Orlain

"Thank you..." Rane said softly just before they came up to the group.

Damien swallowed her fear down and moved to fallow Kerian with Joey. She grabbed Joey's hand, only planning on holding onto it until they got outside. She knew it would make them both feel better. She couldn't shake a deep horrible feeling in her gut that something horrible was going to happen. It was so intense that it made her feel like she was going to vomit.

Rane had the same sort of feeling, but she just thought it was because she thought this whole idea was a bad one. She didn't think they were ready for this. They were just kids. Sure, her and Taiju weren't that much older, but their lives and state of minds were very different.

Joey squeezed Damien's hand in return as they headed out of the inn. He was suddenly regretting ever agreeing with this plan, but there was nothing they could do now. They wouldn't have another opportunity like this to get rid of Rowan, and if they did this now, their lives would be much easier in the future.

Taiju let Kerian's group go ahead of them for a few minutes, then led the way out with Rane and the others. He was growing slightly less confident as well, but he refused to let it show. If their leaders couldn't exhibit faith in their plan, there was no way the others could.

Both of the groups were pretty silent as they walked to the event. They were all thinking about what the night had in store for them.

Jack walked next to Zakuro, giving her a reassuring smile every now and then. Rane desperately wished she could take her bow and arrows with her, but they were too big to hide. But she would have felt much better with them. She imagined that Taiju thought the same for his swords.

For a few minutes of their walk, Joey seemed to be deep in thought. He was wrestling with the idea of saying something, but every time he tried, the words seemed to stick in his throat.

"So, um, Damien, listen," he said lowly, wincing to himself when he couldn't even say that much without stuttering. He looked at the ground, hands in his pockets, not bothering to look to see if Damien was actually listening. "This is probably the worst time ever for this, but---I don't know, it probably just seems stupid and dramatic considering what's about to happen, but . . ." He sighed shortly, growing frustrated. "In any case, I--"

"We're here," Kerian said, unwittingly cutting Joey's sentence short. He swore under his breath and looked up.

Rowan's manor loomed ahead, several stories tall and preceded by a stretch of lush garden. The road gave way to cobbled stone leading to the doorway, where several other men and women stood, talking as they waited to be let in. Torches lit the path, casting an orange glow over the area. Music could be very faintly heard from coming inside, mixed with the din of conversing voices.

"We'll wait a few minutes for the other group," Kerian said, turning back to the others. "It shouldn't be much longer."

As Taiju walked ahead of the others, he grabbed twice at the empty space where his swords should have been, swearing each time. He felt that he might as well have been naked without his weapons. Daggers might not be sufficient in a fight.

Zakuro walked close to Jack, trying not to show that she was growing more nervous with each step closer to the party.

Damien had been listen to Joey, and she was very confused by what he was saying. She stopped when Kerian announced that they had arrived. She glanced around for a minute before looking back at Joey.
"What were you saying?" She asked, giving him a small smile. She could tell he was having a hard time saying whatever it was. But she still had no clue what he was going to say.

Rane's fear didn't mount up as they got closer and closer to the manor. She felt a little numb, moving into a calmer state of mind. Perhaps her emotions knew this was much too important to get too worked up over.

Jack gave Zakuro a short smile, trying to reassure her. He was worried, but not for his safety. He was just worried for his friends. He knew Jayce would take over if things got heated up, so he wasn't worried about messing up either.

Joey tried to speak again, but found that what little resolve he had had left him. His face flushed red. "Never mind," he muttered, turning his gaze back toward the cobblestone. "I'll tell you later, probably."

Taiju's group arrived then, sparing Joey any further inquiry. Taiju cast a glance over the manor grounds, then looked to Kerian. "Are we all ready, then?" he asked.

Kerian nodded and looked over the group. "Keep in mind that there is a chance we may get separated by the crowds," she said. "Try to stay together, and remember what we are here for. Keep watch of your surroundings, and don't do anything to draw attention to yourselves." With that, she turned to lead the way up the path and into the manor.

Now Damien really wanted to know what Joey was going to say, but she knew now wasn't the time to ask.

