Elrithos had readied his horse slowly, making sure that the creature was comfortable with the equipment that had been put onto him. He strapped her gently and caressed her mane in the process. The Aavikanians paid great respect to their mounts as they were those who would make travels across the desserts an easy thing. Well maintained, well feed, the whole ordeal to keep these animals in the best of their shape. It would the least they could do for the help they unknowingly offered. Tightening the last leather belt, he gave the horse a nice little tap before swinging himself onto its back, looking over at the others to begin their travels.

As soon as the dwarven cracked the whip, Elrithos hit his hell in the horse, guiding her over to the side of the cart. He would be on point soon, but not for the moment. He was used to being the lead in most caravan runs, using his skills in scouting and exploring to get a hint of any kind of danger that would befall them on their route in the woods. With any luck, they would get through these woods without any obstacle or danger. Of course, this wasn’t going to be how they wanted it… It never was.

They went off, a slow but steady pace, to outside of town and on the roads to the forest. The first thing he noticed was quite clear… The atmosphere was less than pleasant. He turned his body towards the back, seeing many of the people not wanting to be around each other. Two of them specifically. Vordan and Aaerynn. It was clear why the human mercenary was so prone to being alone in the back of the cart. He had plainly displayed his hatred for the twin`s origins. The mystery was Aaerynn. The wood elves didn`t seem to be the ones to be so anti-social. Lissandra was living proof of it, as she did not have anything against being within human territories. So why subtract herself so clearly from everyone? It would be a subject of discussion later, when time would come to do so.

His attention then turned towards Rudolf who sang a song he had not heard about. And so he stayed attentive to the words, although the dwarf wasn`t exactly the best singer there was. But he could understand the message within the lyrics, smiling lightly as he brought back his attention to the front of the small caravan.  Truly, this was the reality of the road. One for all. All for one. Everyone needed to help each other if they wanted this journey to go by smoothly. Hopefully, everyone will have caught on to this along the path. 

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Later that night, they had stopped for the night to set up camp. Perfect. Elrithos got off the road and off his horse. It was a slow process to get everything off of the horses back, but Elritos did not mind, keeping the light smile upon his face. Some people found quite odd for someone who was raised to fight, who had seen the times of the Dark Emperor to be so joyful and simply happy to be there. He understood that life was a gift, that survival granted him the chance to also do what he likes. So really, the fact that he woke up that morning was all he needed. Dropping all the gear to the ground, he let his horse free to graze the grass and walk around as he joined the others to scavenge for wood to make a good fire.

For the most part, everyone had gathered around ‘’near’’ the fire, although again, so people didn`t want to be in the circle in question. It was a sad truth, but hey, he had to expect it to happen again. The wood elf sat in the tree and Vordan was a little bit outside of the group. Those two were the ones that would take a long time to gain their trust. With a quiet sigh, he sat down, having now removed all of his equipment and his chainmail, leaving nothing but his desert clothes without the helmet. 

The dwarven man mentioned making some food, with Vordan was quite happy to hear, although it was not quite necessary for him personally. Aavikanian could live a couple of days without eating and still be able to function normally. Many wondered why this was like this, but as the wood elves connected with their forests, the Aavikanians connected with their desert, taking on traits of their region. And so, since food was not in abundance, the people had learned to adapt and use ‘’inner energy’’ to survive much longer. You could say it was a gift from the desert for them taking care of it. But it seemed that some people had very strong opinions on the man`s cooking, which left to wonder how his dish would actually taste like. Elrithos was far from being a picky eater, but you never knew.

He preferred leaving the cooking to others, as he knew what he needed to survive and that’ it. He stayed seated, his hands together, simply looking at the scene unfolds. Serna shyly offered herself to do some cooking after a few opinions had dropped on Rudolf’s cooking. Elrithos laughed lightly, letting them do what they had to do… Vordan him was still writing in his book… It was like that since the beginning of the trip, only taking breaks every so often… What was going through his mind?

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This trip wasn’t going to be a pleasant one, which Vordan could tell. Having exposed his obvious hatred for the twins, he could already feel that people don’t appreciate his way of acting. Big deal. He would express it however he wanted. These people did not know what their kingdom had done to his people. THEY still had their magic. THEY could still go on with their traditions and use their talents as they pleased. The Kingdom of Ellahur had to change everything for the greater good of the continent, so that it never happened again. What a waste…

He had stayed in the back of a cart this whole time, pulling out vials, bags and small jars, writing down a lot of stuff. There seemed to be a lot packed into that backpack, as he would pull out thing after thing, going from lizard tails, crushed leaves, dark oils and a lot of other odd stuff. He knew noe one could really see what he was doing other than Aaerynn, which really didn’t bother him. She was so distant that she probably couldn’t make out anything of what he was doing. Good. It was best that they do not know what he was doing. And even if they did, he would have an excuse for it.

He had stayed in this state of mind for a little while, except for when he heard the chant of the dwarf… One he was too familiar with. He had actually mumbled it to himself as the dwarf went along, keeping his head down in the book as he wrote. It was wisdom in lyrics. One that he followed closely. He remembered a similar song in an old, dead language that he had studied on the road. A simple poetic melody to stay alert in the dark, to embrace light even when all is dark. Ironic really…

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They finally came to a stop and Vordan put away everything in his bag for now, getting of and doing as he was ask to set up camp, not going against demands. IT didn’t take long for them to gather up their necessities and make a great camp fire… Vordan him stayed a little out of the circle, having continued to write in his book. It went for a lot of things, from theoretical mixture that would work, notes on what not to do and so on. He wrote all of this in an old language known to Ellahur by very few. It was one of three dead languages that Vordan had learned, as it aided with his magic. A little bit of history, or reading, everything to help him go further in his research… He was so much in his writing that he had ignored what was happening for the food.

It was only when Serna made a sound in front of him that his head rose up and his feather stopped moving… He could smell the wonderful food and the others with the bowls in their hands. Well, was he going to except it? Vordan put his book away in his bag for a moment and got to his feet, looking at her with cold eyes. [b]“Feed someone else with that. I don’t want it.”[/b]

He took his stuff and went to a cart to use it as a table. HE took out his book and then a few odd vials and jars, a mixing bowl and a few other things. With a deep breath, he commenced putting everything in a bowl and crushing it together, ignoring everything happening behind him now.