Leighla and I made it to our camp safely, relieved to find Alamon and Singe still alive and well, though Singe was still out. Al and I carried Singe back via a stretcher that we rigged out of sail and some sturdy branches, while Leighla guarded us on our walk. Singe needs to lose a lot of weight; Leighla wasn't even able to lift half of the stretcher, which left me to carry him all the way, and I feel like my arms are going to come out at the sockets. Meanwhile, I heard Leighla mutter something like "I'm glad that Jen's doing the carrying, since Singe must be too heavy for me... I mean, even Jen's too heavy; that girl needs to shed a few pounds!" If she's going to say mean things like that, she needs to remember not to subvocalize! And besides, everyone keeps on teasing me about my weight just because Leighla happened to drop me on her shoulders once, ignoring the fact that all the rest of them are heavier than me! It's not funny, and I don't think they're being very nice to me. And I don't understand why not, since I'm not mean to them! It must be the human blood influencing them all somehow; humans as a rule aren't very nice people. But I digress...

Once we were all back at Fran's house, we left the sailors in his care and the seven of us went to his guesthouse. It's fairly tiny, even as guesthouses go; two rooms, one straw mattress. We made the men take the entry room while Leighla and Haley and I took the bedroom; I claimed the bed before either of them could do so, but Haley said she wanted to share my bed and her blankets with me, and after a moment's confusion, I figured out what she meant (fortunately, my reading of Haley has been right all along, and she's not that kind of girl. Good thing, too!). Soon, we were all happily curled up asleep. Prihelm was on watch, and I could swear I saw him staring just as hard at Delphi's window as she was staring at the guesthouse, but eventually they must have tired of making eyes at each other, because when I awoke, her window was closed and Prihelm was asleep.

The reason I woke up was the same reason as everyone else did: that same scream that we heard the other night came again! And it came from the manor! We rushed over to the main hall, and knocked loudly. Eventually, we were rewarded as Orson came and told us that Fran was busy with an experiment! I didn't want to know what kind of experiment this could be, but the rest of them evidently did (they must be more tolerant of gore than me), and they wanted to watch. Fran himself came up at this point and informed us that the leopard's wound was infected and that he was trying to save the leg; we went along to help, and everything was as he said. Unfortunately, we were also in the way, so he impatiently ordered us out.

I was already leaving with Prihelm, having convinced him that it might be worthwhile checking up on Delphi, who was probably scared stiff. The two of us headed up that direction, followed shortly by the rest of the group. While we were moving, Leighla suggested that I steal the doctor's map! What does she think I am, some kind of thief?!? He's my host, for the love of the gods! Some people have no regard for civilized decencies... But I suppose I can forgive her for that, since she's not exactly from an overly civilized place...

Deciding it was best to just ignore Leighla, Pri and I went to check up on Delphi. She wasn't answering her door, so Pri burst in through it. I had secret hopes of her actually being there asleep; the resulting scene between our two lovebirds would have been most amusing, but alas, Delphi had flown the coop. She'd left a mound in the center of the bed, formed of pillows and so forth in the rough shape of her body, and there was a rope from her open window to the ground. The others all wanted to stick around and explore her room, being fascinated by a lovely picture of a sunset over the sea as drawn by Fran, but I was able to convince them that finding out where Delphi had gone was more important. I really don't know what these people would do without me!

She hadn't left any tracks, but there was a pile of boxes up against the stockade wall which could easily be climbed to get over. Leighla and I went over and right into a convenient tree on the other side of the wall, from which we could see an easy way of getting back over. It was quickly decided that the two of us would wait for her in the tree while the rest (who couldn't see anyway) would hide around the corner.

I was just getting comfortable when I heard a noise from the other side of the stockade. Thank the gods for my superior elven senses! It was indeed Delphi, but before I could get to her, she had already climbed back into her room and pulled up the rope. I climbed up after her and was just ready to ask her what was going on when she told us that Fran was coming, and I heard the man ordering Orson and Felix to investigate the noises he'd heard coming from outside (the man has unwholesomely sharp hearing for a human!). Deciding that I didn't want to get caught in the position I was currently in (i.e. hanging from a second story window), I quickly retreated to the guesthouse with my companions, all of whom decided to call it a night except for Leighla and I. The two of us planned to have Leighla distract Orson and Felix by asking about the cat while I climbed up to talk to Delphi, but alas, Orson heard me coming (he also has annoyingly good ears), and the entire plan was scrapped. We'll just have to talk to the girl in the morning, but I'd give anything to know what she was secretly doing out so late at night!

Leighla reminds me that curiousity killed the cat, and that since I'm so much like a cat already (she apparently finds a rather marked resemblance; I haven't yet told her that my full name is Jennara Caterine Raventhorn and that Aerik used to call me Cat when we were young, so it's certainly an interesting coincidence!), I should try not to be so curious. But when you've got to know something, you've got to know, you know? However, it's very late, and my Reverie is calling me forcefully, so I'm done for now. Hopefully, things will have become clearer by tomorrow night!