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Lin	The workshop is much as it was when Raullaur last visited, although several large mounds of junk are piled up near the forge along with several large piles of metal ingots - iron, copper, tin, gold and silver - which seem to be entirely unguarded. A few wisps of strange cloudy vapor sometimes drift in and out of peripheral vision, impossible to fully focus on. Although the workshop's signs are closed, windows are shuttered, Raullaur finds the door to be unlocked and Lin is working away without restraint. She stands by the forge and yet it is unlit. Instead, she gestures towards piles of junk - rusted cauldrons, tarnished jewelry salvaged from shipwrecks in the biger rivers, broken farming tools... things which would seem to be beyond repair - and blurry swirls and warped space hoists them into the air, where she merely breathes on them, unleashing a golden flame that superheats the materials into bubbling molten metal in seconds. Impurities separate in no time and another gesture sends charred flakes, scale, and ash and get dumped into a barrel. Then the molten globs squeeze themselves out into ingot shapes and are left to cool on a ceramic plate before they can be added to the pile. She seems to be directing the whole affair with some kind of dramatic sorcery, operating at speeds no mortal could hope to achieve and hitting purities that would normally require incredibly sizable operations and immense heats...
Raullaur	Raul himself is dressed casually, in unbleached linens with leather reinforcements. A bit of a satisfied air around him as well, from the recent tournament showing. When he comes in, he closes the door behind, and then watches the purification taking place. Only after it ends, does he speak in that deep bass purr. "You wanted to see me? What news is there of which I should know?"
Lin	Thankfully, it takes only a matter of minutes for the remainder of the pile to be purified. Once it is... Lin spins around and shifts to leaning forward, elbows planted on the anvil behind her and chin resting on her folded hands. "Aha, Raullaur, you came!" She wastes little time shifting from that to slapping both hands over the anvil and swinging her legs up and around it instead of doing the simple thing and, y'know, walking around it... and from there, quickly approaches the counter to unlatch it. "Congratulations on that match! It was over a bit too quickly... and I've got a lot of questions about your opponent... but that's not what I called you over for..." As she reaches the counter, she draws in a deep breath and asks, "Well... there's no use dancing around the subject... do you feel... constrained by this whole arrangement? Being in Great Forks, I mean?"
Raullaur	Raul thinks for a moment. "To be honest...I yearn to leave, to carve out lands and be free, to help my people grow. So yes, I am constrained, and plans are being made to make things better. Though it means I leave. WHat of you? Are you too tightly bound? Do you yearn for freedom, whether elsewhere or here?"
Lin	Lin quickly nods. "I do. But, you know what could happen if you go off on your own with your people somewhere, right?" She doesn't disguise flickers of apprehension and concern at all as she leans forwards a little more. "I sure am feeling constrained, alright. There's so much I could be doing to get this broken world a little more fixed, but I can only do so much here. Yet, if I go somewhere else, I'm taking my life into my own hands. And I don't think we're the only people here that feel this way..."
Raullaur	Raul laughs and nods. "We were on our own to start with. We travelled miles and leagues and more to get here. If we are simply warriors, we will be at war with all around us. Perhaps we make common cause with some. Perhaps the Wyld Hunt comes after us. Which is why I want to do something else, and make allies where I am still unrestrained!" He shakes his head. "You can fix only so much before it breaks things those in power consider fixed...for them. You wish to join with others for protection then if you move out? To be abel to fix more?"
Lin	Lin nods once again, twice, quickly. "You picked up on the whole problem in no time. Yes. The truth of it is... on our own, our chances at surviving a Wyld Hunt are slim. The Scarlet Empire's not the only possible threat out there. There's also Lookshy... Prasad's unlikely to venture anyone this far away from their borders, but... it's not good to underestimate what a bunch of prideful Dragon-Blooded might go at for just the glory if nothing else." She draws herself up onto the counter, kneeling. It's a weird, childish thing to do, but Raullaur well knows - there's only so many ways one can vent that energy burning inside, wanting to burst free. This might be hers. "We've really got no choice but to band together. If we can though... if we could get at least a full Circle, or maybe even several... there's a pretty big number of amazing people in this place. I'd wager there's at least four of the Sun's Chosen in this town and several of Luna's. Maybe more. Maybe stranger things. The only way we get to stretch our wings and do what we've been chosen to do requires banding together to watch each other's backs and cover each other's weak points."
