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Her eyes carry a certain ageless depth that may be hard for humans to comfortably comprehend, such is the necessity of the overly emotional female. "I'm not in need of milk," she says with a playful smile over her lips, "but I did hear something about a map." Perhaps old Phineas wasn't lying when he told his stories. Should Dotta allow, the young woman politely ducks her head in a silent greeting and makes to pass by the potentially stunned aunt. If luck favors her and she manages to find her way into the humble abode, she aims to walk straight to the table with the paper in question on display.

While her clothes are muted in tone, her weaponry is intentionally obvious. A dagger dresses her left hip, a small axe the right. She looks carefully at the natural landmarks and the lack of grid pattern. It is, indeed, the one she gave him all those years ago. "Congratulations, gentlemen," she sounds almost flirty as she addresses them, but not quite. At the same time a strange frustration seems to linger beneath the surface. "You stole a stolen map. What do you plan to do next? Steal the stolen treasure?"

Glenn was momentarily tongue-tied. He had never seen an elf before and to have one walk right into their kitchen.. well, it was like something straight out of old Phineas' stories! He was so infatuated with the exotic look of her that he almost didn't hear what she said, so his response was slightly delayed. "I didn't steal ... the stuff didn't have no owner any more... so that's not stealing," he tried to make it a statement, but it sounded as he was trying to justify it.

"And what do you know 'bout the treasure?" he could hardly contain his excitement as he glanced quickly at Dotta, then Grain, then back to Zamora. "It's really real, huh?"

Grain leaned back in his chair looking over the new comer.
Shooting Glenn a look,”It didn’t take long for the adventure to begin I guess!”

Grain looks to Dotta to see if the stranger had offended her upon the entrance.

Still looking to Dotta he questions the elf,” It is true, the owner had passed and it was up for grabs. So how did we still the map?It belongs to Glenn he claimed it.”

The elf finishes her assessment of the map and looks up at the two gentleman and the other woman present. A sweet, gentle smile caresses her lips "So if I want this map back I have to kill you, Glenn?" Her head has to tilt back for her vibrant green eyes to meet his. She sounds playful and joking, but the weaponry on her hips make the threat seem real. Judging by the wear of her buckles and sheaths, neither finely shaped bit of metal is there for show. Following her words is a long enough pause to allow Glenn to respond.

To Grain, she looks him over curiously, like he's an unsolved puzzle. "What do you get for being here, if the map is Glenn's?" She doesn't expect an answer now, but aims to see how the duo do with having their partnership challenged - if such a duo exists in the first place. "Yes, the map is real. I stole it from the owner, Phineas stole it from me. I never got to get a good look at it before he got his hands on it. Now that I have, I can go find treasure."

Glenn had trouble imagining such a delicate looking thing as this elf seriously injuring him, let alone killing him. So despite her weapons, he focused on her playful tone, letting himself believe she was flirting with him. His face turned slightly red and he smiled at her, then gave a long low whistle, "Must sure be some treasure if it's worth all that trouble."

Dotta, who was still standing at the door and behind the elf, did not like where this conversation was going one bit. She certainly took the threat seriously, even if Glenn did not. She cleared her throat and put on her stern voice. "Listen, girl. I don't know what the customs are where you come from, but here you don't just come into someone's house... uninvited, I might add, and start making threats and accusations. If you believe the map is yours, then take it up with the magistrate and he'll decide." She gestured held a hand toward the still open door in a clear invitation for the elf to show herself out.

Grain sat up straight looking the elf over. Glenn had the map for less then a day and already the pair has ran into two incedents. This could be a challenge.
Grain listened as Dotta laid down the law.
“I’m not going to let you kill Glenn, and I don’t get anything.”
Grain watches the elves body movement. “And I’m not sure if you heard, the lady of the house said you where not invited.”Keeping a calm tone in his voice as he speaks, Grain tries to refrain from any hostilities in Dottas house.

"On my honor as an elf, I won't kill anyone," she declares in a solemn, serious vow. She bows her head respectfully towards Dotta and Grain, but winks and offers Glenn an openly flirtatious smile in an attempt to please all parties. "Forgive me for my rudeness." She reaches down her shirt with smooth, peacable motions, and pulls a few coins from a hidden pocket only inches from her collarbone. The silver is marked with Elven symbols and one of the kings of the woodland realms. Zamora sets the round bits of metal on the table and turns to exit the home.

