[ He tries not to watch her dart down the crater too overtly, though he does spot her disappear away as the knights congregate around him. No turning back now. ]

You want a story, don't you?

[ He doesn't have much time to mull over it, not wanting to trust the little creatures' collective patience, so he just sighs quietly and goes with one of the most famous ones from his childhood. ]

...Many moons ago, there was a duke named Loog, with blood blessed by the Goddess and the lineage of a fabled hero, one that felled even dark gods. But it didn't stop his lands from suffering a frigid cold. All his life, he watched the ground freeze and his people suffer winter and famine—so when he felt his emperor's heart was no longer with the people of the north, he crafted an army and rebelled. At his side were his lifelong friend, Kyphon, and his selfless advisor, Pan.

[ A few of the small elementals mill about in the crater, but they hop right by Jinx as they go to investigate what this "heroic" tale is about. ]

But the empire spanned across the continent, and would not allow itself to be fractured. The only way to independence was war. And so Kyphon followed his sworn duke out into battle under the banner of a lion, meeting the empire's army emblazoned with a two-headed eagle. And so the years-long conflict was called the War of the Eagle and Lion—as was its most famous battle.

[ The promise of this story turning violent apparently gets the little knights' attention, so she's got a minute to work. ]