Raullaur	"The one thing that worries me with the Hunt is how many Essence-wielders they can field. Otherwise, I would take them on size for size with my tribe, and expect to win." He snorts slightly. "It would be good to work together. To spread out. TO bring order and spread it throughout an area. Lead by example until the whole world notices..."
Lin	"It's hard to get information on that, but what I've heard by scraping through records... a Wyld Hunt's going to rely mainly on their Dragon-Blooded members for any direct confrontation. They know no mortal can stand up to a battle-ready Exalted. Heck, I could probably handle a group of soldiers if I had to, without my guards." What guards could she possibly mean...? "The Wyld Hunt also doesn't fight fair if it doesn't have to. They're the Wyld HUNTERS, not the Wyld WARRIORS. They're not going to just call you out in town for a duel. They'll set your home on fire, take your loved ones hostage, ransack any town they feel you've somehow corrupted, harass and exhaust you and keep you on the run until you're too weak to fight back. They're not going to attack you where you're strong, they'll attack you where you're weak, and they'll justify it in the name of their greater good." She grinds her teeth at the very notion... "A lot of their main tactics depend on a few things. It depends on you not having a safe haven. It depends on the battlefield operating on their terms and not yours. It depends on you not having a lot of support. It depends on you not having early warning of their advance... if they are instead facing a whole city-state, the usual tricks aren't going to work, they'd need to devote a massive amount of military force to the task, and they'd be very leery of doing so because armies and sieges aren't cheap and they've got better things, probably closer to home, that demand they don't overextend themselves."
Raullaur	"We hunt. In the savannah for prey. A fair fight is one where my people are safe, with enough food in their bellies," Raullaur says. "As for now, well...I have been training the Three's army, so this is becoming harder to attack...ah." Raullaur the nods. "You think they will attack once we leave a defensible place. The wilderness. Smaller, weaker cities. something like that?"
Lin	Lin nods quickly and with a note of sadness. "I bet that everyone from string-pullers in Heaven to Lookshy and the Realm all have big suspicions aimed towards Great Forks. The city's open-minded beliefs, gaggles of God-Blooded, and gods famous for granting their blessings is the perfect cover for... well, all of us. If that's obvious to us, it's obvious to them. But they can't move while we're here. Not without big, glaring proof. ... anyone who's out there, though... well, I'm not saying they'd jump on us immediately after stepping out of town. There's... PROBABLY not anyone stationed in the woods waiting to start tailing us... but they have a way of springing up on our kind. Shouldn't lower your guard. They won't attack Great Forks itself though... there might be other consequences but Great Forks isn't gonna be razed by a Wyld Hunt." She lays her arms down across the counter and leans up, standing up on tippytoes and staring at Raullaur to try and drive it home, "My thought is, if enough of us united together, banding into a coherent force, pooling our resources and acting on a fully-developed plan to liberate some well-picked city-state in the Hundred Kingdoms... made it fully self-sufficient with every resource at our disposal no matter how overtly 'anathema' it is and got everything up and running and defended...'
Raullaur	Raul thinks for a while, his tail flicking slowly behind him, before he says, "I had thought to do that, at first. But a different opportunity has arisen. Several are going east to try to meet with Raksi. Taking space out there, helping secure her border...is a possibility. One I should explore. And if it does not work?" He grins, "Well, then finding the proper place to carve out a kingdom among the Hundred sits well with me."
Lin	"R-raksi? Isn't there rumors about some really nasty thigs in her territory? Don't know if it's true but..." Lin shudders. "Uh. Well. There's probably a story behind those rumors..." Lin does give Raullaur a good long stare. Then... smiles. "A little exploring and pre-planning will go a long way once we do settle on something... and a backup-plan..."
Raullaur	"I don't know...possibly. COuldn't be any worse than the Forbidden Lair." He shakes his head. That...we tried to pass as far from as possible. Things...I just did not want to intrude. None of us did."
Lin	"The other Lunar name everyone in the East knows?" Lin grins uneasily at the mention. "I don't know much of anything about those folk... and fearsome reputations are a good thing to cultivate. It means people are less likely to bother you. They might not be as ferocious and terrible as their reputations..." She notes a moment later, face turning ponderous as she starts to scratch her cheek...