2nd adventure: Proxy War

She brings the spoon to her lips, then back down at the bowl.

"Eat together. Just the two of us, without any prank getting in the way."

Konrad is just all smiles today. "Please do. Come, sit. We have cheese and broccoli soup, and a spicy pork and white bean stew."

He realizes someone is missing, and the smile fades. "Has your master not returned?"

As Conan sits down, Leon answers Konrad.

"He is still preparing the bodies."

Saria's head hangs down. Volwind put his hand on her shoulder.

"It's good right? Velstar taught me how to make it but Fedler is the one who came up with the substitutions for ingredients we didn't have." He leans back and takes a bite of his own soup. "It wasn't from a lack of me wanting to. I guess I just didn't know how to tell you that. And you were never the easiest person to talk to."

"Hmm." Konrad swallows a spoonful of pork and beans. "This is a small, remote island, so I was surprised to hear that there were children here. Saria and Volwind are very well-mannered. Are they yours?"

Mihai touches Fedler's arm - "Sorry, but i need to try and go get him."

Zelk's hand stops moving. She appears to be in deep thoughts, but she soon realizes that she should keep eating. After a minute of silence, she speaks up again, with some difficulty.

"I wasn't," she concedes. "I wish we had done this sooner."

Her cheeks blush.

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"Okay," replies Fedler, a little concerned.

"They're orphans," explains Suzy. "We all are. Valor, William and Master Avalon funded this monastery to welcome any children in need of a home. Volwind and Saria arrived only a few months ago, just after the last of the first children to live here left. Had they been here, especially Nadia, things might have turned out differently..."

Mihai gives Fedler a light smile, and gently gives her hand a reassuring squeeze. Then goes to ask Leon where he might find the Master, then go look for him.

"I take it Nadia was one of his star pupils. So they found homes elsewhere, then?" he asks, in attempt to call attention to why the masters built this place to begin with.

"Me too." He smiles in understanding. "I wish we had done a lot of things. When I saw you laying there, I thought those dumb poems would be the last thing I ever gave you." He puts aside his soup and moves closer.

"I thought when you convinced me not to take Snicker's deal that would be the last time we'd ever hold hands." Steve takes her hand in his.

"And I thought when we kissed near the Barracuda that would be the first and last time we'd ever do that." He moves in close and looks her in the eyes and gently kisses her on the lips.

Mihai suddenly realizes he doesn't have to ask for directions since Avalon told the group where to find him if they ever needed to; "Follow the right path outside of the monastery, and go left at the fork." It takes Mihai only two minutes to walk there, and once he reaches the clearing, he finds a 25 by 10 meters building made of wood with the same architecture than the monastery. The door is closed.

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"I found my home here," continues Suzy, between two mouthfuls of beans and pork soup. "It's our choice whether we want to leave, or stay. Martin, he wanted to explore the isles; Willow joined the Golden Legion in Zest; Voltaire went looking for the rest of his family back in Lofell; Alvin just wanted to strike rich with some schemes of his, and Nadia went back to Myr to help her people."

"A monk in Myr?" asks Naomi. "That sounds... promising."

"We thought the same thing," says Valor, a small smile on her face.

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Zelk responds to the kiss in kind, slowly at first, and then more deeply. She only breaks their embrace after her bowl of soup almost spills all over the floor.

"I think we should stop. For now," she says, amused. "I still need to recover; and I'm starting to see black dots again."

Mihai approaches and knocks on the door. - "Master Avalon?"

Mihai hears a distant voice coming from inside. "Please enter."

He opens the door and enters the building to find himself in a small hallway, with closed rooms on both sides. There's only one door that is opened, and the master emerges from it. He observes Mihai, and politely asks, "Yes? May I help you?"

There is blood on his hands.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, but my party made some soup and gathered everyone in the main hall. Valor and Leon and Suzy are there too, along with the children." - he takes a breath before concluding - "I think they'd really like to have you there with them."

Master Avalon looks back at the inside of the room. There is visible hesitation on his facial features. Only now does Mihai notice that the monk has rolled up his sleeves for whatever he was doing. There's a few seconds of silence, until the middle-aged man makes his decision.

"Give me a moment."

He goes back into the room, and Mihai can hear some shuffling noise, then the splash of water. A minute later, he comes back into the hallway, and walks towards the exit. His sleeves are now down, and his hands are clean.

"Let us be on our way."

OOC:

On the way, Mihai asks - "Master, could i know their names? The only i learned was William."

The master is surprised. "Their names were William, Dionysius, and Liesbeth. We all share the same family name; Zerva."

OOC:

"I won't forget."

"Hmm...you say she was from Myr?" This strikes Konrad as odd.

"Is this monastery well known? I can't say I've ever heard of a monastery orphanage here in these parts."

Zeiss:

"We're not well known, no," answers Leon, just as he finishes munching on a piece a bread. Breeze offers him another one, which he accepts with a grateful nod. "A few merchants come to the island, but contact with the rest of the world is limited. We sometimes visit Zest, but only for certain occasions or when we are in need of specific materials"

OOC:

As he slurps (no noise, just the action) down some soup, Konrad passes a glance over at Naomi, who had shown a positive attitude, and chooses not to spare her a look of contention before returning to that topic. raises an eyebrow at Naomi.

"Heh. Well, I suspect this Nadia in Myr should be no more promising than usual, if you'll pardon me for saying." He bites into a slice of buttered bread and chases it with water.

OOC: Polite dinner conversation. Very polite.

Zeiss of Dreamkeeper wrote:"I think we should stop. For now," she says, amused. "I still need to recover; and I'm starting to see black dots again."

"Agreed." He smiles. "So long as it's just for now."

He sits back and helps her get resituated. "There you go. Back to handsome nurse and irresistible patient. Would you like some more water?"

The children have started playing word games with Breeze, and Fedler is looking at them with a peaceful smile.

Naomi notices Konrad's reaction, but she returns her attention to her soup. The red mage's comment about the success of Nadia's mission made them share a quiet chuckle.

"She's not going there as a missionary," explains Valor.

"She's too impulsive for that," adds Leon. "It is more likely that she is going to beat them up until they see things her way."

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"Yes, please," replies Zelk. "In a glass. I'm not going to drink from your hand."

There's an empty glass, which one of the squad members must have brought earlier, right besides Steve. The young woman, her skin still pale, is playing with her soup.

"Once we're back in the Free Feathers, I'll have to debrief my superiors, and you'll do the same with yours..." She stops herself, hesitant to continue. "I'm sorry, forget it. Just give me that glass. Don't take too long filling it up."

She resumes eating.

This elicits a hearty laugh from the red mage. "That, she is most certainly welcome to try."

He resumes eating. When he is finished, he gets up with a mind to go and visit Zelk.

Steve picks up the glass and fills it with water by doing his thing. He hands it over. "Forget what? Are you worried about the mission outcome?"