Liberty Beguiling

Spring has come to Hellenia, and with it the festival of Eros to Appolis. Music plays in the streets, traders hawk brightly coloured jewelry and fresh fruit from their stalls, and the crisp sea breeze carries the taste of brine on the air. The atmosphere is lively and hopeful, and newcomers to the city are plentiful. The talk of the town is a recent announcement that General Jacinth Alanis and the Lord Mayor Ioannis Samaras are seeking adventurers to bring order to the lawless Hellenian savanna on their northern frontier.

"Well, here we are." Aleixo leans against the wall, wiping the juice of the sweet plum he was eating from his chin. "We should make the most of the timing, the sights are here to be enjoyed and work can wait." He takes another bite and smirks as the fruit once again explodes. "I had forgotten just how plump they grow here, too many days of road dust covered dried meat on hard bread. Now the city fills the senses to bursting. Come Sval, will you rest your back and take the evening to enjoy the festivities?" 

Sval shrugs his pack to the ground and leans against the wall with Aleixo with a deep sigh. He takes a slightly more ginger bite of his fruit, trying to avoid matting his short, light brown beard with juices. The road behind them was a long one, but Sval always had a harder time relaxing in the cities of Hellenia than Aleixo did. The excitement and exuberance of the Hellenian culture was a far cry from his home. These people were joyful, to be sure. But seeing their excitement falter when their eyes danced across the jagged black scars and permanent pallor of his face was a constant reminder that he was far, far from home. Still, nothing to be done. "I've said it before," he says, speaking the native tongue that he'd come to learn over the past several years. "You Hellenians know how to throw a party." His eyes scan the crowd with caution and excitement. It would be nice to relax. Eat some real food, maybe have a bath, and take in the festival. He might even dance -- it would depend on how much alcohol he could afford. "We should find a place to stow our belongings before the night progresses too far. But I think we've earned a bit of respite."

Azul rides into Appolis and is awed by the sights of the city. So different from his home in Sarameia, not just the city but the people themselves. The people here are so full of zeal & passion, pursuing whatever made them happy. Such a far cry from his people back home, where duty, dedication, and honoring the clan loomed silently over every action.  This was Azul's second time in Appolis but the city still astonished him. He noticed that he drew a good deal of attention as he rode into through the city, Azul smiles widely. He knew this is where he would create his legend, where the world would learn & celebrate his name. Azul says to the owl perched on his shoulder "Sofía this is where it begins." Happy that they were able to make it back before the festival, especially with news that the General was looking for adventurers. He says to Sofia " Lets head to the Inn first. I think the place we stayed at before we left to defeat the Harpy Twins will have room" He then rides off with a smile on his face heading to the Inn.

Giving a wide grin, Aleixo throws the stone from the fruit over his shoulder. "Very good then." He gives Sval an enthusiastic slap on the shoulder before he pushes himself up quickly from the wall. "Come, I know a place. We can leave our horses and armour there and later rest for the night if we aren't lucky enough to find ourselves invited somewhere else." He gives a wink and takes the horse by the reins, leading it through the streets. "Take it all in my friend, have you ever seen such wide spread joy?"

"Only at the last festival we were at," Sval says with a chuckle. He re-shoulders his backpack and grabs his own set of reins, following Aleixo through the city to a small inn: Taverna Leonidas. 

Early morning light streams through the open doorway leading out onto the balcony as Petros pulls his pants on, gazing appreciatively at the young lady still asleep in her bed.  A fine night to kick off the festival of Eros , he muses. The girl stirs and opens her eyes, looking up at the man obviously preparing to leave. "You musn't leave yet, Pet," she implores.  "I'm not finished with you." Returning the grin she gave him, he replies,  "And I'm not finished with you, either.  But I must go before the household awakes. What would your woman say if she found me here, hmm?" As he leans down to give a parting kiss, the door to the bedchamber bursts open, and a well-dressed man flanked by two guards, each drawing a short, straight-bladed sword, strides angrily into the room bellowing,  "Get him!" Cornered, Petros reacts on trained instinct, rolling over the bed to place it between him and the advancing men.  Continuing to back away onto the balcony, he raises his empty hands.  "Now let's be reasonable gents.  You can stow the swords.  Where am I going to go?"   Where indeed? The men continue to advance while the well-dressed man-- her father, surely --ignores his daughter, rage dominating his face.  Petros, now at the edge of the balcony sees his escape.   "Well then fellas.  I have only one thing to say to you--and to your esteemed Miss Samaras," he says, gesturing to the lady now covering herself in her bedsheets, fear written plain on her face. "Be seeing you!"   With a leap, hand placed on the balcony and feet arcing gracefully over it towards the wall, he clears the distance between the balcony and the tarnished copper downspout.  Half falling and half climbing, he descends rapidly toward the ground, three stories below. Once on the ground, Petros scans the grounds and heads between a double row of boxwood bushes into a small garden.  Across that and behind a small workman's shed, he quickly clears a head-high fence and drops into the alley below.  Well that was a close one, he thinks to himself.  Turning around, he finds three more men, their spears held forward, spear-points already straining his leather tunic.  Swallowing, Petros slowly raises his hands.  "Would you fellows be interested in a bribe?" As the men lead him back into the Mayor's mansion, Petros's mind races.  

