Jruem sipped at an ale as he waited for the Human to arrive. The man was precisely ten minutes late, which was about twenty too late for Jruem. Normally he was laid back, but recent events had set him on edge. The bandits were assaulting Every which traveler. A door opened and a man walked in, scimitar at his side, dark skin showing through the cloth he wrapped around his face. Of course this was no unusual thing, many travelers wore such a garment to shade their head from the harsh desert sun. Jruem himself wore one, which was pulled back at the moment. The scimitar was more for show than anything, he was sure.

The man found him and waved him over. Jruem complied after a few seconds to finish his drink. He picked up his quarterstaff and held it to his back, following the man. As they walked towards the gate, the desert merchant sighed. “Too bad it's only one man. I guess it's better than nothing, I guess.” The man had a heavy accent, more so than the commoners around here. He shrugged it off and continued walking.

“I take you to the pass, and that's it. No further.” Jruem said wearily. He wanted out of this desert as quickly as possible. He wanted to visit the rest of the land. All of his life had been spent here in the desert, not too uncommon for a gold. His green eyes shone bright as ever.

The man eyed Jruem's staff and smiled. “A quiet man with a stick. Wonderful. I'm beginning to make a mistake.” He joked. Jruem shrugged and looked the man over. “I can leave if you would only ask me to.” He said simply in his deep voice. The man merely walked along quietly. They passed a board in the center of the town, with several notices and wanted posters plastered on, one over another. It had formed a rather thick coating over the original board, as if nobody cared enough to tidy it up or take the posters down. One in particular caught his eye, one of a dark man with a nasty scar on his lower lip, reaching from his jaw to his lip.

“We're almost there. Give me a minute to alert my fellow merchants.” Jruem noticed the accent again, although it seemed more like a speech impediment more than anything. He grinned to himself and sat down on a barrel as the man went into his caravan.

Looks like trouble.

Ornell had really taken a liking to this city. She smiled to herself as she walked through crowd and two children ran past chasing a ball. She shook her head slightly as she laughed softly at their antics, her blood red eyes sparkling under the light gray cloth she had wrapped about her head and across her shoulders. It didn't cover her face at the moment. The dust wasn't bad enough to warrant that, though some people seemed to disagree. She was almost bumped into by a man who seemed in a little bit of a hurry, his face covered. When she looked to see what sort of hurry he was in she saw that his destination was a caravan. Camels, no wonder he had his face covered. There was something about him though... something she didn't like.

She went back on her way though, not finding an immediate reason to justify questioning the man, let alone stopping him. She came upon a large board with many weather worn scraps of paper on it. Wanted posters, advertisements for shops and caravans looking for guards. She slowed to a stop to look over it, taking mental notes of new things and taking a moment to notice the ones that didn't need to be there. She sighed and reached up to pull a notice off the board, then another. "These caravans left last week. Don't they ever remove things once they have been filled?" she asked herself with a sigh. Doing so on purpose so people knew why she had removed them.

She walked around to the other side of the board when she noticed a figure sitting not far away. There was a familiar air to the stranger, something she recognized but could not name. She couldn't see his face, but there was something. She paused, then abandoned to board, the advertisements for past caravans still in hand. "Excuse me." She said politely. "Have we met?"

Jruem looked at the new face, green eyes shining through the hair over them. He liked draconian eyes better than elven or human, and found it necessary to imitate a green rather than a gold. Better for them to be misled if they found out his secret.

"I don't believe so. Allow me." He stood and pulled back the cowl and cloth he wore, sandy-white hair spilling out to his earlobes. It was smooth and straight, as he could not stand being unappealing to the eyes. He bowed low and smiled as he came up. "My name is Jruem, a commoner of the sands." He grinned at the woman. "I intend to leave soon enough, but i think i need a good bounty to line my pockets with before i set off. Care to join me? i'm sure there's enough." He indicated a poster she had torn away, which had the dark man's face on it. He seized one and rolled it up, stuffing it in his pocket for later.

"Who might you be?" He asked with a hint of respect. This one ws more than a pretty girl, that much he could tell by the look in her eyes. they seemed to have lost the innocence of youth.

The man returned o him, looking at the girl interestedly. He spoke up with his... impediment noticed earlier. "We are ready to leave now. Will she be accompanying us?" He asked, eyes snapping to her face from her pockets.

