A Jedi, a Wizard, and a viking walk into a bar...

[Dire Wolf]

(Yeah, its not exactly the best. I'll do better next time, though. Not good at starting threads anymore, broski. : /)

Lyssah scanned the horizon as she stood over the pilot's seat of the ship, using a hand on both seats infront of her to anchor her body to the speeding craft. Life seemed to have an almost labyrinthine plan, one that she had no choice but to follow. Just a few meager days after refusing Kvothe's offer to join the Mythics, trouble came to her. Lots of trouble. First it was an aloof blonde man who'd seemed to capture her intrigue... one that managed to take down an assassin droid that threw her like a rag doll. Then, of course, came that particular droid, which looked more like the girl who had been a regular at the little shop that she formerly worked at. Third, well, that came shortly thereafter. "Elia", or so she named herself. Reilara was a serious concern, even if she had no power to wield the Force. It didn't help things that she'd taken interest in one of Lys' only friends... which was probably why she took interest in him.

Trouble was why the woman joined the mythics, for it seemed that she had a penchant for it. Despite her power and former status as a Jedi High Councilwoman, she had bitten off more than she could chew in the last year than she could count on all of her digits. Much as she loathed to admit it, the a big part of the woman liked the trouble. Bones crunching underneath the ferocious power of her boot and the dull pain of a man's fist as she diverts it away from her give the woman a certain excitement. A war happened to be brewing on Aiaru, and without a reason that was hers, one fight was as good as any other.

It wasn't long before a small grouping of buildings poked up over the horizon, and a few seconds before the ship slowed to set down. The trio had been sent to the village to clear out the extreme bandit influence there, and hopefully sway more people to the mythic cause. "Maybe we'll get lucky and the bandits will have moved off," Lyssah said as she pushed away from the seats, "but I doubt it." With a sigh, and the slight shake of her head, Lys walked down the ramp as it lowered to the deck. Elia wasn't far behind her, those aphisteel hatchets at her back. "Don't deny it, sweet sister, you want to kill them as much as you want to kill me."

"You're wrong," Lys quipped back, "only half as much. I swear though, if you-" Elia interrupted, "I know, I know,'if I harm Kvothe, you'll find out how much I want you dead, Elia.' That constant bleating is getting old." "Only because its not getting any less truthful." The elder of the two didn't need to look back to know that there was a wicked grin on the younger's face. "You don't want to wake the dragon. Do you, Rhissai?" Lyssah couldn't help but laugh a little, "overdramatic quotes from ancient books aren't exactly threatening, Reilara."

[Rugs]

It really has gotten bad out here.

A dropship flew over the lowlands of southern Eostre. Kvothe stood in its open side, looking down on the lowlands of south Eostre. The air was hot and dry, with an barely noticeable touch of acrid smoke from a fire burning elsewhere on the plains. Feels like the middle of summer out here, but it's just now getting into spring.

Further north, flowers were blooming and farmers were out planting their crops, now that winter had receded away ride away the rest of the year in the Itzli mountains and the frozen waste that lay beyond. To the east, the people of the Abassi Highlands were preparing for the yearly spring rains. But not here.

Kvothe's brow creased with worry as he looked at the terrain below. It was dry. For nearly a year now, the region between the low hills in the southern Plains and the Highlands had gone without any significant sort of rain. The rains and melting snows to the north had kept the region's two main rivers nice and full, and that was a blessing of a sort, but the bulk of the region was desperate for rain.

The drought, coupled with unusually warm weather had made things bad. Veles and Bylgia had fared well enough, but beyond the limits of the major cities, things were different. In the more remote areas of the region, the rule of law was becoming near as brittle as the land the people lived off of.

That was a problem.

Bandits were starting to roam and raid villages and towns that were too small or poor to fend them off. In some places, they were openly supported by some villages and used as a way to secure valuable resources for themselves, at the expense of the safety of others.

In a show of how bad things had gotten, Kvothe remembered how some bandits had gone so far as to try striking the home of Alethea, the old Rilan priestess who'd come to Rilia with his parents. She lived far to the north.

Of course, it was only a matter of time before things got too much out of hand and Aiaru's governing body stepped in. Aid was in the beginning stages of being sent, but order had to be maintaned in the process. In many places it was, with increased patrols cracking down on bandit activity.

The Mythics stepped in as well, and that was what found Kvothe, along with Rhissai and Elia, heading to a small town that sat a few dozen miles away from the sea. A particularly nasty band of bandits had gained a troubling amount of influence, and they were being sent in to rectify the issue.

Kvothe doubted that the Unum would be sitting on their hands either; the people were disgruntled and desperate, and that made them easy to sway, so long as you were able to give them what they wanted. Even the mere threat of the Unum having a chance to spread their poisonous influence was more than enough motivation for him, beyond the plight of the affected people.

Eventually, the dropship reached the village and set down, spraying up dust and dead grass all around it. Kvothe's robes flapped loosely as he stepped out onto the dry ground, with Fas walking lightly along at his heels.

The two women were already out, exchanging a bit of banter that Kvothe caught the tail end of. Despite the seriousness of the situation, he couldn't help but smile a little bit at the way the two always acted around each other. It was amusing, at the very least, with the way Rhissai watched Elia like a hawk. He appreciated it, perhaps more than he showed the former Jedi. But her sister hadn't given any reason to be wary, and he was rather attracted to her.

Besides, he told himself as he walked to the two of them, I can take care of myself.

"I think that may depend on the context, don't you, Rhiss," he asked as he came to stand between the two sisters her with a companionable smile and a glint of silver in his eyes. "I'll admit that if I was hanging over a drop and the only person there to help said 'I want to see the bad man fly' I might get more than a little worried."

He chuckled for a moment and then sighed as he turned his attention once again to the task at hand.

"Guess we might as well get to this, then. You both know what the plan is: see if we can talk this out and if not, deal with the bandits by force." His fingers tapped on Pietas' shaft lightly as he looked over the buildings that stood before them. Already he could see faces in windows; people were wondering what had brought the trio to them.

"And be sure to keep a look out for any sign of Unum activity. I won't suffer the filth putting their fingers where they don't belong." His eyes had suddenly gone hard at the mention of the Unum, and there was a dangerous sort of steel behind his voice. "Not without cutting those fingers off."

Kvothe didn't waste time saying anything else. Instead he simply started to walk into the village, knowing the other two would follow.

Before they could get very far, a youth came out to meet them. His clothes and face were dirty, as was his unkempt brown hair. Kvothe's lips pressed into a line when he saw the rifle strapped around his shoulder.

"Th'boss said 'e 'eard about you settin' down," said the boy. "Sent me out to lead you to him. Said 'e wants t'talk."

Great, sends a kid with a gun out to take us to him, Kvothe mused silently. Could be a trick. Could be honest. He hadn't felt a lie in the boy's words as he spoke, though.

"Rhissai?" He asked quietly and looked to her, knowing she was far better at feeling people out than he was. "What do you say?"