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Thorn smiled at Adencia's responce to his gratitude, he had expected it from her. He looked over to Regner and his sister confused, I thought the Adencia knew them not Garren and Isarelle? Thorn sat at the table hoping that they would respond and mabey clear his confusion.

The food spread out in front of him looked delicious. He hadn't ate a proper meal since they had left the mansion. He filled up his plate and settled in to eat. As he ate he pondered more on the possibility that he was immortal. The more he thought about it the more it scared him and made him want to find this stone even more.

Cerdik raised his sullen face to stare at Ekko, putting the bird's words to thorough contemplation even though the idea in question was a rather simple one. By the time Kyna finished explaining the story of Garren and Isarelle's curse, the mage had only finalized what he wished to say. With a soft sigh, he replied, Perhaps, but... But, I befind it so trying in life. In point: the situation we currently live within. Life leaves me so bewearied at times, smiles can not repress truth. But I try. He managed a little half-hearted smile to Ekko and slid another grape between his lips before offering another to his raven friend.

Cerdik smiled softly and stroked Ekko's beak with his thumb. You be a tenacious one, Ekko. He glimpsed down at the little critter in his hand, still retaining some of his smile. She-- for the mouse was female, Cerdik had discovered during the time he consoled her-- Shall be Felicia. What of this do you bethink? He rubbed the bird's beak again, still smiling. He looked up briefly as Regner returned. Cerdik stood, and stared at Regner for a little over a minute, sorting all the information he had collected in the short while he had been with his traveling party, and the even shorter period during which he had met Kyna and Regner. Then he spoke.

"If it would be prudent, I wish to say... mister Regner? Not to the even faintest degree do they despise you... A tower of distasteful remembrances only do you face... Umm... T-time... Time has..." He lowered his eyes to the ground, now beginning to lose his confidence. "Much of time has been spent, only with bad remembrances of your time period within life, and... And it is a difficult tower to topple. B-but, if-f-f, if you j-just pers-s-... Perseverance will rebuild a friendship lost, and mayhaps open new l-l-lanes of unforeseen opportunity." He sighed, shaking slightly and bobbed his head slightly, as if agreeing with himself.

"That be all withheld, now said. F-farewell in your d-d-dreams." He jerked a quick smile and then spun away and shuffled from the room to find his bedroom once more.

Once inside, a wave of that same emptiness as before swept over him. Cerdik now recognized it as separation anxiety. He didn't want to be left alone, not in this strange place, even if they did tell him a million times it was safe. It was alien, and alien was most certainly hostile, even if the owners themselves did not see it. He whimpered slightly at the thought, and moved quickly to the bed. He yanked the blanket and pillow away, and carried them back to the door. He dropped the pillow down then sat beside it, and wrapped himself within the blanket tightly, making sure to reserve room for Ekko and Felicia. He clutched the pillow to his chest, and lay on his side, curled up with his back against the door. Then he would know that when he awoke in the morning, it would be with someone he knew nearby.

Woo! I like that name! Ekko chattered fondly. The bird said it over and over again untill it stuck so he wouldn't forget it.

Regner nodded to Cerdik, easily seeing that he was uncomfortable. But he was right, even though the wording was a bit strange and the meaning was almost difficult to find. He watched as the boy walked off, Ekko still perched upon his shoulder.

Adencia heard the door next to hers close. It was Cerdik's room, she knew, she had take Ekko to him earlier. She took her hair out of its long braid and brushed the soft curls. It was the first time she'd left her hair down in a long time, she was always traveling so she had to keep it up. Afterwards she went to Cerdik's door and knocked softly.

"Cerdik?" she asked softly, "Are you there? I wanted to make sure you were alright. Things have been kinda rough these past two days."

Hearing a noise behind her she turned to see Garren stepping out of his room. His eyes lingered on her for a moment then he passed her to go to the kitchen. He needed to talk to Regner and Kyna some time. It wasn't going to be easy.

As he walked in he could feel their stunned eyes on him. He sat down and looked to them impassively. There was something he wanted to know.

