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"okay, well, we cant leave without him, so i will go out and search for nilus", flint said.

no one objected , and it didnt seem that grdar really carred if nilus went or not. flont said some quick good byes and departed into prdian to seek out the layman.

memorie lane? .. not so much. the town wasnt exactly living up to its name. pridian was represented purity, pride and it was settled by puritan types. now, it was filth, he felt ashamed that his fellow travelers saw it like this first.

flint walked cautiously through the town. he avoided the soldiers of caelorn.

after roughly an hour of searching he sat down. he couldnt imagine were nilus had left to..were they going to have to leave him? why wouldnt he come back, didnt he know they were leaving in the morning, maybe he missed something...or maybe he was held prisoner by the guards of caelorn.

as he got up to check the sheriffs office, which had been fortified, increased in size and filled with the soldiers of caelorn, he saw a women exit a building..she was clealy a hooker. it was odd, but he over looked it as unimportant.

he took off south , figuring hed find nilus inthe walls of the jail.

convienent store owner, id be a millionair in a week.

flint knew the house well, he was lying in his bed...in his room, well, his old room anyways. he knew all of the creaks, he could tell when grdar got up and where he went. he couldn't hear anything past that. he lay in bed, looking at the roof.

he kept playing his agenda out through his mind. they would leave the women here. go to caelorn. find out who has the heart. stop them. then he could go home, he could tend to his uncle. not to say he didnt have fun exploring and working on "quest", with them, he enjoyed the hell out of it, but his uncle came first...well, after the heart. the heart poses a danger to the land, and his uncle does live in this land, so ipso facto, saving the land is saving his uncle...plus the land. so...off to caelorn in the morning.

the next morning, flint walked down the stairs of his once hoe. he didnt even have to open his eyes...he knew the stairs too well. he sat down to a prepared meal, like the old days. he took a few bites before noticing something...

"wheres nilus?", he asked the small group.

"he left last night flint", felix said lightly.

"yes...i know, but he isnt back yet?", flint said.

"no, havent seen him", grdar said.

"thats strange, he knew we were leaving this morning, bhut i suppoese the sleep will keep him at ease", flint said.

"at ease?", felix commented on the statement.

"oh...he has stuff going on, his past, his ancestors deeds..thing like that", flint said, looking at grdar.

grdar mumbled under his breath," recgnition of a fault dosnt leave you innocent, no more that a mere yart'nir".

flint heard his uncle come down the stairs...weasing. odd. flint thought. he took another look at his uncle and saw something...some hpw, through some mental block, he had seen his uncle in the way he looked when flint left, a tall, broad, muscular man with the strenght and stamina of the gods.

but now..he was thin, pale, ans raspy in the voice. was this his fault...had he not left, would felix not have fallen to such a state? he even saw that his uncle appeared oddly , almost...empty and just odd. flint immedietly began concerning himself with the way his uncle was projected...

...and he knew if one person would pck up on it...it qould be grdar, so protecive of the...women, could he call them that, the dwarf and the elf...they were female...so...

either way...if he did...no, when he left on his duty to seek the heart...which he had to do..he had to...he would have to come back, he had to deal with his uncle. he had to ..fix him, he seemed broken compared to how he used to be...was it the hand...was it my fault...

flint sulked as an entirely new guilt washed over him.

the tension in the group was high. grdar hated nilus and nilus , although forgiving, seemed to scorned by grdar to offer any length of his forgiving nature. maybe if grdar would let go of his prejudice, the tension would be absolved.

true, even i was still weary of nilus, but he seemed alright. but grdar, was it all dwarves...the female seemed fine with it, as had hirtha.

there were other tensions. he stil was weary of the elf, and she knew it, flint could tell some how. although , that tension was much less protrayed out in the open, like the episode between nilus and grdar earlier.

as they neared the borders of pridians rear, as to say, its less usede "side". he led the group through allie and behind houses untill they finally made there way to felix's house once again.

"okay, wait a moment, i need to tell uncle before yo can just barge in, i havent seen him in about 2 years, so im still weary of testing my limits...ill be right back. "

flint walked around the corner casually and went to walk into his uncles house, but on passing his front uncle, flint looked in and saw men, they were soldiers. there voices were inunderstandable , but very audible. it was the men with the green helmets .

flint hid until they left, ten walked in. "uncle, who were those guys."

