"Oh, thank the gods," Ary murmured to herself upon seeing the warlock reappear before them and deliver the final blow to their last standing opponent. The statement stemmed from an overwhelming relief, a mixture of her own guilt and his well-being, punctuated with a long sigh as she leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. It was finally finished; and yet, for her, [b]it[/b] wasn't finished, at all. She knew these few seconds would be the only respite she would get before the travelers would bound in on her for the trouble. Or so she thought.

In all honesty, this hadn't been the result she was hoping for. Well, yes, she was alive and mostly well. That was good. But the way in which they reached that result was probably not the most productive route. Araerys was merely hoping for some negotiations, an exchange of words to help dissuade the males from punishing her. Now, most of the group was injured, they had just caused a terrible scene in front of the common folk, and they had a death on their hands. Before she could answer the inevitable question fired at her by the witch, the woman she had initially approached addressed the crowd at the stalls. A big part of Ary was in agreement with the announcement; the public assembly probably now thought of them all on equal grounds with the villains they were fighting. Though she wouldn't have gone so far as to apologize to a corpse, the one aimed at the general population may have been in order. Any bloodshed at all might have been avoided if the woman who then opposed the apology might have waited and allowed the group to talk it out. She was the one that had initiated the fight in the first place when no one had even uttered a word about the thought. 

Granted, the ruffians didn't exactly seem like the negotiating type. In any case, there was no use in griping about who started what anymore. It was over and done with. Furthermore, who was Ary to complain about the help, regardless of whether it was how she would have preferred it to come or not? She would just have to deal with whatever they threw her way, and hope that her joining them in combat instead of fleeing might be enough for them to forgive and maybe forget. So yes, the nature-witch could loot the men as much as she wanted. Normally, Araerys would have joined in to search for pieces of gold - but that didn't matter to her at the moment. Their adversaries were finally out of commission, and that was what mattered. At least the tavern would have four less swine to house in the evenings.

In any case, Ary chose the words of her response carefully, taking care not to point out that the men might have not tried to kill any of them had they simply just stepped aside and let them pass. The half-elf was also unsure of how accepting they would be of her trade, and didn't think it the right time to bring it up. So she settled on a very fundamental explanation of the truth. "These ruttish brutes thought it a good idea to bedevil the ladies down at the tavern last night. I wouldn't have it, not in my home town - I decided to give them a taste of their own medicine." A nasty stinging from the wound at her gut paused her and she inhaled sharply through her teeth before continuing. "They did not take too kindly to it, the hypocrites. They tracked me down and gave me chase." 

Again, she paused, though this time it was to listen to the others speak, and watch as the paladin moved the unconscious drifter closer to the group. "Rest, yes. That sounds wonderful," she said in reply to the feline as she made her way towards the male who had offered to heal them. The kurjian was as bright as she must have been before the battle started, even sustaining the wounds that she had. Araerys admired that, and gave her a tired, yet warm smile. It remained on her face as a sign of peace while she glanced around at the merchants who were recovering from the shock of the battle. Once she had arrived before the paladin, she cleared her throat and straightened her posture as much as she could with the throbbing laceration in her lower torso. 

"I humbly express my gratitude for all of your help. If that was to be the way they were to handle me once I had been caught, I would be a bloodied pulp on the ground." And as if it weren't dramatic enough, the bard made sure to make eye contact with each of the group - even the woman who had stepped out of the sidelines to rap her stick on the rat's head. "I would say it a thousand and one times, though I'm sure you would probably finish me off before I could get there out of sheer annoyance, so I will say it once and be done with it: thank you." Ary stopped herself before she outright pledged loyalty to the group, though she really could have done so from the attachment she was beginning to feel for them. But that wouldn't have been prudent; she barely knew them, and vice versa. She was a sentimental women, and it had gotten her into trouble many times before. Still, she made sure to convey through her gaze the sincere thankfulness she felt.