![](http://cobalt-company.wdfiles.com/local--resized-images/writing:2026-05-20-the-hatred-of-sha/style="margin:/medium.jpg) |
| Details |
| Author: | MrMook |
| Summary: | Blue Squad rides beside the elite of the Shado-Pan to confront the Sha of Hatred once and for all. But as the campaign drives deeper into Sik’vess, each member of the squad is forced to reckon with the hatred lurking within themselves. |
| Rating: | T for Teen |
Atley waits at Rensai's Watchpost, speaking quietly with Taran Zhu, his helmet tucked under his arm.
Shun eyes the two from a short distance away.
Arric and Rica return from hunting. Arric has taken to dressing himself in a rather… flamboyant Pandaren style, with wind serpent adornments on his hat and shoulder.
Atley briefly turns away from Taran Zhu to doubletake Arric for a moment before he nods in greeting.
Rica runs over and appears to be trying to tell Atley something, given her expressive body language and series of little clicks and screeches.
For those with the sharpest eyes, a barely visible Peixin is standing on top of a tent's pole, munching on an apple. She almost chokes on her snack, seeing Arric.
Shun tilts his head at Arric.
Atley lifts a brow and scoffs with amusement, turning to face Rica fully. He eyes her up and down as she rambles. "Arric," Atley begins. "Would this one care for a pat on the head — Just past the horn, here?"
"Ah, yes, I think she'd like that. She's trying to tell you, I think, what a brilliant job she did taking the heat for us in battle when you were away."
"She was quite the brave little warrior," Arric says fondly.
The "little" warrior is taller than he is. And not yet fully grown.
Atley tongues the inside of his cheek and exclaims. "Ahh —!" He raises a gauntlet and scritch-scratches her head. "I thought she was regaling me with a tale of her most recent hunt. Well fought."
"She's been very eager to tell you since last week, I think," Arric says, smiling warmly at the enthusiastic raptor.
"She's a clever one," Atley says, slowly withdrawing his hand. "You look to've gone native, Arric," Atley observes, with a neutral tone.
"I believe she also wants you to know that she and Shun worked in a sort of formation, with her drawing attention so that he could better reach vulnerable areas."
Peixin jumps off the tent's top, she lands on her hands, immediately rolls and gets up to her feet with a little hop.
Shun grunts.
He then eyes Peixin as she approaches.
"Oh, the new armor? Yes, it was a gift from a local friend. It makes me not miss little Cobalt so much."
"LIttle Cobalt…?" Atley asks.
"Wind serpent hatchling I've been caring for." Rica makes a sort of gagging sound.
Atley grunts. "I'd thought you meant the Captain's newest child. One of them, at least." Atley turns to Peixin and Shun. "All things sorted with you two, then?"
Shun nods once.
Peixin throws her apple core in the air, then catches it. "Yup !" she smiles at Arric. "I like your hat. The feather matches Rica's." Peixin shakes the rest of her snack. "Would she like that ?"
"Ah drat, I did name the wind serpent the same thing as the Captain's son, didn't I… Ah well. I had the idea before I knew about that. To honor the Company. Which I suppose was also her idea… anyhow. Ahem." Arric flushes.
Shun furrows his brow.
Rica suddenly studies Arric's hat more closely. He is wearing feathers now! This seems to please her.
hat*
"The rest of you are well, I trust?" Arric asks sincerely.
"Quite well," Atley says, looking to the south. "We find ourselves in dire times. Surrounded on all sides by enemies. But I've elected to bear a shift in perspective. We are surrounded by opportunities, to sharpen us, to make a difference."
Atley nods. "'Tis a fine time to live in, indeed."
"Brilliantly said, sir," says Arric. Yes, he's kissing ass, but he also really seems to mean it.
Peixin beams. "That's a wonderful way to put it. At least someone's harboring a positive mindset about the suffering and fear my people are going through. So many opportunities!"
