Nirael felt himself shiver in the aftermath of the fight. Truth be told he was not sure if it was more luck than skill that ended the fight in his favor, but all the same he had fought in order to not only save the elves and the village but to defeat Mara without killing her if it was possible. He found himself reflecting on what had happened, and even if he did not become intimate with her again he hoped that he'd at least be able to maintain some modicum of familiarity and at least a measure of respect with her in the coming years. He did not trail exclusively on the 'good' side of Magic after all, and there was selfish and selfless sides to a bit of pleasures as well in his mind, just as there was good and evil, law and chaos. All part of a whole. Thus, even if she had offered him conditions that would have made him a puppet he did not hold that against her or judge her too harshly. That he'd reserve to those who were truly interested in only destruction and causing misery.<br/><br/><strong>"I wonder about that. I have won, as close as it came, and I agree that the key must be used to make sure you are all safe and the task does not go unaccomplished, but do you truly believe she needs to be struck down? She is beaten, and though I'd preferred to avoid the conflict it happened but is she not a judge to my worth as well here? I have erred and wish to learn, to improve, and an eye for an eye and the world goes blind. No, I will strike her down if she rises to do battle once more, but if not, I believe we should proceed with getting ready for the portal and making sure none of the people here fall to the hands of either the diggers or the more hostile humans."</strong>He smiled to the Matriarch, before moving over to retrieve the key.<br/><br/><strong>"I may be a hopeless dreamer. I may be naive to think that it is possible. But I like to think that if she truly did not care one way or another, I'd have my throat slit a long time ago and the key gone. I'd believe she'd have stolen into the night with the other half of the key if that was her sole task. I failed to convince her before, and we had to battle over it, but I don't see her truly as a foe that must be ended in order for the story to reach its peaceful end."</strong>He spoke even as he moved to pick up the artefact, to hold it at ready, and look at the matriarch. Pending her words, he planned to see if he could activate it, and bring forth that which they had fought for.<br/><br/>Silently he found himself licking his lips though, still trembling with arousal, his own lusts having almost clouded his mind even once the fight was over. He was rather certain if not for the imminent danger he would have gladly sought to make Lunari, the Matriarch, Nilari, almost any of the ladies he'd come to know and appreciate raise their voice to the choir of gasps and moans this night felt it had become, but truly the time was of the essence if guardians had come under attack already, and with such a large gathering pulling in primal power he figured the portal would be easier to make, and perhaps that indeed was part of the whole reason for it being so wild night in the first place. He'd have a lot of questions, and a lot of theories to wonder about, but right now, he needed to move onwards.<br/><br/>He'd much rather see the ground sprayed by musky scents than the coppery tang of blood.