One step forward, three steps back [open]

[Nether]

"Oh, my, you must be the sorcerer here, because you just read my mind. I must correct you, though: not only I plan on reading boring books, but I also intend to listen to boring lectures about boring subjects". Nether extended one hand towards the cat as he talked, palm upwards, cautiously seeing if it was in the mood for a caress or two.

"Mighty sorcerer, eh? Oh, you two must have missed the huge magical mansion with animated servants I'm keeping just behind that bend, then. I planned on sleeping under a tent that barely sustains itself because I enjoy it, not because I need to". He kept smiling as he talked, self irony obvious in his words.

"I said I dabble, and I meant it.. while said dabbling might or might not extend into arcane matters, it still would not be anything more than that. Now, about your question.." He shifted to look at Kael, the smile still on his lips, even if the irony in his words started getting tinged by an hint of sarcasm.

"..I'd assume that most sorcerers don't do that for a variety of reasons.. chief of which, they don't really want to char their own brains with magical abuse. Without even starting to consider the number of people on the continent who own very sharp pieces of metal and are willing to use them on an aspiring tyrant, of course. What do you say, Kamryn, would the knight enjoy such an attempt?". Still smiling, he took a few bites of fish, munching happily at the well cooked food.

[Emberlina]

The cat blinked slightly at Nether's hand as it got close. She gently sniffed on it and instinctually then rubbed her head against his hand. Her soft furr weaved back as his hand stroke it down as well as her ears. "Mmmm... I could get used to this." she thought pleasently to herself as she got patted and began to softly purr at Nether as she leaned against his leg, seeming to really enjoy it.

She still listened fully on what they said but now with curiousity rather than boredome. As they spoke of something she thought was world domination, she got a small picture in her mind of herself sitting on a fance throne and everyone looked after her. "Hhmm.. Not a too bad idea. Although, after that wolf the other day chaced me up a tree... I rather then not challange humans already..." she thought to herself and sighed a bit, couldn't help but think herself as a tad weak.

She blinked as Nether then stopped to scratch her and she looked up on him. "Eh? Hey, why stop now?" she said, but in their ears it would just be a little cat meow as she set up her paws on Nether's legs, standing up to look up to him as if wanting to cuddle more.

[Kamrynn Sleightyr]

"What do you say, Kamrynn, would the knights enjoy such an attempt?"

The news that the present company did not have a sorcerer amongst their ranks was almost disappointing to Kamrynn. Almost. There was still plenty of good food, good company, and a good fire -all they needed now was a flagon of ale.

To answer Nether's question, the knight grinned. "Oh, I'd be first in line to face a tyrannical djed wielder! But, ah, forgive me then for my comments; I guess I let my imagination get the better of me."

Kamrynn leaned back a little, resting his weight on his hands, and looked upwards. There was still a bit of sun left in the day, but the temperature was cooling down nicely. "How's that stew coming?" He asked absent mindedly.

[Kaelithus]

Kaelithus say up stretching his body "hmm why do you get the attention of the cat" he asked while yawning. "it must like the way you smell" he smiled picking up sword placing the of it in the fire watching it begin to heat up. he took it out watching as the blade begin to steam at its tip fascinated by the miracles of fire.

Midnight stood up walking over to Kael climbing up his leg to his shoulder. He looked at his reflection in the blade then flew to the left over meat on kaels fish picking off what he could. Kael smiled "you still hungry Midnight?" the bird looked up then went back to its meal.

"well nether...will there be any action?...any fighting?....any pay?" asked kael "of course...ive never stood side by side A Syliran Knight...then again can i trust either of you...or could you trust me? after all who says in a battle i wont just turn to you and place and place a arrow between your armor" he Smirked looking over at ember using his tounge to make cat noise trying to get her to come over to him.

[Nether]

"To be honest, I wouldn't suggest exactly the first place in the line, second would be much better, and fourth almost a guarantee the sorcerer will already be hallucinating three of you as his fingertips start to melt". Nether smiled, surprised at how friendly this supposedly stray cat was being, and placed his hand on the top of its head, starting to absent mindedly scratch behind its ears, finding it to be extremely relaxing.