“Cobalt Company.” Taran Zhu nods curtly. “We’ve got our targets among the mantid leaders, in order to collect the crystals we need. My scouts have gone ahead. I want you to join them to take the targets down.”
Atley turns to Taran Zhu.
"Consider it done," Shun grunts as he readies his blades.
“Taoshi is setting up an ambush on the south side of Sik’vess. Lao-Chin has cornered one of their leaders just above the tree’s northern entrance, to the west. And Hawkmaster Nurong has moved northwest to cut off escape. Each of them is waiting for you to signal the attack.”
"Very well, my lord," Atley bids casually.
“Hey, friends,” says Rensai from nearby. “A word?”
Shun looks over at Rensai.
Atley perks up at Rensai and marches over, brow furrowed.
Arric bows to Lord Zhu with a flourish.
Rensai runs a paw over his forehead. His gaze slides anxiously. “Listen,” he says. “One of my best scouts, Restless Leng, has gone missing. He was on a mission on the far side of Sik’vess. I’m hopeful that he was captured rather than killed, but with the mantid… well.” He shakes his head. “I owe him a more thorough search, but I can’t spare any men from our southern lines. Would you be willing to check the cages around Sik’vess? Even if… even if the news is bad, I’d just like to know what’s become of him. Please.” He wrings his paws.
"Of course!" says Arric.
Atley grunts and tugs on his helmet.
"Let's move, you lot," Atley says, tugging on his helmet.
Shun draws a sharp breath as they start moving.
Arric looks at Shun in concern.
Atley's head briefly, but sharply, twitches to the right, as if being harassed by an invisible gnat.
Arric looks between the two men. "Everything all right?"
"We're close to it, alright. The Sha of Hatred," Atley says, gaze settling on the towering tree as they jog closer.
Shun grunts.
"Ahhhh,"
Arric says.
Peixin raises an eyebrow. "Okay so that's what that whole positive shtick is about!"
Atley side-eyes Peixin, bemused. "No… And it's no schtick. In Anduin Lothar's 'A Treatise of Strategy,' he speaks of stoicism. Of altering your perspective," Atley says.
Kenelly scurries up to the squad, transforming as she arrives. "I'm terribly sorry. I'm here now!"
Atley looks to Kenelly. "Let's move."
Arric says, "Rica, follow."
"Meh, a shtick's a shtick. That whole stoicism thing is our shtick, the pandaren!"
Peixin says.
"Hi Kenelly!" Peixin waves at her.
Shun hisses and slips into the shadows.
"Arric, get me a trail for Taoshi. She ought to be about," Atley says.
"I admire a great number of your people's philosophies," Arric says warmly to Peixin.
"Ah yes, right…" Arric kneels down and studies the grass.
Kenelly gives Peixin a toothy, wolfy grin. "Hello, Peixin."
"I can see recent tracks in the grass heading over there," Arric says, pointing.
Atley grunts, spotting Taoshi. He jogs over.
Taoshi waits crouched in the shadow of a tree root, her eyes on the mantid commander ahead. She looks over her shoulder as the group approaches and flashes her teeth in a smile. “Your move. I’ll follow.”
Arric smiles with admiration at the pandaren's composure.
Peixin follows Arric, stepping onto Taoshi's tracks. There's only one pandaren who came around here!
"Right," Atley says. "Attack."
Shun reappears the moment Atley speaks, to deliver poisoned blades into their target.
“Well,” says Taoshi, and wipes off one of her knives. “Good work. You made that look easy.” She crouches to take a crystalline shard from the mantid commander’s corpse.
Taoshi flashes another smile and vanishes into the shadows.
"I like her," Arric says.
Atley grunts.
"If I was a member of the Shado Pan, I'm sure I'd be a Taoshi," Peixin nods to herself.
"Heads on a swivel, you lot, for Restless Leng," Atley says.
"…No you would be Peixin..?" Shun remarks.
