"So quick you are to think I would kill you," Rintor replies, gaze unflinching from the demon. In one smooth motion, he lowers his dagger and returns it to its sheath. He turns to Esailia, then rising. "I apologize for the blow, but you needed to recover your reason. Rest assured he will not spill any blood here, unless he does so over my dead body." 

Then he registers the Fox-girl's observation about the grass. [i]This could be nothing, or it could be very, very bad.[/i] "You are right," he tells her. "This is...alarming, but we are not far from rocky ground," he ensure that his voice is loud enough for the others to hear. "I suggest that we make haste there before sundown. Then we can study this phenomenon without having to walk upon it." He begins suiting words to action. [i]You still wear that mantle of command a little bit too comfortably,[/i] he reminds himself. [i]It is no longer yours to wear.[/i] "Any opposed? Any other ideas?"