They returned to find Clytyn waiting at the stables. He folded his arms and walked over to them, clicking his tongue. They smiled upon seeing him and braced themselves for the dressing down, considering that it was far past the agreed meeting time. 

"Where the hell were you two?" He questioned, a air of annoyance about him, "I was getting really worried."

"We had our respective adventures," Efa said smirking, hoping Clytyn would ask what they were.

"Okay then," he shrugged, "I won't bother asking."

Efa silently cursed.

"Well, I'll give a slight rundown of what I've been up to." He puffed his chest and started, "I went to the bazar and snooped around. Bought a few things, rations, clothes, you get the point. Groomed the horses, cleared up the stables a bit, organized our stuff, went about asking directions for establishments that may end up being useful and explored the city." He glared at Efa. "So you can see that I've been quite. . . busy."

Laughing, Efa punched his arm lightly. "Thanks Cly, lets all just get to bed. I can barely stand on my feet, and Elli is gonna drop dead any minute now."

Clytyn grumbled a bit but settled down soon. The three of them lay down on the hay of one of the stable stalls. Their equine friends were grazing about in a nearby grassy patch. Ellian was happily sleeping before his head even hit the hay. He slept soundly, snuggled comfortably between Efa and Clytyn. Efa tossed about a little but dozed off soon. Clytyn sat up thinking about how his life had changed in the past few weeks. Meeting these two was probably one of the best things to happen in a long time huh. . . 

Efa awoke late the next morning, only to realize that the other two were still asleep. She smiled slightly at their sleeping silhouettes and rose and stretched, plodding groggily to check on the horses. It was quite a joyous instance of being able to sleep in the safety of a city after a week of camping in the great outdoors. Efa found a bucket of water and refreshed herself, splashing it on her face and through her hair, tying it back. 

She took stock of their inventory and put together a simple meal of bread, butter and jerky, with water to wash it down. She whimpered in disappointment thinking of the luxurious feast she had had last night at the captain's house. Wynne. . . her thoughts wandered, I wonder if Winfraeid managed to find Aelieystr, hopefully they didn't kill each other. Ah shit, Aelieystr had a letter for me to deliver, and Winfraeid also wanted to talk more about things. I guess we aren't leaving for a while. Best we stock up on things, though we don't have any money. . . I don't really want to steal, yet. Ugh wake up Cly, I need to discuss this with you. 

But the two of them slept on. Efa got bored and decided to plot their next few steps, spreading out the maps over the ground under a nearby tree. She traced a finger from Cayrnr to Mynwent then to Thimbl, then gazing around to find where the roads from Thimbl lead to. Pulling back a little, she tried to scan the greater path to Targarth. 

They were currently in the lower Vale, rather close to the border to the central Vale. It was indicated that there was a expansive mountain range that acted as the border to the two. The central Vale seemed to be a low, dry, prairie, at least near the route that they were planning to take. Efa gulped thinking of the heat there. At her best estimate if everything went alright, they would reach Targarth by the month end. She wondered if they could join up with a caravan instead of riding on alone through the vast expanse, she would have to ask around. 

Her mind jumped to the followers of fire. According to Ellian they were in Thimbl, in the sewers under their feet. What they were doing here, Efa dreaded to think. After her first encounter with them at Cayrnr, she had had two more, once at Mynwent when Ellian's mother had passed and again in the Grieving Basin when they had fought against those airborne assailants. Those shits were there that day because Cly had exposed our position with that amulet. I get that they want Elli to wrap up loose ends and Cly turned traitor to them so fair enough, but I can't quite place why they're out for me. It can't be cause of Cayrnr, nobody saw me escape that day. My connection with Pagnodd. . .? Perhaps—but then again— 

She was snapped out of her peaceful reverie by the sound of Doyle cawing loudly and landing on her head. The raven's plumage shone as sunlight hit it sidelong. He cawed again and croaked out, "good morning Efa," pecking her head. 

