Once In Light

Kashta grinned, interrupting Celinati before he could even start to respond.  "C'mon, can we leave yet?" he asked excitedly.  He wasn't exactly looking forward to the long flight, but it would still be a lot better than hanging out underground all day.

If Celinati was at all irritated by this, he didn't show it.  "Yes," he said, "Follow me."

Kashta raised an eyebrow at this.  "Uh, I know how to get outta here," he said, "I'm not an idiot."

"You will not be taking this trip yourselves," Celinati explained, not really helping at all.  "Now," his gaze hardened, "follow me."

Aiko nodded at Skye, "I guess we're all a team now. If your things help you in some way, they help us. As for examining them... I'm mostly a hunter, so I don't know much about prices of stones. Someone like Terran should know, tho-" She was distracted by seeing Sasha and Gerrin walk over to Kader and some dog- apparently named Eli. The newcomer seemed confused, which was understandable. "Name's Aiko!" she called from her position, remaining unmoving.

Her head then snapped in Terran's direction, and a smile slowly appeared on Aiko's face aas the music played. She closed her eyes a moment, enjoying the melody. She didn't want to say anything in fear of the song stopping. It had been a while since she had heard a good song, so she wanted the melody to continue.

All the while Aiko was unaware of Krell watching the group from the forest.

Krell decided it was time to move. His face and hair changed to that of an elf, his skin getting darker and his hair turning black. His eyes stayed the same however. He walked out of the forest toward the group, all the while creating a feeling of calm and quiet about himself so that he would not seem to be as threatening.

Aiko sighed, slowly opening her eyes. The music was enjoyable, but there was business to tend to. Immediately after opening her eyes she let out a yelp of surprise and had her knife at ready, fox ears pointing forward from her orange human hair and nails getting longer. Before the group was an elf person. Male. Dark skin and black hair. Just as quickly as she was in the defensive position, Aiko was then in a calmer state, her nails returning to their human kitsune form and her knife only held up with caution. "Sorry," she mumbled to the seemingly unthreatening elf, though she was still cautious. "Who are you?" She glanced at Gerrin and Sasha, "Either of you know him?"

Serath was about to reply when the doors burst open once again, revealing Celinati and the two following him.  He made his way over to where the two felines were almost done with a diagram.  Kashta did not follow him, but instead came up behind Serath with an odd expression on his face.

"Who's this?" He asked, trying to sound innocent.  He wasn't very good at it.

Serath's expression barely changed as he focused on the smaller thunderbird.  "This is Lillith," he stated, then added on, "you are meant to be leaving, correct?"

Kashta nodded hurriedly and went over to where Celinati was overseeing the finishing details of a rune set.  It, like most runes, had a circle for the target, and, in this case, two for the casters.  There was an intricate set of pictures and letters taking up the rest of the space, and something that looked similar to a map.  Celinati spoke up as the two other felines took their places.

"Due to time constraints, we will be teleporting you to a little known waypoint in Springvale," he said, "you should have no issue finding the escapees from there."  He gestured towards the open circle, "are you ready?"

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Kader took up a defensive posture, a few barely visible sparks running across one hand, the other fingering his dagger under his cloak. Eri hid behind him, obvioulsy unsure what to make of this whole situation. Kader didn't know this person, and so he chose to stare him down, as if daring him to make some sort of move.

Sasha shook her head, "I do not," then turned to the newcomer. An elf. Odd, true humanoids were uncommon on the southern continent. She wondered what he was doing here. Something seemed odd about the magic around him, almost wrong, but oddly comforting. She passed it of for now, choosing instead to greet him. "Hello?"

Krell smiled, looking at the group. "I am Krell." he said "I was on my way to the town and found ruins and you instead." He continued in what sounded like a believable tone, trying to appear as nonthreatening as possible. He looked at Aiko "So what are your names?" he asked with a smile.

