chapter 9: lisads of the cove

Elsewhere in the region rex's party consisting of just Arvus and Sicus would be wandering down the edges of the coast. "Captain i think we might be lost surely its not this far out we must have already past the cove somehow"

Rex sighs and looks at his map quite confusedly."i don't understand the map says the cove should be at the end of the northern split of the potami river."

they look at the river they stand next to that flows into the ocean as they look at the surrounding coast there shows no signs of a bay. Sicus sighs and holds out his hand wanting to see the map"may i see the map captain rex?"

Rex annoyingly hands it to him" i mean we could see if this was a bay right? I never really seen the coast before but the large indention inland would be see-able on the ground id imagine!"

Arvus groans and lays against her lizard mount."why did they even send us? Was there supposed to be some travel guide we didn't bring along?"

Sicus grits his teeth and looks at rex"captain rex remember when the river split?"

Rex looks at his subordinate feeling a little uneasy"yes why?"

Sicus's voice seems to hold a bit of annoyance as he speaks"tell me how many rivers did it split open into?"

Rex looks even more worried as he prepares to answer" it split off into three did it not?"

Sicus points to the map showing where the split of the northern potami river is"yes and how many was there supposed to be?"

Rex looks horrified as he look at the map seeing the river was only only supposed to split into two"then where are we?!?"

Sicus points down map going down the southern split of the potami river where the base of the river opens up"that was the mouth of the southern potami river rex we never even got to the northern split! For this entire time we have been going down the southern potami river!"

Both rex and Arvus examine the map horrified for a moment until Arvus actually looks at it"wait that means we just have to follow the coast from here see?"

They all look towards the map now. Arvus was right luckily the southern split didn't send them too far off as the bay was actually just further down the coast"well then i guess that settles it lets just continue along the coast."

Rex says quite confidently while taking back the map as if he hadn't already almost got them lost. the siblings sigh and just follow along knowing better than to argue with their captain. It ends up taking much longer than the map said though as they arrive at the bay a two full days later. the bay is finally within eye shot they also see the houses that are scattered around it.

Though they couldn't see all the way across as the bay was simply too big. The lights that illuminated the background was surely evidence of people all along the bay. The astrans look amazed as this all comes into their version. the closer they get the more lively the bay seems.

As they walk into the villages they look amazed at amount of lisads living here"captain rex i thought this was supposed to be one of the most isolated parts of the kingdom i was told that the omin clan just started claiming this area becauae no one was around to say other wise. utum was telling me about how the head of his clan was giving away land out along the northern potami river"

Rex looks around quite impressed himself"well something tells me sir fortis had no idea about these people the northern potami river has never really been all that important as it has never really been apart of the kingdom."

As they look around the village the villagers would now be looking at them as these astrans simply walk into their community. Though no one dares approach them all activities come to a stop as these foreigners peruse their village.

A man a heavy set of robes that would be dyed green and lined with bronze approaches them. He was undoubtedly a lisad as the older man removed his hood to reveal some green hairs mixed in with his grays. He looks at them expressionlessly simply moving to the side and extending his arms to point at a large wooden hut"please go in"

He say with a strong voice but even stronger accent. Rex looks at his travel companions and nods heading inside of his hut. Once inside it would be mostly empty except for the odd cabinet and furniture clinging to the wall and the single fire place that lies in the center of the hut.

As the three astrans make their way in the old lisad follows he moves past them going to sit by the fire pit not once meeting their eyes. He simply grabs a pipe as he sits by the fire taking a little stick out of the fire to light his pipe"sit astrans then we may discuss why you are here."

His voice is heavy as the air barely hurls itself out of his throat. Unsure how to approach this situation they sit down not wanting to cause any type of scene. All sitting around the fire the lisad puts his hands through the top of the fire though instead of getting burned the fire goes down no longer reaching where his arms are.

The old lisad holds out his lit pit looking at the man sitting across from him which would happen to be Sicus" smoke astran while talk"

The three astrans look a little startled by this but Sicus still not wanting to be rude takes the pipe and starts smoking from it. The old lisad looks at rex who would be sitting next to him on his right"now we may begin"

Rex nods and begins to speak"i am commander rexan lacerana i have been sent here on the orders of the high king to ask the lisads aid to produce new weapons and equipment for our army so that we may gain the advantage in the war with the luutons"

The old lisad strokes his long thick beard and once again reaches through the fire taking the pipe from a rather dazed looking Sicus he then hands it to Arvus the stern serious look never leaving his face"you smoke."

