The crackling and snapping of the burning herbs in the end of Jintaru's pipe was a relaxing sound to hear, much like a basic camp fire that burned with sticks and branches of trees. The blind man recalled the times he had spent under the night sky, a make-shift tent slung over a low hanging branch and a burning camp fire crackling away to ward off the beasts of the night. Much of his time spent in Mor Sgaithatch didn't allow the opportunity to relax. The orcs that ruled there were hunters and guardians both. They guarded the Black Mountain, their home as viciously as a cornered fox would would fend off attackers and they hunted down the fools who thought they could venture deep within the Black Mountain to reclaim the rumoured treasures hidden there. Burial tombs of long gone kings and queens, vaults of weapons and treasure that belonged to the most powerful of warriors. There's even whispers of items being hidden there that once belonged to the Gods themselves. Treasure hunters just could not resist the call of Mor Sgaithatch. No one ever returned with the treasures that are supposed to be buried there. Most returned empty handed. More didn't return at all, caught by the Gurtha Orcs.

Nomi chuckled and poured himself a cup of sake, shaking the bottle subtly afterwards to hear it was about one quarter full. Seems he had gotten through this one quicker then expected as well. The blind man allowed the clear liquor within his cup to still and he placed both his hands down around the porcelain cup. His thumbs pressed together as did his index fingers with the sake cup sitting in the middle of the 'triangle' that his hands made. He seemed to be staring into the liquor like a fortune teller would stare into their crystal ball.
[color=teal]”I suppose Orcs and Dragons are on different levels. Perhaps those imbeciles did come in useful at times as distractions, but I never needed their help, only yours.”[/color]
Things did not exactly go as according to plan ever since the Dragons had been defeated all that time ago. No amount of thinking or pondering had revealed an answer as to why things had turned out the way they did, but alas, here they were. Nomi just smiled to himself and kept his 'eyes' on the sake cup between his hands.
[color=teal]”What become of the circus boy? He's one of very few people I've met who could manipulate the elements. I had thought those who could channel the elements through their hands had all perished long ago.”[/color]

The blind man instinctively clenched both his hands into fists and drew them back off the table and into his lap where they remained hidden beneath the table. Slowly the silver-haired man sat back and upright, 'looking' towards the shaven-headed man. His words of it being impossible to meet and speak with Ornestoro both intrigued and frustrated the blind man, but he allowed no emotion to show on his face as he sat there in silence and listened to the 'monk'.
[color=teal][i]So why will he speak to you then? Because you turned your back on House Czentulu? No, there has to be more to it then that.[/i][/color]
The thoughts ran through the blind man's head several times, repeating themselves over and over again, but nothing arose from it. No clue, no hints, nothing. There was definitely a connection between Jintaru and Ornestoro that the blind man had to, ironically, see for himself in person. That time would come soon, all Nomi had to do was sit tight and wait for the kitchen hand to return from the city.

[color=teal]”You frown at my words, calling those we travelled with as 'imbeciles', but you speak of honour and loyalty meaning nothing to you? Come now, you're basically bad mouthing your own family and your dead king. I know you better then anyone else to have come into contact with you. The man who sits before me is not the man I once travelled with, correct, but he is still sitting before me at the same time. He's asleep, slumbering deep inside of you. You've locked him away, trapped him within your very soul, ignoring him, shunning him. You've turned your back on everything that you once loved because you're powerless to stop bad things from happening to them. Your wife, your son, the dead king. You turn away from your problems instead of facing up to them.”[/color]
Nomi let out a hearty laugh and slammed one of his hands onto the wooden table, rattling both the sake bottles which somehow managed to stay upright and spilling some of his sake filled cup upon the table top, which dripped down through the cracks onto the dry floor below. His face turned sinister, his body flexed as he tucked his elbows into his waist and tensed himself up, trying to make himself look bigger.
[color=teal]”All it will take to bring out the man I know, is to draw a sword and swing it at your head.”[/color]
The blind man once more chuckled and he relaxed himself, shaking his head from side to side as he repositioned his sake bottle so it sat a little closer to his cup. He then brushed the back of his fingers across the table to wipe away the sake he had spilled, still chuckling throughout.
[color=teal]”Sadly I don't have a sword so I can't put this to the test.”[/color]

Nomi said nothing from this point on until he had heard the man sitting opposite him finishing speaking. The blind man could feel the frustration brewing within the 'monk', which was being tamed well by the herbs he smoked no doubt, but the frustration was still there. He even spoke it aloud to confirm it. Jintaru liked to think himself not a fool, but today he had been just that. With a nod of the head, the silver-haired man spoke up.
[color=teal]”I've heard rumours about Ornestoro, but had no way to confirm them. You've now confirmed what I thought. When the kitchen hand returns from the city, we're going to see Ornestoro. You will speak with him, you will show him this scroll fragment and you will find out where I can find one of these crystals. After that, you can go on your way and live the rest of your miserable life as you see fit and I will go find the crystal. We can part ways at that point and you'll never see me again.”[/color]
Nomi cracked a smirk from ear to ear and he leaned on the table with both elbows, 'staring' hard at Jintaru's face.
[color=teal]”How does that sound?”[/color]