Yuki+and+Wren+hear+Samira's+adventure+in+the+Plane+of+Air

Wren walked in the doorway of the Sokolov Bakery, "Samira! A pleasure to see you again! This is Yuki and Amynta." She bowed slightly in greeting to the colorful haired mage.

"Hello Miss Samira!" Both Amynta and Yuki bowed gracefully, day gowns billowing out around them, like brightly coloured petals on beautiful flowers.

Amynta's eyes widened just a little at the baker's bright pink hair but Yuki beamed, "You have the most beautiful hair! Why I have a pink nail lacquer that would match that perfectly..." Her eyes looked beyond the young baker just for a moment and her expression turned sublime, "AH! Is it true you have...CAKE!?"

Samira laughed "Why yes, I do believe we make things like cake here occasionally. Sergei honey, do we have some cake for the young ladies?" The young sorceress turned to call over to the counter, where a lean, handsome raven-haired man with a flour stained apron stood. There was no mistaking the look of affection that she flashed him and Yuki could clearly see the radiance of their love binding them together. Almost like a red string that seemed to connect their fingers, each of which wore a stunning red ruby ring.

The young man laughed "Among other things, here, have a try...My mother and I baked up all sorts of treats for our guests today." He lifted up a large silver tray filled with all sorts of delectable baked goods, ranging from small, pink frosted cakes in the shape of hearts topped with fresh strawberries, to muffins and cinnamon rolls, and brought it over to a large, low table set up in the middle of several comfortable chairs and small couches. "Please, sit and enjoy, my mother is making tea."

Wren nodded deeply toward Sergei and to Samira in greeting, "A pleasure to meet the loved choice of such a strong, lovely woman...Thank you both so much for having us here today."

Yuki glanced back and forth between the couple and sighed, happily. "...True love..." she breathed reverently, quietly, barely audible to their hosts. Wren and Amynta could practically see the hearts floating around her head.

Wren's eyes widened at the large tray of baked treats, "Oh my! You didn't have to go to such trouble... it looks amazing!"

Yuki, Amynta, and Wren sat, each picking up something to try from the tray. Looking around, they assessed the bakery, it looked as if the place had undergone some renovation recently, which was not uncommon after the battle for the city. New curtains hung on the windows but plenty of light came streaming into through the big windows in front. Stairs led up to a balconied second level, and a door behind the counter led to what must be the kitchen with the ovens. All three girls could smell the mouthwatering scents of fresh baked bread coming from there.

Wren sat down with Amynta and Yuki and selected one of the muffins with purplish-blue berries and some sort of crumbled topping. She took a small bite, it was sweet and still warm.

Glancing over, she would notice Amynta choose a cinnamon roll while Yuki already had two of the little cakes piled onto her plate, and another already in her mouth. How could she possible eat like that and be so sleight.

Wren couldn't help but let out a soft sigh, "Mmm... So good!"

"Heavenly!" Yuki quickly echoed her, blissfully, "Mmmm!"

A little fox nose stuck up out of her hood and sniffed the air. Inali rustled around a bit and settled back down, knowing she would have to wait for the delicious treats that surely Wren would bring her afterward from this place.

Coming down the stairs as they ate were two women, an older human one, and an elven one. The human woman was still quite striking, even though her hair was greying slightly and there was a clear resemblance to the young man Sergei, and the young woman Melanie Wren had seen at the House of Wonders with the newborn babe. The elven woman was harder to read, as she had the typical agelessness of the elves. She had tanned skin, and snow white hair, like Loch's. And she moved with the practiced grace of a warrior, made even more obvious by the black leathers and sword belted on her hip. However, at the moment, she was carrying a tray of tea.

Samira looked up, smiling "Ah...this is my...our mother and Lady Fiona, a friend of ours staying with us while she's in town. She has a bit to do with the story I'm about to tell, so, I invited her..."

<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Wren tried to place the elven woman, but...she wasn't familiar. She clearly was a moon elf, but had a slightly different bearing than the elves of Myth Coramanth. Perhaps she was from the west...

