He was glad that she allowed him to heal her, not wishing to continue having someone in pain if he was able to help them. That was part of just the way that he was, though it could get him into trouble at times. When she spoke up, his eyes moved to her. The same problem? She said they wished to heal when they saw pain, that it led to involving themselves in the affairs of others. He had been just thinking a similar thought, which nearly made him chuckle a bit at the words. He remained silent though, as she continued on. She called him and Father Simon kind, but that taking advantage and to be do nothing were worse than being dead. He frowned slightly, shaking his head a bit.

"Death is not a means to an end....even in situations where we feel powerless or trapped..." he looked up at the windows she had been looking at, "to feel powerless and unable to do something or help can feel like a prison at times, but if one were to simply give in to death.....then the situation and future could never be altered." He looked back at her, "you do not always have to be doing something to help others...sometimes it is alright to allow others to simply help you. The future is still there, and perhaps a chance to repay such kindness through kindness to others." He smiled, chuckling lightly, "forgive me...I should not be lecturing." He stood as the healing finished, "if anything, it is true that I have felt similarly....but your life is your own, no one can tell you what to do and who to be, no one has that right but you."

He turned to retrieve his broom once more, he should be getting back to chores, and he knew it. A slight sigh escaped from him, he felt similar in many senses. To have such troubles going on outside the world, to have been given so much here, and to be simply repaying by sweeping? It seemed to highly lack in comparison. But the Father never pushed him, he only asked such simple things, which is why he knew the other would agree a bit with his words. Though he might have had a better way of saying them in the end. He rested a hand on the broom for a moment, looking at the wood of the handle. Someday, he would be able to help him, to repay him.


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The other mocked his words a bit through his actions, causing him to smile slightly, nearly rolling his eyes. The other was such an odd man at times. He spoke, saying that his father had asked such a thing. As he listened to the words, he continued to keep his gaze on the other. He did not look away at the words, nor the slight meaning behind them of darker origins. The other telling him his opinion. He nodded slightly at them, so he would kill him if it meant protecting their kind? He continued though, to say that he saw the good in him, that he did not believe the first would apply. This made him smile a bit warmer, before his eyes turned to the trees. The good of his mother and his father... But one could never only have the good in life... He glanced at him as he spoke about the council, about balance and such.

Humans did not rule them..this was true. Such rebellions and refusal of staying underground was part of the reasons why Shadowmere had dared to claim a portion of the surface. It had also led to a bit more confrentation. When he asked about the elf again, he shook his head. "She does not know what I am" he says, "she could not classify me as fully a vampire or a nightmare or anything. And even if she does, it does little good for her. So she knows what I am? What will she do? Come after me and risk death....expose me to the humans with no proof?" He turned to continue walking, "her words would fall on deaf ears, humans would not pay her any mind in such things, unless to merely create an outlet for their own arrogance and stupidity."

He continued on, his steps slow and calm. "And if it came down to it..." he said, not really to the topic they had just been speaking of, "I would give my own life before I allowed even myself to harm my people...." He shrugged a bit, "a future where we do not have to hide or fear....where those who have done nothing to deserve such a sentance can choose their own path, not one that has been set out for them before knowing them." His eyes turned back to the other for a moment, "perhaps a foolish dream for a nightmare and vampire spawn hmm?" He chuckled lightly, "whatever the future holds, I will do what I can for the good of my people."

"Ah-ha..!" The elf let out a slight laugh, it was a result of aged experience with the world, but she was also smiling genuinely at his answer, "I do not often allow others to help me, I had to be self sufficient at an age far younger than is traditional for my people. Though I probably only looked maybe a year or two younger, at least if I were to put it into human perspective." She pondered on it a little, even the oldest living elves seemed no more than the mid-forties of a human. Death often occurred through battle, or sickness, the weakening of their natural constitution after Millenia. Death by age was practically unheard of.

She watched the young man get up and return to his sweeping, though she reached a hand up to her cheek and rubbed at what was once a sore spot, she could feel a slight numbness around it now. The rest of her felt almost similar, but the sensation of pain had gone. It allowed her to take in a long slow breath and sigh half-quietly, she pulled her legs up from the stone floor, crossing them on the wooden seat and resting her hands on her knees as she stared up at the stained glass again.

Her ears lifted a moment, then dropped gently, eyes beginning to close. She whispered to herself elvish words forming almost as if it were a naturally occurring thing. It was meditation, forcing her slowly into her subconscious where she resided. She treated it as being half awake, it allowed her to view her inner self and all the facets of her own mind, among which the fragmented memories of a new devourer now resided. What she needed to do now was focus and piece together the memories, she was sure she could find another clue as to the source of the nightmare plague if she could capture enough of these memories.

