Marschal followed Kollo's eyes as he struggled to row the boat. He peered over his shoulder to see four bandits in the distance standing knee deep in the lake's water. When the boat drifted close enough to shore, Kollo's men began to wade their way to the vessel. Marschal continued rowing until he felt hands land onto the boat, guiding it to land, which he took as his cue to cease rowing lest he smack one of his helpers with an oar.

With a heavy breath and exhaustively sore muscles, Marschal took advantage of the respite to view his destination. He could see a shoreline that stretched far from north to south, paralleling the edge of a forest that reminded Marschal of an army of trees standing vigil against trespassers. He could hear the birds waking up underneath a sky that was gradually growing blue in the distance. However, the chill of the night before still remained.

"W-what happened to your hand, boss?"

Marschal felt the boat lighten when the water splashed beside the boat. He turned to see Kollo marching through shin-deep water towards the beach, ignoring his man's question. Clearly, Kollo had other things on his mind.

"Papa!"

The Paravellan noticed a small scruffy-haired boy shooting across the shallow water towards Kollo. 'Who was this?' Marschal asked himself.

Kollo knelt into the drowned earth with arms outstretched like inviting gates, until the boy jumped up into his enveloping embrace. Marschal observed the interaction with a raised brow. When they eventually broke away from their hug, the boy finally noticed Kollo's missing hand. "Papa! Where's your hand?!"

"Don't worry about it," said Kollo with a smile as he combed his fingers through the boy's hair. "Everything will be fine."

A son? How...unexpected.

Marschal made a mental note to assess that information later. However, for now, as touching as their intimacy was, Marschal couldn't help but shift his attention to the sword on Kollo's back. Marschal bristled at how comfortable the blade seemed, hugging the bandit's back. As though it were a perfect fit. The Paravellan shook his head ever so slightly. So close. Yet so far. However, his longing gaze at his own property was rudely interrupted when one of Kollo's bandits pulled him out of the boat from his collar.

"Watch your eyes, boy," Marschal looked up to see a face growling into his eyes. " Or I'll gouge them out."

The Paravellan's cold glare vanished just as quickly as it appeared, as Marschal held up his hands in mock surrender.

"What happens now, boss?" said another bandit. Marschal's handler turned to the rest of the conversation, leaving the Paravellan hanging from his grip with his feet submerged in lake water.

Kollo detached from his son and kissed him on the forehead before scooping him up and lifting him from the shallows. The bandit leader waded his way to dry land as he answered the question. "We head south and east. To Biteque."

Apparently, Marschal's harasser decided that now was the time to trudge off to the rest of the group while dragging the scrawny Paravellan with him. Marschal's feet flailed around trying to plant themselves into a standing position. If it weren't for the bandit's hand around his collar, Marschal would have plunged into the shallow water and, with his luck, probably drown. He could hear the others continuing their dialogue as though his treatment were nothing but background noise.

"Biteque...That's a long way, boss."

"Not if we go through the forest."

"The forest...Are you sure?"

"We have no choice."

"What about this one?"

The bandit literally threw Marschal into the discussion, causing him to fall into a kneeling position like an offering to be judged. With hands and knees digging into the soft dirt, Marschal didn't have the energy to look up to meet Kollo's eyes.

Time seemed to pass before Kollo finally spoke. "We need him. Alive."

When Marschal mustered the energy to pull his head up, instead of seeing a warrior grimacing at the sight of vermin, he was met with a staring boy with an expressionless face. Their gazes locked only for a moment before the boy turned away from him, almost imperiously, and buried it into his father's shoulder. That was when Marschal caught Kollo peering at him over his son's head. Perhaps, he was uncomfortable having his boy interact with strangers. Or perhaps it was just Marschal. Maybe Marschal was just overthinking things. Did he care? Kollo clearly didn't as he turned back to address his men.

"We still have a deal with our employer." Marschal noticed Kollo stealing a glance his way. "We have our prize." His eyes went back to the meeting. "And we're gonna make sure he keeps his word."