"How did you meet Adencia?" he said softly, "She's known you for a while I presume. How did you meet her?"

Adencia tucked a long lock of hair behind her pointed ear, a bit surprised to see him sitting on the floor. She contemplated his request for a moment but didn't see how it could really hurt anything.

"Well, there are two beds in the room. You can stay in there with me if you'd like." she said softly, "I understand this is all a bit new, but you can trust Regner and Kyna. They're very kind and would be more than happy to help you with anything should you need it. Just know they are good friends."

Holding out her hand to him she smiled, "Shall we?"

((I'm sorry this is all kinda boring right now guys, I wish there were some way for me to make things exciting, but, alas, there is not. Any twist you want to add to the story to speed it up or make it more exciting would be fine, do what you want. I'm just sorry it's moving slowly and I hope you'll all bare with me.))

((That's fine, I just didn't want you guys to be bored sweatdrop . Okay, so9 this is going to be a bit of a long post. I've been doing character development if you haven't noticed o.o. You guys should do some to when it's convenient 3nodding ))

Turning she opened the door to her room and walked in. It was just as quaint as the others in the house. A small dress stand and mirror in the corner, two beds each on opposite walls, a curtained window on the wall opposite the door, and nothing much other than that. She sat on one of the beds with the comb from the dress stand and continued to run it through her hair as she had been doing before she had gotten up.

~

Regner looked to Kyna for a brief moment and she gave him a nod of encouragement. He sighed and leaned back in his chair, gazing at Garren’s demanding eyes. How strange it was to be looking back at his once good friend.

“About two years ago, Kyna and I had to travel across Oakenshire so we could do business in the town below the Riventopp Mountains.” He began slowly, keeping his voice down so the conversation stayed with them and them only. “I’m a leather tanner and wood worker and now this trip has become an annual passing. Well that trip had been successful and we were packing provisions for our return trip. There’s a thickly wooded are near the port and I had been walking by when I saw a fox weave in and out of the trees. A large group of sailors had seen it too and one thought it would be brilliant to shoot it with an arrow, the great stupid git. The arrow had hit the fox’s back leg and it darted away. The group of men followed it and I ran behind, staying hidden in the trees.

“I watched as they came upon the fox again. The creature couldn’t move on so it just laid there. They were debating on what to do with it . . . then it changed. It had changed into and elf, whom we later came to know as the elf who resides with you, Adencia, wounded in the same way the fox was. All of them were confused at first but then one had told them she was a cursed. It was the truth, and one they didn’t like at all. They grabbed her and she fought best she could. It was incredible how she held them all off for such a long time, but eventually they overpowered her.

“I ran from my hiding place to go find someone that could help me, I didn’t want the girl to get hurt. I knew no one would help me but Kyna, but she was reluctant. All this had flooded back memories of you and your sister. But I told her . . . I told her we needed to do it. After what we had done to you I would never forgive myself, but helping Adencia would at least ease a little of my regret. Kyna agreed to help but had to stay with the ship and continue with the provisions because we were to leave that night. I went to the outskirts of the woods and had to wait for the men to come out, I couldn’t take fifteen men on my own in attempts to save the elf. As the sun began to set they all came out, but I didn’t see her with them.

“Before all the light had gone I had managed to find the place I had been before. She was still there, barely moving. The men had tied her to a tree and left her for dead. They had beaten her badly, just as an act of cruelty towards something they didn’t understand. She was hardly awake and when she realized I was untying her she fought against me thinking I had come to hurt her more. I tried to get her to calm down but I’m not sure she could understand me. Soon she’d fainted and I was able to get her back to our ship under the cover of night.

“Only when I got her back to the light of our ship did I realize how bad her injuries were. Kyna was frantic and wanted to find a doctor but we knew there would be no way to explain things. We postponed our leave until the next morning and cared for her all night. After touch off our main concern was taking care of her and getting back home as soon as possible. After the first week of sailing was nearly over she began to wake up a bit. She couldn’t stay awake for long though, and when she was awake she was frightened and couldn’t tell us anything. We weren’t sure if she could even remember anything. She had sustained a bad concussion at the least. After the second week she was getting a little better, but slept most of the time. We’d managed to cut a week off of our return voyage in our speed and continued to care for her here.

