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Lory gave a bit of a jump at the sound the little assassin made before the boy jerked up right, his moments stiff and jerky, something that had him starring a moment. Shaking his head to clear it the warrior reached out with one big, battle roughened hand, to pat the boy on the head gently, "Easy there, kid, you're just going to strain your wounds that much more. We only have normal medical supplies, not magic, so we can't use magical cures on you." He warned, though he really felt that they could use a magic user on their side. Surely with his influence and power Merikh should be able to get hire one of those on, right?

"Take slow, steady breaths, in through your nose and out your mouth, it will help to calm you down and ease your breathing. It also does wonders with controling pain, believe me, I'd know." He said, before turning, giving a little whistle, "Valio! Go tell the others that he's awake." He told his twin before looking back to Patreen once more, "We are camping out for the night, to let you get your strength up, before we head back to the city." He told him before pushing up to his feet, stretching out all over.

Now that Patreen was away it meant they no longer had to take turns watching over him to make sure that he was alright. Merikh really did have a soft spot for small, cute things, to the point where they even took this unplanned break... something that had Yolana pacing around like an angry cat. She didn't like the unexpected, it made her job harder Valio would bet, not to mention that once Merikh got an idea in his head it was almost impossible to get rid of, "Don't get up until your breathing evens out or you're liable to tip over." Lory warned.

Lory starred at the boy for a long moment, listening to the way that he seemed to be gasping for a breath and whimpering for... his mother? Did assassins have mothers? One of those stupid questions that he shoved aside instantly before he reached out, wrapping one powerful arm around the kid, though carefully, before dragging him for for a hug, "It's alright, kid, dragons are pretty terrifying the first go around for anyone. Even the Boss who acts all high and mighty was probably pretty scared the first time he faced off against a dragon since the first one he ever saw was a Diabi. Just imagine running into one of those massive, hulking hell beasts?" He murmured, rufflng the boy's hair, before scooping him up.

"Come on, kiddo, we will bring you over to where the others are. I am sure that you want in on the planning for where we are going next, right? I know that Yolana, who has the same job as you, always insists on being around during the planning phase since its her job to keep the boss safe. Bet you will want to do the same." He didn't think the kid wanted to be alone and scared, far from the others, especially since he didn't seem to be the biggest fan of Lory and his brother.

Giving him a smile he said, "Just relax, they aren't that far off." He explained, not having to carry the kid all that far before reaching where Merikh and the others were gathered around a camp fire, with Igone cooking something over the flames for everyone to eat. Upon seeing Patreen there with Lory everyone greeted him, even Yolana lifted a hand to give him a little wave of greeting.

"Good to see you up and about, Reeny." Merikh said, pushing to his feet so that he could walk over to him, giving him a once over, "You don't have to worry about that dragon that was chasing you, we dealt with it. There is nothing in the area that will come over and mess with us at the moment either." Not given how many warriors were gathered and not with a fire going. Everything would stay at bay, preferring easier prey.

Igone spoke up next asking, "How you feeling? How's the bruise? Sorry we don't have a healer with us, it's something Merikh hasn't gotten around to hiring on yet since we've been so busy of late."

"I'll get to it." Merikh said, giving a little half shrug, having meant to do that for a while now but something always seemed to happen that would drag them off course from such a mission. They would get to it sooner or later though, maybe he hoped.

Merikh watched the boy for a long moment, the way that he wouldn't look at him, the way he was messing with his sleep, looking kind of... guilty? Was he so upset that he hadn't been able to take out the Ysali dragons? Not that Merikh had been any better at that age, he had been so determined to fight and kill dragons he'd about gotten himself killed on a couple of occassions. Not his proudest moments but they were learning experiences. Lifting a hand he tapped a finger against the boy's mask, "Don't look so put out, you will do better next time." He told Patreen, giving him a toothy smile, "Since we know your abilities now we will be able to better help to train you as well."

"Hm? Well, don't push yourself toward magic just because the group was thinking on hiring one on. The path you take needs to be one that holds interest to you or else you're not going to be as good at it." Merikh said, reaching over to scoop up his sword, drawing the silver blade with the crystalline decoration for him to see, "This sword of mine, I knew since I could walk that it was what I wanted for example, I watched the way my mother wielded a similar sword and it was all that I wanted, to have a sword like hers. I want you to feel the same way when it comes time to bring you to pick out a weapon of your own."

Motioning to the others he said, "Iggy has a bow, the twins have hammers, and Yoyo with her dual daggers, they fight well because its the weapon that they wanted to use." He gave a smile then and asked, "What about you? Ignore the fact for a moment that someone might have pushed you toward one thing or another, what is it that you want to do?"

Lory moved to settle down in front of the fire with the boy that was leaning against him, using him for the moment as though he were a warrior type sofa. It was alright though, at least the kid wasn't still upset with him for the jokes he'd made earlier. A relief if you asked him, the last thing that he wanted was to upset an assassin to be. Especially when he started to speak, explaining to Merikh exactly what it was that he was wanted, not to mention the interest in offensive weapons on top of a very up close and personal weapon. Giving a little chuckle he said, "You're going to be quite impressive if you are able to master claws and offensive spells both." He told the boy, sounding impressed.

Merikh nodded his head, "Quite." He murmured, letting his empty eyes close for a moment, a thoughtful look on his face as he seemed to be thinking over what it was that the boy was asking for. After a moment he nodded, "Claws will need to be special made since they need to fit your hands exactly, otherwise they won't be as effective. My mother knows a damn good smith, we can always send her a message, to see if she can meet with you. As for the tomes we would need to go shopping for those in person, can't really send a servant to fetch them when I am not sure what ones you will need." He knew jack all about magic himself, his mom was good at it, and dragons used it against him, but that was about it.

