"Did I not tell you not to say stuff like this?"

Feyrith tried not to scowl at Arbane's tone. Yes, he probably should have respected what the human had said earlier and not pointed out that Edwyr was Cursed, but he'd not meant to make Edwyr angry. He had simply been offering an explanation for why Edwyr had seemed different to the two humans than Feyrith.

"I apologize. I meant nothing by it."

"Yeah, well, Edwyr's upset now."

Yes, that much had Feyrith gathered. He supposed he understood why, though Feyrith still wasn't used to the idea of not stating facts or even outright lying to avoid making someone sad or angry. And the idea of someone getting upset over anything like this, in general, was also strange to him. He would have assumed this was another human thing, but Edwyr wasn't human.

Arbane rubbed his eyes and let out a long sigh before looking back at Feyrith. "Are all of you like this? Just pointing out bad things about each other all the time?"

Feyrith thought about it for a moment. He supposed that was what elves did when he tried to look at it from a human perspective. They didn't go out of their way to point out flaws and negative aspects, but when it was appropriate to the conversation, they tended to simply say it. It was expected.

"Yes. I've been told many times that my control of elements other than fire is...lacking."

"And did that make you feel good?"

The way Arbane was looking at him, his arms folded over his chest, Feyrith was getting the feeling he didn't actually want him to reply to that. Another strange human concept, but Feyrith was at least familiar with it.

He supposed the answer was no, though the comments he'd received had always been fair. His magic wasn't as good as it could be in some areas, so it warranted pointing out. And with his relatively high stature for an elf his age came a rather high pressure.

But he'd chosen that. Edwyr hadn't.

Even though Feyrith was still unsure of how he felt about being near a Cursed elf, he supposed he should try not to remind Edwyr of his situation if it upset him so much. After all, he was helping him without the promise of anything in return, and that should be appreciated, no matter what Edwyr had done or would do to make the Goddess punish him.

"Get it now?"

Feyrith gave a nod if only to end this conversation. He didn't particularly enjoy being talked to like a child, but strangely he found it difficult to argue back, even if he wanted to. But what was holding him back wasn't his people's general rule about staying respectful and calm in all situations—it was something more personal this time, and Feyrith didn't want to think about it.

"Great. Let's go then."

Feyrith quietly followed Arbane out of the inn. It was a good thing he'd paid the innkeeper up front for the food because he didn't want to face anyone there after what had just happened. He was sure he'd not made a good first impression at all, and he was also likely the first elf they'd seen in a while, which made people witnessing him being lectured by a human so much worse.

He'd not even realized that during the argument, but now he couldn't help but feel very ashamed.

Since Edwyr and Lanna weren't to be found outside, Arbane suggested going to the stables. Feyrith agreed that it was the most likely place for the two to be at, and so he followed without a word. And soon enough Arbane's guess turned out to be correct as they heard loud voices coming from the stables before even entering.

"Aggra, let go of the broom!" came Lanna's muffled cry. It almost sounded like she was talking to an unruly child. Arbane chuckled at it, making Feyrith frown at him. The elf wasn't sure what was humorous about a quasir misbehaving, but he said nothing. While the two humans didn't seem to have a problem with answering his questions, he could tell that right now, after what had happened, it wasn't a good time to pose them.

Feyrith simply retrieved his quasir, doing his best to both avoid Edwyr's gaze at all cost and to leave the stable as fast as possible. After climbing onto the quasir's back, Feyrith absently stroked the animal's feathers as he waited. It was strangely therapeutic, both for him and the quasir it seemed, based on how it pushed against his palm and cooed.

He only looked up again when the three passed him by. "All right, let's go. While there's still enough daylight to get us to Mistglen."

And so they went. Feyrith stayed in the back, deciding that not talking or bringing attention to himself was the best course of action for now. Though he did wish he could continue talking with the two humans. Their culture was strange and fascinating to him, and while he didn't want to get too distracted, he wouldn't mind asking them a few more questions. He'd never paid particular attention to any of the books other elves had written about humans, and now he was regretting that. Maybe they would have given him answers to what were clearly very basic concepts, so he wouldn't need to trouble Arbane and Lanna with them. But it was too late for that.

He stared off at the horizon on his left, watching a herd of quasir in the distance, at least a hundred of them, as he thought over his experiences some more. Particularly eating that pastry at the inn. He still wasn't sure if doing that had been the right thing to do. Actually, he knew it hadn't been because now he desired to try more human food. It wasn't a particularly strong desire, but he knew it was a distraction he would not have otherwise experienced.

But that could be said for almost everything here. There would be no avoiding it, no matter what he did.

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As the road wound itself around the jungle, they lost sight of the quasir, the landscape instead offering a dark forest full of hidden threats and the wall of a tall cliff on the other side. The jungle was still relatively far away from them, and it was much less dangerous during the day, but Feyrith still kept an eye on it. It was one thing to fail at protecting himself, but it would be something completely different if he failed at protecting humans—especially ones who had come to help him. That would be unforgivable.

But despite his constant worry and suspicion when it came to the jungle, nothing ended up happening aside from a beast flying overhead too fast for Feyrith to identify it. As the stone walls of their destination came into view, lit by the sun's last few rays, Feyrith felt some of the tension that had been building drain out of him.

Mistglen was smaller than the town they'd left, but it was still larger than Sunwood. It seemed the town had been built so that one side of it would be protected by the stone wall of the mountain that towered above it. Feyrith grimaced as he realized that that mountain must have been part of the mountain range that stretched over most of the western side of the mainland. Somewhere on that mountain range was the ruin Feyrith had been sent to investigate, and he was now reminded of it every time he so much as looked up at it.

