Inside Under the Crown of Ogotay

[Firouz]

Firouz spun around with Doubar's voice and watched the elder woman anxiously for news of his friend.

Rongar, who had heard Caipra come down the stairs, spun around also and sat down with his arms crossed over his dirks.

[Sinbad]

When the older woman joined them, the captain, too, turned his head. He was sitting on the place he had sat on earlier, not talking much, just like the rest, his thoughts mostly occupied with wondering what had hapened to Bryn. He had absent mindedly been twirling his rainbow bracelet but abandoned that when he noticed Caipra´s presence and since his brother had already asked, he didn´t repeat the question. Instead, he repeated another reproach in his head. It possibly had been a bad idea to let Bryn stroll off alone in the first place...

[Caipra]

When Doubar spoke, the others reacted as if they had suddenly been awakened.
Now they had all eyes riveted on Caipra, anxiously awaiting an answer. She smiled and when she stopped at the table, she said. "You can stop worrying. Bryn is doing very well. She woke up a few minutes after your departure, but she was so tired that she fell asleep again. We should not disturb her until she wakes up."
Caipra said no more for the moment and sat on a chair near Doubar.

[Sinbad]

Sinbad gave a short nod at that, feeling relief at the sorceress´ words. What had happened to Bryn was a mystery to him and he was wondering what Caipra knew about it. "Did she say anything about what happened?" he therefore asked, prompting the first question that came to his mind.

[Doubar]

When Caipra smiled and told them not to worry anymore, Doubar felt the slight tension that had built up inside of him fade away. A silent sigh of relief left his throat while with his eyes he followed the wise sorceress' moves until finally she sat down next to him again.
Sending her a small nod, Doubar let his gaze linger on her some more - pondering at the same time on all the still unanswered questions that were keeping his mind occupied. But before the first mate could even think about voicing one of them, his little brother already spoke up - addressing Caipra with maybe the most important one of them...

[Firouz]

Rongar and Firouz both sighed in near unison.

Bryn was going to be okay. That was a relief.

Firouz sighed and said, "She will more than likely be hungry when she wakes. We should get something and leave it there for her once she wakes up."

Rongar pointed to a basket on the nearby table that had bread in it, and Firouz nodded and agreed, "Yes, breadd would be a good thing to eat. It'll help build up her reserves once more."

He didn't bother mentioning which reserves. But all the men there new that while he was speaking of her body's reserves, he was also speaking about her magical ones as well.

[Caipra]

Caipra nodded at what Firouz and Rongar were talking about. They would ask Kriss later if she could give them something to eat for Bryn.

Hearing that question coming from Sinbad, Caipra remembered what Bryn told her before starting to tell *Promise me that No one will know any thing about what I'm going to tell..............Promise me!*
She had to keep that in mind, but she couldn't hide everything from the crew either. Avoiding the magic part wouldn't be a good idea considering that it was almost the only way for her to know that something happened to Bryn just before they found her.
"Well, when she woke up, she was scared and confused, and she didn't really understand what happened in the streets. She only remembered that something scared her. She didn't feel safe and..."
She quickly looked around herself, making sure that nobody was there and added, "Unconsciously, her magic awoke inside her. Nothing serious. Don't worry, but that sudden burst of energy inside her weakened her and that's why she fainted when she arrived here."

[Firouz]

With a perk of his head, Firouz leaned forward and said, "It just burst right out of her, fascinating...."

Now that Bryn was out of danger, he was amazed by the fact that magic could do such a thing. He knew the use of it would weaken even the strongest of users, but he didn't know it could just 'do' things like that.

[Sinbad]

A scowl had formed on the captain´s forehead and it deepened as he listened. It was a feature that wasn´t too new with his face, but it hadn´t been there a year ago. He wasn´t aware of this, but more frowning came with less smiling.

