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Mailon opened his mouth to reply, then sighed.

"The world of the White Elves is very different from any other race," he said quietly. "Especially at that time, when I became the Weapons Master, it was a very ... difficult and confusing time for me."

He looked at his hands. "I understand now what happened, but back then I was terrified."

Suddenly realizing that he was probably only confusing Miyuki even more, he explained. "White Elven children are forbidden to touch any weapon, save for the purpose of hunting animals, until the first day of their tenth year. It is the day all the children look forward to, boys and girls alike. I was no exception."

He rubbed his forehead distractedly. "When I arrived, the present Weapons Master ... I can't even remember his name, which is terrible ... he told me to choose a weapon. I did. A staff. I beat him with the staff, so he told me to choose a sword. And then he tried to kill me."

He looked up at Miyuki again. "For a child who had never held a weapon before to suddenly know how to use them, without any training whatever ... well. He forced the attack, and I killed him. In that moment I became the new Weapons Master, the most important person in the village."

He shrugged. "It is a very busy position. I spent my days and sometimes my nights training the other children. Several people wondered why I did not try my hand for position of chief, but I had no interest in it. I didn't like killing. I didn't like hurting people. My people did not understand, but as long as I kept it to myself they let me be. And they needed me, so they did not have much choice."

"Well, really, it's all about what the people value, isn't it?" Mailon asked her. "The White Elves - as a race, mind you, not a rule - value strength, and the ability to keep the race from contamination. Therefore, the stronger you are, the better you can fight, the higher the position you have. And part of being strong is not forming undue attachments. Parents know they'll someday be separate from their children, when they grow old enough to be on their own, so they're encouraged not to grow too attached to them. Men and women ..."

He hesitated. "Well ... men I suppose could fight for the woman they wanted, too. And of course if the woman wanted nothing to do with the new man, she would help her husband to kill him, but otherwise ..."

He shrugged. "It's all about strength. The stronger, the better."

"It is a life of paranoia," Mailon agreed without hesitation. "As Weapons Master, I would have been replaced by the first one to kill me. By the time I was sixteen, I had seen enough chiefs in my village to need both hands to count them, and each replacement happened when they killed the chief before them."

He shrugged. "It's our way of life. I can't explain it, don't know the history behind it, but that's just the way it is."

He tilted his head slightly as footsteps approached them from behind, and when he looked up, Shoneah was returning. She looked very confused now, and she was approaching Mailon and Miyuki rather quickly.

"I'm not sure," Shoneah said worriedly. "I hope not. But Kaito says that Andarien came back to camp nearly two hours ago. And it's not like Andarien to loose track of time. He's the one who insists that everyone needs a pocket watch so that no one is ever late meeting anyone else."

She had a suspicion he was going to be giving her one eventually, even though she hadn't asked for one. Everyone else had one, after all.

Shoneah nodded. "Straight back here, he said," she affirmed.

"Has anyone else seen him?" Mailon interjected softly. Shoneah looked at him as if seeing him for the first time. He just smiled and added, "When I came out of the tent a short while ago, Miyuki was just returning from somewhere. Perhaps someone else around here saw where he might have gone."

He gestured around them. Wren was near the fire, and Shiro was leaning against a tree, working on his tablet, only a short distance away.

"I'll wait here," Mailon said quietly. "I'm afraid I haven't the energy to go far."

Shoneah glanced at him once more before she went off with Miyuki towards Wren.

Wren was humming to herself and cutting some meat into thin slices on a plate, but when she sensed Miyuki and Shoneah approaching, she turned and smiled at them.

"Good morning, girls," she said warmly. Then she saw the worried expression on Shoneah's face. "Are you all right?" she asked anxiously.

"I thought he went into the tent a while ago," Wren replied, puzzled. "He's not anywhere in there?"

Shoneah's face flushed slightly. "Well ... when he wasn't in the forge, I came out and asked Miyuki, and she sent me to Kaito, and then I came back here ..."

She trailed off, feeling rather sheepish.

Wren chuckled softly. "He's probably in his room, then, working on designs or something. I wouldn't worry too much unless he's not there either."