Valen's eyes watched as the events around him occurred, Brand spoke to Tsu'ro, then realized finally that he was naked before coming back into the water, it was amusing, but Valen's fixation at the time was on his pipe, which was now unusable and quite out of tobacco. Valen set the wooden object down on a nearby step, where someone wouldn't accidentally knock it down, again. Valen looked up, mildly surprised to see the elf was entering the bath with them, earning a smile from the eldest male. It was good at least that the woman was willing to join the two even the other woman had left.<br/><br/>Valen listened to Ari's words, her opinion on her king, and the fact that he would be unwilling to act, if only for the safety of their people. Valen shook his head, speaking his mind on the situation at hand.<br/><br/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ffffff">"To protect his people, it is admirable, but impossible."</span>Valen looked at his soaked pipe, his eyes moving to Ari's form in the water<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ffffff"> "As much as your king wishes to keep his kingdom from being conquered by the King of Darkness, or attracting his attention, he needs to realize that it is all an eventuality."</span>Valen glanced down, Ari probably realized this, if she thought anything like him at least.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ffffff">"I mean no disrespect to your liege, but it is foolish to just hide when the king will turn his sights on Heironidan within a lifetime anyway. Unless your king expects to just roll over when the forces of darkness arrive, he will not be aiding the elven people by simply hiding until the entire world is engulfed in darkness" </span>Valen's words were charismatic, then again, Valen's air of leadership had never faded, even as his body weakened underneath him.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ffffff">"If Kali's brother gets the amulet, he will be unstoppable, no one will be able to even hinder his conquest. The Dark Army will march on the elven lands" </span><br/><br/>Valen's face looked grim as he spoke<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ffffff">"If the elves and humans, even the dragons fought side by side, as we did so many hundreds of years ago, we can beat back the king before he conquers the entire world for eternity."</span>The king was bent on conquest, not destruction, so it was at least a noble decision of the king to spare as many of his people as he could through surrender, it was a choice Valen respected, though it wasn't a choice Valen would agree with. Valen closed his eyes, imagining the situations and possibilities that could happen, the elves were as stubborn and vain as any other race, especially the high elves, they were conservative, though Valen hoped at least that he could sway their leader in some way.<br/><br/>Valen crossed his arms, leaning a bit a little and looking at Brand, then Ari.<br/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ffffff"><br/>
"We will speak to your king, appeal to him to aid us, fight by our side once we have mustered enough support and collected our objectives, he needs not act until it is necessary to do so, but we need to do something eventually, if he decides not to, things look that much more grim."</span>Valen's calm tone didn't change, it was a topic that must be stressed later.