Ornell nodded, inclining her body a bit. It was as much of a bow as one would get out of her and she hadn't the skirts to do a proper curtsy. She did return the smile. "I'm not in big need of coin, but you can count me in. I'm Ornell." She was about to say more when the man she had passed earlier approached them. She fell silent as he spoke. She saw him look to where her pockets were, but they were empty. She didn't have her things with her because Vallen didn't like her to walk around with her things down town. Instead he had taken them himself. All that was anywhere near there was the handles of her two blades.

"I was waiting for a friend to show, but if there is no objection to me coming along I might as well. I'm sure my friend can catch up if need be." She said in an almost carefree tone, adding a shrug at the end.

Vallen was watching her and had decided to walk toward her when she stopped to talk to a stranger only to be approached by yet another stranger. Worried that there was more going on then met the eye, he rose to his feet and started across the street toward them. He looked a little out of place with his dress. It was finely made clothing in light colors but not intended for harsher traveling and with the addition of the satchel he looked just like a scholar. As he approached he herd Ornell say, "Oh, there he is! I found you something to do outside of the library for a while!" She said, waving him over. He rose an eyebrow and came over anyways. Something was up.

Jruem grinned as the man walked back to the caravan. He got up to the front of the huge wagon, whipping the team of camels. Jruem groaned and got up, going to get on the huge covered wagon. One of the merchants inside it spoke up. "Ah ah ah. No guards inside. You walk." Jruem stepped off with a shrug. He stepped back to Ornell's side and leaned over as the caravan began moving, biggest wagon leading, smaller ones following behind.

Jruem glanced at each of the three other wagons, looking to see what was inside. “Six total. Four driving, two in the big one. The rest is cargo.” He began walking, looking around the desert periodically. He kept a close eye on the men, however. They were not to be trusted. He couldn't let himself drift from his current task. He considered turning this very moment, taking the wagons by surprise. But such destruction would be looked into, and Jruem wanted to keep a low profile.

“So where do you come from?” He asked Ornell, saying it with a light accent. “It's a bit obvious you aren't from around here, especially with that friend of yours. Seems to be a steely man, if you know what I mean.” He grinned. His nose, even with it's smaller, toned down form, could pick up the serpentine and avian smell about the man, a draconian smell. He grinned. Seeing as the woman kept such company, he did not believe she would be completely untrustworthy with his secret. Besides, it could serve as an interesting topic for their wait on the bandits to move in.

Vallen caught up with Ornell while Jruem was attempting to climb inside one of the wagons. He knew a dragon for a dragon. Part of that was being one himself. Also, he had met enough in human guise to know it, but he wanted to make sure Ornell knew. "You do know he's a dragon, right?" The look of surprise in her eyes, though not on her features proved that she hadn't. He smiled and took a moment to fall back and get out a book. She knew he was there to back her up as needed. How things played out in the end though, that would be the interesting bit.

Ornell, and Vallen by default, were off to the right of the wagons, about midway and up wind. They didn't want sand in their faces and while Vallen had shed his coat, draping it over his bag though he could have placed it inside, he didn't have one of the head wraps. He found them annoying. Ornell though had wrapped hers about her face as she walked. Why these people traveled with wagons, she didn't have a clue. Any sensible person would have packed it all aboard proper beasts. Dragging a wagon through sand was darn right foolish. She could out walk them at the pace they set.

"I'm from another place entirely, a different plane originally, though the weather here is lovely. My home isn't far. It's actually out here in the desert. A lovely place. You're welcome to visit, but it's a bit of a climb, or a flight. Vallen is from the mountains originally, though he does love the city life a bit more. It gets too hot for him about midday though, I think it's from not being the fire type." She glanced over to the wagons, still finding the planning that went into these men's trip worse and worse by the moment. "What about you? Did you travel far to find yourself here, among these who wish to call themselves men?"

Jruem laughed to himself as he strode next to the two. He had seen Vallen speak to Ornell, no doubt telling her. He grinned. She began speaking, dropping hints that she didn't seem to try to hide, as if she didn't care how they came out. Such as a short flight, or talking about Valen. He grinned and looked to the sun. The thing did not hurt his eyes as much as it did the men and elves with weaker sight. After all, he was one based for light and fire, and the desert was perfect. Except for the night. Night in the desert could quite quickly become quite cold. Of course, by nightfall, Jruem was already inside, taking shelter. He could not see anything in the dark, only blurred outlines, and even those were poor.

