Soren glanced at Tormak, "Can you read mental pictures or is our ability to communicate telepathically only words?"

"I'm not sure, lets give it a try."

Soren sent the best mental image of Skadi he could muster and Tormak responded after a few brief seconds, "The blue haired woman?"

"Yes! I am glad that worked, it makes things easier. Would you mind finding her and letting me know how far away she is?" The Tormak nodded and took flight. Soren approached the three people; Bernard, Tempest, and what appeared to be an elf. The only thing was the elf seemed off in some way, and Soren wasn't able to put his finger on it.

[Inspect]

'What is A Graceless Elf?'

The Graceless Elven woman was tall, shorter than Skadi but taller than Tempest. You would never know that this woman was part ogre; she was tall and thin, had really defined legs, a modest chest (around B cup), her skin was a mixture of green and gold, and had two small tusks jutting out of her bottom jaw. She was not as beautiful as an elf, but she most certainly was not ugly like an ogre. She had a bow strapped to her back, a scimitar, and a dagger in a holster around her thigh. The red tiger had a saddle attached to it, but there was something off about the tiger as well.

[Inspect]

Soren was incredibly impressed by what he saw, hopefully this person would be able to track down the last of his quarry.

'I've been patient, too patient'

Bernard saw Soren coming and immediately introduced everyone, "Soren, Tempest, this is Eliza Gerboksire a beastmaster who specializes in tracking. She has helped me on a few occasions."

"Please Bernard, it's just Liz. This job will cost fifty gold. I know the price is steep but I am the best if you don't accept it then I'll bid you a good day."

"Liz, fifty gold is fine. We are just waiting one of my companions to return with some of the target's things for a scent," Soren explained as he caught a glimpse of Tormak in the sky.

"Sire, the blue-haired woman is about twenty minutes out," Tormak informed Soren.

"Well Liz, my companion Skadi is almost here with the scent, can I offer you a tea or wine?"

"Tea would be fine, thanks.",

'What is that scent? It makes my head spin and its enough for my body to heat up. Why does Soren smell like that," thought Liz. She followed Soren to an empty room and sat down with him as Bernard brought them tea.

"So," began Soren, "I have a proposition for you and there would be no need to answer immediately. I think we can help each other significantly, you fulfill a unique position and I can use your talents with our group. It comes with quite a few perks one of which I think I can solve for you as a graceless elf."

Liz's eyes widened in shock, "How...what?"

"I have my ways, and although it is not guaranteed I think I can return your grace to you."

Liz sat there in utter silence for a few minutes not saying anything, then she stood and went to the door of the room her tea empty, "I shall consider your proposal, your companion has just arrived."

Skadi arrived with a large sack she was carrying over her shoulder, "I grabbed some stuff from Greg's old place in the village apparently James had left him the place for whenever he returned," Skadi announced. Liz ushered her beast companion over to Greg's belongings and it took several minutes for the tiger to really ingrain the scent into her memory. "Go ahead Rasha get a good sniff to that stuff," Liz coaxed. Once Rasha was done, she started off towards the east.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

'Finally, the last piece of my revenge will be coming together,' thought Soren as he followed his compatriots.

Rasha had a special skill that allowed her, while bonded to Liz, to track any scent quite a ways. The limitation on the skill was that the person had to be living and on the same plane, Liz wasn't particularly interested in sharing how her magic worked so she stuck to more shallow topics. She felt a bit unnerved that one of her greatest secrets was out in the open, and worse yet, was that she had no idea on how the man she was traveling with knew. Liz was struggling with quite the internal conflict, part of her hated the fact that she was a graceless elf, one born from a monster that took advantage of her mother, a product of rape and nothing more, wanted by neither parent. On the other hand, she was afforded talents both of her lineages lacked but more so than that, her gracelessness shaped who she was. If she was returned to grace how would that effect her? Would it change her at her core? We become who we are by being shaped by our own unique experiences and dispositions, so would all of her struggling and growth be for not? If she did take the man up on his offer, does that mean she has never come to terms with who she was, did she hate herself and her upbringing? Yea she struggled, but she also conquered and made a name for herself too. These thoughts whirled and whirled in her head as they traveled eastward away from, the capital city, and the journey was not easy. The roads were turbulent; they were intercepted by bandits a twice, interrupted a slave trader, and had to circumvent some cultist. It wasn't like the group was unable to deal with them, but Soren didn't want to waste any more time and dealing with them would've been significantly more time consuming than the other quick things they had taken care of prior.

Towards the end of their first day the group had settled down around a campfire, Tempest had taken the liberty to hunt some wild boar and was preparing a savory stew over the fire.

"Sir, I appreciate your offer, but I will have to decline. Even though I am a graceless elf, it has become who I am and I don't think I'd want to lose that part of me," Liz told Soren quietly beside the fire.

"It is no problem at all, though I am hoping we will be able to collaborate more in the future. There is one other person I'd like you to track down. His name is Crovax, he is an S rank adventurer that's part of my guild that has gone missing. Speaking of which, if you're not already affiliated with a guild, how bout coming to the Twilight Dragons? We can really use someone of your talents in our guild," he offered.

"Tis a generous proposition, and as of now I am not affiliated with a guild. I shall give you an answer after a day or so, but as for your second missing person we will talk price directly after."

"Fair enough."

The eastward journey led them to the plains of the continent, a vast area of tall golden grass. None of Soren's party, with Liz being the exception, had been there before. According to Liz, the plains held its own unique dangers, and coupled with the lack of cover, made for harsh travel conditions due to travelers being exhausted throughout the night from unwelcomed visitors. Liz possessed some basic earth magic and used it to make a fairly solid shelter with a hole near the top for the smoke from their fire to escape.

"According to Rasha we should be there tomorrow, we are getting fairly close," Liz announced to the group, "We should probably get some rest and head out at first light."

"Sounds like a plan, I'll probably be up a bit later since I am not quite tired enough to sleep yet so you can turn in without me," Soren told his group. Skadi and Tempest nodded to each other, and went behind a privacy wall that was built into the shelter. Soren was staring into the shelter trying to get his breathing under control as the rage began to envelope him.

'I'll get that bastard tomorrow. He will rue the day he messed with me, I've waited so long for this moment, not long now,' he raved internally. His feelings must've been plastered on his face because Liz came and sat down next to him with a look of concern; her eyes seemed to glisten as if she was going to cry, her ears drooped, and her voice carried the sound of a sad song.

"I don't know what that man did to you, auras in a sense, is what helps me track people over great distances. With you being so close I am particularly sensitive to yours and I feel great pain and heartache coming from you. It isn't much of my business, and I try to get involved, but your aura is so ferocious right now I fear you may get consumed by it. It may not be much of an offer but share some drink with me, I find it a great way to cool my nerves when little else helps," Liz said as she uncorked this rather large and strong smelling drink. She nearly shoved it underneath Soren's nose as he smelled a collective mixture of berries, honey, and spice. They were passing the drink back and forth for several hours talking through their troubles; Soren explaining his whole debacle with Greg, James, and Evan, and his return. She talking through her experiences as a graceless elf and what that meant and entailed. It's safe to say that neither of them would have shared this information if the drink the had been sharing hadn't been as strong as it was.

"I've been too close to you for too long it seems, you have this smell and I cannot stand it anymore," Liz said through some slurred speech. Soren looked up to see Liz blushing and the top of her blouse more undone than when the drinking started....