memory, the name of the land and the identity of the species that this “lizard” belonged to. We would likely need to inform Baldur to keep a watch on some of these Dragons. He was of course one of the few among our people whom was well educated enough to do so.

We turned to look at our people only briefly, all still stood with their bows drawn and at-the-ready... It was unlikely that they would listen to an order to return to their homes –or makeshift homes in some cases- we had no wish for the awkward atmosphere to continue, but it was once more unlikely that our people would lower their guard while Taured and Varden were present... We had one option, but, it was not one that we were going to opt for just yet.

“We are unsure of why Master Hunter Latro would have sent you in our direction, or how he even found out of our presence here.”
We said simply... Well, that was more of a half-truth; we had several ideas surrounding Solomon’s knowledge of our presence here, yet had no idea why he would send these two looking for us. But it did confirm without any doubt that Master Hunter Latro was still alive, especially if Taured had been sent here by him.

“However, if you wish to talk to us, it would probably be better if you walked with us. We have doubt that our people will leave us to talk otherwise, especially not after you’ve revealed an affiliation to a Free-Hunter.”
We informed the pair.

“We personally have no issue with The Hunter’s. And we are aware that Kaime is much of the same opinion. However, many people here would wish a humiliating demise upon a Hunter among other things. It’s a long-standing and very deep-seated sense of distrust.”
We finished off, we had no issue with The Hunter’s simply because we had been present during their founding and knew the full truth behind their creation, and, as much as we had tried to educate our people to the truth of that, the more our efforts ended in failure.

“Of course, we will leave that choice up to you.”

[Mali]

Taured considered what had to be said about their distrust of the hunters. He didn’t want to press the topic further as it seemed that Morona was right about their distrust. At the mention of the hunters, the people seemed to hold their bows up higher. He imagined them to be wild dogs growling at the mention of the hunter who was their prey.

Considering what he said about Solomon, Taured had to assume that the two weren’t typically on good terms with each other. He should really address the question about why he had been sent here and why it had been Solomon to alert him of their presence. However, at the armed stance that they had received in greeting, he would ask to speak to them privately. It would be safer for the rider pair that way. Turning to look at Varden, he told him of his plans and the dragon nodded in agreement. It was better to speak privately than in front of people who were armed and ready to shoot.

He listened to everything to be said and nodded his head. “I think that would be best as well,” he held his hand out toward Varden who laid down in a curled position, making himself comfortable. Walking up and over to who he assumed to be named Morona—instead of the people being called Morona—he held his hand out for a welcoming shake. It was always good to greet people with a handshake. Remembering how Solomon had said farewell instead of shaking, Taured was about to touch his lips when he considered not doing it. That may just be a custom among the hunters and they had made it clear already their distrust of the hunters.

Varden warned Taured not to let his guard down, even if they appeared to no longer be hostile. Mentally nodding his head, he agreed with his dragon. If they didn’t trust him because of his affiliation with Solomon and would enjoy to see his demise be humiliating, then he held them with a slight distrust as well. Of course, he would always give them the benefit of a doubt, as he had Solomon.

Motioning for Morona to lead, Taured made to follow. “We were given orders to track Solomon down, he’d been causing a commotion and we required information.” it was good to start with why he had been told about them, right?

“Upon catching up with him, he refused certain information that we needed and told us to find Nemesis Morona since he would be more complete in answer.” He paused for a moment, watching what the people were doing around the rather large village. How long had they been there already?

“We have reason to believe that there may be information of interest to you, in return we would like to request some information for the rider’s council.” that shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Taured hoped that they would be reasonable about this. The information that they would find interesting would be about the wyvern sighting in the neighbouring mountains. According to Varden, they were similar to the regular dragons but were bipeds and weren’t sentient as the dragons were. However, wild dragons weren’t always known to be so either, but these were far too different to be classified as a dragon. This is what led Taured and Varden to believe that they were a new breed.

If Morona were to be on good terms with the rider pair, they may even offer to check out their hunch and report back. The likelihood of that was slim, but one could never tell.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Amur]

We kept a close watch on the pair as they took everything that we had already told them into some kind of consideration. Undoubtedly something passed between them as they seemed to reach some kind of understand without physical speech –we knew it to be possible, so we had no need to address it- and turned to our Right Hand.

“Kaime, stay here and make sure that no-one does anything out-of-turn.”
We said quietly, he nodded lightly to us. Knowing that we would tell him of what we had discussed with Taured whenever we were able to do so, if anyone would keep our people in-line it was Kaime. And at once he was able to put our concerns to rest as he walked, almost casually to stand within the path many of the arrows would take if loosed, and then stood in a relaxed stance, with the haft of his weapon resting over his shoulder.

We turned back to face Taured as he agreed that our suggestion was the best solution to alleviate some of the tension. Though, we were unsure what to make of his larger companion lying down and remaining where he was. We pushed the thought aside, we were leaving Kaime here as well, and we knew our Right Hand to be capable of diplomacy... We had nothing to fear from the distrust of our people as long as Kaime was present to keep them in line.

We looked down at Taured as he approached us and held his hand out to us. It had certainly been quite some time since we had been greeted with a handshake, usually we received greetings ranging anywhere from a bow, to a respectful nod, and perhaps the most frequent of them, an attempt on our life.

We held our composure for a moment, taking a second to truly recognise the gesture before accepting the handshake. We had an example to set, we expected our people to follow us; they wouldn’t go against our wishes if they saw us trying to handle a situation with diplomacy rather than with violence. We once more clasped our hands behind our back and nodded lightly as Taured motioned for us to lead the way.

And with a calm stride we led him away from our encampment and away from our people and allowed him to speak as he walked. He told us of his reasons for meeting with Solomon in the first place, and a small amount of what followed... Well, what he spoke of definitely sounded like Hunter behaviour, though, we would need clarification on just what kind of “commotion” Master Hunter Latro had caused.

We nodded once more, sorting through our thoughts. Well, information for information sounded like a fair deal. Though, we were unsure of what information Taured would have that would have been interesting to us.

“Just Morona, will be fine, Taured.”
We said first.

“We understand you’re simply quoting the name that Master Hunter Latro gave you, but you have little need to call us by our title ‘Nemesis’, it is an empty gesture without the knowledge behind its acquisition.”
We continued. If he so asked, we may have been inclined to explain it... But for now, we had more important matters to discuss with him.

“What you speak of rings true in many Hunter’s. They are very secretive in their nature, even more so than Nirvanian’s in general. We have several allied Hunter’s among our people; which has caused much trepidation among both sides.”
We informed.

