''Aelus'' - IC

[Hurati]

The first thing that Hurati noticed when he entered the city was the huge marketplace. Everyone appeared to be at ease, as if nothing had happened in Zibola, and the market was bustling with hordes of people. He put up his hood and walked through the crowd, walking towards a merchant that sold food. He walked in front of the stall and smiled, "Hi, what do you have for sale?"

[Gorbaz]

Noticing that the ship she was near was on fire, Halina started to swim away from it as fast as she could. He muscles were starting to ache with all the exertion she was putting into them, fighting against the tide of the water as she swam back to shore. She had resigned herself to the fact that she couldn't stop all the ships, given that a new fleet was approaching at speed, and sabotaging the ships that were leaving the shore was prety pointless.

The sounds of cannonfire had stopped as the ship that the two guards, Simon and Tal, were on was shattered by a rain of cannonfire. Swimming closer to the wreck, she saw a body in the water, and chunks of another. Getting closer she could see that it was Simon, the more talkative of the guards. Grabbing hold of him, she surfaced on the other side of the wreck, keeping both their heads above water, and ensuring that they were out of sight

The wreck had listed over, and was on fire in places. Halina managed to haul herself and Simon into the remains of the hold of the ship, through one of the cannon ports. There was a fair bet that most of the sailors were dead, and with parts of it on fire, the would be unlikely that anyone would try to board the ship, at least until the fires went out. Leaving Simon below, she snuck above decks, and was suddenly aware of the biting cold of the wind on her wet skin. Looking around, she found that there were still some dead sailors on deck.

Hauling three of the sailors below deck as quickly as she could, she started to strip them of their clothes, weapons, and any valuables. Once she had managed to get a set of relativly untarnished sailor's clothes, she quickly sripped herself, and started to climb in to the dry replacements. There were enough clothes for Simon, too, if he regained conciousness. However, Halina's mind was set on the next stage of survival - fire. It was starting to get dark, and without burning timber or two to keep warm, she would be in trouble

[Lady Foxy]

At the docks of the Valean-Occupied-Zibola

Simon opened one eye, just to see a female sailor dragging some bodies. He stood up, checking if he still had his sword. ''Speak your name or be silenced!'' The tired guard said to her, cleaning the water off of his sword. Simon stared for a moment at the girl, noticing it was Halina. ''Wasn't it you who went earlier with us?'' He asked her, noticing that the cold sensation was his wet chain mail.

Tekler, Marketplace

The man looked up to Hurati, talking in a arabic accent. ''I have the best food in all of Tuloc! From the freshest oranges to the sweetest brea- It's you! Ahaha! Blacksmithin' still?'' He asked Hurati, probably confusing him with his father.

[Hurati]

Hurati chuckled, "He has been teaching me the craft, but I'm afraid my best asset still is fighting, not metal-working. Hm.... A loaf of bread, two oranges, a skin of water, and a handful of grapes please." He reaches into his bag and waits for the merchant to reply with a price.

[Lady Foxy]

Tekler, Marketplace

The man laughed at Hurati, yelling at a young boy to get what he ordered. ''For the blacksmith's son? A mere price of thirty florins! Why pay fifty?'' He waited on the boy to finish getting what Hurati had asked for, looking happily at Hurati ''How's Skirata? Still livin' life like a rich man?''.

[Hurati]

Hurati withdrew the money and set it on the wooden stall, "Well, I haven't been home since yesterday so I can't say for sure. But I'm going to assume yes." He answered evasively while grinning. "So what's the word on the street? Haven't been here for a couple of weeks, so my ear hasn't been as close to the ground as it could have been."

[Gorbaz]

Helina brushed back a stands of damp hair and grinned at Simon, nodding once. She pointed down at the pile of sailor's clothes that she had amassed, both for wearing and using as a makeshift blanket. "Here. Dry clothes". She them pointed up to the top of the deck. "I find fire. Keep warm" With that, she rushed off the the upper deck and looked around for some burning or smouldering timbers that could be safely braught back below to create a makeshift fire with. It probably wouldn't me much, maybe the size of a small cooking fire, but if it would help stave off te cold, then it would be better than nothing

[Goryokaku]

Azrael let Kaede sleep, she was going to need the rest and he'd been trained to survive on little sleep when under combat situations, it wasn't often he did this but he would sleep with one eye open always being aware of the situation around him. It had been like this since he was a child and his dad used to wake him up with a rather large stick, a lot of people would of called this abuse, but Azrael's dad simply called it training to be permenantly on guard, and as such he had learn't to slepp with one eye open.

He relaxed his breathing and it seemed like he was a sleep though this was not the case, the heat and light from the fire was still going strong though in the morning Azrael would take Kaede further north to Tekler, he figured when they were seperated Hurati would head there seeing as his family had a home there.

[Lady Foxy]

Below the Docks of Zibola

Simon waited for Halina to leave, getting the sailors clothes. ''This one was of high rank.. might use this to our advantage.'' He undressed and dressed into the sailors clothes. ''Mateys! Ye' better move landrubbers!'' He told himself, mocking how some sailors talked while at sea. ''Hm, I better hide these bodies on the sea, while dumping my old clothes nearby.'' Simon did what he had planned, but he was wise to keep his chainmail on. He sat down on the soft sand, with his back against the wall. ''Ah.. how could this happen.'' Simon closed his eyes for a moment, falling quickly asleep.

