Larea offered a friendly smile as Riu finished reading the note. She often forgot that interacting with a mute person was a relatively uncommon thing for most people, so her disability may not have been immediately apparent. He seemed to have grasped it pretty quickly, though, so there would be no need for more explanation on her part; very convenient, since-<br/><br/>All of a sudden, her thoughts were ground to a halt as the sound of scraping metal echoed throughout the inn. A knight with strangely purple hair approached them, face full of disinterest as she spoke of slavery. Wait,<span style="font-style: italic">slavery?</span>Larea's mouth dropped wide in shock at the accusation put before them. Was this person seriously suggesting that one of them was a slave? And more to the point, she was a knight - what kind of jurisdiction would she have in a small town like this? Could she actually take them into custody under suspicion of slave-trading? Luckily, Riu actually had a voice to respond with - and he did, insisting that they were friends instead. The thought made her happy, though her mind was a little too distracted by the situation to show much of that emotion. The two exchanged another set of words, which resulted in the knight introducing herself (in an unnecessarily lengthy fashion) and then.. offering her services.. as a slave.<br/><br/>Larea slumped back in her seat, absolutely dumb-founded at the situation. She had never met someone - especially not a knight - who acted in such a way. The idea of being hauled off in chains was but a distant thought in her mind now, replaced instead by utter confusion. Today was weird; yes, there could be no other way to describe it. But it wasn't over yet. The Ahketan man from earlier arrived suddenly, injecting himself in the conversation - this time, though, his gentle giant demeanor was replaced by a cold fury as he offered his services to protect them from slavery.<span style="font-style: italic">But none of us are slavers..!</span>she thought, swiftly sitting back up and waving her hands in front of her to try and illustrate the sheer amount of misinformation being tossed around. Without words, it proved a difficult task. Had she the ability to do so, she would have groaned loudly as she slumped forward, face hitting the table with a heavy sigh of resignation. She used one hand to gesture at Riu, indicating her desire for him to explain the situation as best he could. It would certainly be much faster than her writing everything out.