“Just be forewarned, that there is certain information we will not be inclined to give-out. Much of it about The Hunter’s and their culture, especially now with a Free-Hunter so close to our people, we have no desire to ‘tempt fate’, as it were, other information we are not inclined to discuss is the personal history of other people.”
We concluded.

“Those of us from Empire Nirvana place an almost immeasurably high value on history, for one to tell another of their history is considered to be the highest sign of trust. Over-valued only by sharing the memories of their history, what we do know of the personal history of others was told to us in confidence, and we will not betray that trust.”
We explained, making sure that Taured knew what he was dealing with when interacting with others from Empire Nirvana.

“Other than that, we will attempt to answer whatever questions you ask as best as we can... But first, we must ask. What kind of damage has Master Hunter Latro already wrought? We need to be aware of how much damage-control we may need to be on...”
---

Kaime stood in silence and watched as Lord Morona and Taured walked off, he had no fear that anything would happen to Lord Morona. He wouldn’t have had Kaime wait here if he was concerned that something bad would happen to him... But, the fact that Taured and Varden had, first terrified the population and then proceeded to drop The Hunter’s name had left palpable tension in the air. The people stood behind him still stood with their bows aimed was proof enough of that, Kaime continued to stand in silence, he had no reason to do anything else.

At least not until-

“We should kill them, they called a Hunter by name-”
Someone from behind Kaime said out-loud.

“Lord Morona told you to stay your hand.”
Kaime reminded the crowd before they could begin agreeing on anything. That got several shouts from people speaking in their native language, those Kaime ignored, he could no longer understand them. He twisted his head to look back at the crowd, as he had expected they still refused to stand-down, he sighed wearily.

“Just remember what happened to the man whom tried to frame The Hunter’s allied to us. Unless you wish to face that same wrath I suggest you stand-down.”
Kaime said flatly, looking back once he had finished speaking just to see the effect of his words. That had, had the desired effect; many of the people behind had lowered their bows, and while some kept their scowls –likely of distrust- intact, many more of them had paled at the memory that Kaime had left them with.

[Mali]

Even though they had planned to remain alert in case someone were to act out, Taured felt a little more relieved to know that Morona’s right hand would be staying back to make sure that didn’t happen as well. Morona had said that they had no reason to be hostile toward the rider pair so there was no need to worry about this Kaime. He wouldn’t betray Morona’s trust if he was called his right hand.

Finally, someone from Empire Nirvana who accepted handshakes as a form of greeting. He was glad that he hadn’t decided to do the same greeting Solomon had performed since he had no idea if that was just rider culture or whether it was polite throughout the whole of Empire Nirvana.

He was told to call him Morona. He wondered what the Nemesis part of his title would stand for in Empire Nirvana. It wasn’t something that was so pertinent that he needed to know, but he was just a little curious about it. Not enough to ask though.

So even though the people had been so against them because they had mentioned Solomon Latro, they still had hunters in their little group as well. And they were still opposed to it. That was interesting information. It told Taured that the hatred for hunters in Empire Nirvana ran very deep. He wouldn’t question why that was so just yet, he may just find out on his own without having to ask.

Taured shook his head, that wasn’t the kind of information he would be requesting. “Oh no, I assure you, if the information we ask for were to put your people in danger, then we understand your reason for not divulging it.” they were reasonable and peaceful. Of all the riders in the order, they were one of the most levelheaded rider pairs there were. Many elves were calm in nature, however, when angered they couldn’t say so much for their calm composure. Taured and Varden were calm all the time, adrenaline had a very small affect on the pair and it affected Varden more than it did Taured. Thus, they were usually reasonable.

He nodded his head. It made sense to him. It was the same as sharing secrets and moments that were special to someone else. It was considered rude to spread those secrets. He did however, question to what extent their personal history included. He didn’t want to ask questions that Morona wouldn’t be able to answer and look ignorant. If he continuously asked questions that Morona couldn’t answer, he would look ignorant as if what Morona had said had no meaning to him. Information for information was a good deal, but only if you were able to give and receive appropriate details.

Looking at Morona, Taured shook his head, sighing. Damage, well that was a long story. “To start, he has a rather large bounty on his head. He has placed a challenge out to all bounty hunters in the area that he is ‘waiting’ to paraphrase. He has caused numerous murders to be strewn up in public display and the general interest of where he came from has come to many Alagaesian’s minds.” and that was just to start. From the intimate information that he knew about the situation regarding Solomon, he knew a lot moer than he had let Solomon in on. He had asked people of their thoughts about his actions, he had questioned the families and bounty hunters who had been on his trail of what they thought about him.

“I have to say, he hasn’t given the people of this land a good first impression of people from Empire Nirvana. Not to lump you with him, however, but that is what the people feel.” that was a lot of damage control that they would need to know. If they planned to survive in Alagaesia then they would need to know what Solomon had done so far. If the people were to find out that they were from the same place as the Solomon Latro who murdered many, strung them up and left a trail miles long, they might not be so willing to do business with them.

They continued to walk as Taured considered what question he would ask first. He needed to know one thing for sure and had the information worthy enough for an answer, but which to give first?

“If I may ask, why is it that so many of your people have left Empire Nirvana? If you require help, I am sure that I can petition the rider’s council to aide in any way possible,” Even though he took orders from the council and was a lap dog of sorts, the rider’s council owed him more than a few favours over the years. If he petitioned for help, the rider’s council may have a hard time saying no.

Varden currently listened to Morona and Taured’s conversation via mental connection that Taured kept open for his dragon while he stayed back with the rest of the people. Varden felt the unease and distrust among the people toward the rider pair. He didn’t address it however. There was no need to seeing as their leader had told them not to do anything that could be considered dishonourable.

At least, he had believed the people to listen to their leader’s orders until one shouted out that they should kill the rider pair. Keeping a calm composure, Varden stared down the individual who had stated this. Growling faintly, he thought it alright if he didn’t address the people that he understood what they were saying. The wyverns that Solomon had mentioned hadn’t been sentient. Did these people assume Varden to be the same? A creature that Taured had tamed to do whatever he wanted?

Hearing Kaime trying to keep the peace among the people from revolting against him and Morona, Varden wondered how well it would work. A threat almost seemed in order from the man as the people seemed to remember whatever it was that he had done and refrained from acting any further on their intentions. Would now be a good time to alert them to how sentient he really was?

