<span style="color: #00FF00">Valehna tossed the key back and forth between both of her hands, staring down more intently at it with every step she took. She became so engrossed, she nearly walked straight into the wall. She felt rather than saw the looming presence of it and stopped short, looking up at it. She blinked a couple of times, then nodded to Tal.<br/><br/>"Here goes..." she said, slipping the key into the slightly red-tinged hole. It was a perfect fit. She turned it, and the door heaved as it wanted to move, but stayed still in the end. The other keyhole, slightly blue tinged, was growing more brightly than before.<br/><br/>"We're almost there," she said, finally looking up at Tal. Her expression was blank, almost emotionless. "Just one more statue."<br/><br/>She removed the key from the wall and wrapped her hand around it tightly, then tucked it inside her sleeve. "No use wasting any time," she said, brandishing her staff once more.</span><br/><br/>"You're worlds apart," Mesaraih said. "I don't think about you as casually as... Venus," he said, uttering the name with audible distaste.<br/><br/>Mesaraih had inched centimeters closer to Ester before she turned around. He heard the growling too, and had to stop himself from rolling his eyes at it. He admitted there was some humor in the thought that darkspawn were becoming nuisances more than danger now, albeit only when they were in small groups.<br/><br/>"It's not," Mesaraih agreed. "These blighted creatures ruin a good day as surely as they ruin a good moment." He drew the daggers from the sheaths on his back and faced the darkspawn, then looked sideways at Ester.<br/><br/>"Okay, I'll try to make this quick. Just help me out a bit," he said, walking towards the darkspawn just as they rushed towards him.