Everlong

The Angel

"You all ready for this?" the Kenku squawked at the others as they neared the entrance into the Bulltroll's cavern den. They had traveled for some time through the night into the mountain, the plan being to ambush the Bulltroll when it made it's way back to it's den when dawn came around. Olly had been the one to suggest it, but it was Peren who voiced it when everyone came to decide on the plan of action. Now they stood in front of the actual den, the stinking smell coming from the dark hole of the cavern where no doubt guts, animal hides, and bones lay for them to find. Olly knew Trolls loved to sleep in their own stink and filth, part of their territorial markings around the area, and it was apparent this one was aggressive by how bad the stink was.

"We should have a quick rest, dawn will be here soon" Peren ordered as they settled for a moment, everyone checking their gear or taking a sip of potion to restore some stamina no doubt needed for the fight ahead. Olly looked over at Ed, him being the only other human in the group and noticed how much the Cleric actually smiled and laughed, joking around with Jeet and Curio as they passed around a quick bottle of what Olly could only guess was some cocktail of magic.

This whole time through the cavern at least one of them had complained about the job, Enki about the cavern itself, being a bird even though he couldn't fly, Curio and Jeet about the terrain, and of course Peren complained about the others, all griped except for Ed. He seemed to take everything so easily, his nonchalance manner pleasant compared to the constant cries from everyone else. If only they had known some of the harshest winters she had gone through in her training. It was refreshing though with the Cleric, and she wished she could speak to him plainly as the others did, but Peren would probably not like it....

"You know it was lucky we ran into them" Olly chirped at Peren who was looking through a list of spells he could try using his magic "We can always use the help, and it's nice that they don't want any of the coin like you were worried about."

""We'll see if they are as good as they say" Peren said disinterested "So far, I'm unimpressed. Also I was not worried, if they had tried to intervene, I would have handled it."

"Even though they are your friends?" Olly said getting annoyed "Even though they are obviously kind?"

"Yes" he said directly looking into her eyes "Friends are a nice term for easily disposable. You have to learn these things if you want to get anywhere in this world. I'm not going to become one of the greatest Xiolescent elves if I let others drag me to their level."

From over on the other side, Ed had also noticed Olly glancing over at him, his interest peaking when she hadn't said a word the entire time they had been traveling. Every time he had tried to come up to the girl, he always found himself deflected by the elf, or always falling behind as she was clearly better at scaling this terrain than they were. Ed was used to helping in villages and towns, but relished the challenge of scaling cavern walls and underground dungeons.

But not being able to converse openly with everyone didn't sit right with Edric. It wasn't like Ed not to be able to talk to people, but with the high elf guarding the girl so closely it almost seemed obsessive, he couldn't help but be curious about the odd pair.

"Hey, so what's the deal with them?" he had said nodding at the couple on the other side of the cavern, trying to be as sly as he could "They're together right?"

"Yes" Enki nodded "They are always together.Those two are what I guess elves call bonded. Olly doesn't go anywhere without Peren."

"But you've seen Peren without Olly?Like he goes and does his own thing a lot?" Ed asked turning his head curious, trying to figure out the dynamics of the two. Peren seemed to watch the girl carefully when she wasn't looking at him, his eyes scrutinizing and cold to Ed, but maybe that was just how elves were....