Rane gave out one last sigh before heading in with the group, glancing around to size up everything and everyone. She knew this couldn't be as easy as they wanted it to be. If it was, Rowan would already be dead by now. she flexed her hands a little, letting a little bit of her healing power moved through her hands, as if to remind herself that she got it back and it wasn't a dream.

As they headed in Jack realized how he really didn't know what to expect. It sent a chill of fear down his spine. But he was still confident that Jayce could handle things pretty well.

As they entered the main foyer of the manor, they were greeted with a crowd of guests that left little room for maneuvering. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling, providing bright, warm light. The sound of conversation was louder here, as was the music that came from as yet unknown source, making it more difficult to hear. Some guests danced in the middle of the floor, while most of the others stood around the side, eating or conversing.

"Keep an eye out for him," Kerian advised as she led the way through the crowds. "I imagine he's either socializing or overseeing the event. We may not immediately find him."

Zakuro stuck close to Jack and the others, quietly looking for any sign of Rowan. Taiju put an arm around Rane and drew her nearer, afraid to lose her in the crowds as they searched.

Rane felt a little safer being closer to Taiju, at least that ment she wouldn't get separated from him. She kept glancing back at the four younger ones, making sure they were still close by.
Jack silently made irritated face, as if Jayce was saying something to him that only he could hear. He reached over and gently took Zakuro's hand in his. He didn't like whatever Jayce was saying.

Damien paused once, thinking she saw Rowan, but after a moment she realized it wasn't him and had to catch back up to the group.

After a bit of searching, Kerian managed to find a break in the crowds near the side of the room. She led the way to the empty space and sighed quietly. "I did not expect this to be easy," she remarked, "but I also didn't expect finding one man to be so difficult, particularly when he usually has a way of finding us."

"Maybe he's in a different room?" Zakuro suggested. "He could have left to do something else."

"Perhaps, but we can't risk searching the building ourselves. We could be exposed far too easily that way."

Joey stood up on tip-toe to see over the crowds. "No," he said, stretching to see, "I think I found him." The elf was across the room, standing on a small stage where the musicians were perched. He seemed to be talking to someone hidden by the crowds, smiling and unaware of his uninvited guests.

Damien and Rane both looked over at the same time to see Rowan. A weird hatred boiled up inside of Rane, something she hadn't expected to happen. Then she remembered what he had done to Taiju, and it seemed justified.

Jack didn't look over, instead he was looking off to the right side of the group. His free hand curled into a tight fist and his whole body tensed up. He suddenly looked away from whatever he had been looking at and looked at the ground, gritting his teeth.

Rane, who had looked away from Rowan to stop herself from getting too mad, noticed Jack's odd behavior, "what is it Jack?" she asked quietly, so only the group could hear them talk.
"Malak is here too..." Jack said bitterly.
Off to the right side where Jack had been looking Malak was leaning against a wall, sipping at a drink casually. He was dressed very formal and blended in well. He gave the group a smirk, and diverted his attention to a female next to him.

"Malak?" Kerian repeated, following Jack's gaze to the side of the room. A look of dismay came over her features. "Why is he here? I did not think he even cared for Rowan . . ."

"He's not here for us," Taiju said with a wary glance in Malak's direction. "At least, not right now. He said he wanted us to take care of Rowan for him. I think that's what he's waiting for."

"Because we should definitely trust him to not kill us if we get rid of Rowan," Joey said dryly.

Kerian shook her head. "If he has not made an effort yet, I do not think he is our real problem," she said. "For now, focus on our goal. The stakes have been raised, but the quicker we finish this, the better."

Zakuro looked to where Rowan had been before; the elf was gone now, probably mingling with the crowds. "We'll have to find him again first . . ."

"I think we should divide into groups again, then," Taiju said, looking back to the crowds for Rowan. "We're not going to cover much ground like this."

"I was worried you might say that..." Damien sighed deeply, she did not look forward to splitting up.

"Calm down Jack... Don't let Malak get to you so fast..." Rane said quietly, noticing the boy was still tense.
He visibly forced his shoulders to relax and let out a sigh to calm himself. "I'm fine..." He mumbled. But he didn't feel fine. He wished Jayce would take over so he didn't have to fight himself to not freak out.