Kenelly chuckles. "But then the Shado Pan would not get to have a Peixin, and that would be unfortunate," Kenelly says.
"I wouldn't," Arric mutters. "I'd wash out, probably…"
"The Shado-Pan are a noble order. Not unlike a knighthood, for Pandaria, though far more varied," Atley says.
"I'd never make it as a knight either," Arric mutters.
Atley snaps his gaze towards Arric, eyeing him critically.
"Aww, thanks Kenelly! But at the moment they're doing just fine without a Peixin, unlike a Taoshi. We'll see if they really need a Peixin one day!"
The valley is populated by watchful mantid warriors and groups of smaller, winged mantid buzzing in slow patrols. Several of the mantid are guarding cage-like amber vessels.
"Ah, sorry, I'm talking too much… again. Sorry." Arric quiets.
Kenelly grins. "I suspect they already need a Peixin, and just do not realize it yet."
Peixin laughs dismissively and turns her attention to Arric. "You're not. We collectively are. Don't make this a you problem!"
Shun just grumbles something under his breath.
"I do make everything about me, don't I. Sorry about that."
"Enough, Arric. This place is telling you lies. Don't listen to them. Listen to us," Atley says.
"What?" Arric looks baffled at Atley. "No, no, sorry, I'm just… nervous."
The entrance in the roots of the great tree is sealed shut, bodies of mantid soldiers strewn before it. Two banners of the mantid empire flank the path, wreathed in eddying sha energy. Ghostly sha-light burns from beneath the locked door.
The air is thick with tension, a whispering, malevolent unease.
"No," Atley begins. "At least, not just that. There's an evil here," he says, glaring at the door.
"Focus. Dammit," Shun says, sounding like he's speaking between his teeth.
"Yes, that's why I'm nervous. I know I'm probably going to f— mess something up. Sorry, sorry, I'll focus."
"Let's keep moving," Atley says. "One foot after the other."
Peixin stayed silent for a little bit. "Okay the vibe's been off today."
Atley smashes through another amber prison.
As the amber shatters, a pandaren in the armor of a Shado-Pan scout stumbles free and collapses to the ground. He groans and pushes himself upright again, then squints at the group. “Thank you, travelers. I owe you greatly.”
"Are you Leng??"
asks Arric.
He grins. "Yes, and I overheard a great deal through the cage,” Restless Leng says. “Rensai will be pleased with what I have to tell him.” He bows. “I hope we will meet again soon, my new friends.”
"Very well. Move swiftly," Atley says, before he jogs off.
"He wasn't affected by any evil," Arric notes.
"It's not wise to compare. And you don't know his mind or heart," Atley says. "Believe only what you bloody see in places like this. That's how to win the war within. Believe in wot's bloody real, or the Sha'll have you."
Atley takes a long, slow breath and shakes his head.
"Oi. Zandalari. Kill it," Atley says.
Arric's aim is true, even if his thoughts are not.
Lao-Chin stands behind a curved tree root, quarterstaff in his paws and keg on his back, as he watches a mantid commander pacing on the edge of the bluff ahead. He looks toward the group’s arrival and nods. “Good. I’m with you.”
"You should probably just leave me at the camp," Arric says, a muscle in his jaw twitching. "You don't have to pretend I'm any help."
"What?" Peixin says. "Arric! Who would give commands to Rica if you weren't here ? She'll only listen to you. We can't leave you at the camp."
Shun's finger twitches, though there's a colder air about him over all.
Atley gives Lao-Chin a nod and says, "A moment." He turns to Arric and stomps right up to him, abruptly, stopping nose-to-nose. "I'm not pretending anything. You're along because I command it, and I deem your skills necessary."
Kenelly's voice is a bit sharp, "Indeed, that's quite enough, Lord Arric."
"Sorry, I'm sorry." Arric can't meet anyone's eyes.
Atley stares at Arric's unmeeting eyes for a time before he turns around. "Focus up, you lot. We've the next commander."
