The sound of footsteps approaching from behind had Embric tensing slightly beneath his cloak before Aine identified their company for him as Xan and Savi. Resisting the urge to run a hand over his face - perhaps if he’d been better rested he would have thought to ask if his dyr had heard any signs of life from inside before knocking - he stepped back and to the side as she brushed past him with a brusque invitation to enter. At Savi’s words, Embric and Aine shared a look that was more mental than physical in nature. Not surprising, perhaps, but not ideal all the same. “That makes two of them,” She told the maned wolf quietly as they stepped through the door, pointedly informing her own human that he had barely stayed still long enough to settle between one breath and the next, let alone fall into an semblance of a restful slumber.

At her bidding, the man sat down in an open chair and watched as Xan cleared away the mess resting atop it, eyes narrowing slightly as they fell upon her bare hands before he made a concerted effort to relax his furrowed brow. When empty space was revealed, he set the food on the table and nudged it her way, weathering the usual ribbing with a put-upon, world-weary sigh. “Even when I bring food right to her doorstep,” He complained incredulously to the two dyrs on the floor, Aine having opted to perch beside Savi’s head instead of peering down at him from a chair or table. “Savi, your human is incorrigible.” To Xan, he asserted, “I’ve yet to see why presentation matters when it’ll be eaten soon enough, but I can tell Kasni you think so highly of her meals. I’ll remind you who taught her how to cook.” But he acknowledged her gratitude with a small smile that felt as hollow as the banter itself.

Soon enough, she asked after Tribute, and any attempt had levity faded away. “I—“ He paused, then swallowed and carefully raised his arm. Gingerly, he pulled back his sleeve to show her the fresh brand, still a raw and open wound. Up until this point, preoccupied with hurts that caused more than physical damage, Embric had done his best to ignore the throbbing pain that radiated up his arm with every movement he made, but now that his attention had been drawn to it, awareness of the injury returned anew. The actual mark itself did not hurt nearly as much as the flesh around it, but the man didn’t know enough to find that particularly concerning or telling about the severity of the burn. And even if he did, what could he have done but fret about it anyway? The supplies for medical treatment came neither easy nor cheap, especially when an entire city faced being branded like cattle. Blue eyes dropped to her arms. “Were you able to get yours before—?”

Before the redheaded monster had called her back and brought her to his room, where he may not have committed one act of barbarity but had clearly caused other damage.

He would need to tell her about Echo, he knew, but he didn’t want the horror and grief and outrage over the dog’s fate to distract from why he was here. Kasni’s silence had made him wary of incurring a similar response from Xan, and if the young woman was going to request that he keep his distance from her, he at least needed to make sure she spoke to him - or someone - beforehand. Dealing with any of the Eldouir in isolation would only make the damage more lasting. “I will tell you more about Tribute later, if you would like,” Embric promised. “But, Xan, you know that’s not why I’m here.” Withdrawing his outstretched arm from the table, he leaned back and settled it carefully in his lap. “I won’t pry - and you don’t have to answer anything if you don’t want to—“ though he hoped she would want to “—but how are you doing?” It was broad. Perhaps too broad. “Are you in pain anywhere?” She hadn’t been limping last night or this morning. She had unwrapped her hands, which showed no signs of the injuries that had littered them yesterday morning. At least one terms of physical injury, he could guess at her answer, unbelievable though it was, but he hoped it would prompt her to start talking.

Savi’s hesitant approach did not go unnoticed, and Embric obligingly lowered an arm to offer his hand to the canine. While he spoke with Xan, he let the maned wolf finish the connection. If Savi nudged his head under Embric’s hand, he would cast a small, sad glance downward before beginning to scratch the dyr behind his ears in the way he’d seen Xan do for years. Months of living with a dog in his own wagon had turned the gentle stroking into well-practiced, natural motions, and the action of once more petting a dark-furred head simultaneously soothed and exacerbated the open wound in his heart. “I’m sure she appreciates your support,” He responded dryly, trying not to remember Kasni’s excited relief upon discovering Xan’s survival. Though disappointed in not being the one to introduce Echo to the two, she had nevertheless come to life in a way that he rarely saw anymore - and quietly feared, after yesterday, that he never would again.

