((The group wants to help find out where Skugg and Amelia come from, before they were abducted by the agents of the Fighting Rings and forced to fight for their lives for the entertainment of crooks and thugs. Some of the group wants to help them out of the goodness of their heart, some of them have family in the fighting rings, and some just want the safety of a meal tomorrow, but all of them are determined to track down and infiltrate the fighting grounds to discover the dark secrets such a place is sure to hold, to see if they can end the abomination once and for all))

((Authors participating as of the beginning of this quest: Jackie the Giant, Tazz4life, Manow Scar, Dragon Age. Authors cleared to post: NightRainMuseum. If you wish to join, ask first and find a logical way to introduce your character))

Samantha heard a bird ruffle it's feathers and tweet on the roof, heard through the closed and shuttered window, and instantly she was awake.

Lifting her head from her brother's lower back and gently picking up and moving her brother's arm from where it was slung over her shoulder, she sat up and stretched without a sound. She touched Samuel's shoulder, and he jerked awake, groping under his pillow for the dagger he'd put there. Samantha soothed him with a wordless thought, and together they very quietly got out of bed, got dressed, and walked downstairs.

They walked down the creeky stairs on light feet, and when Samantha quietly asked "Is breakfast complimentary" Martes jerked with surprise.

"Oh! Oh dear didn't hear you come down the stairs." Martes looked down at them, thought about it, then smiled. "Of course breakfast is complimentary. Any preferences?"

"Food please, not decomposed dirt or rotten mush," Samuel stated. "We like living. We're not picky."

((Also if anyone has any better ideas for a quest name, you can always suggest me a replacement))

((... changed name from Where Children Come From... nobody gets my jokes...))

((This quest developed in Table 31))

(Maybe something more like Where Have the Children Gone?)

Kera woke up, a kink in her neck, and a family of mice curled up in the hollow created by her curled up body. Her movement sent them scurrying away, leaving the slowest behind. She brushed them away quietly. It was better than rats, she supposed, and she'd slept with those before. She stood up, silent as a shadow, and splashed cold water on her face, blinking to clear her eyes, and tried to make out her reflection in the mirror. She wasn't sure what she was expecting to see. Some sort of physical change to suggest her treason? All she saw was herself looking back. She shrugged and turned around as her companion groaned and rolled over in his own sleep.

"Qevan," she said softly, not trying to startle him. He jumped up, a jagged-bladed dagger in his clenched fist. He sighed when he saw it was only her, and he put the blade away.

"Sorry," he said, seeing her raised eyebrows. "I just don't trust everyone in our group."

"I trust them," she said. "And besides, people aren't going to be looking for a huge group of people. As much as it pains me, we can sell my armor and the horses' saddle blankets with the royal insignia. It's a chance to get to the underground before anyone realizes what we're doing."

"A chance to get to Vance," Qevan muttered under his breath, pulling on his boots.

"What was that?" she asked, her voice dangerously sweet.

"Nothing," he assured her, getting down on his knees to search for his other boot.

"Let's find some breakfast then, and get out of this closet," she said, opening the door, and enjoying the light breeze created as the cooler air rushed into the small, windowless room. He reluctantly followed.

Samantha looked up when she heard somebody's heartbeat coming down the stairs. Who is it? she asked her brother.

Samuel didn't stop eating his scrambled eggs, merely sunk down in his chair a bit, touched the floor, and felt the approaching people's heartbeats and footsteps and general being. Qevan and Kera, he thought back, sitting upright again.

Beaming, the blind girl turned in their general direction (which was to say she stared at the wall four feet to the left of them) and waved. "Hi Qevan! Hi Kera! Eggs and bacon and toast! Complimentary!"

Martes winced, then shook his head and grinned ruefully. Who would have said no to that cute little girl?

((Holeee crap. Toast was invented 6000 years ago... by Egyptians who kneaded bread dough with their feet and put foot-yeast in the bread... research done, mind blown...))

Kera looked at the wall where Samantha was looking, slightly befuddled, and still not thinking straight after the night before, even though she didn't remember drinking much. Qevan smiled back at the girl.

"A little more to the right," he said. Once again he'd sensed magic with them, and he was still curious. But he figured he'd have time to investigate later, or ask them about it once they were more comfortable with one another's presence. For now he'd watch.

The two sat down, and Kera thanked Martes for the food, but didn't touch it. Qevan, on the other hand, dug in happily.

The morning sun pored it's worm glow onto Vance's face. He slowly woke, a little stiff from a night sleeping on the floor, but non the less well rested. As he sat up, Vance grab Kalic by the hilt and fasind him back to his side.

"Good morning brother, what shall we kill today?" the blade ask with a disturbing joy.

"Hopefully nothing." Vance commented turning to look in the mirror. His shaggy hair hung in a mess in front of his face.What have i become?Vance asked himself, just a week before, he was a knight, one of the king's best with a mage that the king himself seemed to envy. Now all he could see whas his brother, dying by his hand. Reaching into a small side pocket, Vance pulled out a small leather strap, and with it tied his hear back. Glancing back into the mirror, Vance saw a slightly cleaner version of himself.

