The young eija in training, after finishing with his task, slipped away in silent eija fashion to join his master and her partner. The group was on good terms with the little village--they'd been asked to come and so were welcome, and had been treated with courtesy and respect. To the Azurei, the village kept them employed, and it was their duty to track down bandits anyway. Still, they tended to keep to themselves. They even brought their own tent that they slept in together, and sat around the fire outside. They would generally join one of the village elders for mealtimes though.

"Took you a very long time, Ja'heil," his master pointed out with a note of disapproval. 
Ja'heil bowed low. "Sorry, Elaitih. I did as you asked, but the Azurei's blades were still covered in blood, and...they were beautiful, the touchmark was Teleisun, I think. I made sure to clean them."
The male eija's attention sharpened. "Teleisun? Which variant? With a star, or a crescent moon?"
"Star."
"That's the mark of Taja Ajoran Teleisun, if I'm not mistaken. He's made blades for only six eija that I know of. He stopped smithing when he became a taja. Was she of our order?"
Ja'heil nodded curtly. "Without question. Those blades were excellent, Harum. And her saddle bore a sigil I haven't seen...but I assume it's an eija's sigil. It was a seahorse."

That gave them all some pause. The ranks of eija were small, and they all at least vaguely knew of one another. Sigils weren't always unique--some families had generations of eija and passed down their sigils, or if they were from an important family, they kept their house sigil. If they never had one, or had ties to one, they would create one. The Seahorse sigil was new and thus uncommon. It took a moment for Salei, the female, to recall it. "The Atakharan girl, I think. Tall, slim. Remember her?"
Harum had to really stretch his memory. "The quiet one...can't remember her name. Yes." And then it dawned on him. "She's got one of Teleisun's blades...and I seem to recall seeing her with Taja Ajoran a lot. They were...an item. You don't think..."

Silence. Each one of them knew exactly what that meant. And suddenly they all knew who lay injured in Konie's hut, though nobody wanted to say it out loud for reasons none of them could understand. They'd known, they'd always known somehow. But they needed proof and now they seemed to have it. Salei looked visibly uncomfortable. "The Traitor is still alive. But nobody knows why. Did she...escape? There was never a search...we would have heard about it." 

A distant roll of thunder punctured the next round of silence. Rain slowly began to drizzle on their heads and it picked up momentum quickly. Wordlessly, Harum extinguished the fire, and the three of them went quietly back into their tent. They had a dilemma on their hands, and for once they did not know how to face it.

--

The rain was a thundering torrent on the rooftop but Ridahne slept through it. Talyn and Konie went about their usual business making salves, preparing tonics, clipping herbs from pots outside and hanging them to dry. Linens, including Ridahne's clothes, were washed and hung to dry over the fire, as they would only get more soaked on the line outside. Darin hadn't come back, though they weren't too worried. Perhaps the other elders had cornered her and demanded answers, but nothing horrible was likely to happen in town.

A knock made them both look up; Talyn put a gentle hand on Konie's shoulder, signaling she should stay where she was, and got up to answer it. He opened the door only a little at first, though when he saw Darin passed out in Harris' arms he threw it open. "Oh dear..." he sighed, his voice cool. "Set him down there, tell me what happened." Talyn had a way of being calm while still employing the necessary urgency for the situation.
"Lad just needs rest is all, and maybe a stiff drink when he's come to." Harris laughed a little, but Talyn detected something off in his tone. Something distant and thoughtful. "Worked himself hard out there." He set Darin down near the fire, stole a glance at the sleeping Azurei in the corner, and after a polite nod he dismissed himself to go and get warm, dry, and fed. 

Talyn shut the door and locked it once more, then went to Darin. He checked her pulse, and though she was clammy from all the rain, there was still a good healthy warmth to her. He knew of heat exhaustion...but with the rain out there, it hadn't been hot at all. And she did not seem frail. What really happened? He explained his thoughts to Konie, who was in the kitchen, as he gently peeled away Darin's soaked outer clothes and covered her in a thick wool blanket to keep her warm. He hung her clothes to dry too. 

"Quite the pair, these two...quite the pair..."