It wasn’t surprising that Xan picked at her food, but all the same, he declined the implied offer to share the breakfast; even if she wasn’t currently hungry, he had brought it for her. When she revealed her own brand, the presence of which comforted him in the most horrifying way, he couldn’t help but stare. Fully healed with no sign of irritation or inflammation, it looked months old instead of merely hours. And where he moved his own arm with the caution of a beginner handling molten metal, she ran her fingers over the mark without flinching. “How?” Barely audible, the word escaped him as a quiet exhale.

When Savi withdrew to return to Xan’s side, Embric set both hands in his lap and waited patiently as she prepared to speak. Though he had resolved to listen quietly until she had finished, he couldn’t stop the clenching of his fist and spike of dread at the mention of Tazmin, even as he nodded that he’d seen her. Watch yourself, Embric. He always did, but the ominous warning haunted him all the same. As Dresmondi by blood but an Eldouir in behavior, she was far harder to spot than any of the distinctive redheads - and she knew how Dresmondi thought and where he lived, as well. In the quiet of his own mind, he allowed himself to admit that it would be awfully convenient if her visit to Hiram Eldouir’s room ended far more lethally than Xan’s. His vindictive desire for death only grew as Xan continued speaking.

When she finished, he let out a quiet breath as he worked through the information he’d just received. Unnerved, though undoubtedly not to the same extent as her, Embric had no insights to offer. The softness, the tenderness, with which she had been treated went counter to everything he knew about the Eldouir who made a game of breaking and beating down other human beings. Born and bred from the brutality of nightmares, the redheaded monsters had descended to the deepest depths of inhumanity yet still found ways to sink even lower. Their determination and dedication to their chosen task might have been commendable if it wasn’t utterly horrifying. A shudder traveled down his spine. “There are many things I will never understand in this world, and they are at the top of the list,” He finally said, voice quiet. “Xan, I can’t fix what he did—“ or perhaps, more accurately, what he didn’t do, which Embric suspected was what actually haunted her “—but if you want me here, I won’t leave you to deal with it alone.”

After a moment in which his heart agonized at the uncharacteristic vulnerability and discomfort with which she sat, he lifted his arm in a quiet invitation for a hug. Should she accept it, he would stand and pull her into a proper embrace, strong and solid in the face of her own wavering certainty as if he could protect her from the horrors of the world simply by shielding her with his arms. “Come here, Xan,” He’d murmur, holding onto her until she pulled away.

Having half expected it, Embric ignored the wetness seeping into his shoulder as he held her close, stepping back only when she pulled away and wiped at her tears. As she spoke of Tazmin, he let out a quiet breath. “She has a hyena dyr, you said?” He asked, as if he couldn’t picture the skittish creature tapping his feet behind his human, eyes glittering in the low light. Xan returned to her seat, and following her lead, Embric settled back into his own. Then, after a moment of considering the young woman across from him, he directed his gaze to his hands resting in his lap with a soft sigh.

“Her name is Tazmin,” Embric finally admitted, weighing each word before he spoke it. He had known very little prior to their meeting in the days leading up to Tribute, but in the time since, he had, if not directly asked about her, then at least quietly collected what people were willing to whisper to each other when they thought no one was listening. The gossips in Elderkeep had opinions - her choice of Tribute had, after all, shocked most of those watching and disgusted the rest - and he had had nothing to do but listen while he waited for Xan. Much of what he heard only reinforced his own impression of the crude woman with a penchant for causing pain.

“She’s a soldier in their army, I believe, though I doubt they had to work very hard to shape her into the blunt instrument she’s become.” Xan had called her an animal; Embric couldn’t decide if that was an accurate judgement or an insult to animals everywhere. He could remember the feel of her fingers clamped tight around his, like the talons of a falcon clinging to their prey, but he knew Aine would never behave in such a beastly manner. “She’s strong.” Her body, pure muscle, pressed to his. Takes more than that to take me down, big boy. “Short-tempered.” Her flirty playfulness evaporating the moment he expressed an interest in sleeping alone that night, replaced by a silence far more threatening. “And revels in the violence as much as any of the Eldouir she fights for.” A row of brands, proudly displayed along her arm, obscene in number. At least he hadn’t had to listen to her describe the story for each one.

He paused as he considered this dangerous collection of traits combined into one person. “I think it would be wise to keep an eye out for her,” He agreed, troubled about this commonality between them. It was bad enough that Hiram Eldouir had set his sights on Xan; she shouldn’t have to worry about the threat of Tazmin as well. Watch yourself, Embric. “People with her temperament are rarely the most understanding when they don’t get their way. She hardly seems like the exception.” After spending so much of that walk being eyed like a piece of meat, he knew that she wasn’t the exception. Though his knowledge was based more on her parting words to him than any retaliatory action she had taken since she had walked away from his wagon, the sheer venom with which they had been uttered said much about her vindictiveness.