<span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Wren set the muffin on her napkin and stood up to bow slightly at the two women coming down the stairs, "A pleasure to meet you both... Lady Sokolov, you all have such an amazing bakery here! And you have such a beautiful family," She smiled at Samira and Sergei before returning her gaze to the elder human, "Thank you for having us here."

<span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">"Lady Fiona, thank you so much for meeting with us to help with the tale that we are all so anxious to hear. I hope you didn't have to journey far..." She smiled appreciatively at the graceful elven warrior.

<span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">"I am Wren Dreamspinner... this is Yuki Ashdown... and her dear friend, Amynta. Thank you all so much for your warm welcome ... and such delicious treats," Wren slid the large tray of baked goodies over a bit to make room for the tea.

<span style="color: #8064a2; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Yuki and Amynta had also stood as the two women approached. At Wren's introduction, they both dropped into a lovely bow, and rising, Yuki added her own greetings, "Mistress Sokolov, thank you for allowing us to visit." And slipping effortlessly into near perfect elven, Yuki turned to the beautiful elven warrior, "It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Fiona. Truly, you are blessed by the goddess. I look forward to hearing your tale with great interest." Yuki shot Wren a sly, pleased look, her eyes sparkled mischievously. It was one of the few times she'd practiced her elven outside her studies with her father. Judging by the look on Fiona's face, she'd pulled it off!

<span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Wren raised an eyebrow in Yuki's direction and spoke in elven, "You are just full of surprises today, Miss Yuki." She turned back toward the others.

<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Samira smiled at the young priestess's usage of elven, remembering when she'd had to learn the difficult language to better use the magical staff given to her by her mentor. "Now that everyone's all here, let's have a seat, and some tea, and I'll begin!" She helped set the tray down on the table and Arisha poured a steaming cup of the fresh herbal tea for everyone, then sat down. Fiona as well, gracefully took a seat next to Wren, sipping gingerly at the hot liquid in her lovely little ceramic cup.

<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The pink haired sorceress also took a sip from her cup, and cleared her throat. "There are many twists and turns to this story, so forgive me if some things don't make sense to you, or I seem to have left something out. I'm certainly no bard. A few years ago, I decided to return to my home village up in the mountains to visit my family. I hadn't left under the best...of circumstances but I had heard that my family was in danger so I went. I found that my village had been....taken over by a powerful undead spirit...a lich...who'd taken the body of the local mining foreman. Most of our villages...industry comes from mining you see. This lich...was an enemy of my mentor...and wanted to...well...I supposed steal me away from him and turn me to his own form.. of darker magic..."

<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Samira shuddered…she could still feel that...darkness...that shadow magic she'd tapped into once during that adventure. "We found him...we sorceresses. Myself, Melanie, and Argent, who you met at the House of Wonders, Miss Dreamspinner." She smiled at the elven witch. "And Melanie's husband Jake, and my husband Sergei. Still, he would have killed us all had not Argent...sacrificed herself to use her magic to bring down the cavern we were fighting in as well as transport us out. Such powerful...hasty magic always has a cost...and when we appeared outside the collapsed mountain Argent wasn't with us. But Lady Fiona...was." She looked at the warrior elf and she nodded in return.

<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">"Argent's powerful air magic had opened a rift to the Elemental Plane of Air and pulled her in, as well as at the same time, ejecting Lady Fiona, who had been...trapped there some time ago. Her story is her own...and it is up to her if she wants to share it. Regardless...we determined that Argent was still alive...so we determined we would go and find her. I contacted my mentor who agreed to open a gate to the Elemental Plane, and we began our adventure there!"

<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The sorceress looked at Wren and Yuki "I realize this is a bit...abbreviated...but if you have any questions feel free to ask!"

<span style="color: #8064a2; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Yuki had almost forgotten to chew while listening to the young woman's story. When Wren had said a woman she'd met who ran a bake shop with her husband had a tale for them about the Plane of Air, Yuki hadn't thought much about it, figuring it would mostly be rumors or hearsay. This...was something entirely different and completely beyond her expectations.

<span style="color: #8064a2; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">These were the tales of heroes.

