Janzel stood beside Verana at the edge of the forest, trusting that the other three were watching their backs as they watched the quiet village in frustration. This was the second of the two small villages that they had come to with no boats pulled up on the beaches. Verana had said that she heard and smelled signs of human life hidden behind the locked doors and shuttered windows.

Returning empty handed last night had Verana pacing and agitated and Now the woman was down right angry, she could see it in the set of the Princess' wings and the clenching of her fists, and the bared, sharp Feysha fangs.

Janzel finally murmured. "Are they hiding them from you? Word moved down the coast, maybe and they're trying to stop you?"

Verana growled before slowly shaking her head and calming with a single breath. "No... now that you say it, these villages are without transportation. They have only small little fishing boats. I don't think the people would remain if they got rid of their boats. And I don't track them into the trees they left over water."

Janzel nodded thoughtfully, having come to terms with the Princess' heightened senses. "That still doesn't help us explain what happened."

Verana was silent for a long while, watching the village, before she turned to her. "Remember the map... did we miss anything? Is there anywhere else the Humans would live, other than the larger villages? Maybe a place close by that they could hide them, without stranding all these people. They don't travel over land, we know that. "

"There's a protected bay a little ways south, between the two villages we've been to, but the forest comes nearly to the water there. The Humans don't seem to like living within easy distance of the trees, we assumed that they wouldn't be living virtually within them" Janzel murmured, though she inclined her head in consideration. "But they could hide the vessels within that area."

Her words were barely out of her mouth when Verana leapt into the air, the Princess getting a stubborn, almost dark look to her normally so peaceful features.

She whistled for the boys and followed, staying close to the Princess' side as they flew along the coast. They hadn't been taking this route to the villages, instead using the map to move in a direct line and avoiding the strong drafts off the storming winter sea. But now Verana headed straight into them, hugging the coast tightly and searching for any sign of what they had missed.

It wasn't a long flight before they found the cove Janzel had remembered and a collection of rough tents and simple wooden shelters. The dark forest barely left much room for the sand, leaving the human dwellings nearly within the trees. There were open fires within the centre of the camp and on the beach in both directions, with ten ships lined up high on the beach.

There were two more anchored in the calm waters of the cove but they contained no Feysha on their fronts like the ones on the sand. Verana landed on the beach after skimming the water past those ships, taking note of something Janzel couldn't sense.

Janzel had just landed on her left, seeing Yantha on the other side of Verana, when one of the humans emerged from a shelter and approached. He was a big man, blond hair tied back in a braid from his face, his beard trimmed close to his jaw. He was different from the long bearded Irlen humans they had come across so far, and the look of recognition in his eyes when he saw Verana didn't reassure her.

Her blades were out and judging by the sounds around her, so were Yantha's, Ilka's and Chaven's, the latter two having landed behind them when the humans had appeared. Janzel didn't know what she expected from the meeting but the man moving to one knee, followed closely by the others that had joined him was not it. Janzel lowered her blades to the low ready in confusion, watching her Princess step forward.

"Nama Veranandein. We have done what we could... The Priests would not listen, and the Council did not support a rift between the Shamen and the King." The lead man said, his head bowed low. " We didn't know what else we could do."

Verana didn't quite relax though her voice sounded slightly amused. "So you stole ships?"

The man looked up to her, offering a slow nod. "Borrowed. We intend to return them when you have freed your Feysha."

"I'm not sure if your countrymen will appreciate the difference." Verana shook her head. Though she merely murmured. "Stand, Nicklus, you have followed your promise. You've learned about fire?"

Janzel stepped beside the Princess as the man stood, keeping a respectable distance but following as Verana made her way towards the ships. He gave Janzel a respectful, careful look that wobbled between fear and respect, then glanced to Verana to answer. "Yes. We had gone north with the intention of stealing the ships there, and found you had already been. So we knew to wait for you... we have had no trouble from the darkness, not here, but I did not think it would hurt. You are wearing armour now."