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Laneras smiled at Akio as he waved off the concerns about the Elf, so long as the prince wasn't too complacent about the Elf, then that was fine, but Laneras had to be a bit more cautious. He continued to smile, even as his charge stated his intentions, for the betterment of Shadowmere, to look after his people,
"Then you need not worry about my blade in your back." He stated simply, patting the weapon and then adjusting his cape slightly as he stared over at the village. It really was rare for him to not anticipate a life's course changing in the way it did. Whatever this elf was, she wasn't just a small thing to be waved off,
"So? What are your plans?" he asked briefly, but then the light of an idea came across his face before he smirked int hat same wry fashion at the other fellow, "Oh-ho! I see how it is, you've found your first potential concubine!" He teased, "You're finally becoming a man! I might even stop calling you boy, one of these days!" The man continued, sidling up to Akio and nudging him with a smirk,
"Let me guess, she's one of those pretty ones, with a nice smile? And she's an Elf! So she'll last as long as you want her, right? You know, I once heard their blood tastes like a fine wine if unspoiled and untainted. Of course, these are accounts from vampires who promptly died afterwards. Wouldn't you know it? Elves are rather handy with those bows and wooden arrows.. And I've yet to witness an angry Elf in my time. now that would be an interesting thing to see."

Justin moved his eyes to the female beside him as she answered. He had not expected her to agree whole heartedly with him right away, many people were used to being on their own. From her words, she confirmed just this. He continued to work on his sweeping a bit, though his mind was slightly spacing out from it now. He sighed slightly, used to being on his own in many ways as well, but it was also not all about him either. There were others involved within the world, who were influenced by his actions. He closed his eyes for a moment, frowning slightly. He slowly glanced at her, as she began to seem to slip into sleep, though he doubted she would do so right then. He decided on giving her a bit of peace, slipping silently away from the seats, towards the doors of the church.

Taking a breath, he opened them and slipped out to sweep off the front walk. Already, he obtained slight looks from a few people who passed by. He ignored it, and began working. They were not worth letting himself get all worked up over, not in the slightest. It was silent for a bit, although a scream soon broke the peace. Justin turned his head, to see a woman frantically rushing down the street. She hurried towards the church, collapsing upon the steps in tears. People began to gather, as Justin moved to her side, kneeling down to make sure she was not seriously hurt. She was mumbling, ranting on and on about something, but she seemed to out of breath and unable to be understood. He gently placed a hand over her's, trying to help her up and bring her inside as the Father came out.

The woman immediately made her way to him, saying that there had been an attack in the forest, that large beasts had ambushed her and her family on their daily commute. Justin frowned, his eyes turning towards the trees. This was not good, this would be the closest attact to the village. The Father helped the woman inside, the crowd already within an uproar. Justin glanced at the doors, then back at the trees. He could not merely sit by and do nothing. He frowned, moving off from the church.

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Akio sighed, knowing the other would not simply let something go. It mattered little to him though, weather she was something more or not, he was not someone or something to take lightly either. Not even this man who was trusted within his family knew all about him. He sighed a bit, his father would have been one to say that to show one's entire hand to even their best of friends was a foolish thing to do. Shaking his head, the other spoke up about the elf girl yet again. He did indeed seem to have a fasctination with her. He frowned as he caught to what the other was getting at. Being nudged, he shook his head. "You are a perverted man" he says, brushing him off, before chuckling a bit.

"You see a man and a woman, and you naturally must go to something sexual...we can not all be like you" he teased, before heading on. Standing there would do little for them, "I have no intention of having any such relations with that woman. I am also not the type to mearly choose a love upon the facts of looks or rumors alone....I will choose when I am ready, and have found someone who is right for me." His eyes turning to him again, "and when I do, it will indeed be for longer than some simple honeymoon phase. What about you....going to set your mind on one woman any time soon?" He smiled a bit, it was amusing. Such a topic would be considered bold by the court or the council. They would have been far from happy with the two of them talking so freely and openly about this sort of thing.

They would have tried to punish the other for daring to try and be so open with the prince of the kingdom. Akio was not so stern or stuck up. He did not mind the other's odd and random conversational topics. Then again, he doubted that the other would stop anyways. He was bold, and deffinetly an odd one. They were an odd pair as well, two different people, and yet two people who were fierce and loyal in their own ways. He paused though, as something caught his attention a little ways away. A frown formed, as he caught the unmistakable scent of blood within the air. Something was going on, and it was close.

It had almost come to her in that moment, seconds before the noises from the village made her ears perk slightly. One of the irritable failings of an elf's sharp ear was that it was difficult to drown out sounds. They were a self-controlled people, fairly quiet because of how open their hearing was, if they didn't conform to a strict etiquette, everyone would know what they were saying behind closed doors, or doing.. Of course in this case, she could hear everything clear as a cloudless sky.

