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Return of the Emblem Chapter Nine: Consolidating Forces


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Veronika

Veronika managed to nod at Raquel's question of accompanying her to see Captain Bogdan before Robin came up and began to bring up her issues with Gytha again. She was sorely tempted to speak up on several occasions, but figured Raquel should deal with this herself for practice. When I said she should discipline the group more, I didn't quite mean she should involve herself in other's personal vendettas... she thought to herself.

Nadya

"I don't think anyone here is that great at cookin'- I think Ranyin knows a little, but he's too scared of fire to make a lot of things. I can whip up somethin' edible, but probably not good enough to make you work for free," she said to Reign laughing a bit.

"Oh, I'm Nadya by the way. Always forget to introduce myself to people..." she noted afterwards.

Connor

"I decided to start with the easiest task first, so yours is done already," Connor replied to Faatina, taking the iron shield from the Dauntless and carefully lifting it up for her to take. "Should be fully functional...though I don't think we're planning on getting into any fights," he said, his brow furrowing a little.

Edited by -Cynthia-
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So they had finally arrived at Land. With all the excitement, the dragon eggs and younglings, the battle with the Dark Utka and tending to her own injury, she had completely forgotten that she loathed the sea. That caused quite a few problems, but no more.

Thinking it best that Nenesha should get a taste of freedom as well, Chelsea slowly, because she was still injured from the previous battle, and twitched a few times, made her way down to where the animals were kept. She offered a small wave to any mounts still there and when she got to Nenesha she hugged the mount. The mount snorted.

"Hey, I was not lonely! I had the others with me."- Chelsea frowned in mock anger. The horse made a sound that was close to laughter.

"What!? Oh shut up what do you know!!"- Chelsea yelled at Nesha. The horse suddenly whined and reached his neck over to the wound on her stomach. Chelsea winced in response. "I'm fine, nothing to get upset about. Anyway let's get some fresh air."- the troubadour spoke as she got atop Nenesha and exited the boat.

The horse snorted, and Chelsea's response was to smack the animal on the head. Nenesha whined, and Chelsea replied again "No it's not animal abuse, if you deserve it. Silly child."

When they got to Raquel's group, she arrived in time to hear Robin speak up. To the cooking request, Nenesha laughed- but that was quickly silenced by a bonk on the head by his master. To the second request, both master and steed sighed a deep sigh. Chelsea decided it was time to speak up, she couldn't let her cute boss be troubled by this any longer. "Robin, please just let it go. It happened done time ago, and there is no reason to continue expecting an apology for your bad actions. Granted, Gytha should not have shot you, but it was for your own good."- then the troub turned to Raquel. "Look Raqui, you don't have to get involved in a petty squabble that really shouldn't concern you. I can take control of the situation, even Miss Veronika can do it. But you should just take it easy. Go practice magic with Shadrak or do some shopping."

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"My own good? There is no form of discipline or lesson that can have the well-being of the other in mind that involves shooting someone with a gun. Maybe that is what she meant, but if it was, she should have at least bothered to explain her reasoning. The only thing I learned from the experience is that she is a wild, unstable, maniac who is willing to turn on others. If she were a hunter and tried that she would have been left for dead in the mountains as we need to depend on each other when we work in groups."

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OoC: Well, we've got a lot to cover, so Merc is actually going to use titles for these segments. Here we go.

Edit: Glitchy glitches are annoying. It's bolding weird. Eh, just ignore it. It's not bolded in edit so...I dunno.

Under Whose Flag?

With a sizable portion of the crew having gone over to man the Dark Utka, Captain Bogdan had taken up Gytha on her earlier offer to help with the Leverager's ship work. Presently, she was helping another crewman move a crate of supplies from the hold to where the carpenter was repairing the Leverager from her exchange of cannon fire with the Dark Utka. He was quite puzzled about why those mercenaries were apparently working with them on ship work, though this one did look like she could be a sailor, and acted like it, too. She even had the same accent he heard quite a bit on various ships he'd been on. Well, they'd just made the delivery to the carpenter and were on their way to get some more supplies he was requesting, so they had the time to chat a little.

"So, Gytha," he began. She'd introduced herself before they'd moved the first crate.

"Aye?"

"Ye seem t' know yer way around a ship a'right," he started, "Ever been on one b'fore?"

"Aye, a'course! I'm a mariner, after all, heharr!" she chuckled in reply.

"Oh?" A woman mariner? This was a bit odd. "Err... Realla? A mariner?"

"Aye."

"Realla? Sure is unusual. Ye have a license n' everythin'?"

"Aye," Gytha replied as she took it out from her belt pouch to display it.

The crewman took it to look it over. He grimaced. "Err... Ye sure this is a real license?"

"Aye. Why?" Gytha asked as she took it back.

"Hmm. Nothin'." He made a note to talk to the captain about this. An unofficial mariner on their ship? One that was meant to stop smugglers from sending the rebels dragon eggs? This might be problematic...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later, the crewman knocked on his captain's door. The mariner with the strange license was troubling enough that he wanted to talk to Bogdan about it.

Bogdan wasn't alone, but Reign was also good at blending into the background when he needed to. The knock at the door caused the young nomad to get quiet for a moment. He looked to Bogdan wondering if he should get the door or if he wanted to do it himself. Bogdan didn't get up at first.

