“Or what, master?" Her smile returned and her eyes widened as if she was almost challenging him to say what she'd heard so many say to her before him. You're insane, Talina.

He held that gaze between them. To his credit he didn't flinch away from what he saw there, deep within those pale green eyes. She knew it wasn't exactly a pretty sight, but it was her who eventually blinked Why had she shown him that? Anger? Frustration? She was angry. It was a cold sort of anger, like dark oil seeping just under the surface, waiting to take flame. Lately the business of people conspiring to kill the first master she had ever genuinely liked had brought more opportunities for naked flames to close in on it.

“I'LL keep an eye out for Rolk and his pack." Gregory shifted slightly on the bed as he aimed the conversation elsewhere.

“Thanks for letting me know about him. Although I figured after that last match up with those assholes that they were out to make a point. How did you find all this out, anyway?"

“The courtesans hear many things, master." She knew how to Lie with the truth.

“Alright then. Good work, team." He held his fist out to her, knowing full well that she likely wouldn't know what to do in response to the gesture. When she stared blankly at it, he reached over to take her hand and formed it into a matching fist. Then he bumped their knuckles together. She seemed delighted by this, and had him repeat the gesture twice.

“Great, you're Learning the ways of an Earthling." He Laughed.

He didn't quite know what urged him to teach her that, but sensed that she wanted to feel closer to him just then. Now she knew something that no one else in the world could match, except perhaps Janette. Although he privately suspected that if he offered Janette a fist-bump she'd probably just roll her eyes at him and call him a dork

“why the fuck am I always the Last one to know anything around here!?" Janette yelled from outside the tent, as if he'd summoned her with a thought.

“That sounds Like I'm in for a bollocking. If there's nothing else, do you mind stepping out for a while? I doubt it'll be pretty to watch."

“I enjoy watching you get into trouble, master. You're exceptionally talented at it."

That got a genuine belly laugh from him before he stood up and offered her his hands. She took them rather formally and allowed herself to be led to her feet. Then he leaned in and planted a chaste kiss on her brow.

“Thanks for Looking out for me, Talina. I'11 see you later."

With that, he released her hands. She stood still for a moment Longer, and there was a brief moment when she looked rather conflicted about something. Then she gave him a little bow and departed just before Janette stormed in like a fiery angel, followed by Valise and Algra.

“You are in big trouble, buddy!" Janette bore down upon him with a dangerous amount of finger-wagging.

He braced himself for a scolding, whilst privately muttering to himself under his breath.

“I suppose it's nice to know I'm talented at something."

The telling-off from the beautiful redhead continued through Valise's examination. It was quite the punishment to pretend not to be enjoying himself. Valise had insisted on sitting in front of him with her fingers resting upon his temples and his head tilted at just such an angle that happened to put her boobs right in front of his eyes. The usual flimsy, white gown she was wearing had a slight degree of transparency to it. Out in the sun, it carried a reflective glow that kept her modest. That modesty lessened considerably when she stepped into the tent and the outline of her figure became unmistakable. With such a close-up view, he could see the soft mounds and the darker pink of the tips. He watched as those tips visibly hardened before his eyes, and sensed that she was privately enjoying herself as much as she was in giving him a show.

After they had finished the examination and Janette finally ran out of steam, Valise departed and he spent the night vigorously apologising to both his mate and his girlfriend. They were both still moderately pissed off with him, and they discovered that angry sex was good sex.

When dawn broke on the next day, he was already awake and had visited Fiona and Lydia to let the two beautiful women bathe him with their water, sponges and soap. As usual, those particular instruments of hygiene were often joined in by stroking hands and loving tongues before too long. Still, he made it to the proving grounds on time in his new pants. After their display in the past proving fight, The Runts had agreed to return to their main training hours there rather than in their own private glade. Gregory plucked up some of the simple pieces of armour from the racks and settled them in place before running off to find Wrut. He always used the one-armed orc as a marker when he needed to find the other pack in a crowd. The guy was fucking huge, and his notable lack of a Limb made him particularly easy to spot.

After seeing Wrut, he waved and hurried over to the training circle that The Runts had inhabited. Upon his approach, he felt a disturbing sinking feeling in his chest. It seemed that Wrut had foregone his new shield in favour of the huge training club he'd used before. Growing closer to the pack, he soon saw that the others had similarly regressed to their old heavy clubs.

He watched Nullik charge at Frun with his unbalanced twin clubs and lunge at the stout orc. Frun easily smacked the attack out of the air with his single long-club and bopped an unbalanced Nullik on the forehead as he overdrew his attack. Frelki followed this example with a singe-club attack on Wrut that the big orc deftly dodged and poked her out of his way as if swatting at a fly. Both the larger orcs glanced over to each other, knowing that they could have done much worse to their friends if they'd been given the opportunity.

“Again!" ULf's voice carried over Nullik’s grumbling.

“Hey guys, what's going on?" Gregory asked, as peaceably as he could manage.

ULf turned to regard him with an uncharacteristically cold stare.