Chapter 2: Out of the Frying Pan

"Okay. Where we goin'?" Froak asks as he hops along behind Verrian. he makes sure his harpoon is still cinched up tight over his back, with the net draped carefully over him.

"Looking for Yelnar. This place is his family home, Froak. Many of these people are probably his relatives. He's going to be very upset, so be prepared for that."

Ember still feels the anger at Disos's work, tugging at her, but her stomach churns when Viani starts crying. She stares, barely noticing that Froak ran off.Ember throws her arms around Viani and holds on tight. She doesn't register the voice yelling at her for getting close. She doesn't notice the warning that she's likely about to be punched back. Flat out ignores the voice reassuring her that she could totally kill Viani if something went south.

I......I didn't want to hurt you. I just don't want to get hurt either. People shouldn't die because of who they are, and I thought you......thought I........

Her voice cracks.

I'm sorry.

Elora stays behind with the gals, worried Yelnar will be emotionally occupied for some time and doesn't need any further distractions. After Froak's "search" she begins to wordlessly pick up some of the tossed weapons It would do us no good to be disorganized, put these here... maybe stack these bucklers...

Of course during this cleanup yet another argument breaks out, one without an easy way to slip away. With a deep breath Elora steels herself in case it becomes violent with all these weapons lying around. Luckily the conversation gradually cools down, making her sigh in relief. "D-does this mean you two will stop arguing?" She asks meekly, eyes glued to the ax currently in her grasp.

Ephwrath runs to catch up with the others in the courtyard. His face sours as he enters and observes the grim scene. "Oh no..." He signs and shakes his head. Carefully, he moves from body to body inspecting them for details about when and how they died.

Viani allows Ember to hug her but doesn't react to it right away. Her eyes are still filled with tears. She quietly murmurs: "I'm not a bad person. I don't like magic but I wouldn't kill anyone over it."
After a moment of silence, she carefully puts her arms around Ember and buries her face in the girl's neck to hide her tears.
She takes a while to regain her composure a bit. Then she steps out of the hug and wipes her eyes with the sleeve of her jacket.
"Were friends, right?", she asks meekly.

Verrian leads Froak from the courtyard of the keep up the steps to enter the residence proper, stepping into the first room and looking around it.

Up on the hill

Ember hesitates. It'll be dangerous for Viani.

Of course.

She glances at Elora.

I um, didn't see you there. Yes. We'll stop fighting. And we'll apologize to Froak whenever he gets back. So....How many people should guard the cart? There's 5 of us down in the estate right now. Think that's enough?

Viani smiles and lets go of Ember. She wipes her tears away again. She looks at Elora. "Some of us should guard it. I can stay here, and then maybe one more, either you or Elora. I think more people are needed in the estate than here."

Ember gives an awkward smile.

Well, I mean, for better or for worse, I've got some wild spells. And I know you two do fighting as well. Maybe it'd be good to have one of each here, a fighter and a strict caster. Do you mind, Elora? It's ugly down there, so I can go back if you prefer. But having a hitter might be good if Yelnar isn't taking this well.

"Okay, if you think that's best." Elora isn't quite sure why she's taking orders from a teenager, but if it makes everyone happy she won't complain. I'm not a strict caster...am I?

Krav pensively looks around the courtyard, noting the apparent violence of their deaths. It seems violence is commonplace outside the walls. Seeing all these bodies makes him feel sorrow for Yelnar and miss Athisa's counsel. He even misses his father, which he wasn't expecting. A feeling of remorse washes over him for not spending more time with his father when he could.

For years be has been dying to leave Meriava, but now that he has it seems bittersweet. That's the way it goes sometimes, he supposes. The reward is no so rewarding once it has been given. If we add up all the rewards in our lives, we won't have very much. But if we add up the spaces *between* the rewards, we'll come up with quite a bit.

As Krav ponders these thoughts, he kneels into the dirt searching for tracks of what may have caused this destruction, and signs of whether it/they are still nearby.

As Verrian moves further into the initial room of the residence inside the keep, she speaks quietly, mostly for the purpose of talking through her line of thought. "Yelnar comes from a long line of wizards. Disos is out to eradicate magic from the world, so I suppose that means... eradicating magic users." She stops, wondering why that hadn't really occurred to her before. She'd been thinking of Disos' mission as some kind of effort to remove the elemental force of magic from the world, but while that may be part of it, removing the people who use magic - and especially members of magical bloodlines - is also part of the process.

She wonders if the people inside the keep were simply overwhelmed by the numbers and physical brutality of the attackers, or if Disos had found a way to somehow suppress the use of magic that gave them an advantage. She thinks back to the bodies she'd examined in the courtyard. Of the ones who were apparently part of the raiding party, had any appeared to be injured by a magical attack rather than by a mundane weapon?

Viani continues picking up the weapons Froak threw around and throwing them back on the cart. As she does so, she wants to ask Ember about the attack on Yelnar's family but manages to stop herself at the last moment. It's not a good topic for discussion with Ember. They would probably just fight again. She has to think of something else.
When she can't come up with a good question, she decides to just ask any question that comes to her mind. "So, do you miss working at the Marmoset? I always saw you there so you must have been there a lot."

Mentally reviewing the conditions of the bodies in the courtyard, Verrian recalls seeing evidence on those who were likely the raiders that suggested they'd sustained injuries from magical attacks.

"So they didn't have a way to suppress the magic, just a lot more weapons and people," she says. She is (along with Froak, presumably) still standing in that first room inside the residence. Assuming there is nothing that catches her eye in this room, she turns to open the door to her right.