[Amanaduial the archer]

Atharen quickly covered the anger that had darted momentarily onto his face, berating himself for his foolishness. He jests, you fool, he doesn't mean any real harm...

"As are you, of course, Roryn," he replied quickly.

"Of course," came the equally speedy reply followed by a chuckle. Atharen shot a look across at Idruil to see what the man thought of the conversation, and saw the ex-soldier was smiling very slightly.

"Ah, I could tell a few stories about Roryn, certainly..." Atharen started, trailing away as he shot a smile at the other ranger who put on an exaggeratedly mortified expression, then wagged a finger at Atharen.

"Ah, now theres an area where you can beat me - keeps himself to himself, Atharen, ever a mystery man...but hey, if you want rumours!" All three men laughed and Atharen saw Crystal smile out of the corner of his eye. But what Roryn said was true - the ranger usually did keep himself to himself, and he hadn't been able to talk as easily for months, having been mainly on his own. Strange, it was, but not a bad thing, as his heart felt suddenly light, despite the seriousness of their expedition...