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[SeriousConcentrate]

"First mate. Got it. And here we are."

Prata glided down to the ground in a wide circle, eventually landing near the wagon. He bent his knees to make his back lower to the ground and waited for his riders to dismount; Beyn did so first.

"All right then, I gotcha."

He waited, ready to help Aiesha down.

[Blade Master Model 42]

Aiesha hopped off of the wyvern without help, and approached the merchant. "Hey there, you alright? Not hurt or anything?"

[SeriousConcentrate]

Beryn shrugged, hooked his thumbs in his belt, and strolled over as well.

"He's fine. None of the bandits made it this far. Hey, Gulio. These guys want a reward for the work they put in."

[GiglameshDespair]

"T-thank you..."

---

Lucrezia drifted back over to the wyvern, scritching it beneath it's scaly chin. Lucrezia liked animals, the bigger and scalier the better. They were so much easier to be around than people... it was a shame Luc rode like a particularly inelegant sack of potatoes.

She tried to sum up her courage to ask for a ride. She'd never flown before.

[SeriousConcentrate]

Beryn looked back at Prata, then at Gulio, then double-taked back to Lucrezia. Leaving Aiesha to hash things out with the merchant, he wandered back over to his wyvern.

"You walk pretty fast, girl. Anyway. I'm Beryn. This is Prata."

The wyvern curled his neck around to look at Beryn when he said his name, then s-curved it back to look at Lucrezia again. His blue eyes stared into the woman's violet ones, as if trying to read her intentions.

"You can pet him all you'd like. He won't do anything without my say-so."

[GiglameshDespair]

"N-nice to meet you... I'm Lucrezia. L-Lucrezia Tholmes. P-prata..."

"..."

"He's so adorable."

She stared back into the wyvern's eyes as she happily patted the psuedodragon.

[SeriousConcentrate]

The wyvern closed his eyes and lowered his head slightly to make it easier for her to pat.

"...Adorable?"

"Hahaha! Hear that, Prata? She thinks you're cute."

The wyvern turned his head back to Beryn, snout to nose for a few seconds, before the hunter lightly tapped him between the nostrils. Prata moved his head back and shook it slightly, then made a low sort of 'wumph' noise in the back of his throat and forcibly blew air out of his nose. He turned back to Lucrezia and sniffed at the odd covering on her hand.

"Uh uh uh! It ain't food, leave it be."

"Yeah, sorry. He can be a little thick at times. So, Lucrezia. Nice to meet you. Prata and I are going to be running with your crew for awhile."

[birdy51]

Alicia allowed the flowing waves of healing flow through her body.

: "Ahh... That feels good. Thanks mophead. I'll owe you a glass of rum when we get back."

[GiglameshDespair]

"B-but he is. Look at his s-scaley little face. " She patted even as she carefully moved Lady Rose away. It would be Very Bad if her puppet ended up in the wyvern's gullet.

"H-how did you two m-meet?"

[SeriousConcentrate]

"Well, when I was a teen and this lunkhead was a youngin', he thought he could snatch the deer I'd spent hours hunting down and have it away on his wings before I could stop him. I nailed him with a well-placed throwing spear to a wing and brought him down. You can see the scar on his left side."

"Well, being grounded and hurt made ol' Prata mad, and he figured he might as well have a human as well as a deer. But I still had my hunting spear, and we fought it out on that narrow mountain trail. Even for a small wyvern he was a strong bastard, broke my arm and a few of my ribs but he was always a bit of an idiot and didn't realize the narrow path gave me the advantage with that spear of mine. I managed to hurt him worse than he had hurt me, and in the end I hogtied him and took him home. I spent the better part of a year or two domesticating him."

While he spoke, Beryn took some jerky out of a pouch on his waist. As he did, Prata immediately zeroed in on it, his eyes staring so intently at the piece of meat that he was almost crosseyed. The hunter casually threw it into the air and the wyvern whipped his neck up, snapping the meat out of the air with a quick flick of his jaws.

"So I figured I knew how to use a spear, I had a wyvern I was learning to ride... why not follow old grandad's footsteps and be a mercenary? And that's how we got here. What about you? How'd you end up on a ship?"

[GiglameshDespair]

The silent spearwoman giggled silently at the crosseyed Prata.

"Oh- m-me? A-after I left, I m-met my friend, Jo, t-the quiet healer. W-we worked as mercenaries for a l-little bit until we were hired for t-this by the Captain.

Do y-you think - c-c-could I maybe-.."
She stuttered her way to a stop.

[Sirus]

Amberly tore her gaze from the sizzling corpse of the archer in response to Cetus. She stared at him for a few moments before responding.

: "...because it appears that we will be working together for some time, I will accept your apology. That doesn't mean I'm not still upset and you and your friend."

[SeriousConcentrate]

"Hm? Could what, pet him? I don't think he minds all that much. He's used to it. A lot of the village kids climbed all over him when I let them."

[Swordstar]

"Didn't expect it too and isn't why I did it. But I would like to explain to you sometime why I have such an issue with your religion. Not right now though. It's not the time or the place. But uh, I'll leave you alone for now."

He nodded to her and started to leave, but then hesitated and turned back.

"Oh, uh, I found this in the desert when we were approaching the House of Scholars. Figure you can probably get more use out if it than I can."

He tossed the small ring he'd found to her, before nodding and heading back the way he'd came.

Cetus gives Amberly the Energy Ring

[Tiruin]

Jesseo petted her horse as she approached the group, having consecrated the (mostly partial) remains of the rest of the vagabonds left behind--given her absence prior to the moment, it was inferred that she had spent as much time as needed, provided anyone knew what she was doing in detail, anyway.

Dismounting and holding her staff back, she stood at attention, trying and successfully ignoring the charred and otherwise battle-scarred corpses rolling down the hills, instead looking at Alicia and the rest. They were safe, and that made her happy--there was Cetus, and his spirit was like a light shining at day. He made her happy too.

She then looked over all the rest and noticed something very missing.

Spoiler: Where was the merchant? (click to show/hide)

"Ethan, Captain. I believe all accommodations are set and the valley is clear of any hindrances to the merchant party? I only ask...where said merchant is, right now? And Lucrezia?"

She waved at Alicia and the crew, smiling at Cetus and giving the strange archer-man a prolonged gaze as she thought about how motley her friends were.

She smiled, as she wondered if this was friendship. It sure seemed to be, though a strange mix of cutthroat, and alliance.

(Totally 4x replies cut in :v)