Arric focuses on shooting holes in bug.
Kenelly lets out a huff, "Stop apologizing. It won't make him think any better of you!"
Arric *smolders* but says nothing.
Soon enough, Serevex falls. “Not bad,” says Lao-Chin, and smiles broadly. “Not bad at all.” He points west. “Nurong went that way, to watch for any retreating west across the water.” He stoops to loot the mantid’s corpse.
"See?" Peixin says, nudging Arric. "Not bad at all, he said.”
Ately gives Lao-Chin a nod before he gestures to Peixin. "Let's keep at it."
Arric gives Peixin a grateful, uncertain smile.
"There. Some sort of chieftain. Kill it," Atley says.
A ring of lamps and banners marks the area before an amber spire and a curious cliffside terrace that could be… a landing pad? A flight dock?
"Wot's this, then…?" Atley wonders aloud.
Hawkmaster Nurong hangs back by one of the lamps, glaring at the mantid who waits beside the terrace. “I will cover you,” he mutters at Blue Squad, with a nod. “Go whenever you’re ready.”
"Does not matter. Our mark is here," Shun snips.
Peixin notices a beaming crystal. She analyzes if the lighting patterns are any sort of code meant to be seen from afar. She narrows her eyes.
Atley looks to Shun, and then to the others, before he nods slowly. "Right. On me."
“Flightless fools!” shrieks the mantid gleefully, and springs into the air to hang buzzing overhead.
Arric has a gun.
Rica, however, is ANNOYED.
"Idiot," Shun mutters under his breath as he starts lobbying endless knives.
“Very impressive,” grins Hawkmaster Nurong. “That will teach them to think they can outfly arrows.” He goes to the mantid corpse to find the key-crystal it carries.
Kenelly blasts it with moonfire. "My 'witchy' powers aren't so useless now, ARE THEY?!"
Atley gives Nurong a nod. "We're making for the camp. Stay safe."
As they hit the trail, Atley slows to a walk. "Listen up, you lot."
Arric flinches in advance.
Kenelly stares hard at Dane.
Peixin looks at a few flies flying around them as they walk.
"I doubt there's a force in this corner of the continent that can match the five of us combined, in strength of arms, or in martial arts," Atley growls.
"Unfortunately, our great enemy here is not that simple. It's craftier."
"An old sword master of mine once told me that there's no such thing as a duel between two swordsmen — Merely two duels, happening alongside one another. Each swordsman sparring with himself."
Peixin tilts her head at that.
Atley turns to them and taps his chest, before tapping his temple. "Our true fight is here, and here. Not outside. Don't be fooled. Win."
"Of course. You always know best, don't you? It doesn't matter what anyone else says," Kenelly growls.
"Whoa," Peixin says, putting her hands in front of her, as if creating a wall in front of her. She takes one step back in surprise.
"Listen to wot' you're saying, Kenelly. I'm not your enemy," Atley explains calmly.
"Perhaps you shouldn't have accepted someone onto your squad who was so easy to fool, sir. Surely they've told you I lost half my family's fortune to a con artist."
Arric spits the words out with more venom than he's ever shown.
"I never said you were!" Kenelly's voice raises. "I just wanted to be treated like a human being!" She whirls on Arric. "And you! If you want his respect, try respecting yourself first!"
"He shouldn't respect me! He'd be a bigger fool than I am!" Arric snaps at Kennelly.
"We're all mortals, and we're all easy to fool. There's a Sha out for each of us," Atley states, before he pauses and looks between them.
"It does not matter where the battle is. The target will be slain. The contract fulfilled," Shun states coldly, "With or without you all."
"Slaying I can do," Arric says coldly. "
“And that's about all."
Rica just looks really confused. And a little distressed. The smooth ones are having feelings and she doesn't know these.
"It's no wonder you wouldn't stand up for me," Kenelly shouts at Arric. "You cannot even stand up for yourself, Kendyll!"
