(OOG: As usual, Solarian speech is contained within brackets "[]".)

She hadn't really known what to expect, but Elanore found herself surprised at the elegance of the dining hall - or the 'gun room' as the pirate standing outside the door had called it. There was nothing overwhelming about it, but it was a lot nicer, neater, and... well, civilized than she had imagined it could be. The Yggdrasil was a pirate ship, after all... How many pirates had a taste for fine dining?

Far across the room she spotted a counter, and behind it shelves full of various items and glassware; little tables were scattered around it, almost like it was supposed to be a cafe of some sort. Just ahead of her was a spiral staircase that sank to a lower level, the opening in the floor surrounded by a white rail. She was tempted to go down just to explore a little more, but she doubted that would be appreciated... the attackers - her friends - had come from that area, or so she had heard.

Honestly, she just didn't know /what/ to believe.

After a few more moments of staring, Elanore walked further into the room, the idea that she was blocking the doorway finally occuring to her with a slight blush. She had never been to this part of the ship before; this was the first time she had left the infirmary, and Kyoko, for anything. But she needed to find someone, and she didn't want to wait for him to make another trip to her friend's cubicle. Considering how things were going, he probably wouldn't get the chance...

A cough echoed through the chamber - had she not known differntly, the size of the place would have convinced her she was not on a ship, but in some sort of huge building - and she turned her head to search for the source of the sound, pushing strands of sweat-damp red hair from her face with the back of her hand. It was a bit difficult to see in the dim light, but she thought she could see a pale figure hunched over the end of a huge table near the far side of the room.

"M-Marien?" she ventured into the silence, her own call reminding her of a timid child. Shaina would have laughed.

The figure moved at the sound of that name, and she padded forward in his direction, absently pulling at her skirt to make sure it wasn't hiking itself too high again. She /really/ needed to get her own wardrobe... but better Kandi's clothes than one of the pirates. Kyoko wasn't even that lucky.

"Marien?" she repeated a bit more confidently, as she neared the table. It was definitely him - that silvery green hair couldn't be mistaken. It was more unusual even than Myaru's odd shade of purple.

"Do you need something, Elanore?" His voice was almost too soft to hear, as she was still shifting on her feet at the opposite side of the table. "It's okay," he added after a moment, noting her discomfort. "You aren't disturbing me."

Although she was still a little uncomfortable, she decided to take his word for it and approach his end of the table, clasping her hands tightly behind her back as she walked. Her hair was up in a ponytail and out of the way, but it was still long enough to fall past her clenched hands to tickle her legs. Either her hair was too long, or Kandi was just no where /near/ her size.

He didn't look particularly annoyed, but she could sense that he was not happy. It wasn't a feeling she thought was directed at her, but she felt bad anyway; it was no secret that he was upset about the attack, and part of that was really her fault. They'd come to get her, and all of the damage, and the deaths, and the injuries... were because of her.

Her eyes fell to the floor. "I wanted to talk to you about my friends... if you don't mind." She looked up thorugh the fringe of her bangs, and saw his gaze darken slightly. "If you'd rather wait..."

"No... No, go ahead. We'll have to deal with this someday, and it might as well be now."

She slipped into a chair with a little whisper of cloth, glad to sit down after the long walk through the halls. Finding the dining room hadn't been all /that/ strenuous, but she hadn't gotten much sleep since the attempted rescue. Aside from all of the anxiety and guilt, the noise and vibration of repairs reverberated through the ship at night, and it was almost /impossible/ to sleep - sadly, the only really good time to do work out in the desert was at night.

"So what do you need?" Marien's voice was kind; she looked up at him, somewhat reassured by his tone. "Have you come about your friend Darius?"

A pale blush immediately stained her cheeks. "Well... um..."

"Elanore." A faint, amused smile crossed his face. "[If it would make you feel better, we can speak this way instead. Just in case someone overhears.]"

"[That's... not what I...]" Her face gerw warmer, fueled by his obvious amusement, and she ducked her head again in hopes that avoiding his eyes would make the blush go away. Not that everyone didn't know already, but... How had all of this happened, anyway? "[I just wanted to ask if you could release him from the brig. I know he helped damage the ship, but he really didn't mean to cause any harm to your people. It... It was all because of /me/... so please, if you could just...]"

He set his cup down with a clink. "[You shouldn't blame yourself for that, Elanore. No matter what their intentions were, you had no idea what was going to happen. Don't try to take responsibility for something that is not your fault.]"

It was easy for him to say, but very difficult for her to do. Even if she could believe him, Elly /still/ felt bad for the people who had been hurt. Two people had /died/... She hadn't seen Rivian since her rescue in the desert, but if he was attached to his men at all, then he must be...

"[I don't know how the men will take to having one of them walking free on the ship. They know Darius is not responsible for the deaths of their comrades, but he was still involved in damaging this ship.]" He shrugged, and she looked up again. He was good at hiding his feelings... she couldn't tell what he was thinking at all. "[We here on the Ygg are very attached to our ship.]"

Funny, that... She had never really heard Marien refer to himself, and the ship, as 'we'. Maybe she just hadn't been around long enough to know any better. She certainly didn't know /him/ very well... "[What if he just stays in the infirmary with us? I'm sure he'd understand... I just feel bad that he's stuck in there...]" Elanore paused, twisting her fingers together tightly. "[I don't think he deserves it. I don't want to blame everything on Shaina, but he wasn't coming in here to hurt anyone...]"

Marien sighed, looking down into his cup. Silvery hair fell over his face, but she could still see the edge of his scar peeking out from behind it. "[I don't think he deserves it either. He didn't fight when we charged the infirmary, and he gave himself up without any trouble when the men took them down to the brig.]" She wished so much that she could tell what he was thinking. His mouth worked silently, the moment's pause seeming to stretch into an eternity. "[I might be able to let him out if he stays confined to the infirmary, but only if I have Rivian's say-so on the matter. This is his ship, and that boy had a hand in damaging it. Will that work for you?]"

Elanore nodded, standing up and bowing in thanks. She didn't know where the gesture had come from, but it seemed right to her. "Thank you... I'm sorry to cause you more trouble."

She turned to leave, but his voice stopped her. "You know what she is, don't you? She seems to know who you are."

Elanore glanced back over her shoulder, teeth biting into her lip. "She's... Shaina."

He stared at her for a minute, gaze so intent that she wished she had walked faster and gotten away before he could ask his question. But then he shrugged, picking up his teacup again. "[I'd ask you why you're important enough to command an Element's attention, but I don't think you'd answer. Will you.]" It wasn't a question.

Hands clasped tightly, Elanore looked away. "[I don't know why.]" She echoed his sigh, turning her back to him. Bitterness tinged her voice when she spoke again, and she wished that Darius or Kyoko could somehow help her through this - not just the conversation with Marien, but everything. Anything. "[I don't remember.]"

(Summary: Elanore and Marien have a little talk, and Marien agrees to pull Darius out of the brig if Rivian is feeling generous enough to allow it.)