Aleixo laughs. "Yes, that was some festival. I don't remember much of it though." He gives a wink. "That's how you know it was good though eh? Maybe I'll forget half of this one too." He takes a deep breath, puffing out his chest as he takes in all the smells as they pass through the market. Perhaps we should have a meal before we take part in the festivities. These smells have my stomach rumbling and the fruit will not fill the gap, good as it was." 

"Freshly cooked meat," Sval says dreamily, his mouth watering. "Not smoked and dried. If I never have a piece of jerky again, it will still be too soon."  At Aleixo's mentioning of food, Sval's nose, too, begins to take in all the smells. His stomach gurgles. He spies a large hunk of well-spiced meat on a spit and watches as the attendant slices off a few tasty morsels and hands it off to a festival-goer. He is so entranced by the sight of food that wasn't hardtack or jerky that he only narrowly avoided bumping into a raucous group of Appolians. One of them began to shout: "You and your horse better watch where you--" , but the man's voice faltered as he saw Sval's face.  Not terribly long ago, the black, scar-like veins had reached his right eye, causing it to be continuously shot through with blood. It hadn't hampered Sval's vision at all, but it was not  a pretty sight. The man quickly stepped around Sval and the horse, leading his friends further down the road before their carousing began anew. Sval shrugged toward Aleixo and grinned sheepishly. "You'd think they'd have never seen a mutating Norscan before or something," he joked. It was easy to joke about his affliction, especially with a friend who didn't care, like Aleixo. But the anxiety that he felt about it sometimes kept him from sleep. 

Puffing up instinctively, Aleixo watches, turning slowly as the men pass. "That's right, move along." He growls under his breath. As they disappear down the street he relaxes his posture again and chuckles with his friend. "The narrow-minded, the untravelled and the unenlightened. Mostly unwashed too, though I'm sure we are no better." He slaps Sval on the back again, leaving his hand supportively on his shoulder. "Mind them not, their judgement and fear will weigh heavy on their soul when it tries to cross the river."

The smells of food were nearly overwhelming, reminding Xan that he hadn't eaten in too long, as usual. His slight frame ached slightly, a combination of the use of his gift to heal the beggar  with the broken wrist and the lack of sustenance. Deciding that the food was more important than making speedier progress he looked about settling on a vendor selling meat on a spot, walking closer he heard raises voices, something about a horse he thought. Carefully moving his own mount toward the stall he reached for his coin purse, tucked away under his rough spun shirt.  Was there something familiar about the two men with horses near the stall, he wasn't sure. He'd met a lot of people over the years and as he got older they all started to blur into one. Xan decided it didn't matter, he was hungry and that mattered most, he could eat and then find a place to stay, maybe enjoy the festivities a little and see whether he wanted to stay or move on again.  Vihar, his horse tossed his head, snorting in impatience, an action that caused another friend to appear. From his saddle bag a small head popped out looking curiously, the weasel looking over at the horse as if to complain about the disturbance. "Easy, nothing is wrong, Vihar is merely keen to move on, I dont think he is alone in that. Would you like some lamb, I was just going to get some for me, it smells good doesn't it. " Xan asked the weasel, who didnt reply but waited patiently as if to suggest it would let him know when the food arrived. Raising a hand to the vendor Xan orders and pays, then moves a little out of the way in order ot eat in peace and quiet,offering the first bite to his familar who snatches it greedily and disappears into the saddle bag again. "Not even a thank you, typical." he mutters to himself, his eyes scanning the crowd. The more he looked the more he thought he did recognise the two men with horses, there had been a Norscan he'd met not too long ago, it could be him there weren't too many of them about, but in the hustle and bustle he couldnt be sure.