Peixin sits down, gently puts her bag on the floor and begins rummaging through it. She pulls out a few tea leaves and dip them in orange juice.
Atley looks to Rica, and then to Peixin, before he settles in on Kenelly. He stomps forward. "Enough. Your mind is elsewhere. Keep moving. You're not speaking to who you you think you're speaking to."
"Who is Kendyll?" Arric asks, bewildered enough to be knocked out of his own thought loop.
Kenelly whirls on Atley. "Stop treating me like a dog! I'm still me!"
"You are Lady Kenelly Ashewood. Not a dog," Atley says. "Stay with me, Kenelly."
"And now I'll start crying because he's being so nice to her," Arric spits.
Peixin pops one of the leaves into her mouth, then offers some to Arric.
Kenelly puffs up, but Dane's words seem to deflate her for a moment. She blinks…and then the wolfen form melts away. Kenelly is blinking back tears, her mouth open in shock. "I'm so sorry. Oh Light, I'm sorry. I thought…."
Arric takes a leaf from Peixin and chews on it.
Atley tries to set a gauntlet on her shoulder. "Steady, steady. Don't torment yourself. We're under attack right now. And we need to keep moving."
Shun scoffs lightly as he just continues.
"Yeah, no big deal, Kenelly. It happens. Here, take a leaf !" Peixin hands her the orange dipped tea leaves.
"Poor Shun, such a dignified man saddled with the lot of us…" says Arric.
Kenelly nods, a hand to her chest to steady herself. "Yes…of course." She looks to Arric with pleading eyes. "I apologize. I could not see who I was speaking to." She glances to Peixin, distractedly taking the leaf.
"Enough, Arric. Move your bloody feet," Atley says.
"They're moving! Tides!" Arric snaps. "I may be useless but I can walk."
Arric is apparently more Kul Tiran when he's in a bad mood.
Peixin picks up her bag. "Arric, focus on the leaf chewing when we're not fighting. Isn't it fresh and fun ? Like toothpaste !"
Atley briefly eyes Peixin with a gruff sense of appreciation, before he turns that same look onto Rica.
Kenelly looks down to the leaf. "What is this meant to do, Peixin?"
Arric chews on the leaf. It is indeed fresh and fun like toothpaste.
Shun is back over by Rensai, waiting.
Rica makes a reassuring(?) grating sound at Atley.
"Keep our minds occupied when we're not busy !" Peixin smiles. "And keeps our breath fresh. By the way, Dane, want some?"
Atley scoffs tiredly with amusement and extends a gauntlet. "Aye. Bit of mint leaf, is it?"
Kenelly gives Peixin a grateful, if slightly uncertain, smile. All the same, she puts the leaf in her mouth and chews.
Peixin nods at Dane, gently deposing a leaf on his gauntlet. "With just a huge dab of orange! Shun?" Peixin offers some to him too.
Shun ignores the offer.
Atley packs it in. "You don't have to partake, but while you are on squad, you will stay with the group. Especially here," Atley says to Shun.
Shun narrows his eyes at Atley, then slowly nods once.
Back at the camp, Rensai Oakhide is seated outside his tent, Restless Leng beside him. He has his arm over the scout’s shoulders, and smiles brilliantly at Blue Squad’s return. “Thank you, friends. Leng has told me of your heroics. He is in your debt. As am I.”
Restless Leng, smiling, salutes the team with the mug of ale he’s holding. He does not stop leaning comfortably against Rensai.
Rensai clears his throat. “Taran Zhu has gone down to the tunnel entrance to meet the other three and use the key-crystals to gain entrance. He said you should rendezvous with him there.”
Shun grunts.
"Let's move, then," Atley says.
The number of mantid corpses outside the gate seems to have increased substantially from the last time the squad passed this way. Taran Zhu is waiting among them at the top of the path with his three scouts and Ban Bearheart.
