<strong>Eshalu - in the Saurian settlement</strong><br/><br/>Reliyian's efforts to connect directly with the lumbering Saurian alpha were strange to Eshalu. There was already such a vast gap between humans and elves that she often worried that it could never be fully bridged. That gap must have been a chasm separating the soft-skinned races and the Cold Ones. Still, outside of the dwelling in which they had been received, the semi-arboreal life of the Saurians seemed strangely familiar. The young ones, small like darting geckos, moved with a juvenile mix of curiosity and impudence tempered with fear of the unknown. When traders from distant lands sometimes came close enough to her Caern to attempt trade, Eshalu remembered scampering in the canopy branches, watching and waiting, wondering whether the time would be right for trade or for a hail of arrows.<br/><br/>She took a moment to memorise the visual detail of the site, examining the movement of the Saurian young and the manner in which they seemed to weave in and out of the foliage, the abodes which appeared to house them seemingly merging seamlessly with the forest canopy. Through the green, she could see slivers of sunlight.<em>Strange for an accursed island to be flooded with so much good light</em>, she mused.<br/><br/>Turning to Aeryn and Reliyian, she was unsurprised by the amount of attention to detail they were devoting to their observations. It was their calling to know the way of things. "The Cold Ones are calm, now," she observed, "they seem to have lost their thirst for blood. Was it our blades that blunted it, or are they fearful without their Alpha? In my lands, the<em>shārmsejn</em>- the four-footed scaled creatures which are neither serpent nor leopard - will never attack unless their Alpha is present, even if their territory is invaded. "