"What are we waiting for?" Kalic asked, sounding unusually excited.

"You know we probably wont kill anyone today" Vance reminded him.

"Not standing here we won't." Kalic hastily agreed.

Vance just rolled his eyes and started throw the door on his way down the stares.

Kera tried hard not to react to the look on Qevan's face. He was trying to bait her into confessing or revealing her emotions towards Vance, and she wouldn't give into his pestering.

"Good morning, Vance," she finally said without looking up from her scantily-touched plate.

Jared got up from the chair that he had somehow managed to fall asleep in and stumbled over to where the rest of the group was meeting. Though it probably looked like he just walked over because of the enchantments in his coat. He scanned the table, and then the faces. Seeing that Aliana wasn't up he sent a mental ping into her dreams popping it like a bubble. In a few moments she tripped over herself on the way down the stairs.

"Feeling graceful today?" He asked. She smiled since she was usually much more fluid with her movements.

Aliana sat in an open chair and tapped her nails against the wood before inviting Jared to sit next to her. Neither of them took any food, though Jared took a glass of water.

Samantha blushed and gave a little self-deprecating smile. "Eheh, sorry, hard to face something you can only hear. Must be an echo or something." She smiled and waved at each of the group in turn that walked over. "Anyone else sleep like they've never slept in their life?"

Samuel ate in silence, content in letting Samantha make the small talk. Samuel spoke business, or he didn't speak.

Vance arrived at the table caring a plat of eggs bread and various cheeses. "Good morning," He announced to the group. "I take it that everyone slept well?" he continued while munching on his breakfast. Vance continued to rest his hand on Kalic.

"Ya ya, Lets get moving, the sooner we leave this place, the sooner I can kill something." Kalic echoed in Vance's head.

Kera stretched and then cracked her neck loudly before speaking. "I'm glad you slept well, Samantha," she stated briskly, hoping Qevan caught the ironic edge to her tone. The magician didn't react, simply kept his head down.

I guess we're waiting on the stars of this circus, she thought, looking around for Amelia and Skugg. She kept the thought to herself.

((Sorry I took so long to post. My computer wouldn't let me log in for a while.))

Skugg and Amelia woke later than they usually did. The latter had ended up abandoning the bed half-way through the night because Skugg was used to having her use him as a pillow and became lonely. They had slept curled up together on the floor until sunlight shone in through the window.

"Wow. We slept that long?" Skugg murmured. Amelia didn't reply but immediately began to wash up so that they could leave. Skugg just watched, since he didn't have the same need for hygiene that humans had.

Once Amelia was finished, the pair headed downstairs. They had no real hope for breakfast, since they barely had any coins left, but Skugg planned on catching a deer later. Skugg grimaced when he noticed that everyone else was waiting for them, but Amelia just waved and went to sit down at the table without any change in expression (AKA, no expression).

Samantha waved at the stairs without looking, head bent low over her plate. "MM! Ayaahho, gummowzuh phuddere's FFFFRRUH!?" Samantha somehow hummed and spat out behind a mouth filled with pancakes.

Samuel slowly wiped a fleck of half-chewed food off of his cheek and cleared his throat. "Miss Bacon-Mush-Sprayer here wants you to know that breakfast is free." He swiped his food-soiled hand on the back of his sister's dress, and smirked as she stopped eating to glare at him.

Martes choked on some water he was drinking, and looked up at Skugg as he coughed. "We're *cough cough cough cough* nearly out of bacon." They could eat free... because of those unfortunate adorable kids Martes was willing to allow it... but they were gonna get a bacon-limit. Bacon wasn't 12 pounds for 3 silvers like buttermilk and flour.

Samuel rubbed the back of his head from his sister's stealthy thwack that nobody could have seen and added "We should probably get going. The sooner we get there, the less pickpockets we'll have to watch out for. They're lazy this early, mostly still sleeping."

Kera looked up from her plate.

"How did the two of you sleep?" she asked.

Part of her knew she should eat to keep her energy up. But she felt that if she forced herself to eat, she'd get sick. Hence the turning away from the table with every chance she got. She was sure she wasn't fooling anyone, but she really couldn't force herself to actually put food in her mouth, no matter how delicious it smelled or how good the others claimed it to be.

Skugg could tell when Martes was making an excuse about the bacon. The man probably thought the Gre'Lar would eat him out of house and home.

"I'll eat later." He rumbled, not really insulted. He was huge after all, so it was normal for people to think he ate a lot. "I can catch a deer or something."

"We slept fine." Amelia told Kera. "Probably better than we should have. That room was a lot more comfortable than we're used to."

"Good," Kera said, looking genuinely pleased. "You can have my plate if you'd like," she offered Skugg. "I'm not hungry."