"... go ahead and answer it." Bogdan instructed. Reign quickly stood up and answered the door.

"Hi, how's it going?" Reign greeted with a smile.

"Ah, ahoy," the crewman greeted. He was a bit uncertain about this Reign fellow, too. He knew that this guy was helpful but he spent a lot of time with the captain and he was pretty new. "So...can I come in? I have somethin' I want t' report t' th' captain."

"Well by all means," Reign replied. He stepped aside to let the man in.

"Phil?" Bogdan seemed slightly worried. "What is it, now?"

"Err... It's one o' them mercenaries, sir," Phil the crewman replied, his eyes flicking nervously to Reign occasionally.

"Which one? We brought a lot of mercenaries aboard for the mission." Bogdan replied, standing up from his chair.

With one more nervous glance over at Reign, he continued to his captain, "Gytha. She says she's a mariner and she showed me her license, but..." he shifted uncomfortably, "There's missing information on it. It's right uncanny it is. Just...suspicious. I mean, what if she's a smuggler tryin' t' sabotage us? What if she's deliverin' messages t' other smugglers about where they can attack us t' get th' dragons n' eggs back? 'R somethin' else. Some other plan... It just don't make sense, sir. Just plain ol' unsettlin'. What if these mercenaries 'r for th' rebels? I don't like this, sir, not one bit."

Reign raised an eyebrow at the notion. "Raquel working with smugglers? Maybe under duress, but ..."

"It sounds like it's a fake, but I didn't go into this expecting 'official' sign ons, anyway. What information is missing that has you so worried?" Bogdan inquired, crossing his arms toward the end of the reply.

"Surname and place of birth, mostla," Phil replied, still clearly uneasy, "Onla has 'er given name, picture n' date o' birth."

"Why not just falsify information instead of leaving it out? Well either way it's definitely not a real licence. I guess she's just using the 'credentials' to get better paying jobs. Not a bad strategy if she doesn't get caught." Reign assessed. "Maybe she's got ... connections to some interesting people and places ... though still better to just lie in that case. Keeps people from asking questions."

"Well, then, let us ask some questions. Phil, send her to my cabin. And Reign, you just let me do the talking."

"I get to stick around for this?"

"We'll see. Don't count on it ... but we were still having a discussion of our own."

"Aye, aye, sir," Phil agreed before exiting the cabin to go find the "mariner." When he found her, she was just walking the main deck, looking out over the ocean. "Hoy, Gytha," he greeted as he came up to her.

"Ah, ahoy, Phil!" Gytha cheerily greeted as she turned to face him, resting her hands on her hips. "What can I do fer ye?"

"Captain wants t' talk t' ye," he informed, "It's about yer bein' a mariner."

"Oh realla? Guess I should talk t' him at some point. This should probabla be r'corded fer other hirin' captains as part o' me record," she mused as she began walking towards the captain's cabin.

As he followed, Phil began puzzling over her again. By Leviathan, she certainly puts up a good act. Must be a professional... How deep are we in this mess?

A rap on the door signaled that the two had arrived and were waiting for it to be opened to let them in. Once again, Reign was at the door to let them in. Once they were both inside, he shut the door, headed back to his seat, and leaned back with his arms behind his head. "Gytha, was it? I had a few questions I wanted to ask you."

"Sure, what'd ye like t' know?" Gytha cheerily asked the captain as she stood before him. Phil kept to the back as he listened in. No one had told him to leave, after all.

"I'm curious about your licence. They are not as useful on the frontier, but if you can get one issued by a reputable company or sponsor, it does provide enough trust among the more elite or paranoid to get one decent work. Yours is interesting, though. No family name? No place of birth?"

Gytha stiffened. "Err, what was that, captain?" she asked, suddenly becoming nervous.

I knew it. Phil thought as he watched the scene play out.

"Family name? Hometown? No?" Bogdan replied, shaking his head as he said 'no'.

"Hmm ..." Reign was watching Gytha and trying to figure out if she was hiding that bit of information to avoid the thing itself, or to avoid trouble. She seemed more worried about the information itself, so it was probably the latter.

"Err... That information wasn't required," she replied very uncomfortably, shifting her weight and not looking at Bogdan directly.

Reign shrugged. "Well it wouldn't be required on a fake. What I don't get though is-" "Reign." Bogdan interrupted. "Oh come on ... it's only going to make her more nervous with the big scary gun toting 'Captain of the Leverager' asking her." Bogdan gave an unamused look, and then set his gaze somewhere else in the room. No objections from Bogdan were as good as okays. "So yeah, what's the deal? It's obvious you don't want to 'divulge' any of that missing info ... so why not just put false information there instead? No one would have known the difference, really ... unless you said you were from Aquila or something ..."

"Fake?" Gytha echoed, "No wonder they said none o' it was r'quired... Also explains why they were willin' t' make Maw one." She took out the other license that had been specifically made for her cat and looked at it for a moment before continuing on, "Well, I don't like lyin'. Try t' be as honest as possible. Lies come back n' get ye inta trouble. 'Sides, I don't see a reason t' lie about meself. Some things I just...don't tell most people." And she went back to being awkward and uncomfortable. "Not opposed t' speakin' with th' captain on this, though. If I tell anyone, it's him who has th' right t' know, seein' as I'm sighned onta his vessel."

