Itxaro was growing increasingly exasperated with the conflict between Silbermine and the rest. Alone, she might have dealt with both parties, but Silbermine had made the excellent decision to crash their party and send the discussion spiraling out of control. Itxaro’s face was beginning to flush with frustration, and a touch of anger tinged her otherwise cool voice, not that the translator would pick up on this. She turned to the Castigator, again turning the volume on the device low so that only she might hear it.
[color=fff200]“If a war isn’t what you want, then work with us here; let Silbermine have his little champions, and he’ll go home with his armies. And, come on, borders? [i]What[/i] borders?”[/color] Itxaro said, looking around. [color=fff200]“Is there a wall I missed? Picket guards? Hell, have your cartographers even established a border in this territory?”[/color] Itxaro sincerely doubted it; one look at the surrounding area and she could tell it was “unproductive” land, unable to be farmed or civilized. Medieval borders were fluid at best, especially where there was nothing worth claiming.

That had probably been the case here, until the Jotunheim landed.

[color=fff200]“Humans aren’t dumb. We can use Silbermine, just like he tries to use us.”[/color]

More insults were exchanged, and Silbermine gave a brief explanation of The Running; nothing concrete, nor particularly useful. Itxaro would have pressed for further information, but she received a notice on her comms from Mallory. She felt a twinge of panic rush through her blood like burning ice.
[color=fff200]“Hey, uh, Castigator Nellara. Bad news. Some Tekeri hunters just arrived, and they’re not too pleased with our equipment up on the hill. Anything you could do to calm them down?”[/color] Itxaro discreetly notified the other aliens in their party, hoping they might be able to resolve it. 
[hr]
The situation continued to break down, and Itxaro turned her translator off completely as the commander arrived. She’d heard enough. [color=fff200]“Commander. Just in the nick of time. Have fun with this lot, I’m gonna see what I can do about [i]that[/i]”[/color] Itxaro said, pointing to the ship’s flashing beacon. A warning to return, probably because of the hunters. 

Itxaro executed a graceful bow to the bickering aliens, and slowly drew back. She spoke quickly to her two fellow engineers. [color=fff200]“Well, that’s it for me, I’m done with this [i]shitshow[/i]. Hungry?”[/color] Itxaro tossed the green bread to Barbiero with a little smile. [color=fff200]“Its no focaccia, but not too bad.” [/color]The doctor considered faking a wretch, but figured that was a little inappropriate for the current moment. She tapped at her wristpad quickly and opened up a channel with Mallory. 

[color=fff200]“Dr. Ibarra here. Told the Castigator about our new arrivals, but she’s a little busy wrangling our warlord here. Think I should recruit some of the locals to deal with the comms tower situation? I’m thinking J’eon, Kerchek, and our two on the scene might make a nice little welcoming party.”[/color] Itxaro wasn’t particularly keen on dealing with this new situation up the mountain, but she knew that the comms tower was vital for the Jotunheim’s crew; without it, they’d be severely limited in their operating range. That, and as Shirik’s rasping voice rose to chilling shout, she was ready to be anywhere but here. She looked up to the ridgeline, lined with black little evergreens that must have sprouted after some cataclysmic fire, and saw the comms tower in the distance.