"It's a shame we're dealing with such a sensitive soul."
-Heard by master Tuel member after number 3011.
Coras didn't head for the septaroth forest immediately. It was unlikely his prey would move, and so he wanted to get as much information in every town as he could. Just to confirm his theory.
The city of Marshe wasn't as large as Orlar, but it was still quite industrial. Orlars' dungeon didn't just gather the attention of bounty hunters and adventurers, it brought merchants, weapon and armorsmiths, as well as cartographers.
An unusual amount of the last actually.
But while Orlar was a large city, it wasn't vast. And so many adventurers resided in nearby cities, Marshe being the most prevalent of them all.
Coras gathered the attention of Marshe's people like flies to a flame. It wasn't very often one saw an eight foot armored man. Though Coras wasn't really a man.
"Get out of here!" a man shouted up ahead, throwing a woman out of a shop.
The girl was swollen with bruises, and a small amount of blood was leaking on the streets. Coras stepped over her, there were plenty of pedestrians on the streets. And the woman wasn't his responsibility.
"Please," the woman said, grabbing a hold of Coras' sabaton.
Coras kept walking, prying his foot from the woman's grasp, her grip was too weak for him to feel it.
Coras turned into a side street, looking for a specific tavern. While he himself couldn't drink, drunks always shared more than sober men. And in most cases—Coras only needed to buy them another drink to get them talking.
A much less expensive way of gathering information.
He made it to the next main street, then began looking at signs for the tavern.
"Hey!" Someone shouted.
Coras kept walking.
"Hey, woah man, what are you doing!?" Someone shouted.
When Coras turned his head to look at the adjacent buildings, he stopped when he spotted a man trying to push him. Coras had unknowingly shoved his way through to near the middle of a crowd.
"We all want to see!" the same man shouted, "you can't just shove through everyone, especially when you're tall enough to see everything anyways."
The man turned back to look at what was at the center of the crowd. Coras didn't consider the man's words, and began walking again, looking at the signs. Some people shouted, and others cursed, but Coras paid them no mind.
Coras stopped, his mind getting fuzzy. He put a hand to his chest, and felt something.
A beat? Coras questioned.
"That's impossible," Coras said out loud. "I don't have a heart."
Yet the beat was still there. Coras looked over to the center of the crowd. There was an elven boy fighting two paipite warriors. He wasn't half bad.
Coras tilted his head, feeling something inside him overpower his mind. Coras stared at the boy, and felt a sudden clenching in his chest.
Curiosity bloomed inside, but not only that. He felt tired, angry, happy, furious, thankful, regretful, every emotion he could name, he felt, plus more.
What is this? Coras thought stumbling back, undead do not have hearts. He ducked his head inside his armor, and just as he thought, there was no heart. Yet the beating persisted. This should not be possible.
Coras was confused, he felt sick and in pain. He felt the regret of not helping that woman, he felt the sorrow of every friend he'd ever had who'd passed. He felt everything at once.
He could not cry, but he knew he would if he could. Then it was gone, the nothingness creeped in again, replacing the emotions he hadn't felt for over two thousand years.
The beat was gone as well. He shot his head up, and found the Elven boy gone.
Was that Neari's doing? Coras thought, is she playing with me?
No, Coras knew her touch, and that hadn't been it. That was something else
That elf boy, Coras thought, no, he didn't feel like an elf.
He never thought he'd "feel" a difference in anything, but that time he had.
He made his way down the main street where the paipites had taken the elf after knocking him unconscious. The Paipite disappeared behind a building however. Considering the size and complexity of the city, it wasn't likely Coras would find them soon.
Nevertheless, he intended to meet that so-called elf. Fortunately, he spotted another elf a while later. She was hiding behind a corner that led into an alleyway. She was staring at him,
When he approached, the girl had sat down and was leaning against the wall with both hands covering her mouth.
"Are you acquainted with that elf?" He asked.