"Wait there, Rica," Arric says, pointing.
Taran nods, unsmiling. “We are on the doorstep of the final confrontation. We will all be tested this day. But we will prevail.”
"That's bloody right, my lord," Atley says, stepping closer.
Arric keeps his mouth shut for once.
“Do you each have your crystals?” Taran Zhu asks the three scouts.
“We do,” they chorus.
“Good,” says Taran Zhu. “The time has come. Remember your training.”
“When we enter the tunnel,” Taran Zhu says, “stay close, and keep hatred from your hearts. The fight ahead will test us all.” He pauses. “Whatever happens, it has been an honor to fight beside you, Cobalt Company.”
Shun grunts.
"Honor's been ours, Lord Zhu," Atley says after a moment, bowing low.
Arric bows as well, silently.
Kenelly nods, taking a few steady breaths. She reaches out to gently touch Arric's arm. "I'm glad you're here."
Arric tears up, and immediately looks like he wants to slap himself in the face for doing so.
"Okay, everyone, if you start feeling too much hatred, just force yourself to feel the opposite way," Peixin says, nodding. "Kiss and or hug your nearest friend in case of an emergency!" She stares at her squad, considering which friend she'll keep close.
Shun steps away from everyone.
Kenelly smiles at Peixin like she's just precious.
The scouts each channel their crystals at the amber gate. It unfolds silently like a pair of insectile wings. “Let’s go!” Taran Zhu orders, and the Shado-Pan head in.
Peixin stands right in the middle of her squad, at equidistance from each.
Arric takes deep breaths. "Don't ruin this… don't ruin this…"
From the cavernous chamber below, a laughing voice echoes. “Come, little lambs. Come and face your demise.”
"I should have written to Lady Zephyrine one last time…" Arric tears up.
Atley sets his jaw and glares ahead, audibly cracking his head left and right on his neck.
The Sha of Hatred, in all its malformed, malevolent glory, roils triumphantly at the center of the room. “The hatred inside you drives your hunt for me. You are already mine!”
"Don't say that, Arric," Peixin smiles. "If anything happens, we're ready to send the letter ourselves!"
Shun goes dead silent as he slips back into the shadows.
Arric gasps at the sight of the horrid thing.
The air is acrid and prickles with unpleasant electricity. It feels stifling in the chamber, boiling hot, unbearable.
“Give in!” roars the Sha of Hatred. “The more you fight, the more your hatred broils within you!”
“This is your moment, Shado-Pan!” cries Taran Zhu. “This is everything you’ve trained for!”
Atley charges in to join the Shado-Pan as Thunderfury vibrates. "Fight!"
Rica charges in with a shriek, and Arric fights down his feelings to aim, which is nothing new for him. Sometimes being delicate is a blessing.
Peixin appears behind the Sha of Hatred, stabbing both her daggers into it at once. "Remember!" she shouts to her teammates. "I'm here to hug and or kiss if necessary!"
Shun fights, almost like a construct, as he relentlessly makes his attacks.
Arric actually runs over to hug Peixin briefly before taking aim again. Just a little squez.
"Aww," Peixin squeezes back, her poison-coated daggers carefully pointed away from the human's body.
A blast of overwhelming Sha energy envelops the squad. "No!" Kenelly weaves her magic, casting green life energy to rejuvenate her friends.
Atley snaps his teeth together and bows his head, shield raised, but Kenelly hastily rejuvenates him and gets him back into the fight.
The Sha of Hatred howls in rage, and even seems to grow an inch or two smaller.
"That's the power of hugs!" Peixin shouts at the Sha. She jumps back away and throws shuriken at the creature as she does.
"I love these people!" Arric shouts at the sha between rifle blasts. "Even if I can't stand myself."
Shun remains utterly silent as he delivers stab after stab.
Kenelly taps into the energy of the land, gritting her teeth to push away the infesting hatred and channeling life through herself to her squad. "Shut up! You! Are! Not! My! Father!"