She nervously takes the pipe looking over to her her dazed looking brother. Hed be looking at his hands quite oddly but seemed fine all in all. She let out a heavy sigh and took a few tokes off the pipe. The lisad nods and looks back at sir rexan"i am karris shvilli i am the chieftain of the tribe that resides on this side of the bay"

Rex raises an eye brow"oh so multiple tribes of the lisad have moved her may i ask what for?"

The old lisad nods taking the pipe from a now dazed looking Arvus , though he doesn't hand it over to rex yet as he starts empting the ash and refilling the pipe" yes i understand the astrans have layed claim to the potami river and all its tributaries and the northern potami river does flow into the bay so this is by your claim a part of the astran kingdom, but we lisad can not afford to respect ideal claims the plains to the north have become much too harsh as the luutons have united under one banner and you astrans push into the plains as you please. Almost all of the lisads now resign themselves in this bay as we have made a mass exodus from our home lands"

Rex looks at the man feeling very uneasy the bold statement he has raised a few flags in his head, but the man voice held no hint of aggression or ill will .no it displayed the faintest sounds of desperation. So as karris went to hand rex the pipe he holds his hand out refusing to take it."no im sorry ill have to pass i have no time for recreation."

The man nods and slowly puts the pipe away. Rex looks towards his dazed subordinates feeling a little bad as Arvus looks intensely into the fire and Sicus would be oddly waving his hand around through the air. Though he had a pretty good feeling they'd be alright.

So rex looks back toward karris with a look of determination." so who do i have to speak to receive the lisads aid?"

The old lisad looks uneasy not able to look rex in the eyes."im sorry sir but it isn't that simple the lisads have no unifying hierarchy if you want our aid you will have to go through this entire cove and convince all the clan heads to give you their aid. If it is any consolation i offer my tribes full support"

Through the stoicness of voice the lisad seemed fearful of rex's wrath as every word that comes out of his mouth is speckled with desperation. Rex sighs and holds out his hand as if he was expecting to receive something."then i shall take you up on that smoke after all sir karris it seems that i will be staying among your people for abit"

Karris nods and once again pulls out the pipe, lites it and hands it to rex. Rex tries to see whats in the pipe but by now what it could be is secluded by its burning. Not too worried as he had a feeling the lisads needed him more than the astrans need them.

After sucking on the pipe for a few good seconds he breaths out the smoke and relaxes waiting for whatever is about to happen to happen, but before anything can happen the lisad man starts slowly banging on the drum. The beat started to feel connected to his heart as a sense of euphoria starts to rise within him.

Karris reaches into a small vase and throws something into the fire. The fire rises changing from red to a sickly green as a column of smoke constructs itself from the fire. The lisad starts to moves his arms around in a circular motion. Even though theyre inside rex starts to feel a bit of wind moving off him.

The smoke starts to change shape and even though karris has stopped banging ,the drums beating percist. The smoke now has form: no longer dispersing freely through the air it holds its self together taking the shape as a large sphere.

Illuminated by the green fire he flattens the sphere making the smoke shaped like a set of plains."in the beginning before your kingdom unified before your people layed claim to the river valley and before astra drew first blood onto the beast giving man the ability to fight back. All man were equal. But when astra drank the blood of the beast of old and gained the heart of fire the natural balance was disturbed."

The smoke changes and swirls taking the form of astra then of the beast of olds. The smoke has become a muse of thought the shapes change with every word as they take some symblace of what karis says.

Rex can only sit and be amazed at what he see. The drumming has persisted through out this event but oddly as he once again looks back at karris he sees he is now at least playing it. As he plays his hand drum he moves his body in an odd motion with it that rex could only assume was somehow part of this ritual.

"The supreme mother buneba had granted your astra the flame a sign of triumph now you astrans use it as a justification for your impulsive expansion. The lisads who once thrived along the entirety of the potami river and the plains that it touches. now what remains of our once great people are stuck along this cove."