“I hope you understand that I understand what you’re saying,” He addressed everyone in the crowd, touching their minds briefly. He growled faintly, hoping that the people weren’t complete idiots and could figure out that it was the dragon speaking and not something of a higher purpose. Obviously, it was the dragon speaking.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Amur]

We had fast managed to reach an agreement with Taured, and that was good, rapid progress always was. So we were content to allow him to answer our questions and then allow him to ask us some of his own, the information on Master Hunter Latro proved to be interesting, and in the very least disheartening. Typical Hunter behaviour to say the very least, but, his actions left our people fighting an uphill struggle, since it would only take the accent that many of our people still had to make the connection.

We shook our head gently.

“We were concerned that may have been the case. We had hoped that we may have been able to talk to Master Hunter Latro before he did anything to make life difficult for us... Regardless, it can’t be helped, not now. We must ask the appropriate follow-up question, in this case.”
We said, knowing that Master Hunter Latro had already made life difficult for our people, was quite simply, not enough information. We would need to know if he had managed to enrage anyone influential enough to cause us further problems, and that would, ultimately determine just how much of a struggle we had led our people into.

“The fact that he has a bounty on his head tells us enough about his personal exploits. However, we must know, has he managed to personally enrage anyone with enough influence to cause us further problems?”
We asked, feeling that it was the only appropriate follow-up question to ask now, if he had managed to enrage a high-standing politician, or some kind of Monarch, we may as well give up any intention of settling on this land. We had witnessed enough racially aggravated wars based on assumptions to know what kind of problem we would be facing in that case.

We worked through our thoughts, making personal appearances to ensure people that we and our people were not like Master Hunter Latro was looking likely, and it was not a scenario we felt comfortable with.

We drew in a short breath and worked our way towards Taured’s next question... It was embarrassing, however we had managed to forget that not everyone knew of Empire Nirvana, and Taured himself only knew what Master Hunter Latro would have told him, which, we already knew would be next to nothing.

“We all left Empire Nirvana to escape the unjust reputation and subsequent bounties placed on our heads as a result. Many of the people travelling with us have been living on the wrong side of Nirvanian law for some time now due to The Nameless Emperor altering parts of history they dislike.”
We said calmly, allowing that statement hang in the air for several seconds. It should only take seconds for the implications of that statement to become apparent, so we only left it as long as necessary.

“We personally have been a victim of that for eight-hundred-and-forty-eight years. Following the end of the war that precluded the creation of Empire Nirvana, they placed us in a state of conscious-stasis and then wrote history stating that we betrayed those we fought alongside in an effort to gain power.”
We paused for a moment.

“It took us fifty years to gain the strength required to break out of that state. And with no-one to dispute the history that The Nameless Emperor had written, it had become accepted historical fact and made us the most hated being in Nirvanian history... Something that we still are.”
We finished off; taking a moment to allow our explanation to fully “sink-in”, our Lordship over people that should hate us should not require any further explanation. At least, the way we saw it, it should not have, especially not if Taured was a smart as we thought him to be.

“As for your offer of help... Or, offer to attempt to help. We appreciate the sentiment, but, for the time being we shall decline the offer. Our people are still clearly having difficulty trusting you, and we strongly suspect that even if they did trust you that they would similarly deny it. We imagine you saw it with Master Hunter Latro, the strong will and sense of determination that many humans would normally lack, yes?”
We explained calmly, hoping that our words sounded as polite as we intended them to be. It was always hard to tell with a foreign culture.

“You also need not worry about us being followed by the armies of The Nameless Emperor; they are far too paranoid to breach their own closed-off borders. We have a strong feeling, that somewhere over the years they started believing the lies they wrote into history.”
We offered as an assurance, we were not being chased when we left, and we encountered no attack in the name of The Nameless Emperor.

We paused for a moment to cast a small glance back in the direction of our people... No bloodshed yet, our faith in Kaime was well placed, but we knew our allied Hunter’s well enough to know what they were capable of.

Though, we did not expect them to so blatantly go against our request.

“... We also regard this meeting as one of a potential many. We will need to know if any further ‘visits’ will occur, as you so knowingly pointed out, it takes only one unfavourable encounter to sour the reputation of many. Our people distrust you, it is likely they will distrust any other person of your... What did you call them? Riders? If we are to have further contact with you or one of yours, we will request notice in advance; we will not risk an incident.”
---

A very deathly silence had fallen over the large group after Kaime had spoken. For the time being he was confident that they wouldn’t do anything stupid, they wouldn’t dare defy Lord Morona’s wishes with the memory of what had happened to the last individual to do so fresh in their minds. The silence would eventually become awkward, of that Kaime had no doubt, but as long as these people didn’t take any further aggressive actions it didn’t matter.

He felt another mind touch his briefly, but, did not react to it. There was only one person it could be and he had no objection –Alexia, however, didn’t like the contact being made with her Prince- However, what The Dragon: Varden did could only cause Kaime to close his eye gently and draw in a slow, deep breath.

At once the bows were raised once more; each and every person behind him began speaking rapidly and their native language. Several people opting to talk in their learned language stating how –and he would quote- “it could be giving information back to anyone.” Their adaptation to this land would take time, Kaime knew it would, but for now he was tired of their bias.

It was of no wonder that so many Hunter’s were bitter.

“Lord Morona told you to stay your hand, and now I’m telling you to stay your hand.”
He said calmly, slowly raising his gauntlet covered hand to his head, he ran his hand over the top of his head with deliberate slowness, just to let everyone behind him see what he was doing. At once, their voices dropped; however, Kaime didn’t lower his hand, not yet.

“But, I suppose, I could just happen to set my eyes on some of my blood if you continue to ignore direct orders.”
At that he placed the clawed tip of his gauntleted finger on the side of his head, once more allowing everyone behind him to see it.

“No!”
Someone from behind him called out fearfully. Kaime kept a straight face as he lowered his hand at last. He hated having to use his ailment to keep people in-line, however, on this occasion, it was a necessary precaution. If he hadn’t done something then the situation could have very well escalated, and that would have been unacceptable, Kaime was not going to fail Lord Morona again, he had to redeem himself.

He could already feel Alexia’s soft mental embrace.

“Good, now, if you can’t stay your hand then return to your homes. You can rest-easy knowing that I’m here to keep watch.”
He knew without having to look that the crowd behind him dispersed entirely upon hearing his words. He waited a moment, however, for the crowd to fully disperse before taking any further action. He looked back at The Dragon: Varden and arched his eyebrow curiously.