<span style="color: #8064a2; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">She took a closer look at the the bright haired sorceress and her husband... Clearly neither were what they appeared to be. She noticed Sergei's mother frown slightly, clearly much of this was news to her as well. And what of the elven warrior? Yuki glanced her way... How could she have been trapped in such a place...and why did such a "rift" free her...

<span style="color: #8064a2; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">But the more pressing problem in the young priestess's mind was that of the lich... Such a thing could take on human skin. Was that true. Really, she needed to pay more attention to her studies!

<span style="color: #8064a2; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">"L...Lich?!" Yuki set her fork down gently. "What happened to...it? Was the village properly cleansed?" She glanced back and forth from Samira to Sergei to Fiona, "Did you...defeat it?"

<span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Wren got teary eyed with the mention of Argent's sacrifice that took her to another plane... one where Fiona had also been trapped in. She took a sip of her tea.

<span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">"Of course I have so many questions... What DID happen to the lich?" she nodded in agreement to Yuki.

<span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">" ... and who is your mentor? ... because I'm guessing you're not referring to Shandra Rossi."

<span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">She turned toward Fiona, "And if you are willing, Lady Fiona, I would very much like to hear your story as well... and to hear about what it was like on the plane of air while you were there."

<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Samira sighed, a shake of her head causing her pink hair to shimmer slightly. "The lich...was possessing the body of the poor foreman, subsuming him. He couldn't use his...real strength from there but it also meant that the best we could do was to destroy the vessel he was using. Which, we pretty much did before the whole mountain fell on what was left of him. I assume that his spirit returned to his body...in whatever fortress crypt of extra-planar bolt hole that he dwells in. He's still around...I'd imagine...Liches are very hard to kill."

<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Sergei comes up behind the young sorceress and comfortingly rubs her shoulders. <span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Samira continued, "My mentor...our mentor I guess is an old...perverted mage named Rosche. Well, that's the name he goes by around here it seems. He trains...those with powerful aptitude in the art to use that art wisely and for the...betterment of others. Although you don't realize it because usually you're so busy fending off his hands. But you can see his kindness in his other actions. He's a schemer...but so is the lich...who was a rival to him in the past. He likes to take the same...young minds and twist them to serve only themselves. Power for power's sake. A strange sort of competition."

<span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Wren listened intently to Samira, riveted in the story. She shuddered at the thought of the lich in his hole somewhere doing unspeakable things... possibly planning some revenge... against the group who defeated his plan ...or against his rival. <span style="background-color: white; color: #0070c0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Wren stared at Samira while she listened... Her eyes going wide in surprise. She imagined for a moment, this great mage who took only the choicest of apprentices... Teaching them to use their magic for the betterment of the world... and then she thought of him as a dirty old man with his hands all over Samira... and all over Sergei? ...She blinked. She cleared her mind to more productive thoughts... <span style="background-color: white; color: #0070c0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">"How is it that this Rosche got into a competition with a Lich? Does the lich have a name? ... and wait, did you say that Rosche is here in Lyrabar?" She set down her tea, and looked at Samira.

<span style="color: #8064a2; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Yuki arched a pretty eyebrow at the words, "...fending off his hands..." JUST what kind of PERVERT was this old mentor guy anyway! But...the way Samira spoke of him was almost endearing... Like...this Rosche was a very important person to her. Not Sergei important but...Mmm... Then...he couldn't be aaaaaall bad, right? I mean...it was ALL for the betterment of society right? She wondered at the trade-off. What must that have been like... A scheming, perverted, handsy mentor. Perhaps...Axton and his evil rake weren't so bad after all...

<span style="color: #8064a2; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Yuki turned and listened to Wren as she spoke. Her questions were good ones and she nodded along with her, adding, "And do you think...he, Mister Rosche, would know how to search for our friends in the planes?"

<span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Wren nodded, then laid her hand over Yuki's, "They don't know our story yet..."

<span style="color: #8064a2; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Yuki gets a "OOPS" look on her face.

