[h3]Between Trust and Skepticism[/h3][hr]
[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/wEe7xbL.jpg[/img][/center]

[color=gray][quote=Croft]Croft nodded excitedly. "Am I right in assuming we shall be venturing forth towards this ruin and the seed? Oh how exciting!" He clapped his hands and danced a bit in his seat with a big grin on his face.[/quote]
[quote=Leon]"Is this land known for giants?" Leon asked in a whisper to the people near him.[/quote]
[quote=Jazzle]"You know Kettle you are absolutely cotton picking insane, but that's why I like ya. I'm in!" Jazz said enthusiastically. "There will probably be plenty of loot stored away in ancient vases and stuff we can pawn off easily. My question is if we actually do find this magical seed whatever, what will we do with it? Are we selling that thing off too?"[/quote]
[quote=A'shinok]"Ro... I'd say you were crazy had you not gathered so many here. I will follow you there if you ask it, for it is a sin in many a place to allow a friend to take such a journey alone." He put the cup down harder than he should have, not hard enough to break anything but hard enough to hear silverware rattle on plates a few seats down. "I'll follow you into the darkness and bring the light with us as we go."[/quote]
[quote=Clavic]"That's quite preposterous!" He stopped himself suddenly, remembering who he was speaking to and the company that he was in. "I'm sorry, the outburst was quite uncalled for, but out of all the versions of this story that I've read- and I've read many, I'll tell you- I've never seen any sort of map, or hints toward the location of the City of Ro. I am by no means calling you a fraud, please don't be cross, I just wonder how in the name of all the gods and goddesses you managed to come to this conclusion. What I mean to say is: How did you get this information, and why do you believe that it is true? As I mentioned earlier, I've read many variations of the story. Which have lead to me believing that it is just that. A story."[/quote]
[quote=Harry]"Kettle is a very experienced adventurer, who knows facts from lies or non truths. She wouldn't make this stuff up about where the tree is, and I'm actually quite shocked that you can't seem to trust her. A story can sometimes, yes be made from non facts or imagination as it is often called, the ideas that come from our minds. Often imagination is brought about by what we experience around us and that is how stories are often based off of 'true stories.' Now true stories are accounts of past events, or a listing of facts with a nicer description to be heard from someone's voice or letters on a parchment to be read. Because of the existance of true stories, not all stories are 'false', as I assume you would call them. It would be an insult to storytellers everywhere to say that any stories were 'false."[/quote]
[quote=Lila]"I know nothing of this tree, but I for one do not care if the prize we seek exists or not. I jump at the chance to rediscover a city. But should we find this seed them I too would like to know what we plan to do with it."[/quote][/color]

The resulting uproar brought a bemused smile to Kettle's ageing face, and for a moment there was a glimmer of that old mischief that had once gotten her and her companions into and out of so much trouble. She rested the heel of a boot up on the table she was sitting on, and she watched them squeal and argue and bang the tableware until they'd settled down and the tension of a thousand questions hung in the air.

Kettle drew a black dagger from its sheath behind her back -- Sarant had been with her when she had bought the weapon from a merchant from the East -- and she leaned on her upturned knee while she gripped and spun it thoughtfully. Her expression turned dark.

[color=#B2AEBC]"I've followed this trail for ten years,"[/color] she told them with gravity. [color=#B2AEBC]"Books, scraps of paper, stories, hearsay, strange formations in the ground and areas where the wildlife is far stranger than most. It started as a hobby -- a passing interest -- but in the past year I've noticed that I'm being followed. Everywhere I go, now, there are people watching me with odd-colored eyes, with a distinct tattoo of a bird on the side of their throats."[/color] Kettle scanned their faces, wondering if any of them had met such a person on their way to the wetlands. [color=#B2AEBC]"I've discovered that they call themselves [i]Magpies[/i], but little else. I've never been able to get close enough to one to ask them myself -- they have a skill for disappearing in a crowd. But two months ago, the people and professors who had been my best sources for stories about the City of Ro and the Seed of Creation have begun turning up dead. [i]Tortured[/i] to death, specifically. I've concluded that the Magpies are responsible, that they're after the Seed, and that I'm only alive today because they hope I'll lead them to what they want.

"I could turn around -- drop the trail and never look back -- but I fear that they know too much already; if I were to stop now, it would only be a matter of time before they find the Seed themselves. The only answer is to find it before they do, and take it somewhere where it will be safe."[/color] She gave them all a warm smile, and she hopped to her feet and sheathed the dagger again.

[color=#B2AEBC]"I'll leave you all to discuss your own opinions on the matter; this is all I can tell you for your own safety, and there is no map for where we're going -- but whether you come with me, or whether I go on alone, at first light tomorrow Grom and I will ride for Ro. Whether or not you plan to come with me, you're welcome to spend the night here -- guys will have to share the back room, and I'll meet the ladies upstairs. Good night."[/color]

Kettle bowed respectfully to all of them, and she left the room in order to let them discuss among themselves how they would prefer to proceed, without her presence to cause them guilt. She instead took their horses and Grom around the side to the open stable, where she fed and brushed them and locked them in for the night. She waited outside with the horses until she was certain everyone inside had gone to their rooms, their decisions made.

The moon was high and the insects of the wetlands creaked and buzzed under the stars when she went back inside and climbed the stairs to the room she would share with the other women, her heart in her throat at the thought of what opinions she might find waiting.

[h3]Dawn[/h3][hr]
Just as the sky was turning gray with the first light, Kettle was already outside among the misty puddles and weeds, fitting Grom with his saddle and packing provisions for the journey ahead.

Far to the north, across the flat expanse of mud and fog, the mouth of the Unnamed Forest gaped dark between the hills, crowned with spikes of rock in the clouded distance.