"Stop that!" she yelled, giggling slightly, "so what's up? I hope you didn't fly over here expecting food." She snickered to herself.

"Aelieystr gave me a message," he croaked, wiping his beak under his wing, "he says 'tell Efa to come to the tavern now, its important'."

Efa sighed. Worry washed over her. She was getting used to this life, where people could call you to places and your friends could die in front of you. . .but a part of her was missing the peace she had back in Cayrnr. Where her only worry was delivering letters on time. "Alright, I'll go. Shove off now Doyle," she said, chasing the bird away. 

"Let's get this done quick. . ." she said quietly to herself, sighing again and walking over to Raven who stood in the shade of a nearby tree. "Hey there girl," she said, stroking the mare's strong neck, "We're going out for a bit of a ride."

They galloped off, racing down the hill and into the heart of the city. The sun was shining today and people were out and about, buying and selling things in shopfronts and the back alleys. There were congestions of traders and civilians on horseback at the gates to the city, Efa avoided them and continued on. Some of the older passerby waved at Efa, who promptly waved back. She navigated herself to what she hoped was the location of the tavern.

She found it easily enough and entered after hitching Raven outside. Inside, she noticed a fair few bargoers drinking slowly and contentedly, some were slumped on the tables in a deep slumber. She overheard tidbits of conversation, floating over to her from some of the tables. 

"Look at that lass. . ." a drunk, middle-age man whispered to his friend, pointing at one of the waitresses. 

"I heard the mayor's son was seen last night with one of the tanner girls. . ." a women said, acting disturbed by the notion. Her friend nodded vigorously.

"Another crow. Dead. I swear this has got to be the last one else I'm gonna go ballistic," A man in with a straw hat said, gesticulating to his friend, "If this keeps up the forest floor's gonna be littered with the fuckers." 

Efa ignored all the chitchat and made a beeline for the upstairs room where she had talked to him yesterday. Was it yesterday? She reeled, It feels like an age has passed since we came here, even though it's just been. . .Oh gods—its only been a day. She looked down at her feet contemplating her predicament as she made her way to the room.

She used the brass doorknocker twice and admired the intricate griffin design for a second before the grizzled voice replied back, "come in."

Efa pushed open the door to see Aelieystr seated at the long table. Opposite him was Winfraeid, he was slowly drinking from a glass, turning to smile at Efa once she had entered. 

"Right, you're here," Aelieystr stated plainly, getting up from his seat and moving over to some maps that were spread out on the table, "I'm thankful that you turned up so soon, it would've been a hassle otherwise." His eyes had bags under them and his hair was messy, as she watched he ran his hand through it as he surveyed the maps. 

"So—um. . . what's this about?" she asked, rubbing her arm. 

"We're discussing how to proceed further. As you can see me and the captain have been acquainted, in no small part thanks to you it seems. We stayed up through the night discussing how best to solve these sudden issues, and now since both the security and the income have come together, it should proceed smoothly."

"He's briefed me on what you told him," said Winfraeid. Setting down the glass and joining Aelieystr in pouring over the maps. "Evidently this threat is a tad smaller than what we had initially assumed, but that is by no means to say that it wont be without great loss of life."

"Your hunch that no word has entered or exited out of Cayrnr seems to be true. As we don't know of any such similar incidents in any other towns nearer to the South, we are of the notion that they've taken control of Cayrnr and are using it as some form of base or puppet town. My guess is that they intend to slowly continue their advances northward. What they might be doing in Cayrnr is beyond me—"

"And that's where I come in," Winfraeid interjected, swiftly jamming a finger on the map and beckoning Efa to come closer, "I'm going to send a few men, maybe three dozen down South." He traced his finger down a safe path to Cayrnr, one that ran close to the path Efa and company had taken to get to Thimbl. "They'll be staking out in camps surrounding the perimeter of Cayrnr. After scouting and infiltration plans are completed, we'll be attempting to recapture the town from Bleeding God." He finished off, jabbing a finger at Cayrnr labeled on the map. 