“As her health improved she was able to tell us who she was and where she came from, but wouldn’t tell us anything else. For the longest time she was suspicious of us and was always cautious. She wouldn’t eat much of what we gave her. We had to find some way to get her to trust us because we could see that she was becoming weak. So we told her that we once knew someone who was cursed and we had abandoned them and regretted it. Helping her was our way of apologizing to ourselves because we knew they’d never accept it. It worked a little and after a while she became more trusting. As soon as she was completely well again we’d become friends.

“Adencia would help us in any way she could. She would go out on fishing trips with Kyna or help me around the tannery. She was very happy here, but we could see that she longed to continue traveling. We told her it was alright if she wanted to go. And so she did, but not until she promised to come back. Little did we know that when she would come back she’d be bringing others. But, no matter. We’re happy to help you all.”

Garren was quiet for a long time, staring at the floor. He wanted to say something but didn’t really know what to say.

“You helped her . . . because you regretted not helping me?” he asked softly.

Regner nodded, “It wasn’t the same as your forgiveness, but I had hoped it might help me forgive myself. I haven’t done that yet, but I’m glad we saved her.”

((Sure, fine with me ^_^))

Adencia watched Cerdik curiously, continuing to lean against the wall combing her hair. As he had fallen asleep she put the comb back on the nightstand. With a click of her tounge Ekko flew to her and landed on her shoulder, nuzzling her cheek with his downy head. She set him on her bed and he tucked his feet beneath himself.

Lying back she kept her eyes on Cerdik he slept. How much she wished all of this to be over. Once their curses were lifted then Garren and Isarelle would have their own bodies, Thorn would look his age, she would no longer change into uncontrollable animals, Cerdick would be normal and not so fragile . . . she was unsure on Tanyeera's curse but she was positive she'd be happy to be rid of it.

After thinking for a few short minutes her eyelids began to close as she suddenl;y grew very tired. Quite ready for sleep she took a deep breath and felt her body completely relax as she dosed off.

~

Garren changed the subject and began asking them questions about what they'd been doing since they'd left. Regner and Kyna seemed quite relieved to speak about something else. After they had explained many things they asked the same things of Garren. Soon they found that they were in a happy conversation, and things felt like they had years ago.

No one spoke any more apologies and nothing about what had passed was spoken about. The hour passed and Isarelle was soon in her brother's chair. Kyna and Regner seemed a bit taken aback and were very quiet, still unused to such a change.

"Please," Isarelle said quietly, her head down, "Don't stop. I don't like the quiet."

They began to talk again and she brightened up a little. Things weren't exactly patched up yet, but they were trying hard to come to decent terms. They let the hours continue to pass and with each sighting of the other sibling the conversation became more comfortable.

Adencia heard Cerdik get up but didn't follow. She was still very tired and wished to rest. Ekko flapped a bit to get to a standing position before leaping to the window and tapping on the pane as a sign of wanting to be let out. Adencia got up grudgingly and opened the window for the bird to fly out. A slight chilly breez came in as she did so. Closing the window quickly she made her way back to her bed.

As she stumbled she heard someone speaking in the kitchen but couldn't make out any words. She thought it must have been Regner or someone of the like. But, once she heard Cerdik's frantic call she grabbed her quiver, slinging it over her shoulder as she ran form the room. By the time she had slid in the kitchen she already had an arrow nocked and ready to fly.

As soon as Adencia saw the man with his sword trained on Cerdik she kept her aim on him. "Move any farther and I'll shoot." she warned.

Kyna, Regner and Isarelle were all beginning to stumble from their rooms all in their night clothes. They all appeared sleepy eyed into the kitchen but snapped out of it as soon as they saw what the situation was.

"Wha-what?" Regner stammered, "What's going on?!"