Kollo's men nodded at their leader's conviction. He nodded back. "Let's go."

As ordered, the rest of Kollo's crew began mobilizing and heading off into the shadows of the forest. Marschal remained kneeling, as though moving would garner unwanted attention from a hunting carnivore. He eyed his predator and his cub with wary eyes. The boy seemed fixated on the bandits venturing into the ocean of trees.

Kollo spoke to his son. "You wanna go with them?"

The boy whipped his head to face his father before dropping them. Kollo followed his son's gaze to the hand stump bandaged by dark red cloth. The bandit looked into his son's eyes. "I'll be fine." Kollo lowered his son to the ground.

When the boy landed on his feet, he looked up at his father. Marschal could read an unspoken 'Are you sure?' in his eyes. To which Kollo responded by gesturing him off with a nod. "Go."

Marschal's lip twitched into a faint grin as the boy hesitated before doing as he was told. But not before stealing a glance at the Paravellan kneeling on the lake shore, which earned a raised brow from Marschal. What did he want? The moment was cut brief when the boy tore his eyes away from Marschal and ran off after the rest of Kollo's moving gang.

Footsteps walked past Marschal causing him to look up. He had forgotten about his abuser and he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when he started heading off to join the rest of his companions. However, the walking bandit was suddenly forestalled when Kollo's hand landed on his chest.

"Keep an eye on the Paravellan." The bandit's shoulders visibly slumped at his leader's words. Kollo continued, "When I said I wanted him alive, I meant it. Our employer was adamant that he be breathing when we bring him in. If he dies, I...we...lose everything. Understand?"

The bandit peered over his shoulder with a piercing cold glare. Oh, boy, thought Marschal.

"Do you understand?"

Kollo's subordinate paused before facing his commander. He nodded.

"Good. Because you're in charge of keeping him alive."

"Agh. Does it have to be-"

"Is there a problem?"

Marschal could see the bandit stumbling over his superior's interjection. "No, boss," he conceded.

Kollo nodded, satisfied, before turning around and following the rest of his men into the forest. With him walking farther and farther away, Marschal's designated handler took the opportunity to offer the Paravellan another vicious glare. If he provided any more of them Marschal felt like he would have to evade them like projectiles. The bandit stood tall with that stupid grimace on his face. Unchanged. Unmoving. At a loss for what he was meant to do next, Marschal did the only thing he could think of at that moment; his lips pulled back into a wide, beaming smile.

As though it triggered something in the bandit, his handler trudged toward Marschal and pulled him up by the back of his collar. "Hurry up. Move."

Marschal felt himself being shoved forward, none too gently, towards the forest swallowing the bandits ahead. The closer Marschal was to the wall of trees, the slower his pace grew. Marschal grimaced at his options: the abyss of leaves and wood in front of him? Or...

"You don't fool me."

The Paravellan peered over his shoulder at his escort. For reasons Marschal couldn't discern, more words kept flying from the bandit's lips. "I saw how you were looking at that blade."

Marshal decided to oblige him with a response. "Well, it is mine," he said, calmly.

"Not anymore."

He knew he shouldn't have, but he flashed him a grin anyway. "If you insist."

His grin grew just a fraction as he could see his handler fight to restrain himself. "I'll kill you before you ever lay a hand on that sword."

"No. You won't."

The bandit seemed taken aback by Marschal's brazen reply. "Confident, are we?"

"You rarely do see dogs breaking from their leash." The Paravellan turned to face the forest before him. He could feel his back under assault from the bandit's heated eyes. Marschal drove the knife home. "And your master's grip on your leash seems mighty tight to me."

The silence that followed was a dangerous one. Marschal hurriedly broke it to make his point. "Just be a good mutt and keep me alive. Wouldn't want to disappoint your master now, would we?"

Marschal was met with a lengthened silence that almost convinced the Paravellan that he was walking alone. That faint illusion was soon shattered when the bandit decided to speak. "Watch your back, Paravellan...Watch your back."

The quip died in Marschal's throat, thinking it would be best not to push his luck.