Verana looked down at the shirt of chainmail she had been forced to accept from the Queen after being injured. It was a reasonable compromise to letting her continue to leave the Palace though Verana did not think so."Yes. It's lighter than it looks."

"When you hunt the Darkness..." The human, Nicklus started.

"They're beasts... they're called Cassaei." Janzel interrupted, giving him a harsh look. "They are not as all powerful and mysterious as you humans think."

He glanced to her again, frowning for a moment. "When you hunt the Cassaei... We could hunt with you."

Verana fell silent, looking up at the first ship for a long while before she turned back to the human. " We are not yet hunting the Cassaei. We will fight them when they come, but for now... this is our mission."

When Verana stepped up to the ship and reached to brush her hand on the frozen woman's foot, Janzel shifted to step between her and the Human. She squared her shoulder and placed a hand on his chest and pushed him backward to create more distance between him and the Princess. "Just because she trusts you, does not mean I do, Human."

He looked down at her hand and for a moment Janzel expected resistance, until he merely allowed her to guide him several feet away from Verana. "I don't think she trusts me much either, to be honest. But I am her man, I owe her a blood oath."

The keening of wood started then, causing them both to jerk in surprise then freeze, setting Janzel's teeth on edge and it was a long moment before he murmured, "That sound is heart rending."

Janzel gave him another sharp look. "That sound is your fault."

She saw a flash of awareness in his features, flickering across his eyes with the firelight, and he nodded again without any fight in him. "We were lost and afraid, we were looking for hope and were easily misled. We have a great deal to make up for but my people will not easily be persuaded of their mistakes. I shouldn't be this close though... I do not think those she rescues would like to be near one such as me."

When Janzel didn't argue, merely maintaining her glare to allow the guilt to continue to build in the human's countenance, he continued. "I will leave some of my men to help keep watch for the Cassaei, or other dangers but the rest of us will take the first two ships when she has finished, we will return them to the villages they were from. If you leave before we return, we will be out hunting for more ships to borrow tomorrow night. It will be easier, I think, if we are scarce while this work is going on... Us Irlen have not made friends with Feysha, and what little I've been able to do so far has not done much to change that."

Janzel nodded watching him turn back to the village and ready his men, glancing to where Yantha and Ilka stood guard for Verana with Chaven standing beside her, catching the first of the Feysha to fall from the ship. Chaven then carried the small form to Janzel, who remained higher on the beach after Verana had whispered something into the girl's ears. The small female sprite sat at Janzel's feet, almost leaning back against her as she gained a gradual awareness of where she was.

Janzel was content to stand overwatch, keeping an eye on Verana's progress and the Feysha who struggled to regain control over their minds, after however long they had been imprisoned within the cruel spell that Janzel could not quite make out. She had never been magically gifted, but the human magic was a tangle of knots and thorns that gave all of them pause. The Vayan scholars and universities who taught magic had not focused on anything other than warcraft for so long that most fighters like Janzel or the Brethren only knew how to attack or shield.

After freeing four of the Feysha, Janzel recognized flagging power within Verana and nodded to Chaven, who gently stopped the princess from moving on to the fifth ship. He guided her back towards where Janzel stood with the four rescued Fey and it was telling enough that their Princess did not resist the instruction to stop.

Verana murmured gently to the four sprites in that musical language of theirs and nodded to the woods, then motioned to Janzel and the other three. The Feysha watched them for a long moment, before shaking their heads. As one, they stood and bowed their heads over joined hands before slipping into the trees as silently as ghosts.

Verana's eyes held exhaustion, and frustration as she glanced back towards the remaining ships and then the rising sun over the ocean. It wasn't the sun that stopped them now that the ships were in a location that was semi trustworthy but Verana needed to listen to her limits or she would get burned out.

Janzel watched the ships for a moment as well, empathizing with the desire to free those still trapped "Come. Lets rest. They'll be here waiting for us. They're safe here."

After another moment of watching the ships, Verana inclined her head and the five of them took to the air, heading back to the Vayan outpost they were staying at.