"Shattrath may be closer but I am concerned that anything we say may make its way back to the Betrayer." Solarius was thoughtful as he spoke, his wet hair glimmering in the dying daylight. Elariel and the others nodded in agreement.<br/><br/>"As far as I am concerned we are done with our investigations. We know what we need to know, making inquiries in this continent will only cause us trouble," Elariel provided, looking over to Tae'loren. "I have some connections in Dalaran that may serve us well. Before the Kinslayer destroyed our home I was headed to Dalaran to work with the Kirin Tor."<br/><br/>"They are a neutral faction," Aidyn warned, "you never know who to trust in that organisation. They will request the information you found and record it. Do you really want that in the hands of the rest of the population of Azeroth?"<br/><br/>Elariel sighed. She did agree that the sort of magic they had studied had a world of potential evil if made accessible, however she also knew that the best way to combat evil was to study it and find its weakness.<br/><br/>"Any other suggestions then?" She tried to avoid sounding annoyed but she could hear the tension in her own voice.<br/><br/>"Take the information back to the guild," Teirn suggested. "We know their interests lay in restoring Silvermoon and the Sun Well."<br/><br/>"Seriously?" Elariel snapped, "You were there when we left Silvermoon! They wanted nothing to do with our quest!" Now her anger was clear. She threw her hands up in the air in annoyance and slammed them back down into the water with a loud splash.<br/><br/>"Teirn could be right Elariel, we already know what the guild is capable of. We know little of the Kirin Tor's motives." Solarius' voice was cautious which only served to frustrate Elariel further. Her head began to ache with the events of the day and she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.<br/><br/>"We'll have to discuss it as a group, but I personally will not take part in feeding any of this information back to the Guild. I cut ties with them the day they turned their backs on us." Elariel looked up at the sky, streaks of purple and orange spanned the horizon as the sun continued to sink lower. "We'd best go before it gets dark."<br/><br/>With that she turned and swam back to her copse, hoping beyond hope that her frustration hadn't appeared childish to Tae'loren. She remembered the trouble the group went through before leaving Silvermoon very well. There had been a group within the guild that were eager to do something to aid the efforts to rebuild and seek justice for the damage done to their home and their people. The group was large, but it got significantly smaller once the talk turned from rants to actual plans. The small group within a group thinned out further when they discovered where their success was most likely to lay. That small group had set off to find answers, and in the time that had passed only six of the thirteen members remained. Two had returned to Silvermoon after significant injuries, one had grown tired of their conditions and goals, the other four had met their ends in order to help their people. They were still in contact with the two members that had returned, but their correspondences had grown distant and increasingly negative towards their cause. Elariel wasn't sure what had happened, the group that had set out had all been passionate in their goals, but those that returned had changed. Whether it was from their time in this  horrid place, or the influence of the guild, she was unsure. Whatever the reason, she didn't like the feeling it gave her.<br/><br/>Elariel dried herself, dressed in her clean clothes, and made her way back to the others. As she did she tried to calm her mind; she would need a clear head for the discussion they were about to have.<br/><br/>~*~<br/><br/>A smug grin tugged at the corner of Elariel's lips when she and the others returned to their base. The smell of roasting meat wafted over to them, and when they entered the barn they found that Neras and Roe'nor had already prepared dinner. It could have been because they were hungry, but Elariel had a feeling there was a bit of shame and sycophancy mixed in as well. Without talking they all settled into place around the fire and ate. Elariel was seated close to Tae'loren, and relished the few moments that their elbows brushed or eyes met as they ate. It felt like an eternity since their bodies had joined, and yet another eternity until they could retire once more. When the food was done and their hands and faces cleaned, Neras led the way to the main room of their cottage and they all took a seat on the creaky wooden floor.<br/><br/>"Night Elf, we would appreciate if you retired for the evening." When Neras spoke the words were a request but the tone held a clear command.<br/><br/>"Tae'loren helped us accomplish our quest, and then remained true to his word to remain with us, despite the fact that he could have turned us in to the forces at the Wildhammer stronghold." The food had gone a long way to pacify Elariel's simmering anger, so much so that her tone was much more reasonable than she felt Neras deserved.<br/><br/>"That could be construed as suspicious," Roe'nor said.<br/><br/>"You're right. Everything he does is suspicious," Aidyn whispered, voice hushed and conspiratorial. "He has given us no reason to trust him. He hasn't harmed us, he led us through the wild safely, he didn't get us killed at the temple, he ensured the Dwarves released us, he even had the opportunity to take advantage of us while we were stark naked in the river. He must just be waiting for the right time." The sarcastic play almost made Elariel laugh.<br/><br/>There was a tense silence in the room as Roe'nor and Neras glanced at each other and then at the group. Not one other person spoke out against Tae'loren. They could have argued, but their quest was coming to a head and there would be nothing gained by agitating the group now.<br/><br/>"Right. Well, we believe this information needs to be analysed further and then returned to the Guild," Roe'nor announced. Teirn nodded in agreement.<br/><br/>"I disagree. The Guild have done us no favours and shown no interest in our cause. We requested supplies and they all but ignored us. I believe we should try and find some scholars that can help us analyse the information and see if there is a way we can stop this evil."<br/><br/>"That is not our goal." Solarius looked at Elariel with eyebrows raised.<br/><br/>"What use is there saving our decimated city if we abide such evil and suffering in our world?" Elariel asked, eyes imploring the others as she held up her hands in offering. "The information we learned here can not help our people, but we can use it to help others. Besides; there are some members of the guild we know we cannot trust- if they got hold of the knowledge we gleaned today they would use it to nefarious ends."<br/><br/>Roe'nor and Neras started discussing what she had said in harsh whispers, while Solarius and Teirn conversed quietly beside her.<br/><br/>"Can we finish analyzing the results of the spell before we make a decision? We only think we know what we found, we are not certain," Teirn suggested. The others nodded and Elariel joined in, purely for the sake of avoiding conflift. She knew what they had found; she had felt it to her core. There was nothing good there. But, she knew the others would not give in until they had experienced it for themselves.<br/><br/>"Fine. Let's set up the casting circle; I want to get this over with."<br/><br/>The others were spurred into action. Gathering candles and reagents, drawing symbols on the ground .They would cast a circle and she could share the information with them. They would join telepathically and analyse the information together. As the others fussed about she turned to Tae'loren.<br/><br/>"This is going to be boring," she warned him, "once the circle is cast we will be in a trance for quite some time. They won't want to rest until they have some more solid information. You can retire if you wish, or remain here, but you will probably fall asleep either way." She smiled as she spoke, keeping the tone light. She threw caution to the wind and placed a gentle hand on his knee, knowing that the others were too busy to notice. It was selfish really; she needed the contact. She would have to relive the horror of the day, return to the dark soulless pit that had threatened to suck her in. She memorised the way that the warmth radiating from Tae'loren anchored her to this world. After a moment she smiled one last smile before getting into position.<br/><br/>"Shall we begin?"  Roe'nor asked once they were all in the circle. Elariel's words said yes but her soul screamed no.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>