What Caipra said made sense as far as he could tell with near zero knowledge about magic. It explained why Caipra had been the first to know that something was wrong. At the same time, besides the worry he and probably everyone else here felt for Bryn, there were questions arising with this.
"What does this mean for her?" he asked, his voice kept low in order to avoid anyone eavesdropping, before adding after a short moment: "Did anyone see her doing... this?" He remembered what Caipra had been telling them earlier about how things had changed in Basra and if there were witnesses to Bryn´s outburst or whatever it had been, that might mean there was trouble coming their way they hadn´t been looking for.

[Caipra]

Caipra smiled when she heard what Firouz said. But she quickly became serious again when she felt Sinbad's anxiety through his questions.
"Well, that just means that for now her magic is controlled by her emotions, which is quite normal for someone who's not totally aware of his abilties. Bryn will have a lot of things to learn about her own magic. I'll do my best to help her."
Caipra stopped a minute, noticing that Kriss came back in the room. She had to be cautious, it was not the time for the tavern's owner to hear her talking about magic. She thought about what she was going to answer to Sinbad's second question. She looked at the others, still waiting in silence for her explanations. The wise lady knew that they would be worried about the consequences of this accident, as she was, actually. Bryn mentionned a few men, but there was no way to know they have seen exactly, or if they were still here to talk about it. Anyway, Caipra knew that she would have to deal with it quickly to protect her friends. She started talking quietly.
"Concerning the possible witnesses, I think I should......"
She suddenly stopped talking when she saw who was entering the tavern. The last person she needed to see this night...Ziad, Chief of the guards in Basra.

[Guest]

Ziad entered Kriss’ tavern. He was hoping to talk with Caipra. There had been an incident earlier in which he believed Caipra would provide the best information. Although he doubt she was involved, the incident involved magic, and he theorized that Caipra might have sensed this magic. However, Caipra’s house was empty when he visited it earlier. He knew Kriss was a good friend of Caipra’s, so maybe Kriss knew of Caipra’s whereabouts. And he was right. As soon as he entered the tavern, he spotted Caipra talking to a bunch of…………….sailors.

And there, beside the counter, was his little angel. She looked ever so beautiful today. He smiled and day-dreamed for a second, but quickly came back to reality again. 'Must stay focused and talk to Caipra.' He smiled at Kriss and walked over to where Caipra sat, with a hint of concern on his face.

[Kriss]

Kriss was very busy with the guest's book and all the accountancy. She used to take over it everyday before the closing. She hated it especialy when in the teavern was still some people. She had to take care of the bar, calculus and still keep an eye on her son. Caipra usually helped her with Aniel but today, the old woman has her own stuff.

When Kriss heard that someone opened the door and entered, she automatically looked on that diraction. In the same moment her day became even worse.
"Oh no. Just not him again" she said to herslef and ignored his smile.
Surprisingly,he did not came closer to the bar. The archer started wondering what he might wanted.

[Sinbad]

Sinbad had been listening to Caipra and followed her eyes when she stopped to look over at a man who had just entered the tavern. Turning around so he could see the new arrival better, the captain noticed a man who he guessed to be around his age or a few years his senior, wearing clothes he had seen on some other men here before. It didn´t need much thinking to guess who the stranger was working for and why he had arrived, but he decided not to jump to conclusions.

"Who is this?" he asked Caipra in a low voice, looking at her and then at the stranger once more.

[Guest]

Ziad raised his eyebrow and smirked at Kriss' expression. He saw a dirty-haired, skinny sailor look at him and asked Caipra who he was. He was a little hurt that the person did not know him, but he brushed that aside. He finally reached Caipra.

[Caipra]

Caipra saw Ziad approaching her, which was not a good sign. She answered Sinbad's question, without leaving her eyes from the guard .
"It's...Ziad, chief guard of the western side of the city."
She looked at Sinbad and added.
"Since the apparition of the law against magic, security had been reinforced in Basra."
When Ziad finally reached the table, Caipra looked at him and said.
"Ziad! What owe me the honor of your visit?" She Asked, even if she already had an idea of the answer.