Willow and Serna ducked into a nearby room and quietly had a conversation which would shape the course of both of their lives.

"So," Alyson started to asked the airship captain, "What did you and Serna talk about?"

"I had a nice little chat with her and showed her my airship," He paused briefly, "Young Serna is quite the capable young lady and spied a rather odd and peculiar figure out on the battlefield earlier. A strange female drow."

The elementalist shook her head, "Oh boy. That would be War Scribe, she's a chronicler of Validor."

"A chronicler, you say. She didn't appear to have any quill and tome that these legendary bards are noted for," He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

Willow and Serna still had not returned as their conversation continued in the nearby room.

"Wow!" Alyson blurted out to no one in particular, "yeah, I am gonna enjoy the rest of the evening in fine company, retire soon, and look forward to tomorrow."

*******

A few hours pass by when the swordsman awoke from his drunken slumber. The guards that escorted him there remained outside and down the hall just in case.

Irzen had a splitting headache but he knew it would soon subside and began to make his way to the door to his bedroom. When he opened it, the Swordsman discovered the Wood Elven Guards waiting for him and quickly deduced how he was able to get to his room in a drunken stupor.

One guard was watching down the opposite corridor when he heard sounds of movement from the guest room and turned. He motioned the other guard to check it out.

The Swordsman approached the Guards and held up his hands, "Mind if I return to the party or do you have orders to detain me otherwise?"

"We are here to prevent you from embarrassing the crown prince any further, however, if you wish to return to the banquet hall, we will escort you there." The other guard said with his hand on sword hilt.

"Now there is no need for that," Irzen took note of the Elf Guard's hand moving towards his sword hilt, "We're all allies here. We all fought on the same side and we all won the war. Besides, I am unarmed."

They both stared at him wordlessly.

Irzen turned around to show that he had no weapons on his person, "I have no intention of embarrassing anyone, let alone my hosts. And how dangerous can a Swordsman be without his sword?"

The two guards look at each other for a moment when one of them spoke up, "Follow us." And they lead him back to the banquet hall and allowed him to enter stopping just short of the double doors.

"You Surface Elves are not the best conversationalists, you know that don't you?" Irzen quipped as he followed his escorts back to the dining hall.

Alyson had just finished her plate of fruit and looked up to see the swordsman coming through the doorway.

Irzen strode through the doorway and gave Alyson a smile before he rejoined the others at the table, "Greetings all, how goes the festivities? What's been happening while I've been indisposed?"

The bronze man sipped his tea quietly at first, "The ranger and the shield maiden left to talk in private again. You will have to wait and see when they return."

"Fair enough," Irzen made his way over to Lazheros and plopped himself down right beside him, "Say, you're not harboring any ill will towards me because I drank you under the table are you?"

The elementalist stood up from her seat and gave Irzen a hard stare, "You need to shut now, or the one with current bragging rights won't mean a damn thing."

Mandur also got up from his seat across the table while his fellows remained seated, "I would heed the words of the elementalist, Lord Irzen. Not only did you win said contest but you became an embarrassment to everyone else here."

The Crown Prince and the Horse Lord merely observed the conversation at a respectable distance.

The Ranger watched the verbal exchange with quiet interest as well.

Lazheros looked the swordsman eye to eye, "Harboring a grudge, no. I will forget that I was drunk under the table by a lesser race, Swordsman. Consider yourself fortunate in that regard and while Alyson would rather send you flying out the window for the obnoxious display earlier, she will not."

"Thank you, Lazheros, I greatly appreciate the fact that you bear me no ill will," The Swordsman rose from his seat and turned towards Alyson, "And I wish to apologize to you for my boorish behavior earlier this evening. It was more the Cannard talking than me. However, I have enough sense to know when my company is neither welcome nor wanted, I shall bid all of you a good eventide."

With that said, the Drow Swordsman left the room and headed out of the dining hall into the cool, crisp night air.