[Kryssal]

Galain looked at the sputtering Elf from behind his brother's back. They had come upon him unexpectedly and hadn't even taken out weapons yet. The younger brother didn't like the feel of this new Elf, he wasn't good in the heart or mind. He gave off a twisted aura that tried to bend the presences it touched. The evil Elf stood quickly and looked about almost spasmatically.

Galain whisked out his dagger just as the Elf turned and ran to the nearest part of the forest. As the younger brother started in pursuit Gorath put out his arm to stop him.

"He won't last long even with us following him, and Laurel needs to know about this. That one has many enemies," Gorath said, his eyes vainly following the out of sight quarry.

~*~

Lanaey had never woken so many times in one night. All the sudden and sporatic noises from the humans she slept amongst constantly kept her mind at alert. The aged Elf did manage to get enough sleep to last her for quite awhile, so she wasn't put out.

Something good had come of the morning so far, she had been able to do her first morning warm up in around a week. Being able to go into a mindless routine had a sense of peace to it. After the exercises Lanaey felt it prudent to bathe. It had been awhile since she had done that as well. She walked to the house she had slept in and asked a random villager where she could go to wash.

"Oh, that'd be the Bath House. It's by the forest, south side, close to the river that feeds it. You go in the west entrance, for women see?" said the kindly man.

"Thank you."

The old human waved his hand. "No, no, should be the other way around me thinks," he said with a wink as he edged off toward the food table.

Lanaey smiled as she headed out of the house and turned south.

~*~

Leena had let consciousness come back to her slowly. She didn't want to make her mind work; it'd come around in it's own time. Eventually she remembered everything, then she wondered how she had gotten into a bed.

It must had been one of the villagers. I'm glad, the position I was in would not have been kind on my back.

Stretching Leena scowled. It had been ages since she had last cleaned herself and she didn't like being gritty, grimy and above all sweaty. At least it gave her mind something menial to think about. Before she headed out she made sure the bed was tidy; it wouldn't do to show bad manners. There was a tiny bounce in her step as she walked out to inquire where she could clean up.

It turned out that this village had a bathing house, which would definetly help with things. River bathing was adequate, but a proper bath house is always better. The house turned out to be a wide, squat building with two doors, one distinctly for the men, which was the first door she came to. Walking around the building she found the correct entrance and was immediatly hit by the warm air. There was a main hall with several rooms on one side with tags saying "single," "small group," or "large group." There were two to three of the first two, then only one for the large room. The single rooms were occupied, and so was the first small group room. Leena managed to slip into the second available small group room. It was wonderful to slip into the clean water. The priestess started to immediately scrub herself vigorously anywhere she could reach.

~*~

Lanaey walked into the bath house and her nose automatically scrunched up until it could identify the new air.

The first several rooms seemed to be completely occupied, apartently the villagers loved to be clean. The second group room only had one person in there; not wanting to take up rooms from others Lanaey knocked on the door and called through asking if it was alright if she came in.

A sturdy "Yes" that seemed familiar came back through the door. Once she opened the door the Elf found out why the voice was familiar, it belonged to the recently returned Leena.

"Thank you for letting me share. I didn't want to take up another room," Lanaey explained as she undressed.

"I understand. There's plenty of water left. I changed it just a bit ago so it's mostly fresh."

Lanaey nodded and set about cleaning herself. Soon the two women were talking about the village, which changed to the wildmen, continuing on to deeper matters. Solace was found for both, even in matters they didn't think they needed comfort in.

~*~

"My, it's midday almost."

Leena snorted, "Well, I did turn into a prune in there."

At Lanaey's questioning glance the priestess help up her hand that showed her wrinkled finger tips. "They now look like prunes because of being in the water so long." At the Elf's incredulous look Leena burst out laughing which led to Lanaey first nodding her head in disbelief, then chuckling as the human's gail continued.

"Come on," the elf tried to put a stop to the continuous laughter. Lanaey's face just seemed to have been too much for Leena. "I want to talk to Laurel about what we're going to do now."

The eldar warrior managed to get the priestess to walk along, though her chuckles still brimmed with giggles at times. She seemed to have suppressed her outburst by the time they reached the main house. After asking a few of the people around they discovered that Laurel was sitting in the same chamber Cartil was being treated in.

Lanaey opened the door and walked right on in. She could hear a bit of their conversation through the door and so wasn't worried about waking the wounded diplomat.

Laurel had just spoken, "What do you think of our chances?"

"I think we'll manage and survive," Lanaey spoke as she walked in, completely startling the two humans. "Would you mind coming out and speaking with me for a moment?"

Laurel looked slightly puzzled as her gaze shifted between the man and Elf. "Yes," her edgy voice managed as she stood up. She smiled down at Cartil, "I'll be back later."

The soldier looked at her as she walked out with Lanaey and his eyes slightly clouded over.

~*~

Gorath looked into the window to see exactly what the strange Elf had been looking at. His demeaner seemed to darken a bit as he straightened and started to walk off to get to the front of the building.

Galain peeked through the window and saw Laurel leaving the room Cartil was bedded in. Jogging a few steps he quickly caught up to his older brother. They both met up with Laurel right as she came out of the building with Lanaey leading her and Leena trailing.

"We're going to discuss what's going to happen next, care to join us?" Lanaey barked out coming down the steps.

Gorath looked at Laurel, "That's fine, but I need to talk to you separately after."

Laurel simply nodded, knowing it would be explained in just a bit. She turned to Lanaey with her eyebrows raised, "Do you want to start?"

"Not particularly, you are the leader Laurel."

That response took the young human back a mental step. Lanaey was the one who brought this thing together, Laurel assumed she'd want to start it.

"Alright, here's what we have so far: a very weakened small army and us, basically. We saw their forces and they have quite a few nubmers on us. Any suggestions?" she looked around the small group each in turn.

Lanaey sighed inwardly. "We could run." The Elf knew that Laurel would never accept this course, but it had to be said. As the Elf maiden predicted, her leader looked shocked and said immediately "That is not an option!"

"Why don't we get everybody together for a meeting and pose options there. More heads, more ideas," Leena broke in.

Laurel nodded her assent, "That's a good idea. Let's have it tomorrow. I'll try to make sure everyone involved in decisions knows about it, but if you see someone you think should be there, don't hesitate to tell them either."

There were nods all around and Lanaey backed up a step. "That's fine. I think I'll go check on Drass," and with that short goodbye she left the group.

Leena nodded to the dark Elves and Laurel, then headed off without comment.

Laurel turned toward the brothers, "Now, what did you want to talk to me about?"