"But what is this?" Aleixo points through the crowd. "Another friendly face to take your mind from those plebians!" He places his fingers in his mouth, sending out a shrill whistle. "Xan! It is good to see you again my friend!"

"I knew it! My friend, how are you? How are you both?" Checking the way was clear enough Xan leads the horse towards the other two men, licking the juices from the lamb off his fingers as he goes, a smile broad across his face. "It has been a while, I hope you are in better health this time around." As he does so he offers his hand to the larger man, smiling over at his companion. As he does he sees the dark scars around his eye his own pure white orb widening slightly "I imagine there is a story there Norscan, I hope to hear it over a drink or two." Looking around the crowds remind him of his own needs. "Where are you staying, I've just come into town I dont have anywhere to stay yet. Something I should probably resolve before too much wine is taken. But you both have your mounts too, have we just missed each other on the road?"

"Perhaps! We came from the west, along the river. Where did you travel in from? We are just headed to the Taverna Leonidas, hoping to stable our horses and rent a room. I have stayed there before, simple but friendly if you would care to join us?"

Sval smiled. Xanathos had helped he and Aleixo with many injuries in the past and was a likable fellow. "Good to see you again Xan," he says. "And not even for a broken bone this time!"   He touches his face where the scars are most prominent. "It only gets worse with time," he says. "Only the gods know what's wrong with me." He changes the subject back to the inn. "Yes, come stay with us. It should only be a short walk from here. Then we can return to the festival and enjoy ourselves."

Azul reaches the Taverna Leonidas and assists the stable hands with getting his horse settled into the stables. They offer to brush and feed the horse but Azul with a pleasant smile waives them off. He goes about removing the horse's gear and thinks about how much the two of them have been through as he brushes it's coat. The horse has been his constant companion, since leaving his clan in the deserts of Saramia. He would have died in that endless desert, if not for this horse. He smiles as he thinks of how the day he named his horse, it was his 3rd week of travel and both he and the horse were at their limits. The endless heat and sand had worn down their resolve. Azul remembered looking at the endless desert, and thinking he would just rest his eyes for a moment. He woke up 5 hours later, in a tent with an older human women pouring water slowly into his mouth. The woman was apart of a trade caravan and they found Azul passed out in the saddle, with the horse trotting towards the caravan. His clan didn't believe in naming animals, but on that day Azul named the horse Seian. The Draconic word for H ero.  Azul finishes brushing the horse and places some oats into the stall and says "Rest well Seian".   He then heads into the Taverna, grabbing a table and ordering himself a rack of lamb and a glass of ouzo. He had grown quite found of lamb during his time in Hellania. He eats and looks around the room, and goes back to reviewing and tweaking the drawings he made to commemorate his victory over the Harpy Twins . 

"It pleases me you don't need my skills, but you will always be welcome to them should you need. I would be happy to join you both, for the company and the chance to catch up. I did use that gate, I'm surprised we didnt see each other sooner." Looking at the pair he smiles. "Whilst I am sure you will enjoy the festival, even with an old man like me around, I'll bet you are interested in this work the Mayor has announced. I would expect you will not be alone in this. Would I be barking up the correct tree?"

"I've got a feeling that we'll at least be checking it out," Sval says. But he was inwardly skeptical. He didn't know much about the savanna, but he was hoping that the town criers were talking about "lawless" monsters and not people that were just minding their own business.

Aleixo nods, he and Sval shared their reservations about the motivation. "It will indeed be receiving our attention. But enough of that for now. This is a time for festivities, not work. Come."  He leads the group around a corner to where Taverna Leonidas stands just down the street. He immediately squeezes to the side as some guards pass, escorting someone out towards the main street.  "Looks like the festivities got to someone already eh?"

Luthien with fire in her eyes and determination on her mind she, a wood elf dressed for war, struts her way on horseback through the busy streets rather obtrusively. Her senses overwhelmed with all the city has to offer, and at times she is distracted to the point that she runs into pedestrians. As they shout at her for running into them which she sometimes replies, " well stop standin in the middle of the road!" " Gah how do you people get anywhere?" "Oh! Sorry!" This is too much, she thinks to herself,  I can barely hear my own thoughts and the smells. . . good gods the smells how can a place smell so terrible and so good at the same time? There has to be some kind of respite from this chaos just find a inn, or something and wait to hear what the mayor has to say and leave as soon as I can. " Ah,  Taverna Leonidas, sounds promising." she guides her horse over to the stables. she dismounts and helps her horse eat an apple, before taking out her weapons and other necessities from the saddlebags and gives the reigns over to the stable hand and pays her fees. As she makes her way inside the tavern she thinks to herself, ha! quiet, good one, lets just try and enjoy our selves for once. who knows this might even be the start of something grand.

