Alyson turned around and headed back into the dining hall to be among friends. She took her place next to Lazheros again and noticed her plate looked much lighter than she thought. Crumbs lead to inconspicuous trail to the kurori sitting next to her.

Madeous collected his thoughts once more and sat down again, "Lord Irzen, the offer you suggested last night at the tavern? I've decided to take up that offer and see what becomes of it."

Irzen looked at Madeous in pure shock, "You have? If you don't mind my asking, what changed your mind?"

Madeous gestured towards Alyson with his free hand, "Even my niece is wise beyond her years on certain things."

Even Willow appeared to be surprised by this reversal.

"Fair enough," The Swordsman called aloud, "War Scribe, Chronicler of Validor, I summon thee for you have knowledge I seek."

"FINALLY!" War Scribe appeared with her tome and quill pen in hand, "Someone cared to PROPERLY summon me!" The Drowling turned towards Irzen, "What knowledge do you seek, Lord Irzen of Naermon Nithren."

Irzen directed War Scribe over to Madeous, "My friend here seeks knowledge."

War Scribe raised a skeptical eyebrow at Madeous, "Well?"

"I said, I've decided to take up your offer. I didn't mean in the middle of breakfast in the home my friend, Lazheros." Madeous gave him a stern look. "Knowledge can wait for now, and you, chronicler have all the time in the world. So, why don't you get something to eat and join us."

"Okay!" War Scribe hunched her shoulders nonchalantly, placed her book and pen upon the dining table and proceeded to load up a platter of food.

"Forgive my enthusiasm," Irzen casually mentioned before he returned to his meal.

"Timing, Lord Irzen," The platinum knight stabbed his fork into a piece of ham, "yours needs work."

"I agree," Irzen acknowledged somewhat reluctantly.

Seri sat next to her mother and between Neven with her plate of eggs, potatoes, and fruit. She was hungry but not on the level that the thief was and giggled from time to time.

Neven steadily ate and munched his way through his meal. The Thief was hungry and made absolutely no bones about it.

Madame Mabel eyed the young thief chowing down next to her daughter, "Slow down, laddie. Enjoy ye food. Savor it, 'don inhale it."

Neven nodded in agreement and began to slow the pace of his eating.

Caliaphy nearly cleaned Alyson's plate of pastries when the elementalist grabbed her hand, "And now, you can replace what you've helped yourself of, Caliaphy. That food was for me not you. Go on now."

"Awww!" The kurori sighed in protest. "But...but...they were getting cold."

Caliaphy looked at the Bronze Man for support and found none as he had witnessed her eating them one by one until she got caught. "You're on my side, right Bronze Man?"

"Oh no, small one. I most certainly am not." He chuckled, "Listen to what Alyson asked you to do, Caliaphy it is only fair."

The kurori grumbled in defeat with the odds stacked against her. Taking Alyson's plate over to the food table, she filled with pastries just like the ones she'd eaten moments before.

"Hey!" Alyson watched Caliaphy closely, "Refill the plate, not refill your stomach. That's enough. Thank you."

The kurori brought the plate of pastries back over to Alyson. "Here you go, Alyson. See they reappeared. Teeheehee!"

"Thank you, Caliaphy." She took the place and set it in front of her.

"Ooooh! The high elf is here too. I'm gonna go say hi," Caliaphy giggled as she trotted around to the far end of the table with a big smile on her face looking at the ranger. "Hi there!"

"Hello, Caliaphy, how are you doing this day?" Willow pleasantly smiled at the Kurori.

"I'm fine. You're cute." She said completely ignoring what just transpired in the dining hall.

"Thank you," Willow laughed, "And you are very beautiful, Caliaphy. Have you been enjoying this feast?"

The Bronze Man tapped the table but kept quiet, while Alyson just glared at the swordsman, "Seriously? In the middle of breakfast?"

"Are you angry because I brought business to the breakfast table?" Irzen asked both The Bronze Man and Alsyon, "Or are you angry because I summoned War Scribe to the breakfast table? If the former is the case, then I apologize for mixing business with pleasure. If the latter is the case, then I must remind the both of you that were it not for War Scribe we would not have been able to sneak into The Black City and rescue you and Serna from Venger. War Scribe is a member of our company, Alyson, Bronze Man, she has every right to be here as much as anyone else. And considering the fact that you owe your freedom to her, Alyson, maybe she has more right to be here than any of us."

At the mention of the Black City, Alyson clutched her head in pain as though she had been shot. She started to glow intensely in response to the swordsman brashness.

War Scribe scooted herself into a chair next to Irzen, plopped herself down along with a platter of food piled nearly a foot high with different meats, poultry and fish. The Drowling looked at both The Bronze Man and Alyson and added, "Yeah! Whatever he said." And then she proceeded to eat.

******

Time sloooooowed down again. Everyone but The Bronze Man, Alyson and Irzen remained moving. Lazheros's tapping sent tremors through the table and froze the swordsman in place but allowed him to move his arms and speak freely. "Consider yourself fortunate that you're not elsewhere, Swordsman. You were invited here by the king as a guest and as a friend of Alyson. I am grateful that the Chronicler was able to assist in finding a way into that accursed city but it was through the valiant efforts of Bruno that all of you were truly able to escape. However, by mentioning that place in front of Alyson, you are playing with forces and powers beyond your comprehension."

"She's in pain by merely mentioning the name of the place?" Irzen gave Alyson a concerned look.

The elementalist stopped clutching her head and focused her full undivided attention to the swordsman. She pierced his mind this time unlike what the Bronze Man had done, and stabbed around to make sure he got the point. "I get it! I really do! You're timing sucks! Unlike, Lazheros here, I won't hold back, I will unleash my full fury on you and send the human half crawling back to Earth! You really know how to ruin a good time don't you?! Maybe you need to go the brothel and get laid because its obvious to me, that neither of you has clearly gotten any semblance of female attention in a very long time!"

"What the hell happened to you there, Alyson?" The Swordsman asked The Elementalist, "Serna came through that place fine but what did Venger do to you?"