<strong>Eshalu - Commandant Vin's office</strong><br/><br/>Eshalu was perplexed at Vin's suggestion that it was not her ancestors who had first peopled the island. Such a disconnect in history, or an inability to understand the spirits of the place, seemed unthinkable.<em>Why live here,</em>she thought,<em>without knowing the land and knowing why it hates?</em>Perhaps angry spirits needed appeasing. Perhaps something terrible had happened in ages past that had left its rent in the warp and weave of the place.<br/><br/>"I do not scorn your assistance," Eshalu told Vin - ingratitude for a host was unacceptable, "and I welcome it, but know that I do not give and take in the manner to which your are accustomed. If I am to accept your generosity, it will be because I need, not because I wish for it."<br/><br/>The island's history still left a yawning gap and that no-one seemed to know anything was disturbing. The mountain elf Reliyian, though, spoke with some understanding and Eshalu was grateful that she now had two companions in this journey who had seen enough of the painted words to have an understanding of what they were to face. Learning, though, was no substitute for experience.