Anya gave a blank smile. "You say that, but I quite like meeting new people." She said in a slightly sarcastic tone. She did like meeting people. Just not the people at the gatherings. She looked at him, a smirk growing on her face, "You don't have to sneak out at night," she murmured, adding to his list. The village started to come into view. Candle lights flickered in their lanterns as the people started to stir. She was cutting it close again.

Sage chuckled and nodded. "It has it's ups and downs." They got to the tavern and he said bye before slipping into the wooden building quietly and starting to set up tables and get things ready

Anya did the same as normal - well, what was becoming a routine; slip through the tunnel to make her way back to her set-out chamber. The girl cleaned herself up, changed, and sorted out her hair - which had at some point in the night turned into a bird's nest. And so, a day of 'fun' party planning would begin. One of the few perks would be that they would only be serving the food she chose. In the end, she actually found fun in organizing - or maybe it was having something to do. Still, she was relieved to be done for the day. She suspected there would only be another day of planning then they could start setting up. The girl wandered to her room, avoiding as many relatives as she could. She changed into something more casual before sitting out on her balcony for a while, waiting for the buzz of the village to die down before making her way back out into the woods.

Sage cleaned the tavern as quickly as possible and then headed back home to grab Lizzie. He was walking along quietly when suddenly Lizzie ran into him halfway between the tavern and their house. She grabbed his arm, eyes scared. He knelt down, concerned, and asked her what was wrong. "The slave traders are back," she gasped out. "They were chasing me." Sage paled and grabbed her hand, running in the opposite direction. The slave traders came to his village often, taking kids they thought would be good workers. Sage's biggest fear was that they would take Lizzie, and even though she was with him, he was terrified of losing her.

Anya wandered down the path, waiting under the huge old oak where she had met Sage a few days prior. The girl fiddled with her hair impatiently. She heard the deep rasp of men's voices echoing through the village, followed by the view of fittingly large men. What were they doing? They didn't seem the slightest bit friendly. Anya made brief eye contact with a few of them before they marched off, doing what seemed like laps of the village. The girl furrowed her brows curiously, though didn't make a move. Instead, she wandered towards the tavern, more curious to where Sage had gotten to.

After a few minutes of running from blind panic, Sage set off in the direction of the tavern. If the slave traders, who he could hear in the distance chasing Lizzie, got to them, Anya could tell them to leave and they would have to listen. He hoped she was there...if she wasn't his frantic sprint would leave him exhausted, and probably Lizzie as well since he was pulling her along with him. He was almost back to the tavern when the slave traders appeared in front of them. Heart racing, Sage skidded to a stop and turned to go the other way, but there were slave traders there as well. He pulled Lizzie closer to him, panic building when he realized they were trapped by over a dozen men. He couldn't fight them all and protect Lizzie. Normally he would have just jumped onto the closest one and started pummeling, but Lizzie needed him to stay by her right then...he couldn't rush into a fight and leave her defenseless. In only a second, the slave traders were on top of them, shouting and yanking and trying to seperate them. Sage did the only thing he could think of - shove Lizzie to the ground and curl himself around her, taking the hits and keeping her close underneath him. She screamed and cried, knowing he was getting hurt for her, but Sage didn't budge an inch, even when he saw a few of the men pull out knives and axes. He just closed his eyes and hugged Lizzie tighter, hoping that Anya would hear the commotion and stop the chaos before anything worse happened.

Anya grumbled and flopped on the steps leading to the tavern, accepting that he had most likely gone home. He had said he would be busy during the day, so he must have been exhausted anyway. Anya was as well so she wouldn't have minded resting for a while. The girl sat for a while, figuring that he would at least come to tell her if he needed a break. Anya had started to get ready to go when she heard yelling from not too far away, shortly followed by the squealing of a little girl. Anya looked in the direction, thinking of whether or not to investigate. Taking a breath, she left the stairs wandering to investigate. It was the men again. Surrounding someone. Her heart dropped as she saw knives come out, followed by another surge of yelling. The squealing only got louder, never once stopping. Anya hadn't a clue what to do. She couldn't just stand there, watching whatever this was going down. Yet, she couldn't bring herself to say anything. Instead, she waddled towards the huddle, trying to peak through the men, careful not to bring attention to herself. All she could see was Sage, huddled motionlessly on the ground. She still had not a clue what was going on, but found herself shouting, loud enough to hurt the back of her throat. She herself wasn't sure what she said, but it caused the battering to calm. It looked for a moment as though she would have to shift out of reach from any of them, but her nasty glare shot a few of them, a warning to leave the boy and his sister be. It most likely helped that she was well dressed - another reason for her to stay untouched. Still, the girl hadn't said a word, but the men slowly drained away, muttering callously as they went.

Sage uncurled himself from Lizzie and ran his hands along her arms and legs frantically, checking for injuries. "Are you alright? They didn't... Do anything to you, did they," he gasped to her. She finally grabbed his face and held him still. "Sage, I'm fine." He let out a huge sigh of relief, finally calming down enough to think straight. He continued to check Lizzie for injuries, but his hands weren't trembling as badly now and he could think through it as he went. He had been nicked in the cheek and the side, and he had blood dampening his shirt, but he hadn't noticed that or the bruises that would be covering his ribs by then....he was just worried about Lizzie.

Anya watched silently, letting the two have a moment. She still wasn't too sure what had happened. The men were still lingering, but they seemed to have moved on. Her brain had gone blank. She didn't know what to do, and yet Sage, who had just been beaten, was bleeding and more concerned about his sister than himself. Eventually, she managed to utter a few words, not exactly helpful ones though. "What was that?" She breathed, brows furrowed. Making sure he was okay should probably have been a priority, but the thought didn't pass through her.

Sage checked Lizzie over once more before sitting back and turning to Anya. "You don't know?" Then he sighed. She probably didn't and it wasn't her fault. "They're slave traders. They like to come down here and snatch kids and young adults to sell. They were going after Lizzie." He had mostly calmed down by then, and his head was starting to pound. But he didn't really care...he still had his sister and that was all he needed.