Then, reminded by the knight's question, he stopped the petting and stirred the pot once with a wooden spoon. "I think it's ready. Mind you, ready doesn't mean good: I had to get a bit creative with what I tossed in that pot, but at least it's not poisonous.." He didn't feel the need to let his companions know that, in his mind, that phrase ended with "..this time. I hope".

He lifted the spoon and, with it, a spoonful of the greenish brown soup, blowing on it twice before giving up and actually eating it.
The end result was better than he feared.
"Lacks salt, but it's better than it looks. If you have your own bowls, feel free to dig in.. otherwise I'll check if I can find something you can use, but no guarantees"

Having said that, Nether pulled out his own bowl and filled it with a token serving before leaving the pot for the others to raid.. that fish had been rather huge, after all. "Payment, Kael? If I could afford to pay for an armed escort, I would be here with one in the first place, don't you think so? What I offer is decent food, the pleasure of my company and my word that I don't plan on backstabbing any of you."

He made a brief pause, adjusting on his rock to sit with the bowl in his lap, his left hand once again finding the cat's head."As for me trusting you.. well, I surely hope there's some part of a knight's oath that forbids them from attacking innocent travellers. As for you, I have no guarantee, but so far you didn't act very much the part of the brigand. I'm.. quite good at reading people".

His weapon of choice was the bow, after all.. so, by simply sitting there with them, he already negated his best advantage: range.

[Emberlina]

The Cat purred softly as she got patted and seemed to really enjoy it. Coming to like being cuddled by Nether, she barely heard Kael that tried to make her come to him as she was a good as paralized to where she stood.

She peered then a bit on the bowl that rested on Nether's lap and sniffed towards it, curious of what really was in there. "It smells a bit like one of the stews my mother used to give me when I was ill." she thought to herself. She looked up a bit on Nether and on the other two with a wondering gaze, then on the pot as she tilted her head a bit. "Hmmm... I'm not so hungry anymore, but something warm is always welcome!" she said cheerfully to herself as she took a few steps behind Nether.

She set her paws behind the necklace and shook her head, taking it off as it would otherwise choke her when she formed. She shook her body roughly before then beginning to gain size. Her furr shrunk back onto her head and in the same time grew longer. Her ears and tails dissapeared and so her feline face.
Insteed, silently, came forth a slightly young human girl that gently brushed out her stomach long black hair. Her face had no signs of age as her soft cheekline lightly glew in the firelight. Her body was shorter than any of the three men, but it was also much slimer.
By a first glance she would look like a young lady at the age of either 18 or 19.

The girl still though had her light grey cat-like eyes and the fangs in her mouth as she gently smiled to them from behind Nether. "Does someone have a spare spoon then? If nobody mind I can just eat right from the pot." she said rather cheerfully, but sweet, to them as she tilted her head at them like the cat she was, clearly not minding them all being men and herself a naked lady.

[Kaelithus]

Kael looked up to respond to nether when he noticed the naked Emberlina "oh my....well...hello....uh.....Kelvic....never seen a female...always assumed they were all male.." Kael blushed looking to the fire. "uh..." he swallowed hard turning to his backpack pulling out a pair of pants and shirt "uh...here you go..." He tossed them over the fire trying to keep his gaze on the flickering flames. "I can never rub a cat's belly again now" he said to himself forgetting about the spoon in his backpack and Nether.

[Nether]

At the start, Nether hadn't been fully aware of what was happening. The cat went behind his back, after all, and he had better, tastier things to worry about, so he had started to slowly sip the soup, spoon after spoon, when he noticed something was amiss.
The first hint was Kael staring at the darkness behind him with eyes the size of small plates.
The second, and decisive, hint was the young female voce calling for attention.

He jerked around, barely managing to avoid bathing himself in the hot green soup, just to see a very much naked girl walking towards the pot with all the calm of this world, asking for a spare spoon.
For a split second, his mind blanked out, his own spoon falling inside his bowl, his mouth hanging open as he frantically looked for the words he needed.

Without much success.

