[h3]Kyra Pfalz-Karstadt,[/h3][i]most definitely not [b]Lutatia Eichenwald von Brudel[/b][/i]

[hr]
Lutatia gave the girl a soothing expression, both to take her attention off of Aurelian, and to distract her from the obviously terrible business that had befallen this village and its inhabitants. Schooling her face from frowning, she nodded at the meagre information she offered, glancing in the direction of the field the half-elf child had pointed towards. She shared a glance with Aurelian before she knelt back down as the child burst back into tears, doing her level best to calm and soothe the girl with reassuring words and further offerings of biscuits and sweets. 

Nonetheless, when she received Vyandar’s message, she had to step away to communicate with him. 

[b][i]Acknowledged. Discovered empty village, found one child. Investigating with Aurelian, regroup on us.[/i][/b]

By the time Vyandar had made it to them, it was a few hours later. Lutatia had returned to the girl’s house to give her shelter, and looking about her house, decided to make a meal for her in the meantime with the young child’s help to take her mind off more morbid matters. In the meantime, Aurelian had gone off to inspect the field, and when he came back, what he found was not very encouraging when it came to the survival of the girl’s parents or any of the villagers, if whatever these insect monsters were had really destroyed both a patrol [i]and[/i] enemy action. 

She met Vyandar as he arrived, keeping away from earshot of the child under their temporary charge.[b] “Nothing significant. We have an easily tracked trail for these beasts. With the three of us, we can probably scout further, but not with a child in tow. We can either return to the city as-is and report our findings, or I can fly the girl back to safety and return so we can continue uninterrupted,” [/b]she replied, offering the two options that came to her. Personally, she leaned towards the latter, although she was unsure where to bring the girl to. She could probably hand her off to the city guards, and they’d take care of her well enough, but her parents were dead, then she would be sent to an orphanage. Not terrible, but not the best of fates, either. Alternately, she could bring her to her house and leave her to the care of her host’s servants, who she was sure would provide a gentler hand in all scenarios…

Well, she’d think more on that later.