[h3]Jaelnec, Freagon, Irah, Lhirin, Nabi, Yanin, Jordan and Madara – Forest north of Borstown, Bandit Farm[/h3]
Vela initially seemed relieved when Yanin reported that Bren was alive, only for her worry to return when Irah specified that he had been wounded and proceeded to elaborate on his current condition. The penin stopped looking at Irah pretty soon after she had described his state as “stabilized” and in “no physical danger,” and instead turned to scan the area by the farmhouse where she knew Irah, Lhirin and Freagon had been. Soon enough she started taking a step in that direction, having spotted Bren – still bloody as he was – before stopping and forcing herself to turn her attention back to Irah.
“The Crusader's Guild know better than to raid villages willy-nilly; as much as I hate the [abbr=Mountainspeak insult meaning essentially “pieces of shit”]g'vassin[/abbr], being that reckless would get them declared proper outlaws and they would start to find it [I]very[/i] hard to get around Rodoria,” she said grimly and, with a final glance around to confirm that things did indeed appear to have calmed down, lowered her crossbow and started working on unloading the bolt and slackening the string. “I don't know about anyone having the Withering, but it definitely seems like getting Bren was the whole point of attacking Borstown.”
She turned to Yanin and listened as he spoke as well. Though she had notably been quite energetic during this battle it was becoming clearer with every passing second how much the strain had taken out of her, and it was getting more and more difficult for her to present herself with strength and dignity.
“As far as I know Bren isn't anyone of note outside Borstown,” she shrugged, propping her crossbow against the ground and leaning on it for support. “He grew up here with his parents, went away and studied healing in Zerul for four years and then came back here. His parents run the winery and he's a decent healer and a good man, but I don't know anything about Bren or them that would be of interest to the Guild.”
She shook her head in resignation and looked away, back toward where Madara was handling Bren. Then she turned to Quintin, who was once again wiping the blade of his sword. She gestured toward the oak. “Get those bodies down from there, would you? Carefully and respectfully, if at all possible.”
The man offered a curt nod and promptly walked off in the direction of the tree.
Heaving a sigh, Vela looked from Irah to Lhirin, then back to Yanin again. “There's a lot of work left to do cleaning up here, but I don't think right now is the time to do it. You should all finish up any business we have here and then bring Bren and our prisoners back to Borstown. I'll arrange for people – people much better equipped for the task – to come and clean up when we get back. You can go with them if you want, but I don't think that'll be necessary.” She paused, then raised her voice slightly as she told them: “Of course you are all invited to stay at Bor Manor. I would be happy to have the chance to get to know you all better... and maybe discuss some other work for talented individuals like yourselves? Oh, and of course I also still need to pay you.”

Just a short distance from there, Jaelnec traced Irah's footfalls as she approached him, just as he could see her coming closer. Even though the danger seemed to have passed, he still felt hyper-aware of every movement around him, as if he could not quite manage to settle back into a more sensible state of ordinary caution. He could feel his heart quickening the closer she got, and when she reached out to grasp his shoulder he not only involuntarily and violently recoiled, but was shocked to find that he had to stop himself from slashing her with his sword.
“I'm sorry,” he said, staring at her with wide, fearful eyes for a moment before looking down at the sword in his hand – the blade still stained with blood – and promptly letting go of it and pulling back his hand as if burned by it. “Sorry, I... I'm just... I...”
He blinked and turned to Jordan, still full of nervous energy. “Yes... Do something... I should go... do something...”
Seemingly forgetting about his weapons on the ground, Jaelnec hurried off toward the oak to help Quintin get the hanged bodies down.