Janius realised he had been holding half a breath as the tattooing was about to begin. He was relieved to an extent already; Julan was showing little in the way of nervousness. If he had the patience to get the marks over with, they would have nothing to worry about. Janius was confident of that much, at least.

It wasn't long before Tunxeek had completed his batch of the ink. He carefully knelt down with the bowl in both hands and nestled it up against the other ink bowls Thorantilth dipped his reeds into. With utmost care and quiet, Tunxeek then stood and stepped to kneel near Kaleeth.

He whispered with a deference, even if their relative age seemed narrower than when Kaleeth left. [i]"Um, I will take a moment to get things together. Meet me out by the Hist tree when you are ready. I am sure the Hist has..."[/i] Tunxeek stopped himself. [i]"I am sure you can get closure. But...you have my sympathies all the same. I know what it's like."[/i]

With that, Tunxeek frowned at the ground solemnly and stood to leave the hut.

[hr]
"Ahnasha is correct," Calia said. "This is a...family matter. That old heirloom sword is just a prop for it all. Cheydinhal will be a much safer place."

The walk back was tense and mostly wordless. Rhazii spoke with Monderyn beside him without looking at him, but it was hard to tell what they were talking about with Rhazii mumbling. It was about Rossarm, his grandfather. The few words that Fendros could make out confirmed that much.

However, it was no use eavesdropping. Fendros kept his eyes and ears open for Rossarm himself. He wore a frustrated scowl as he looked around. His father had ruined their day and Ahnasha's family was now far more involved than he desired them to be.

At first, he was not sure whether he wanted to deal with Ahnasha's hushed words. He could tell from the beginning that she had an unorthodox idea. Even then, her idea went beyond his expectations. He faced her and stifled himself before he could shout -- she had him there. [i]"What!?"[/i] He breathed. [i]"Why? How?!...N-...Ahna, he just tried to-..."[/i] He paused to press his lips together and breathe in. [i]"Absolutely not. Out of the question."[/i]