Welcome to Gaia! ::

Lael looks out of the forest at the village in fascination. "Wow," she says. "I know I shouldn't be this excited, but I've never been out of Tearn before now." She smiles widely. "We're finally here. I hope that we can find out what's been going on." Not even the thought of the villages can dampen her good mood. Having never been out of her home village before, Lael can't help but feel excited at seeing a new place. An avid reader, she's read about Eko in a few books, but already knows that reading about a place is nothing like going there.

"Really?" Lael asks. "The farthest I ever went was... Maybe a mile into the forest. But Mum always caught me when I did. I couldn't keep my clothes clean enough not to get caught!" She laughs. "But Mum was always real mad. I remember once when I got lost and was gone for several hours, by which time my entire family was out looking for me, she gave me the black board treatment! She said sorry later, but I didn't go out again for a month!"

Kitara stops in her tracks and, after calling for Jay, says, "There's something in the air here, Darian and Lael...."

She glances at her cousin, holding out her hand, "Map, please."

She nods and opens the map, heading off the path as she reads it. She sits down by a tree and, leaning against the tree, runs a finger over the map. Her eyes quickly run over the map, to figure out the legend the raiders had made to show their raids without a real legend.

Jay flies from the forest and lands on her shoulder, leaning over to see what she's up to. Kitara's pinkie finger lands on the village of Reni and her pointer finger lands on the village of Eko.

"I thought so.... That's why the surroundings are different around here."

Lael looks worried, wondering what happened. She peers at the map over Kitara's shoulder, but can't really make out what's wrong.

Lael frowns. "If this was a target then it won't take long for the enemy, whoever they are, to realize that it wasn't destroyed. But why would they want to attack Eko? And do you think the villlagers will believe us if we tell them? I mean, it's kinda unbelievable. If someone had come and told me before the attack that my village was going to be attacked I don't think I would have believed them."

She shrugs, rolling up the map before standing up and handing it to her cousin.

"I may not have believed it, but I would have prepared the village just in case. I probably would have had to prepare just myself as they wouldn't have wanted to prepare, as it was a peaceful village. My policy that I have been told a lot is this: better safer than sorry. Better prepare than be caught unawares."

She checks the swords and her archery stuff before turning towards the village saying, over her shoulders, "Darian, we may have to hold on to the swords for a bit longer. We may be the only ones holding them off from the village for now. And, Lael, I'm sorry we have to bring you into this mess."