“You are aware, that they will distrust you forever, aren’t you?”

[Mali]

Following with a question, Taured waited for Morona to ask whatever follow-up question that he felt necessary. At the mention of ‘enraging’ anyone of influence, Taured had to consider whether mentioning Niko would be beneficial to Morona and his people.

“Well, he has managed to cause trouble with a particular rider within the order.” He needed to word this appropriately. If he didn’t then Morona may misunderstand what Taured was trying to say.

“Although, I doubt that he would cause any problems for you here. He is under house arrest at the moment for his actions against Solomon.” He stopped, believing to have explained the situation enough. Realising that he had left it at a point where it sounded bad either way, he needed to make sure that Morona was assured that there was no harm.

“He shall be in Ilirea for two years, not able to come anywhere near here. By then, I would assume that you shall be established enough that his tiny vendetta against Solomon wouldn’t hinder daily life.” there, explained fully. He noted the short breath that Morona took in at his question and wondered why that could be.

Upon hearing his answer, he thought that it was a good thing that they had decided to leave. If there was a tyrannical Emperor in Alagaesia that Taured and Varden were ruled under, they would leave Alagaesia as well.

Listening to the end of the story, Taured concluded that was where the ‘Nemesis’ in his title came from. If he was one of the most hated people in Empire Nirvana, then it would make sense for a name like Nemesis to be in his formal title. Even if hated, he was over 800 years old and would have developed a place in their society. As such, he wouldn’t be given a high title of respect and Nemesis would have been used instead. That was why Solomon had referred to him as Nemesis Morona so easily, it was written in their history.

At the decline of his offer, Taured nodded his head. There was nothing that they could do to help in that kind of situation. He hadn’t, however, thought about the Nameless Emperor following them to Alagaesia. He was glad at the reassurance that this wasn’t a possibility.

“I am glad for the reassurance. I’m also sorry to hear about your losses and those for the people here,” he was of course referring to the fact that they all had to leave behind what lives they had in Empire Nirvana and pickup and move in the hopes of finding a better land. Not to be smug about it, but they had found the better land, but that wasn’t the point here.

He nodded his head again. He would like to keep in touch with them while they continued to develop and cultivate this portion of the land. It would be routine, of course, to visit and make sure that everything would be going well.

“Agreed. We shall send a messenger hawk before departing for your land.” the hawks so far were trained to find the magical hawk’s gauntlet and then return to Ilirea, but it shouldn’t be too hard to change their destination after finding the rider pair. Especially since Taured was the one to create the spell in the first place.

Taured glanced back as Morona had, to check in on Varden. He couldn’t see his dragon but he sensed the mental connection to his mind still present so that meant that he was still alive. He had faith that Varden and Morona’s right hand, Kaime, would be able to handle the situation by themselves.

He didn’t care that the bows were now raised again to him. Varden hated people talking about him, or even around him, acting as if he couldn’t understand them. He wasn’t a stupid animal, he was a prestigious dragon of this land. Even if they didn’t know that yet, he wouldn’t be treated like a stupid animal.

At the sudden threat from Kaime, Varden wondered what was so wrong about his blood that these people may be petrified. It was then that he noticed the purple tinge around the top portion of his head. From there, he could see purple veins running down his neck and to the rest of his body. Noticing smaller details about the man, Varden concluded that his left eye wasn’t blinking and was a result of whatever had happened to cause his blood to change colour.

Thinking about it, ignoring the other people and the commotion that his threat may have brought, Varden realised that he’d seen it before. It was wyvern venom. He had been poisoned and lived. This made Varden very curious to speak with him. They had sent Josk Danta the powdered form of the wyvern venom from Solomon’s sword to be analysed, but if they could find out more about it without analysing it, that would be great.

“Yes I assume so. However, that isn’t of concern to me. I wonder, may I ask what happened to your body? We’ve encountered the death of some people with much worse, though similar to your purple veins. If you don’t mind my asking.” of course, Varden was only speaking to Kaime now and ignored the rest of the people.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Amur]

The news that Master Hunter Latro had managed to enrage a member of this Order Taured spoke of caused us concern, however, it did not surprise us. If they all had companions like Taured did then it was only natural that Solomon would have seen them as a potential challenge, and with that potential came the opportunity for, as the Hunter’s called it “a grand hunt.” We couldn’t help but feel on this occasion, however, that this would only end up spelling trouble for our people somewhere else down the line.

“We appreciate the explanation... But, the news makes us uneasy. We are not going to ignorantly claim that Master Hunter Latro’s actions will definitely get us attacked... However, we are cautious enough to give fair warning, if we are attacked out of bias caused by Master Hunter Latro. We will defend our people, to the death if necessary.”
We said.

“Understand, that we present this not as a challenge. But because we are concerned of the potential ramifications that Master Hunter Latro’s actions will have on our people.”
We stated cautiously, definitely not wanting our words to be interpreted as such. We were already clearly going to be fighting an uphill struggle because of Master Hunter Latro; we had no desire to make that worse on ourselves, or on our people. We had all been through enough already. We wanted to allow our people at least some time to rest before they were potentially thrown back into a series of bad situations again.

“Sympathy?”
We questioned in response to Taured at first. The reaction had been so unexpected that we could not help but question it out loud. We shook our head; that had been a terrible lapse on our part admittedly.

“Our apologies, it is not a response we are accustomed to getting. And as much as we appreciate it, your sympathy towards us, is unneeded. We didn’t have much of anything left after the end of The Preclusion War. However, we will relay your sympathy to our people once they have calmed down, perhaps it will soften their disposition towards you.”
We said calmly.

“... Or it could just cause them to hate you for a whole host of new reasons. It is never easy to read a Nirvanian.”
We said lightly, however, we didn’t allow the small joke long to stand. We disliked making light of what was clearly a bad situation, however, sometimes it could help.

We cleared our throat gently as we turned to continue walking, this time at a slightly slower pace. There was no need to rush things, and we still had much to discuss, keeping our hands clasped gently behind our back we thought on what best to address next, this was clearly a land where humanity intermingled with other sentient species.

“We realise that this is a land where humans live alongside other sentient species, we feel it prudent to now ask if there are any pre-existing racial disputes or grievances that we should know of. As well as any political disagreements or tensions that are otherwise common knowledge to you natives, we cannot have our people wandering around in ignorance.”
---

The Dragon’s reply to Kaime’s observation regarding the distrust of the rest of the people here actually drew a very slight smirk from Kaime. He could only imagine the kind of outrage the comment amounting to “I don’t care.” Would have caused the rest of the people here if they had heard it, even Alexia was amused by the thought. However, Kaime was fast to regain the small amount of composure he had lost before taking the question asked of him into consideration. That Varden said he had seen death caused by Wyvern venom was odd in its own right, but not knowing what it was just made the question seem confusing.