"Indeed, so much for his evening. I hope it was worth it. There are always some folk who can't behave themselves." Xan starts to move off unconcerned about the plight of the man being dragged away. After a few steps he checks to see if the others are following.

Aleixo follows behind. "What news Xan? Do you return from a place of need or are you on your way to one?" As they almost pass the stable, he points at it and leads his horse inside to tie it up. The stable hand is busy with another horse so he takes a seat on a beam to wait.

"There is need everywhere, and will be wherever I go. I was south west of here, there are enough people out in the small communities to keep me busy." Following the lead of Aleixo, he steers his mount into the stable area, also waiting patiently for attention. "I have no real plans for my next journey, but then that is nothing new. I had thought to go home to Macedon, but I came the opposite way instead. I may make that trip soon, unless something presents itself." As he fusses over Vihar he asks "And the pair of you, have you  seen anything of note out in the world?"

Azul finishes his rack of lamb and drains his glass. He then retrieves his Oud (lute) from his pack and glances around the Taverna looking for a good spot by the fire, where he can draw the rooms attention. Finding the ideal spot, Azul sighs and absentmindedly tunes the Oud. He dreaded this part, but to become a legend the world must first hear of your accomplishments. He smiles as a memory of his clan comes to mind, his people were famed storytellers. Being nomadic scholars, they collected stories during their travels and retold the best ones time & time again. Azul loved this as a child, unfortunately he only had a middling talent for storytelling. But hopefully a few gimmicks can make up for the lack of talent.  He brings a chair into the center of the room and takes a deep breath clearing his head. He begins strumming the Qud and concentrates on the fire using his ability to Control Flames to summon three orbs of fire that begin to hover over his head. He then calls out to the tavern and says "Gather round and hear the tale of how I. Azul of clan Kassis, vanquished the menace of the Sinister Harpy Sisters that plagued the Hellenian Way !" As he tells the tale he manipulates the flames turning them into vague representations of the story, while strumming on his Oud. Changing one orb into Azul riding on horseback with Sofia on his shoulder. Depicting him searching the trade route for the monsters, until he is ambushed. He then changes the remaining two orbs into the Harpy Sisters who catch Azul by surprise, with one of them smashing a club against his head. He then tells of his heroic battle, and how he was able to cut down both of the monsters. Changing the flames as he speaks to show the conflict and eventually Azul standing over their bodies. After he finishes he looks at to the crowd to see if they enjoyed his tale. 

"Nothing as exciting as that whole 'Zeus' incident," Sval says. "But we've had our share of adventures since we last met." Sval recounts some of he and Aleixo's adventures from the last year as the stable hand handles their horses. Goblin tribes, gnoll packs, even a strange incident with a cursed, man-eating cow. "And we wandered for a while, ending up in Appolis just in time for the festival," he says, finishing the story. "What fortuitous timing. Almost like,"  he pauses, snidely glancing at Aleixo, "it was the plan all along."

Azul has clearly picked the wrong crowd. Half the tavern's occupants ignore the brass-scaled dragonborn and his strange gravelly accent, the rest jeer and somebody tosses a cup of wine over his fiery puppets. Meanwhile, the two guards who have seized Petros clap him in irons and lead him back in through the front doors to the Lord Mayor's manor. Ioannis waits, standing imposingly behind a banister overlooking the entrance way. "You!" He declares. "You will pay for what you have done today! Take him away and lock him up! I want him out of my sight until I have determined a suitably unpleasant penance for this charlatan..."

Brushing off Sval's mocking glance, Aleixo grins. "Yes, great fortune. Now." He claps his hands. "I'm starving, and I would very much like to get out of this armour, have a bath and perhaps a drink, and all of those things would be better done with company, so perhaps we could go inside and see what the tavern has to offer?" He grins broadly, handing over some coins the the stablehand and leading the way into the taverna, where the crowd is mocking the unfortunate performer. "Whew, tough crowd. Let's get some rooms sorted."