Aiko continued to cautiously hold up her knife. She lowered it slightly as the elf talked. "I'm Aiko," she responded, right ear twitching. The elf person, while seemingly friendly, had a different atmosphere about him. She let her kitsune sense of smell kick in, though her nose remained human, and sniffed. "You smell different then the elves I've met," she remarked.

"Perhaps your nose decieves you." Krell said innocently, all the while psionically making himself more convincing. He continued to smile seemingly genuinely. As much as he percieved the group as enemies, they would make good traveling companions for the moment, and perhaps he could get something of use from them later.

Aiko flinched, clearly offended. "In my whole life spent hunting and travelling it has not! I am a kitsune! We are one of the best with our senses!" she glared at the elf before sighing, tail swaying side-to-side and rubbed the temples of her forehead with her thumb and index finger. Strange- now he did seem more convincing. "Nevermind. Just what is your name?"

"My apologies" Krell said, ever the 'gentleman' that he was. "I did not mean to offend you. My name is Krell." He continued "Perhaps we could travel together, there is often safety in numbers anyway, which seems a good idea, especially after this town has been so decimated."

Aiko nodded as she introduced herself. "Aiko," she said. "As for staying with us..." Her voice faded before walking over to Terran. Aiko wasn't good at judging- too often her emotions led her and right now she was ticked. She trusted Terran the most, and decided to ask her. "Terran," she began, "What do you think of him?" she pointed at Krell.

Terran's music came to a sudden stop, midnote, as Aiko came over to talk to her. She had been siting, cross legged, for a long time now and felt like her legs were going numb. Terran shifted her weight slightly as she thought. For most people first impressions were the most important thing. You can normally tell if someone was to be trusted or not. So if Aiko had to ask her for a second opinion this guy shouldn't be trusted. But this was sort of a shot in the dark since Terran hadn't been listening to a word he had said. "I say, the two of us go together, he can go with someone else if he needs company."

Krell didn't like her answer. He considered killing her that instant, but thought better of it. "Why so cold?" he asked, turning up his friendly mental effect. "I'm not a threat to you if that's what you think" he said in a convincing voice. He smiled hopefully.

Terran suddenly could not find any insults for Krell. She could have asked why he was suddenly being so friendly, or trying to convince her of his innocence, but she couldn't think of the words to say anything. With a huff she returned to playing her flute, glaring slightly at Krell. She would let Aiko make the decisions, she trusted her enough.

Aiko smiled at Terran, her canines shpwing. "I like that choice." she then turned to Krell, surprised at how he suddenly seemed friendlier. Aiko, though, is one headstrong, easily tempered kitsune. She was also one who spoke her mind before thinking. "My friend Terran, here, is a good judge on character," she put an arm around Terran's shoulders. "I thinkshe's made the right choice. Besides, why do you need to travel so badly with a group heading off to take down whoever destroyed the village and captured us? You'll only end up hurt somehow."

Krell smiled at them. As he did this, his elven disguise melted away, his skin turning pale, his hair turning the telltale white of the doppelganger breed. "You see that is the thing...I don't need to travel with you. In fact, you might prove more of a nuisance for me than helpful." With that, he raised his fist into the air, then brought it down. As he did so, a large lightning bolt struck the ground nearly on top of Aiko.

Aiko yelped in surprise, jumping back. She was quiet for a moment before going up to Krell and just glaring at him. Her eyes were glowing red with anger and her nails turning to claws. Hermouth turned into a fox's. She seemed about ready to arrack, but instead Aiko remained in her current position and returned to her casual state, only her eyes were still glowing. "You're lucky I only kill things that are considered game for hunters. Though you came closer then anyone to being my first non-game murder. Congratulations. Now," she folded her arms. "Why do you want to travel with us? What's the real reason?"

"Hm, I've killed worse than you on a regular basis" Krell replied, a smirk on his face. He considered knifing the one in front of him and leaving, which would cast the others into confusion. Before he could execute this however, a better idea occurred to him. "I would love slice you open and use your tendons for bowstring" he said "But perhaps another time" With that, he vanished, leaving behind a puff of black smoke for effect. He reappeared in his hiding place in the forest.