Since no one seems inclined to stop her, she will likely make her way down to the river with no sense of urgency. The young woman crouches down, cups her hands, and takes several long drinks from the stream. If someone comes, she will speak. If not, and she is left to her own devices, she walks on her merry way to somewhere secluded far, far away from the house.

Glenn's brow creased as he stared at the door for long moments after the elven girl left, as if he could simply will her to come back.

When she did not, he picked up one of the coins and inspected it. His aunt was almost like a mother to him and he usually respected her wishes, but he felt a great deal of dismay that she had kicked out the elven girl. Now the elf knew where this map led and they did not and now she'd get the treasure before he and Grain even had a chance. It wasn't fair!

"You think maybe we could just help her find it... the treasure, I mean," he suggested to Grain, thinking that might salvage their chances a bit.

“Well she was able to read it, and that would make a deference.”Grain stood up to stretch. “Not sure thou,she seemed hostile,but it could be she’s alone.”
Grain walked to the door to look and see if the elf was in view,”it’s your map if you want to work something out with the elf I’m with you.” Grain rubs his head as if he was in thought.

Dotta's attitude toward the elven girl improved slightly with the silver coins. It was a generous gift by their humble standards, but still she warned. "Be careful, Glenn," she said, reading the look on his face well enough to know what he was thinking. She did not particularly want him to go traipsing after the elf, but he was no longer a child and had been growing restless this past year. Part of her was surprised he had stayed on to help her as long as he had. "It may be that she really does know something about the map, but do not let her pretty face rule your brain, you hear?"

He nodded, then smiled and wrapped his aunt in a quick hug, taking her statement as permission. "I won't," he said. "Let's find her," he said to Grain.

Grain moved towards Glenn “I’m ready.” He looks at Dotta ,”did you still wanna look at those books for us?”

Her sharp ears remain on the river and her immediate surroundings as she waits for one of them to follow. She felt confident that they would at first, but as the minutes snake away she seems to find the result less sure. The elf takes one final drink before straightening her knees from the low crouch. Her vibrant green eyes look in the doorway. Seeing no one there, she begins to head downstream at a leisurely pace. If someone calls out or jogs to her, they'll reach the woman with ease.

"I will look," Dotta said. After all, the books were as much a curiosity and treasure to her as the map was to the boys.

Glenn ducked out of the door and looked around for the elf. "Where'd she go?" he said aloud. "Is that her?" he said after a moment, pointing at a figure near the edge of the river and a good distance down stream.

"HEY!.. " he cupped his hand around his mouth to get her attention, then glanced at Grain as they started walking that general direction. "She didn't ever say what her name was, did she?"

“I don’t recall.” Grain looks towards the figure.” Take caution.”

As Grain follows Glenn he begins looking around wondering where the man from earlier had went. Then the thoughts of the halfway house cross his mind.
“After we find the elf,we should return to Dottas,we probably need to gather some supplies as well.” Grain pauses in thought,” Glenn do you have a weapon?”

Jez Holmes had been in town for a whole two weeks when old man Phineas had taken a sudden dive off the mortal coil. She had met him exactly once, where he told a tall tale about how he cheated a giant of his riches by convincing him that he could squeeze water from a stone. At least, she assumed it was a tall tale. The feat itself was believable - he claimed to have presented a wet sponge as a rock - but she had never heard of anyone meeting a giant.

When the entire town picked up and started dismantling his whole house for his belongings, she followed the crowd with only a little bit of shame, and that was how she heard tell of the map. She tried to mind her own business the whole time she was in town, but her wandering ears and eyes led her to overhearing Glenn and Grain discussing their discovery, even looking stealthily over their shoulders once as she passed. For the most part, she gave them a respectful distance, extracted a few interesting belongings from a drawer in Phineas's old desk, and left.

But Glenn and Grain had passed her on the road, and her curiosity was rekindled. After a minute's hesitation, she followed them down the path to Dotta's house, then picked a spot not too far from the trail to sit and wait. While she was inspecting a pair of silver earrings from Phineas's house (a token, perhaps, once belonging to a long-gone lover or wife), Zamora passed her walking away from the house. Elvish! she thought, rising and following after the wood elf. "Hey, wait up!" she urged, raising a hand and waving her down. She hoped her own elvish features would be enough to instill some trust in the stranger, and rightly suspected she knew something about the young men with their map. With a little civility and luck, she thought she might probe Zamora for information.