"they are the soldiers of caelorn flint, they saw you and nilus enter earlier and there suspicious."

"why are soldiers of caelorn in pridian?", flint asked.

"since you left", felix trailed off..mentioning the incident for the first time,"caelorn sortof made this an extesion of its self. they even went as far as to threaten the livleyhood of the argonfers"

"why hasnt any one stopped them", flint asked.

"flint, they came in one day with an army, anyone who wanted to stand up to them, knew there fate if they tried".

flint took a deep breathe," so , can my friends still reside here", flint asked.

"yes...but it wont be as glamourousas they would want...they may have to spen some time in the cellar...its dark and damp...but ill domy best to clean it up."

"okay...", flint said," but dont mention it to the male dwarf...hes too full of pride to allowone of his tal'lin to be stored like a bottle of wine".

"tal'lin...what is that, a wife?", felisasked, unversed in grdars language.

"no..its a child...the female i spoke of", flint said.

flint left quickly ans came back around thirty seconds later.

felix watched as the group walked in one by one. flint...grdar...the dwarf maid... the elf, then nilus last.
felix watched..with only one thought," what the hell is that tall thing.

"you were speaking of the elves illness less than a minute ago, and you dont want to get the elf to the saftey of flints uncles house?", nilus questioned grdar.

"i want the elf in saftey, i just dont want a charred soul touching the purity of this elf", grdar argued.

"you speak of my peoples pastwith such disregaured...", nilus began to think impure thoguhts, that the swift burn of fire would cleanse the prejudice from his body, even if his body would be scorched as well.

"yes", grdar said bluntly," your people belong in the fires they preach the cleansing power of".

nius walked off into the woods, he was speaking a different lungauge from dwarvish, it was smoother, with sharper constanants .

"god damn it", flint said after his breath and ran after nilus.not long ago, he had not even a shred of trust for this fellow, but now he was taking his side over grdars...who he had previously seen himself closest to in the group. what was happening.

as flint caught up, he lightly grabbed nilus on the shoulder. nilus stopped.

"what is your request flint", nilus asked, clearly angered by grdar.

"listen, we need to get back to the group, we need to get allolari indoors and quickly. we can get in throught the opposite side of town",flint said, just trying to get a lid on the situation.

"why should i work with that fool of a dwarf flint., nilus asked.

"do it for allorari, do it for the good of the land, your homeland my not be under attack now, but after the hearts holder tears through these lands like a thunder storm, they will come for you nilus. nilus, we can make a difference, if i didnt think that, why wouldnt i just go stay with my uncle and blow you guys off...we must do this nilus, its out of our hands untill we can silence the danger that is the heart."

i dont know man, one of the hotteast girls at my school has a bit of a butter face, not real bad, but you cant help but notice a little something off.

oh, and i couldnt help but notice the redundancy in your title, unless your talking about morale character.

felix prepared a small meal for flint and nilus, quick bread and some lamb meat, tender. nilus and flint ate well, but soon, nilus was striken with a thought....the others...were they going hungry. he looked outside, the sky had lost most of the pink and gold highlights offered by a snset and in the closing minutes of twilight.

"we should leave soon", nilus spoke quickly, almost blurting his thought.

"so soon", felix questioned.

"yes uncle, he's right", flint concurred with nilus," we need to seek the others and bring them here....uncle , we will need to leave one of our group here, out of harms way."

"of course....flint, ill try my best to keep your fellow traveler out of harms way, courious...is it a dwarf", felix asked, trying to appraise the situation.

"yes uncle, a younge dwarf maid, uncle, among the group is another group. he is proud and has a bit of a temper", flint warned.

as the coll air began to sweep throught the city, no longer heated by the sun, nilus saw fit to relenquish his head from the cloaks hood. as soon as he did, felix stopped and looked at him.

"what,,,why is he like that, he dosnt look human.", felix voiced concern.

"for he is not uncle, he is among the tel'arair", flint stated a little weary of his uncles surprise.

"oh...", he trailed off a bit," you are a member of the tel'arair...are you....perhaps a healer?"

"no sir", nilus siad," my peole are not as recognised for their healing abilities as the nomadic brothers , we rarely see them...they...hold contempt of our contemp ways".

