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[h3]Weeks prior...[/h3][b]Event:[/b] - | [b]Location:[/b] Anonymous location in Parrence, at the edge of a small forest

A mild cough escaped the Yasoi's body as a wisp of smoke introduced the acrid smell of burnt flesh into the man's nose. An agressive something was in the air, a gaseous aberration that would be identified as 'ozone' only some day in the future maybe, but that irritated Otios's poor eyes badly right now already. The latter also had to withstand the steady, unpredictable and sudden changes between the weak amount of light coming from a few candles and the violent, bright flashes caused by the discharges around his hand.

Drawing on parchment not by the means of ink and dye, but by means of scorching the surface layer using a spark was a quite monochromatic affair, but also a much longer lasting and robust one as Otios hoped. No messing around with colored glop, no worries about things becoming wet, no need to keep a lavish set of pencils, brushes and palettes in working order. A small copper needle was all he needed to go in an ad hoc manner -- and a lot of patience as emulating shades by burning a dense net of criss-crossed lines into the parchment required a very calm, steady hand.

There just was one slight issue... Otios'yyia'thala so far had not much reason to consider himself to be a man particularly talented in creating art. In fact, the drawing he created right now solely served the purpose of hashing out this electric method further and he was not even into the first dozen of these attempts, so even without considering the artistic value of his creation there still were a few significant issues to iron out. Yet another wisp of ugly smoke emanating from the parchment, for example. Too much current or too slow movement caused local overheating and unwanted incineration the Yasoi needed to put out immediately, so Otios pressed his palm firmly against the parchment repeatedly.

Knock. Knock.

His whole body twitched in surprise as the unmistakable sound of someone requesting entry into his humble dwelling place was to be heard. His field of view rushed towards the messy heap of items that was his basic equipment always ready to be picked up in a hurry, but he still had time to evaluate a few things before jumping into action, right ?

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Far too strong and decisive to come from a mere stranger who was in fear of bad weather and tried to ask for shelter politely, but also lacking the kind of aggression that would come from a soldier wanting to catch yet another wrongdoer. Otios reached for one of his silver staffs and moved his hand so it would hide the item in its grip from the individual standing outside once the door was open, then moved the heavy bar out of its locking position.

[color=ff9900]"Yes ?"[/color] Otios was used to stare into the void when searching for a face on eye level, but surprised that he did not have to crane his neck downwards that much. His unexpected visitor had the height of his own kind, just the opposite gender, and brought up a slight and also slightly nervous smile for him.

"Are you Otios'... Thala ?" her gentle voice asked.

[color=ff9900]"Otios'[i]yyia[/i]'thala, but you can just call me Otios. May I ask who you are and what brings you here ?"[/color] Part of his anxiety about having been discovered by the wrong people vanished, but caution remained. She obviously was not a soldier and he had only seen a surprisingly low number of those around the area in the first place recently, but he also knew all too well that one did not need arms to do harm in this world.

"Voral'dan'bar. Lady Talit sends me. Well, not directly, but I've been tasked with contacting you in the broader sense. You don't know her probably, but I'm here to convince you that this unfamiliarity shall only be a temporary one. War is on the horizon and while the Yasoi are not the direct target it is in our own interest to make sure we won't be the next."

Otios gave his eyebrow a nudge in the upwards direction. A quite daring story to be utter nonsense, was it ? Also it did not slip past his attention that Voral was already fumbling around with what seemed to be a piece of parchment hidden beneath her travel clothes. The large wax sigil on it looked quite important, but who'd he be if he had not tried to fake one of these himself at least once ?

[color=ff9900]"The next ? On whose list ?"[/color]

"Eskandr."

Otios let go of a sigh. These humans...

[hr][h3]Present[/h3][b]Event:[/b] Defense of Relouse | [b]Location:[/b] Relouse Encampment, Parrence.

It had taken quite a bit more effort to convince Otios than just a short talk at the door, but the overall evidence and flanking arguments presented by Voral'dan'bar had been a bit too impressive to ignore. Just how this female had made allusions about his more serious hobbies than drawing however was a discomforting feeling. How could she have gotten to know ? So it had been with great relief when the Yasoi had seenthe huge number of soldiers, the cavalry and the many other individuals needed for waging war himself. Something very important and high level indeed had to go on when a crowd impressive enough to make even him no longer stick out of it gathered, so maybe some very serious resources and relationships had been activated to find him. It made the very fact of his discovery a bit more excusable in his own judgement

If only a similar amount of effort had gone into establishing a Yasoi-driven supply chain however then maybe he would not have had to stick with those standard issue tents of the human army! Their supporting poles and bars were a pain in his neck or on his scalp, depending on how lucky and attentive he was. Needless to add that some of the non-Yasoi men and woman had openly voiced their jokes about someone's inability to infiltrate if said somebody exhibited such great talent at involuntary collisions.

This whole, yet green field would become the stage for one colossal and no less horrid 'involuntary collision'! At least if one was with Parrench. For those opposing them it was more of a planned calamity and things did not look good in terms of espionage as long as those thousand longships had not spilled their angry cargo yet. One could not just climb aboard a moving vessel and search it thoroughly just moments before it was about to hit the shore!

So, for the moment, Otios found himself idling around at the top of a small hill together with a bunch of archers and listened to the king's speech, already fearing that the only thing he'd steal today was life itself.