When they had reached the stopping point for the day, Telvin was relieved. While he had ridden horses before, he had never ridden so long before. The riding skill did help somewhat, but when he dismounted the horse, he found his legs were sore along with his back. One of the ranchmen at the ranch they stopped took his horse for a cooldown walk.

As the Ranch had no room for all of them to stay inside, only the Hawkes and the Princess were going to sleep within rooms in the main building. The rest of them where going to split tents amongst themselves. Jack began to hand out tents setting it out as three people per tent.

To Telvins surprise, Lord Jadai declined to use the room in favor of sharing a tent with Maetrin. Taking the tent pack from Jack, he began to set it up along with Veronica. He was no fan of the Paladin, for he had met others like her. Ones so devoted to a cause, they were blind to reality. Telvin genuinely didn't relish the idea of sharing the tent with her.

However, it was Megan who chose the sleeping arrangements for the group, so he had little choice. At least he would also be sharing the tent with Riley. After struggling a bit to get the tent up and his growing irritation with the awkwardness of the paladin, he managed to finish the tent.

Satisfied that he had managed to get it up without his top blowing he looked over at Riley. She had started a fire and was now cooking a meal for them to have. Megan and Alexia were sitting next to each other and talking with one another. Veronica went and joined them, after making sure the tent was secured to the ground so did Telvin.

Before he could, the Princess Falean had stopped him. For some reason he got a weird feeling around her, he instantly detested her. So Telvin was a bit annoyed when she said "Hello Half-Elf, May I have a word with you?"

"There was your word." Telvin said bluntly and tried to move around her.

She got in his path again and said "I assure you; this is important. Please come with me. It's a sensitive issue." Princess Falean began walking towards the barn.

For a few seconds he debated disregarding her, but as he couldn't keep avoiding her it was best just to get whatever she wanted done with. Walking to the barn he entered, and the first thing he saw was that damn freaky horse of hers. It was in the first stall, and all the horses were standing as far from it as possible.

Looking around he didn't see Princess Falean until he heard the door close behind him and Telvin turned around. She had closed the door and was now leaning against it smiling at him. "I could feel it when I joined the group, but looking at you makes me certain. Your definitely one of the Evercrals bastards."

"What do you want Princess, other then insulting me?" Telvin said annoyed.

"I meant no insult of course. It's just the reality of how many kids your father sired. I had read he was kicked out of the Elven Kingdom for some transgression. Guess it was you, cause near as I could tell your father never laid with another elf."

"How interesting." Telvin said bored "Get on with it."

She pushed herself of the door and began to walk around, "Your father when he was young, was a scholar of some renown. He was extremely well known for his studies on the nature of the world. Then he got into researching the Kingdom of Sevaris. Eric Evercrals went on an expedition and came back changed."

"Changed how?"

"He was now quick to temper, from the curse you and he share. From what I read, he had to lock himself into his dungeon to keep from hurting people when he went mad. Then there was his increased sexual appetite. If his passions were stoked, nothing could stop him."

"So I have heard. What does it matter to you?"

She stopped and said "Did you know your uncle sent one of the women your father knocked up down to the Empire?"

Narrowing his eyes Telvin said "No."

She began advancing on him. He took several steps back suddenly feeling that odd feeling more intense from her. "My father discovered the baby, as the curse was so bright to him. Father said the baby was a star he found in the city."

"What happened to it?"

"As the boy grew, he became more and more unstable. He would throw himself into fights or rape the maids sent to take care of him. My father grew tired of examining him, and one day drained the boy completely of blood."

Telvin felt a sharp pain thinking of the fate of one of his half-brothers. "If he wanted to kill him, that sounds like a brutal way."

"Father was more interested in the cursed blood more than the boy. He had a plan for the blood, with his experimentation he began to inject it into his children. I included, can you fell the blood of your kin pulsing within my veins?" Princess Falean reached out and touched his chest.

To his horror, Telvin could feel something in her. It seemed to resonate with him, and he said "Your father willingly cursed you? I should not be surprised, for he is as mad as the world dreads him to be."

She chuckled and said "you don't scarcely know the half of it. The curse that flows through me is at least only a minuscule, enough to make life just a bit harder for me. For you, I am surprised, I have never heard of one his kin being so sane and so old."

Telvin forcibly withdrew her hand and said "I only know the curse comes for Tellus Mater."

"I managed to find that out years ago. There are only so many nature gods after all." She frowned and said "It's the other part that is troubling me. It's the one that makes me itch the most, the one that is growing stronger every day."

"Other part?"

"You don't feel it? The curse explains the anger, but the lust? It comes from this part."

"The sole thing that troubles me is anger. No problems with lust."

She began approaching him and cooed "I have problems with lust. In fact why don't I show you." She began unbuttoning her shirt.