"Same groups as what we came in or smaller ones?" Damien dared to ask Taiju and Kerian.

"Same as before. I don't want to risk dividing us up any more than we must," Kerian answered coolly. "Keep close to each other and be careful. If something happens, your safety is my first priority--do what you have to in order to keep yourselves from getting hurt."

Taiju nodded and gestured for Jack and Zakuro to follow with him and Rane to another part of the room. Kerian started in the other direction; Joey cast a glance to Damien to make sure she was alright before following Kerian.

Zakuro took a hold of Jack's arm, giving him a concerned look. Malak's mere presence could be disastrous for him--and possibly for Damien.

Damien was handling Malak pretty easily. She had decided not to look over at him, she didn't need to. She was more worried about Rowan then Malak at the moment, specially after what Taiju said. That's not to say that things wouldn't change if he decided to talk to them. She gave Joey a small smile to let him know she was fine, and fallowed after Kerian as well.

Jack looked at Zakuro and gave her a half smile, trying his best to not think about Malak. But he could feel Malak in the room with them, watching them. It made his incredibly uncomfortable.
"How do you know that he wants us to kill Rowan?" Jack asked Taiju as they walked away.
"He told us," Rane answered for him.
"What? When?"
"Before we left the last town. He had been watching us, he was also the one the made us sick...Though he switched bodies, how did you know that was him?" Rane asked, looking back at him.
He shrugged, "I just knew..."

Kerian carefully led the way through the crowds. A few people watched the procession, but most seemed to ignore the group entirely. Kerian soon came to another stop. "There he is," she said lowly to Joey and Damien. Rowan had moved away from the stage and was standing near the door to the kitchens, chatting with one of the servants. "This is our chance."

Joey swallowed thickly. Kerian gave him a glance; he was the one who could do the deed without getting any closer. He simply didn't know if he could.

"The rivalry he and Rowan has apparently runs rather deep, though I'm not sure why. He also said that he's no longer working under the dragon and has no 'need' to kill any of us for that reason, but he didn't say much about that." Taiu shook his head. "I rather wish he would have stayed dead the first time and saved us the trouble."

Being much closer to Rowan this time, Damien felt her heart start to race. What if he looked over and saw them? What id Joey couldn't kill him? She could only see this ending badly.
She put a hand on Joey's shoulder to try and reassure him.

"Malak isn't the type of person to just drop something he has been working on... Meaning he is probably still after us in the long run." Jack mumbled.
"And I don't think he is going to kill me... He has worked too hard on Jayce to just kill me so easily. Hopefully that means he will back off for a while...But then again... If he was the one that got us all sick..." He sighed, trying to figure out Malak was just too hard.

Joey grit his teeth. The thought of having to kill someone repulsed him. He didn't know if he could, no matter what Rowan had done to them.

Beside him, Kerian reluctantly suggested that they find another way, but he shook his head. If they went any closer, they ran the risk of being caught. Joey took a deep breath to calm himself and closed his eyes to focus. It wouldn't take long. A few seconds at the most. It wouldn't even be difficult.

Ahead, Rowan gave a sudden cry of pain, clutching at his chest in apparent agony. He leaned against the wall for a brief second, looking around, and then was suddenly gone. At the same time, Joey gasped out as though hurt and brought a hand to his head. Before he could get his bearings, a young woman and her group pushed through, pushing Joey to the side and separating him from the rest of the group. He stumbled and was swallowed by the crowd.

"He is not our concern right now. Hopefully he'll simply let us be for the night and we can deal with him later," Taiju said shortly. Before he could speak again, a woman's shriek interrupted him. Startled, he immediately made his way toward the sound, where a small group was forming in the middle of the room.

Zakuro felt her stomach drop at the scream. She rushed after Taiju, praying that the sound didn't mean what she thought.

"Joey!" Damien cried as he was suddenly separated from them. She quickly tried to push through the crowd to get to him, worried that something horrible was going to happen to him.

Rane and Jack both quickly ran after Taiju, wondering what was going on and hoping it wasn't as bad as they thought.