<span style="background-color: white; color: #0070c0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Wren smiled at the others, "It's true... we've lost several companions. We have reason to believe that some may have ended up in the Plane of Air that you talked about... we can tell you all about it if you like... but your adventure is not only entrancing... you can possibly provide invaluable information to help us get our friends back... so please ... continue. "

<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Samira looked thoughtful "It's possible he might help...especially if it's you two that do the asking. Perhaps wearing a little less might help!" Although Samira thought they were both already wearing pretty...skimpy outfits,. "But then again, who knows why the old...man does things, you can try I suppose...but watch those hands. They are quicker than they look!" She wondered if he would help. "There's a door on the side of the House of Wonders around back. It will lead you to him.

<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The sorceress continued "He is an expert on the plane of air though....but what I can tell you is this. It is a plane of endless blue sky. Clouds....off in distance...but also it has...weather. Great storms roll through occasionally....larger than any that you've seen with great bolts of lightning. But there are...islands of earth occasionally where denizens have built cities...or towers. Now the tricky thing there is...the gravity. You have to...define it for yourself...with your will. You determine what is up… and down. And you can change it at will. So you can… 'fly'...sort of...more like falling in the direction you want. It takes some skill...and getting used to...but you can get around fast. Just don't misjudge or you'll splat!"

<span style="color: #8064a2; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">"Sp...Splat?!" Yuki glanced at Wren, then took a sip of tea. "It wouldn't hurt to try... Asking Mr. Rosche, I mean. But... you say there are whole cities in the Plane of Air? They aren't...creepy, are they?" Yuki managed to suppress the shudder that always seemed to grip her when she thought of Malice...and his touch upon her skin... "...I mean...are they good or...evil?"

<span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">"So there's a strange self-willed gravity... Wild massive storms with life endangering lightning bolts... and random earth islands with cities..." Wren paused, taking it all in, "And the great, powerful mage who knows about it... is handsy and perverted... well, at least we're learning things today..."

<span style="background-color: white; color: #0070c0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Wren nodded to Yuki.

<span style="background-color: white; color: #0070c0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">"Indeed, what are the people there like... while I'm certain like anywhere else they have their own share of Good and Evil... are they hostile? ... how do they react to outsiders?... Are they elementals? Are they human?"

<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">"People...well...like people like us, that is to say humans and humanoids are pretty rare in the Elemental Planes. Any beings like that you were to encounter are most likely travelers such as yourselves, or refugees or outcasts." Samira responded after taking another bite of cake, smiling at Sergei for his excellent baking. "The most common things you would encounter would be the elementals themselves...aerial servants, wind walkers, invisible stalkers. Many are...hard to see, being made of air, unless other substances get caught in their bodies."

<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">"The other major inhabitant of the Air Plane are the Djinni, or the Jann. The genie's you most commonly think of from the tales that reside in bottles and grant wishes. We ran into a powerful sultan of the djinni, who had a floating palace there filled with other djinni of all shapes and colors. Most look like elves or humans with brightly colored skin. This particular sultan had a fondness for the ladies from other planes and kept quite the...harem. He had captured Argent and it was he whom we had to rescue her from."

<span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Wren's mouth actually dropped open and her eyes grow wide, "Djinni?!" Her heart sank, and she thought about those who were lost... Loch... Shri... Rue... Ori... Amarra... even the little halfling, Marigold... were all beautiful women... Wren started to tear up. <span style="background-color: white; color: #0070c0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Loch and Shri could handle themselves well enough... but against a genie? And while Esme and Falco were wise with experience... they couldn't protect them all. <span style="background-color: white; color: #0070c0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">She dabbed at her eyes, and took in a few deep breaths to try and pull herself together... "how did you fight a djinni?"

<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">"Carefully!" Samira exclaimed "Not all of them are the powerful wish granting beings like from the tales, although, many of them have egos like they are. Most of them are...well like many of the mortal races but with varying degrees of minor magical abilities. There are Djinni common folk, artists, merchants and the like who only know magics associated with their crafts."

<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">"In our case...well...some of us dressed up like harem girls and we snuck in along with a new batch of other harem girls to try and rescue our friend Argent." The pink haired sorceress looked at Sergei, blushing faintly, remembering the almost nothing there outfit they'd come up for her and the other girls to wear to pull of the scheme....