"Well that's my cue. Have fun with the big secrets, Captain. I'll be in the infirmary ... pestering the doctor. See ya later." Reign made for the door and left the cabin.

Well, that was unnerving. Phil relaxed a little, though. That guy he didn't know much about was gone and the might-be-a-spy was there with just him and the captain. Gytha just stood where she was awkwardly. Just because she agreed to talk to the captain didn't mean she wasn't nervous about it.

"Entirely up to you, Gytha. I respect your privacy on the matter." Bogdan replied, his arms still crossed and the scowl no longer on his face. Now it was something more passive.

Phil was about to object, but then he thought better of speaking up against Bogdan and held his tongue.

Gytha stood a long moment, mulling over her options before finally speaking up. "I...normalla wouldn't tell anyone this... N' once I do, I'm sure ye'll see why I didn't want it on me license..." she started before taking a deep breath and saying, "Me name is Gytha Thirdgem from Stubbsgritt."

Phil's eyes widened and his mouth hung ajar as he stared at the mariner in shock. For now, he was unable to really think. This was very different from what he'd previously suspected.

"Thirdgem ..." Bogdan paused. "That's ... a very well known name ... a very hated name ... by some, and respected by others." he finished. "Indeed, I understand you not wanting that to get around. Out in these parts, it could only cause trouble for you and your employer ... and Thirdgem himself, I suspect." After saying that, Bogdan sat back down in his chair and leaned back a ways, letting his hands come down to rest one the armrests. "Why are you a mariner? Does it have something to do with that man?"

Gytha was very serious now with a hard look to her face. The truth was out. "No. It has t' do with one that was once a part o' his crew, but was given command o' a ship me father captured n' gave t' him: Captain Miles Grater o' th' Deadlock. Me first voyage was on that ship, but everyone on it was too superstitious. A good lot o' them thought th' lack o' wind was because havin' women aboard is bad luck. Th' captain defended me, but as soon as we pulled inta th' cove by Fairgale, they left me there. At first I became a mariner t' get revenge against pirates. .... Then I saw how th' merchants were tryin' t' make an honest livin' n' what sort o' impact th' pirates had on 'em. That's when I stopped fightin' fer r'venge n' started fightin' fer those who couldn't protect themselves," she answered truthfully.

"C-Captain!" Phil managed, clearly panicked "We need to disarm her now! I... I'll go tell the others!"

"Calm down, Phil. She is obviously not with Thirdgem, or the Deadlock ... and I doubt her employer knows anything about this. That means she is but one woman on her own." Bogdan explained to his subordinate.

Phil wasn't entirely convinced, but he did settle down, eyeing Gytha nervously.

Gytha herself had tensed up at Phil's reaction, but was now fairly calm again. The last thing she needed was a ship full of riled-up sailors. "So, Captain," she began, "What're ye goin' t do?"

"The same thing I planned to do from the start. Deliver the eggs to the empire, and get you people at least to Tremere." he replied simply. "What are you going to do, Gytha?"

Both Phil and Gytha were a bit surprised at the reply but Phil held his tongue. Gytha smiled. "Just what I've been doin': protectin' me allies n' givin' no quarter."

Well, that certainly had been an interesting meeting. It was good to know where she stood with Bogdan in spite of her past, too. Gytha spent the remainder of the day helping where she could aboard the Leverager. Finally, when it was time to sleep, Gytha went below decks and found a nice spot to string up her hammock. It was her first time sleeping in it for a long time. Too long. The gently rocking of the ship easily sent the mariner into a lovely sleep...

Toothy Maw

She'd stalked the ship and learned her routes. This was a place that made for good food. Already many rats had met their end at her paws; so many had squeaked their last as her fangs pierced their throats. Yes, Maw was a predator and to be feared by those rodents. She stayed near where the humans kept the rat-bait. After several deaths on their side, the rats stayed at bay. But Maw would simply continue to wait day and night. They had to eat sometime...

Saltwater Muscles

Well, there was a large lack of anything to do. For a while, Norbert just flew around on Rizen's back, further getting used to the wind currents. When he landed, though, (and after a snack) he let Rizen take a break and started training himself on more than just his pegasusmanship. First, he stretched, then the real workout began. For a change in pace, he began practicing defensive maneuvers with his maces, pretending to block and parry incoming strikes and rolling forwards and backwards into defensive stances. With his maces against his forearms, he'd raise them like small shields to guard his head and neck, crouching to better his defenses, then roll forward, spin around and strike out before falling back a pace while returning to his defensive stance. He kept adding to the technique and altering his scenario as he trained. Then he shifted gears, this time practicing all-out assaults, using the momentum in his strikes to cause greater harm and switching up his rhythms to keep himself unpredictable. Crushing things between the iron balls of the maces with the sound of the impact, swinging both in the same direction for a larger area, varying the angle of his attacks...

