Life as refugee

[Ether Alzen]

Ether was on the run now he supposed as he flew in Lycia skies. He had never been here before he had just heard about it from his father and other people. They said it was nice place so he figured that staying here would be the best course of action. He couldn't go home now that he was a wanted fugitive. Man life couldn't suck anymore for the young rider, besides the fact he needed a place to stay. He then came to the city of Santaruz, it was huge! Ether had never seen a place this big before there must be place he could stay.

He landed a bit in front of the entrance to Santaruz. He then dismounted his wyvern and pet him on the head. Ether didn't want to bring Vyer with him because he figured that would just draw attention to himself.

"Listen buddy just go and relax stay near the city and listen out for any of my whistles," Ether said to his wyvern as he then patted him on the back making the wyvern take off for the air. The white haired rider wasn't worried about Vyer he could take care of himself and the wyvern always heard his whistles, always.

Ether walked slowly through the city looking left and right at all the passing people. Street vendors and preforms kept people occupied. The city also had it's fair share of some soldiers and most probably thieves running around. He wasn't sure where he was going to stay but he knew there had to be some taverns somewhere. When he finally found one he quickly went in and bought himself a room, he was probably going to be staying there for long good thing he was paid well as a Bern soldier.

"Well Ether looks like your life's gone from crap to crappier," He said to himself as he sat down at the bar of the tavern. The bartender had fixed him up a drink. Ether stared down at it, if he were to drink it he'd probably end up becoming a alcoholic or something like some of his family. At this point dealing with everything going on being a refugee, worrying about his family, he was tempted to drink it.

[Love]

It was so long she'd last been in Lycia, let alone the city of Santaruz. Ever since Love decided to leave the fields of battle she had been isolated from the happenings of the outside world, devoting herself to living her life in the village back in Etruria. But know, after over a year of hiding, the shaman was ready to explore again. Or at least visit other places and meet new people. The folks at the village were nice and all, but they were lacking very much in anything interesting. The last exciting event she remembered had been the marriage of the shopkeeper's daughter, and that was 5 months ago.

Eventually she decided the best place to start was the tavern. After all that was where all the soldiers all liked to gather. She was sure to get some news from one of them, maybe even get filled in on what was happening with the war and such. It wasn't the best place for someone like her to be in, but she was older now, she could defend herself against other people. Other men. Other probably drunk and strong men. Yikes.

Quickly entering the tavern before she changed her mind, Love went over to the bartender and politely asked if he had any soldiers or mercenaries in his bar. She was rewarded with a questioning stare and a wave of the bartender's hands. Everyone here seemed to fill that description. Turning red she asked for some sugar water and sat down at the bar, looking out of place in the loud and noisy place. Maybe she shouldn't have come here. She didn't know anyone in Santaruz and if she got into trouble there was nobody here to help him out. She supposed she should have gone to look for Chelsea instead of just deciding to restart her travels by herself.

Looking side to side Love was relieved to find at least one other person by themselves. Taking a deep breath she got up and took a seat beside the man, pretending to be minding her own business. The bartender delivered her her water and she sipped it quietly, unsure of how she was going to break the ice and start asking questions. Maybe she could pretend she was lost, or just wanted to make smalltalk-which was what she wanted to do. Or maybe-

"Are you alright?" That came out of nowhere. Love had absentmindedly noticed the man's quietness and her words just popped out of nowhere. Catching herself before she blabbed out any other phrases, Love quickly explained herself, stuttering nervously as she went. "I-I mean you look a little down."

[Tearus]

Tearus liked big cities. They were always filled with several types of different interesting people. He saw Sacaen Nomads walking about, Etrurian priests strolling by, Bernese sauntering past, Illians string along. Of course there were others, but Tearus couldn't think of any other adjectives for walking at the moment so the Nabatans, Islanders, and native Lycians would have to wait. He'd get to them eventually. He stopped to pretend to tie his boots as he heard a conversation between an old woman and young vagabond.

"Please? Just a coin young man." The woman sad. The young man attempted to shrug it off, "I have no spare coin for you woman." He actually flashed his axe to tell the woman to get lost, but she whispered, "Well, Elimine's judgement upon you!" The man turned, "What was that?" Tearus didn't think. He felt the woman's life was in danger, saw a nice ring on the mans finger with a tiny diamond, and saw a greedy man. He ran up and slipped the ring off of his fingers, then took off running. The man was slow, but somehow managed to see him enter the tavern.