With the enemy behind hopefully dealt with, Marschal now forced himself to brave the enemy before him. He sighed as the grey-blue morning sky became obscured by the monster canopy looming over him. Marschal hesitated at the edge, gazing into the maw of trees and shrubbery. The darkness seemed to challenge Marschal to enter its abode. An adversary to overcome. An enemy to-

"Move it."

Marschal hadn't realized that he had stopped.

Shaking himself from that stall, the Paravellan fought to venture into the forest. However, that choice was taken away from him when his handler nudged him forward into the world of black and green. Like a pair of jaws closing in on its prey, Marschal delved deeper into the forest, following after the footsteps of Kollo and the rest of his company. Surrounded by killer bandits in a wild forest. Was there a worse fate than this?

As he navigated his way through the terrain, he internally answered his own question after he considered the horrific alternative to his current circumstances.

Vayam slammed the butt of his spear into the pebbled shore as he squinted at the forest hugging the distant horizon. The night chill waned as the sun pulled itself higher and higher across the eastern sky. Vayam felt himself smothered by the surrounding peace and quiet. They needed to be moving. His old friend and mentor, Proel, stood beside him gazing out across the lake with him. Together, they suffocated in that silence.

The Eyllum Raecetor almost felt relieved when Proel spoke into the quiet. "I do not want to cross that lake."

"We did it once, across the channel," Vayam replied, "We can do it again."

"The Aethe'mar will refuse us this time."

"This lake is unsalted. There are no Aethe'mar in these waters."

"You don't know that."

Vayam only responded with a sigh. It was too early for this.

They stood back in that silence for a while before the sound of heavy familiar footsteps thumped closer behind them. When the sound was close enough, Vayam could hear rustling and the shifting of rocks. It wasn't until Muta spoke that he realized that his Lektüs was bowing to him and Proel.

"I have failed you. I surrender myself to your judgement and willingly accept any punishment you see fit to inflict upon an unworthy brother such as myself."

Vayam and Proel both turned to gaze down at the Lektüs. The Raecetor noticed the white patch covering Muta's missing eye, which was slightly difficult to see with his long black hair, disheveled and hanging from his forehead.

He remembered when the Venar twins dragged Muta before him, writhing and cussing in War's name. With his head whipping around, snarling and roaring, Vayam almost missed the hole of blood where his eye should have been. Who did this to him? Scars and slashes crisscrossed his body and a gaping wound separated the skin around his shoulder. At first he thought it obvious that he was converged upon by a pack of humans. Which was why his chest tightened at the news of a single man responsible for all these injuries. Did the Paravellan do this?

He was later informed that it wasn't the rat that brought Muta to this state. However...

Vayam gazed down at the kneeling brother before sharing a look with Proel. After a brief unspoken conversation between the two, Vayam looked back down at his chosen Lektüs.

"Get up. We don't have time for this."

Muta's bowing form jerked, no doubt expecting a different response.

"You're too soft, Raecetor," said Proel with an admonitory undertone. "The pup lost his eye to a human."

"If I punished every brother who lost to a human, we'd be fighting with less brothers than we already are."

Proel grunted and turned away; the closest thing to a concession he would ever provide. Vayam accepted it as is and gestured Muta to rise off his knees. "Stand up."

Muta reluctantly obeyed.

"You should be resting, brother."

His Lektüs shook his head. "Not until we find him."

Vayam nodded with a faint smile. "Where are the Venar?"

"You called?"

The three Eyllum jumped at the sudden appearance of the tusked Aethelin. Vayam's blood screamed murder as he instinctively braced himself for battle. He could see his brothers mirroring his reaction. These twins with their silent feet had no idea how close they were to losing their heads. Or did they? A much greater insult.

Sitio's cheeks were stretched taut by an arrogant grin as he spoke in Naiye, the common Aethelin tongue. "Look at you, all jumpy. You-"

He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence before Muta's fist smashed into the Venar's face. After Sitio collapsed to the ground Muta moved to approach his twin brother. Vayam couldn't help but smirk at the cowering twins.

