Narda laughed at Zeke’s assessment of Amrians. “You’ll be terribly disappointed if you ever manage to visit. It just so happens that any Amrian who can travel to your world is friends with the Empress, and friends with the Empress means they have to be good enough to give her a run for her money. Narda noticed his discomfort at the question and waited patiently for his response, nodding when he assented. “Elva’s fingers are magic. You’d think it’d be hard to massage the knots out of a big woman like me, but I forgot Wyverns liked a challenge,” she said, chuckling. “I was knocked out afterward.” She hummed in thought over his question as they picked their way through the path they had hacked out of the trees, still dragging the wolf carcass along. “Either she brings you there, or, if Elva assents to it, visits you here. As for what it’s like, Amria is a vast place. A whole continent for an empire, and allied kingdoms out of that scope. Depending on where you are, we have four seasons. Up North, very cold. That’s where Elva currently is. But so far, not too big of a difference between our worlds, save for the kinds of magic you find I suppose, given that there are no elves there, and no blood magicians here.” They were finally outside the dark forest. Now that the sun was out and they were looking at it from the outside, it looked smaller, somehow. Diminished. Narda didn’t know if it was because of the sunlight shining fully on it or because the magic portal had dissipated. “Hopefully when we find ourselves at the elves’ borders, we’d have a much better welcome than we did the other day,” she said, running her hand through her curls. -- “[i]Not horribly undignified. Anyone new to horses always has a difficult time,[/i]” Ed reassured, “[i]And I’d like to think it would be hard to make you look undignified anyway.[/i]” He said the last with a small smile, before turning to the knights. “One horse for myself; the lady will ride with me. And escorts. Are we close to any Gemini camps?” “Not presently, my lord,” the leader said, while the rest called back to the gate to bring a fresh steed for the Wyvern. “But we’ve been on high alert after the word on spies.” “Duly noted.” Once the horse was brought to them, Ed mounted, then offered his hand to Ysaryn. “It’s been a long while,” he murmured to myself. Then, to the elf, “Arms around my middle. We’ll be going fast, but let me know if you feel like you’re slipping. [i]Don’t want my lucky charm falling off[/i].” As soon as everyone was ready, they were off. Ed was quiet as they galloped forward, following the dirt road. After a while the path became more uneven, the forest growing closer around them. The group slowed their pace a little. “[i]How are you faring[/i]?” he asked. “[i]We’ll be entering the wider road soon. Smoother than the path we’re on right now, at least. Does your head still hurt from Shadow-walking?[/i]” If they hadn’t been in a hurry, he would have enjoyed the ride, the green of Amrian forests. Ysaryn’s description earlier of how Amria smelled, he could relate to that. After being away for so long, he could notice the difference between the air in Lithilote and here. “[i]If circumstances were better I’d have shown you around,[/i]” he added wistfully. -- Myka frowned down at the man in the pit. “[i]I don’t like this,Myka,[/i]” one of them said. Myka watched him as the women softly debated in Taakalon around her, seeing if anything that even remotely resembled recognition of the language betrayed itself in his expression. “[i]Sadly, our captive has a point,[/i]” Myka said, and she could see in her comrades’ faces that they knew this full well. “[i]I am really curious about him. He’s still here, despite that whole ‘disappearing’ business earlier. There’s something he needs, and that he has a weapon he has yet to draw means he hasn’t made up his mind to spill blood yet. And he’s injured. We either let him out, he makes another run for it and we’re back to the same situation. Or we leave him down here, and maybe do the merry chase again.[/i]” “[i]One more thing[/i],” put in another woman, “[i]if he can do that magic thing, why didn’t he just magic himself to actual safety, rather than go through the effort of running away from us? His ability has limitations.[/i]” “[i]We could kill him now,[/i]” another one put in. “[i]Just to be safe. Imagine someone who can transport themselves at will like that, if this man finds himself in Gemini employ, we’ll be in deep trouble.[/i]” Myka sighed; she really didn’t want it to come to that, not when they didn’t know the first thing about their captive, but she could tell a couple of them wholly didn’t trust him. “[i]Let’s put it to a vote, then.[/i]” Two women voted to dispose of him. Expected. Four votes for leaving him trapped or incapacitated. Another four for letting him out but on specific conditions. “Captain?” “Hm. Alright.” Myka barked out instructions for the others around them, then more of the whistling signals, alerting those who were watching from a distance. “You down there,” Myka said, “here are our conditions: hand over your sword first, before we let you out. After, you either put on restraints or a blindfold or both. Seeing as you so kindly pointed out that you can escape anyway, these shouldn’t be too big of a problem. Beats being stuck down a hole.” One of the women whistled to the others. [i]Get ready.[/i] The saber looked even better up close. She looked down at their captive, then drew one of her knives. While the other, sheathed knife looked well-worn, the one she held next to the saber had the same level of elaborate detail on the hilt. She tilted both of them, staring at the pommel. The same symbol had been etched into both. “Definitely Guiller’s work,” she murmured. “[i]Didn’t Kire give that knife to you?[/i]” Myka nodded before sheathing the knife again. “Let him out. Ready the blindfold.” Once the blindfold was on, one of the women told him to walk forward and obey all other instructions. “So, stranger,” Myka started, admiring the saber before turning her attention to their captive. “Let’s start with your name, how you got here, and why you have the sword.”