Finally the Sha of Hatred starts to crumble before them.
Atley cries out in a deep baritone of exertion and slashes the Sha of Hatred, lopping off one one of its many arms.
Rica rips and tears delightedly into the smoky goodness, utterly unaffected by its voice.
From the distance she built with the Sha, Peixin leaps at the creature and stabs it between its shoulders.
Taran Zhu kneels in silent contemplation at the center of the chamber, his head bowed, gazing into the pool that the Sha had occupied.
Atley takes a breath and drags his bracer against his mouth before he looks to his people, and the Shado-Pan.
Arric looks shaken, his breathing ragged and his eyes full of confusion.
With the Sha vanquished, Kenelly lets out a heavy sigh, releasing her worgen form with it.
Taoshi steps back from the pool’s edge to meet Blue Squad and usher them away from Taran Zhu. “Defeating a Sha… is not an easy thing,” she says quietly. “It is a miracle we are unscathed.” She glances back at Taran Zhu.
Shun breathes in slowly as the sha vanishes. His gaze remains where the creature once stood.
"Back to the world of the real us?" Peixin says, offering another tea leaf to Kenelly, Shun and Arric.
"It's… gone. That feeling… it was the sha." Arric blinks rapidly. "I thought it would be…an evil voice whispering to me… it was… simply my own thoughts."
"I… I wasn't prepared," Arric says. "I apologize."
Atley moves to clasp Arric on the shoulder. "None of us ever are. We've all been taken by it, or felt it."
Shun glances at Peixin once, but once again ignores the offer.
“Taran still blames himself for letting his hatred get the best of him, and setting this beast loose upon the land. It may take some time for him to come to terms with this, but it is important that he does, lest he be vulnerable again.
Give him time to meditate. We have accomplished a great thing today, a thing that will not soon be forgotten.” She smiles. “We could not have done it without you.”
Arric looks sympathetically at Taran Zhu.
Kenelly peers at Arric, trying to sneak into the edge of his vision with a smile.
"Of course, Taoshi," Peixin bows.
Arric catches Kenelly's look and goes to give her a brief hug.
Atley bows, and then looks to his squad.
Kenelly leans into the hug. Peixin was right. Hugs are powerful.
"Let's move out," Atley says quietly.
Arric looks to Shun. "Are you all right?"
Peixin smiles at Kenelly and Arric. Then lets out an "Oh! By the way, if I offered hugs and or kisses, it was definitely the Sha of Hatred doing that to my thoughts. I would never, we're professionals."
Shun flicks his gaze to Arric briefly, "I will live. And I will continue to fight. Just as always."
"You deserve more than that," Arric says quietly. "And I know I seem a ridiculous person, but… if you ever do need an ear, I am here."
Kenelly sighs at Peixin and goes in for a hug.
Peixin beams and hugs her back.
Atley steps outside and takes off his helmet, raking a hand through his hair.
Shun just grunts.
Arric leaves his ridiculous hat on. Whatever else it may be, it is amazing protection from the sun for a ginger lad.
"We've done it. Chased that monster from the peaks of Kun-Lai, to here," Atley says. "Well fought. Well handled."
"I suppose the one good thing about everything getting to me so much is that I'm accustomed to things getting to me…and can fight anyhow."
"Are we dismissed, then?" Shun asks.
"We are," Atley says. "There's more to do in the region, but for now, we rest."
"I head the word dismissed, is it time for the celebratory barbecue?"
Arric salutes crisply.
Shun nods once, then disappears.
"You know, Peixin, I do believe I could go for something like that." says Arric.
"Light knows I could bloody eat," Atley growls at Peixin.
"Light's grace, I'm starving," Kenelly adds. "Let's do it."
"Last one to reach Rensai's Watchpost is… Uh… Bad.” Peixin begins sprinting and disappears.
Atley tugs on his helmet.