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(Moving the plot along~)

At the rate they moved, it didn't take long for Rhys and company to chance upon Ganon & Friends, Ltd., surrounded by... well, only a few bandit corpses. Fewer than they'd dealt with, at least. Probably Ganon's sheer size--not every day you came across a dude THAT tall.

And with that, the entire group was united at last! That's right, back in town for a limited time only, it's the Ganon & "Sons" band, featuring Leena!

And there was much rejoicing. Followed by skedaddling back into safer territory.

Isadora let out a smile as she watched Amelia hugged Renault and crying. So that's why he came, Isadora thought. To give his valuable ring to Amelia. She had never thought that both she and Renault had thought about giving the ring to another person. Was it a coincidence? Or was it something that St. Elimine had in store?

Not knowing what it could be, the paladin let that aside as she spoke calmly to Renault. "Your Excellency, Amelia and I are about to have lunch in the town. Would you like to join with us?"

The Inner Lance within was now cheering. A TEAM! A TEAM! THAT'S THE FIRST STEP TOWARDS FRIENDSHIP! Not that he said anything out loud, he just smiled. "Well, sissies...they ganged up on us, sure. But put yourself in their shoes. If you saw your mates getting beaten around like pinãtas, you'd probably want to leg it too."

Lance stretched his back. "They sure did underestimate us though."

Lance raised an eyebrow. "What was that about though? Did you two do something that deserved the wrath of all those, uh, sissies?"

He brought up his arms and shrugged while sighing. "Not that it matters to me. A team, huh...The Team of Teamwork Team? That's quite the tonguetwister, try saying that quickly. But sure! I've been waiting to meet people that I could have a good time with! That is quite the music to my ears! And you, Ganny, you're a bard then, I take it? Were you born in that month too? I was born in the Month of the Dancer, you see, that is probably why this all went so well!"

The thief nodded at Blossom. "Not that I know which others you speak off, but it'd probably be a good idea. Onwards, Team of Teamwork Team!" he exlaimed while posing with his index finger pointing.

Amelia smiled against his shoulder, opening her eyes as the tears dried away. It was just... it still felt a little unbelievable. Her biological father died when she was barely old enough to be speaking complete sentences. Her biological mother had been carted off by bandits around roughly the same time. She had been raised by a neighbor for a good deal of her life, and when she finally had the chance to reunite with her mom, she'd come to Learania. Amelia had never expected to ever get a second chance at a family, and she was damn happy that she did.

Amelia didn't pull away from Renault until after she felt him kiss her scalp, only lifting her head and stretching to the side a little to see around Renault's broad shoulder and to Isadora. "Yes... lunch. Good idea." Amelia looked up to her father and laughed. She used his sleeve to dry her eyes (her own sleeve was kind of sweaty) and peeled off her gloves. "Should... I at least change into clean clothes first?" she questioned.

"Warp? Well..."

Rhys paused, thinking. He didn't use Warp staves, and the Warp Powder had all been used up at Halloween... Hmmm... wait, aha!

Rhys handed Leon his Heal staff. "Use this as a crutch to get to the castle infirmary, okay? Tell the Priests I sent you. They'll take good care of you while I'm busy. And don't go getting into trouble this time," he said, sending Leon on his way. The castle wasn't THAT far from here--as long as he didn't do anything stupid, the leg wouldn't get much worse.

Leon now (hopefully) safe, Rhys examined the rings. So many choices! Which one was a good idea? Wedding rings, you seemed safe with a gold ring, but engagement rings were tricky. Were diamonds really "a girl's best friend"? Or maybe jade? ...Garnet? Opal?

Think, Rhys, think! What would Amelia like? Well... err... she had those nice, deep green eyes, so jade... no, it was going on her hand, not her eyes! Diamond? ...Diamond on a General like her? Granted, she wouldn't wear it WITH her armor, most likely, but the color combination seemed a bit off.
Wait a second!

His eyes lit on a gold ring with a deep sapphire gem at last.

...It'd contrast nicely with what she usually wears. She might like it... maybe. I hope I'm right about this... although...

"Err... how much is this one," Rhys asked, pointing at the ring in question. His mind wandered to the bag of gold Jin gave him, wondering if there'd be enough left over for the wedding ring as well...