Upon hearing not their voices, but the tones of another, Zamora's feet slow, then stop. The elf turns to look upon the women with open curiosity. The creature's unfathomably deep gaze seems to sweep through Jez as if looking through her. In the meantime, Glenn and Grain have plenty of steps to cover to get to duo. "Name?" She hums with some interest, focusing on the ears for a fraction more than she had the rest of the lean figure. In the middle of her standing, she shakes her head and says to the men, "no supplies are needed. I have everything we'll need." She wears no pack and seems to have only the clothes on her back and weapons tucked on her belt.

"Come along. It'll be night soon enough and I'd like to put some miles on the road. We've spent too long talking." The dragoness in elf guise gives them no time to say farewells, change into more appropriate clothes, or even grab weapons. Should any of them follow her, she makes for a path in the forest that leads to the north. As they move, she'll enlighten anyone as to the origins of the treasure.

"An old copper dragon amassed riches beyond measure from looting a thousand worlds. Before her death, she scattered just a fraction, the tip of the iceberg, really, of her treasures on the world, along with the maps to find them - which she snuck into mortal libraries, abandoned stretches of forest, and even a pile of fresh horse dung, if the stories are to be believed." The elf rolls her eyes, as if finding the antics childish, or perhaps she doesn't believe that part of the tale. "Copper dragons are notoriously crafty and often create elaborate mazes in their spare time. Sometimes they put creatures inside."

The matter of a weapon really hadn't occurred to Glenn until Grain asked if he had one. "No... well, I guess there's Ms Dotta's axe that I use for chopping up her firewood. And I got this," he pulled out a knife from its sheath on his belt. "My father gave it to me 'fore I came to live my aunt," he said. "I keep it good and sharp." Of course, the most violent thing he'd ever done with it was slit the throat of a chicken that was headed to Dotta's stew pot, but he didn't mention that to Grain.

He replaced the knife as they approached the elf and the newcomer. He'd seen her earlier up at Phineas's house, but didn't know the woman's name. He looked about to say something, but the wood elf just acted like she'd been expecting them, like they were actually making her late and Glenn bit back the urge to apologize, trying to remember Dotta's warning not to be swayed by her beauty.

"Ok," he said instead, following along behind Zamora and listening with rapt attention about her tale of the dragon. "So this is one of them maps, then?" he asked, taking it out of his shirt pocket. "How far away is the treasure?"

Not losing pace,Grain keeps in step with Glenn. Not certain how they became a group suddenly,Grain stayed near Glenn just Incase this was a trap for the two elves to get Glenn’s map.
On the other hand Grain begins to think if the group was a group working together it could benefit them both. Neither would have to struggle with the reading of words or maps, and Grain could do as always reap. But only if....

Grain looks over the newest companion as the previous elf talks of dragons and treasure.
“I think the first elf said she had weapons or maybe we can find you one that fits along the way.”

"Jez Holmes," Jez said, shaking the hands of any of the traveling companions that would accept her offer. "So, if you don't mind me imposing...it's true about the map, then? Dragon's treasure?" One could see her eyes light up even under the shade of her cloak. "Bet it's enough to last anyone a thousand lifetimes. Or four people a couple hundred." When Grain referred to finding a weapon, she waved him off reassuringly and brushed aside her cloak long enough to reveal a long dagger hanging from her waist.

Though her demeanor remained unbreakingly cheery as she spoke, she was actually scanning the faces of each one of the travelers, trying to discern what she could of each one. The two young men both had to be about her age, and they both looked powerful enough to best her in a fistfight, although one was shorter than she was. The thought made her slightly uncomfortable; she ended up being taller than many adult men due to her mountain elf heritage (something she hoped wouldn't generate insecurity in Glenn). And she absolutely dwarfed the elven girl.

The elven girl who seemed to know so much about that treasure map. Never in a million years would Jez pin down exactly what, but something was odd about Zamora, no doubt about it. Her beaming smile broke for the extra moment her eyes lingered on the wood elf's face, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion before the grin came back with slightly less gusto.