"At least that's what we've settled on for now," Aelieystr continued, "We don't know the extent to which they've returned, so our best bet is to weed them out in our home soil. The fact that they were in the sewers of Thimbl is beyond concerning but the captain's already got a few detachments on patrol, and the streets are being monitored, so too are the roads to Thimbl. The meeting with the trade heads will be held later today, we'll decide on how to deal with this on a larger scale once we have a more widely spread story amongst the administration of lower Ifraeygreia."

Efa paused for a second before asking in a guarded voice, "so then why are you telling this to me? I don't really want to be involved in this. . ."

"Its a little to late for that now," said Aelieystr, looking gravely at Efa, "you were there in Pagnodd's house the day that it was broken into."

Efa looked on with confusion.

"Listen, Efa, you must understand something first," Aelieystr said, looking grave, "after all the dust had settled from a few years past, Pagnodd had retreated to Cayrnr in the hopes that he could lie low and be at peace during the last few legs of his life. His location was a secret to all but a few close associates, to the rest of the world, he had essentially vanished. During his time in servitude of the king, he was known not as Pagnodd nor Pagnodealius but as Kwyniad, and that name holds power in courts far above us. For his house to be broken into. . . I think you see where I'm going with this."

Efa listened in silence. At this point nothing about Pagnodd could surprise her. "It's certainly peculiar."

"And since you were in that house, the day it was broken into, they've marked you down as a target. The most important part of their plan, that they would go unnoticed, was foiled by you. They're out to get you Efa. . . " His tone turned menacing. "You best be prepared to face their wrath. I doubt this will be your last interaction with them."

"Then tell me!" she fired back, "tell me what they are!? All I've gotten out of you two is that they're a cult and they did shit in the Vale a while back. What else!? Who's their leader? Why are they doing this? What're their numbers? I need to know about them to face them if they truly are out for me!" A momentary silence followed this outburst.

The two men shared a look. "That's the problem. . ." Winfraeid said, running a hand through his hair. 

". . .We don't know," Aelieystr finished, "We have no clue about any of what you ask for. Hell, until a day ago, I was under the impression that they were extinct."

"Same here," Winfraeid chimed in, "last night when you told me was the first time I heard that name in ages." 

"Fine, fine, leave it." She waved away the topic. "So you're gonna attempt a siege on Cayrnr—" she looked to Winfraeid, "—And what are you gonna do?" she turned to face Aelieystr.

"Firstly, I'm going to see if I can get things sorted with the trade foundations, then give some responsibilities over to Arth, then I've got to collect some old allies, keep them ready and informed about the threat, just in case it blows out of proportion."

"How're you gonna collect these allies?" Efa asked, "I remember you mentioned something about delivering a letter. . ."

"Yeah that, there's been a change of plans in that regard." He looked unsure of himself as he said it, "I'll be coming with you." 

"What!? No-no you don't have to do that, we can deliver that letter, don't trouble yourself, and also aren't you like the most important person in Thimbl?"

"All Importance is a matter of conjecture. And also its not about your delivering ability, I must meet with them, a letter won't do. I'll travel with you to about the central Vale, then turn back."

Efa pondered for a moment then relented. "Okay but when're we leaving?"

"Wait till I get things in order. I'll let you know a day prior."

"Fine."

Without preamble, Efa knew that the meeting had been adjourned. She turned to leave. Reaching the door, she looked back at the two men, grizzled giants in their own rights, warriors and veterans of life. Who bear the weight of mountains on their shoulders. They regarded her with respect, with admiration, with pity. They regarded her as an equal.

She nodded once and they nodded back. Opening the door, she walked out, her mind chock full of thoughts. Thoughts of trouble, thoughts of complications, thoughts of the past, thoughts of the future. . .