Julan jumped slightly when Janius suddenly spoke up behind him, despite the fact that he [i]should[/i] have been able to hear him coming long before he spoke a word. It was obvious that he had been lost rather deeply in his own thoughts. "Oh, um, yeah, I guess." Julan replied, unconvincingly. 

Glancing up to Janius for only a moment, Julan returned his gaze back down to the water. "I guess I...really don't know what I'm getting into. I mean, I don't know any of the hunters, so I don't know how skilled they are. I am worried about it." He said, however; his insincere tone, coupled with the fact that he was quickly glancing over at the apprentices playing their game in the river every few seconds, did hint that it was something else which was really bothering him. If Janius was particularly observant, he might notice the violet-scaled girl that Julan was looking at more than the rest. 

[hr]

Ahnasha did hesitate, flashing a brief, worried expression on her face as she tried to come up with the best way to word her answer. She had never told Rhazii, or most others, before, but she had used multiple black souls in the spell to extend her life. "It...doesn't [i]have[/i] to." Ahnasha finally answered. "The spells in the ritual require soul energy to reinforce the bonds of your own soul to your body. There are many rogue necromancers who do not care about killing innocents, and will use black souls for those sorts of spells. It requires fewer gems, and is easier to accomplish overall with black souls. But, other strong souls can accomplish the same task. Only those that will fully charge a grand soul gem, though. It can be a challenge to collect them, but hunters like ourselves should not be afraid of a challenge."