When he'd decided that was enough mace practice, Norbert switched to practicing with his poleaxe. Getting used to the longer reach was an odd experience since he'd just been practicing with Splinter and Crunch, but since he was still fairly new to the weapon, he instead moved slowly, envisioning fleet-footed sword-wielders and their movements and trying to come up with strike patterns that would work best against them with the poleaxe. At first it was just slow, wide swings to get a feel for it. Then, he began practicing feints, though all slowly so he could focus on the movements. If something didn't work so well in his slow, imaginary battle, he grimaced and moved back to a previous position to try a different strike. Since he'd been travelling with the group, he'd done most of his training with his tunic on, though it did feel better with the wind against his skin directly, cooling him off to a greater effect. This is like when I lived in the wilderness with Riz. I wasn't on a giant boat then, but I don't exactly have a choice right now. Sorry politeness, but my tunic's being patched up. And Truth knows, this feels much better.

The technique training had been a nice break, but it was back to conditioning after he'd figured out a couple good maneuvers he could use on some of the quicker swordsmen with the poleaxe. The simple conditioning involved mainly things like push-ups, sit-ups and lunges, though he also did a jog around the quarterdeck. That jog was actually one of the more amusing ones since Rizen would gallop along after him and whinny playfully, sometimes pretending to attack things with her horn since, quite frankly, she was far swifter than he. Even so, the jog turned into a form of race between the two, and though Rizen was frolicking to the point of even fluttering around and running circles around Norbert occasionally, she was still the clear victor. By the end of it, Norbert sat down to stretch again, laughing somewhat breathlessly. "Alright, alright, you win! Haha...! Whew!"

Riz stood proudly, holding her nose in the air and swishing her tail in exaggerated swings as she walked around near Norbert in triumph, prompting another breathless laugh of amusement from her rider. It was good to be getting this time together again. Riz had been his sole companion for a long time, after all. And so, the remainder of the day was passed. When night fell, many of the others found places to lie down for some well-deserved sleep. Norbert was one of them, though he didn't look for any place in particular. Instead he just lied down by some crates where he assumed he and Rizen would be out of the way and fell asleep almost immediately in spite of there being nothing but wooden planks covered in dry pitch beneath him. He was exhausted from the day's activities. Rizen fell asleep standing next to him opposite the crates.

The Penalty for Piracy

It was quiet. The color of everything was light and sandy and Gytha sat on her bench in her cell. It was a dreadful wait. She'd been separated from Raquel and the group in the last battle. As she'd tried to find them again, a pirate formerly of the Deadlock, in an effort to save his own hide, desperately accused her of piracy. When he'd said she was the daughter of Reese Thirdgem and gave the soldiers the information about her time aboard the Deadlock, her fate was sealed. The fool had been taken away last week for his own trial. He was taken away for his own hanging soon after that. Her trial was nigh. Footsteps came down the hall. Gytha's blue-brown eyes looked up. A navy official was standing in front of her cell. He gave a simple order and a short explanation. But it was all she needed. "Get up. It's time for your trial."

The accused was led down the silent hallway out into the direct sunlight. The sun had streamed in through a small window in her cell before, but it had been a long time since she'd seen it in such volume. She kept pace, though, walking in grim silence as people in the port town jeered and hurled insults at her. Gytha tuned them out. The situation wasn't good. On this particular island, the citizenry hated pirates with a great passion. Even if she was found innocent, they would likely hang her to sate the populace's blood lust. She was brought to her own seat. Everyone was taking their position and the crowd died down as the judge called the session to order. And then the charges against her were read. "Miss Gytha Thirdgem!" They couldn't even get past her name without the crowd rising into an uproar again. The judge got the crowd to settle down again.

The man started again. "Miss Gytha Thirdgem! You are here today on charges of piracy, smuggling, attacking Ursian soldiers within their borders, killing Ursian soldiers within their borders, two charges of causing unrest in Sanctuary and falsely presenting yourself as a mariner with a forged license! How do you plead?"

Gytha took a deep breath before answering loudly and clearly, "Not guilty on all charges!" The crowd had to be reigned in again by the judge.

"Miss Thirdgem, the only acceptable answers in this court are 'guilty' and 'not guilty.' Now, how do you plead?" the man demanded.

Gytha felt her anger rising at the injustice of the court. Still, she answered. "Not Guilty!" This time it took the judge longer to try to subdue the crowds, but it was still accomplished.

"Well then. Let us call in our first witness," the judge announced.

The first to step up was someone who really shouldn't have been there. "I have another charge against this woman!" she announced as she stepped up. No one stopped her. "This pirate shot me and hasn't yet apologized for it! This happened when she killed that Ursian officer!" Robin pointed an accusing finger at Gytha. Gytha's own finger itched for her trigger, but she'd been disarmed long before this event. Robin's accusation was added to the list of charges and the huntress grinned wickedly at Gytha as she stepped down and the next witness was called to the stand. To her surprise, it was yet another from the group.

"John?!" Gytha got a firm whack with the butt of the bailiff's rifle. "Don't speak out of turn!"

The witness seemed sorry for what he was about to say, but he had little choice in actually saying it. "It's true. She never could get my name right... And she did help smuggle a Fallen into Ursium." He was released after his statement and the crowd was talking among themselves.