Only the equally surprised reaction of his companions convinced him this wasn't an hallucination caused by that tasty-looking mushroom he had sneaked into the stew.
He swallowed loudly, blushing more than he thought possible, very thankful for the change of clothing offered to the new guest by Kael, and tried his luck at talking.

"Uh.. bowl.. spoon.. spare.. sure, I have something, wait there, I'll be back soon".
At least in the end his brain had mercifully started working again.
Doing his best to avoid staring, he got up, headed towards the small cart.

[Kamrynn Sleightyr]

"To be honest, I wouldn't suggest exactly the first place in the line, second would be much better, and fourth..."

Kamrynn listened to Nether's explanation more closely than his foolish smile let on. It was probably good advice, and an accurate description of how the use of magic worked. Although Nether had refuted the claims, and provided ample and obvious proof to the contrary, the knight still believed he was in the company of a sorcerer -they were known to be eccentric and strange at times.

"Ah, Nether, but there in lies the problem. There's no glory in being second, and without glory, there would be now knights! As for being fourth, that is a shame most intolerable!"

With the soup on, Kamrynn poured a bit into a bowl he had brought from home, it wasn't proper camping gear, but it suited his purposes fine. While kael launched into a series of questions about the journey, Kamrynn slurped on the still bubbling hot mixture -it was good, earthy, but good.

Kael's comment about "putting an arrow between his armor" got Kamrynn's blood pumping, and raised his ire. "I think you'd find my armor and my speed more than a match for your little birdy hunting bow." Nether mitigated the situation quickly... And then a naked woman appeared in the camp.

A beautiful young woman nonetheless.

Kamrynn's soup and spoon fell forgotten from his hands and the piping hot contents deposited themselves on his lap. As a guard, he had dealt with Kelvic's and their penchant for nudity before in Syliras, but the only woman had been a boar kelvic -a terrifying thing to see.

This cat-girl on the other hand, was more than the young knight could handle. His brain kicked into gear slowly. Don't stare! He shut his eyes tight and clasped a hand over his face, trying to convince himself that he hadn't see anything he wasn't supposed to.

Cover her up! He stood awkwardly, clumsily unhooking the cape that hung from his shoulders. He staggered forward, while Kael fished spare clothing from his bag. Kamrynn fixed his eyes on the ground ahead of him his cape held out in front.

"Ma'am, you should cover up. Here, use this for now." His heart stopped as he reached out to drape the cape over her shoulders. I'd face a dozen sorcerers over this. He thought to himself.

[Kaelithus]

Kael took a spoon full of the soup tasting it "hm, its surprisingly good" he kept his eyes low to the ground at all time attempting not to focus on the beauty in front of him he was always taught to respect woman and to stare at one who's naked is rude. "uh....miss i haven't caught your name...but no matter...if you would a bed and a roof tonight I have my tent with me..."

He ate half of his bowl of soup handing the rest to his companion who finished it off
"...and i can make you a semi-comfortable bed out of the leaves from some trees"
Kael looked at Kamrynn as he spilled his soup, "whats the matter? to nervous to hold your bowl" he smiled attempting to break the awkward tension in the air knowing it wouldn't.
He was going to hand Kamrynn a piece of cloth to clean himself when he stood up "guess you won't need this then..." he slipped it back into his bag.
When the knight took of his cloak Kael spotted something. the slight pink of flesh "ahhh see knight" kael stood up his bow with him "if i wanted to, i could end your existence right now" he pulled back his string so the sound would be heard, when he went to let go instead of firing kael just the string fly there was no arrow, instead he gently touched the back of the knights neck with his finger. "you shouldn't doubt anyones abilities...i'm sure your training covered this did it not?...this wasn't a threat by any means...just a warning to watch your back in situations my friend...i wouldn't harm someone as noble as a knight no matter the pay...besides...i don't doubt your abilities judging by the size of your sword and how easily you move with it i would say you are very skilled with it and agile...considering my Talon Sword and my Quiver are about 3 steps behind me you could easily strike me down now if you wanted to...now...i believe once all of us are dressed we can continue our 'meal' oh and your name Miss kelvic?"