Kaleeth did look worried, though perhaps not quite as much as Janius. "I don't know. I...want to trust him. Hopefully."

Argrei was equally as surprised as the crowd to see Julan stand once more, though he could also see that he was concerned. Argrei did not yet make any move to attack. [i]"You...can't be serious. You're just going to end up hurting yourself, boy. Just concede. Even the Master-Hunter didn't do it on his first attempt."[/i]

Julan did not respond, except by taking a few, uneasy steps forward, looking for an opening. 

[i]"Master-Hunter, he's injured. Surely you can call this fight?"[/i] Argrei asked, giving a brief glance over to Juran. 

Though Juran surely held his own judgments about the fight, he did not give away anything with firm, but neutral tone. [i]"You did not have a clear opportunity for a lethal blow. It is his choice to continue on injured."[/i]

Julan made his choice abundantly clear by opening up the fight once more, trying to force the opening he wanted. 

Meanwhile, Janius might have notice some movement to his left, only a short distance away from him. The unpleasantly familiar face of Deerz had taken up the space just beside Janius. It was unclear why he would want to observe the fight so close to those he so clearly despised, but he did not yet acknowledge Janius, or any of the others. 

[hr]

For a while, at least, Ahnasha was able to focus her mind on the effort needed to hide her wounds. There was plenty-enough cloth at the bandit camp with which to make bandages, but she had to clean her fur thoroughly before putting back on her dress. With all that had happened she was not sure how much time had passed. It was still daylight, and it looked like it would be a few hours before evening, at least. 

There were no distractions on the way back to Cheydinhal for Ahnasha, which made the walk seem all that much longer. She felt lost, and confused about her own basic judgment. Even she knew that she had a reputation for being harsh, but it was warranted, was it not? They were, after all, fighting a war over their own existence, and failure would result in a fate worse than death for them all. A part of her wanted to tell her that Rhazii was just being naive, or idealistic. In reality, their situation did not afford them the luxury of avoiding tough choices. And yet, something about the way her son looked at her made her feel like she was as much of a monster as he thought she was. She had always thought her emotional detachment was an advantage: something a person should [i]want[/i] to have, but now, she had nothing but doubt. 

Ahnasha returned to the inn, not sure of what to say to whoever she might first encounter. However, there was one certainty in her mind: her family troubles were trivial compared to what was now weighing on her shoulders.