The night sky darkens as the group finishes their meal made up from stores they had brought in Phelan's Helm. Brianna went out and took a circle around the camp to get the lay of the land before it became fully dark. "Wake me when it is my watch." Brianna days curls up near the fire, turning her back to it for its warmth. She kept one sword unsheathed along her side did not wrap herself up in her cloak but rather had it just thrown over her as a cover that could be thrown off with a sweep of her arm.. Her other sword and bow lay nearby ready for her to take up at need..

As Brianna falls into slumber, Alexandria quietly says, "Let her sleep. I do not need much sleep, and the Dark Lady wants to speak with me tonight. I will take watch after Devon, and keep watch all the way until the morning."

Alexandria draws a faint symbol with her hand over Brianna's sleeping body, and felt the inner eye spring to life. She now had a clear picture of how Brianna fared. "If I may..." Alexandria proceeds to do the same with Devon and Lorae, feeling Eilistraee's eye enter them. "It is done. Now, I will take my short period of rest that I require. Devon, when you are done, please wake me, so that I may talk to my Moon Mother."

And with that, Alexandria begins to take off her armour, and places it to her side. She sits down in a full lotus position, allowing her dress to flow over her legs. She carefully lays her sword down across her legs, and her eyes glaze over, entering a meditative state.

Lorae shake her head when Alexandria goes to put others to sleep.

"That is not safe," says Lorae, "Brianna is trained and experienced, she is a light sleeper, the moments lost in waking from a spell induced sleep slows reactions."

She smiles and looks to the priestess. "I will watch while you dance. Like you I nrrd little sleep." Truth be told she needed none.

The evening breezes stirred the tree tops and soon after sunset the moon rose golden for a bit before the turning radient silver.

Alexandria danced to her Goddess and Devon finished his watch under the gaze of Lorae. She nodded to him before he tucked himself into his bedroll. She did the same when Alexandria did the same much later.

Brianna was woken by the changes of the animal sounds, nocturnal, to diaurnal. Lorae had already stirred the fire and had gotten to going.

Devon returns the nod and says,"Good night, Lorae. Sleep well and safe everybody." Shifts himself down into his bedroll and sleeps.

Devon gets up with the sun and stokes and/or relights the fire after getting enough wood for creating a cooking fire and tries to go hunting his own special way. Casts Greater invisibility and fly. Devon flies slowly surveying the ground below for rabbits or small game of that sort. when he sees one he chucks a dagger at it from no higher than 10ft in the air. He also checks bird nests for eggs in trees. Whether or not his dagger throws are hits or misses, he always retrieves his daggers.

Brianna was up tp stand the morning watch. She watch Devon disappear, and wondered why but continued her appointed rounds.

Once Lorae rose Brianna checked out all the horses for any signs of loose shoes, soreness or tenderness on legs and back Giving them all a initial brush down as she did. She saddled her two mounts and hung their bridles on their saddles a she feed all the horse with a nose bag of concentrated grains that they could eat as the riders ate their own meals.

Brianna returned to her sleeping things and strips off her clothes and outs on fresh ones for the day. After that she rolls up her bedroll that she had used mainly as a mattress pad and fastens in on the back of the stallions saddle. Her Saddlebags go on the back of the mare but nothing more.

The others wake as they will with the smell of smoke and bacon cooking over the fire waft through the small clearing.

"Food! Lorae, you are after my heart." Brianna sighs as she sniffs the air.

Then she asks hesitantly. "Any sign of Flame?" he asks, only it isn't so casual there is a sight vibration in her voice.

After hunting, Devon returns to the camp drawn by the smell of food. With 8 medium sized bird eggs in one haversack pocket and 4 rabbits, held by the hind legs, two in each hand.
As he approaches the Alarm area he whispers,"Arcaniss" and once again to enter the center warded area.

"Well, It seems breakfast started without me. Anyone feel like eggs this morning?"

"Lorae, you said to feel free to ask questions about outdoor living. Well, I can skin these rabbit without a problem, but how does one preserve the meat to keep it from going bad?"

Devon eats breakfast and either cooks the eggs for everyone or saves them for later if no one is interested in them at this time. Afterward, he packs his bedding into his magic haversack.
Devon finds a place away from the sight of the others in consideration that some are still eating to skin the rabbits. He cleans them well and buries the stuff he deems to be no good (mostly guts, head and feet keeping the pelts). He returns to the camp after the deed is done and summons his mount by casting mount.

"Eggs, I love eggs." enthused Brianna. "I can fry them up in the bacon fat." Yum."