Karris starts to beat the drum more violently as a sense of aggression starts to seep from him. Rex no longer looking at the smoke watches karris with a look of uneasiness. The old lisad is simply looking into the fire as hes violently hitting the drum. " our people were once great kings and chiefs like you astrans and sokarans. Many giant beast use to roam these plains and the lisad would take great honour in hunting them down and trading the carcasses with you astrans."

Rexs uneasiness only grows as the drum seems to be getting faster after each hit. Rex examines karris trying to figure out whats happening. He looks at the middle aged lisad dressed in fine cloth with a sense of curiosity that is provoked by fear.

His eyes never leaving the fire as he beats away on the drum"but now the beast are no more very few roam iskra at all. So our power declined you astra made your declaration that the potami river was yours and our power declined even further. Now the luutons are united under a single banner. Between the sokarans astrans and luutons our home lands are no longer ours."

He looks up from the fire and gazes at the smoke a smile comes across his face. Something seemed off rex rubs his eyes as he once again looks at karris he looked much younger than he remembered looking only a little older than cofus. His clothes are luxurious as a fine cape is displayed on his back. A golden crown adorns his head. Where a poor old chief once stood rex now looks upon a king.

His jaw drops in a panic he stands up and looks at him."whats going on what kind of trick is this"

The younger karris now looks at him through expressionlessly as he stands up and starts moving towards rex"and now soon the lisads will vanish from this earth. Refugees in a land we once called our own. This cove use to be the capital of a great lisadian kingdom 400 hundred years ago now nothing remains we had hoped to come back to see some resemblance of our ancient civilization but nothing has remained."

He monologues apathetically as he gets closer and closer to a now panicked rex who would be backing himself into a wall. He pulls out his sword and points it to karris"stay back!"

But karris continues his march his face showing no signs of any emotions" and now soon we will disappear from iskra just as our ancestors did. And we shall do it where they did. "

Rex tries to stab at him. The blade pierces his lung but does nothing to stop him as he simply continues to approach him letting the sword go through him more. Karris grabs the attacking astran and throws him to the ground.

Though as rex looks back up it is not karris he sees but onei the high king himself. Rex is beyond confused as to what he is seeing. How did his liege get her? Where did karris go? He looks around but cant see anything or anyone but him and onei.

The rest of the world seems to swirl out of focus into incomprehensible forms. Onei grabs rex by his shoulder and looks him in the eyes"and now the astrans have come here to ask the lisad to play a part in their extinction. How glorious the astran kingdom it is. To weaken its foes to where they can only survive by becoming apart of them."

The king seems mad as he rants he shakes rex violently as he sets him up. Once hes siting up again onei reaches for his waist. Rexs eyes dart at his waist trying to see what hes grabbing. His eyes focus on a long thin item protruding around his waist his vision is starting to blur even worse as he can only assume it to be a knife

As onei pulls back to unsheath it rex grabs his arms trying to take it from him, but before he could go further he simply thrown to the ground. Defenseless he prepares himself to be stabbed but nothing happens he opens eyes only to see an insane display of colours and forms of unimangble shifting forms his mind has lost all comprehension of what he is seeing. His consciousness is stripped away and merged with everything else around him.

There is no high king there is no karris there is no Arvus or Sicus there is no hut and there is no rex. Times loses all meaning as even it is lost within his own mind.

After what feels like an eternity rex awakens from his state and reconnects with his reality. He looks around the hut to see Arvus and Sicus sitting by the fire comercing with karris. Getting up slowly he tiredly makes his way to the fire and looks at karris with a look thats a mixture of caution and curiosity.

The old lisads eyes meet with rexs a sense of caution mixed into his look as well. Rex examines karris clothing they were undoubtedly made of an old and tattered cloth."so how much of that happened?"

Karris shrugs looks back towards the fire"how am i to know that if you yourself don't even know what just happened?"

Rex sighs and sits by the fire not feeling up to pry further. He looks at his two comrades and examines them"and you too are fine with what just happened?"

Arvus and Sicus both nod as they look towards their captain. Sicus would be the first to speak"yes i found myself back home for a moment talking with my mother "

Rex sighs to himself and looks over to Arvus"and what about you Arvus?"

