A sharp rap at the door jolted Elandris until alertness. He rolled swiftly from beneath the bed, whipping a short knife from the sheath perpetually strapped to his chest and poising it to throw at whoever was about to come crashing through the door. "Who is it?" he called calmly, before shifting his position from right of the door to left of the door.<br/>"Sir, it's meself, the maid," called a young girl's voice from without. Elandris lowered the knife and slid it back into its sheath. "Is there a problem, miss?"<br/>"Not't'all sir," was the response. "I'll just be cleanin' it for yourself, if y'please."<br/>Elandris strode to the door and, sliding the bolt back, swung it swiftly open to accost the small, teenaged girl standing uncomfortably with a mop and bucket by her side. Elandris regarded her for a brief moment.<br/>"By all means."<br/>He retrieved his hat from the hook on the door and made his way downstairs, leaving the girl staring in perplexity at the sheet-rope dangling from the window.<br/><br/>Elandris cursed softly to himself as he glanced out the unwashed window. The sun was high in the sky; it was late in the morn. He had slept deeply for the first night in many, and it had been a needed sleep. If Elandris could have had one wish, it would have been one negating fatigue, eliminating the necessity for rest and recuperation. He was a man with a schedule, and the simple parameters of human need filled him with a constant source of displeasure. It was not that he did not consider himself a human. He simply disliked the strings that came with it.<br/><br/>The bartender retrieved the map from under the counter as the Warden approached. "Got it."<br/>"What, exactly?"<br/>"This 'ere's a battle plan with orders for each clan t'do their thing'n various parts'o the forest," the bartender enlightened him.<br/>"I thought Orcish clans were as much at war with one another as they were with everyone else," Elandris remarked.<br/>The bartender scratched his chin. "They are. That's why this map 'ere's so damn weird." He brightened considerably, as he handed the map to Elandris. "The good bit's that it's a map of the Southern Forest."<br/>"Indeed it is." Elandris' eyes scanned the parchment and the bartender's scribbled notes. "A map whose accuracy I'll be trusting not to lead me astray."<br/>The bartender's eyes widened. "You mean you're really going in there?"<br/><br/>Elandris found the Knight behind the stable, cutting the air into thin sheets with his exercises. He carried his hat under his arm, but laid it in a wagon of hay left out to dry in the sun. "Pardon me if I interrupt your regimen."<br/>He paused, waiting. He had intended to continue on with his plan for the day, but something in the back of his mind had informed him that were he to get too close and speak too loudly before effectively breaking the Knight's concentration, very bad and very bloody things were likely to occur.