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Sondo looked over Rory appraisingly. His temper was up, and listening to the talk swirl about him was making him worried. Some, like Bingo and Marroc, were clearly with him, but others, most notably Reggie, were set on going to Sarn Ford with Falco. This would never do! He had to keep them together, one way or another. And yet... Rory's comments stung, a little. So now he was a dictator?
"Is that what you think?" asked Sondo hotly. But he did not give Rory a chance to answer before going on. "Well, I suppose a dictator is better than 'can't lead.'" He laughed shortly, humorlessly. "As for hearing your opinions, I've always been open to that. And if it makes good sense, I'll agree. But all anyone does is complain or yell." He shrugged. His pride, already wounded, refused to let him give any more than that. "We need to stick together, Rory, which is what I want. But, blast, Falco's got everyone taking sides! It's senseless!" He hoped he had Rory won over, but Rory was not his biggest concern. He had little hope that he would win Falco over, but he would go down fighting, and maybe, just maybe, Sondo would persuade the rest of them to come with him.
"Falco," he said. "You still have not explained one thing. Just how do you plan on getting supplies at Sarn Ford? Not steal, you claim. But even if you do have money, don't you think that word will have reached Sarn Ford that we've all gone missing? Don't you think that you'll be stopped and sent home? And I daresay, I'd like to be there when you explain how it is that only a handful of you made it to Sarn Ford.
"And as for adventure," he continued, directing the comment toward the whole group though it was said as if to Falco, "Perhaps you misunderstand my intent. Just because we head northward does not mean the end of adventure. Plans are flexible - if things are going well, it may well be that we decide to strike out eastward and come home from a more round-about way. I'm sure that there is some kind of adventure out there, no matter what direction we head." He shrugged again, but there was a light in his eyes and a touch of passion in his voice. The idea of possibly going eastward eventually delighted him. Truth be told, he wanted to go home no more than did Falco, if for different reasons - he could take a whipping, if that's what it came down to, but he did not want to go back to the confines of Brandy Hall. "You think that I'm slinking home defeated. But I'm not. If there is adventure out there to be found, I will find it - but not by heading out blindly. There are people who die in adventures, too, you know - I'm not going to be one of them."
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