Hearing the jeers from half the crowd and the other half doing their best to ignore his existence. Humiliation starts to rise in Azul as he can tell that he clearly missed the mark for this crowd. As he finishes he sees a man stand and hurl wine at his fiery images extinguishing one of his orbs. Azul angrily jumps to his feet and almost reaches for his sabre, but remembers a proverb of his people. "Only the greatest of fools, spill blood to hide embarrassment." He then takes a deep breath, gives a stiff bow to the crowd and walks back to his table and orders another glass of ouzu.

Thinking quickly, lest he find himself robber of life or limb, Petros exclaims, "Sir, I am no charlatan.  My heart beats true for your daughter. We are in love, and on this propitious feast of love, have pity on your humblest of servants, I implore you.  I would do anything for fair Zoe.  Let me not waste away in some dungeon, but prove myself worthy of her and of her illustrious family."

The Lord Mayor watches Petros with narrow eyes, but he does pause before turning away. "We shall see," he tells the young Hellenian, before gesturing to the guards to carry him away. Petros is brought to a simple cell in the cellar of the manor. It's dark, but pleasantly cool. Black cast iron bars are sunk into the bricks, sealing him inside. The guards swing the door closed with a clank, before leaving Petros alone.

Contrary to the popular opinion Luthien quite enjoyed the song if anything she liked the dancing flames most of all. as shes enjoying her own wine she attempts to trip the individual who tossed the wine without anyone noticing.

Luthien's trip is clumsy and does not go unnoticed. " Ai gamisou , savra !  Who the  oipho do you think your're messing with?" The man demands aggressively, drawing himself up to his full height and standing just inches from Luthien as he shouts in her face. His breath stinks of alchohol.

Coyishly she leans back to take a sip of her drink before responding dismissively and with a teethy grin,  “clearly I’m dealing with a child with no respect for the arts and the fine patrons of this tavern,”  Luthiens accent is quite thick and her common is butchered but she continues,  “now little boy, I’d advise you to back off before I have to demonstrate my own arts.”

"You'll regret that,  sixameni !" The man snarls, grabbing at Luthien.

She pirouettes away, her red hair whips over her face for a second as she swats the mans hand away. Instinctively she reaches for her blade but resists the temptation. She instead attempts to grapple the man in the fashion of mounting him but instead is easily shoved aside. a flash of savagery in her ember eyes pierces through the orange veil that is her hair as a low growl escapes her mouth.

The man bats Luthien's feeble blows aside and grabs each of her wrists in a thick hand, watching her with unpleasant, predatory eyes.

With her arms grappled she kicks him on the side of his ribs. a little annoyed with how unaffected he seems she starts to struggle in his grasp.

Back at his table Azul is nursing his drink and is split between sulking and trying to formulate new strategies to connect with the people of Hellania. He hears a bit of yelling but is so lost in his own thoughts that he didn't hear what was said. He is snapped out of his contemplation when he hears a fight breakout.  Looking up Azul notices the man who threw wine at him restraining a young Elven Woman. He feels a rush of vindication, thinking that This man is a common thug, now he is assaulting a woman in the middle of the tavern. At least now I have justification to put him in his place.  Azul stands and looks around at the crowd and notices that both the Elven woman and himself were strangers to this land. And beating a man senseless in a bar will not be the best way to start his legend.  He stands and telepathically tells Sofia to run maneuver "blind and smash".   Sofia then leaps from his shoulder flying into the mans face distracting him for just a split second before flying off. Right in that moment Azul leaps forward and bearhugs the man and pulls him away from the elf. Azul says in Hellanian with his accent deepened due to the stress "There is no need for violence, we are here to drink and celebrate. Let me buy all of you drink, so we can enjoy the day"

The drunkard guffaws in Azul's face and headbutts the dragonborn right between the eyes, leaving blood streaming from the wound.

"Well, let's see what sort of dive you are dragging me to.." Xan chuckles as he opens the door to the tavern to be met by a scene of a brawl unfolding. He sees a dragonborn getting solidly punched in the face by a big man, and a wood elf they might have been fighting over, turning to leave he remembers who he is with and sighs, drawing some of his power as he prepares for trouble. "Now, just try not to get in more trouble than necessary..." he says quietly without much hope in his voice.

Luthien, relieved that some one is assisting as she broke free from the brutes grasp, " Looks like the lumberfoot wants pain, I gladly give it." she exclaims as she jabs him in the ribs confused if not surprised on how little it seems to be effecting him at all.