The party guests had started to form a circle around two individuals in the middle of the room. The first was Joey, who had been knocked to the floor, his hand over his mouth as blood trickled under his fingers. The other was Rowan, who stood over Joey with his hands on his hips. He stood a bit awkwardly, as though injured, but his expression was only one of mild agitation.

"Really?" the elf asked lightly. "You're going to ruin everyone's good time like this? I admire your audacity, but you couldn't have waited? I imagine everyone's disappointed that you interrupted like this."

Joey winced and started to stand again, choosing not to answer.

"Let me guess, you're probably not alone, either . . ." Rowan lifted his head to scan the crowds as Kerian and Taiju pushed their way to the front of the audience with the others in tow. "Seems I was right. None of you can ever go anywhere by yourselves, can you?"

As they got closer to the group Jack saw what was going on and noticed that Jack was hurt. As he shoved through the crowd he mumbled something under his breath and Jayce quickly took control.
Before he got to the front of the crowd he stopped and raised a hand, using his power to yank one of the metal chandeliers from the ceiling and letting it fall at the edge of the crowd. The crowd thankfully moved away before anyone was crushed, but it wasn't like Jayce cared. He wasn't going to waste time and let Joey get hurt more, that wasn't part of his agreement. He picked up the chain on the chandelier that it used to hang from and glared deeply at Rowan.
He had never fought against Rowan before, but he was pretty confident.

Damien hesitated, stopping behind Jayce. She didn't know if her powers would even work when she needed them. She decided to stay back for now, even though she desperately wanted to go to Joey and see if he was alright.
Jayce kind of scared her, she wanted to stay out of his way too.

Rane grit her teeth, apparently Joey's assassination didn't go as planned.

Rowan raised an eyebrow at Jayce, then heaved a sigh. "Now you're going to destroy my home?" he asked. "Honestly, you all have some of the worst guest behavior I've ever seen. Sneaking into an event uninvited, attempting to kill me, destroying property . . ."

Joey moved forward, pulling a flame from the broken chandelier as he did. It trailed behind his hand like a whip as he lashed at Rowan, who seemed genuinely startled as he rapidly stepped back. A bright red burn appeared across his arm, but before Joey could do much else, Rowan seized him by the throat, suddenly seeming angry.

"You," he growled, "I am going to deal with specially, but for now, I'd like it you got out of the way." He tossed Joey to the side, letting the boy tumble on the floor, before turning back to the rest. "Would anyone else like to try this, then? It would be better if you all left, I think."

Taiju instead produced his dagger and took a step forward, wishing he had brought his swords instead. Zakuro stepped back, grabbing her own knife, but not sure if she could trust her powers for a fight.

Damien quickly ran around the far side of the crowd when Joey was thrown. She knelt down next to him, "Joey!? Are you okay?" She asked quickly, scarred.
Rane tried to move over to the boy as well, to see if he was alright.

Jayce took another step forward, "So you are Rowan?" He asked, seeming amused. "And here, these guys and Malak made you seem threatening." He suddenly yanked on the chain of the chandelier, swinging it around, using his power as extra strength. He swung it like a giant mace, toward Rowan as hard as he could.

Joey pushed himself up on his arms, groaning in pain. "Fine," he muttered through the blood spilling from his torn lip. He grabbed at his head again, unable to shake the sudden pain.

Rowan waited patiently as the chandelier approached him, then disappeared without a sound. He reappeared behind Jayce and aimed a sharp kick to his lower back, aiming to down him quickly without any lethal damage. He didn't get to see whether it was effective; Taiju came at him then, brandishing his dagger. Rowan held out a hand and a gust of wind suddenly knocked Taiju from his feet, sending him flying as the crowd parted, screaming in fear.

"I really don't want to kill any of you right now," he sighed. "Not tonight. I'd also hate to be driven from my own house, so could we end this?"

Rane got to Joey in time to hear that he was okay. She looked up to see Jayce swing the chandelier at Rowan only to miss. When he appeared behind him and kicked him it only sent Jayce forward a bit. He quickly regained himself and while Rowan was distracted he swung the chandelier again, faster this time.