"oh..thats.. too bad", felix said still lost in thought.

flitn picked up on the feelings that felix had. he was reminded of his useless hand. he must have remembered the tal'arair as healers and thoguht that he could be healed.

"uncle, we must leave, we cant leave our freinds alone , we must retreive them. if there is any concern, light the lantern on your porch and we wont come in, okay uncle", flint spoke in preparations to leave.

"okay flint", felix said.

as nilus and flint left, flint pondered the emptyness in his uncles voice.

they all stood, examining the settelment of pridian. they were about 200 yards out, and far from pridian eyes.

"alright, i can approach the city, and nius could get in if he dosnt draw attention to himself, but you", flint was speaking to the whole group, but directing the information toward grdar," allor...allolari..., hirth, talin , well have to sneak you in in the cover of night...until then, me and nilus will go to my uncles house, please be patient friends".

nilus and flint began to walk to the town, leaving the others behind temporarily.

"flint, are ther any cultural customs i should observe in your home land", nilus asked.

"well, people are quite persinable, but you should remain cloaked and we should get to my uncles quickly...but dont make too much haste, that too , will draw attention."

"yes flint, i will remain translucent to the eyes of your kin", nilus agreed with flint.

"okay, lets go", flint said as the breached the outskirts of his once home.

they walked into the city and inadvertantly began catching eyes. thye continued on, acting if those they were unaware of the concern they were begining to raise.

there wernt as many merchant stands as an outsider would think, but only one general store. the streets were merly dirt and the people were not nobels, other than the argonfers family on the hill overlooking the town, the towns head council member was lord uestes arfonfer.

just as the towns whispers began to raise nilus's and flitn concern to a highted state of caution, felixes house came into sight.

flint couodnt help but notice that the town he had grown in was different. more hostile. there were guards he had never seen before...they wore green helmets and constanly traveled in military formations.

when flint neared his uncles home, he looked apon the neighboring structures with disdain. on one side, a saloon, it was loud. on the other side...a brothel.

nilus looked apon the women outside the house of mortal sin...e shuttered at the women, able to even feel the sin and grime wafting from the what he assumed were souless women...women who could be cleased with the swift burn.... he stopped, he couldnt do that, he couldnt destroy the scarred souls, he couldnt burn the brothel , the house of sin with the fires ..he ...he couldnt. no, it was a thought he pushed back in his mind once more.

flint walked cautiously on the stoop of his uncles home. his feet rapping on the hard wood. he walked as if though the wood would shatter like glass at one foul step.

he knocked on the door, his mind racing, heart rate quickening. then the door opend.

"fl...flint", felix said with question at the unexpected arival.

"uncle, im so sorry", flint instantly broke down.

"oh my lord....flint , your..your back", felix said, still in shock.

"uncle, please, im sorry...but, i need...we need to come in quickly", flint said.

"of course...plaese, come in", felix said with priase at the prodical return of his nephew.

flint walked in, the house was eerily familar, he thoguht of his childhood. the shame rushed back. nilus walked in softly,"sir, thank you for quartering us".

"of course, any friend of flint is welcome is my home",felix contuinued his hospitality.

flint and felix walked into the next room. nilus could hear the uneasiness in flintsvoice as he tried to explain his actions, but he was greeted with an accepting voice, only happy to see him. nilus thought tohim self. odd that such a humble man would live in the center of sins essence.

after a few minutes, flit finally emerged into the room again. they all were seated in felixes living room, and flint began to explain his voyage fron the ranks of the caelorn army to the lodging of a gracful healer.

"and the dwarvesand the elf....they also seek quarter here, flint said, still seeing himself as on thin ice.

"of course flint", felix said kindly," i could never turn away people of suck peril...but , please, be weary...we are at war with the dwarven kind".

thank you uncle", flint said as they waited for nightfall.
notes: im lableing people from pridian as pridians.
when i said flints feet were rapping om his uncles stoop, i meant a sharp knocking sound, not fast paced lyrical music

Flint:
roughly 5'10", some what thin with a medium muscular build. short brown hair, only 3 0r 4 inches long and hazel eyes. he wears a pale tan tunic like garb. he has light brown pants and a leather belt with the insignia of his battalion on it, crossed swords in front of a shield. he also has leather boots. all standard military issue.

he also has a military issue shield, it large , round and made of metal. not military issue is his sword. its 3 and a half feet long,four inches wide. razor sharp on both side. flint's uncle had a shipment of proctite specailly ordered to make the blade and hilt, which in inlaid with gold.

as a soldier, he dosnt really carrie any personal effects, other than the sword.