But wait.... There was something not quite right here. And as they got closer, Feyrith realized what it was.

"Scalewings!" Lanna yelled, already making her quasir increase its pace to a full-on sprint towards the town. Arbane and Edwyr weren't far behind, heading head-first into danger. And so was Feyrith before he truly realized it.

The two furoi—or scalewings as Lanna had called them—were circling the town quickly, despite the humans in the wall towers using bows to try to chase them off. Feyrith could see as much from where he was, galloping towards the town, his staff already in his hand.

He was summoning fire at one of the flying beasts as soon as he was within range, close enough to hear the yelling coming from the town. He only managed to singe it, but Edwyr and the two humans shot arrows at it the next second, driving the furoi away.

Feyrith was already preparing to throw more fire at the other beast when several archers from the towers let their arrows fly, managing to pierce its side in several places. The furoi roared, trying to grasp at the arrows sticking out of its hide for a moment before giving up and flying away with what strength it still had.

Feyrith immediately turned his quasir around, looking up at the sky, searching for the first furoi, but it seemed it had flown back to the jungle and likely landed there. Another roar, a much more distant one, followed as the other beast disappeared among the tall, looming masses of trees in the distance as well.

Feyrith would think that it was odd that two furoi would be so easily defeated and chased away, but the humans must have been fighting them for a while before they'd arrived here. Feyrith turned his quasir back around and made his way to the town gate, only then realizing that there was a moat dug around the entire length of the wall. He shouldn't have missed it—they hadn't been far away enough not to see it—but he had been too preoccupied with the furoi to truly notice the town itself.

Feyrith doubted an elf had helped them built the moat, which made its existence very impressive. He'd never seen that before with his own eyes, and elves didn't use them because they could create magical barriers with the same effect. It was a clever idea.

As Feyrith reached the edge of the moat, he gazed down into the dark space filled only with moss and ferns here and there. It had to be at least twelve feet deep. How much work must that have taken? But then, it made sense for Mistglen to be well defended, given its proximity to the jungle. That was no doubt why they had those towers and high, stone walls in the first place.

His pondering was cut short when he heard the voice calling at them. He looked up to see a woman standing on the wall above them, waving her arm. She was almost directly above the drawbridge.

"We'll let the drawbridge down for you!" the woman yelled at them. Feyrith joined Edwyr, Lanna, and Arbane close to where the drawbridge would be. He watched with fascination as the large wooden construction slowly lowered itself in front of them. He almost wished he had the time to fully understand how the system worked from a practical standpoint, and how the humans came to invent it. Perhaps on the way back, if all went according to plan, he could ask around. But given that nothing had gone according to plan so far, so he wouldn't hold his breath.

He could hear the people on the wall murmuring excitedly about something, likely about him and Edwyr, as that seemed to be a very common thing to happen. He was sure there would be people who would need his help in this town as well, and he was ready for them. He was getting better at using basic healing spells now that he had the opportunity to use them in a practical setting, and it felt like of all the things he could do to help, this would affect the humans' lives the most, so he was pleased about that.

"Come on in!" said the woman who had greeted them, now standing on the opposite side of the drawbridge. She looked much happier than Feyrith thought was normal for the situation, given that her town had been attacked only a moment ago. But he didn't comment on it and just guided his quasir over the bridge, waiting for his companions when he got to the other side.

That was far enough for Feyrith to be able to study the town itself. He looked around, scanning his eyes over the large, stone structures, similar to the wall itself, spread out in several circles. But he supposed that made sense, given the fact that they had a source of rock right behind their town. The only thing made of wood, it seemed, were the roofs. Feyrith could spot scratches and cracks on most of them, but none of them seemed to have holes in them.

Feyrith's eyes drifted to the tallest building, right in the center, with a large tower. He wondered if that was a church or the housing of whoever led the people of Mistglen. He would assume it was both, but he knew that unlike elves, humans didn't tend to combine things like that.

"Well, we appreciate the help," said the woman to Edwyr, which made Feyrith frown at her. He must have missed a part of the conversation.

Both Edwyr and the two humans had climbed off their quasir, so Feyrith did as well, focusing on the armored, short-haired woman. Now that Feyrith was standing on his own feet, he realized the woman was very tall. A few more fighters were standing around as well, all wearing the same, mostly metallic armor, but they were watching the scene from a distance. It made Feyrith a little uncomfortable, but he pushed that feeling aside, as he understood their curiosity.

"We haven't gotten attacked by scalewings like that in months," the woman continued, shaking her head. She still looked very enthusiastic, however, either from their victory or from meeting new people. Or perhaps she found the idea of being attacked exciting—Feyrith truly didn't know. "But we managed to drive them off without any casualties. I think that calls for celebration, wouldn't you say?"

The woman turned to her fellow warriors as she said this and was met with strong agreement. Grinning, she turned back to their group. "If you want, you're more than welcome to join us."

Arbane and Lanna looked very intrigued by the prospect, if their sparkling eyes were any indication, while Edwyr stayed neutral and said nothing. Feyrith wasn't sure if he should take part in any kind of human celebration, but he was interested in seeing how it worked, even though he already had some idea, so he had no problem with this.

He did get a nagging feeling like he was wasting time, but what else was he going to do? They couldn't continue on their journey as it was already getting dark, and their quasir were tired. And besides, he wouldn't mind seeing these houses and their interiors up close.