"I can attest t' her piracy! N' t' th' fake license!" called out Phil from the crowd, "N' so can Captain Bogdan!"

All eyes went to Bogdan, who'd been sitting quietly. There was a long stretch of silence until he finally spoke. "Aye."

The trial was not proceeding well. And it was all happening so quickly. The next to come to the stand was Priestess Lulu. She announced in a stately manner, "This woman caused unrest in Sanctuary twice! I stopped her once myself and the other time she was stopped by Haythem and Amon!"

"Wait!" All eyes turned to the one who'd called out. "She didn't know any better! The first time she caused unrest it was to try to help me! And the second time she was just trying to challenge Haythem to a spar!"

"Amon!" Gytha was overjoyed. It'd been such a long time since she'd seen her good friend. She received another whack with the rifle, though. Amon just gave Gytha a little smile and wave.

"She was still the cause of unrest," the priestess protested, "Besides, you have a mission to do."

"I know. And I'll get back to it later, but right now my friend needs my help."

"That's right!" all eyes were now on Synthia, who had also come out from the crowd. "She's reckless, but she saved me from a falling coffin once!"

"Any of us could've done that." It was Blake who interjected, "You should've had someone who is better suited for defending looking after you."

Synthia grimaced. It was difficult to argue with that. Amon spoke up again. "Please, drop these charges! Gytha is only trying to help people!"

"Enough!" all attention snapped to the judge, "I find this woman -- Gytha Thirdgem -- to be guilty of all listed charges!" Various reactions of cheers and a few looks of panic and concern ensued as he continued, "Now let's get on with the hanging already!"

"NO!" Gytha couldn't tell if only she'd screamed or if others had too. She was being torn away from her little place as the accused and the crowds were cheering and jeering again. Gytha's friends couldn't get to her. The trip was short and the rope was slipped over her head as she was restrained. "AMON! SYNTHIA! AMOOON!!!" They couldn't reach her. The noose was tightened. Then suddenly, there was an explosion that blew apart the timbers holding up the rope, leaving Gytha with it around her neck like a leash while the crowds scattered from the attack. Gytha looked back over the sea as another cannonball smashed into the docks. She could almost make out the flag of that galleon. Almost...

The mariner awoke with a start, falling out of her hammock and onto the floor of the Leverager with a short shout. In a small panic, Gytha hurriedly tried to remember where she was. As soon as she realized she was on the Leverager again, she calmed down, heaving a sigh of relief. "What a terrible nightmare..." she muttered to herself as she picked herself up and dusted herself off. Next she unstrung her hammock and put it back into her bag before taking said bag and heading back above board. The captain was just addressing everyone and telling them that they'd be in port for a few days. Port? Gytha looked over at the poer they were docked at and grinned. It was a new place to explore and her nightmare was behind her.

Distant Relations

He fell in the snow again. How many times it'd been now he didn't know. This time he had a split lip, a twisted elbow and a black eye, though. The young girls gathered around shrieked, giggled and cheered as a blonde one with short hair and blue eyes stood before him with her hands on her hips and a confidant smile. She was three years older than him, placing him at the age of four and her at the age of seven. All those gathered were somewhere around that age-range as well. The boy kept his reddish glare fixed on the blonde girl as he pumped air in and out of his lungs due to fatigue and his growing frustration.

"Have enough, Norbert?" the blonde laughed.

The boy steeled himself, locking the air in his lungs as he pushed himself up and stood again, readying his fists before breathing again. "That all you've got?" he challenged as he continued to catch his breath.

The blonde girl sighed. "You're so stupid. Weak, too. Why don't you just learn how to use a staff like all the other boys? You'll never be able to fight and forget getting even close to a pegasus!"

"SHUT UP! WHO SAYS I CAN'T?! I'M JUST AS GOOD AS YOU!"

The girl fell into a defensive position herself. "Prove it, weakling."

With a cry of fury, the boy charged at the girl, aiming to slam his fist into her face. She just maneuvered out of the way and, off-balance, he fell into the snow again. This time, the girl stomped her heel into the boy's back, causing him to cry out into the snow in pain. "So stupid..." she disdainfully insulted as she removed her foot and stood back, "Now do you give up?"

Norbert ached all over. It seemed so futile and it hurt so much, he just wanted to cry. But he just couldn't let this girl have the satisfaction of beating him yet again. The boy gathered what strength he could and lunged across the snow, grabbing her boot and pulling it towards him, causing her to fall backwards into the snow. This was his chance. Norbert pushed himself as hard as he could to close in on the girl, but she kicked up, hitting him hard in the jaw and making him see stars for a short while. He couldn't tell which way was up for a moment, and as he recovered, he could hear the blonde girl's wails. She was crying very loudly and all the other girls were acting panicked.

"What's going on here?" demanded a woman's voice. Norbert looked up in time to see her gasp at the sight before her as some of the other girls rushed over, some of them crying. He knew what would happen even before she said anything. "Norbert! What are you doing?!" she demanded. He was still holding his opponent's shoe and was still in a position where he was trying to get to a more advantageous position.

Before he could get a word out, the blonde girl cried out, "Norbert picked another fight! He made me fall over and pulled on my hair and was trying to hit me!"

