Dracol Arc

[Bean Bandit]

Wraith inclined his head slightly, listening to the rythmic cawing of the ravens for a moment.

A small smirk tugged at his lips. "Announcing me, are you?" he murmured aloud. "Well, go ahead. Nothing to hide..."

With that, he pressed on, moving slowly through the trees...

[Carthrat]

Serilliyus raised an eyebrow, but leaned against a tree.

So strange... she didn't recognize any of the trees in this land, yet each seemed familar.. like a different version of her home forests.

That tree *might* be Willowbark, but it was too rough. That tree *would* be Rosewood, but it was too tall.

It seemed so alien..

[Asrana]

Sefeya smiled softly, leaning against an old lorken tree. Well...at least the new ones will get to know each other. And Wraith will need to learn how to be more social anyway...

The forest around the three grew quiet again as the ravens became silent. Every now and then, a small rodent would skitter across the bark of a tree or a bird would take off from the ground, momentarily breaking the quiet.

[Bean Bandit]

Wraith slowly made his way through the trees, heading in the direction of the faintest raven's caw.

After a few more moments, Wraith caught sight of Sefeya, and her companion. With a few minutes of quick walking he caught up to them.

He inclined his head respectfully. "Sefeya-dono." he greeted his employer.

[Asrana]

Sefeya smiled and nodded to Wraith, standing straight again. "Hi, Wraith. A little early?" she asked softly, her voice a tad teasing.

[Bean Bandit]

Wraith looked at the shabbily dressed woman, taking in the general look of her face at a glance. He turned back to Sefeya, and a wry smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Yes." He agreed. "I was picking up supplies, and realized I had nothing to go on by way of a schedule. I didn't think I'd need it, but with specialty items, Jaleen needs more time."

He paused, considering. "Since I really had nothing else pressing to do, I came to find you." He shifted slightly, never fully turning away from the woman he didn't recognize, watching her out of the corner of his eye.

[Carthrat]

Serilliyus had her head bowed, but she still had Wraith in her peripheral vision, analysing him and waiting for Sefeya to introduce them...

And hoping that in the 9 hells of the abyss that she'd get some rest to get rid of this bloody alcohol before she said something stupid.

[Asrana]

Sefeya nodded, mentally reprimanding herself for the slip in providing information to her employee. "I already told you your charge is arriving tomorrow morning, as for other scheduling...a week of training and familiarizing yourselves with her are planned. The royal family is covering all reasonable expenses in that time for the group."

She glanced towards the keep, now only a few dozen meters away. "And there are some arrangements I need to talk to you about privately now that I think about it, Wraith."

Looking to Serilliyus now, Sefeya nodded to Wraith. "Serilliyus, this is Wraith. He's the other team member here at the moment. He and I have worked together for several years..."

Her eyes turned to Wraith, "And Wraith, this is Serilliyus, she'll be the primary long range element of the group if she accepts and if what I've gotten about the incoming group holds true."

[Bean Bandit]

Wraith turned fully toward the woman and bowed politely...the faint, but distinctive scent of alchohol reached his nose.

He raised his eyes to her looking closely. "Pleased to meet you," he murmured, and threw a questioning look at Sefeya. She bore the distinctive look of one of the elven races, and if she smelled of alcohol...

Does she even know I'm here? he wondered.

[Carthrat]

"The pleasure is all mine," replied Serilliyus, in a tone which indicated the complete opposite.

"Shall we be going?"

[Asrana]

Sefeya raised an eyebrow at Serilliyus' snippiness, hoping it was simply the alcohol.

Shrugging, Sefeya gestured for Wraith to walk with them as she headed for the keep again. Leaves and sticks crunched underfoot, the occasional forest rodent scattering with the noise.

Te guards at the entrance of the keep, much like those at the front gates, quickly and silently opened the metal bound doors with only a flicker of Sefeya's fingers for command. Past the heavy door was a long hallway of basalt and granite, lighted every few feet by a glowing yellow orb. If they looked to either side, every half meter was a narrow slit, an arrow loop, changing the side they were located on each time.

Leading her employees through a twisting almost maze of hallways, Sefeya stepped through a reinforced door, and the hallways seemed to shift in appearence. Where windows were absent in the previous complex of hallways and doors, here they were one of the primary light sources, allowing the morning sunlight to stream in. The floors were no longer smooth hewn basat and granite, but plated in mirror finish black marble. Coming to a short side hallway, at least in comparison to the other hallways, Sefeya stepped into it.

Plated in the same black marble as the hallways, it had four doors on each side, well interspersed, and one at the end.

Walking to the second door on her left, Sefeya produced a key from within her cloak and unlocked the door. "These are your quarters, Serilliyus. There's a spare set of clothes on the bed, I'll come back with a tailor in four or five hours." she said quickly, handing the key to Serilliyus before gesturing for Wraith to follow her further down the hallway...

[Bean Bandit]

Wraith followed the two women silently, committing what he could of the passages to memory. He watched impassively as they stopped in front of Serilliyus' quarters, making a careful note of it's location.

As Sefeya gestured for him to follow, he turned and silently shadowed her down the short corridor...

[Carthrat]

Serilliyus took the key.

"Thank you..."

After the two left, Serilliyus shut the door...

...and resisted the compulsion to slap herself.

"What the hell is wrong with me... it's just the alcohol. Dammit, Seri, why did you have to do something so *stupid*..."

Sighing to herself, he set her weapons aside, and got changed from her filthy rags into something more intact.

She ended up in a loose-fitting pair of olive pants and a black shirt, obviously intended for a man.

Unfortuantely, most of the other articles of clothing within the dressingroom either didn't fit or weren't exactly her outfit of choice.

Well, her current outfit wasn't exactly designed for combat, but it wasn't like she was going to get into a fight anytime soon.

Sighing to herself, she decided to practice going through a few sword motions.. .something she desperately needed work on.

[Asrana]

Sefeya kept going down the hallway, nearly to the end. Turning to the last door on their left, she withdrew another key from her cloak and unlocked it just like she'd unlocked Serilliyus' door.

Unlike Seerilliyus' though, Sefeya ducked through this doorway, gesturing for Wraith to follow. Inside were plainly furnished quarters, a dark wood table in the center of the front room with three heavy chairs around it.

Sefeya set the key to the room on the table, pulling out a chair and dropping into it.

"I didn't quite tell you everything about the job, Wraith...but now, when we're inside the palace, I guess I can." she smiled tiredly, removing one of the rare maps of Draconia from her cloak.

"Sit down, and I'll start."

[Bean Bandit]

Wraith nodded and pulled out another chair, sitting down opposite Sefeya, making sure he had a good view of the table top. Assuming an attentive posture, he waited for her to begin.