<div class="floatright">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/c/c4/NLMayor.jpg)</div>Hupe nodded and glanced at the rest of the room, pretty certain that room and board would be doable, but when he turned his head back, there was Lena and that shock and fright that went across his face and body were obvious to a blind man.  The soft words hit him like a sap and his eyes went wide, only to look like saucers when she kissed him on the cheek.  It was a whiplash of emotions even he wasn't expecting.  "You'll be paid well, don't you worry," he replied with shake-voice, a step taken away from Lena as soon as he was able.  The relief in his eyes when Varanos spoke with, to him, more reasonable tones was clear.  "Only four missing, plus Talia's friends," he started, "Anything done in the forest is a crime in her eyes," he continued, giving the first of the new round of facts that, judging by his expression, was about to be an unloading of information.<br/><br/>"She is older than anything I've known.  The stories she told us were about the time before the Second Catastrophe," his words flowed, the room growing silent and the stares of disbelief coming from even his own people.  "She's a nymph and a powerful druid and the Solitudes there are the descendants of the people she decided to protect when that all happened.  Like my family."  One of the men of the town made a move for Hupe, only to be restrained by another.  Hupe turned and addressed the man next.  "She would always take a person or two who went too deep into the forest to..." he paused, knowing his next words were going to get him hit.  "Let's just say I left because I didn't like constantly being compared to cattle."<br/><br/><div class="floatleft">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/d/db/NLTaliaElf.png)</div>If he had expected the swing to come from the man, he had misjudged it entirely, as it was Talia's fist that caught him square in the jaw, dropping him to his knees in almost ragdoll fashion, the light in his eyes dimming for a moment as he nearly slipped into unconsciousness.  "Are you telling me that my wife is..." she yelled at him, the veins in her neck throbbing with anger as tear gathered in the corner of her eyes, unable to finish the sentence.  "If you knew this, why did you build this town so close to..." she paused, her face turning white and her mouth clamping shut.  Kicking him with the side of her boot, she turned and walked to the door, pausing at the entrance to spit at him, "You had better hope I find her," she added, hand aching to draw her bow but instead walking outside after giving looks to her new companions.<br/><br/>The reaction from the townpeople wasn't too different, although most still seemed a bit confused as to the realization that Talia had come to.  Hupe tried to rise unless someone stopped him, speaking regardless, "I know what it looks like.  But something has changed," he tried to reason with everyone, his eyes dancing to anyone who looked like they might launch the next physical or verbal assault on him.  "Like I said, it was always just one at a time, only for a day or two.  Its not her way to do it like this.  It draws too much attention and..." he paused, looking at the door and then Lena, "Risks exactly this."