[color=orangered]“I’m a sell sword, Yanimura. What is it you think I do for work? I am hired to fight, my vocation is bloodshed. It’s like we said before; war is never over, and there is always profit to be made by those with the talent for it.”[/color]

Jintaru toyed with the idea of finishing his sake but instead pushed the bottle away almost ceremoniously. After doing so, he glanced over his shoulder at the young woman to whom Nomi had referred. The name didn’t ring a bell. He turned back to his companion.

[color=orangered]“I do not know her and I do not care to. Perhaps you ought to go and introduce yourself, drag someone else into the enigmatic maelstrom that is your life.”[/color] [color=orangered]He heard the woman rise from her seat and make her way swiftly into the tavern. “Or perhaps she has more pressing matters than your scroll to think about.”[/color]

As the men began to appear around the tavern he cursed himself. He should have heard them, felt them but he realised now that he had let his anger cloud his senses. He shook the feeling of frustration away and stood from the table. He took stock of the armoured men.

[color=orangered][i]They’re trained and well-armed. Makes sense if they’re the entourage of royalty. But royalty in a place like this is strange enough, the armed guards make it even more so. To the Hells with it[/i].[/color]

He looked down at Nomi and tilted his head to one side. Something akin to a smile crept across his lips. The blind man really didn’t believe him that the man he knew was gone. He was expecting this current situation to be dilemma for Jintaru. Was it hope that led him down this path? Perhaps Nomi wanted Jin Long back, wanted to have something familiar. The idea tickled Jintaru but he straightened up. 

[color=orangered]“I don’t know any of the people in that building, Yanimura. I don’t care what happens to any of them. Were they to pay me to fight for them then perhaps my response to your presumption wold be different. But as it stands, the man who fired the first two shots or the woman who doubtlessly went in after him, could murder everyone inside and I still wouldn’t care. I need to speak with Ornestoro, so I need to find the boy. I need to know if whoever has captured him did so before or after my message was delivered.”[/color]

Straightening his sword belt, checking the bow still slung across his chest and glancing off into the distance, Jintaru rolled some stiffness out of his neck and walked away from the table, away from the tavern and away from the silver haired man. Before he left ear shot, he nodded back.

[color=orangered]“Good luck with finding your crystal, I hope your pursuit of it brings you naught but grief and misery.”[/color]