"It's true!" "Norbert's such a meanie!" The cries of affirmation to the blonde's story rung out.

"No, wait! That isn't true!" Norbert tried to defend himself.

"Not another word, young man!" snapped the woman as she picked up the blonde and held her so that her chin rested on her shoulder, "You do this so often! Why do you like picking on Cecelia so much?! I'm going to have to tell Father about this."

"But--!"

"NOT. ANOTHER. WORD. I'm sick of your lies! Everyone knows about your temper! It's pointless to try to hide it! Honestly, Norbert... If you keep this up away from home, you'll be in a lot more trouble than you get into here!" she snapped before roughly snatching up his wrist and pulling him along more quickly than he could keep up on his stumbling legs, "Now come on, you little ingrate."

"Ow! Melissa! You're hurting me! Slow down!" pleaded the boy as he struggled to keep up.

"It's your own fault for tiring yourself out by attacking others like that!" the older one shot back.

It would do no good arguing. He'd tried before. And though he didn't look up, the boy knew that if he did, he'd see that sneer on Cecelia's face, just like every other time she faked being hurt when one of their older sisters came around while she was picking on him. None of their older sisters believed him anymore. When they were smaller, the damage done to Norbert was less visible, so Cecelia got away with it a lot of the times because of that. But now that he was visibly taking blows, they still wouldn't believe him when he said he didn't attack Cecelia and her gang. The one consolation was that they were being taken to Father Nigel who was more fair in dealing with these bouts than their older sisters. But even then, Nigel never did much about it. I'll just have to get stronger... I'll just have to get better than Cecelia! Then I'll show her!

"Stupid Cecelia..." Norbert muttered, still curled up on the Leverager's deck, face contorted into an intense glare, though his eyes were still closed. Rizen brayed softly as she nosed her rider's hair. After a moment, Norbert snapped awake, starting a little as he saw Rizen's face so close to his. He calmed down a moment later, though, and gently began stroking her snout. "Hey, good morning, Riz," he greeted, still a tad drowsy.

Rizen's reply was a simple snort before she pulled away and began walking in one direction a couple steps, then change her mind and begin walking in some other direction, then changed her mind again. Norbert's guess was that she was hungry but there wasn't any grass around. She might've been thirsty, too. "Yeah, yeah, I'm getting up," he groaned as he pushed himself up and stretched. The gust of wind off the sea reminded him of his lack of attire. All he was wearing was his belt and pants. His tunic was being mended and his armor was undergoing unique repairs. I'll take care of those after I get Riz something to eat. he decided as he wandered lazily toward the Dauntless to get out some feed and water for Rizen. Might as well grab myself something, too, I gu-- where are we? As he caught a glimpse of the port they'd pulled into, it caught his attention. We're already at another town?

Becoming impatient, Rizen roughly nosed Norbert's back with a snort. "I'm going, I'm going..."

Edited by Balcerzak
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It looked like Robin would not budge from her stance, so Raquel finally resorted to take matter on her own hands and called for Gytha to be brought to them.

<Well, I guess that's a start.> John thought. <Though hopefully a repeat of yesterday won't happen.> And so he began to walk away to search for the mariner. It didn't took long, there she was, looking out towards the port.

''Good morning.'' He said once he had approached. ''Raquel is looking for you.'' Well, the job was done, and so he turned around to head back. <Well, let's see how it will go.>

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"You have a point and I apologize. However, you must understand that in that situation..... well let's just say that you were being quite stubborn. That doesn't excuse Gytha's action, but um...."- Chelsea paused and scratched her head.

"Gee.. This is hard."- Chelsea said as she tilted her head. Nenesha laughed again, and was quickly silenced by the troubadour's fist. "Hush you, you are unbelievable."

"Anyways, yeah she's a little bit... Crazy and unpredictable but Gytha's a good person. Robin you have to move on and be a better person. And you really shouldn't involve others in your personal quarrels. It's kinda rude."

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Faatina accepted the shield from Connor, and began looking it over, impressed.

"Wow... it really is completely changed... I still can't believe this sort of thing is possible, but I guess I sort of have to, with this..." Faatina muttered with fascination.

"Well, I suppose I'll leave you to your work then, Connor." Faatina gave a chipper farewell to the slchemist, before exiting the Dauntless.

Edited by Ether
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"Good mornin'," Gytha replied cheerily. And then she was informed that Raquel wanted to talk to her. Hm? Wonder what this is about... So, the mariner followed John until she caught sight of Raquel. Several people were around, but not the whole group, so it probably wasn't a meeting. So the best course of action was just to ask. "Ahoy, Raquel. Ye wanted t' see me?" Gytha greeted as she walked up to the merchant. There was a part of her that was kind of nervous, but it didn't show up at all in her eyes or expression. It was irrational nerves so she contributed it to the previous night's nightmare and ignored it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, feeding and watering Riz was a simple matter. Raquel didn't have any available empty crates or barrels and didn't carry a trough, so he just grabbed a bag of horse feed and hauled it out of the Dauntless. It was only partially filled so he arranged it so Rizen could eat out of it directly and let her have her breakfast. She was reluctant at first, but her hunger won out and she began eating, though would occasionally lift her head and snort and bray a little to let Norbert knew she didn't approve of the meal.