Tekler, Marketplace

The man stared at Hurati, scratching his beard. ''Current news on the street hm? Well.. between you and me, I was there when they slaughtered the Black Horse Gang.. bunch of thieves that terrorized the whole town. I saw a godly warrior at the end though, just when I went back to work. There was this thief that turned on the thieves.. and two girls also. But who cares now! The city is safe thanks to that Hero! I also heard they beated the 'salt off some four evil-doers last night and for some reason the Wollah mountain is gone.'' The man sighed deeply, trying to look at Hurati's eyes. ''I know that look somewhere.. Is anything wrong?'' He asked him.

Carter kept staring at man that had walked to Bartleby's store, seeming like he was having a fine time with him. ''Hmph, probably some show-off from the capital. I'll follow him to see what's up with him.'' He stood up, rising his shemagh to cover his mouth. ''My hood covers most of my face, but this will be enough.'' Carter headed where Hurati stood talking to Bartleby, slowly making sure he was just a simple ''guard''.

[Hurati]

Hurati blinked himself out of his reverie, he had only half-heard what the merchant had said, "No, thanks Bartleby. I've gotta go." He took the goods from the table and left the money, then turned and walked away. He wandered for a little bit around the city, then finally stopped and looked up. The home in Tekler wasn't as big or fancy, and neither was the medium sized shop connected to it. The shop was locked down and the front door to the home was locked too. Hurati stood in front of it, unlocked it, and took a step inside.

He just stood with his head down, listening to the sound of emptiness, a sound that might not be broken by his family ever again. He closed the door behind him and locked it, then went to the fireplace and lit a fire. After setting up a place at the dinner table, he placed the food there and looked at it, then took a grape and popped it into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully.

[TheDaughterOfHades14]

"Hm, I wonder where Bal- Oh my god Balthazar! She must be dead by now!" Claire said as she ran upstairs.

[berserkerhorn]

Balthazar awoke to some screaming and loud stomping on the stairs. "ughhh... why does my head hurt so badly?" Balthazar said. she stood up and walked right into Claire.

[TheDaughterOfHades14]

Claire fell to the ground. "OW! Hey wat- Balthazar? How are you? Last time I saw you, you were bleeding! How are you still alive?!" Claire asked as she got up.

[berserkerhorn]

Balthazar managed to keep her balance. " oww. Ayla healed me. My head hurts like %$@!. sorry for knocking you down" Balthazar said.

[Gorbaz]

Haline returned to the hiding sport after a fair while, having managed to retrieve her clothes, as well as a small supply of wood. Noticing that Simon was asleep, she built a small fire, being careful that it wouldn't get spotted by a casual passer-by, and settled down next to it. Silently she stared out over the sea, wandering what she was going to do, now that her home had been destroyed, while fighting a loosing battle against the fatigue of the day

[TheDaughterOfHades14]

Claire rubbed her head. "Nah your fine, so what now? Are we supposed to go somewhere?" Claire asked. "Wait a second. Did you just say 'Ayla healed me'?! Is that girl a god or something!?" Claire yelled and asked.

[berserkerhorn]

"i guess. AFter i saw what she did to that guy yesterday." Balthazar aid to Claire. "how do you make your sword grow longer?" Balthazar asked out of curiosity.

[TheDaughterOfHades14]

"Sword? Whatcha talking about?" Claire asked while checking if she was bleeding. She walked into the room and sat on the bed.

[Lady Foxy]

Tekler, local Inn

Carter had forgotten of following the suspicious man when he noticed the Inn they had stayed in to have the doors broken down. He didn't have time to ask the crowd gathered around there to ask questions, his current worry was Claire. Carter managed to get in through the other entrance, walking up the stairs in despair. ''Claire? Claire! Where are you?'' He asked in a worried voice, trying to think which room could she be.

Ayla was talking to some merchants, trying to get a access to their stage wagon. ''I'll pay the price of a hundred florins, no more, no less. If you mind, I'm going to be making sure my friends are ready.'' She waved bye-bye to them, walking over to a popular store of the town. ''I sensed a powerful aura around here.. It obviously wasn't any of those three, this one seemed to be even greater.. maybe I can track it down.'' She told herself before focusing herself to find the aura she was trying to find. ''It's nearby.. It's.. right over those houses.''

Below the docks of the Valean-Occupied Zibola

Simon opened his eyes, yawning slowly while trying to look at Halina. ''You're that thief girl we've tried to catch for years right? I'm sure you were swimming earlier.. before the sh- Tal! Where is him! What have you..'' He almost started to yell at her, before remembering that moment, that dark-hollow shocking moment. ''S-sorry.. I-i just can't beleive he lost his life saving our city.. I should have died as well. But I was lucky to fall off.. then..'' Simon sighed, sadly wiping a tear that was going down his cheek.

[Goryokaku]

The hours passed away and it slowly became morning, Azrael had manged to get a good rest though he did wake up twice when some passing animals tried to get a little friendly the fire had now died out but that wasn't really a problem they needed to get dressed and carry on heading to Tekler. He patted Kaede gently on the head to wake her up, "The clothes will be dry by now and we need to carry on heading towards Tekler Little Sister. You never know we might find something to entertain ourselves with along the way."

Azrael had remeber reports of bandits in this area, but then Bandit's never frightened him from what he remembered in this area it was usually the other way round.