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"You can?!" Arthur looked excited enough to jump out of his seat. "So you know where she is?! Is she all right?! Is she..." Arthur catches himself getting too excited and settles back down in his seat. "I'm sorry, it's just... I've been searching for her for years now. When she got adopted by those rich Arians, I thought she was getting a better life. Something better than that of a longshoreman's wife... but once I discovered what really happened..." Arthur clenches his fists so hard they become white. "I had to do something."

Arthur looks at everyone around the table, his gaze incredibly serous now. "You have a couple hours 'til the reinforcements arrive, then they will tear this town apart looking for you, but my captain is hoping it won't come to that. Word was sent to the rest of the division that's escorting the petrified individuals that they should turn around and come back to town. Only a few soldiers are continuing on to deliver the statutes to Aria's secret portal in the forest.

"That portal... That's how we were able to get to this town so quick to investigate the rumor. As far as I can tell, Aria has these portals all over. Now, my captain has ordered everyone to muster back at the garrison, with the exceptions for the people at the gates. He's hoping you guys will show back up in an hour as planned so he can escort you outside the gate. Once we were outside sight of Gladesdale, the plan was to use these powerful knockout grenades to render you unconscious and then deliver you to the rest of the returning division. My plan was to disable the grenades. Without those, I don't think they will be strong enough to overpower you and you could make your escape once you are escorted away from the city. I wish I could do more, but I can't openly betray Aria until I've found Mawyen and guaranteed her safety."

As Twyla listens to Arthur talk, it is obvious to her he is 100% genuine. In fact, the way he is wearing his emotions on his sleeve makes her marvel at how he has been able to conceal his hatred for Aria while working for them.



Petra looked like she was about to respond to Revenge, when Kuori comes out and asks her question. Upon hearing Kuori's announcement Petra would jump to her feet. "A-Arthur is here? H-how is that possible?"

Petra would run to the edge of the wagon but would feel Revenge's strong hand grab her shoulder. After listing to his advice she would nod solemnly "R-right. I'll try not to get my hopes too high."

Petra jumps out of the wagon and walks into the Red Lion with Kuori. Once she gets inside she freezes. Kuori would hear the words escape her lips, almost in a whisper. "By the gods... Arthur... It's... it's really you... how...?" Though her face was still mostly obscured by her hood Kuori could see the twin line of tears streak down her cheeks. Petra then suddenly turns around and dashes out of the inn. She runs back and jumps back into the wagon. Revenge can hear her sobbing as she retreats back to her corner with her hands covering her face.



Back at the table, the party notices Kuori walk back in though the entrance with the shadowy Petra. Petra freezes then runs back outside. Arthur seems to notice this as well and stands up form the table with a confused look on his face. "Maywen?"

Twyla's eyes grew big as Arthur talked. She felt caught up in his emotions as he talked, and she leaned towards him, heart in her throat. "So what you're saying is that our best chance of escape is to walk into their trap at the garrison? Sounds deliciously dangerous! But how will you disable those things? Do you need help with that?"

As Petra came in, she turned in surprise. Twyla hadn't expected to see her come in--but Arthur had obviously seen and recognized her. She turned back to him with a surprisingly stern look on her little gnomish face. She spoke quietly, so only those at the table would hear her.

"Arthur, let me be really, super, totally honest with you. The girl you know as Maywen... that was her. She's with us. She's all right, and we've been working really hard to keep her safe. That's why you need to trust me when I say this: don't run after her right now. I don't think if she was ready to talk to you she would have run like that... and if you care about her as much as you say, you won't force her right now. That wouldn't be good for her or for getting her safely out of here without being detected. So right now please let's focus on the mission. If you want to give me a message or something to pass to her, though, I can do that."

She sighed, not sure at all if she was getting through to him, but hopeful that he would stay calm enough to focus on the mission at hand.

((Diplomacy to get him to stay calm and not cause a big scene: 17. sweatdrop ))

A minute would pass after Petra's answer.

"My wife seemed... willing to do it, when Twyla suggested it. She didn't consult with me on it. But I don't control her; she is free to make her own decisions, and I would see that freedom reinforced since she had been denied it for so long."

Revenge's tail would swish across the floor of the wagon.

"I used to be a merchant. Did you know that? An atheist, too. I came from money. My own house, a..." A pause, and a quick grimace. "... cat." He would look back over his shoulder at Petra. "All I have now is what you see before you, and as of a week ago, who is sitting in the inn right now. I am not the man I was all those years ago. Time changes all of us, and not always in a manner we have control over."

"You are free, Petra. Free to choose what your life has culminated to. You are free to think yourself monster, if you so choose, as I am for myself, for failing to keep Abby from this. In the end, it's but a word, a title, that the Common tongue has given us, poorly translated from a long-forgotten root language."

Turning his attention back towards the rear flap, he would finish. "I can pray to my goddess that both you and my wife choose to be more than that title, but I don't think an entire pantheon could influence a decision born of free will."

