Valen reached into a small bag he had brought with him, withdrawing his pipe from within the bag, with his tobacco inside it. He turned to his companions and smiled a little bit, nervously, taking a small flint from within then discarding the bag. Valen never went anywhere without his pipe. The male lit the end of the pipe then took a breath from it, inhaling the fresh smoke and relaxing a bit as the rush from within hit him. The man smiled a little "Well, I guess we should get to looking for our first objective."<br/><br/>Valen looked down, considering their options. "If we are to stand any chance against the King, we need to unite Marosia against him, whatever remnant is hiding in Elzier is still on our side. I will meet with the elven leaders and offer our appeal, if they would fight alongside us, just as they did against the king of the dead so many centuries ago, we would have a considerable ally" Valen looked down at the water, he couldn't see through it that deeply thankfully, neither could anyone else. "If we could gather Marosia against the king, we could defeat him, first I suppose we should talk to the elves, then perhaps the dragons and the other races."<br/><br/>The dragons would be unwilling to aid them of course, so would the monks that raised Valen despite their familiarity, Long seemed like an unlikely place to stop for allies. The inhabitants of the cold north would have to see the truth, that the king would be able to reach them after he conquered the rest of the world. Valen looked back up, distracted by the feeling of his chest beginning to burn. Valen paused, covering his mouth as a small fit overtook him, starting with a simple ragged cough that grew worse over the couple seconds it lasted. Valen quickly turned around, turning away from his fellows. The coughing fit only lasted for a couple violent ones, and as Valen took his hand from his lips he noticed specks of blood on his hands, it was black. Valen casually slid his hand in the water to get rid of the traces of blood.<br/><br/>Valen glanced nervously at Brand, then Altima and took a deep breath from his pipe, blowing smoke out from his lips in a long stream. "I am fine" The male spoke before either ally could. He wasn't really fine. "Anyway, for now, we shall unwind in the city, we can spend the night here, but after we should get heading out, Altima, perhaps we should to to your homeland and attempt to ask for your family's aid?"<br/><br/>Valen himself slid a little further into the water, taking a puff from his pipe. The smoke felt good in his chest, and when he released it, he couldn't help but feel empty. The smoke made the pain fall away from him at least, though he knew both Brand and Altima did not care for his habit.