"You're just going to have to get over it. I know grass is fresher but at least you're getting food. And don't eat too much. This is heavy stuff meant for horses," the pegasus rider lectured as he leaned up against the Dauntless to let Rizen eat. Once she was done, he'd put the feed away and get out a barrel of water for her to drink from.

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Reign

"Hey, you never know." Reign countered. "I'm Reign. It's nice to meet you."

Still he wasn't handing over any gold. What was this, an exchange for noises? Those weren't very useful. Luca snorted once, giving the profitless situation a bit of protest.

Raquel

Chelsea tried to take over, but her directness practically got her stonewalled. Robin was convinced that Gytha would just shoot anyone who got on her nerves, despite yesterday's evidence. Raquel suddenly realized that dealing with Gytha would be a lot easier than dealing with Robin. The former wasn't going to be convinced to apologize--she already knew that--so the only thing she would have to tell her is to not shoot anyone else and be done with it. Convincing Robin to accept that as the best that could come out of the situation didn't seem likely. And now she had to get back into the confrontation to keep things from escalating. John was still fetching Gytha, so she had to keep tempers cool at least until then. "It's okay, Chelsea, I can deal with this. I need to deal with it to make sure the issue is solved for good this time."

Finally, Gytha arrived. She seemed ... in more or less a good mood, and Raquel hated to spoil it over this, but it was now or later, and something desperately important might be happening later. This had to end here and now, she convinced herself. Then she took a deep breath and addressed both of them. "Okay! Gytha. Robin. As the leader of this small platoon, I have the responsibility of putting down disputes if they reach an impasse. We've reached an impasse ..." she began, using as commanding a voice as she could for just that part. She sighed afterward, though. "Listen ... Gytha, you shot Robin and no matter what your reasons were, it's only making the situation worse as time goes on. Don't shoot anyone else allied with us unless you know for certain they're out to kill you. You're one of the best sword fighters I've ever seen and that's saying something, so just take them down the way you normally would during a fight if it ... actually comes to blows. Please ... ... at least that way we can avoid stuff like this in the future. Robin, trying to force Gytha to apologize for shooting you is pointless if she doesn't mean it and kind of childish. You can't change other people and shouldn't waste your time trying. Now ... like I said before, I don't expect everyone here to get along and be good friends, but this is ridiculous. I shouldn't need to intervene in a situation like this." Raquel finally finished and sighed once again, relaxing her shoulders and lowering her head this time, as well. Would they receive it? She could only hope.

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As Faatina stepped out of the Dauntless, Norbert appeared to be outside feeding Rizen.

"Oh, hey Norbert." Faatina greeted the man with a smile.

'Hmm... I could use some practice with this thing...' Faatina noted to herself, looking back to Norbert.

"Hey Norbert, I was wondering... would you be willing to have a sparring match with me?" Faatina asked, hoping he would accept.

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So, it was this again. "No shootin' but swordplay's a'right? Fine by me," Gytha replied to Raquel, "N' thanks fer that compliment." Normally she'd be a bit happier at Raquel's words of her being one of the best sword fighters she'd ever seen -- that was pretty high praise -- but it also brought up the question of why she was replaced if that was the case. She decided to ignore it for the time being.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Norbert looked over when he heard his name. It was just a simple greeting, so he just raised his hand in reply before returning his attention to Riz. A moment later, though, Faatina approached him asking for a spar. "Sure. But I want to wait till Riz is done eating first. She might knock over that sack and I have to be ready to get her some water when she's done. Shouldn't take too long," he casually agreed with a shrug. Hmm. I'm right here, so maybe I should pick up my armor, first. I need to get used to moving around in it anyway. But I want my tunic under it so I'd have to find Ranyin first. If I start looking for him, Riz might start following me again, so I can't just leave her and expect her to drink her water while I look for him, so that's just take up more time. Hmm I can practice in it later. For now I might as well get this sparring match in.

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"Alright, sure. I need to put a stopper on my lance first anyway." Faatina replied, going back inside the Dauntless to look for one. It took her a few minutes to find, buried under some other things, but after a short while Faatina exited the wagon, her lance equipped with the stopper so that it would not inflict dangerous wounds during the spar.

"Alright Norbert, I'm back. Whenever you're ready."

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Well, hopefully that would be enough for both of them. <This may not solve the problem right away, but it should be a start.> John thought. <Though I wonder, just how long can that last...>

Well, a change of topic would probably be for the best.

''So... since we are staying here for a while, what are the current plans Raquel?'' He asked.

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"That is... acceptable." said Robin before sighing deeply. She wasn't sure if she could hold Gytha to her promise. She didn't trust her after all, but... She wasn't going to be the one to make the first swing. Gytha lacked self-control for sure.

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By the time that Faatina was ready Riz had had enough of the feed and so Norbert went to put that away. "Alright, just a moment," he replied as he disappeared into the Dauntless. When he appeared again, he was rolling a barrel of water out. After he'd set it up and pried the top off, Rizen went to drinking that. "That should do it," he quietly mentioned to himself before taking up his maces and walking to a more open part of the deck.