He blinked, it was personal history, but, having faced his own mortality once already he hardly shared the same values as the other Nirvanians here. He remained silent for a few moments longer before giving himself a small nod as he made up his mind, he would give the reasoning at “face-value” nothing more.

“I was stung by a Wyvern when I was younger. Unfortunately, it was a juvenile.”
He said calmly.

“Had it been fully grown the sting would have been too big for me to worry about the venom, it is also unfortunate that during their juvenile years their bodies are just starting to produce the venom. During that time the supply is greater than the demand, so they’ll usually have venom leaking from their stings.”
He paused for a moment, looking down at his gauntlet covered arm.

“The venom is no less potent; however, a single drop is still capable of killing several fully-grown men. I got the entire venom-sac injected into my shoulder.”
He flexed the fingers of his gauntlet covered hand absently, barely aware that he was doing it.

“Why the curiosity?”

[Mali]

He was a little worried as Morona told Taured that he would fight to the death if Niko were to demand such a situation. Taured didn’t believe that the situation would ever come up, however, he couldn’t be sure about that. He had been pretty sure that Niko was as calm as Taured, but had been wrong after finding out that he had done all these things out of rage and hatred for Solomon.
 
He was about to speak about how Niko wouldn’t be a threat after his report back to the rider’s council when Morona set him at ease. “I am certain that the situation will never arise, after my report back to the rider’s council, there shouldn’t be any issues. I appreciate and accept your terms if it were to occur, and sincerely hope that it doesn’t.” Solomon had almost bested Taured at combat battle if he hadn’t been using magic he would have won. He had no idea their fighting style or strengths in battle. It wasn’t something he could exactly ask Morona, but he just hoped that that situation never arose.
 
Sympathy didn’t seem like an emotion that Nirvanians would experience often. Solomon would have responded with much more awkward and foreign thoughts about Taured’s sympathy. His reaction to Taured showing him sympathy would be hysterical though. Taured nodded his head. They weren’t used to such kind people in Empire Nirvana. Not that there weren’t kind people in Empire Nirvana, no there probably were. Taured was just stating that they were usually distrusting of each other and had odd customs where they didn’t give the benefit of a doubt to people.
 
“I would hope they would understand my sympathy for coming to a new land instead of hating me. It would make future dealings with you and your people rather difficult.” if his sympathy would make them hate him for a bunch of new reasons, then maybe it was best not to tell them of his sympathy. It would make things easier if they didn’t hate them.

As Morona cleared his throat, Taured looked over at him. As soon as he asked about racial disputes as well as political ones, Taured had to pause before answering. It was a difficult question to answer. Like Empire Nirvana, Alagaesia had had many wars and battles over the many years that they had been in this land. 

Thinking about what they had done in the past, Taured felt the he didn't need to mention the war between the elves and the dragons. It was a war that had been solved with their pact with each other. The riders council was the result of that war. He did feel it necessary to point out that even though sentient, wild dragons shouldn't be approached.

"There was a war, about a decade ago referred to as the Blue Divide. It was fought between the humans and elves." He paused briefly, trying to sum it all up in only a few sentences.

"The war has been over for some time now, however, there are still some with prejudice against the opposite race. As for common knowledge within Alagaesia, it would be that though riders are bonded to their dragons, there are many wild dragons in Alagaesia that should never be approached. Although sentient, they are similar to your wyverns." it was a lot to take in at first. And even though wyverns and dragons were very different, they were similar in the sense that you wouldn't want to openly approach the wild ones.

"This brings me to some information that may be of interest to you. Varden and I have a pack of wild dragons we've come across a few years ago that we track every year. This year, there wasn't just dragons in the herd. We believe that there might be wyverns here in Alagaesia. They are very different creatures indeed although these seem to be much tamer than I have heard about this breed." It was true, from what he'd heard about wyverns from Solomon, these were much tamer. And that was still saying something since he didn't know all too much about the breed in general.

---

Varden wondered why Kaime took so long to answer before he remembered what Morona had said to Taured about personal history being of high importance in their society.

However, Kaime did answer his question. and he did so with much more information than he needed. But he was thankful that he had, for now Varden knew much more about the wyverns than they had before.

At the question as to why he was curious, Varden hesitated slightly. He wasn't so much curious about Kaime's personal history, rather than if his condition had been related to the wyvern venom which it was. 

"Not so much about your history as if it were a wyvern related wound. We have little knowledge about wyverns and believe to have seen some within the pack of wild dragons that we track each year," 

Varden eyed Kaime as he flexed his left hand. Looking the arm up and down it was now that he noticed how it was bandaged up and down the entire length of his arm. If he got the entire venom sac in his shoulder, Varden wondered how dark the purple would be in that area. If his head and neck were already dark enough to be noticeable, then how dark would his shoulder be?

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Amur]

We listened intently as Taured answered our question, what he spoke of sounded familiar to us. Then again, this was the fault when singulars ruled; we couldn’t blame them for it, since we distantly remembered the feeling of being a singular. Conflict had been part of our nature back then too, it was regrettable that the odds of surviving the bonding process were so low, clearly life would be better lived with more beings like us in positions of power. We kept that little thought to ourselves, no need to antagonise Taured with it.

However, we now had a name for the species that Taured belonged to. Not an entirely foreign concept to us, we were well travelled enough to know that the plethora of unnamed “Non-Human” species were a unique trait that we had only ever encountered in Empire Nirvana. To a many other Nirvanians, however, the idea of a species other than Humans actually having a name for themselves as a collective was odd.

We could not even begin to imagine the kind of culture shock Master Hunter Latro must have been hit by... We would likely have to check on Kaime’s state of mind as well, that he was still blaming himself for the deaths he could not have prevented was worrisome.

We continued running what Taured had told us through our mind, racial tension and political disputes had always been high in Empire Nirvana, they seemed a ways less serious here... We would have to wait for Baldur’s report on that before we made any judgements, however. We could not expect to immediately become familiar with the most intricate workings of this land; such an adjustment would take time.

And then there was what he had said about being “bonded” to their Dragons. The statement was confusing to us, they were not Union, they still had separate bodies, and singular minds... Not incomprehensible by any means, but not something we had encountered before.