"You stole my prey from me," Muta growled.

As much as Vayam was enjoying this, he did have a deal with Elyne. And she definitely wouldn't be pleased if two of her best hunters were slaughtered under his employ.

It was for that reason that Vayam yelled "Enough!"

Muta halted himself abruptly, chest heaving with beastly breaths. Vayam noticed Sitio pulling himself up away from the brute with a blood-drenched hand covering his face. He scrambled over to his brother's side, his scathing eyes never leaving the large Eyllum.

The Venar huffed a muffled sound behind his hand that Vayam recognized as a scoff. "I stole your prey?" said Sitio. "What would you know of the Hunt? You can't even hunt one single human."

Muta could only take one step forward before Vayam caught him with a hand to his chest. The twins instinctively flinched back.

With the beast seemingly restrained, Guis straightened up to speak. "You will never catch your prey if you constantly underestimate him."

Vayam's fists clenched at the insult. However, he said the words he knew were true. "If I underestimated him then I never would have sought out your assistance in the first place."

The Venar twins shared a look.

"Can you still track him down?" Vayam asked.

They gave each other another look. Their facial cues were miniscule but they apparently came to an agreement when they both nodded to Vayam's query.

Vayam nodded back. "It will take time for the rest of my army to cross this lake. You should go ahead and leave a trail for the rest of us to follow. Will that work?"

The twins conferred with each other before shrugging and nodding again.

"Good."

"So," Guis started, "We leave a trail."

"Seek out your quarry," Sitio continued.

"Capture him."

"Then-"

"No!" The three Eyllum shouted in unison, causing the twins to jump back a bit with furrowed brows.

"Just keep an eye on him," Vayam added. "He is ours to capture."

With his eyebrow still arched, Guis spoke slowly. "It would be easier if-"

"I said no."

With that, the twins were silenced...

The Venar brothers seemed to have nothing else to say. As they glanced awkwardly between each other and the Eyllum before them, Vayam broke into the quiet to end the meeting.

"Your boat awaits you on the shore." The Raecetor gestured to three vessels nesting on the beach. Three empty boats. Clearly, the humans were expecting a larger group on the run. As small as it was, Vayam allowed himself that victory.

The Raecetor took a step up the hill. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have to see to my brothers."

After he brushed past the twins to head up to the town, he could hear Proel and Muta following close behind. A growl escaped Muta's chest followed by the faint sound of the Venars' feet shuffling back against the rocks

"Sometimes our brothers can get a little rowdy," said Vayam as he traveled up the hill with a grin on his face.

Shortly after the meet with the Eyllum commanders, Guis and Sitio were both pulling the boat across the lake, oars in hand. The town slowly shrank into the distance with the rising sun gradually brightening the sky. Guis and his brother hadn't said a word since the meet, the only sound on the boat coming from their strained breathing and the paddles slicing the water.

Sitio finally broke the silence. "Hey."

"Hm?" The twins continued rowing.

"What was all that about?"

Guis didn't answer straight away, exerting and channeling his effort into his current task.

When his brother didn't say anything, Sitio spoke into the quiet. "Hey. Do you remember that sword on that human's back and how the big one was-"

"Yes," Guis interjected. "It's the sword they're really after."

It was Sitio's turn to resume the quiet as the lake splashed and swooshed around them. After a long moment of what Guis could only assume was contemplative silence, Sitio finally responded with a curt "...Huh."

Guis let out a sigh and accepted the end of the dialogue with his brother.

That was before he glimpsed the stupid grin on Sitio's face.

"Sitio."

"What?"

"Don't touch that sword. Just focus on the Hunt."

He didn't answer.

"Sitio."

"Yeah, yeah. I heard you. I won't touch the sword."

"...Good."

Their bodies resumed working the boat across the water.

"...This is why Elyne put me in charge."

Sitio bristled at the assertion. "She didn't put you in charge."

"Yes, she did."

"No, she didn't."

"Yes, she did. Because she knew..."The argument carried on as the boat neared the forest on the opposite shore.