Tearus' eyes darted about, until he found a young woman. She had blue hair, but he didn't want to call her that. He ran up to her, lightly gripped her hand, and slipped the ring on. He whispered, "Act like it's your ring and we're newly engaged." Then the door slammed open. He heard the big man puffing as he came towards him. Tearus slipped his fingers in with Loves, and said, "So do you want to have the wedding here or back home?" The man spun him about, and picked him up by the collar. Tearus let go of the girls hand so as not to hurt her. The man said, "Think you can just take something of mine little man?" He brought his fist back and Tearus closed his eyes.

He heard a voice he assumed to be the bartenders accompanied by a sword being brought from its sheathe, "No fighting in here, and you can't take it outside." Tearus' eyes popped open and a grin split across his face. As the man stomped out he said, "Watch your back little man." Tearus turned to the blue haired woman, "Look at that honey, the delusional brute is angry, isn't that a nice trick?" The man stopped for a second, then left.

Tearus turned to the two at the bar, "Sorry for that, he refused to help a woman in need, so I took the liberty of having him do it for him. Thank you, what are your names" He smiled at the both of them, then he leaned forward so he could look at the other man and let him know he wasn't ignored.

[Ether Alzen]

Ether was honestly surprised someone came up to him and started talking to him, especially someone this beautiful. He didn't answer at first he was still looking at his drink wondering if he should go down that road. When he was about to say something some man came barging in and talking about the lady next to him pretending to be engaged with him.

"What a weirdo," Ether muttered to himself as the man continued to play his little game. He probably stole that ring or something and was using this lady as a way not to get caught. As another man came in chasing after the previous man Ether rolled his eyes. He wasn't in to mood for all of this crap.


"My name isn't of any importance," Ether said responding to the man. He stared at the drink that was on the counter that the bartender prepared for him. It reminded him that he was unable to go home, unable to be truly free. He then realized what he had said was a bit rude.

"Sorry......my name is Ether I'm just going through a rough patch in my life right now," He said clenching his cup some. He felt as if he was about to break it but he didn't care.

[Love]

Things got weird. Really really weird. She was expecting the guy to stare at her, asking her who the heck she was and tell her that his life was none of his business. What she wasn't expecting was a stranger to come flying through the doors, grabbing her and making her pretend to be his bride. Of course that was exactly what happened and the whole thing took the girl by surprise. When the person grabbed her she nearly squeaked from shock and was too off guard to object to any foreign object being placed around her fingers. Marriage? Thieves? Expensive jewelry?! This was all too much! She spilled her sugar water on the counter and froze up like a block of ice. She wanted to sort things out.

Soon after when all the commotion was over, Love could finally breathe again. The first thing she did was yank the ring off her fingers and drop it back into her fianc- er the strangers hand. Then she turned to the guy with a confused blank expression. "What are you doing?" She didn't understand what the heck just happened and even the threat of a battle had not registered quite fully in her mind. Love didn't take sudden unexpected turns well, even if she was usually the one dealing it.

Luckily she was saved by the other man, the one whom she had originally wanted to chat with. "Oh it's ok." She doubted the thief would have minded much either, considering if she was in the right state of kind she would have snapped at him for using her in his show. "I'm sorry." Love looked apologetic as she tried her best to recover from the fiesta that had just occured. In all honestly she had been so confused during the entire thing it was probably easier for her to put it behind.

She was silent for a few moments and looked back and forth between Ether and the stranger. After a bit she said the obvious, "You're going to break that." It was a bit of an understandment perhaps, as the glass looked like it was going to shatter any moment. She had been right about one thing coming into the tavern. Some of these people were STRONG. At least it was an advantage for her, because now by some freaky twist of fate she had know met someone strong who she could rely on and someone who could, well steal things. That was always handy. You never know when you need a thief.

Love hadn't been out much and she was surprised how handsome the soilders looked recently. She was a big fan of fancy looking armor. It made her go all in awe whenever she saw someone wearing it.

Snapping out of her thoughts on how Ether looked, Love sat back down in her seat and fully settled her nerves. It was a bit weird but maybe fate had destined her to be where she was now, in the middle of a bar with two strange men who liked breaking glasses and giving girls gold rings.

[Tearus]

Tearus smiled at Ether, "That's too bad old friend. I have always believed we have bad times to place perspective on the good times. Of course you don't want to hear this, but you're a young man, in one of the biggest most beautiful cities in the world, with two interesting people. Of course I'm being rather forward, I'm Tearus by the way." He tasted the spilled contents of Love's drink with his finger.

