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Paine flipped the three small pancakes over, waiting for the other side to brown. Few minutes later, she put the pancakes on a plate, left her post by the stove, walked by the orange haired fae and handed over her pancakes. "Here ya go, enjoy" she said, smiling. She put two average sized amounts of batter on the plate. "One more for Sai, One for me" she said, waiting for the next batch to finish. She peered into the dish and saw that there was a few more batter left, just enough to make at least two more pancakes. "Hmm...I'll ask everyone later if they want more pancakes..." she then turned her attention back to cooking, and flipped the pancakes. "So nice to have friends..." Paine thought to herself as she put one pancake on top of Sai's plate, and put the other on different plate. She then turned off the heat and walked over to Sai, Kapono and Kizzy, holding a plate in each hand. "Here ya go" she said as she handed Sai her pancakes. "Enjoy".

"Um..very..blue?" Lori scratched her head, looking down the way the girl had went. It did seem awfully odd to Lori now that she remembered it, and reprimanded herself for not paying more attention. "She looked rather upset as well. I would have stopped her, but I thought someone was looking after her."

The young redhead blinked, then realized since she was supposed to work at the teahouse..and DS was the keeper of the teahouse..

"Oh! I'm supposed to work at the teahouse. Do you think you could take me there?" Lori glanced down the road again, thinking to herself. "If it is that way, the girl could have been going there."

As the small wooden cart pulled to a slow stop, a petit girl jump out of the back, landing with a slight bend at her knees as her soft gray dress swirled around her ankles. Her hands moved up to take a piece of grass out of her dark hair, a messy bun holding the long strands off her tan neck. Deep eyes gazing around, the blue color seemed darker in the evening sun, the light hidden away by the clouds she had watched slink across the sky throughout her journey. Turning swiftly on her heel, she stood to pull her trunk away form the cart, it landing with a dull thud as some dust floated up only to settle moments later.

Her hands clutched the trunk handle tightly as her head reclined to look towards the sky, dully noting that it was indeed getting darker by the minute. Coming to a logical conclusion, the petit girl walked away from the cart and towards the town, ignoring it as the man snapped the reins and the horses started up their journey back towards the other towns. Sighing, the girl, who was named Maren, moved towards what she could only believe was the inn, tugging her trunk full of her supplies along with her as she finally reached the doors. Looking behind her shoulder, she pushed the door open and pulled her trunk inside, preparing to find a room and get an idea of this new town in which she had traveled to for her new job.

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________|___|| THE DAY: Spring 11 ||___|________

Location: Astora Village
Season: Spring 11
Time: Late Evening
Weather: Dark and cloudy. Lightning and thunder. Heavy rain with a strong wind.

As Rae offered the bottle to her, Chiaku regarded it with slight hesitation, then took it. "Thank you for your medicine, sir," she replied politely, though her skepticism questioned whether she should be accepting such things given their current situation. Zeejay had just been attacked by humans, how was she to know that this wasn't one of those responsible for her wounds?

However, she quickly followed Cordain as he led them to a room. "Sir Cordain, I must speak to you privately when you have the time."

When fat droplets of rain began to fall from the sky, Momo raised her face as if to meet the heavenly gifts of soft, wet pellets. However, the sound of thunder and the beginning of a strong wind discouraged her from remaining in the elements much longer. She looked about, but Linnea wasn't in sight. Had she already returned to her mother?

As she turned towards the governor's manor, Momo shook her head and knew that Lady Chiaku would want her to be responsible and make certain the younger girl was in the safety of her mother's care. Momo raced to the village inn, searching for DS.

Lori nodded quickly, just as she felt the first fat drop of rain on her crimson hair. "Oh dear, we'd best find her soon then. I'd hate for anything to happen to her, she looked very nice."

Or at least Lori thought so, but as thunder rumbled just behind her ears, she shivered. The rain was coming down in a steady downpour, and she grabbed her bags, ready to hurry after DS.

"Let's get out of this mess!" Lori had to raise her voice slightly as the wind began to pick up.

Loki eyed the darkening sky warily as she got down from the cart. The wind was already picking up, and thunder rumbled again, nearer than before. She shut her eyes as the first big raindrops splashed on her head, running down the back of her neck. Within minutes, she was soaked through. And to think, only a few hours ago it had been ice cream weather!

The wind caught her long skirt, turning it into a weapon that flapped and tangled around her legs as she struggled to pull her travelling trunk down after her. The trunk finally landed on the ground with a heavy thump, narrowly missing a puddle. She pulled the unwieldy thing out of the cart's way, looking around for somewhere dry to put it, but no such place presented itself. This was not weather to be out in, she thought morosely. It was the sort of weather that was fun to watch from a window seat, wrapped in a quilt by a warm fireplace.

The cart took off on its next errand, leaving Loki alone and soggy by the side of the road, a little drenched purple thing with a trunk too heavy to lift.

I am not homesick, she told herself sternly, I am adventuring. Besides, that pokey little rented room never had a proper fire going anyway.

She set off resolutely down the road, her trunk dragging through the mud behind her. In a flash of lightning, she could make out the town she was entering. So, this was Astora. It seemed quite small, but the buildings looked civilised - a mansion, a shop... A second flash, the rumbling coming almost at once, and Loki ducked under the eaves of the nearest building, pulling the errant trunk in close. She shivered in the dark and shook out her hair. Wiping the rain off her glasses, she surveyed the town. There was a light out there, and she squinted to make out the sign at the door. Inn.

"Oh, thank goodness!" she sighed, and taking a deep breath, she left her temporary shelter and towed her heavy trunk towards the welcome circle of light and warmth.

The thunder started DS, making her take an involuntary step back inside. Her worries were split now, between Linnea being alright, and the messy weather. What if her daughter was outside? Even though Momo had said that they liked water, neither fae would probably enjoy lightning, or the strong winds, or the loud noise of the thunder.

"Let's hurry," she muttered, grabbing her basket tightly and heading outside once more.

Closer to, Loki could see that there was quite a lot of activity going on at the inn, people coming and going. That was a good sign, she decided. It meant she wasn't all alone in the dark.

She stopped on the doorstep, just out of the rain, and tried to wring some of the water out of her hair and skirt - it wouldn't do to drip all over the building. Other than that, there wasn't a lot she could do about her current appearance. She ran her hand through her hair one last time, then bent to the task of getting her travelling trunk through the door. It wasn't that it was a particularly large trunk, just heavy, and she came through the doorway backwards, heaving it along behind her.

I so win at first impressions, she thought to herself wryly. I must look a fright.

Blinking in the brighter light, Loki got her trunk clear of the doorway. She looked around at the other faces at the inn, getting her bearings and trying to spot the innkeeper or one of his staff.