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[Sirus]

: "Hrm. Dancing in battle does not seem very useful to me, but I will pay attention should we find ourselves in one. I suppose there must be some reason for your commander to keep the cu--Milos around." Raajak ate some more, trying not to spill too much now that he had a neighbor at the table. When Claire asked about laguz dance, the tiger thought for a moment before answering.

: "I have not heard of any laguz, beast or bird, performing magical dances in battle. I myself dance very little. That cat had the look of a noble about him, though, so he may know more on the subject. Or perhaps the princess, if you would rather not deal with him."

: "Hrr, enough about the cat. What is your role in this company? Surely you cannot all be dancers."

[Gaterhyme]

"Um, well... I'm a mage." With one hand Claire lifted one of the sleeves of her robe and let it fall again, seeming almost uncomfortable before proceeding as if by rote. "I use anima magic, to be specific, though I prefer wind magic most of all. In battle, I help the others by striking from far away and drawing the enemy's attention, sometimes so that they come after me instead of the others. There are other mages in the company, but that's... that's the way I'm most useful."

"... It's finger wiggling, basically," she said, her gaze briefly flitting towards where she'd last seen Clover. Time to try to redirect the topic. "I guess you probably fight on the front lines like the other laguz?"

[Sirus]

: "A mage, hrm? We have no mages among the laguz, except perhaps the dragons. No one really knows what they get up to. I am looking forward to seeing magic in action; I did not even know there was more than one kind of it." Raajak sensed that something was bothering the human, but could not begin to guess what it was and so kept his mouth shut. The laguz gave an oddly purring chuckle at the question about his place on the battlefield.

: "Indeed I do. It would be foolish to not use our claws and fangs effectively, right?"

[Twinwolf]

"Yeah... we do move around a lot, huh? I look forward to when everything gets settled, and we can just enjoy a little bit of relaxation..."

Milos' blush returns after Aurelia points out his happiness.

"Really? Haha... I hadn't really noticed... well, it does make sense, I guess! But I guess I've just... become grateful for everyone being around me."

"That's good to hear. You deserve to have some time that's not all about stress."

[Chevaleresse]

Heledd mulled the question over for a moment.
"Well, you could always beat the tar out of him. At the very least, he would stop questioning you out loud." Heledd shrugged. "Joachim does have a point, though. Fear has killed more people than any set of fangs or piece of steel." Heledd shifted position once more. "If you could prove that Milos can in fact take care of himself, then the problem would solve itself."

[Gaterhyme]

It struck her in retrospect that it was rather a large assumption to have asked Raajak about his role on the battlefield. No one had said he was a warrior, a soldier, or a mercenary. Maybe it was the way he was built. Maybe it was because laguz were, in a way, always armed. Maybe it was because she still thought of most Sampians that way - arrogant, hostile, proud of their might above all. That Raajak, many of the other laguz with them, and the princess might be different did not quite shake her feeling that that was their way of life.

"Mm. We all do what we can in a fight," Claire finally said. She was still half lost in thought - upon realizing she was still in the conversation she gave Raajak a small, mostly unforced smile that faded as quickly as it had come.

"But hopefully we won't have any reason to use our weapons on the way back, or to ask you to join in unless you want to."

[Sirus]

: "You will not need to ask," Raajak said, suddenly quite serious. "Everyone here came to rescue Princess Ella and several other laguz - including myself - from a fate worse than death. If there is a need to fight on the road back to Sampia, I will come to your aid. I swear it."

[Blade Master Model 42]

Grae sighed at the suggestion of settling the issue with violence. "Joachim's an elite hunter in his prime. I'm good, but I'm also old. Unless he agrees to a boxing match, I don't think I'm likely to beat him in a straight fight."
"The problem is that I don't know that Milos *can* take care of himself, at least not when he's staring down a beast laguz who happens to be less amicable than you. In any other situation, I trust him to either handle it himself. Or to get someone else who can handle it, if he can't. But that's not good enough for Joachim, is it?"