Xan sees the potential for chaos erupting and calls forth from the well of his power. The divinely inspired gift surges through him, strengthening him. He let's the energy build until it strains him, then lets it bleed out towards the other two men he I'd with, both Aleixo and Sval feel the blessings run through them as well like a ripple of warmth surging across them under their skin. The unnerving experience is over in a second but the feeling of power remains in all three men. "Don't let me get in your way" the older man says to the others as he moves just inside the door out of the way of his companions.

Sval makes his way toward the dragonborn, the drunkard, and the elven woman the drunkard had been yelling at before the fight broke out. He stops just outside the drunk's immediate awareness and waits. He worries that if he were to gang up on this man, the already buzzing taverna patrons might feel inclined to join in and start a full scale brawl. So Sval bides his time, waiting to see if the drunk breaks free or if the dragonborn and the elf are able to handle him on their own.

Azul holding the drunk back using a bear hug grapple is surprised and infuriated when the drunk laughs at his offer and headbutts Azul. Smashing his nose, and unleashing a torrent of blood from the Dragonborn's nose.  Azul sees the elf punch the drunk but the Hellanian seemed to wasted to feel the impact. Seeing others at the edge of his vision Azul realizes he needs to end this quickly. Azul's people weren't natural wrestlers, preferring to focus their efforts on other combat styles. But during his time with the merchant caravan Azul picked up some Hellanian wrestling techniques and decided to put them test. He telepathically tells Sofia to "Distract him" and the bird flies into the drunks face batting his brass colored wings in front of the man. Azul uses the moment of distraction to shift his grip from a bear hug to a full nelson hold. He then digs deep bringing up all of his strength to move beyond his usual limits to move again and drag the man to the floor.  As he gets the man to the floor pinning him to the ground, he breathes deeply and exhales a burst of hot air on the drunk. He then speaks just loud enough for the man to hear "This ends now. If you insist on continuing this fight, you can replace the flames you so thoughtlessly extinguished"

The drunk pales slightly at the seriousness of the dragonborn's threats and relaxes his muscles, ceasing all resistance. "All right, all right," he grunts thumping one hand on the floorboards to indicate defeat. The common room, which had lapsed into silence at the outset of the altercation, erupts into cheers and a couple of nearby revellers clap Azul over the shoulders and hand him a fresh drink. It seems he has earned a degree of respect.

as much as Luthien would love to keep fighting her rage quickly fades into a gracious smile,  " A star shines upon the hour of our meeting, le hannon." she bows her head to the Dragonborn who helped her giving a better look at the small antlers that crown her head. With a closer glance at the Elf you see her deep red shoulder length hair which frames her face with all the eloquence befitting of an Elf, with a hint of savagery as her ember eyes look up to meet the Dragonborn. 

Sval notices the dragonborn's blood streaming from his broken nose. "That looks painful," he says. "Let me stop the bleeding." He reaches out and channels some of the strange, natural energy trapped inside him. His right hand begins to glow faintly green. The green light jumps as he touches the dragonborn's blue-scaled snout. It pulses for a moment, then fades. The bloods slows to a trickle, then stops. Sval looks down at the drunk, then back up at the dragonborn. "I didn't think the performance was that bad."

Looking around with slight disappointment, Aleixo smiles to Xan who is still by his side. "A little late for the fun it seems. Never mind, best not to fight on an empty stomach anyway." He hefts his pack back over his shoulder and heads to the bar to enquire about a room for the night.

Azul stands hearing the cheers and applause of the crowd and gives huge grin to the crowd. Gratefully accepting the offered drink. Such a difference from a few moments ago. Remembering a proverb of his people deeds shine brighter than words.  He looks over to the human who fixed his nose noticing the glowing healing energy and says "Thank you, my friend . I have no talent with the healing magics and that would have been painful to let heal on its own." He then turns to face both the Elf and the Human. And with a large smile says to the elf  "I hope the brute didn't hurt you, but it looks like you are more than able to take care of yourself. I truly appreciate you both for coming to my aid." Sofia then flies down from the rafters landing back on Azul's shoulder Azul then gives a small bow and says "I am Azul of Clan Kassis and this is Sofia. I would be honored to buy both of you a drink and hear what brought you to Appolis."

"I'm Sval," he replies. "Does your table have room for two more? I have some friends here." He gestures towards the door at Xan and towards the bar at Aleixo, who seemed to be in the process of finding them some rooms. "If so, we would be happy to join you, I think."