-----------

"i guess the ...niluses words could hold truth," flint thought," i dont trust him, but he seems different from what grdar sees in him".

then flint began to shamefully think of his uncle once more," i just left...out of shame, i just left... im almost and adult and i cant even think of how to approach someone ive harmed. my 18th birthday is in less than a month, and still i dont know what to say to felix. maybe nilus is right, maybe talking to uncle will mend my guilty conscious".

reguardless, they would be there soon, and hed half to come up with something quick.

think about i vinyl record . think about the inside of the upper face and the edge of the upper face...they are attatched, they move at the same speed....but the outsod traveld tem times further.

well, when i was about ten, my brothers used to go on...so naturally i started going on it to look at perverse things..then about two years ago, i thought about it for the firts time in roughly six years. so i checked it out and i liked what i found.

i cant get past level two cause i dont accept app. request.

the capital of alaska is juneau...so yeah.

the images that came up were some art i posted, the icons for flashes i reviewd and some art i liked...and even some games i played a while back...kinda wierd.

im not sure how to respond to that.,...

of america...
waht do you think when i say :go fuck---

"well, there goes our healer", flint thought to himself," now one of us will probably get stabbed".
"yeah, that'd how this would go down", flint continued in his pessimistic thoughts, but then noticed allolari looking at him with a little discontent.

"what, can she read my mind", flint thought sarcastically as the group progressed closer to his hometown," wait...can she? or maybe she cant just pick up on subconsious signals?"

"i dont trust that elf", flint thought," and i think she knows it".

grdar seemed ambvilent about his mothers departure from the group. flint assumed that although he was worried about his mother traveling on her own, she wouldnt be put in harms way in the human city.

on top of all of the other problems running through his head, one reigned over the rest. how would he approach his uncle?he still hadnt thought of a good way to do it. does he just knock on the door..or what. well, hed know what to do when they got to pridian.

then flint turned to the previous conversation, about the dwarven gods. his culture had but one god, no others. one all powerful god. although, flint had heard about many gods in other parts of the world... gods of the sea, the earth, of fire and lightning.

and what was the deal about this 5th god, clearly he was not a favorite of the dwarven people, as they called him the disgraced one. then grdar shot nilus a look that flint managed to catch. what was the background behind them?

it was noon and they would be at pridian before nightfall

squiggilyspooch

flint was slient in thought, walking only a few feet behind grdar.
"wow", flint thought to himself,"grdar really hates the tel'arair".

"how much longer could these two be around each other?", flint continued in thought.

"would they be the end of our group..no, if anything, the tel'arair will be exiled from the group", flint played out scenarios in his head.

they were approaching human lands, and flint worried for the saftey of grdar , the "dwarf maids", and the rest of the group. but reguardless, he knew that the dwarven women could seek quarter at his uncles home...but, he would have to talk first.

to tell the truth, flint had no idea what to say to felix. what was there to say? oh, im sorry for abandoning you in your time of perril, the major problem i caused in your life. but maybe seing his uncle would absolve the guilt weighing heavily on his shoulders.

Pridia, maybe, two, three hours away. it was a gentle villiage , but everyone still held there predjudices. he knew that if he could convince anyone to accept a dwarf into there house, it had to be felix.

as they walked. grdar still angry at niluses presence, the females talking, flint still pondering his thoughts heavily. nilus was very observent of the situation around him. everyone was occupied heavily, even the allolari seemed to be lost in thought.

flint ,still in thought, barley heard the twig snap . but he coaught it, it was maybe 20 feet away.

"grdar",flint whispered.

"what", he said back in a normal voice.

"i think someones coming", flint said.