A few tears coursed down Twyla's face, and she wiped at her eyes, overcome with emotion. "Oh wow," she said, choking up, "that's so beautiful. She is SO lucky to have you! Of course I'll tell her!"

She would turn to the others. "Talk to Mr. Arthur about what you want, Miss Abby. I'm definitely going to go talk to Petra... er, Maywen. Whatever she wants to be called. I'll come back soon, with or without her."

With that, Twyla would turn and flounce out the door, heading directly to the wagon. She popped up through the rear flap of the wagon, almost directly running into Revenge. "Oh, hey hey, Petra's here right?"
she said, seemingly unaware of the tense atmosphere. She spotted her across the floor of the wagon and scrambled over to her, kneeling a bit to talk to Petra face to face.

"Hey, Petra?" Twyla's voice was soft. "There's a man named Arthur in the inn that wanted to talk to you. I wasn't sure how you felt about that, so I asked him to give me a message for you and then you can see what you want to do. I thought maybe you'd like to hear it in his voice. Okay, here goes."

She took a deep breath, then looked hard at Petra and winked.

Arthur's voice suddenly filled the wagon, speaking his message to Petra, full of the emotion that Twyla had heard from him only moments ago.

"Please tell her that I already know what happened, and I don't care what she looks like or what they did to her, she's still my Maywen... and... and I'm sorry I failed to protect her before, but I won't let it ever happen again! You tell her I still remember our promise and there hasn't been a day in the last four years that I haven't thought about her. I... I still love her... and always will."

Twyla closed her eyes as the spell faded away, then looked at Petra with a small smile. "That's what he told me--and that's exactly how he told me."

((Twyla uses Ghost Sound as a minor. The sound of Arthur's voice speaking his words fills the wagon. 18 Bluff to imitate Arthur's voice. It's quiet enough that only those in the wagon can hear it.))

Twyla nodded, smiling. "Okay! I can do that. I just wanted to make sure it was okay with you to bring him over. I'll be right back."

She got up, then paused a moment. She leaned close to Revenge and whispered to him, "The guy in there knows Miss Petra; he's legit. He's also in the Arian Guard and he's going to help us escape by weakening them from the inside. Something about disabling some grenades, so I figure, fewer grenades is a good idea. He also said that we have only a few hours before Aria's boot comes down to stomp on Gladesdale, so stay ready."

Once she was done briefing Revenge, she would leave the wagon and head back into the inn. She walked straight to Arthur and scrambled back up onto her chair. "Mr. Arthur," she said, "Miss Petra... uh... Miss Maywen wants to see you in our wagon. We'll be happy to give it over to you guys to talk." She winked. "I put in a good word for you, so I think it'll go well!"

"... ah." Looking back at Petra who had been crying, he frowned. "That... was probably something Kuori should have brought up." He would loose let out a frustrated sigh.



Revenge blanched a bit. That was something he hadn't considered at all, in all the possible outcomes: That Aria would be so petty that they would take it out on this town if they slipped from grasp. A notion that might not have been taken with 100% certainty, if Revenge himself had not seen the results of them doing exactly that, razing this very same town's previous iteration years earlier.

After Twyla would once more depart, Revenge would rub his face with his gauntleted palm, and groan in aggrevation. "Sehanine damn it, Valac was right."

"Huh?" Revenge would say, as if snapping out of whatever train of thought he was currently having. His eyes would turn to Arthur, quickly sizing him up, then turning to Petra once more. "I'll be within earshot if you need anything."

He missed this lad's story, but it apparently checked out with Twyla and Kuori. And Valac didn't cut him down yet (he was probably asleep anyways). He still wasn't quick to trust someone in that uniform, however.

Disembarking with an audible thud, Revenge would begin to walk away from the wagon to be outside casual discussion range, but to be within shouting distance if anything went awry. And, of course, within sight of it.

Twyla, Valac and Kuori continue to sit around the table by themselves, though there is no indication that Arthur is planning to return after talking to Petra. The money on the table indicates that he has already paid for his lunch. Kuori, out of the corner of her eye notices something particular. The door at the entrance to the inn seems to open and close on its own without anyone passing through it. No else seems to notice it but her.



Abby would come up to Revenge and grab his hand while smiling reassuringly. "It's all right. That lad is Arthur. He and Petra grew up in the same orphanage together. They were in love before Aria adopted her and took her away. Somehow, he figured out something was wrong and joined up with the Arian Elite guard to try and find out what happened. All those years... searching for her... serving under the very people responsible. I cannot imagine what that must have been like. I'm sure there will be some challenges ahead, but now I can rest easy knowing that Petra has someone who truly cares for her, as you care for me."

Abby would beam at Revenge after her last statement. "Arthur said he can lead us right out the front gate with his authority, but he's going to return to the garrison first to fetch his armor and cause some sort of commotion to delay the Arians. After that he can lead us to Petrified Guards."