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Kiara sighed. "I did not pick up this ... oddness simply from Thanos' words - I am a spirit-mage. Believe what you will, but something is definitely strange." The young woman figured that whatever was going on was probably beyond her control after all; shaking her head, she turned and walked off to find Lapis, and see how she was doing.

With a sigh, Astalder watched the woman walk off. The only thing he found strange here was Thanos's story. It just didn't add up in his mind, and too many things pointed at the fact that he bond was right where it should be. If the man had been killed earlier on, he wouldn't have been able to fly here. Even if he was still alive, he should have felt pain from getting knocked around.

"Hrmm... alright. Just don't take too long. I don't think it's a very good idea for you to be on your own much with the stories that are floating around," mumbled the dragon, "I'll see you soon."

That said, he nodded towards the wounded on and began to head out of the infirmary.

---

Bobcat, as he had been dubbed now, was not very amused with what was going on. Though, the knights surprised him by removing the shackles they had placed onto him.

Well that was nice, he thought flatly to himself as he rubbed his wrists. The knights around him looked like they were ready for action, with the way they regarded him warily. Were they wanting a little magic show? He hoped they wouldn't be too disappointed when they found out that he had nothing to show.

Crossing his arms and just standing there more or less, he wondered if he should try and psyche them out or humor them at all. Actually, considering today, that sounded rather nice. He wasn't even going to bother trying to pull magic from his bond; this was just for show.

So then, with a smirk, he looked up towards the ceiling and threw his hands up to make some motions he had seen some mages do before when they were preparing a spell. After a moment or two, he brought his hands to his side, then stepped forth and thrusted his palms forth at Lierce as if shooting something from them.

"We will let the elder rest. It is not urgent now," Padar said as he motioned for Fam to follow. "But as it seems he's spoken to you of the white haired stranger, it might be best to fill you in on what is going on in case I am called away. Let us take one of the empty side ward rooms."

Toward the infirmary Padar traveled and once in seclusion, began to speak in private to the young Steward.


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"No symbols, but I did not search thoroughly. We wanted be here before he woke lest we chance losing him." Speaking of, they'd seen no camp from overhead, no bags he had been carrying, not much to distinguish him at all, Lucien thought over to himself.

"Lahmear may curse me for saying this, but he might give some of Lahmear's firestarters a run if that be the truth," he concluded. Hopefully something would turn up when the other knights started to try and get answers. If anyone could, it was Master Lierce. "You don't suppose he was trying to get caught?"

Well the reaction was a little less satisfactory than he would have liked. Bobcat had hoped to make at least one guy jump. Oh well. Gingerly, he rubbed the wound on his arm as some of the knights spoke amongst one another.

His attention was soon called towards a woman with tattoos all over her arms as she handed him a wax tablet and asked for his name. It was about time he could get a little bit of progress. It was probably a good thing that he actually knew how to read and write too for that matter.

Taking the stick, he quickly wrote "Blade" onto the tablet.

"It's ... beyond horrid," Thanos replied miserably. "Everyone thinks I'm insane, all because I saw ... or think I saw... this stranger switching bodies with my human friend...I was supposed to stop the tragedy, but for all I know my friend has been killed in that man's place! I could go on, but..." The dragonet, realizing he was babbling again, fell silent. Having been running the halls for a long time, he was out of breath; he crumpled into a sad heap, intent on getting some rest.

Thanos finally came out of his gloom-induced mental stupor enough to recognize that he was talking to a Tainted. He'd heard frightening things about them as well - perhaps even more so than his mother's tales of his sire. Jolting to his feet, he started to back away quickly, any vestiges of trust in his fellow hatchling evaporating. "You're right," he said. "I'll just...go sleep somewhere else." He had no intention of sleeping, however, not with this monster around. There was one thing that irked him slightly, however, and he spoke softly but sharply, "I don't feed off others' energy. The fact that I have not yet killed a human isn't the reason for my apparent weakness." With that, he turned and bolted.

Thanos' sadness, stabbed at by this stranger, finally released him, letting anger take its place and override his previous fear of the Tainted. "What do you want me to do?" he snarled. "You're a ... a stealer of others' energy - their will to live - and it's clear you're certainly not a friend to me. You want me to 'confront' you - does that mean, you want to fight? Because I may be small, but that doesn't mean I'm not powerful enough to take on a skinny little thing like you!" With a growl, he flapped into the air and swooped at the taunting stranger.

Even as his rage ordered him to attack again, a voice of caution spoke out in Thanos' mind, overriding the attack order with a healthy dose of realization of this other one's power. Briefly, he realized how many times his course of action had been swinging inside the last five minutes, but this was of no import to the situation at hand. "You're just toying with me," Thanos spat, batting at the tail that touched his nose, more out of frustration than aggression. "If you want to eat my soul, why aren't you just doing it? What's with all this cruelty? Are you just spicing me up before killing me?"

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Lapis hurried down the hall, worried that the dragonet might be trying to leave Gen'Yiel. Somehow, she didn't want him taking off alone while he still thought the world hated him. She arrived near the entrance, just in time to spy him getting plowed into by a skinny-looking stranger of about his age, and hear him demand to know whether she was trying to "eat his soul", as he put it. She held back, however, not wanting to interfere if this was not the Tainted's intention, as she had Kiara on her back and didn't want to risk putting her friend in harm's way.

"Oh," Kiara said in concern, wanting to protect the hatchling she'd met earlier. He'd been through so much, it seemed clear that getting killed by a Tainted was nothing he'd brought on himself. She started to float down from Lapis' back, not wanting to wait for the dragon to let her dismount in case the hatchling should be severely wounded by his opponent; he was clearly outmatched.

<<No,>> Lapis said, denying her the magic to reach the ground and, instead, returning the human to perch on her back. <<I don't want you messing with a Tainted. If our friend here should get into too much danger, let me intervene. For now, we will hold back and see if he can get out of trouble on his own.>>