The woman spoke to Justin of beasts attacking them, now while this may have been unrelated to what she was searching for, she still had to investigate. With a slight huff, the Elf stood up and half-turned at first to stare at the doors leading into the church. This was followed by quickly marching to the doors and slipping out into the open. Many of the villager spotted her, but she looked in the direction Justin had gone. She then looked at one of the burlier men, a hunter by the looks of him, a basic wooden bow and a quiver strapped to him. The elf grinned at him, dashed at the surprised man, she seemed to slip around him like a specter and ran after Justin,
"Yoink!" She cried, wooden bow in hand, quiver strapped to her back but she waved back to the confounded hunter,
"I'll be taking these! I'll bring the bow back! Promise!" She added the last part, turning as she ran a moment to place her hands together as if praying for forgiveness before she turned again and ran. The man shouted in protest for a moment, looking at himself and the loss of his equipment before his face simply turned red, perhaps not with anger so much as embarrassment, more so as others around him chuckled. The elf's antics had practically taken some of the wind out of the people gathered by the church.

She wanted to follow Justin most of all but she hadn't carried a single weapon in to the village, nor handled one around them, it certainly made people a little less nervous, but now she had to put some of her old training to use, if there were beasts, she at least wanted a weapon, and anyone knew that an Elf was good with a bow, it was among their traditions to learn it, along with swordplay, although her education had been a little different to most, she still felt the need to use and learn them, as if such things had always been a part of her understanding of life.

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Laneras practically bellowed with laughter for a moment at his young friend's response, he took it in good stride, that was good, though the older male just continued to chuckle like he were still just a young man himself, though he grinned a bit at the question that was presented to him,
"I did set my mind on one woman, a long time ago. Wouldn't you know it? She ended up being your mother." Laneras chuckled again but then sighed, resting his hands on his hips and shrugging, "After than, I don't know. I suppose it's my own fault. Never really gave it much thought. My own people are too severe and honestly what do I say to a nice lady when I first meet her? Well hello there, I feed on the souls of the dead and raise corpses of the fallen to fight in glorious battles so that they might honor the lost, would you like to dine with me?" He mockingly announced it as though he were indeed talking to a woman before him but then chuckled again,
"Such is life." The man turned his head in the direction his companion was staring, "Or the loss, thereof.. Curious.."

Monsters. Beasts. They were not to uncommon around these parts, people hunted for meat, the wild nature was full of animals and such. It was only natural. What drew the line to unnatural, was the presence of these more hostile attacks. The reason for this, was they were happening more and more frequently. Not only that, but Justin had come to notice, that the attacks seemed to be inching their way closer and closer to the village. Something about the thought of monsters storming the village unnerved him more than it should have possibly. The thought of people who would rather not see much of him being killed should not of bothered him as much as it did. Others in his position might have thought that way.

He however, found such thoughts possibly selfish and cold. Just because they did not fully like or approve of him, did not mean he was going to turn his back on them, merely let them die. No, he would try to stop this, try to help. Easier said than done in many cases though, such as dealing with unknown beasts lurking within the trees. He did not stop, finding himself within the woods before he realized it. Pausing only for a fraction, the dark feeling he got from here was unnerving. It was deffinetly stronger than normal. But why? Why would these woods, once so full of life and light, now be filling themselves with darkness. He frowned, glancing in the direction that noises came from. He found himself tensing for a moment, his feet feeling rooted to the spot. Though with effort, he managed to push himself slowly forward.

Step by step, until something upon a tree trunk caught his eye. He lightly placed his fingertips to it, the dark red liquid unmistakable. Blood. Lifting his eyes, his gaze soon found upon the source, which caused him to have to look away again. The mangled mess was hard to think of being once a person. It made his stomach do a slight shift. He closed his eyes, whispering a slight prayer, before another sound nearby made him pause. He did not open his eyes for a moment, it was not hard of a streatch to believe, that the one responsible for this mess, was still around.


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He was aware of the words, the comment about his mother was slightly unnerving. The other set on his mother? It was teetering on the line of to much information, but he knew the other meant it more in a jest. Possibly partly serious, Akio's eyes turning to him, as he continued. His words making Akio wonder if it slightly did bother the other. Love was not an easy thing. It was hard enough for pairings of darkness. Within their own kind, love could be a dangerous game as it was. Place one of darkness, with one of light, and things could possibly turn into a war. It made him think for a moment back on the female he had encountered earlier. However, he pushed the thought aside, as their eyes were on the same direction.

The other could sense it as well then? Not surprising, which made the thought of death being not far from them more of a reality. It did not take a man of darkness to be able to sense the unease and darkness now growing in the wood around them. "Seems you might get to see some life lost today after all" he commented to the other, thinking back to the reason he had been drawn towards here in the first place. Heading to it, could be both good and bad. Curiosity was there, as was the sad thought that something like this could bring amusement. At the same time, it raised the possibility of being spotted, or that others with weapons might approach the scene.

It was not a far leap from there, to think that if caught, they would no doubt be accused of being responsible in some way. Even when they had no hand in such a thing, it was not something that mattered to humans. They would be thought responsible or gone after for simply being what they were. Still, it was not like he and the other could not handle themselves, if something arose. They were not weak or helpless, humans did not stand a chance, even with their weapons. Even so, attacking and killing, would only serve to increase the tensions between their lands. It was indeed a balancing on the edge of a blade kind of situation.