"Oh come on," Mesaraih replied, feeling it suddenly impossible to stop smiling, "even back then I'm sure they knew something about abandoning a young elven mage might be a bad idea. I'll be honest, sometimes I'm standing next to you and I can<span style="font-style: italic">feel </span>this energy swirling about you, like you just want to swallow the world up or something. Some of that had to be present back then too."<br/><br/>He paused for a moment as he stretched out his entire body, making a small<span style="font-style: italic">eugh </span>noise.<br/><br/>"I might be exaggerating a bit. You're definitely a bit scary now, but that's really only because I've seen what you can do. I'm sure back then, before anyone knew what you were capable of, you must have been adorable."<br/><br/><span style="color: #00FF00">"Yes, let's," Valehna responded, adopting the usual, silky tone of voice she used when she wasn't feeling focused. This time, the lack of focus was born of her fatigue. It had been a long day, and the last fight had taken a lot of energy from her. She walked along with Tal until they reached the house where Mesaraih and Ester were sleeping.<br/><br/>She opened the door without taking too much care of being quiet. They were going to wake up anyways, no point sparing them a few more seconds. To her surprise, they were already awake, and even more surprisingly, seemed to be talking.<br/><br/>"Well now. Just when I thought the two of you couldn't shed any more bits of responsibility. I hope you don't regret the lack of sleep you're getting tomorrow when we get on our way," she said, though her tone was light.</span>