Arvus nods with a smile on her face"i have to agree it was very stimulating. I thought i was lost in the woods then it turned into the sea then i was back at the palace of our high king."

Rex sighs once again to himself a face of slight disatisfaction comes across his face"well if i was the only one who had a bad time i wont say anything else about it."

Rex looks back over to karris giving him a rather stern look" karris i hope you will provide some sort of lodging for me and my compatriots."

Karris nods his head without any sign of emotion as he stands up and gestures for the door" of course if you'll just follow me ill show you to an extra hut we have."

They all get up and follow the elderly man outside rex was unsure how much time had passed but as he looked at the sky he cant assume it was very long as the sun had barely moved in the sky.

Feeling a little off put by this fact he nonetheless follows karris in silence as he examine the village. The huts of the lisads were quite odd to rex; they were really nothing more than large tents, he thought.

They were made of large pieces of thin materials like leather , cloth or linen. Held up by logs planks and sticks. The type of material seeming to not being important as it changes from hut to hut. Something rex thought made the village quite ugly.

Though he tried his best not to judge the recently established lisads as he makes his way through their hastily put up village. Eventually karris leads them t a little hut within the village. It seemed no better or worse than the other huts though it did seem to have several patches on the linen lining.

Karris pushes aside the flap that they have for a door and gestures for them to head in. so rex and his compatriots do just that. Rex looked around the little yurt quite disappointedly but resides himself not to say anything about the provided accommodations."Thank you karris this will do just fine for our stay."

Karris nods with his usual stoic expression still on his face"then shall i leave you to rest ill have someone arrive with blankets later"

Now by themselves in the little hut the three astrans examine their surroundings. Sicus finds a little pile of logs and starts putting them in the fire place that would be in the middle of the hut. Once placed he holds his hands over the logs and uses his geia to light them on fire.

Arvus sighs and just sits by the fire holding her hands out to embrace the warmth from it."Well I guess this is better than just a normal tent" she says quite unenthusiastically.

Rex joins them by the fire taking a seat as well" well don't get use to it this war is only beginning Arvus once were done here its back to the capital and then onto the front for who nows how long"

Rexs eyes are focused into the fire his is voice calm as he talks about the oncoming hardships ahead of them. The siblings both sigh knowing all he just said to be true. Sicus wanting a change of atmosphere pulls around his pandura from behind his back and begins to play.

The fire seems to dance and flicker in the gentle melodies of his playing. Rex rummages through his bag and pulls out wrapped bottle of alcohol and several clay cups" though atleast even as were far away from our homes we can still enjoy the luxurious of our people "

The little hut is quite peaceful from then on as the three astrans drink by the fire to Sicus's soothing playing. Eventually a young lisadi woman walks into their little hut carrying several blankets and pillows in her hands.

The astran's entertainment comes to a halt as the great her as she walks in. Sicus stops his strumming to gawk at the rather beautiful lisadi woman. his face becomes that of far off admiration as she looks toward rex offering him the blankets as well as gifting him with a loaf of bread that she pulls out of her basket that she had around her shoulder." we know its not much but its all we can spare"

Rex simply smiles and nods as he takes the loaf"thank you this will do just fine"

A smile comes upon the young woman's face like the rising sun warming the room with just her smile. She nods then leaves the astrans alone once more. Arvus chuckles and lightly punches her brother on the arm"don't think i didn't see you gawking"

Sicus face becomes a bright shade of red as his sister mocks him"can a man not admire the beauty of a woman from time to time what so wrong with that!?!"

Sicus pleads in a tone that oozes with self preservation , causing both of his companions to erupt in a fit of laughter. Much to Sicus continued dismay." whats so funny!"