<span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Wren nodded to Samira. Not all powerful, just magical... Wren slowed her fast beating heart. She could do this... <span style="background-color: white; color: #0070c0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">"Very clever," Wren nodded again, "and you made it out unnoticed?" <span style="background-color: white; color: #0070c0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">"And the other harem girls? ... did you leave them behind undisturbed?"

<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">"No...no..." Samira shook her head vehemently "Once we saw...how horrifically this Djinni Sultan treated the other girls in the harem...we couldn't just leave them. We fought the Sultan....even knowing we were outclassed. Fortunately....a powerful storm rolled over the Djinni's floating palace and shook the whole place...it was enough to distract the sultan who had to try to preserve his palace. We used an escape device given to us by our mentor...to get us and the other harem girls back to Faerun...that is...this plane. Let's just say Master Rosche was pleased at the sudden appearance of so many scantily clad maidens. We found...homes for all of them here...many are still around today I would imagine."

<span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Wren shuddered at the words... horrifically treated... <span style="background-color: white; color: #0070c0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">"Amazing... Such a story..." Wren nodded her head, "and the girls came from different planes?"

<span style="color: #8064a2; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Yuki listened to Wren's questioning with interest, trying not to pluck another of the delicious mini cakes from the tray. They were so good!!! Really that Sergei was quite a catch. Lucky Samira! Blessed happy couple!

<span style="color: #8064a2; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">She thought of the tales her father had told her as a child...of the Djinni. Magical tales of wish granting and unforeseen consequences. He had always described them as beautiful, clever beings with sparkly, coloured skin and hair. Capricious. Arrogant. Not to be trusted. Always...waiting for the opportunity to be free. Listening to Samira talk, she glanced at the sorcerer's hair, wondering if perhaps the young sorceress also had some Jann in her. But this was romantic speculation on the priestess' part and nothing more, her thoughts carried away as she was with the story Samira was weaving. Still...if Djinni were as beautiful as her father had said, she couldn't help the quiet exciting feeling growing in the pit of her stomach. It wouldn't be so bad, right? Visiting the Plane of Air just once! To see...such things with her own eyes...

<span style="color: #8064a2; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">And...if there was a Sultan of the Djinni somewhere floating in the Plane of Air who collected beautiful female creatures from all the Planes, then Ori, Rue and Shri were no better sampling. This should have made the young priestess worry but it was quite the opposite. For all the awful things Samira hinted at about that Pervert's harem, Yuki felt a great deal relieved. It wasn't Malice. Thank the Goddess... Not Malice. Dealing with an overly amorous sultan was more within the ken of Rue and Ori than a brutal, selfish, God...filled with hate...and ego...and sadism.

<span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Wren turned to look at Fiona, "And what about you? Had you been captured by the djinn too?"

<span style="color: #8064a2; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">As Wren turned her attention to Fiona, so did Yuki. Beside, Amynta barely made a sound... But her eyes were wide and her cheeks flushed, clearly...her mind was already running down all the possible ways women in harems could be "horrifically treated"...

<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Fiona, who had been mostly silent throughout said quietly "No, I had not been captured by the Sultan. I was just...adrift in the Plane of Air when Argent's spell ripped me out. I don't really remember much of the experience. I'm afraid I don't have much to add in that regard." Wren and Yuki noticed she hadn't really forwarded how she'd gotten there....in the first place, but the stoic warrior woman didn't seem to be the talkative type.

<span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">"Does Argent blame Rosche for her capture?" Wren looked at Samira "... I noticed she seemed very upset ... especially when you started to mention a Ros..."

<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Samira sighs then blushes, for a moment looking confused by her question. Then a light would dawn in her eyes, "Oh, no! Of course not! Argent was happy because she believed Rosche, in his own way, came to rescue her. This and that are two different matters... Argent felt I...was a bit..." The pink haired sorceress blushes and glances at Sergei, "harsh...with Rosche. She was...defending him. And, in fact, she was probably right. But that is a personal matter! A disagreement between friends. Our adventure in the plane of Air was a couple of years ago!"

<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">"It was Rosche's magic that got us there, and that got us back as well." Samira added "Yes, some of the girls were from other planes, or had other planar blood. There was a tiefling and an aasimar, that is to say two girls, one touched by demonic blood, and one with angelic. There were some gensai...which are those touched with elemental blood. And there were some humans and elves too. Their wills...were slowly drained until they became only capable of giving pleasure...through these magical collars. It was...awful."

