Emerald Faye | Garroth Ro'meave

The Stranger ( Season 1 of MCD; Episode 94)

     " Laurence! Alex! Are you here? I need to speak with both of you."

     " Logically."

     " The conversation we are about to have stays strictly between the three of us, I'm sure you both know how big the armies of Scaleswind are, and with Zane involved... we have to assume he'll join in with Scaleswind as well, given his reputation."

     " He has something to do with this, I know he has something to do with this!"

      " He may have, Aphmau, but now is not the time to be pointing fingers. I understand we have an undying vengeance on him, but look at me, now is not the time to make rash decisions. Every decision we make from here on out will have consequences, consequences that will affect the life of our village, our people. We must refrain from accusing Zane until we can, without a doubt, prove he's behind all of this. If we accuse him in front of the lord of Scaleswind without any proof, that might be exactly what he wants."

     " It makes us look more guilty and desperate for someone else to pin the blame on, and thus make Zane look more innocent in his eyes."

     " Exactly, the Lord of Scaleswind already sees us as an enemy, adding more salt to the wound will only make him launch an attack on us sooner."

     Aphmau thought about that reasoning for a moment." Is it- Laurence, Alex, Zane could've planned this from the start, there might be some trace of evidence that we could use against him!"

     " It's possible, though, right now we need to focus on how to diffuse the situation while we're looking for Nichole, and come to an agreement on where to hide the amulet... it makes me wonder, how did Zane know about Nichole?"

     " Katelyn... Katelyn! Yes, Katelyn! She's the only one that's here! She's- She's on the Jury of Nine! She's the only one who could've told Zane about this!"

     Laurence and Alex exchanged a glance." With all due respect Lord Aphmau, there is no possible way Katelyn could've done that, she hasn't left her boat, nor any activity has been seen from around her boat. I have all the guards taking shift on watching over her, like I said before, I do not trust that woman, and I had a rightful cause. No, it must've been someone else, if not her."

     " I mean... okay, Katelyn is the obvious choice but-" The lord sighed." I don't know... who can we trust?"

     " Aphmau, right now we can only trust ourselves, the location of the amulet needs to stay strictly between the three of us, this entire conversation stays between the three of us. Until we know who has leaked all the information to the Lord of Scaleswind and Zane, there is no one we can truly trust, do you agree?"

     " Laurence, I understand this might be an odd question to ask, but why do you trust me? As far as you know I popped out of some portal leading Irene knows where, when you weren't even here."

     " Your story checks out, you appeared here with an entire group of elves and folk like that, as well as odd other-worldly powers, and I don't believe you'd have anything less than our villages best interests at heart when you put up that barrier when the Lord of Scaleswind and Zane were at our gates."

     The two turned to Aphmau to hear her response.

     "... Yes, and I completely understand why it has to be this way."

     " It hurts my heart then it has to be this way, as everyone in the village I have come to love and cherish, but we need to reevaluate who our true friends are, which brings me to Nichole. Why didn't she tell us about her being the daughter of Scaleswind? I mean, that's not something you just hide from the people you claim to care about, she was so helpful with the village, building, guarding, this just doesn't make any sense. Plus there's the very fact that she was supposed to marry Garroth! Did she know who Garroth was only to watch him from the shadows? There are so many questions I have. But the one I fear is... did Zane take Nichole?"

     " If he took her, then he could just hold her until... until Scaleswind attacks us! But... Katelyn's the only one that's here that could possibly do something with Zane, we've seen what's going on! I saw Nichole at the baby shower the other day! It's-"

     " No, it had to be someone else, it must have, that's the only thing I can think of Logically."

     "...There's so many weird things I've been seeing around here but... Laurence, something that really stuck out to me, and I'm not supposed to tell you about this, because he told me not to, but Laurence, Alex... there was a man around Malachi and Levins treehouse that had attacked me."

     " You mean the day I saw you coming from the treehouse!? Aphmau! How could you not tell me this! Did he touch you!? What did he do!? When I get my hands on him I'll pay!"

     " Laurence, he didn't do anything, he-... he actually tried to help me."

     " I don't like it when other men put their hands on you, if he wanted to warn you he had a funny way of showing it. Lord Aphmau, I demand you take me to him, this man might be the one who just put Phoenix Drop in danger."

     " Alright, let's go, Laurence, I know exactly where he is... Alex, are you coming?"

     " No, I have something else to take care of... I have my own suspicions of someone here in town... I don't exactly feel comfortable explaining how I started becoming suspicious of them, but I've recently been going in and out of my dimension to keep an eye on them without them knowing... although it does sound really weird when I say it out loud."

     " I trust you, just make sure you tell us if they give any information on what happened to Nichole."

     " Of course, I'll see you tomorrow!"

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     " People of Phoenix Drop and of the Emerald Faye! I, Lord Aphmau, stand before you to disclose incredibly important information about recent events. I'm sure you've all heard the rumor by now that Phoenix Drop has been threatened by the Lord of Scaleswind. This is true, we are at danger of facing war if we do not deliver Nichole to the Lord of Scaleswind within the next five days. Nichole has been missing since yesterday and none of our guard was able to find her last night. I'm asking all of you to band together to find her, she has to be handed over to the Lord of Scaleswind, I hate to force Nichole to do such a thing, but for our safety, it has become a necessity. I ask all of you to stay inside of the gates until Nichole has been safely delivered to her father, I cannot risk any more of our people disappearing, be on your guard while outside, that is all I have to say for now, thank you, everyone."

A/N: And there we have chapter six, I was debating on whether or not to talk about Alex's sneaking about, but eventually decided to keep it a secret, so everyone will just have to wait until I eventually explain it in full one chapter... or rather, Alex will explain it in full... and not me Alex ( my preferred name causes even me confusion at times). As always I hope someone at least somewhat enjoyed this chapter, please comment if you feel like it, any to all comments make my day, and have a good day!