(EDIT: Since Sue's already discussed the "Half off" deal thingy, and it was gonna happen anyway, and we gotta wrap this up...)

"Oh, fancy running into you three here!"

Rhys' left hand instinctively clutched over his chest, over a small box.

Not NOW! Don't just propose in the middle of the street!

They'd run into Amelia, Renault, and Isadora somehow. Probably one of those cheesy "What a coincidence!"-type things that happen in stories and the like.

"So, um... how are you guys doing? You seem to be doing well," Rhys said as nonchalantly as he could.

"What happened? Well..."

Judging from the "I'm looking off into space" expression on Rhys' face, it seemed apparent he wasn't too enthused about saying, "Oh you know, I ran off into a seedy district and fought some bandits, kicked a**, and came back alive so I could propose." So naturally, he didn't.

That didn't mean he told lies, however.

"I... WE wound up in a rather unsavory part of Eyris trying to help someone get back out," Rhys said, gesturing to the remaining group at large. "We ran into trouble, but... we were a big group. We didn't have any problems, and other than some torn clothes, we're all fine." He hoped that assured her that everyone was okay. He didn't want to scare her.

"In any case, we completed our task! Where are you guys headed?"

Rhys wasn't quite sure how to handle this. He'd hoped the occasion would be a bit more private than surrounded by friends. No offense to them, but he just didn't feel as though "the question" ought to be public if it could be avoided.

"Speak to me? Sure. Let's get some quick privacy, then. We'll catch up, guys," he said cheerfully, waving at them as he and Amelia rounded a corner.

Huh. Wow, that was easy. I didn't even have to TRY to cause a diversion. Except... now I actually have to do it.

Rhys began to build his resolve. Really, it wouldn't take long for him to work up the bit of courage to do it with a ring this time--he'd already (technically) proposed over Easter, fought a small crowd of bandits, basically told everyone else in FEF that he was going to do i--okay, he was ready.

"So, I know I've been really busy over the past few days, and haven't had much time to talk," Rhys began. "But I've been fine, really. I just..."

He paused for a second, thinking of how to word this.

"...Okay, you remember what I said at the end of Easter, right?"

He opened his left hand at last to reveal the box, and grinned.

"That was no April Fool."

He opened the lid with his right. The gold/blue combo looked (he hoped) enticing.

Sue was confused as to whether or not her Host Club leader's proposition was being accepted. They did things in the Lycian culture quite different then her own.

In Sacae, the young women would usually ask permission of of the man's parents to wed them, whether it was for tribal gain, or they were... connected. If his parents weren't around... then she'd ask his nearest relative, sometimes even the chief if necessary! It was all arranged and certain...and for the most part, these choices were ones that would make the two people happy. Lycian, Tellius, even Grado culture had this strange uncertainty with the ring... but it amused the nomad greatly. She wanted to wait for real, straight answers. Then... she'd continue to get materials to make bows.

Leena loomed in the distance, smiling. She'd once again made someone happy with her creations. There was a reason that she wouldn't make weapons, despite being a blacksmith's daugher. She didn't want to see anyone get hurt: not even her enemies. Instead of using the skills she knew she had to make weapons.. she chose to make only jewelry and staves, a mostly civilian trade with less gold to offer, but more smiles like she was observing right now. They were happy by her handiwork, and that meant the world to her.

Leon wasn't so pleased, still limping to the castle with the staff. How unprofessional for Rhys not to warp him!

Of course, he was at the palace healer's in no time, yet, he was exhuasted. He ended up shutting his eyes... just to sleep right in the doorway.

Ah, how merciful the darkness of sleep was! He'd fought his own comrades, and then bandits, nearly lost his life, and then broke his leg being reckless. Being taken away from the cruel world outside was a true blessing.

When he awoke, Leon wasn't in the doorway. The surface under him was soft... white. He was in one of the palace healer's beds, he deduced. Gazing at his surroundings, he saw many other members of the guard, all in casts like he now was. He cringed at their pain and his own.

One of their faces struck his eyes though as very familiar...

"I don't believe it!" he exclaimed. "Captain Dan! You're alive!"

{Now we wait for Ganon/Tibby/Dan post. :V}