The party travels to Silvertree...hopefully

"Yeah...I wonder what people are doing so far up here. Helping explorers, hopefully; because I need a thicker jacket than this thin thing I've got on. It's not quite warm enough for the second half of our trip. I'm not as immune to the cold as you, Maya. Plus, we need food and rest. I'm pretty drained after what we got through earlier." Marcus started to slowly walk towards the front door with his hands in his pocket; Sofa walking slightly in front of him. "You wanna catch up with us, zan?"

Sofa slid his claw into the handle and opened the door, revealing the traditional entryway that led to the rest of the building.



Marcus walked in and felt the warmth from the fire give life back to his extremities. He rubbed his hands together and stomped his feet on the door mat to shake the snow off.

As the group poured in, a rather tall individual; compared to them anyway, walked in from one of the hallways. He had a festive sweater, pants well built for the weather and fur slippers on. The man's face was dark and tanned, with a visible scar going across his left cheek.

"Hey! Close that door, you're letting the heat out!"

Zandrophin entered the room and immediately assessed it. The decor was very old-fashioned, but a rustic look fit the wild area surrounding the structure. Zandrophin took some mental notes as he scanned the room...he could use a room like this in his building somewhere, perhaps. His tactical assessment was not looking too good.

Tight spaces...few routes out....we're basically trapped here, old friend...and I don't like it.

The man who owned the cabin did bring an inward smile; his choice of clothing, though functional, could've been made better. The room was indeed quite warm; Zandrophin removed his coat and slung it over his arm. He looked at the owner and bowed, saying,

"Nice place you have here, Sir. Apologies for not knocking first...I hope we've not intruded on anything."

Maya simply crouched by the fire place, warming her hands and feeling it bake her face and smelling the charring fragrant wood. It felt awesome with how numb her nose felt. She had stripped off her heavy coat and had it draped over her knees. She even pulled her hoodie off her head.

The man was intimidating, that wicked looking scar was rather hard to ignore. She spoke up anyway, keeping her eyes on the bright flames.

"Has anyone else ever come up here before?" She questioned, hesitantly. "Th-that went further up? An older woman perhaps?"

The man made a gruff snorting noise. "I can't remember everyone that comes up here. And they usually head back down. Sorry kid. But you didn't all come up here just to ask questions. I'm tired of askin. What do you want?"

Zandrophin was leaning up against a wall as he tried to recenter his mind. Zandrophin straightened up when the man returned to the lobby. Outlandish or not, this man was still his host. He mentioned their accommodations, and Marcus voiced his reaction:

"Wait, did you say room? As in...singular?"

When the man had gone, Zandrophin chuckled, his eyes closed while looking at the ground.

"What's the matter, Marcus? Never shared a room with the opposite gender?"

He paused for a bit...considering the other possibility for the boy's discomfort...and continued,

"Or is it that you're more upset with having to share a room with me? Either are valid reasons...I'm just curious."

Marcus rubbed the bridge of his nose and his eyebrows crumpled up as he visualized spending more time with zandrophin in an inclosed space. ugh...Why do these things happen to me? I don't...whatever; you know what, whatever. I'll just deal with it.

Marcus wasn't too accustomed to hanging out with girls, he had spend most of his time with Sofa and no one else. The only girl he was ever close to was his mother. There was that girl at Ignacia palace he danced with, but he was still on a high after winning the contest then. It wasn't that big of a deal walking and talking with Maya, but he'd be lying if he said it didn't feel at least a little awkward sleeping in the same room with her. So that paired with zandrophin's unbearable personality; that night was not going to be his most comfortable.

"Oh. That reminds me. Sofa, take a few laps. Otherwise, you'll never get to sleep tonight." Sofa nodded knowingly and started for the door. "And make it quick! Our host is coming back with our food soon." With that, the door opened and closed with a small gust of cold from the outside that sent a shiver up Marcus' spine. He looked back to the group and realized he never addressed zan's question or what Maya had said.

He scratched his head for a second while looking at the ground, trying to figure out what to say and how to word it without lying, "Uhhhm...yeah, no; I don't have a problem with getting to sleep. I've had plenty of practice with that. I've trained with Sofa to tune out even the most annoying noises while napping." Marcus looked to zandrophin at that last sentence to try and get his point across, and maintained his stare for the next sentence. "But unlike Sofa, I've trained myself to still hear everything while I'm sleeping." Marcus then relaxed and went to join Maya by the fireplace, "I needed to so we wouldn't get attacked while snoozing in the woods. He wasn't really any help with that until I woke him up."

Zandrophin returned Marcus' glare...he did not like being leered at...especially by some farm boy punk.

Mentus could sense the negative energy...and tried to intervene.

Let's all just try to have a plesant evening, Master Marcus...please? We're all tired and irritable..let's just get some rest and we can carry on tomorrow, yes?

Zandrophin rolled his eyes at this. As if that would ever happen...especially with this kid.

He couldn't help but notice Maya's tell-tale signs of distress at the current state of her hair. He reached behind his back and retrieved Squirt's Dive ball.

"If you'd like, Miss Maya...I can ask Squirt to help you with your hair...you seemed a bit distressed by it, and clean hair always made me feel better. Just say the word."

As he spoke...Zandrophin could not believe the words he was hearing himself speak. He barely even knew these people...

Still...he'd made the offer...he'd have to keep his word.