The self deprecating joke received a few polite chuckles and one overly exaggerated eye roll from the normally rather quiet Anju.  But it seemed that the elves in attendance accepted his words in the vein of friendship that they were given.  The matriarch closed out the gathering by assigning the scouts to further tasks, having them gather other trusted scouts and begin to get the lay of the land beyond the village borders.  To Anju, she directed the druid to accompany Nirael and Lunari to a place outside the village for his own solitude, and then to retreat to shouting distance and wait for his directions.  The Matriarch requested that Nilari stay, as she had several responsibilities for the warrior, one of which included fetching Mara for further questioning... assuming the woman would submit to the matriarch's questions willingly.  If not, she would be invited to leave the village peacefully, but immediately.  The matriarch would admit that she wanted time to question the demon without Nirael's presence anyways, afraid that her own position of authority might be colored by his presence and her oath to obey him.  If he showed any hesitation on this, she would be quick to assure him that she did not plan to harm the demon, unless she attempted violence first.  But was also quick to point out that if such a thing were to happen, it would be best to understand where they stood sooner rather than later.<br/><br/>Finally the gathering was dismissed, with the priestesses moving to speak with the matriarch quietly and personally.  Nilari moved and kissed first Lunari and then Nirael on the cheek, a gesture slightly more intimate due to their nudity, before the new trio moved off.  This time Anju's scowl was enough to keep all but the most dedicated of the clan away, but still Nirael was approached as a friend several times.  More and more now, Nirael saw male elves, though part of it was the fact that they were rather feminine in face and form than humans, and since some dressed in long loose flowing robes, it made him wonder if he'd seen male elves and simply not realized it in the past.  However his general impression was still that there were likely five women to each man he saw, and that this village had a definite gender bias towards the feminine.  Strangely enough while he received odd looks as to his nudity, and raised eyebrows, no one seemed to mention it.<br/><br/>Once they were a fair distance from the temple Anju turned and asked him flat out,<strong>"Do you need to return to Nilari's home to retrieve anything or should we head out of the village straight away?"</strong>