Uneasy, disconcerted, perturbed; the young faun headed her way beside their ever diminishing party, her brows low and her breath short. It had been hours since they had begun their journey - slow and steady, but ever onwards, ceasing only at a small hamlet and roadside inn that was off the road and so far untouched by the demons who perhaps had not wanted to bother with meager farming peasants. There they had left their sick and injured, with a few volunteer soldiers who would nurse the ill back to health, be a small guard for the village, and be able to possibly organize some way of getting home.

One day, maybe. It did also mean that only the ready and able-bodied would continue onto the Sanctuary - that place where they would meet the other delegates of the meeting. With hope on the way back they would have more information and ability to collect the refreshed and alive sailors who could take the burden of getting them back to Corone.

She chewed on her lip. Anxious, for her books and papers she had lost. Indeed, at least the most precious were wrapped in that oilskin, and the scholar had opened the package very gently and carefully to find that the enchantment had at least worked. The book on demons, the thin volume on Aleran politics and the journal she kept were all well and dry. She had taken time to ride on the back of the wagon commandeered from the hamlet to read over the book of demons. It had taken her a mere twenty minutes to consume the information, and another ten to learn all the important quotes by heart. Now she was an expert in at least in the specific demons that were connected to this sword of legend. She would serve a use in investigating the matter.

"The first king of Alerar. Elrohir Fararil. He ended the Demon war. The sword is of legend, written about in many tomes and looks like -"

"Hmm?" Troy that dickhead said, looking over at her.

Celandine glanced up to him, pulling her shawl more around her. She had hastily knitted it after her wool had dried at the fire made in the quiet inn, literally pulling strands and making it as she walked. It was full of mistakes and holes, just as if Renegade, her weird pet-but-not-pet pygmy goat, had chewed upon it (naturally she had not wanted him to come on this trip).

She shook her head. "Thinking about what I need to do."

"You don't need to do much. Just do the proper formalities and I'll take care of the rest."

The young woman found herself frowning.

"This is my role, Troy. I am the diplomat for this journey, not you. You were to get us safely to our destination and be a representative of the Assembly. It is my role to-"

"Ha, yes dear," he laughed at her, shaking his head condescendingly. "What are you - eight? Nine?"

"That - that doesn't have anything to do with maturity!" She protested, appalled at his revelation. How he knew her true age she knew not. Looking around at their companions she stared in earnest at the marching suit of armor at her side, and the skulking white coated being who trailed at the back of the company. Shinsou was too far to hear perhaps, but Umbra …

Troy continued to laugh. But none of his comrades and none of the sailors would offer any assistance. Awkwardly, they all looked away, a couple of winces coming across their faces.

"Look, I am here, idiot, as a result of my training and my knowledge," she growled at him, stamping her hooves into the dirt. Sharply, she raised a hand to his elbow and pulled the much taller man to a halt. The others paused, but then moved around them, allowing space for the faun to yell at the insulting civil servant.

Feverishly she shoved a hand into his chest. An image of a dream from the night before - her, standing here on a road, shouting at a humanoid much taller and older than her but treating her with disrespect - came to her memory. She gritted her teeth and held up a fist to him as he barely shook from her shove.

"You respect my mother right? So respect me. I'm here to do my duty, and you are here to do yours. You may be from the Assembly, but so was I chosen by them. We're in a difficult position, already losing time and I won't have you - you know." She shoved into him again, but she was not as strong as her mother. She wasn't a warrior. It was to make a point and not injure, and it did not.
Shinsou was almost upon them. He seemed odd, weird and mysterious but then perhaps one needed to be to win the affections of her mother. Celandine blew a whisp of hair out of her face.

"We're going to the Sanctuary and I will speak to the Maesters Jivvin, Cazri and Sabal. Me." She nodded once at him and turned sternly, leaving him there on the pathway, not sure if he was stunned or lost or just confused. Either way she had made her point and they would soon get to the Sanctuary and meet the other delegates.