"No, I am uninterested. I'm done here." Telvin said feeling uncomfortable with her advances. He walked around her and headed to the door. She grabbed his arm and tried to drag him into a kiss.

Feeling his anger explode, Telvin grasped her by the throat and lifted her against the wall. She grabbed his hand and her face turned red as she tried breathing. "Stay the fuck away from me. I'm not interested in having anything to do with you, try this again and I will make sure you don't a third time."

He dropped her and she collapsed into a pile. She coughed out and began to laugh. "Amazing, you have far more control then your father did."

"Do not mistake me for my father." Telvin said annoyed and squeezed his fist and slammed it into a wooden post sending splinters flying. He quickly left before he did something he would regret, and headed out onto a dark trail. The cool air began calming his nerves.

As he walked, he looked at his hands and realized just how close he had came to killing her. Telvin shuddered, and the familiar fear of losing control began to claw it's way up, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking back he found Riley. "Hey, saw you walking back here. Are you doing alright?"

Telvin shook his head and said "I nearly snapped Princess Falean's neck."

Riley looked at him and took his hand in her own, and they began to walk in the darkness. "You didn't, though."

"I almost lost control."

"You didn't, though." Riley halted and hugged him hard. "You still can control yourself."

Hugging her back Telvin began to tell her what he heard from the Princess. Of how she had attempted coming on to him. Riley was silent through all of it and said "I will make sure you are not left alone with her. But what she has said of her father. I can see it."

"When we are done with this expedition, I'm going to confront my Uncle. I'm tired of all this nonsense, I am going to find out what happened."

"I'll go with you." Riley said. She leaned down and kissed Telvin. Kissing her back, he found himself in her tender embrace, and when they broke the kiss Telvin happened to see a shooting star overhead. They spent the next hour or so simply watching the night sky.

Throughout the night, Ritalassa found herself bored out of her mind. While she could be more active in the tent out of view of others, she still had to be quiet so as not to rouse the others. She spent a while just doing push-ups with her tentacles to get the skill to go up.

Ritalassa had no desire to go into that deep sleep filled with nightmares. She just wished she could just doze for a bit, so she didn't have to deal with all this excess time of having nothing to do. Maybe she could convince Jack to act as a summoner, so she could at least summon Inky to play with.

Speaking of Jack she took a look over him sleeping in the cot. Well sleeping was a stretch, as she could feel he had left his body again. Maybe she could get him to get her a book she could leaf through at night. Crawling to the edge of the tent, she could see it was almost dawn, so he would be waking up soon.

Along the other side of the tent were Alexia and Megan sleeping together. Their relationship fascinated Ritalassa, as she had never seen two women together. Before they had gone to sleep, she had asked them dozens of questions. Returning to the side of Jack, she found he was getting up.

"Hey before we get going can you take me out and swing a bit? I'm bored out of my mind, and need some action." Ritalassa said to Jack.

"Alright, but I've never swung a sword."

"can't you give yourself the sword skill?"

"Nope. It doesn't work like that. The only skills I get are system ones."

Jack picked her up and carried her out to the empty field nearby. They could see the expedition start to wake up and start to pack away the gear. "We don't have a lot of time. I'm going to have to store away the tents soon."

With that Jack took her handle in both of his hands and began to swing her. She immediately could tell he was indeed an amateur at sword fighting. Still Ritalassa found it was thrilling to be swung about. She briefly imagined Jack taking her into battle and her slashing his foes down.

They were interrupted however when Yukali came along and greeted Jack. "Good Morning Sir Jack, I see you are practicing a bit before we get going this morning."

"Yes, though I'm afraid, my skill is quite lacking. I'm merely doing this as a form as exercise."

Yukali nodded and said,"I can offer a few tips for you, that looks like a good sword. It would be a waste for you to wield without learning the basics at least."

Ritalassa felt a bit proud when she was christened a good sword. Unsheathing her own giant sword, Yukali said "It all begins with a stance. There are multiple stances, but this one is suitable for a beginner."

Jack held Ritalassa aloft and copied Yukalis stance. "Good. Now when you cut, do not aim to cut with the sword, rather cut with your swing." She slashed forward demonstrating a slash.

"I'm unsure what you mean." Jack tried copying her movements.

"Better, but your still stiff. Let the sword be a part of you, not something your holding. At that point the sword will be truly alive in your hands."

Ritalassa chuckled a bit at that advice "Wonder what she would think if she knew how alive I genuinely was."

Jack nodded and sheathed Ritalassa and said "Thank you for your advice. As Lord Attomas has assigned you as my assistant during the expedition, I should get to know you."

The Dragonkin woman sheathed her weapon and said "There are a few minutes left, I can answer a few questions."

ElKriJa

Thank you for taking the time to read my Story