However her appreciative response soon faded as she looked about for the still missing Flame. He was now among the missing. She had so many that had come and gone her life in the last year.

Jeril she had lo Lost in the sea maelstrom, that had dragged her ships down and drown the army she had raise So many in her life in the last few years had come and gone with greater frequency than not. Then she turned back putting out of her mind. Life went on even after the other had gone. She had found and lost her father whom she had never know until the day she found and lost him. Jeril she had lost when the ships she had commanded and the army she had raised to retake her families land had been sunk by the Goddess and she had been saved. Later Jeril had been found but her never knew how he was saved to the day he died. Logan she had lost, and his brother, and then ofter they had come to this planet she had Lost Jeril permanently. Highnar had come and gone, the human Logan and Cerric too--so many in such a short time. Only Lorae was still with her and Flame.

So the group was finally back on the road after all of the fun and drama surrounding the the village they had just left. Now traveling with some new companions the group had a different dimension than it did when they entered the village.

Xuor took the lead as the party moved out as was his usual spot as a ranger and he kept a careful watch on the surrounding areas as they moved on. A few times as the lay of the land required it Xuor would ride off by himself so as to scout out a difficult area or to make sure they are not being watched or there is no place ahead where they could be ambushed by thieves or cutthroats.

This first day on the road Xuor keeps pretty much to himself and just does his job as scout and has very little interaction with any of the others. As the day wears into evening he finds the party a nice campsite area and they start to settle in for the night. Being as helpful as he can he starts a good little cooking fire and helps those who might not be as outdoor savvy as others prepare their sleeping area so they will be safe through the night.

The cooking is done and a good meal passed around, night watch is set and the two magic uses set up alarmed and wards to further protect the camp, although he is not quite sure what it is that Alexandria's
spell did for sure it seemed she wanted to keep more of an eye on each person in the party more than keep an eye on the surrounding area, but whatever it meant nothing to Xuor for he had nothing to hide, he had fully committed himself to Brianna and her quest.

Even though it seemed that watch was taken care of Xuor knows he can never sleep the whole night so he learns who will be watching when and decides that he will awaken and keep watch when Brianna does the last watch near morning. When Devon calls them over to see the word which will allow them to pass without setting off the alarm spells. He sets it to memory, and once it is dark and all are preparing to sleep he will speak to Brianna before she beds down. Brianna may I speak with you for a moment. You know that as an elf I have excellent night vision and with my bow and climbing I an very at home in the trees as we set camp and such I have scoped out a nice large tree very near by that offers both nice camouflage as well as a comfortable place to sleep. I will be able to get my sleep and keep a good watch on the whole camp from the air. Then if you don't mind I would like to join you for your early morning watch.
If she is ok with his plan he will leave camp uttering the word to pass and climb into the tree he had picked . Settling into a comfortable position from which he could both watch and/or sleep he will take out a rope he has just for these times and loosely tie himself with a special knot he learned that he could release with one pull. From here he keeps watch on the camp.

Xuor had taken Brianna off to the side. She went along though she wondered what he had to say to her. He was a straight shooter and she knew he wouldn't beat around the bush.

They set up the shifts so one party member got to sleep the whole night through one every rotations. This was his night to be off the watch list. Xuor has asked to share the morning shift with her. That was sine with her as she said so is as frank a manner as he had asked.

"Sure that is fine with me, Xuor. I would be glad of the company it gets kind of quiet. Not that I mine the quiet really it is just a bit lonely on watch all by myself. When I just to ride night guards on our herds there were plenty of other younglings my age or there abouts riding at the same time.

On another note she adds’ “we have lost of lot o good people Vatta, Cerric, Logan and Highnar. I …….I hope will be staying with…..us. You are a good….. man.” ( this means a lot from a born and bred Amazon.)

Soronuume Selu Elmare drank in the morning sunlight as she effortlessly made her way through the wild grasses. The wild elf was more at home wandering the untamed landscape than the urban settlements that littered the land. Like most green elves she was exotic, possessing an untamed beauty only found in the wild. Bright almond shaped amber eyes peered out from smooth greenish cooper skin and a mane of thick chestnut curls fell to her mid back. The elf wore a seemingly delicate armor made from dried forest leaves and simple grey leggings tucked into dark brown boots.

