Leo listened with some interest as Tyrhallan recounted his struggle against the Vaimese captain. Though the details were sparse and to the point, one thing was clear. The enemy was [i]strong[/i], perhaps as strong as the Knight Commander himself, Chisom Balthair the Black Bull. As Leo knew from personal experience, three knights together could not equal the Knight Commander's strength and this Captain Aurelia had managed to defeat two in close combat, vanquishing one and routing the other.

Now that he knew the circumstances of Abene Itzal's death, regret began to stir in the Spider's heart as he imagined what could have been had he accompanied Tyrhallan rather than the battlemage. The regret came not from the loss of a fellow knight, but the loss of an opportunity to truly test his blade and though the soldiers of Vaim proved a worthier challenge than some marauding band of pirate scum, Leo could not help feeling like he had been cheated out of something more. All of a sudden, the thrill of battle he had experienced earlier seemed to become cheap and unsatisfactory. 

[i]What a waste[/i], he thought ruefully as he stared down at the cast on his leg and said, "So that's it then, we're going to miss the show at Presper... I wonder how it's going right now."

Looking up at the ceiling, Leo tried to picture the entire Vaimese war fleet clashing against the Belisian Hearthguard and when he realized that the scope of such a battle was far too large to envision, he simply shrugged and continued, "Well look on the bright side, if we lose then you won't have to worry about notifying anyone. We'll either be dead or enslaved. Anyways, I got what I came here for."

As Leo turned to leave, he nodded his head towards Arn and said, "Now that I know the mage is still alive, I can sleep a little better at night knowing who to turn to whenever my tea gets cold. And if it makes you feel any better, Venray, I'll annoy the shit out of whoever they replace you with. You can count on that, sir. In the meantime, I'll be off to my next objective."

With a companionable clap on Tyrhallan's shoulder, Leo departed from the room and called out as he hobbled off on his crutches, "You know they're serving salmon in the cafeteria? Actual salmon! I thought they were extinct!"