He says now sounding desperate as he feels like a fool in front of his friends. for the rest of the night the three astrans enjoy eachothers company sitting peacefully by the fire. The next morning they awake as the sun comes through the smoke hole in the roof illuminating the little hut.

as they awake they rummage through their bags starting whatever morning routines life on the road allows them. Arvus brushes her hair with a comb that she had brought with her. Sicus begins tuning his instrument as rex begins his morning exercise.

eventual though they are interrupted by karris who lets himself in though its not like their was a door to knock on anyway."morning to you astrans what is your plan for today?"

rex gets up from off the floor and dust himself off before greeting karris" good morning to you as well karris. i guess we shall begin meeting the heads of clans i in trust that you have already begun informing them of our arrival?"

karris nods seeming calm as always"yes i have informed the heads of clans within this side of the coast and im sure its only a matter of time until the rest figure out. we lisads are known quite well for our tendency to converse."

rex nods once again before beginning to put on his Armour" very well then i ask you tell as many of the head of clans as you can to gather at our hut in two days time i have a deceleration to make."the usally calm karris is put off by this feeling confused he tilts his head before speaking to rex"a deceleration you say? a declaration of what kind might i ask?"

rex with a growing grin proudly speaks"im sorry karris but you willl have to wait just like the other clan heads".

karris upsetly grumbles to himself before regaining his composure and speaking to rex."well then i shall patiently wait until then. if you have nothing else to ask me i shall excuse my self"

rex nods and waves him goodbye once gone he looks towards his subordinates."well then Sicus and Arvus ill need you two to go explore the cove abit more i have to get started on my decleration and i would like to be alone"

rex plops down by the fire pulling a pen and quill along with a scroll out of his bag the two sibling sigh and comply leaving him to himself."so what are we supppose to be finding out?"

Sicus ask his sister as they begin their walk around the lisads settlement "what do mean?"

Arvus ask rather curiously"well he asked us to go explore so he must want us to find something out right? like gather information about them?"

Arvus just shrugs as they walk through their make shift villages. with the their huts loosely scattered without any sense of organization"i think he just more wanted us out of his hair for a few hours more than anything."

sicus lets out a playful hurt gasp his hands resting on the back of his head as they continue their stroll"well thats just kind of rude dont you think?"arvus once again just shrugs as they walk not seeming to bothered."eh i was kinda wanting to explore anyway"

now its Sicus's turn to shrug as they walk"eh whatever i guess i could spend some time wandering"

arvus makes no reply to her brother this time as shes too occupied with looking around this pseudo-settlement of the lisads. her eyes seem to focus a rather large group of people standing around eachother.

pulling at her brother she leads them over to the ring of people to see what the commotion could be about. trying to break through the crowd they push and weave their way to where they are finally standing on the inside of the ring.

in front of them lies a group of men working with metal. arvus and sicus look on curiously as the men hold onto crucibles with long metal clamps that allow them to keep it in a forge made from clay and stone.

arvus and sicus feel quite confused as the crowd seems to take quite abit of interest in their metal working. the outer ring of people would be lined with older men who all watch with what seems to be some form of contempt.

their would be an odd some of 15 men working within this area they had a sense of unisence behind them as it seemed every one had a role to fill. young men would be loading the crucibles, feeding the fires, holding crucibles near a roaring fire, but when it came time to pour the liquid metal into a mold it seemed the tongs that held the crucibles were always handed to someone with abit more experience.

older men would be seen sharpening blades, reshaping tools, and creating molds. from start to finish it seems the lisads have broken every part of metal working done to a specific motion as they work flawlessly.

once whatever they were working on is finished they hold it out to the crowd and pass it around to be inspected. from their the crowds commentary becomes insatiable as the workers work is passed around.

eventualy a piece makes its way around to them as a lisad woman taps them on the shoulder to show arvus a bronze necklace that had been crafted."look at this dear isnt it just wonderful tell me is there any in the kingdom of astra that can make such fine a piece of jewelry out such simple materials"

the lisad woman had put the necklace in Arvus hands and while the woman boast had made her feel abit sour as she looks at the necklace she cant help but find herself agreeing.

never in her life had she seen a metal necklace of this sort. on a barely visible string lied a good number of bronze beads each flawlessly round with intricate swirls on them. she looked upon the necklace with awe her mouth gaping open as hey eyes gaze upon this necklace which she doubt the artisans of the capital could make and yet it was here in the far corners of the their kingdom made by migrants in a little shanty village.

for every bit of disbelief she felt a tad bit of envy. all her life she had never known metal jewelry could be so luxurious. astrans were not very skilled metal workers it was simply a job for the peasents all of the highest artisans in her kingdom were workers of leather, ivory, and scales.