Embric let out a breath and looked across the table at his companion. Here sat Xan merely hoping that the redheaded monster sent Tazmin away unsatisfied, while he himself quietly wished that Hiram never sent her away at all - not while she was still alive, at any rate. Never had he thought he’d become the kind of man to wish death upon anyone, let alone death at the hands of a sadistic inhuman beast. He cut himself off before his thoughts could wander too far down that tangent. “She swaggers. She’s loud. She tends to throw her weight around. With any luck, she won’t be too hard to avoid.”

In silence, he watched as Xan processed the information he had provided her about Tazmin. Watched and waited, anticipating the question that she asked him next. With a quiet sigh, Embric reached up with one hand and scratched his beard, eyes drifting to the side as he explained carefully, “She… followed me home one evening, shortly before Tribute. I convinced her to leave before anything untoward happened, but she wasn’t very happy about it.” A simplification and an understatement of that entire night, but he couldn’t explain to Xan why he had willingly subjected himself to Tazmin’s objectionable company without explaining a rather significant factor that he did not want to discuss. “I’ve kept an eye out for her since.”

“You should tell her.” Aine had settled herself on the edge of the table, and she turned, now, to pin Embric with a look.

No.

“Embric.”

Aine. He mimicked her, fear making him vicious. She’s already in enough danger without the additional target this would paint on her back. Or did you forget we’re here because Hiram fucking Eldouir decided to have her brought to his room?

Tension running along his shoulders, Embric ripped his attention away from the storm silently gathering between him and his dyr when Xan suggested finding a way to remove Tazmin from the equation. Given that he had repeatedly wished death upon her over the course of this conversation, the idea wasn’t an unfamiliar thought, but hearing her suggest it shattered something inside him. His irritation at Aine drained away, replaced with a hollow grief. “It would be difficult.” The words were quiet, but they weren’t a denial. “I don’t know what element her dyr wields, and I think she spends much of her time training with the rest of… them.” The Eldouir. The Dresmondi broken by their rule. What did it matter - they all gathered far too close to the estate anyway.

“She wants to fight.”

That’s too bad. It’s not her job to fight.

“She is going to find some way to get involved. You know this. If not through you, then through someone else - or worse: on her own.”

Embric knew what Aine was implying. Anyone who stood against the Eldouir alone only faced one possible future. Once more, Xan distracted him from the silent argument. “I don’t think it’s wrong,” Embric said slowly, silently despairing of that their existence was such that the Kushti ideals of peace and compassion had moved so far out of reach. He sighed, feeling every bit his age and then some as he leaned back in the chair and studied Xan. Aine was right, he knew. They could use someone as motivated and trustworthy as her, and with Luka living among the Eldouir and Zevran and Kezia chasing after dreams, they needed all the help they could get on the ground. But he didn’t want her there, putting herself in even more danger like he did. “Understandable. But not… wrong.”

“Yes,” He confirmed, grim in the face of her alarm. “And no, she didn’t. It was one of the nights when Kasni stayed with you. I don’t believe she knows about her.” It was the one silver lining to the entire interaction from that night. When she mentioned Echo as a solution to Kasni’s relative vulnerability, he disguised the way his heart clenched by scratching his beard before reaching out to grab the canteen from the middle of the table. He used the subsequent long sip of water as an excuse to avoid commenting.

As the moment passed, Embric’s mind was already turning over the logistics for the hypothetical task that Xan had set before them. If they went after Taz, it would have to be in such a way that her murder would either not be traceable back to them or not attract any extra attention. Though he doubted that the redheaded monsters would seriously consider any claim she made, her proximity to the Eldouir inherently made her a threat, and if she proved more important to them than anticipated, her disappearance would not go unnoticed. He wasn’t so delusional to think that the Eldouir would find him or Xan remotely threatening in terms of physical danger, but what their actions would represent - a strike against Eldouir reign - would be damaging and undoubtedly met with swift, devastating retribution. After all, they themselves were considering neutralizing a threat, albeit one of a different kind.

