[Ashura saw the tightening of his eyes, heard the change in the way Mat spoke, alert to small things like that after working the intricacies of court for close to 300 hundred years. It... irritated him, this sudden notion of what he was like because of his ears. Gilgamesh made constant points of making him into something he was not for a mere physical feature, and he let his own eyes loose some of their warmth.]

Mat, I hope you are not letting my physical features color your view of me. I know I look like an 'elf' - I think that is what most people refer to me as - but I am not elf, or fey, or any other word you wish to call me. I am Ashura, a Shuranian, and in my world my ears are normal. I am no trickster and I have no wish to cause harm to people.

Really, it grows tiring to be judged based on other people's experiences in their own worlds, rather than taking into account I am not of yours but my own.

But, aside from that, I thank you for the insight. I had noticed that castle... doesn't exactly discourage awful things. The battle with Riful proved as much....

[He drifts off and touches his chest, an old wound throbbing. Not one Riful caused, but it ached all the same.]

Where would you suggest visiting though? I have only gone to the town to collect flowers and other fauna to color my room.