Trevor
Varana couldn't help but grin as she watched Sirdan glance around after her comment. None of her summoned companions were inside though. She blinked as the mercenary questioned her about the resurrection stuff. Varana just shrugged. "Well... It's kinda nice having the same skeletons around? You get to be friends with them!" She grinned. The Macen lady had a tendency to use the words summon and resurrect interchangeably because it sounded cool, even if it wasn't technically the most accurate terminology.

"Maktuvian? Yup~ Well, I used to be." Varana clarified with a grin. "If I go back, I'll probably end up as dead as poor Jeffrey, ehehe..." She cackled to herself at the thought, unable to keep herself from twitching noticeably. Evidently Varana had come to terms with whatever had happened, enough that she could joke about it.

"Not sure why I was named the way that I was... Probably an Ardent thing. My mom was an Ardent too, so I suppose that would make sense." Varana rubbed her chin thoughtfully. But quickly she moved on, paying attention to what Sirdan had to say between taking bites of her own food. It was quickly disappearing. Not much left now.

Hearing the mercenary explain how tough it could be out fighting, Varana nodded swiftly in agreement. "It's good to have a place you can return to at the end of a long day, preferably somewhere with warm beds and fresh food." She paused, then added, "Annnd congratulations! With the whole marriage thing." Varana grinned as she took a sip of the tasty fresh orange juice. "Ahhhhh... This is the best!~ Fresh juice really hits the spot, haha..."

As Sirdain claimed to have lost his sense of adventure, Varana raised her eyebrows skeptically. "Nonsense! All ya gotta do is rediscover it!" She encouraged emphatically. "Why don't ya come on a treasure hunting expedition with me sometime? Can't guarantee it'll pay well, but you'll get to meet Jeffrey and probably see some neat stuff you'd never have thought existed!"
Albert
"Indeed. I stick around with the same nine summons for my servants and soldiers... Though I do feel bad that I send them to do the most dangerous tasks. Some of them have died more than a few time." Sirdan put up a grim smile. 

"Poor Jeffrey? Are they not immortal - reforming as soon as you summon them back?" Sirdan was quite confused, wondering if Jeffrey somehow lost his contract forever. 

"Ardent thing... That means you have a pair of wings, do you? And a halo too. I heard they can fly. I can use my spell to turn into one, but I have not taken advantage of that in a fight - yet." 

The mercenary nodded - he liked the idea of returning to warm bed and fresh food and *Other things.*, which he missed very much on the road,"Heh, it is harder than you think." Sirdan grinned again, remembering how painful it is to maintain a relation when Hu Lang want to stay in one place - and he want to adventure forever. 

"You see, my fiancees want me to just become a stay at home father here. I feel like I'm a bit too young to stick around - I haven't seen the whole world yet, and I get more powerful every single fight. Feel like I can do so much more." 

"I'll take your offer - let's go treasure hunt. It is probably less dangerous than meddling in some weirdos affair in Mentia - think I almost died a few time already. Maybe what you're doing is safer."
Trevor
Varana nodded slowly. It was never fun to loose a summon on a dangerous mission. But she was the one keeping them around! As long as they weren't too badly messed up, it was usually possible to bring them back, as Sirdan had pointed out.

"Immortal?" The Macen lady blinked, then nodded. "Well yeah, I can bring them back again and again. But they're still undead skeletons, y'know? They used to be living at some point. Now their not." Varana explained with a soft giggle. "Though I suppose the transformation magic does blur the line a little bit... That's about as close as I can get to *Actually* Resurrecting them. Doesn't last forever, but can give them a tantalizing reminder of their past lives. They seem to appreciate it, and it keeps them from causing panic, haha."

There was a brief pause at the ardent assertion. She nodded. "Yeaaaah... I got those. Just tend to keep 'em hidden. Easier that way." Varana was quick to move on from this topic, not wishing to elaborate further at this time.

"Ahhh, that's a tough situation to deal with..." The ardent necromancer agreed with a nod as Sirdan talked about the struggles of his work-life balance. "Maybe you can awaken the love for adventure inside them too, then go adventuring together as a giant family or something!" Varana suggested with a grin. She didn't know anything about Sirdan's fiancees, but figured if they had fallen for an adventurer, there must be a part of them that wanted to adventure too.

"...Safer?" Varana grinned and twitched, managing a small shrug. "Well, I suppose that depends on what we find." The raven-haired Ardent lady quickly admitted. "But you do seem pretty strong. It'll probably be fineee!~" She hummed. "I've got just the place in mind too..."

A bit more munching, and then Varana's food was gone! She had eaten it all.
Albert
"Mmm..." Sirdan nodded,"I wonder how it feel like to be my summon - dying semi regularly in a fight. They've probably died a few time each, but each time they do, they died instead of someone who would die for real. It is..." 

Sirdan paused, losing his thoughts. Then he noticed Varana has finished her food, and started eating in a panic, simply nodding in assertion. 

"Perhaps. But part of me loathe the idea of forcing my fiancees into fighting - they don't seem ready for it, mentally. And you know, if you fight and kill without any conviction, it tends to scar you. And even if you have the conviction, it can scar you too. It is best for me to not give you tale of killing and watching people die." Sirdan put up another bitter smile,"I've killed at least a few in my career. And anyone who is very proud of it is a psychopath you should stay away from." 

Sirdan leaned in a bit. 

"Oh? Do tell me about it."
Trevor
Varana nodded slowly and rubbed her chin. "Hmmm, that's interesting... I've never really thought of it like that. The whole summons being stand-ins for real people..." She wasn't usually fighting other Macens though, aside from the occasional bandit or underhanded treasure hunter. Those encounters were fairly rare though.

It hadn't really occurred to Varana that Sirdan might equate adventure with battle. Sure combat was a risk, but not all of the time, right? The Arden necromancer ultimately chalked this up to his occupation. Mercenaries probably did more of that stuff than the average explorer, after all. Despite the serious nature of these reflections, Varana maintained a rather muted smile. This was a step down from the usual wicked grin of hers, but still not entirely appropriate, one might have thought.

"Well... Battle can be tough, yeah..." Or at least, so it sounded like from what Sirdan had shared. "I guess ya need to find some battle fiancees too then, huh?" She remarked, her characteristic grin returning once again. "...Hmm, actually maybe you could try and hit up a summon? It sounds like yours are strong and battle hardened!" Varana suggested with a giggle. It was clearly meant to be a joke. But it cast light on the fact that Varana didn't just see summons as tools or servants, but as individuals capable of forging meaningful connections with others.

"...Anyways the whole reason I came to Salvainia is because I'm researching an ancient people that had a strange obsession with eagles! They had eagles carved into their weapons and stuff, and were usually buried with mini eagle statuettes. I'm totally convinced it's a religion thing! Buuut, not really sure yet. I've got a couple artifacts and traced their origin to a region along the Tige river. Not quite sure what we'll find... It's pretty rare to hit a jackpot... But hey, no one's ever found anything worthwhile by sitting on their rear all day!"