with the disappearances of the beast of old prices had skyrocketed for fine jewelery and other items made out of those materials. lower nobles like her family could never afford finer items. the idea that lisadi women had such high quality items like this as they live in their little huts slightly infuriated arvus.

nonethless she hands back the necklace trying her best to not look or sound annoyed"yes i have to say they are quite wonderful"

though she fails as her bitter envy seeps through her voice with the air getting a little warmer around her. the lisadi women takes a few steps back within in the crowd disappearing from sight leaving a rather annoyed Arvus.

sicus would still be observing the lisads work. he was amazed by the sheer focus of their more than anything else. even as this crowd watched their every move he never once seen them look at anything but their work. their eyes never wander or meet with anyone besides a fellow worker of metal.

though one thing above all else caught his eye was some sort of odd contraption they had someone operating by the forge. it what looked like to be two separate large leather bags that connect to a tube that connects both bags to a large pipe that leads under the furnace.

on top of the leather bags were wooden handles that a man would be pulling and pushing the bags up and down. when pushed down he could see the fire increased in sequence. quite amazed by this sicus moves his way around the crowd to get a better look at it.

now separate from his sister he stares intensely at this odd device that a young lisad man operates tirelessly. quite fascinated by the device he finds himself staring more and more closely at it. the usally concentrated lisad finds his focus broken away from his work and onto sicus. sicus not paying the man attention simply keeps staring at the device. finally the young man says something to him. sicus was sure it was a question of some sort by the confused tone he asked it in, but sadly he did not speak the language of the lisads. hoping that he may speake astran he ask a question of his own" what is this contraption that you are using? it looks mighty clever"

though no comprehensible reply comes as he simply says something else in lisadgi. the distracted air pumper causes another of the workers to yell at the lisad sicus is talking to. the lisad yells back gesturing toward sicus quite aggravatedly. sicus has no idea what they are saying but he knows its surely about him. now people in the crowd are starting to stare at him as well as some of the workers.

everything seems to start coming to stop as one lisad looks at another and says something then to another the only word the sicus can recongnize is astra. making his best guess is that their going around asking if anyone speaks astra or they are asking why an astran is here and are planing what to do with him.

now feeling abit uneasy sicus raises his hands to his shoulders in self defensive stance."i was just asking about those little pumps hes got their"

an older man walks his way between everyone yelling at them causing them all to get back to work. the man walks up to sicus looking quite annoyed"whats going on here astran?"

he asked in a heavy lisad accent though sicus was just happy he could understand him. calmly Sicus points to the pumps in question"i was just asking what this decive you have here might be called"

the older lisad man raises one of his eye brows which combined with his odd appearance compelled a feeling of agitated confusion across his face and a sense of ignorance onto Sicus."huh? thats what we lisads call a kvemot. i believe you astrans though have something similar called a bellow? have you not worked with metal before astrou? its a rather common thing"

even though he dressed finer and looks cleaner than this common lisad he feels no less a pleb than him at this moment just out of shear ignorance"no sir im a soldier not a metal worker"

the lisad simply scoffs"phhh soldier is not a profession to work is to create something for your people and to be soldier is to destroy that idea for others"

sicus is taken aback by this. this lisad had just denounced his very existence but before he could say anything arvus apears from behind him" is that what you really think? while a builder will build a home a soldier will create a kingdom. you lisads would be much better off if you had the means to protect yourselves"

the lisad snarls abit and waves his hands dismissively" if you have no important reason to disturb me from my work than please leave were very busy"

he then walks off before even waiting for a response. arvus scoffs a little but grabs her brothers arm and simply move on without saying anything else. siscus simply resides to be dragged around not bothering himself to say anything. they make their way out of the crowd.

once their away from the ring of people and close as one can be to being alone while in public. arvus sighs and lets go of her brother arm. turning around to face him

she gives him a gaze that pierces through his soul."i take my eye off for two seconds and you caused a commotion?"she asks in quite a calm yet harsh tone that instills a seance of self-consciousness in him"i was just asking what that pump they were using was"

Sicus says in a low voice his eyes not daring to meet her eyes. arvus pinches the little area that separates her eyes from each other and sighs."sicus you dont even speak their language. how in astras name did you think you would speak with them"

already sick of her intrusion sicus changes his tone to a more agrressive one now sounding more annoyed than anything"how was i supossed to know they speak another language we arrived here and karris spoke astran!"

now annoyed herself the two sibling butt foreheads as they yell at eachother in the lisads village" you really are the biggest fool on in all of iskra Sicus did you learn nothing from our schooling?"