<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">"But, like I said, we were fortunate enough to make our escape!" Samira finished brightly.

<span style="color: #8064a2; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">"Collared!?" Amynta squeaked.

<span style="color: #8064a2; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">"Drained!?" Yuki exclaimed, more worried than she had been a moment before. If Rue's will was drained...then she wouldn't be able to use her clever mind to outsmart her and Ori's way out of things! ...There was only one thing to do! ...if they really were on the Plane of Air that is... She took Amynta's hand in hers and squeezed it reassuringly.

<span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5;">Wren tried to fill her mind with positive thoughts... Loch is a survivor and can transform to hide... Shri is strong willed and smart... Rue is clever... Esme and Falco have valuable experience... hopefully some of them were together and not all alone... we will find them, they will be okay. Maybe time is in their favor, and it's only been a couple of days to them...

<span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Wren nodded to Samira, "We will have to look into a conversation with your mentor... thank you so much for sharing your story, and all of your help! I have one more question before we go... In the event that we are confronted with these... collars... or anything like them... how did you remove them?"

<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">"Oh! The collars...right!" Samira blushed faintly, looking at Sergei "My husband here...before he retired and took up the totally honest life of a baker used to dabble in...locksmithing. He was able to figure out how to get the collars off. They have both a mechanical and magical component, so it's a little tricky. Be sure to bring er a...ah...master of locks and such along with you."

<span style="color: #8064a2; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">"Oh! Like Thor..." Amynta's voice trailed off at a look from Yuki, who was eyeing Sergei in a whole new light. Now that she thought about it, he did look a little...dark and mysterious. If you took away the baker apron and the flour and added, Oh I don't know, a hot pair of black leather pants and matching jerkin. Ah! How ROMANTIC!!! A roguish scoundrel type and sorceress! She sighed, glancing back and forth between the two, little hearts appearing in her eyes. Just like something out of one of her father's epic tales! She was sure there was a great story there! Maybe she'd have to come visit again and coax it out of them! She was sure her father and mother would love to hear it too!

<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">"The Plane of Air's a pretty huge place, near infinite some scholars say, so the odds that your friends ended up anywhere near the sultan anyway are pretty remote." Samira added brightly "And if you have any other questions, just drop by the bakery or the House of Wonders anytime!"

<span style="color: #8064a2; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">"So..!" Yuki turned to Wren, a little more relieved from Samira's reassuring perkiness, "Our next step should be to approach Samira's mentor, Master Rosche, right?! Should we speak with the others first or go right there now?"

<span style="color: #8064a2; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">It was then Wren noticed that all the cute little heart cakes...were gone. And Yuki had the cutest dab of pink icing on the left corner of her very satisfied smile.

<span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Wren looked fondly at Yuki and giggled to herself, “Well… we still have to get supplies for our trip, and we’re leaving tomorrow… so I think we should wait, and talk to the others first. We can go to see him when we return, when we have plenty of time to speak with him.”

<span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">“Thank you all so much for your amazingly generous hospitality… and the wondrous and helpful story. I really can’t thank you enough,” Wren stood and bowed, “I look forward to when we next meet. If there’s anything I can do to help you… please don’t hesitate to ask.”

<span style="color: #8064a2; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Yuki and Amynta rose gracefully beside her and bowed, brightly coloured day robes rustling around them. Yuki, priestess of Sune, smiled radiantly at Samira and then each person in turn as she added, "Yes. Like Wren, I, too, look forward to seeing you all again! Your cakes are so delicious! I won't be able to stay away for long." She laughed but there wasn't even a hint of shame at devouring them all on her own! Amynta smiled, knowing her friend far too well. Yuki continued, "These are our precious, precious friends. I'm sure our chances of bringing them back to us safely have greatly improved thanks to your help! We are very much in your debt." She bowed again.

<span style="color: #8064a2; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">"Wren! Amynta! Let's go shopping!!! Er..." Turning to collect her things, Yuki muses to no one in particular, "Just how many outfits does an adventurer need anyway?"