He rapped the wooden bar in front of him, "Barkeep! I'd like a cup of jade tea, and a cup of sugar water for the lady." Tearus smiled at Love as he slipped the ring on his finger so as not to forget it.

[Destiny]

Destiny, was, needless to say, confused at the current events going on before her. With her tiny stature situated alone, near the back of the tavern with a small glass of water a few, small rolls and general quietness in her direction, it was hard not to miss it.

The small teenager rose from her seat, the ringlets in her hair bouncing buoyantly as she approached the other magi and thief by the looks of it.

She frowned at him, obviously disappointed with the display she just saw. The "goody goody", starving female looked at the ring.

"Why did you find the need to steal?" she asked inquisitively, obviously not understanding whatever reasoning behind this. It'd probably have helped if she saw all of the show, but until then, the boy looked like a petty crook who stole a very war hungry man's ring.

[Ether Alzen]

When the blue haired woman said that Ether was going to break the cup he loosened his grip on it. What was he getting himself into? The thief sitting near him didn't look like being around him would be the safest idea but the girl sitting next to him seem worth sticking around for.

"Sorry about that," Ether sighed with a smile on his face to the woman hoping to not make her worry about the cup breaking anymore.

"I guess you're right Tearus I should be more happy I'm in here with one friendly hero and a very beautiful woman," He said looking at the woman next to him and saying hero referring to the fact that Tearus had supposedly taken the ring to teach a man a lesson from being a jerk.

When a small blonde little girl came up to Tearus and questioned his motives Ether made a confused look. What's a little girl like her doing in a big city like this? Maybe her parents were around or something. Either way she seemed intrested in Tearus so he might as well let the man deal with her.

"Oh by the way I never caught your name miss," Ether said with a smile to the blue haired woman bottling up his true emotions.

[Love]

Love bit her tongue at the thief ordering her more sugar water. It was yummy stuff but she had a horrible feeling she was going to regret it later when she had to use the bathroom every thirty seconds. Nonetheless it was a nice gesture and the shaman took the cup from the bartender and timidly sipped it. There was something awkward to this entire situation but she just couldn't place her hands on it. Maybe it was because they were starting to look like a band of four. Ironically the scenario worked, a thief, a fighter and two magic users.

Finding it too difficult to ask the blond girl any questions (after all she hadn't directed anything to her either) Love decided to turn her attention towards where she was going to go from here. There was really only two directions. One she could ask if any of her current companions were up to anything she could partake in. Or she could just dash out of the tavern before more people came up to her offering jewelery. It was a hard choice but she managed to keep her legs still and remained in her seat. After all where else was she going to get an opportunity like this?

"Huh?" Love was startled when she heard Ether talk. She often zoned out like this and sometimes it was hard for her to pay attention to her surroundings. Luckily her somewhat decent brain came to the rescue. "Oh my name's Love. My fathe- erm," She stopped herself. It wasn't really her father who named her that. It was her "holy" father back at the church, so she supposed it counted. "Yes my father gave me that name."

"Are any of you guys doing anything recently? Like maybe a mercenary job or something?" She decided to pitch it out there early, or else she might forget why she was here.

[Tearus]

Tearus was drinking some of the god awful tea, as a young Shaman walked up to him and asked him why he stole. He smiled as he turned to her, "Well Miss, many heroes have had many different talents for helping people. My particular talent is, well, stealing things. So I am a Burglar for the greater good, despite what many tones would suggest." He took another sip of his tea. He perked up at Love's question, "Why, no I'm not, but I do need to raise money, maybe I could find some of that fashion of work.

[Ether Alzen]

"Love eh?" Ether said as the shaman introduced herself. The pause made Ether raise a brow, why did she stop there? Maybe she had some history with her father or something or was it actually someone else who had given her the name?

"What a lovely name for such a lovely person," He said with a smile. Then she had asked about a mercenary job which made Ether even more curious about this girl. What was a girl like her doing looking for mercenary work?

"Um I'm not currently looking for any mercenary work but I guess seeing the current position I'm in I'm willing to do anything and I'm sure we could find something here," The rider said ordering a new drink. It was just some juice, Ether's favorite to be exact. He took a sip of the drink before looking back to Love.

"Might you be looking for excitement or something? I don't see must women around your age looking for fights," He asked taking a big gulp of the drink.