[i]Risked their lives?[/i]

Zaino contained the urge to laugh at the idea of these [i]people[/i] 'risking' their lives. He couldn't believe the words coming from Ambra's mouth, speaking as if she had a single clue of what she was talking about. [b]"Then mongrels [i]and[/i] cowards they are, willingly dragged by the leashes of hopelessness. The men and women who stood beside me, offering up their hearts to preserve the peace of the continent for what years would've come, have all perished before my very eyes until I was the last man standing. To compare and group me with these cowards is the very antithesis of the word itself."[/b]

[b]"And don't you dare speak [i]her[/i] name,"[/b] Mentioning Helena once more pressed the emotional triggers inside Zaino, channeling it into a fist and trying to look more angry than sorrowful, not sure if it was convincing. [b]"Throwing names of the dead as if they don't matter, have you no respect?"[/b]

Zaino glared at the fruit resting in Ambra's hand, his brief period of aggression dissipating. He laid his back against the wall, and sat with a melancholy expression. He hated how his emotions continued to conflict with one another; one moment, he would be full of anger and prepared to argue, and the next, he would return to a calm and subtle, almost a bit depressing, state. There was only one thing he was sure about, and that was the fact that nobody was trustworthy; he'd learned his lesson well after what happened. Shaking his head, he spoke back in his casual tone, [b]"I just don't know anymore."[/b]

When the two other women entered his room, Zaino did not greet them with hostility; in fact, he didn't greet them at all. He just stared blankly into the air, voluntarily reaching his hand to detach one of the seeds from the fruit and placing it into his mouth, gently chewing. He had been unconscious for the last few hours (or had it already been a day?), the mention of the 'Talbot' fellow being alive actually made him feel slightly disappointed. From what he remembered, it was the mage whom he had smacked upside the head with his sword for calling him Shepherd Bandit, the one with hair styled like an octopus. Still, he was curious as to what had happened, but kept the curiosity to himself.