Falling into a defensive stance with his maces ready as he faced Faatina, Norbert sized up his opponent. Hard to gauge how well I'll do against her. Better just start by testing. "Ready."

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"Alright then, let's get started." Faatina replied, holding her shield firmly in front of her as she held her lance in the other hand.

'I have the range advantage, but he has two weapons... I have this shield though...'

Faatina began simple, holding her shield so as to cover her, as she lunged with her lance towards Norbert's midsection.

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Norbert rolled backwards to avid the lunge, then caught the lance with the arm of his left mace to move it off to the side so it wasn't pointing at him and dashed forward, keeping his left arm up and sliding the arm of his mace along it so that the long weapon couldn't be brought at him in a quick motion. His right arm and mace were ready to swing at his opponent as he got in close.

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Norbert blocked the initial attack fairly easily, keeping his leftmost mace in-between himself and the deflected lance.

'Not bad...'

Faatina pulled back slightly, keeping her shield poised for defense, as she brought her lance further to the right, and around the back, sweeping towards Norbert's legs from the left side, ready to lash out with her shield if need be.

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As Norbert tried to follow Faatina's movements, she managed to get her lance away from his mace and then brought it down. He knew what was coming next, but didn't have time to avoid it. Oh MERZ! During his attempt to keep up and get close, the lance was able to knock his feet out from under him as he tripped spectacularly over his own feet and fell onto the boards under him. In an attempt to stay in the match, he whipped out his right mace and caught the pole of the lance between the arm and ball of said mace. Then, pushing down on it, used it to bring himself back up. Now her lance was crossed over in front of her shield. An opening.

Norbert kept pushing down, keeping the tip of the lance on the deck to the best of his abilities as he rushed forward and swung his left mace at Faatina, knowing her own lance arm was keeping her from being able to shield effectively and planning to stop his mace just short of her temple if she didn't have any more tricks up her sleeve.

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'Damn...!' Faatina's lance was trapped beneath Norbert's other mace, as he lunged towards her head from the right.

"Tch!" Faatina muttered, as she released the grip on her lance, freeing her right arm.

'Atleast his maces are blunt...' Faatina noted to herself, as she moved her right hand to intercept the mace strike, and grab onto the extended arm of the mace, the lance clattering to the floor as she did so. Her gauntlet absorbed most of the force of the mace, but it still stung. Taking action quickly, Faatina then rammed her shield towards Norbert's head, knowing he would have little choice but to block with his mace.

Edited by Ether
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"Eeeeh, keep it over there I say. I ain't paid to deal with it, unless something strange happens." Being complimented made Davod grin, he couldn't help it. "I have to admit, that went much better than I thought it would, but that drained me physically. Still kinda shaking from it, to be honest..." He took a deep breath and continued. "Sorry, I'm sure you did fine as well but I wasn't paying too much attention to you or anyone else aside from the opposition and Robin and Mireille... where did the other one disappear to? Anyway... Yeah, Rambling." His curiosity was piqued unfortunately, "Ok what are they going on about over there...?"

Aneda sat and waited patiently, wanting nothign more than to jump in and just steal her money from Raquel. How much money am I supposed to be getting....?! Wait... Wait.... we never talked about it! Shit, I've been working for free this whole time?! A grimace was all over her face at this point.

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When Faatina dropped her lance, Norbert fell off-balance for a moment, but was able to regain it before much else happened. However, she stopped the impact with her gauntleted hand then grabbed his mace by its arm. Now he was in a similar position she had been in just a moment ago. Unfortunately, that was enough of a distraction that he didn't see her shield coming until he was too late and when it bashed against his head, Norbert lost his balance, falling to the side, though his grip only tightened on his maces. He fell onto the deck, but Faatina was either going to be yanked down with him or have to let go of his mace. Either way that bash had left Norbert seeing stars, stunning him for a moment.

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It hadn't gone exactly as Faatina had planned... in fact, it went quite a ways better. Instead of blocking the shield strike, Norbert had noticed it too late, and the iron slab did a number on him, stunning and knocking him down. Not losing the chance, Faatina released her grip on his mace, letting him fall, as she quickly retrieved her lance, and pointed the head towards Norbert's still stunned form, holding the blade at his throat.

"Do you give?" Faatina asked cautiously, shield at the ready in case Norbert attempted to lash out.

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Norbert's sight returned to normal just about the time he felt something at his throat. Any air in said throat caught as he tensed up. It was Faatina's lance, with the stopper pushing his jaw away from his neck. Slowly, steadily, a chuckle began bubbling up from the downed pegasus rider that grew into light laughter, followed by a sort of half-sigh, half-groan. "Looks like I lost again. If you'd actually been trying to kill me, I'd be dead right now, so I can't actually 'give' since you already won. Mind getting that off my neck?" he replied, sounding much more relaxed and good-natured than he normally did.

Rizen had finished her drink and was watching the spar. Her rider sounded like he was fine, so she just continued to wait and watch.

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Norbert gave a laugh, and admitted his defeat. He seemed to be in a rather good mood despite, perhaps he just enjoyed sparring to the point where he didn't mind the outcome.

"Good match, Bert." Faatina replied, with a slight chuckle of her own, withdrawing her lance and grabbing Norbert's hand to help him up off the ground.

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