Soronuume looked to the black panther that moved silently at her side. She was called Xu, and the pair had been together for some time. Xu had saved her life during the war that held at bay the rising tide of humans threatening to overtake the Forest of Tethir. Since that day panther and elf had looked out for one another each protecting the other in turn. For months at a time Xu had been her only companion. The nickering of a horse pulled her attention and Soronuume tuned to lead the grulla mare forward. She rarely rode the horse, but it was necessary at times. The mare bore a wild streak and if Soronuume was going to saddle and ride the creature she would have it no other way.

In the distance Soronuume could make out the movement and what appeared to be a campsite amid a cluster of trees. Leading the panther and horse she moved forward. As she neared the campsite she made no attempt to hide her coming. Attempts at subterfuge would be interpreted as hostility, and she had no desire for confrontation. However there were strangers in the wild and that required investigation.

Alexandria noticed an approaching figure. Slowly rising, she smoothes her dress. A woman was approaching, she could tell that. She decided to quickly groom herself so that she could give a bit of an impression as to who she was, serving Eilistraee's grace. As the figure approached however, Alexandria felt a small amount of disappointment. Oh no... she was elven.

Elven people had never gotten along with her race. Racial grudges never seemed to settle, and many elves looked upon her with disdain simply because she was drow. But still... she would not give in to a racial grudge. Alexandria would be a good ambassador of Eilistraee's graces.

With a cool, smooth voice, Alexandria addresses the stranger in the native tongue, so as to provide no misinterpretation. "Greetings woman. Eilistraee's grace be upon you. What might you be doing wandering around a forest all alone? It's not always safe."

"Devon," Lorae answers him as he askes about saving meat. "Normally they would be cleaned, but the skin left on, then wrapped in grasses or leaves and put into a sack and kept as cool as possible."

"But we carry bags of holding and stasis, so we can keep them there, they will be as fresh, in a month, as they were when they were put into the bag."

As they continue to speak about the rabbits Lorae catches Alexandria's movement and her attention outside the camp. when she smoothes her dress Lorae stands.

"Excuse me, Devon. It seems we have a new arrival."

While listening to Lorae explain about the preservation of meat, Devon takes notice that Alexandria is talking to somebody, though what she said he wasn't sure of. It sounded as if she was speaking elvish.

Devon looks in the direction that Alexandria is speaking and sees a strikingly beautiful elven woman. After meeting Lorae, he's beginning to see that elves aren't all bad and many are quite beautiful to boot, though he wouldn't say so out loud in mixed company.

"Well, it seems it never rains but it pours." he muttered.

Not sure what the intentions of this new comer are, he takes position at the side of Alexandria and says the little bit of elven he does know, "Welcome, Greetings, we are not hostile towards you."

Devon's relations with elves. as stated before, were never the best. Most of the elves he came in contact with felt he was too brash and bold, not subdued and contemplative enough. A common complaint from many elves was that he spoke before thinking his words through. Some even said that Devon would let his words pour out of him like water.

Devon did however have an elven friend, though he was just as generous with his criticism of Devon's loquaciousness. Devon even asked his friend, Travinulis, to teach him to speak elven and his friend replied, " Why, so you can talk my ears of in that language too?"

Devon does know how to speak draconic and sylvan but it doesn't seem to help him in this case.

Brianna was still grooming Shadowbane as he leaned into the grooming brush when she felt he shift away and whuffled softly.

"Talking to the girls eh?" She says softly to the stallion. "Who is getting your interest." Brianna turns to look in the direction that the stallion is looking at and is surprised to see it is not at any mare on the picket line.

"Ah ha, incoming." Brianna says and steps close to her bow standing propped nearby. She heard Alexandra greet in stranger as she took up her bow. Once it was in her hand she steeped clear of the horses.

What she saw keep her standing quietly while she took it all in. This woman looked elven but of type she was totally unfamiliar with. Her skin was like copper tinged with green. Even her hair was green.

Suddenly Shadowbane scream in defiance and half reared and stamped the ground.

Brianna saw a shadow daker that the blackest night move among side the strange elf's side. A huge black cat of a type she was also unfamiliar with.

Reaching out she laid a hand on the stallion and grabbed his mane. Not that it would stop him if he was threatened or took it into his head to run. Brianna kept a wary eye on both the new comers and the huge stallion.

"Fair day," Brianna called out to the strange trio. She did admire the fine mouse-gray mare with black points. She knew such a color blended in well with the terrain and disappeared in the darkness and shadows.

As for Brianna herself she was a very tall well built (muscular) well proportioned Amazon woman fine mithral double chain shirt with bracers in her forearms and greaves over her tall riding boots over supple doeskin pants. Her flaming red hair was caught back in a single braid.