Sicus takes a step back and lets out a dramatic gasp holding a palm to his heart"you hurt me dear sister but now it is you who is making a commotion"

her eyes go wide with rage Sicus once again looks away from her he let out a heavy sigh knowing he was about to get chewed out before finally looking back at his inraged sister one thought comes to mind"i should of went with gora"

but before she can say anything theyre interupted by the voice of a young woman."i will have to ask you to refrain from making a scene"

the two bickering sibling come to a stop and look towards the woman speaking to them. upon focusing in on her they see that she is no other than the young woman karris had sent the night before.

sicus averts his eyes from her once again feeling like a fool as they had caused another scene. arvus closes her eyes and lets out a heavy breath . after she breathes in she opens her eyes and forces the best smile she can"im sorry we didnt mean to we were simply investigating the crowd when my younger brother sicus brought some attention to himself. im sorry if my reprehending was a little loud"

the young woman raises an eyebrow giving the sibling a rather amused look"oh is that so? well i hate to delay your teachings but if you two would like i could be your guide."

arvus looks at her feeling abit confused"huh and why would you do that?"

young woman just smiles as she looks toward them"theres not really a whole lot to do here so id be happy to show you around"

Sicus eyes dart between the two women rapidly. meanwhile arvus had been griping onto his collar this entire time with quite abit of aggression but finally lets go as she looks towards the young lisad woman"oh well if thats the case wed be happy to have you. i am arvus messor astra and this is my younger brother sicus messor astra."

the young woman nods"nice to meet you both i am vavali svhili. now if youd like we can begin right away ive been told you have in the very least two days"

without much further delay they begin their tour for the next two days the sibling would spend their time among the lisads until the time comes for rexes deceleration. their little hut would be filled with the heads of various clan heads.

rex looks around the room with a calm look upon his face. every one in the room waits in silence for him to speak. finally he stands ,he clears his throat and begins to speak"im glad to see so many came. let me begin by introducing myself"i am rexan lacerana astra a captain in the astran army. i have been sent here by the high king himself to these lands to ask for your aid in our battle against the luutons"

the lisads start to look around at eachother murming to themselves for momnet before one speaks up"and why should we give you our aid?"

rex grins and looks towards the lisad who spoke up" i think what you should really be asking is when can you start. you lisads fled your lands to flee the wrath of the luutons did you not? now they have come to the lands of astra just as you have. and i doubt you came all this way to continue with their persuction. if we astra are conquered by the luutons hoards then you lisads will soon follow suit."

a general sense of uneasiness fills the room as the lisad chiefs once again murmer to themselves, rex lets the room quite back down before speaking again."if you join the war you will all be considered rightfull citizens of the kingdom and i have no doubt that the high king could easily be persueded into letting you lisads setting up a more permanent residence within our borders."

one lisad throws hismelf to his feet and looks toward rex with quite a bit of annoyance" so what youre basically saying that we have no choice but to join you? either live under astran rule or be crushed by the luutons soon after you astrans?''

rex shrugs nonchalantly"if thats how you wish to interpret it. the lisads and the astrans have traded together for centuries and have been on good terms in the past. i see no reason for us to not unite against our new found common enemy''

the room goes quiet as the lisads empatheticly look towards eachother until one of the clan head stands up and looks toward rex. his face showed signs of great distress as he began to speak"i see no other option. my clan shall join you astra in defeating the luutons"

another one stands up letting out a heavy sigh as he begins to speak as well"i shall join you as well"

soon the rest of the cheifs begin to join in as they all declare that they will be joining them. rex cant help as a grin grows across his face he pulls a long scroll from off a table and holds a pen out towards the lisads" then my new friends simply sign and it shall be done. then in two weeks time we shall head out towards oneidora."

the clan heads all make their way to sign the paper Sicus and Arvus watch amazed. by the time its done the signatures of 30 clan heads fill the paper. rex looks over to his subordinates giving them a smile"well i guess our mission was a success then wouldn't you say?"