[Gaterhyme]

"You should tell Grae that, not me. I think he'd tell you not to forget that we're also being paid for this." She glanced across the table at Grae and Heledd. "Still... thanks. We'll be counting on you too, then."

[Sirus]

: "Hrmph. I an not so naive to think that humans or laguz will always act solely out of the goodness of their hearts. That does not matter. Whether it was for gold or for other reasons" - Raajak cast a speculative look at the human prince at this point - "the fact remains that you are helping. The prince's men could easily have left us all to rot in our cages after rescuing the princess, instead."

[Chevaleresse]

"You said it yourself. Joachim is a hunter. If a hunter relies on others to take care of anything that's too much for him, he starves or worse. Of course it isn't good enough. I'm concerned for the boy, too, but I think he has a bit more spine than either of you think underneath the soft, entertaining exterior."

[Blade Master Model 42]

"It's not a question of spine. How to explain this... Milos is not the first person I've known to have this sort of issue. When I was a young man, right after this happened," Grae indicated his bad eye with a thumb, "I started working with another guy when no one else would take me. Everyone called him a coward, but he fought like a bear. I asked him what the rumors were about, but he wouldn't tell me. I didn't find out for two years. Two years in which he never turned tail on a job, backed away from a challenge, and never showed yellow to be his color. But one day, he found a rat in his pack, and he pissed himself. Right in front of me and the other people we were working with at the time."

[Blade Master Model 42]

The dinner was concluded without incident as twilight fell away to reveal the night. A spare common room had been prepared for Grae and his associates to spend the night earlier, and they were guided to it.

Following a quiet and uneventful night, the band woke to an extremely busy estate. Soldiers were gearing up their horses, and a covered wagon had been brought out. The Laguz from the cells were already standing around it. Though they seemed to be arguing with the Prince.

"Look, I am willing to concede that you walk where there are no patrols, but I must insist that you return to the wagon should we encounter patrols of soldiers not directly under my command. Regardless of my own feelings on the matter, it does not change the fact that there is currently a war on. The border is not terribly far. A week, maybe shorter if we make good time. I only ask that you be patient a short while longer."  A chorus of grumbles was clearly irritated... but compliant.

"You have my thanks. Our preparations to leave are very nearly complete, and then we can get underway." The Laguz dispersed slightly to wander the grounds, and Wolfgang turned to greet the group. "Good morning. I hope you all slept well. We're somewhat behind schedule, I'm sad to say, but we should be underway within the hour."

"Where's the princess? I don't see her."

"She's asleep. I didn't see the need to wake her so long before we're prepared to go."

"Well go and get her, if it pleases your Highness."

Wolfgang huffed, but moved off in the direction of the building the group had stormed only yesterday. He returned only a short time later with the Princess, and soon the wagon was hitched to a pair of horses, with several more mounted by armed soldiers and a small group of mages and a healer assembled on foot. Wolfgang himself mounted a handsome white warhorse, and Ella quickly followed him up to sit behind him in the saddle. The group set off out of the estate at a gentle pace.

"Stick close to the cart. If need be, get inside, and I will let you know when the coast is clear."

"You're going to stick the princess into the cart then?"

"Actually, I've already thought about something I could do!" The princess produced a white shawl from one of Wolfgang's saddlebags, and wrapped it around her head, where it stuck up rather awkwardly. She smiled regardless. "See! No one would know I was not human!"

[Twinwolf]

"Well, they probably won't get close enough to notice, right?"

"...Probably."

[Blade Master Model 42]

"Notice what?"

Wolfgang turned in the saddle to look, and smiled to Ella. "Your ears, dear. Can you... Lower them?"

"Oh! I hadn't considered them." There was a brief moment of silence as the obvious tenting of the fabric subsided to deniable levels. "Is that any better?"