Besides the other knights, the vampire and the elf walked a taller man, Valen was an impressive sight in the daytime, and here where the power of the wind was at it's greatest he was in top shape.<br/><br/>The male walked alongside his comrades at a brisk pace. Physically he felt fine, but his emotions were still biting on him, seeing his comrades, the people he had grown to love hurt was something that hurt him even worse, the smooth shaft of his spear felt cold and his armor felt awfully heavy even though he was wearing less of it than he normally did. Valen moved silently and swiftly, the edges of his cloak brushing the grass, hiding the light armor that covered his torso. Valen's eyes were downcast, lost in thought as he continued, his allies occasionally<br/><br/>The Elves here called him the Windwalker, it was their name for the Wind Paladin, a man who easily wiped out groups of enemies using his ornate spear or the slim curved blade he carried upon his person at all times. Valen looked up, the other knights were with him, the elf looking as irritated as ever and in the lead, and behind her followed Z, bouncing along in his usual bubbly carefree mood, even though the loss they had just gone through was great. Valen admired Z's control, the surprise of their ally turning against them and stabbing the queen was great, for Valen almost too much to bare. Valen had been quiet since the incident, the betrayal, and the subsequent failure to protect the queen, a woman he cherished more than any other was great, weighing heavily on his heart, a deeper wound than the traitor had inflicted on him. For the longest of time since the loss of their kingdom, Valen was unable to speak, the smiles he once found so easy to produce failing to appear, his walk slowed, as if he was carrying a great weight on his shoulders.<br/><br/>Valen's head turned to the female as she muttered something under her breath. Valen didn't quite need to hear the full thing to understand what she meant, she was commenting on their youngest Comrade's level of energy, which was somewhat unnatural. Valen sighed loudly, speaking, mostly to himself, but loud enough for the others to hear him.<br/><br/><b>"We all have different ways of expressing our grief, I am glad his does not affect his morale, if he has hope, he might as well have hope for all of us." </b>The male's voice, normally cool and calm, even sweet, the phrase was harsher, a little biting. Valen, quite possibly had been hit the hardest by the queen's sudden demise, like the other knights they were closer than any knight and monarch should be, but he was her champion, the one designated to protect her, to defend her from one who would do her harm as her shield, and her lance, and he was powerless to protect her. The day after was the first time Valen had truly wept for someone, a man was expected to be strong, but Valen couldn't control his emotions that night, all of them going haywire on him, he had avoided the others, unable to allow himself to let them see him wracked with tears. Since then Valen became unnaturally determined, they had a mission to do, and Valen could not allow himself to fail in it, first he would gather the shards with his allies, they they would destroy the king and restore peace, Valen could not fail in this mission, even if success costs him his life.<br/><br/>Valen continued on his path, following the elf shortly, his eyes watching her, focusing on her back. Valen was focused on moving, thinking of each step, using those thoughts to distract him from the emotions that battled in his mind and in his heart, and to get away from the dull throb that was ever present in his chest, the pain had lessoned since the last time, but it was still there, it was distracting, though<br/>Valen didn't mind the distraction, one kind of pain took another pain.<br/><br/>Valen was glad that they were here, a place he could relate to at least. Valen deliberately ignored the vampire, though his comments at the time while inappropriate could break up the silence.<b>"We should hurry at least, I have no doubt our foes themselves are moving as I speak.</b>