"Jayce is really intense about this..." Rane mumbled, as Damien helped Joey stand up.

Joey stood carefully with Rane's and Damien's help, but it took a lot of effort to keep his balance. The headache was only getting worse; he reached for the wall and leaned heavily on it while his skull felt like it would split in half.

Rowan was beginning to look aggravated at this point. He turned back to Jayce and managed to catch a hold of the chandelier as it whipped toward him and sent a stronger gust of wind at Jayce.

Jayce smiled a bit when the gust of wind hit him and sent him flying back. He tumbled a few times but immdiently got back up and laughed.
"You're quick, I will give you that..." He stated, "but I get the feeling that I am having more fun with this then you are." He quickly raised up both of his hands and yanked the chandelier back toward himself, bending it as it came toward him.
"And I don't feel pain, so I think i have the edge here.." He quickly bent and broke the metal into smaller, sharp, pieces and sent them flying toward Rowan.

"Let me heal you a little," Rane ordered Joey firmly. She could tell that he was in pain. She moved over and touched the side of his head.

While Rowan was beginning to get annoyed that the fight was taking so long, if he was taking any toll from it, he wasn't showing it. He disappeared again and let the metal shrapnel sink in to the wall where he had been a moment before, then reappeared some distance away on the other side of the room.

"As fun as this has been," he called, "I would rather end this. My home will be rubble if this continues any longer, and I honestly think I came out the winner in this." He glanced in Joey's direction with a satisfied smile. "I commend your effort,but try harder next time. It's going to take more to kill me than a boy who's too afraid to do it quickly." With that, he was gone again, and they were left alone in the empty foyer.

Joey didn't protest to Rane, but before she could do anything, the pain disappeared as quickly as it had come. He breathed heavily in relief and leaned more against the wall before his legs could give out on him.

Jayce gained an angry expression and clenched his fists together tightly, making the rest of the metal chandeliers crush in on themselves. The sounds of metal bending rang through the air.
"Damn coward!" He shouted after Rowan, obviously pissed off.

Damien visibly jumped when Jayce shouted and tried to distract her fear by talking to Joey. When Rane noticed Joey relax she pulled her hand away again.
"So are you okay?" Damien asked more seriously.

Zakuro flinched as Jayce yelled. She hadn't expected him to get so involved in the fight.

"I think so," Joey answered, shaking his head. "I don't know what that was . . . It was like he caught me when I tried to kill me. Felt this force push back on me and then he appeared by me and hit me. Wasn't for another minute that it hurt like that . . ."

Kerian came back from helping Taiju, who looked thoroughly displeased with how the fight had turned out.

Rane moved over to Taiju, to see if he was alright. It hadn't looked like he had been hurt too bad, but she had to be sure.
"You alright?" She asked, looking him over.

Damien frowned, "well at least you are okay... Sounds horrible though. Maybe you should have Rane look you over just to be sure..." She couldn't help but he worried. They didn't know what Rowan could do.

Jayce looked over as Malak started to walk up to him from the depleting crowd.
"Bravo..." He said with a satisfied smirk. "You may not have actually hurt him, but he sure knows you are serious..." He mocked him.
Jayce almost seemed to growl at Malak, "screw you. You weren't much help."
The demon laughed, "why would I help you and your 'friends'?"
"They aren't my friends! Jack is the pathetic one who keeps us around them!" Jayce suddenly shouted back.
"Seems like you have grown attached... Considering you were holding back to make sure to not hurt them...."

Jayce fell silent, glaring at Malak and breathing heavily.

Taiju nodded. "Just a little bruised," he answered, though he was cradling his wrist against his body. He had hurt it in the fall, but didn't want to worry about it just yet.

"Later," Joey agreed before being distracted by what was happening with Jayce and Malak.

Kerian stepped beside Jayce. Ignoring the implications what was being said, she simply held out her dagger. "We don't need another fight," she said coolly. "You said you don't even need us anymore, didn't you?"

Jayce gave Kerian a glance and his gaze softened just so slightly that only someone paying attention would notice it.

