"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?"

"Yup! But I'd really like to enjoy you. Wait, that came out wrong," Caliaphy turned beat red and ran over next to Serna.

Willow laughed as Serna looked at Caliaphy and asked, "Why are you running over to me? I thought you were doing well up until that last statement. Ha! Ha! Ha!"

"Umm, it's a grown up thing, Serna." Caliaphy drank down her juice in big gulp and still looked embarrassed.

"I'll take your word for it," Serna laughed, "And I am in no rush to understand it. Ha! Ha! Ha!"

The kurori waved her hand in front of the elementalist and realized that the Bronze Man had created another Wrinkle in Time bubble. Maybe she would inquire about later, maybe.

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.

Quake just stared at the chronicler's towering plate of food. "Wh-what the? Sheesh! And people look at me as I'm the crazy one for being able to eat waaaaaaaaaaaay too much food."

"Hey, Rocks for Brains, I'm hungry and I'm still a growing Drowling," War Scribe concluded before she dived into her meal.

"You are still growing?" Quake deadpanned, "I seriously doubt that. But hey what do I know. By the way, where did you go last night? I thought you were with us when you got all weirder than normal with Madame Mabel."

"I was doing my job," War Scribe replied matter-of-factly, "There was a very important assassination taking place in the Kingdom of Dambrath deep within The Forgotten Realms and I had to be there to cover it. Heros work from sun to sun but a Chronicler's work is never done!"

"Oh? Maybe I will ask you how that went down after breakfast, War Scribe. Sounds interesting," Quake finished off her steak and egg meal and seemed generally interested about the Forgotten Realms.

"You find that interesting?" The Drowling asked with a raised eyebrow, "Why?"

******

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?"

The elementalist went silent again.

"Have you ever considered how Alyson got to be so powerful, Swordsman? How she is able to go toe to toe with Venger?" The Bronze Man said quietly, "And survive? She wasn't just born here in the Realm by accident."

"I honestly thought her powers came to her when she entered The Realm like so many of my early companions did," Irzen confessed, "They, like me, were changed to survive whatever The Realm could throw at them. Wait, Alyson, you were born in The Realm? You never told us that!"

The Bronze Man rubbed his short beard, "Hmm, your memory seems to be lacking, Swordsman if you could not remember what the king stated back at the temple yesterday."

"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention," Irzen confessed, "I was too focused on keeping my friends and I out of a jail cell to take notice of what Madeous was saying."

He continued keeping calm, "In a heated confrontation with the Force of Evil, her mother was struck by one of his magical attacks intended for Madeous. At the time, we figured she would survive it and continue onward. Unbeknownst to us, she was with child. That child being Alyson. Her emotions are the source of her power and they stem from the evil of Venger. The curse that evil he placed on her family effects her differently and brings out the destructive nature that is the Elementalist."

Irzen looked at Lazheros in pure disbelief, "I understand now. So anything connected with Venger drives her emotions which in turn fuels her power. For good or for ill. I didn't know."

Lazheros leaned forward, "Perhaps, Dungeon Master shall get his wish and regain who was lost to him. Perhaps, the curse will be lifted and Madeous will have his beloved, Celestra returned to him and his family free to be as normal as they once were. And the elementalist and I to continue what we were created between us."

"And perhaps, one day, you'll show a little common courtesy and ask people if they want time to be stopped rather than doing it without warning them or whenever you wish," War Scribe added after she finished chewing on a piece of meat.

"Again I caution, you Chronicler," as time started to catch up with the slight interruption from War Scribe, "I am the guardian of this city and I may do as I wish in order to keep it safe from those who might do harm. You are a guest here and a friend of Alyson. Please keep it that way."

"I intend to," War Scribe held up her hands as though to protest her innocence, "I'm just saying that you might want to take a vote and give people an opportunity to decide whether or not they want to get stuffed in a temporal bubble, that's all!"

*********

Alyson got up from her chair and left the dining room. She hid the fact that she was visibly upset quite well and headed for the privy through the kitchen. Which was a lie for she knew of the back set of steps that went up to the upper floors. She stopped briefly as Armendes was making his way down to see all of her friends, some of which he met last night but there were a few that he did not yet meet. "Alyson?"

She turned looking at him, tears ran down her face and she said nothing as she entered the Bronze Man's chambers and closed the door.

"Oh dear." The construct clamored down the stairs to stand in for his friend and entertain the guests.

The construct thundered into the dining area nearly scaring the kurori out of her chair as she suddenly grabbed the shield maiden, "Ahh! Geez! Armendes, sometimes you're really scary when you make an entrance!"

"Hmph! Says the kurori who is out of her element," Armendes metallic voice reverberated from his armored body. He craned his helmet around to check out the new people and stopped at the chronicler stuffing her face with food.

"Not very lady like, little drowling. Your table manners definitely need an improvement." Steam exited from the joints of the construct as he clamored around to the far end of table near the bronze man.

"At least I can SIT at a table," The Drowling cooed at the construct, "Can you even bend any of your metallic joints to do the same?"

The Bronze Man looked up at his old friend. He knew with him coming over to him it concerned the elementalist. "Perhaps, you can entertain them for a few minutes, Armendes, while I go and see what has become of Alyson. I am sure the chronicler and you will have some interesting stories to talk about."

"What? Chronicler?" Armendes armored form creaked and groaned slightly, "Oy! Sometimes...sigh. So, you are a chronicler of Validor, eh?" He turned back to the drowling.

"Yes! I am War Scribe, Chronicler of Validor, Chief Librarian of the Great Library and Keeper of All History and Knowledge in The Realm of Dungeons and Dragons. And who are you tall, creaky and shiny? Muwha! Ha! Ha!"