“Bonded? We are unfamiliar with the term. You are not Union; we understand that you and Varden still both possess singular bodies and singular minds. But you are joined somehow?”
We questioned, the way we had worded our question seemed awkward to us, but we ignored it. There was little need to try and clarify what we were asking since what we were asking was obvious, or at least it should have been.

We gave a small nod concerning his comment on the Wild brethren of his companion, we knew better than to actively approach such large creatures. And his comparison, to Wyverns –the comparison was unsurprising to us, if he had already spoken to Master Hunter Latro.- only furthered our understanding of what he was trying to tell us, clearly they were fearsome creatures indeed and using Wyverns as a comparison was the best way he could think of to make us understand that... We would have to keep this in mind.

“We understand.”
We remarked calmly, which is when Taured moved onto the information that he believed that we may have found interesting. We listened as he spoke and immediately came to the conclusion that if what he was saying was true, than it was very unusual Wyvern behaviour. They were usually solitary creatures; however, Wyverns that had adapted to lands outside Empire Nirvana were definitely of interest to us.

“It is highly unusual Wyvern behaviour. From what we’ve seen of them they are usually solitary creatures, highly territorial and incredibly aggressive towards any that would trespass on that territory... And their territory is never consistent either, in Empire Nirvana it is not uncommon for villages or even kingdoms to suddenly be attacked by a Wyvern because the land they live in has suddenly become Wyvern territory.”
We said, more to ourselves than to Taured, or perhaps in equal measure, we were slowly working towards the thought we had, had on the matter.

“It is not unreasonable to think that Wyverns may have flown to other lands to gain territory of their own... That you mention they seem to be of a much calmer nature than we have observed is also interesting, we will make a note of this. It definitely warrants further investigation.”
We said calmly. We would most likely inform Baldur of this, his disposition towards acquiring knowledge would likely see him agreeing with our decision that this claim was worth the investigation. Baldur was an intelligent man; we knew he would be able to investigate this without drawing attention to himself.

“Now, we must ask. Since we can only assume you would seek further information from us for all you’ve told us so far. Is there anything more you would ask of us?”
---

Kaime narrowed his eye slightly as Varden spoke; Wyverns were travelling in groups now? And with another species no-less, the idea conflicted with what Kaime knew of Wyverns in general, he supposed it could have been possible. But, it just didn’t sound likely.

“That sounds unusual for Wyverns.”
He remarked flatly, which was all he could really say on the subject. Lord Morona knew more about Wyverns than he did, so he couldn’t give much more information on them than what he already had. The real “expert” –he supposed that was the correct term- in this land on Wyverns, however, would have been Solomon.

“I’m also not quite as secretive about myself as other Nirvanians are either, having faced my mortality and lived; my values are a little bit more... Relaxed... Though, there are those that go in the opposite direction when facing similar circumstances I suppose.”
He observed dryly.

“... If you’re wondering, the impact-point is dark-purple to the point of being black.”
He said factually, remembering the curiosity the other’s had expressed upon seeing that Kaime had survived Wyvern venom... And then their shock once Kaime gave them all the additional details, the fact that there had been too much venom to neutralise, that the mages had, had to force his body to adapt to the venom, to accept it.

In fact, his blood was still toxic... But he didn’t go around shouting that out. That wasn’t the kind of attention he needed.

“That was a... Common request when I first joined Lord Morona’s people.”

[Mali]

Taured stopped as Morona asked about being bonded. Had he worded it oddly? Well, the way that the contracts had been made; it would make sense that using a word such as bonded would confused Morona. It was something foreign to him and it may not make any sense to him at all. Taured doubted that if he explained it to Morona, that he would remain confused about the subject though. Morona was a smart and well-versed man, there was little doubt that if he explained himself, Morona would have to ask again.

“Yes, you are correct. We both have individual minds and bodies; however, we are attached mentally. His mind and my mind are connected, and welded together.” Sometimes, Taured wished that weren’t the case since Varden could see almost everything he thought, including this one right now. He had to block his mind so defensively to be able to stop Varden from entering that sometimes it wasn’t worth the effort and he’d rather just argue with his brethren about his thoughts. Varden nodded his head to this, agreeing that it was fun bicker bonding that they did.

“However, the bond is deeper than just a constant mental connection. It’s as if our souls are joined. If I die, or if Varden were to die, the other would be subject to fits of insanity, missing their other half. If this makes sense, Varden chose me to be his other half when he hatched for me so many years ago.” Taured felt Varden nudge his mind gently with a warm presence.

At the comment about the behaviour being odd, Taured could only nod. Solomon had said the same thing to their behaviour. “Solomon said the same thing. However, there is only one among this group and they typically have an irregular migratory pattern during the year. They are up somewhere in the Beor Mountains during the summer and somewhere in the Hadarac Desert during the winter. We haven’t seen one in the group before until our last sighting.”

At the mention of any further knowledge that he may request, Taured had to think for a moment. There was so much that he would like to ask but knew that he couldn’t since it was personal history and the chances of Morona giving out that kind of information was slim. General knowledge about Empire Nirvana should be acceptable to ask. “When I encountered Solomon, another showed up, a sentient crow. I have to ask, if wyverns aren’t sentient in Empire Nirvana, what else is? As well as any general information you see fit to provide, if it wouldn’t inconvenience you,”

---

Varden didn’t comment on the unusual behaviour of the wyvern in the dragon herd. Kaime would hear about it from Morona since Taured had told Morona about the subject. He nodded his head, in agreement to what Kaime had said and left it at that.

Varden was still interested in talking about the wyvern venom in his shoulder and received more information about it. The man that had been killed due to Solomon’s venom sword had only dark purple from the impact point that spread throughout his entire body. It made sense that Kaime’s impact point would be almost black since he received the entire venom sac in his shoulder.

What was said next confused Varden. What was a common request? “What was a common request? To see it?”

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Amur]

The explanation Taured gave us surrounding his bond was highly interesting. It was not too far removed from our Union... The same, but different was the best kind of way we could think about it. The biggest difference between our Union and their bond was that our Union was as physical as everything else about it. We mused on this for a long while, we still weren’t comfortable explaining our Union to Taured, but so far he had treated us fairly. It was more than we had come to expect, and we were grateful for it.

“What you say makes sense... We get the feeling; however, it was easier on the both of you than the experience that was our Union.”
We said, for the time being we would set the foundations and explain it later, on. Our Union was not something singulars were usually able to comprehend, it was the reason we allowed many of them to talk to us as though we were also a singular. We couldn’t deny them their simple interpretation of us.