Malak glanced at the dagger and crossed his arms, "I'm not here to kill anyone. Or harm anyone for that matter. I wanted to see what Jayce would do with Rowan, I expected much more destruction. And I'm here to get Damien..." He looked over Jayce's shoulder at Damien who was still standing next to Joey.
She took a step closer to Joey.

"I think we have pointed out that it will never happen..." Rane said bitterly.

Malak shrugged lightly, "never say never...."

Kerian was surprised to see the tiny bit of emotion in Jayce's expression; she was momentarily convinced that she had imagined it, and put the thought aside to focus again on Malak.

"She's not going anywhere," Joey said darkly. Though still woozy from the unexplained headache, he stepped forward, a flame coming back to life in his hand. Around him, Zakuro took a more defensive stance, and Taiju grasped his knife in his uninjured hand.

"Hmnn... you expect a fight." Malak pointed out in thought. "I'm not here to fight, I'm just giving her the option. You all are always speaking for her, why don't you give her a chance to decide?"

Damien suddenly felt extremely guilty. There was a very very small part of her that told her to go, though she had no reason why.
But she quickly shook her head, "No Malak... I will never go with you..." She stated firmly.

"Never... Say never..." He repeated before looking to Jayce, "so if you ever want help with your 'problem', come find me..." And before anyone could say anymore he vanished, much like Rowan had.

When Malak vanished, Joey relaxed back against the wall heavily, letting the flame die out. He hated to be reminded that Malak was still after Damien. He felt like it would happen and there wouldn't be a thing he could do about it.

"Well," Taiju remarked blandly, "this could have gone better."

"Yeah..." Rane sighed deeply, "at least we are all okay though.."

Jayce cursed under his breath and suddenly had a pained expression. He held his side and took a few steps away from Kerian to try and hide that he was suddenly in pain.
"Come on Jack..." he growled under his breath. He closed his eyes, trying to let go of control, but Jack wasn't taking it back.

Damien gave Joey a very small smile, "don't worry. I would never go with him.."

Joey tried to smile back, but he couldn't hide his worry. It was just one more thing for him to think about tonight.

"I suppose we have a long night of travel ahead of us," Kerian sighed, looking around the deserted foyer. "I don't think he'll leave us alone so simply now that he knows where we are."

"Wonderful," Taiju said dryly, holding onto his broken wrist again.

Zakuro watched Jayce quietly, unsure of what to do. Part of her wanted to go forward and see what was wrong, but the majority was too scared to get that close.

Rane placed her hands on her hips and gave Taiju a firm look. "You are not okay, your wrist is hurt." She sighed, moving closer to look at it. "Let me see.."

Jack quietly took control back of his body and looked at the ground, as if he was thinking. After a moment he looked back up and smiled tiredly at Zakuro, noticing her watching.

Damien looked away from Joey, feeling like she wasn't helping him worry less at all.

Taiju laughed slightly and held out his wrist for Rane to examine without protest.

Joey waited to make sure Rane was fully preoccupied with Taiju before looking back to Damien. "Can I talk to you later?" he asked lowly. "When we're out of here, maybe when we make camp or something . . . Just soon."

"You okay?" Zakuro dared to ask when she was sure she was speaking to Jack again.

Rane held Taiju's wrist carefully and poked at it lightly with two fingers. When she felt the broken bone she winced slightly, "It's broken." She told him, as if it wasn't pretty easy to tell. She wrapped her hands around his wrist gently and began healing him the best she could, easing up the pain as she did so.

Damien gave Joey a slightly confused look, "yeah sure..." she nodded, though she wanted to what it was now. "When ever you want to just let me know."

Jack nodded tiredly, "tired and sore, but I'm okay." He let out another sigh and glanced between everyone, "least Jayce stuck to his deal."

Taiju winced; he knew it was broken before Rane decided to poke at it. He didn't complain, but it was evident that he didn't like the pre-healing treatment.

"When you're all ready," Kerian said, looking across the group, "we'll go back to the inn and get our things. We'll need to get as far as we can from the city overnight. It won't be fun, but we need to put some distance between ourselves and Rowan."

Joey nodded a bit. "Maybe when we get back to the inn, then," he said. "It's nothing bad, I just . . . I feel like I should say something, is all."

