Darin moved over to where Ridahne was with the other three Azurei. She and the young apprentice made eye contact. For a moment it was tense before Darin let a small smile grace her face. She nodded out of respect for him. Even though the young Eija didn’t return the smile he did return the nod. Darin supposed that was going to be the best she got. She and the young man had found themselves running into each other more than once over the last few weeks. She used the opportunities to practice her Azurei. He had practiced his Common. It was an odd sort of kinship that Darin was shocked to realize that she was going to miss. However, if Ridhane’s words were to be believed she would cross paths with Ja’heil sooner rather than later. That was good. She found herself liking the apprentice.

Darin called out to him in Azurei, “Till we meet again Ja’heil.” She raised her hand in fawell, “May The Tree bless your journeys.”

It was a common enough expression that it caused nothing uxpected and wouldn’t be suspisios. Ja’heil returned it in Common, “Aye Martin. May The Tree Bless your journeys as well.”

Then the two groups separated, and Darin laughed lightly at Ridahne’s obvious restlessness, “Yes. Let’s leave and hope this doesn’t become a habit.”

The Seed-Bearer had a bad feeling that it would become a habit. There were people out there who wanted her dead which meant there were people out there looking for a fight. Which meant Ridahne was going to do most of the fighting and fighting would lead to injuries. Darin had a feeling that he already long journey doubled taking into the account all the time Ridahne would need time to recover. That was not an appealing concept, but to be completely honest Darin didn’t want to bring it up. She was sure, that if it hadn’t already, it would occur to the warrior. It wasn’t like the Azurei was stupid.

Darin made sure her grip on Talbot’s reins wasn’t going to slip before swinging onto his back, “Come on. I was looking on the map and I saw a few more Eluri villages I would like to visit before we get to Azurei. I’m not sure how far the next one is, but the people here resupplied us. We should be able to get there easily enough; we just have to hope we aren’t attacked. I’m so tired of being attacked.”

That was just a little bit of an understatement. She had a feeling that the attacks were only going to keep coming. Though she did have a vague idea of an answer to the Red Hand. She was pretty sure it was inspired by The Tree. The Azurei Sols knew who she was. They knew what the goal was. They had warriors; Eija and Tajas and possibly others. Maybe it was wrong of Darin to think it, but surely there would be nothing wrong with asking the Sols to help them discover the truth behind the Red Hand. Darin just wasn’t sure about trusting the Sols. What little she had heard of them had not endeared them to her. She supposed she really to not make assumptions. Darin wasn’t sure they cared. Ridhane was her friend, kind of sort of, she felt obligated to take her side.

Darin found herself tucking a leg under herself to get comfortable of Talbot’s broad back, “I hope that works for you. I do need to try and travel as much of Astra as possible. There’s no real direct path to where I’m going. I’m not even sure where I’m going. It’s just not here.”