It was early afternoon by the time Msaka awoke. The rest had relieved him of his physical fatigue and magical drain, but had done little to ease his mind. He sat up slowly, yawning widely and rubbing his eyes with one hand. "An afternoon to wait before I can retrieve the elemental," he thought as he glanced out the window. "And I don't even know what people have been told about me."

He rose from his bed with a grunt and began to sort through his belongings, pulling out some of the remaining food that was stored in his pack. At the very least, he didn't want to be dealing with an unknown set of circumstances on an empty stomach. Furthermore, the food was starting to get old, so he figured he should eat it before too much more time passed as well.

He took his time, feeling somewhat nervous about the whole situation. True, he wasn't likely to be attacked outright unless the story had been thoroughly twisted, but he also knew that enough of a hostile attitude from Raseirians would cause him to lose his temper with potentially devastating consequences.

Then there was the matter of what might happen when the caravan he was to be leaving with reached Shapier. If Aziza had heard about the recent events in Raseir, it was very likely she'd be suspicious, to say the least. It was entirely possible that his belongings would be searched on her orders, so he would have to conceal the elemental in some fashion, or hide it somewhere before entering the city. At least his Shielding ritual would keep it safe from any magical probes she undertook either to locate it or to try to wrest the truth from him.

He pondered for a moment the notion of striking out across the desert on his own rather than going into the city of Shapier, but quickly dismissed the idea. The desert was too dangerous to be traipsing across alone for any length of time, particularly with the rumors of supernatural creatures that stalked the night, looking for isolated, sleeping victims.

"Perhaps I should visit the Adventurers' Guild again," he thought. "The guildmaster there will probably have something to say about the water being restored, even if it is only an obsession with the tunnels he will probably want to explore." With that thought in mind, he set aside the remains of his meal and shuffled his pack's contents back into place before shouldering it and heading out the door.

He paced quietly down the hallway to the dining room, keeping close to one wall so as to be less conspicuous. Pausing at the entranceway, he listened to the conversations going on at the nearby tables for a few moments. As he had expected, the return of the elemental was being discussed, but other topics seemed equally prominent. Msaka thought this a bit strange, but perhaps the water supply's restoration was already considered old news. Nothing of his role in the matter was being said, so perhaps his involvement had been kept quiet after all.

Msaka entered the room and walked quickly across it to the door. Those he passed by seemed to pay him no more mind than they had previously, and by the time he reached the door and stepped outside, he was feeling fairly certain that the guard had indeed hushed matters up.

As it had been inside the inn, he received no more attention from passersby in the plaza than he had at other times, though he did note that people seemed to be in much more cheerful moods than they had been during the water shortage. There was still some conversation about the elemental's theft and replacement, though it seemed that like those in the inn, people elsewhere in the city were quickly putting the incident behind them.

He quickly crossed the plaza and began navigating the maze of streets towards the plaza that the Adventurers' Guild was located in. The streets were, as seemed paradoxically normal in this land, almost entirely devoid of traffic, which he still found quite perplexing.

That made it all the more odd when he glanced behind him and saw two men following him. They were some distance back, but were moving at a rather hurried pace. Both looked fairly rough, and both wore scimatars on their belts. It didn't take much thought to realize that something was amiss, but as the two had yet to do anything inappropriate, there was little he could do in response.

He sped up his own pace, listening carefully for the sound of footsteps behind him. If the two following him did in fact have unwelcome intentions, they would most likely do their best to overtake him, and the only way for them to do so would be to start jogging. Sure enough, they quickly started hurrying, even more than Msaka had hoped to prompt them into doing. He whirled around to see the them running forward, and quickly closing in on him.

Instinctively, Msaka released his magic, bringing his hands close together in front of his chest and drawing them apart again in one fluid motion. It would have looked almost like a theatrical clap, save that his hands didn't quite touch, and the result that his gesture had.

At their closest point, a brilliant flare of light erupted between them, illuminating the entire street with an intensity far greater than normal daylight, if only for an instant. The effect on his would-be assailants was immediate. They fell to the ground in mid-stride, having been both stunned and blinded by the powerful flash.

The Dazzle spell had proven its worth, but Msaka paused for a moment to consider what he should do next. The two were obviously after him, but killing them here in the middle of the city would certainly land him in a lot of trouble, and he couldn't afford that now. On the other hand, letting them go would simply result in them trying again later, or possibly making up stories about how he'd attacked them.

He quickly settled on leaving the area, preferring to risk more trouble later than guarantee it. It would take only a short time for them to recover their wits, but their eyes would remain blinded for a while beyond that, long enough for him to be safely away before they were a threat again. He turned on his heel and stalked away quickly down the street, leaving his two pursuers sprawled on the ground.