As the journal made its way back to Melee, she rummaged through her bag until she found a decently sized piece of charcoal to write with. She opened it to the back cover, making sure there were still empty pages left. After flipping through a few blank sheets in the journal, she began writing on the very last one; two headers, one titled 'Group 1' and the other 'Group 2'.
Feeling very weary all of a sudden, Melee looked around at the table at the rest of her companions. For the first time, she was experiencing fear and doubt regarding their current plans for course of action. Even with all of them together, they had barely made it out of the Thane's lair with their lives, and that was even after she had done all she could to help heal everyone.
Her gaze lingered over the face's of people she was most attached to; Geel, Alistar, Emberlynn, and herself had all grown close over the course of their journey. Melee was surprised to find that even looking over the faces of the newer members of their group, she still felt a deep sense of remorse at the thought of them splitting up. Although she knew it was necessary, that thought did little to alleviate any worries of some kind of small disaster falling upon them. What if they encountered a large swarm of Falmer on their journey? The trip to Riften was neither swift nor considerably safe. Even without the threat of Falmer hordes, now boldly attacking villages on what they considered foreign territory, traveling through the Rift almost always meant encountering bandits or gangs.
Sighing heavily, Melee bent over the journal, tuning in to the rest of the discussion in the back of her mind. Under the first group, she wrote;
Melee
Alistar
Gem
Geel
Shadow
Einarr
Under the second heading, Melee wrote;
Valthor
Rale
Emberlynn
Circe
Edwyn
Crow
She sat back up
, absentmindedly wiping her charcoal smudged fingers off on her pants before rising from her seat. Melee's eyes were dark and tired, both from the thought of splitting up and the complete lack of sleep she had experienced from translating the journal.
Looking down the table at the rest of her companions, Melee flips the journal around so they can see who will be in what group.
"I've decided that those in the group going to Winterhold will be myself, Alistar, Geel, Shadow, and Einarr. Edwyn, although you have connections at Winterhold, Geel and I also have contacts and magic experience. We don't see any reason for all three of us to be in the same group. Shadow will travel with us, as well as Einarr so that Geel can keep an eye on the progression of his magic."
"The second group with consist of Valthor, Emberlynn, Circe, Crow, and Edwyn. Crow, we're hoping that you can find your friend in the Thieves' Guild. Emberlynn, it's probably best you go with Circe; she's probably better suited than any of us to help you with any issues that may arise." Smiling softly, Melee looks around.
"Alistar and Valthor will each be the respective 'leaders' of each group, seeing as they have the most experience with traveling through these areas."
Melee's voice was soft and dull, clashing with the intensity she had always talked with. With a small nod, the smile disappears from her face and is replaced by an expression of exhaustion and some sadness.
"If it's all right with everyone else, I'm going to head back up to my room for a little bit. I'm feeling very drained all of a sudden." Frowning slightly, Melee rubs her temples and forces a small smile.
"If anyone needs anything, don't hesitate to ask." With that, she makes her way to her room, closing the door and shutting out most of the noise droning from the inn.