What shocked us most about this revelation, however, was the fact that here such knowledge about their bond was apparently common-knowledge. These Rider’s must have been more common among these lands than those like us were back in Empire Nirvana, after all, there were only two Union living... And those were us, and the Nameless Emperor.

“We find it somewhat shocking that such knowledge is common here, in Empire Nirvana, Union is so rare that many singulars have no idea how to talk to us... Such a development is... Interesting to us, maybe we’ll be able to find some here capable of understanding our Union... But, we’ll see.”
We thought out-loud. It would be interesting to see if we would be able to call us as we were, but, one step at a time... There was a good chance we’d have to talk many people from claiming that we are some kind of “abomination”.

“Yes, Master Hunter Latro is considered among one of the ‘experts’, on Wyverns within Empire Nirvana. He would probably be able to identify Wyvern territory the second he entered it... He is capable of noticing signs that everyone else misses.”
We stated, that wasn’t giving anything about his past away, we deemed it not to be a breach-of-trust. Then again, this was Master Hunter Latro... We had no idea what ran through the mind of that singular at the best of times. Not that there looked to be much of an advantage to knowing Wyverns here, not when there were so few of them.

We had to think for a moment on how to best answer Taured’s last question. Trying to explain even small aspects of Empire Nirvana to out-Landers wasn’t an easy task, there was so much that would likely seem outlandish to Taured that it would require far too much time to explain fully. So where to start? He had said that a sentient Crow had shown up during his meeting with Solomon, which meant that he had already met one of the many sentient species of Empire Nirvana.

“Well, that does explain some small thing to us. However, your question is not an easy one to answer. There is much within Empire Nirvana that is sentient; most of it would undoubtedly sound outlandish or perhaps even outright strange to you. The sentient ‘crow’ you met is one of the many sentient denizens of Empire Nirvana, we actually have one of their kind among our people as well, and so far she has proven to be invaluable to us.”
We said.

“Many of the sentient species within Empire Nirvana don’t have names for what they are. Ignorance once named them ‘demons’, but, that is not what they are.”
We paused for a long while, considering whether or not we should be telling Taured of further plains of existence outside of this one. We had explored many, but, the true number of them was incomprehensible, even to us... Perhaps it would be better to explain a small amount without explaining too much, accessing those plains from here was next to impossible, we already knew that much. It had led us to the same conclusion as Baldur upon our arrival here, that Empire Nirvana was the land where the veil separating each plain was the thinnest.

We reached our conclusion.

“It is not truly known what they are; there are plains of existence outside of the one we currently reside within. Many of them seem to originate from there, it is possible, however, that they may simply originate from more obscure lands that civilisation has yet to discover... But, who can say for sure? We’ve yet to learn everything on such matters ourselves.”
We paused for a moment.

“After all, Empire Nirvana lacks the creatures to know as dragons.”
---

“Yes, to see it, to touch it, to ask how much it hurt and to ask what effect the venom had, had on my body.”
Kaime said flatly in response to Vardens question.

“Surviving Wyvern venom is almost unheard of. In that regard, I’m almost as much of a living legend as Solomon is.”
He said calmly, briefly considering just what he should tell them of his condition after being saved from death. He wasn’t secretive about it, no, but, just how much would this information mean to them? He didn’t exactly want to go saying things that might not be found useful. He took an extra moment, but then again, Solomon did carry around a sword infused with Wyvern venom, any information on it might be useful.

“In fact, my blood is still actually toxic because of it.”
He stated simply, it may not have been attention that he wanted, but, if it somehow helped them from countering Wyvern venom in some small way, then maybe, the information would be worth it... Maybe.

[Mali]

At the mention of union, Taured immediately thought that Morona was speaking about marriage. What kind of union could Morona be referring to anyways? Of course, there were many traditions and customs in Empire Nirvana that Taured had no knowledge of. This union that Morona could be referring to could be any number of things. It could possibly be the reason he introduced himself with multiple terms.

“When elven children are of a certain age, they travel to our capital to learn magic among other things. There are also so many dragon riders that it is common knowledge. If there are only two of union in Empire Nirvana, it would make sense why it isn’t common knowledge.” It was something Taured was curious about as well but wasn’t sure if he should ask or not.

“May I ask what your form of union entails?” Taured was a curious man and it was something worth asking. If he were going to learn general knowledge about Empire Nirvana, it would be helpful to learn about this as well. Even if it weren’t common knowledge among the people in Empire Nirvana, it was still good to know it.

Taured thought about everything that Morona mentioned. How Solomon was able to detect wyvern territory upon entering it, and how they had a sentient being among themselves as well. What confused him was how Morona stated the vast amount of sentient creatures in Empire Nirvana. Sure, creatures here had thoughts, however, they weren’t considered sentient since you couldn’t converse with the creatures.

The vast amount of sentient creatures worried Taured to an extent. If they decided to leave Empire Nirvana, would they come to Alagaesia? However, Morona already answered his question . . . to an extent. Thinking about it all, He was deep in thought when Morona mentioned the dragons.

Musing from his thoughts, Taured nodded his head, placing his hands behind his back. “Dragons were the first to inhabit this land, humans and elves came after that. Dragons are the only known sentient creatures aside from known species in Alagaesia such as werecats.”

---

Varden smiled at the comment about being as much a legend as Solomon was. Kaime was probably referring to back in Empire Nirvana. Here, in Alagaesia, Solomon wasn’t quite a legend but still rather well known, only for the wrong reasons. He assumed that if Kaime knew about his actions in Alagaesia, he would make clear that he was referring to Empire Nirvana. There was no way he would want to be compared to the legend Solomon was, based on his actions here.

Toxic blood? That was interesting. “Does it still hold the same properties as regular blood, or is it to be considered that your blood is venom now?”

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Amur]

“Colonising a land dominated by these Dragons seems like a risky endeavour... It would seem settling is not without its dangers in any land.”
We said calmly, remembering how The Preclusion War had started in a desperate bid for survival. It was almost tragic to think upon now, knowing that it had been the intolerance of the False Gods of the land that had effectively ensured such a war. However, as much as we despised The Nameless Emperor, we could not deny that their rule had ensured a measure of peace and racial unity... It had been the reason we had elected not to declare war upon them, regardless of the atrocities they had commited both distantly and recently.