Qevan rolled his eyes, keeping his head low.

Samuel cleared his throat as if to speak, and Samantha slapped him on the back of the head. "We're eating dinner. Be patient."

The boy huffed, stood up, and began to pace. "Amanda's not going to be at the Docks forever. You know how hard it is to track one kid in a city like this."

"Food, bro, chill. Food comes first."

Skugg's eyebrows (or the ridges he had in place of eyebrows) rose at Kera's offer. He wasn't used to people offering to share their food with him. Not even Amelia did that unless he was in a situation where he couldn't go hunting.

"Are you sure?" He asked Kera, concern evident in his voice. "You look like you need the strength more than I do."

Kera shrugged. "I'm not hungry. If I do get hungry, I can always go hunting."

"I doubt that there will be much time for hunting." Vance commented, finishing his eggs. "We should probably get moving soon, morning is sometimes the best time to move around unnoticed." Vance continued as he wrapped the rest of his bread and cheese in a napkin. He then got up and proceeded to pay for his meal, being sure to leave a generous tip.

"Shearing the wealth i see, i thought you were going to hold back a little. Well, seeing how you don't have a job anymore." Kalic reminded him as he walked away from the counter. "A heavy pocket keeps the mouth shut." Vans quietly whispered to himself.

"I said I'm not hungry," Kera insisted (almost growling), taking her plate in both hands and holding out toward Skugg.

Qevan finished his plate and sat back, satisfied.

"Well, all right." Skugg said, taking the plate gently with his claws. He was unconvinced, but he knew that arguing would be counter-productive. He savored the taste of the cooked meat, since he would usually just eat what he caught raw, so meat that had actually cooked was a treat. He couldn't remember the last time he had had bacon, cooked or not.

"Thank you," Kera said, brightening visibly, happy to see Skugg's expression. She wasn't having a particularly good morning, but it was good to see a smile on someone. Especially when that someone wasn't Qevan gloating and smirking at her bad mood.

"You are such a push-over." Amelia teased Skugg, in a much lighter voice than she had ever used around the others yet. "Was it because she was a pretty girl, or because she was giving you food?"

The scales around Skugg's eyes turned dark green, his version of a blush. "Stop that." He said in embarrassment. "I just didn't want the food to go to waste, that's all." Children and pretty girls were Skugg's weak point, and the latter was one he was very embarrassed about. He had grown up around humans mostly, so he had grown up with human views of attractiveness, whereas other Gre'Lars found humans to be rather ugly. He found it kind of embarrassing to be attracted to the smaller, physically weaker species.

Kera smiled, her cheeks changing color, feeling slightly flattered. She'd trained as a knight since she was young, and she'd never been called pretty, even in passing.

Samuel sighed, and simply stood at his sister's shoulder while she ate. You know, he thought to her, Amanda might be with Robert right now.

Samantha's cheeks colored in embarrassed anger, and she glared at him. Don't you dare try to plant those thoughts in my head! Robert said that he was over her, that the break up with mutual. Don't you try to make me take your side, we're not going to die if we wait a few minutes and you're not going to make me jump up and demand that these nice people run all the way across town so you can see your girlfriend. You are being SO unreasonable right now I might actually sock you in the face, and you know that we feel each other's pain!

Samuel was silent for a moment. Your right. I'm sorry. I just... worry.

Samantha sighed heavily, and tugged Samuel's sleeve until he sat down again. Have some more food, I know you're not full and you need food more than I do, your lighter than I am and you still insist that you can carry things and fight people while taking the smaller share of everything. You can't eat less and do more it ain't right and it's gonna kill you.

Samuel looked at his plate. "I'm not hung-"

Samantha smashed her fist down on the table. "EAT YOUR FOOD YOU OBSTINATE DUNCE!"

Samuel lowered his head and quickly started to eat.

Samantha massaged her temples. "Free food and I have to talk him into eating it," she growled under her breath.

((She almost said yeasty codpiece but I talked her down. Yeesh, these unruly characters, it's as if they have a will of their own))

Kera jumped as the girl hit the table.

"What in-- Samantha, think before you scare someone out of their boots!" she was smiling though. It's not like the girl had meant it. "But we really should get moving soon."

She was getting restless, waiting for everyone else to eat. "I think I'll go check the horses. We've only got three..."

"I don't need a horse." Amelia said as she calmy continued eating. Neither she nor Skugg had jumped when Samantha hit the table.

"Small problem." Skugg spoke up. "Horses don't like me. They spook whenever they smell or see me. I have no idea why." If he looked any more sheepish he would have grown wool. "If they freak out too much I'll have to move around a lot to stay downwind of them."

(She almost called her brother a what)

"Well, considering that these horses were trained to help hunt dragons, I don't foresee too much difficulty, but we can sell them if we have to," Kera said, not looking happy with the prospect of walking. Qevan looked even less excited. All his books were in the saddlebags, he wouldn't be able to carry all of them.

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