----
P.S. anyone wanting to fill the last character slot, this would be great to jump in...

america is hands down the best country on earth, you may disagree as a canadian, but your opinion dosnt matter, not as a canadian, but as someone who dosnt find america to be the best country on earth. america is the place where anyone can make something of them selves.

sorry, wrong button..
maybe they shouldnt be talking...

maybe they shouldnt be talking?

after packing up four bags of supplies and belongings, hirtha distributed a pack to each of the men, and took one herself. grdar insisted that she give him hers, but she was quickly able to sway his opinion. the elf was awake now, and was standing around with the rest. each step of packing, flint was weary of the elf, and of the tel'arair.

nilus, he came from a race that biligerantly burned down their own homes and villiage at the whim of a demi-god...did he really want one of them in his villiage, did he really want one of the tel'arair in his home.

he grew more cautious of the two with each passing moment, but he saw no alternative, the farther away from the heart he got the elf the less control it had over her he assumed, but the closer he got the tel'arair to pridian , the worse he would feel.

reguardless, flint did not speak a word of his concerns. he only watched as hirtha put a large padlock on her hut. flint walked in the back of the "pack", keeping an eye on the elf and the tel' arair. he hadnt been so judgmental of nilus before, but it must have been the dreams of his uncles repeated demise.

they walked through the woods, not on the trail. grdar was in front, talin following closely. the elf and the tel'arair were walking nearly side by side, being as they were both quite thin. hirtha walked in front of flint.

they trudged through the woods, they would reach the clearing far out of the human armies eyesight.

actually, we dont see smoothly to start, its like when we see a movie, its not just one long shot , we see in frames. but the frames on a movie are timed so they looks smooth, kinda like when they made the batmobile on the old batman shows look fast by speeding up the film.

"wierd", flint thought to himself as grdar walked away,"maybe grdar was warming to me".
flint peered off into the treeline, it was morning and he felt the crisp air on his face, the birds chirping in the distance. he began to worry again about his father. hopfully soon they would be able to leave, grdar seemed to have abandond his plan to take him to dierlin. they were going to go to caelorn to find this count....but, what if this count was at the mines...or somewhere else. he thought to himself. either way, he needed to get to his uncle in Pridian villiage, where he grew up.
flint sighed and walked into the hut. he had suspected that they were making breakfast from the smells emerging from thehut, and they were validated when he saw the healer and the nir'lin serving food. he came in and sat down across from grdar, as the healer clearly sat at the head of the table and the nir'lin was already by him.
"so, flint is it", the healer asked flint.
"yes", he said , he wanted to add ma'am , but he assumed that if men wernt misters, women wernt ma'ams.
"so, i see that you're human, and you wear the garb of a soldier,"she adressed his appearence,"so, how did you meet grdar?"
"well...excuse me...what is your name",flint asked.
"its hirtha", the healer said.
flint had a slightly questioning look on his face.
"what is it flint?", she asked.
"well, ive heard grdar cll you tal'hirtha...so"flint trailed off.
"oh, well there is a simple answer for that...grdar is my son, dwarves adress certain other dwarves in a formal fashion, in this case, adding tal' is a way to formally adress me as mother",the healer said, answering flints question completely.
"oh...,well, i 'spose i should continue that story",flint said, still nervous around the healer and the others he didnt know all too well," so, i was standing on the hill top, looking at the villiage, concerned at the fact that there was no army to meet us...",flint bagan to tell his story.
by the time he finished, everyone was done eating.shortly afterword, as the others began to disperse, flint called grdar aside.
"grdar, i was thinking", flint said," so we need to find this count right? and he id said to reside in caelorn, but i was thinking, if he sent out this attack, what stops him from being at the mines, maybe even being the wielder of the heart?"
"you have some valid points",grdar said," but facing the human armies, let alone the wielder of the heart would surley be suicide, i think that ,as much as i dont want to leave my mines, that we eed to go to caelorn, if we can cut thehead off the snake without facing armies of humans and elves, then we should do that"
"yeah, i guess your right", flint said," so , we are going to caelorn?"
"soon flint, but i cant leave my mother here, i cant", grdar said, walking off into the hut.
flint went back to the spot the tree he was leaning on earlier,"felix", he said lightly.

dont kill yourself, sombodies parent will make a bigdeal about it.

so first you complain about sexism,getting a thread locked, now you wanna hear the fucked up shit a guy would do if he could be a woman?

boxers usually, but ive ben wearing boxer/breifs lately...mor ball support.

alright... ... ...