[center][img]https://txt-dynamic.static.1001fonts.net/txt/dHRmLjk2LjEwZjhmZS5RbTkzZVc0Z1JXeHRkMjl2WkEsLC4xAAA,/aldith.grunge.png[/img] [color=cyan]Time:[/color] Morning [color=cyan]Location:[/color] Forest outside of Roshmi [color=cyan]Interactions:[/color] Darius[@FunnyGuy], Elthrael[@Dezuel], Zephyrin[@Howlsofwinter], Kenia[@Tae] Vaeril [@AliveFalling][/center] Bowyn found Vaeril’s request to be left behind worrying. He didn’t trust the wealthy noble elf who had hosted a ball, an event so full of excess and waste while so many in Roshmi struggled and starved. An event marked by slaughter. The elf had power, he had fought with them at the inn and so Bowyn had accepted that keeping an eye on him and allowing him to be useful seemed fine, but leaving him behind, with every opportunity to betray them, that was a risk. It was believable that he was just a soft noble unable to truly hold his drink and unused to things like hard work and dangerous travels but a man like that was just as likely to betray them as someone with more devious motives. As much as he didn’t care for that amount of uncertainty he simply shrugged and left the elf behind. There was nothing he could do about that potential threat, his magic was more than likely far stronger than Bowyn’s and even if wasn’t, to attack someone on mere suspicion was not something he wanted to do. Zephyrin meanwhile stuck with her claim that she only cared about an adventure. He knew what life was like in the winter village, and for those whose every day wasn’t a constant struggle for survival, it was comfortable and dull. Anyone who wanted an adventure badly enough to go this far south, risking abduction, traveling alone, was willing to take great risk. She had potential, but lacked the motives for joining the rebellion, and that was disappointing. Kenia, the only one in the group he had any trust in, whispered something to him and Bowyn simply nodded with agreement. As a whole this group was a disaster, and he missed the assurance he had when with his previous human friends, that feeling of being among friends, with people he could trust. Darius had chosen to stay behind with Vaeril. He could guess as to why, perhaps they really were friends, or maybe the human wanted to stick to whoever had wealth and power to make his time in Avalia more bearable. It didn’t really matter, Darius seemed comfortable enough with his magic that he could take care of himself, and he was free to make whatever choices he wanted. Ethereal made more cryptic statements that meant little to Bowyn, and then the forest fairy took off. His statement of putting one’s faith in one’s self and not in others, that had Bowyn’s way of thinking for a long time. That motto did the job, prolonged survival sure, but more recently he had put faith in Torvi and then in Belle. Neither had let him down, they had his back, and ultimately that time had been better spent, offered more reward than just survival. Bowyn now found it better to simply carefully pick who he put his faith in, the question was, would he be willing to put some of that faith in Kenia? And what about Zephyrin, could he convince someone of the worth of cause he had only just accepted. Or more accurately reaccepted, because he had believed in it before it was so deeply personal, back when he still felt a sense of connection and community in his village. [color=cyan]“You don’t care about rebellion? What about the winter fae stolen and sold into slavery on the black market? The Dark Elves and their reign of torment and slaughter? The destruction of forests, the rising tides of poverty and suffering? How does all that sit with you Zephyrin? All of it caused by the lich, fueled by him. Ours is not an adventure for tourists, that smoke, likely Aklenroth’s forces burning the forests just on the chance he might kill some of us. Destruction and murder just to keep us all subjugated.”[/color] Bowyn said as he glanced up at the dark smoke that the other fairies had also noticed. [color=cyan]”If you’re looking for something easy, you are probably better off following the moth than with us.”[/color] He added. [color=cyan]”That smoke is pretty close, I think we need to pick up the pace and put as much distance between us and it.”[/color] Bowyn added, turning his attention back to Kenia. With most of the group gone it did occur to him that he and Boreas alone could cover more ground in the air than on ground. Begrudgingly, he decided he didn’t want to spend his time alone though. Maybe Kenia was worth the risk, she didn’t seem too bad for an elf, and maybe she wasn’t but the only way he’d know for sure was to stick around and find out. An even worse realization was that the large bag of alcohol he had been carrying would most certainly slow him down if he wanted to get far away from whatever was burning in the forest. With a heavy sigh Bowyn lightened the bag, dumping out the bottles and keeping only a couple of the stronger ones to carry with him and leaving the rest by a tree.