Albali released a sigh of relief. She'd never been that good at reading people - one of the numerous reasons she was more happy living several miles outside of Kajaani where people had to make an effort to reach her cottage - but now she, too, felt like she could trust this half-elf. It wasn't really their fault, half-elves, but she always felt a little uneasy around them. It was one thing to bed a human, but to have children by them? What sort of elf would do that? Half-orcs made much more sense to her. As would have three-quarterlings. More than once she'd imagined half-gnomes and set her mouth watering...<br/><br/>Her thoughts were straying; she blinked and furrowed her brows to reset them. She wasn't sure -what- she would have done if Kaheksa had accepted the offer to lead the children away. Probably have insisted on helping. But everything seemed to point to this woman being what she made herself appear to be, at least in the ways that mattered. "Good," she said finally. "This will be difficult, but not impossible." She lifted her head toward Xarithe, on the verge of asking him if he could turn himself into anything that could tunnel down to the children to check on them first, but thought better of it, given his harsh words minutes before. "And I'd welcome the aid of another with a gift for healing. There are still a few minutes of dark left; shall we make use of them?"<br/><br/>This time when she raise her arm, Ain came whistling down from the air to perch, beating his wings and pricking his claws into her shoulder. She did not mind - instead she went about cranking a bolt into her crossbow in preparation for the assault. As they walked, she touched her shoulders as she had the day before, investing herself in mage armor.<br/><br/>[[The map is just right.<img alt=":D" src="./images/smilies/icon_mrgreen.gif" title="Very Happy"/><br/><br/>Prepared spells in spoilers:<br/><div style="padding: 3px; background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px solid #d8d8d8; font-size: 1em;"><div style="text-transform: uppercase; border-bottom: 1px solid #CCCCCC; margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 0.8em; font-weight: bold; display: block;"><span onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') {  this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = ''; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;hide&lt;/a&gt;'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;show&lt;/a&gt;'; }"><b>Spoiler: </b><a href="#" onclick="return false;">show</a></span></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;">Cantrips:<br/>Detect Magic<br/>Guidance<br/>Message<br/>Stabilize<br/><br/>Level One:<br/>Bungle<br/>Ill Omen<br/>Mage Armor -SPENT-<br/>Obscuring Mist<br/>Reduce Person<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">Level Two:</span><br/>Blindness-Deafness<br/>Hold Person<br/>Glitterdust<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">Patron Spells:</span><br/>Silent Image<br/>Darkness<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">Hexes:</span><br/>Healing<br/>Slumber<br/>Prehensile Hair</div></div></div><br/>]]