We looked at Taured for a long while regarding his question of our Union, we were uncomfortable with what we were about to share... But, we could dismiss that discomfort he had treated us fairly and with due respect, we could indulge his curiosity. We began moving our mind but stopped before making contact, no. That was not deemed respectful, direct mental contact with an individual without the need to ask beforehand was reserved for when both sides trusted each other beyond any doubt... We had little doubt this land shared a similar custom.

“Explaining our Union is difficult, especially to a singular. We would have an easier time with our explanation if we were to make mental contact with you first. With your permission, of course.”
We didn’t have to wait long for him to answer us in the affirmative. He did not even appear to be apprehensive about his decision. We wre unsure whether we should be impressed by his bravery, or if we should think him a fool for trusting us, regardless, we had no intention of being hostile, we had no reason to be.

We extended our mind toward his and made contact gently –our consciousness, was not the same as that of a singular.- and we just allowed him to feel our presence. We allowed him to feel both sides of what was our whole being, the side that had once been human, and the side that had once been something else. We allowed him to feel the way those two halves melded together perfectly to form the chohesive whole that our mind now was, and allowed him to feel the way that we were aware of our former existences and the true depth of our Union, how we were one, born of two. Always together, and never alone.

We had just one more thing to do before we withdrew from his mind.

“We are Morona. And we are Union.”
We said mentally. Allowing him to hear our voices. The way that all three spoke at once, in perfect Union. Our voice overlapping the quieter, more subtle voices of our other two halves, the side that had once been human and the side that had once been something else. We allowed that statement to stand for a moment before we withdrew our mind from his and stood in silence for several seconds in order to allow him to fully comprehend our demonstration.

“The Union that we have become, was not a simple process. And is something that only a Human is capable of undertaking. Even then, the odds of survival are abysmally low. The process involves a Human first agreeing to bond with a sentient non-human that shares strong characteristics with that of a parasite. After that they are put together to allow the bonding process to begin.”
We began.

“In short, the process is as much physical and biological as it is everything else. We can’t remember anything during the actual process itself, since a successful Union is akin to a rebirth of sorts. But there is one detail we can give you.”
We explained calmly, preparing to move on to the next stage of our explanation.

“Is that during the bonding process both sides are open to every detail of the one they are bonding with. The deepest secrets of one side is laid bare to the other. Anything one side dislikes or generally finds undesirable about the other ends up in death and a failed Union for both parites. Even if it’s something as small as disagreeing on which name the resuling Union will keep.”
We finished explaining. Those were the risks that had been explained to us before our Union, so we knew that much, however, anything above that we would be unable to answer. The way we understood it was that Union being akin to rebirth was traumatic, and would have driven us to insanity if we did remember it.

“That is Union, Taured. At least explained to the best of our ability.”
---

Kaime had to carefully consider his answer to Varden, that had been explained to him,but now the details were hazy to him at best. As far as he remembered his answer should be “both”, but he still had to stop and consider the further explanation, he tried his best to recall what the non-human mages had told him. And with some help from Alexia he was able to piece together what he wanted to say relatively quickly.

“Technically, both. My body was forcably altered with magic once they found out that there was too much venom to completely neutralise. My blood functions as it normally would throughout my body, but to other humans it’s lethal when either injested to used to replace lost blood. So, if I was able I could use my blood as a weapon.”
He stated flatly, he had long since come to accept this “deformation” as the mages had called it, he had no reason to get emotional about it.

“So I won’t be using my blood to save anyones life any time soon.”

[Mali]

Taured had to agree with Morona about colonising on the land. Even though he hadn’t been around then, he had heard from relatives of the difficulties during that time. “Yes, it has been difficult. The Du Fyrn Skulblaka was the war between Dragons and Elves that lasted quite some time before the solution of bonding dragons and elves together was brought about. We are part of the solution to so much bloodshed,” it was unnecessary information that Morona didn’t necessarily need to know but was a good piece of information if he wanted it.

As Morona asked for permission to explain his union with mental contact, Taured didn’t even have to think about it. “Of course,” he had no reason to hesitate in trusting Morona. He hadn’t shown such hostility as Solomon had upon first meeting Taured. Morona had said what he would and wouldn’t answer and so far, he’d answered every question Taured had so there was little reason to hesitate in answering.

Soon enough, Taured felt the connection brushing against his mind gently. Accepting it in, he felt the presence of his mind. There were two presences there but only one conscious to speak of. It was odd to think that Morona had most likely done this willingly to himself. It wasn’t that he meant it offensively; he just didn’t understand why Morona would put this upon himself. The way he interpreted the connection was that Morona had been a singular as well, before he decided to join mind, body and soul, with something else. Well, at least it explained why he referred to himself in plural terms.

As soon as he understood the connection, he allowed Varden to listen and hear what connection was being made mentally.

Upon hearing three sets of voices in his head, he now understood what his union consisted of. The stronger and more prominent voice was a mixing of both the other two smaller voices in his head. They were always separate but still joined at the same time. It was intriguing to think about it that way. As he felt Morona’s mind pull away, Taured was given a moment of silence to think everything he’d been shown over. Varden thought that it was an interesting form of union but decided that he rather liked their form of union or bonding much better.

The fact that his chances of survival had been so low, Taured had to commend him for his bravery. He wouldn’t state it aloud as he had with his sympathy as praise wasn’t needed for something he’d accomplished centuries ago. He listened to everything else that Morona had to say about his bonding process and decided that Varden was right, he much preferred their form of bonding better.

“That is similar to before a dragon hatches. You would touch the egg, hoping that the dragon inside will choose you while the dragon searches your soul, your secrets, past, history and true name. If they decide that you are worthy, then you become bonded. However, the failure to become bonded doesn’t end in death,”

---

Varden sat up straighter, finding this to be intriguing information that he was receiving. It intrigued Varden that someone could become poisoned by Solomon’s blade and live after it. Aside from Taured who had been hit and was still alive, he knew that he had to remove the venom, but to neutralize the venom and live with it, was something the pair had never thought about.

Now it made sense why the people were so fearful of him exposing his blood. “I would guess so. Would you perhaps know what they would do to neutralize the venom?”

[/b] If Kaime knew what they did to neutralize the venom, then that means that Taured and Varden would be able to relay the information and any time Solomon tried to kill using the venom, and if they got to the person in time, then they’d be able to save them.

“It would help greatly. If we were able to save some of Solomon’s victims, it would be worth it,”[/b] Varden really was too much of a ‘goody-two-shoes’.[/size][/blockquote][/blockquote]