Bleeding Heart 16 Group Dynamics

They entered Nix'Ryl on the evening of the third day of their trip. And Dawn found herself enjoying the easy camaraderie that was appearing between several people as well as laughing secretly over the slight bickering that would occur.

Just about everyone got along with Raven. This did not surprise her though. Whether it was because they pitied his lack of sight, or because he was an easy guy to like, or due to a respect for the quiet wisdom that he would show, no one could really find fault with him. There was only one person who it was quite obvious Raven did not like and would go out of his way to avoid. This was Vixen. Her flirtatious behavior seemed to make him freak out and he would often hide beside of Dawn to avoid her.

Vixen flirted with all the males, much to everyone's discomfort really. All the males except Lowks tended to avoid her. Lowks, having known her before seemed used to it and just ignored her and gave her ch.o.r.es to keep her busy. Pretty much everyone just let him and his sister handle her as they were the only ones who seemed to know exactly how to do so.

The oddest friends.h.i.+p that seemed to strike up was that of the twin knights and Fendrel. The young conjurer would ride beside the two brothers and talk with them easily. This was mostly odd because instead of the two Amrielians just ignoring the fact that the man had magic, which was what Amrielians tended to do when faced with a magic user from one of their allied countries, they seemed genuinely interested and asked all sorts of questions.

The other two arcane spellcasters seemed a bit shyer, well Gysen at least did. He would talk when talked to and try to be helpful but for the most part kept to himself. Aldresh was… eccentric. He would talk to himself, but seemed actually pretty excited about their little adventure. These two actually became rather close to the two rangers that were with them.

Brilma and Colton were fairly helpful to everyone though they were mostly in their own little bubble half the time. Everyone got along with the two priests she brought along. Miria and Askar were cousins, and for their age were very good at what they did.

And most of them, other than Raven, kept a polite distance away from her for varying reasons. Some of them it was because of her t.i.tle, while others it was her reputation of coldness. Dawn did not really mind this. Raven actually made a pretty good conversationalist and he was pretty comfortable in her company.

On the journey for those first three days, they slowly started to talk more and more as the time pa.s.sed. Dawn enjoyed talking with Raven. It always seemed to push her grief to the side, and it was nice to have that reprieve no matter how brief.

She was not sure exactly why it was so comforting to talk with the blind man, but it was. Whatever the reason it always seemed to be on the edge of her consciousness but she could just not manage to grasp hold of it.

And so, they talked often together. She found herself glad that she had found him back then and even gladder that she had decided to help him out. Ah, perhaps that was why it always made her calmer and at peace to talk with him, because helping him out was something Arrion would have done and so it made her feel closer to him just a bit. Like he had left something behind other than grief.

Anyway, as they entered into the wild lands there seemed little difference at first. The sky seemed the same as did the gra.s.s and trees. The biggest difference was that there was no sign of any people other than some old ruins from a time long ago.

They stopped when night fell and made their camp. And she noticed another difference, everyone seemed a lot more tense now then they had been.

It was the first time that Dawn had been in the place of her birth since Arrion had brought her away. She had never thought she would come back here.