Fine by me. Still, sorry about being such a pain....
As night fell, Raefindan sat next to Aeron before the fire. Ravion sat across form Raefindan; Gwyllion sat to Aeron's right. To Raefindan's left sat Mellonin, and between her and Ravion snuggled Jorje, close enough to the fire to feel its warmth, not so close as to get his tail snagged by an errant cinder.
Raefindan breathed deep and sighed. "Ah, the night smells fresh, does it not?"
He glanced at Aeron, who turned away.
Raefindan shrugged. "You're putting us on ignore, Aeron. Quite a cowardly act, avoiding us like that.
Aeron's eyes flickered to Raefindan's face.
Poking the fire with a stick, he went on, "Well, it's like this. Thieves are by nature cowards-"
Aeron hunched forward, and said, "Who are you calling a coward!"
"Now, now, calm yourself, Aeron. Sit back down and I shall explain how it must be so."
Aeron glared at him while the fire sent ten flickers skyward. Then he sat back down, his heated eyes following the reaching tongues. "Must be so," he sneered. "Tell me how it must be so, oh wise Raefindan. I had not realized that cowards would go to jail before abandoning their sisters, admit to an angry merchant that he stole a necklace (a confession which saved a ranger's supposed good anme), and who helped battle a Kraken." He stopped, assumed a grave expression, and said solemnly, "Thank you for clarifying the meaning of a coward."
[Raefindan obliged with a lightness to match the rising smoke. While he spoke, Ravion's eyes came up from his contemplation of the flames. His brow rose higher and higher.
"As I was saying, thieves are by nature cowards, preferring to sneak around and cause loss and heartache among others rather than do honest work for an honest wage."
Mellonin faced Raefindan, tilting her head, a look of mild suspicion on her face.
"To mask such cowardice," Raefindan continued, "especially from themselves, thieves must be easily roused to anger, seeing injustice, or weakness, in others all the more because their guilt eats at them for all the wrong they've caused their innocent victims. Not only do thieves sneak about, but they dare not face their own guilt, which is yet another form of cowardice. Hemmed in by their own self-loathing, they are more easily angered than the honest and brave."
Aeron looked sourly at Raefindan, who had used many words he had never heard before; but he had picked up Raefindan's meaning well enough, and was incensed. But to show it would prove the red haird man right. It was infuriating! Aeron suddenly found himself in a trap as airtight as any jail cell.]
"So, little thief," Raefindan continued offhand-like, "whom I know not as well as I thought, I pray you, tell me where you got such odd notions about women."
Aeron's head pulled back, as if he were trying to avoid a left hook that had come from a direction he had not anticipated.
~~~~~~~~~
The paragraphs in brackets I do no know what to do with, as lmp knows Raefindan better than me. *grin*
DOes this help? And again, my most sincere apologies.