"Deal?" Zakuro repeated. "I didn't know there was one."

Rane finished healing and took a wrap out of her pocket and began wrapping his wrist tightly so he could hardly move it.
"I can't heal it all the way so you will still have to give it some rest for a while.." She told him softly, finishing up on the wrap.

Damien nodded, "alright." She couldn't stop thinking about what he needed to say. She silently tried to figure it out.

"He agreed that he wouldn't hurt you guys and he would do everything he could to keep you safe..." Jack explained, rubbing his arm muscles. "Malak was right, he did hold back to keep you guys safe..."

Taiju sighed. "Wonderful," he said as he watched Rane wrap his wrist. "I suppose it's a good thing I'm left-handed, but I'll only be half as useful in a fight now."

Joey stood off the wall, feeling like he could handle it now. He was struck by a random feeling of frustration--he shouldn't have let himself get hit--but it was gone before he really knew what had happened. He frowned to himself, then shook his head to rid himself of the thoughts as he headed for the door.

"That's . . . interesting, actually. I didn't think he would agree to something like that," Zakuro said thoughtfully. "I'm glad he did, but it kind of makes me wonder."

Rane laughed lightly at Taiju, "well you have always been twice as good as anyone else, so you will now be just as good." She turned to leave, glancing at everybody to do a double check and make sure everyone was okay.

Damien remained close to Joey just in case he would need help. She didn't notice his change in attitude.

"Me either.. But I'm glad he did. It was actually pretty easy too," Jack agreed, even though it was odd, it was relieving. He worried a little less about Jayce hurting his friends.

Taiju laughed quietly. "I don't think it works quite that way, but thanks," he said before making a move for the door to follow everyone else out. With this mission having failed, he looked forward to getting out of the city quickly.

"He acted pretty weird when Malak was talking to him, too," Zakuro went on, following the others when she noticed them leaving. "I really want to know what's going on, but I don't think we're really going to find out anytime soon."

"I have tried asking him about the pains I get after he takes control now, I know he know's something I don't, but he wont tell me anything." Jack nodded, walking out slowly with the group.
"When Malak was talking to him I stopped watching what he was doing... But I know he has a really weird relationship with him. No matter how much I hate it."

As the group left the party area their mood lifted again. Even though their mission failed, they were all okay. And that counted for a lot.

"Well, maybe we'll find out more soon," Zakuro suggested. "I mean, I don't think he can keep that much from you forever. And if it means that he's not going to act out as much, I can't really complain at all."

Once they reached the inn again, everyone divided up to dress down and get their things. Joey put on his regular tunic, grateful to be out of the silken one, and packed his things while waiting for a chance to speak with Damien. He felt another random bout of anger as he went, but again it disappeared before he could fully understand it.

Taiju had a bit of a time with packing and changing clothes with his newly broken wrist. He spent most of his time swearing when actions either made it hurt more or simply took longer to accomplish.

Jack couldn't agree with Zakuro more.

Rane would normally have offered to help Taiju when she was done with her own things, but once she disappeared into her room she didn't come back out. She had apparently gotten distracted by something.

Once Damien was done, wich was really fast, she was eager to find out what Joey had to say, she went to find Joey. She smiled as she walked up to him, happy to be back in her normal clothes. Normally the formal ware wouldn't bother her, but the only reason they had it was to kill someone. And that made it uncomfortable for her.

After taking more time than necessary, and probably swearing more than necessary as well, Taiju managed to get into a much more comfortable set of clothes. His cloak proved impossible to put on with the use of only one hand, so he gave up and folded it under his arm to deal with later. That finished, he went out to find the others, only to notice Rane missing, and went back to knock on her door. “Are you coming?” he called. “The others are about done.”

Joey smiled a bit back at Damien, but looked away shortly thereafter. “So, listen,” he began awkwardly, one hand going up to rub at the back of his neck. “I guess, to start, this thing with Malak . . . I know you said it’s not a big deal and I’m trying not to think it is, but it keeps bugging me. It’s just like a little thing in the back of my mind that makes me nervous and I hate remembering that he thinks he has some sort of claim on you.”