Pelles smiles a broad devilish grin..."Once we reach the water, we wade in until we are up to our privates then each eat a feather. We will be transformed into geese. Flying south will be easy then."

Clapping his hands together Loukas practically honks in delight, "Yes! We shall take a gander as a Gander! Fabulous!"

Thorn opens his mouth to say something witty, only for Loukas to beat him to the punch. He has a small consolation.

"It would appear that your jokes are heading south, too..."

His soup finished the bard is ready to go, though he too would much rather rest up for the night.

Loukas looks nonplussed at Thorn in response, "You don't think I'd leave them here, do you?"

Pelles throws his head back and laughs. He plops himself back down in his wooden chair and says..."Perhaps you are right. We can wait until morning . I was rxcited to get underway, that is all. I forgot you all have been probably in the saddle all day and could use some comfort. I don't have much of that but a warm fire and a place o sleep is better than the trail. We can leave first thing in the morning."

A'kos most assuredly is not happy.

"We'll turn into geese?" he asks doubtfully.  "How, then, is such possible."

Another thought dawns and his face grows dark as stormclouds.

"And what of our horses, and equipment?  I'll not leave Storm's Wind as some taxi, to fare for himself in the wilds - he is my brother."

"We can only dream, my friend, only dream..."

"Maybe we will turn your mounts into salmon and let them meet us downstream?" says the old man with a serious grin spreading across his face, even though he is trying not to smile.

Loukas ignored A'kos's concern and Pelles's reply. Rather he replies to Thorn, "One man's dream is another's nightmare, my friend."

The Falcon's face turns red with anger.

"How, now?  Salmon?  There are bears in these lands.  I'll not have the mount turn into some snack for a child of Ursus."

Pelles smiles once again, seemingly enjoying the way his word rouse the Magyar..."Do not worry my new friend. I jest! In the morning by the river you will have your worries erased, I promise."

Loukas replies to Thorn and then A'kos replies to Pelles. Despite the cross-conversation the Brother of Veles can not help but notice the warrior's growing frustration. He begins to speak, but Pelles beats him to it. At first he is relieved and then he realizes that his offer of consolation might not offer much.

Stepping forward he speaks, "A'kos, let us take our rest. We shall see tomorrow morn what Master Pelles offers us. Remember that it to his advantage to keep our party coherent."

With a nod and a wry smile to Pelles, "Remember also that he is a being of legend who has lived longer than us and has been here for many years alone seemingly waiting for our arrival. While his sense of impatience might seem easy to understand, his sense of humor is likely not to be and we need to consider this."

A'kos looks dubiously at the man, but is mollified when Loukas adds his wisdom to the conversation.  Nodding, he settles himself and finds himself some hard tack and biscuits to eat.  The idea of soup does not sit well with the hardy warrior.

ooc: nicely done...

Balthazar mutters under his breath, "I should have known better than to mount an expedition without women."

Cut scene to the next morning with the party standing with Pelles near the river bank. Pelles takes one of his feathers and tosses it into the water and in an instant a swan shaped boat appears. This is a rather large river barge with room for eight and mounts.

The old man smiles at A'Kos as he points to the boat.

"Quite the feather in your cap, Sir!"

Thorn regards the swanboat with admiration. Then he wonders what the sleeping and eating arrangements within shall be.

Pelles's trick was clever. Well, it was not a 'trick' as such, it was serious magic, but his little joke on A'kos was a good bit of word play. Of course, the problem here is that A'kos does not 'play' and he does not really seem to like words, so Loukas could not help be concerned by the warrior's response.

He was about to say something when Thorn spoke up. Stopping everything else he had started to do he just stares. With an incredulous look he asks, "Really?"

Turning back to the party, "Ahem, well, flying directly would have been advantageous, but at least this way we can take our horses, eh? Come, let's get moving. We've got a lot of distance to cover."

Balthazar gets right onboard, "I'll just barge in!"

A'kos looks at the ship with doubt and suspicion.

"An interesting contrivance," he mutters, then leads his horse onto the barge.  To Balthazar, he adds, "Let us take flight, then."

"Let's just hope this trip doesn't end up being our swan song."

Loukas weathered his Fellows' puns, but when he heard A'kos the grimace became a grin. If nothing else comes from this quest, those words make it all worth while!, he thinks to himself as he boards the boat.

As the group boards, Pelles explains that the swan boats only last for a day but are very fast. In a few days worth of feathers the party should be in Kiev where they can find proper transport.

Just as Pelles promised, the boats were fast and time flew by strangely. In a matter of days they were coming into the ports of Kiev.

In the distance docked along a pier lies "The Heart of Oak".

"And so we return," said A'kos thoughtfully.  "Seems like we were just here, yet so much has happened since we left.  Perhaps we should pay our respects at the palace."

Seeing the Heart of Oak was refreshing. While Kiev was not their home finding their ship resting at dockside made entering the city seem like coming home. "Ah, well, it is Destiny, is it not? That we meet Oleg here is a powerful sign.

"I agree with A'kos that before we greet our old friend that we should present ourselves at the Palace. I would also pay a quick visit to the shrine of Veles."

Balthazar would like to visit a few lady friends while in town ...