"We might consider getting him a teacher." Igone said, looking up from what he was cooking, giving the boy a smile, "All the tomes in the world won't help if you don't have someone to help you with the teaching... well, unless you think Lady Nereza might show him a spell or two?"

There was a moment of thoughtful silence before Merikh have a half shrug, "I can't say, she might, and she would be a good person to ask." He said after a moment, knowing that since she hadn't been able to pass any of her teachings to Merikh that she might be interested in showing such things to Patreen.

He gave pause when he caught sight of the scar, though only for a split second, before Patreen was hiding it again. He gave a thoughtful sound before he reached out, tapping a finger against his mask, before bring his hand back to tap it against his chest, "I have one too." He said, giving him a reassuring sort of smile before looking to Igone, "Dinner almost ready, Iggy?"

Merikh gave a shrug as he stretched out his wings, giving them a little flap, before he settled back on his elbows, "Of course, you're a member of the group and it's not as though I would let anything happen to any member of this group." He told Patreen before giving a huge, toothy grin and said, "I protect what is mine after all." He said in an arrogant tone of voice that had the others groaning, with Valio tossing something at him, which had him chuckling that much more.

"Belong to you? Just because we serve you doesn't mean we belong to you, Boss." Valio said, resting his hands on his hips, eyebrow lifted, "You're going to have to get a bit stronger before you can boast that sort of thing, maybe when you can beat one or both of us in an arm wrestling contest." He said, giving his twin a grin.

Lory gave a chuckle, "Sounds like a plan, the moment you can do that, Boss, then we will belong more completely to you." He gave Valio a shrug when his twin gave him a look and said, "What? I can't say I much mind being kept by him, we get good work, good food, new equipment, and anything else we need. We are pretty spoiled as a group and I must say I am a fan." Valio nodded, seeming to grudingly agree with what he was saying since what Lory was saying was the truth.

Vailo glanced over at Igone as the archer set dishing up food for Merikh and Patreen first, then chuckled, "Well, at least we aren't 'kept' as Igone is, isn't that right, Iggy?" He teased the archer who nearly dropped what he was holding jerking his head up to look over at Valio with wide eyes.

"I wouldn't know what you're talking about, Valio." He said, giving a snort before he moved to hand bowls of stew to Patreen first, "Ignore them, they just enjoy teasing, now eat up." He told him, giving him a smile, before handing off the other bowl to Merikh.

Lory and Valio exchanged glances before they set to laughing, "Not the first time we have heard that, or something similar to it." Lory said, finding it amusing that the kid would say something that was similar to something that the twins had heard in the past. It seemed that a certain sense of humor was able to get some people riled up. Giving a bit a bit of a chuckle Lory held a hand out, "Come on, Iggy, stew?"

The archer looked over at Lory for a moment, then nodded, dishing up another bowl of the stew, handing it over to him. Igone gave a momentary pause as Patreen mentioned his mother who was a 'he'. He glanced at him a moment, then shrugged, continuing to hand out the stew. He didn't think that it was that important, if a touch curious. He couldn't say that much really surprised him, at least not after meeting with Merikh's parents. He dished up a bowl of the stew for Valio, handing it over to him, then another for Yolana, before he finally took one for himself, "Let's eat up everyone." He said as he settled down on the other side of Merikh, then set to eating his stew.

Merikh looked around the group, then shrugged and dug into his stew as well, taking a few bites, before he said, "We were thinking about heading to Ayr next, Reeny, what do you think about that? I figure once we get there I we can take on a few Ayrala dragons, though I will likely help out next time." He told the little assassin between bites. He wanted to be more careful when it came to the Ayrala, knowing personally how dangerous they were. He didn't want to see Patreen end up with scars similar to those that he bore on his own person.

The chatting seemed to pause for a moment, drawing Merikh's attention, and he saw what caught everyone's attention, that being Patreen's scar. He gave it a once over before he returned to eating, he was curious what it was that he was hiding under that mask of his, now he knew. He gave a glance around before he said, "Everyone eat, then we will discuss our next move." An order that was more to wake the twins and Iggy up, to get them back to eating instead of starring, something they did instantly after Merikh spoke up and gave the order. After giving Patreen a nod he too went back to his meal.

Merikh nodded his head, "It's quite an interesting place, weird rock formations, a lot of wind, and various caves to explore. We will likely make camp in one of the caves if we plan to stay a while, that way our things won't risk blowing away." He told not only Patreen but the rest of the group as well. They had to have a plan after all, they didn't want to just wander around in an aimless manner once they reached Ayrala. He liked having plans.

"Iggy brought back a job that will be good for all of us. It seems that a big female Ayrala dragon has made herself a good sized pack of dragons. It's going around making a mess, terrorizing ships, attacking travelers, and the like. We are going to go there to deal with the pack. It will be a good way for you to get more experience." He told the boy sitting next to him between bites of his dinner, "For tonight though we will just up, give you time to recover, then we will be on our way."

Igone looked around the group for a moment then said, "I will need a bit of time, to go talk to my mother, to tell her where I am going next. How long between now and when we head to Ayr?" He looked curious, wanting to be able to go check in with his mother since he was the only one amongst the group, save for Yolana, who hadn't been home yet.

"I am going to bring Patreen to see my mom, to let him chat with her, then we will be getting ready to go to Ayr. You should have plenty of time to visit with your mother, so don't worry." He told Igone, patting him on the shoulder. Turning to the twins he asked, "Will you want to swing by and talk with your parents as well?"

The pair nodded, "We spent last night with him so it should be fine to just let them know where we are going then head out. We can all meet at the fountain again come mid afternoon, then head out to find a ship to Ayr?" Lory suggested, eager to be on their way again. Everyone then turned to look toward Yolana who looked their way, nodded, and turned back to what she'd been doing.