"I doubt the guard will be hostile. Word shouldn't have spread out here yet," Ethan remarked tiredly, putting on a smile to try and hide it, "If worst comes to worst we can always try and lie. Say we finished in town and were coming to retrieve our things." He didn't much care for lying yet in this case it was far better than the truth; the mayor was dead, several of their comrades too and they were hoping all that would be ignored, so could they have their things back? Optimistic as he might be even he knew how poorly that would go over. Hearing a request to allow Amuné to ride with Geoffrey he turned to the latter, seeming to deliberate it if only for a second before shaking his head.

"No, that's alright. I don't want to be sleeping just yet and having her to mind keeps me attentive..." Ethan began before laughing breathlessly, "Well... Attentive-ish. Besides she's gone as far to name this horse, I think its fair she gets to ride the one she's named." He would sleep once they had camp established, once everyone was well and set in and the danger had passed. He could never forgive himself if he passed out now and something were to happen to anyone. Doubtless the others were in the same state as him anyways, if they could manage then so could he. 

Nymira was fine to have someone act as her guide in these unknown lands. She was even fine with being given suggestions as to where to travel for her mission. Having someone speak on her behalf though? And to do so without her permission? Unallowable, and certainly not someone who carried themselves as commonfolk and who spoke in such tongues that she could scarcely understand him. "I think we'll be fine addressing the guards ourselves," the Dimuran added in with a frown, "We were there involved in the fighting, I think it best this comes from us anyway." It was their deeds and in turn it should be them that spoke of the issue, not Geoffrey. To do so showed a level of detachment and refusal of acceptance of their actions. Had things gone south on the ship? Perhaps, but it wasn't going to disappear if they tried distancing themselves, best to accept it now. Same could be said of the mayor's incident, but that was well out of their control: this they had a say in.

As the trees began to thin, signaling the shore up ahead, the group would be made aware of a dull droning noise up ahead. At first it sounded similar to a creature's growling, albeit oddly consistent and steady. The horses didn't appear to be terribly unnerved by the noise either if only confused, their ears perked and movements slowed somewhat as they no doubt were trying to place the sound themselves. The noise began to draw closer and increase in volume, and before anything became visible a cloud of dust could be seen up ahead on the road. Drawing the horses to a halt Ethan reflexively reached down to his hip for his sword, forgetting he no longer possessed it and instead trying to muster up whatever minute traces of magic he had left. Was it a beast? Some kind of known monster? They needed to be ready for anything, and the timing on this encounter couldn't be worse.

The situation wasn't confusing enough without seeing a man riding towards them, mounted on something unknown and traveling at a high speed. As the figure drew nearer they caught sight of a familiar cropping of blond hair, a worn duster jacket swaying in the wind. It was Norman approaching them, that much they now knew, but just what in the world was he riding? The mechanic must have spotted them as his mount slowed its pace to nearly a halt, the rumbling noise emanating from it dying down until it was all but silent. He was covered in dust and oil, his eyes hidden behind a thick pair of goggles and a bemused smile on his lips. The looks on some of their faces told him they had never seen anything like this before, though very few people had. It wasn't completely dissimilar to the reaction the guards had given him upon arriving either, no one knew what to make of it. 

"Well, fancy meeting you kids all the way out here. Didn't expect to run into you here," Norman greeted, smirking as he pulled up the goggles to his forehead, his eyes cleaner than the rest of his caked face. "What's got you out here anyway? Going to inspect that ship?"

"Er... Actually we're heading back there. We were the ones who fought on it," Ethan admitted sheepishly as he continued to stare at the contraption beneath Norman, "It's uh... Well we left some things back there and we were hoping to get them back before we left. I don't suppose you saw any weapons or anything back there?" Hopefully he didn't ask about what happened, even if Ethan was confident Norman wouldn't think any lesser of them for it. Even Cecil's attack had been in self defense, they hadn't done anything on that ship out of cold blood.

Norman smiled knowingly as he swung a leg over his motorbike, nodding as he walked around to the back of it. "In fact I do, I even found them. Guards there mentioned they belonged to you, said I should bring them back to Orosi and hand them in. Whatever went on that ship sure must have been one hell of a fight, the poor things all beat up," he commented, unlatching a pack on the rear of his machine. From inside the pack he fetched Nymira's daggers, wrapped together in a cloth and bound by twine, handing them over to the Dimuran as she hurried down to fetch them. "Found this staff here as well on my way back, I'm assuming it belongs to one of you," Norman added as he glanced around, handing it over to Zander when he raised a hand, "I just got done repairing the engines on that ship, have to say you kids sure know how to make a scene."

"Well... To be fair it wasn't completely our doing," Ethan laughed, rubbing at his neck awkwardly as he tried to explain, "We uh... Well the thing is we were asked to get the ship back. There were just bandits at first, and then some men showed up and complicated things. Somehow we made it out of that mess in one piece." Considering how some of the men ended up in all the fighting they had gotten off remarkably easily, with little to show for the ideal aside from some minor cuts and fatigue. Seeing the others get their weapons back was of somewhat relief too, knowing that at least some of them were armed now. 

"There's no honor among your people, Norman. They attack without reason and steal from one another like its nothing. I don't understand you Murans at all," Nymira said with a shake of her head. "Still... I suppose you were right before, not all of your kind are thieves or hopeless buffoons. Even Ethan has proven to have his worth." Ignoring the proverbial cloud she'd created over Ethan's head she unwrapped her daggers, inspecting them briefly before returning them to their homes at their sides. Then, knitting her brow together the Dimuran looked up to Norman expectantly, a hand going to her hip. "Since no one else has asked yet... What in the world are you riding on?" 

The head of the vehicle, if it could be called a head, was crafted of some silver metal and shaped in the head of a horse. That aside nothing of the machine was recognizable. There were two wheels on it, one in the front and the other in the back, and long poles connecting the former to some kind of steering device. A leather seat sat between the wheels and some kind of mess of piping and a large, blocky object sat beneath that. She had never seen anything like it, and clearly neither had any of the others.

Norman smiled proudly as he was asked about his creation, his eyes shining with a certain delight as he was given a chance to explain. "This, my dear, is my latest invention. I call it a "motorbike", isn't she beautiful?" he mused, running a hand along the seat before gesturing to the assorted pipes. "It's a vehicle propelled completely on Demacite, and it travels even faster than a horse might. Beneath the seat here is a housing unit for a demacite crystal, and then circuits from that travel through the piping here, to both wheels through the undercarriage. By using the handles here," Norman explained, gripping the throttle on the front, "I can increase or decrease the flow of energy. It's quite ingenious if I say so myself. By using Demacite's energy properties I can convert the magic into raw power, making the vehicle capable of-"

"I asked what it was, not for a complete lesson on its parts," Nymira said exasperatedly, "I see that's how you managed to get this far so quickly though. I don't recall seeing this in your shop..."

"Because I had it hidden. It's not much of a secret project if it's out in plain view now is it?" Smiling at the cross look on Nymira's face the engineer looked past her to the rest of the group, noting how worn down everyone was. Whatever had happened on that ship certainly took its toll, some of them looked more than ready to pass out. A few new faces among the mix as well he noted, one of which had certainly seen better days. "Glad to see you're all well despite that battle, I can only imagine how difficult it must have been," Norman mused, looking then towards the cart and to Cecil, "Ah, how're you holding up there Cecil? Any problems since your last visit?"