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Normally, a journey from Relouse to Loriindton, or from an arbitrary place within Parrench to any other arbitrary place within Parrench for that matter, would hardly have been worth remembering for long since there was just the lack of anything special to it. These were not normal times however, and the way things stood gave Otios the steady feeling of an eerie stalker being after him even though it did not have even the mildest form of stealth to it. He knew the Eskand had not truly been stopped and by now were most likely fanning out from their bridgeheads. He also had no reason to expect their leaders to care about anything like 'coherence' very much, so the raiding, looting and random destruction certainly was going on. But just by how many miles behind their little traveling party ? How far had they already eaten into Parrench territory ? The idea of falling asleep only to wake up in the hands of these barbarians, or not to wake up at all anymore, caused Otios to stay awake for much longer periods than he'd usually do.

Maybe this was kind of a paranoia ? Yet at the same time Otios could justify himself by thinking that paranoia also was at the core of every intruder's business. [i]Not[/i] to fear the unforeseen presence of others could, sooner or later, only end in ultimate disaster for his kind.

The further they moved away from Relouse, the more another thought came into Otios' mind as well: He had been among those Yanii for a long time, much longer than was usual for the typical Yasoi. When not thinking about the Eskand or looking at the increasingly nice landscape around them, Otios secretly prepared an entire barrage of arguments to be launched just in case anyone would dare to claim these cavemen had influenced him and ultimately dragged his intellect and social behavior down into their dirty den. Hopefully he'd never, ever, have to use them. A lack of authority and credibility among his own people was pretty much the last thing he deemed useful for the task they were relocating to.

Still it really didn't take long for Otios to deviate from his fellow Yasoi' behavior once the first tiims'archa shed some fancy light onto the otherwise dark forest ground and told a story about just how close they had already come to their destination. With more digust than awe, he watched how the others pretty mercilessly 'hunted' them down at a literal snail's pace, only to extinguish their little lights by cooking and eating them. It wasn't like Otios didn't like their taste for he had eaten them on earlier occasions as well, but just during those he had actually found them to be way too cute -- and useful -- to just consume them.

[color=yellow]"Niico fayil luun'ithan, wiip nar tiims'archa!"[/color] Otios started a rhyme of his own, one that probably had a bit of a higher range than usual due to his size. It definitely reached someone else whose voice he couldn't identify:  "Wiip nar tiims'archa ? Yax joi sem’proisha!"

Otios knew that there were other Yasoi in his own family who indeed had not liked the taste of the shiny snails in their early days, but later had become rather passionate eaters. He did not know it, but if that phenomenon was more widespread among the local population, then the statement made indeed sense.

"Niico fayil luun'ithan, nar tar, tarsii, tallo." the unknown voice added in return. [color=yellow]"Nar tar, tarsii, tallo ? Chel nan najo!"[/color] and Otios laughed. He perfectly knew that, in terms of colors, he had gone far beyond beatable for his previous collection efforts had turned the bit of tree around him into a small, but all the more paradox solar system: He was sort of a giant, non-illuminated planet at the center and at least a dozen of differently colored tiims'archa emulated small stars circling around him. They only needed the occasional nudge to send them back into a proper orbit so no slime was in danger of touching his gear, but the many leaves Otios had gathered made sure they'd not run away, but stay within a short crawl's reach of their preferred food.

Unfortunately it seemed that there was way more than just one stranger present in the vicinity for more voices were to be heard soon, and upon learning that Lady Talit was present, things escalated pretty quickly. Had this entire thing been supposed to be a sort of a low profile affair ? Well if worst came to worst, that would be going out of the window first! At least the Lady could have decided to let others go in front of her instead of taking the lead herself. It was an unnecessary danger and, given her age and otherwise apparent wisdom, she clearly should have left the need to display what she still could do with disabled limbs behind. Or maybe it was just his own paranoia hitting him again: Those they were suddenly hurrying to, by all statistical means, were most likely a group of harmless fellows who simply enjoyed the night the same way he and those around him had done, too.

Otios did take a slightly different route though so they were not all bunched up and an easy target for whatever kind of shit could possibly happen. It could never hurt to have a back door of some sorts...