Jruem grinned. "I guess i'm found out." He poked a tongue out at the woman. "No, I was born in the sands, in a cave tucked away in the middle of the Istan Desert. I walk among this so-called civilization and try to fit in as much as i can, so i don't have any more men to be bothered with. Adventurers are amazingly pesky." He chuckled, keeping a watchful eye on the bandits. They were approaching a suspicious-looking cairn, which was not too far off. The bandits he could see easily were on edge, shfting in their seats.

"I've promised myself to learn to fight in this weaker form, as i find it unfair to fight as a dragon, unless the situation becomes that of life and death. I'm becoming fair with a blade, and am still quite new to the staff. Thus i carry it with me more often." He indicated the quarterstaff he used as a walking stick.

"The cairn ahead. Be ready." He whispered to the two and looked at the ringleader, the man with the impediment. "Everything's fine back here." He smiled reassuringly. The man smiled, the most comfortable of the lot. "You keep your eyes opened anyhow." The man said through his wrap. Jruem nodded. The caravan approached the cairn slowly.

Ornell grinned at the dragon in the form of a man. His idea was well thought out. To take the thing you are weakest with and always practice with it will make you a very powerful being indeed. After all, you are only as powerful as your weakest point. She herself knew that all too well. That was why she had taken so much effort to learn about storms. With her element of fire, rain could really put a damper on things, quite literally. If she was able to harness that though, her weakness would become a strength.

She nodded to him before answering. "It's a very wise thing to do." She agreed. Then she looked at where they were heading. Why were they so worried? What was there to worry about? It wasn't like she couldn't handle things and with Valen's help they had taken on plenty. She may be weaker now, not being the Avatar of the Goddess of Flame anymore, but she still had what she had learned. That was more then enough for anything that would show up out here short of an army.

There wouldn't be an army out here though, in this heat. They would take shelter if they were smart and sleep through the day. Ornell let her gaze shift around to the other wagons. She honestly hoped that they were not really planing on doing anything with all the stuff in the wagons.

Jruem nodded at her words. At least she understood. The only other ones who knew simply asked why he would go around at a tenth of his strength. But they did not understand the constant risk of being a dragon. All things considered, Ornell was not a dragon, so she couldn't understand fully, but she had her dragon friend who certainly did. Jruem liked this one.

The Caravan approached the cairn slowly, but surely. There was no mistaking it, that was their destination. Jruem watched the members of the gang look at each other, tensing up. The ones that guided the camels pulling the wagons began pulling them into the cairn, forming a sort of semicircle.

The bandits jumped out from their wagons and closed off the small circle, with Jruem, Ornell, and Vallen in the center. Jruem seized his quarterstaff, sun-bleached wood white under his golden-tinted hands. He reached up and pulled back his hood, hair spilling out. He smiled at Ornell and nodded.

He was ready.

The leader of the bandits climbed down from his perch and approached them, pulling his own wrap away. Sure enough, a white, ropy scar contrasted the man's weather-darkened face. He was older than Jruem had origionally thought, even with the sun-aging. Jruem nodded to him, prepared as he spoke, scar throwing his lip away from his jaw lightly. "Hand over all valuables, and we may leave you alive enough to crawl to town, dragon." Jruem's eyebrows shot up as he said dragon.

He looked to Ornell and nodded, as if to say whenever you're ready.

At first she just stood there for a moment, and then Ornell laughed at the man. She let her wrap settle down on her shoulders and shook her head. "That is the funniest thing I have ever heard, honestly. Like we would really come along with a hapless caravan like this with anything of value. I mean, who takes wagons into a desert? A proper caravan would all be packed up on the camels. Anyways, you would have to get to my place to find anything worthwhile and we aren't even close to there. Getting in is hard enough, but it's the getting back out that that wouldn't work." She looked over at Valen and added. "Isn't that right?"

"I suppose so." Valen said, glancing up from the book he had been reading. "Let me know if you need a hand Ornell." He said and sat down cross legged in the middle of their circle, as if he didn't have anything what so ever to worry about. If someone could notice his eyes through his hair though, they would see that he was watching the members of this caravan and not even reading the book, though he was now turning the page.

She took a few steps forward and placed her hands behind her back. "Besides, a friend of mine has been looking for you sir. Perhaps it is you who should stand down before I decide to see how dry the wood of your dear wagons actually is." Behind her back, where Jruem could no doubt see and that any of the men behind her might see, fire surrounded her hands where she held them behind her back.