The overall tone had somewhat shifted from hostile to straight out suspicion. This was already better than what could have been, and everyone was at least a little relieved by that being the case. The knight seemed to embody the crowds moods perfectly, though his eyes spat a thousand hatreds. Ursaren tried to calm him a little more, and was met with an abrupt laugh which startled Alice, as she was studying him so closely and it was so unexpected.

"Theirs is a cruel, vicious, race. One that is capable of great deeds of evil, you might as well have told me that it was her own family that tried to butcher her and I wouldn't be surprised, nor would I be any more sympathetic or trusting." He spoke, she didn't have to check to know he was looking Beren in the eyes. "I know full well what they are capable of, young man, I've seen what they can do, and suffered as a result of their actions....mere words won't be enough to convince me of the trustworthiness of the Dorcha that accompanies you and your group." She found it hard to disagree with him, though she noticed his words came from a place of experience, marked by his sudden weary tone. She supposed it was probably better for everyone that he had spotted Aeryn at the gate.

Ursaren offered healing and repair making Alice realise she herself probably should have offered something more concrete than coin. [i]I still have much to learn about the borderlands[/i] Alice remarked to herself. Thankfully such an offer was well received, though it was hard to tell from the knight's face. The man fell silent, which was good. Silence meant thinking was happening, as oppose to mindless violence.

Eventually he gave them three conditions in which they may enter the village.

One, they surrender any and all weapons. Alice was extremely unsure of how to deal with this. The quarterstaff would have to go. It was the 'any' part that she had problem with. Would anyone here be able to identify her as a wizard at sight? She could feign being a translator, or diplomat. She could hand over her hidden dagger as a gesture of good will, but her disguised wand would stay with her. And she would NEVER give up her spell tome, not after so many years. The idea of it being left in a musty stockroom, or worse being perused like some child's storybook by illiterate peasants who knew no such thing as book-care or etiquette! Her mind was whipping her into a frenzy, but her body remained calm and collected as the knight spoke the second condition

Two, the party would have to contribute towards the village's defences while they were here. Once again Alice was at a conundrum. She knew very little of fortifications. When she had been with the Dwarves it would have been hard enough even getting close to any construction, Dwarven pride not allowing a human, even as honoured as her, get close to them. Not to mention she hardly had the physique of a manual worker. She supposed she could try and cast spells on some of the walls and gates, but her knowledge of such things was extremely limited. And even if she had the power to do so normally, she most certainly didn't now, still recovering as she was. She thought long and hard as the knight went on to his next condition

Three, the party share their goal. At least this one was a bit more straightforward for Alice

Four, a member of the 'town' guard would accompany any member of the party should they decide to wander the village. This instinctively irked Alice somewhat, but she understood wholly why.

It was as she considered all of these things did she realise the knight was waiting for a reply. She spoke up [color=royalblue]"Of course, we'll take a few moments to consider the terms but they seem reasonable. May I also ask for your name, Ser knight?"[/color] she thought it probably worth asking now they were out of the woods

He replied, and his posture returned to a more casual one. She knew that this Ser Nicademus' gesture meant little more than it showed, she was betting he could draw that sword to deadly effect in an instant, but thankfully it was enough to re-assure most of the assembled militia who started to return to what they were doing beforehand.

"I understand if you are angry at me, mistrustful of me, but my actions are borne from my concern for this village. As I said before, prove me wring in my assumptions, show me that you can be trusted."

[color=royalblue]"A noble sentiment,"[/color] Alice bowed her head in thanks, [color=royalblue]"We won't let you down, Ser Nicademus."[/color] True, she didn't know if he [i]was[/i] a knight or not, but he damn well looked like one and she didn't think he would object too loudly to the title.

Everything was wrapping up neatly, until their latest addition took it upon herself to open diplomacy. Alice wanted to say a thousand things to Aeryn, but her thought process just kept repeating the words "Oh no," incrementally getting louder. She wanted to sigh. She wanted to scream. She wanted to run for cover.

What Alice did do was shoot Geradin a look. Whether that look meant "Shut her up," or "Get ready," Alice didn't know. What Alice did know was that one of her hands was firmly clutching her wand, and the other hand was in a pocket on her backpack and wrapping itself around a holy medallion of Ragnarok.

[@POOHEAD189][@Gardevoiran][@Mortarion][@Fetzen][@Stormflyx][@BCTheEntity]