"Where are they?" Prism worriedly glanced at the door for the tenth time.
      "Maybe they lost track of time?" Syiera shrugged.
      "I bet they got eaten." Blake told him.
      "Quiet you." Prism miffed.
      "Emeryl is almost my age. I'm sure he and the others are fine." Eric reassured him.
      "Ariana is twenty one, she knows better than to wander off." Syiera added.
      "But where are they?" Prism folded his hands on the table. Nervously he tapped his fingers against each other.
      The door of the inn creaked open. First Emeryl peeked in, then Ariana, and lastly Leiko.
      "Emeryl! It's about time!" Prism leapt up.
      "Sorry." He stepped into the room, green bundle in hand, "I hope you're not waiting up for us."
      "We are." Blake rubbed it in.
      "What's that you're holding?" Bentora pointed out the forest green bundle. Emeryl moved closer to them and unfolded it in front of Blake on the table.
      "That looks exactly like..." Blake peered down at himself.
      "Your clothes, I know. We went over to the sewing shop and bought some material." Emeryl answered, "Ariana and Leiko helped too."
      "I helped more." Leiko snuffed.
      "Where'd you get the money?" Bentora asked.
      "I just used that silver I found." He answered.
      "One silver can buy all this?" Blake looked it over.
      "Fabric is only a few copper, then the thread, and we borrowed the sewing machines they had." Ariana replied.
      "So what do you have to say to the greedy priest?" Prism nudged Blake.
      Analyzing the clothes closely, Blake sniggered, "Nice stitching."
      "I guess that's the best we'll get out of him." Bentora lay her cheek in the palm of her hand.
      "It's alright." Emeryl smiled.
      "Hey, Eric, are you feeling ok?" Syiera tilted her head his way.
      "Yeah, why?" he blinked at her.
      "We're almost there. You're going to have your brother back." Syiera told him.
      "Wow... I haven't been with Alan so long... I wonder how much he's changed." Eric reflected mainly to himself. So far he'd thought of it as a mission, it never seemed like the end would be so near.
      "You're almost there. We depart at Ephesus." She continued.
      "We're leaving? So soon?" Ariana whined.
      "We have a home to take care of." Syiera replied firmly.
      "Yeah, go home." Leiko interjected.
      "Syiera... when you all got out, what did you say happened to all of the drows?" Prism switched the subject.
      "Huh? They all followed us." She answered.
      "So now drows will be repopulating the world..." he pondered the idea, "It wouldn't bother me so much if I could figure out why they were in shambles."
      "They lost a war. What else is there to it?" Emeryl shrugged.
      "Hmmm... I don't know. But that doesn't explain why they couldn't reset their old government and live close to normal lives. You saw them, they were shoving and pushing and fighting everywhere." He thoughtfully reflected.
      "It was a matriarch." Blake plainly said. His voice had a tinge of anger in it.
      "Hm, what?" Prism gave him his attention, "Explain please."
      "It was a matriarch," he restated, "It was thought only women could cast spells. They controlled everything and when they lost the spells..."
      "Everything went to hell when the women couldn't stay in control... I see... And after being pushed into caves the parents didn't want to see their children outdo them..." Prism wondered, peering solemnly at Blake, "Why couldn't they get the spells back?"
      "They tried. My mother ordered my father to go back out and get her book. He refused. It happened everywhere, without anything to back up their threats they couldn't make them..." Blake mumbled, "I wish my father had gone back out..."
      "But then you wouldn't have been born." Prism flinched.
      With a shrug his only response was a light uttering.
      "There's still so many unanswered questions..." he wrapped his face in his hands. A hand touched his shoulder unexpectedly, which made him jump.
      "The beds are very inviting." Syiera grinned softly.
      With a smile as soft as rose petals Prism agreed.