This would be a lengthy process. Presently, there was still too much they didn’t know, and with an intangible and non-lethal magic, neither of them would be able to overpower Tazmin long enough to physically strike her fatally. They would have to either find a time when she was alone or figure out a way to isolate her. And, of course, they would have to be careful. Truly, this task would be easier with more people, but the only other ones he trusted were—

Xan spoke again, and he pulled his attention back to the present to see her leaning her head on her knees. Embric listened until she was finished, then said, “Unless you are going around beating up innocent people, you are nothing like them.” The words were spoken with conviction, because he couldn’t afford to question that truth. Because the concerns she had voiced were ones that plagued him too, in the quiet of the night. When fighting monsters, the hardest part was to not become such a monster in turn, but where was the line? At what point did the ends stop justifying the means?

In regards to the Eldouir and overthrowing their hold on Dresmond, only possible answer was never.

On Tazmin, however, he was willing to let Xan decide. “Tazmin might be worthy of pity,” Embric allowed, though he hadn’t been feeling particularly charitable as of late. Thoughts of the beast of a woman filled him with more disgust than compassion. “But I hardly think she’d accept it from either of us.” He paused and looked at her. “I suppose there’s no reason we need to decide now, but what do you want to do, Xan?” He held up a hand. “On one hand, going after Tazmin would risky, very difficult, and require a lot of planning, but I think success is possible. She might die, but at what cost?” He held up the other hand. “On the other, it would be far easier to simply avoid her. She can’t be everywhere at once. It would just be a matter of learning her routine and making ourselves scarce. In the meantime, we work on figuring out better ways to defend ourselves for those times when our paths do cross.” Elderkeep was only so big, and in a closed system, even he could not avoid someone forever.

Embric grimaced. Distracted as he had been by Xan’s plight, he had indeed forgotten the circumstances that had led to Tazmin ending up in the monster’s room at all. Hiram’s baby as Tribute. Disgusting. Still, his former student was correct: the sudden time limit changed matters significantly. Rushing the formation and execution of a plan, especially one with as many variables as this, was asking for failure.

Running a hand over his face, he leaned back and sighed again, forcing his tired mind to work through the dilemma, as Xan struggled to figure out what she wanted. While she spoke, he studied the canteen on the table and nodded along. He wanted Tazmin gone, too, but it was risky, and though Xan would remain unaware of this - he ignored Aine’s irritation - he had the big picture to worry about. There were bigger monsters in Elderkeep than Tazmin, and they had to remain the top priority. Personal satisfaction aside, he wasn’t sure what exactly her loss would gain them for the amount of risk it would require, especially if he wanted to involve Ermir and possibly Luka as well. As far as he knew, Tazmin played no significant leadership role in their army, for they would never consider her an Eldouir, no matter how hard she tried. They couldn’t afford to lose their entire group for someone so small - it was foolish to even consider such a thing. But wouldn’t it be nice…

In a burst of frustration, Xan surged to her feet with a growl, and Embric looked up in time to see the chair clattering to the ground. He watched it and watched her, understanding on a fundamental level the sheer powerlessness that drove her irritation.

“Xanthe.” Aine spoke up now, turning to look at the young woman. Embric froze in his seat, not even daring to breathe as a wave of alarm rose within him. She wouldn’t…

She didn’t.

“It’s only natural to look for explanations,” She said instead. “But if you drive yourself to madness trying to find the answers to questions you have no way of solving, you’re doing their job for them.” The voice of reason, the gyrfalcon tilted her head to include both humans, knowing full well that Embric needed the reminder just as much as his student. “Focus on what you can control, not what you can’t.”

Embric was silent for a moment, considering first his dyr’s words and then Xan’s as she came to a decision. He nodded. “Then we’ll leave her alone for now,” Embric agreed quietly. Then he added, “I’ll keep an eye on her. I… find it useful to maintain a certain level of awareness about the more dangerous individuals in Elderkeep, and she’s not very subtle. It shouldn’t be too challenging.” Perhaps in doing so, he would stumble upon a piece of information or an idea that could bring about her downfall. The idea of handling Tazmin themselves had been planted in his mind. Even if they had more or less agreed to not take any action against her, he could still partake in the thought experiment - for purely hypothetical reasons, of course.

“We’ll have to find a way to practice our magic.” He scratched his beard, half talking to himself as he voiced his thoughts aloud. “The middle of the day would be best for that. Perhaps some physical means of self-defense as well.” Embric had never been much of a fighter: his words and his mind had always been his weapons of choice. But, he thought grimly, it was beyond time for that to change.