The twins could feel the hatred pouring out of Vordan as he made his introduction and stared them down. Setna’s short fuse was lit and he placed his hand on the hilt of his blade. He almost stood up, insults hanging on the tip of his tongue but a small hand held his arm. He glanced back to his sister, whose pained eyes stared up at him. Stop, they urged.

He gave in, his fists tightening as he receded. He should have known better than to just spout off where they were from. He should have known. It had been beaten into him, cut into him, slammed into him. The outsiders hate you. The outsiders will kill you. The outsiders will have no mercy on your families. Setna had been brought up that the Syndarean past had been a glorious one. No decision was wrong. They had been on the glorious side of the war. The Emperor was only trying to bring better equality to all magic users. The outsiders were wrong, yet they had won. Therefore the Syndareans had to live with unjustifiable hatred. 

A part of him knew that it was bullshit. But it was how they were raised. It was why they were trained to kill, to fight, and to protect. Hatred was everywhere, and they had to constantly be prepared to fight against it. Rage beat in his chest as Setna looked down to avoid looking at Vordan any longer, afraid he might rip out of his sister’s grip to confront him. 

It was ridiculous; he wanted to say something out of the pride of his country. But when he thought about it, wasn’t he the one committing treason? He had stolen away the sacrifice to the God’s Festival, had broken every rule about leaving home, especially with a woman. Setna smiled ruefully, his hands clenching in a white knuckle grip.

Serna on the other hand, knew exactly why the hatred towards them was deserved. Shut away in the nunnery she read all sorts of books that had been written on the war. The stories of the Dark Emperor, the Syndarean’s involvement, the destruction that was caused. Her people tried to glorify themselves, so they wouldn’t die of shame. 
She gently rubbed her brother’s shoulder as she looked at Vordan with sad eyes. To see hatred full in the face, gave her a cold feeling in her chest.

Then the Desert Elf spoke and he came to the aid of the twins, reassuring them that they were not to be blamed for their ancestors’ past. 

However, it was the red headed warrior who displayed the first act of trust. He came closer and threw an arm around Setna. The boy’s eyes widened slightly as he felt the power and strength in the arm that wrapped around him in a sign of trust. Slowly, Setna found his anger fade away slightly, he calmed down as he began to realize that not everyone was out to get him and his sister. Elrithos and Tirian both showed that they didn’t care where the twins were from. 

Serna gave a soft smile at the warrior with a shy nod in thanks. Her eyes remained pained though as she looked down and stuck close to her brother. She wished he would just return home, where he should be. Then they wouldn’t have to go through this, and wouldn’t have to pain people with their existence. Perhaps their people wouldn’t punish her brother too severely. He had tried to save his sister after all, there was honor in that. As for her… she was already living on borrowed time, wasn’t she?

------

Aaerynn wasn’t interested in the little scene that had unfolded in front of her. It was typical really. Humans were humans, caught up in hatred and vengeance. The female elf preferred to distance herself from the group, leaning against one of the carts. 

Her light eyes observed the face of Vordan who had shown vile hatred and then immediately shifted into a cheerful attitude. Men like him were the worst, she was sure. And she grunted softly as the Aavikanian and the Tirian fellow put Vordan back into his place. What simpletons. 

The wood elf had her respect for the desert fellow, having earned it through his obvious years on this land. But the rest….eh.

Aaerynn dug out the dirt from under her nails as she listened to the last two introduce themselves. Caelis and Faith. Aaerynn’s light eyes fixed themselves on the small half elf girl. A melancholy feeling drifted into her core, filling her gut and attempting to enter her chest. The wood elf swallowed the weariness down. She rapidly looked away from the half elf, willing the old grief to leave her be and not rot her from the inside out.

But those bastardized memories continued to resurface. She could see his face again, his eager questioning about sons and daughters, names and heritage. Aaerynn swallowed the bile that had risen in her throat. 

“…Where are we headed towards first?”

The question brought the elf out of her reverie, her eyes focusing back on the task and the old dwarf that huddled around the map. 

“Well…” The dwarf had remained resigned throughout the introductions and altercations, but now he spoke with a genial voice. “It will take us quite a few days to get through the North Furus woods. We’ll have to make stops as night hits, for the woods is a dangerous place to travel in the dark. But…”

He pointed to a circle on the map, a small farming village centered on the edge of the woods. “This will be our first official stop, in a village where we’ll restock for supplies before heading into the mountainous range. Any other questions? Otherwise we should get ourselves ready, I’d like to have us start before the sun sleeps for the night.”