Although Tunxeek would be ready soon, Kaleeth was in no hurry. Thoranthilth was already mostly prepared, so Julan laid himself down on the bed that the Treeminder had prepared. Though, Thorantilth did motion for him to sit up for a moment, as there was still the first step of the process to complete. 

Pulling himself away from working on the ink for a moment, Tunxeek brought over two small wooden bowls. Even before seeing inside them, the familiar aroma of Hist sap gave away their contents. [i]"We will drink together, and it will be by the guiding hand of the Hist that you receive the marks that signal your entry into our village."[/i] Thorantilth explained, switching to Jel. 

Julan was silent, but nevertheless complied without argument. He took his bowl at the same time as Thorantilth and drank along with him. From Janius and Kaleeth's perspectives, little happened, as they did not say a word afterwards. Julan laid back down, unprompted, while Thorantilth cast a spell over him, then dipped one of the sharpened reeds in the ink.

[hr]

Ahnasha quickly joined Calia in comforting her parents. S'nashi's sobbing had ceased, but she was still watching him with fear as he disappeared down the trail ahead of them. "Mother, father...I'm sorry we couldn't keep him from finding us. I know you two wanted to meet him with the best of intentions, but...he isn't like the others. Not our old neighbor, not Shevari's parents. It's really best just to keep us apart from him for now." 

S'nashi's gaze turned towards the ground, while her hands were still shaking. Neither Calia nor Ahnasha seemed to be able to do much to quell her fear at first. "I've never seen anyone grow so...violent over so little. But..." Her eyes finally met Ahnasha's. "...is it really worth the danger? Fighting over a sword?" 

Ahnasha paused, looking between Fendros, Llarasa, and Monderyn. Even after it was all over, there was still some palpable fear among some of them. "It wasn't about the sword." 

Ahnasha stopped and took in another long breath, composing herself before continuing. "But Fendros is right. We should get back to the city as soon as we can. It's safer there, and we can all just...relax." 

On the way back, Ahnasha walked alongside Fendros far at the head of the group, ostensibly so that they would be the first to run into Rossarm if he decided to turn around, but it also allowed Ahnasha to put enough distance between the two of them and the others that she could whisper to him out of earshot. [i]"Okay, so...I know you aren't going to like what I have to say. It will probably seem like it's coming out of nowhere, and you're going to think I have gone mad, so...I think I'll just say it now while you don't have the option of yelling at me. I want to recruit your father to join in the invasion. That's what we need to talk about privately."[/i]