Marion tried to repeat the name- he tripped up abit, and aksed the other to repeat it again for him, and after a few tries he finally get it right.

"-Hylltwyll!"
He seemed especially glad about this little achievement- he have a noticeable squint when he smiles like that, a sparkle in those dark eyes.
"It's a pleasure to meet you."

At what the other had said, Marion thought for a moment, and nodded his head.

"It is entirely possible- but the sweet scent would attract ants and fruit flies first. Oh, haven't you noticed? there they are already- "

Lowering the glowing part attached to the top of his staff to light up the forest floor, Marion happily pointed out the ant trails that are beginning to form.

"If I'm not mistaken these are just the common black garden ant- they are quite harmless and doesn't have very irritating bites, so you ought not to worry too much... oh, but you do need to keep in mind to not let them get into your ears or nose, or any other tunnelly places on your body! There had been cases where ants decided to make a home out of a poor gal's ear, and she had them crawling out of her ears for a month before finally deciding to see a healer about it. I could only imagine the absolute ruckus she would hear daily of those little fellas crawling around!"

"...Hylltywyll..." He repeated again, slowly. His name wasn't that hard to say! It was a very nice name. The best name, for the best, most powerful Fae. How did it take so many tries before almost saying his name right?

"Hill-tah-will. Hylltywyll! Ugh. Just Hyll is fine." He rolled his eyes in exasperation, giving up.

He crossed his arms and looked bored as Marion started about ants, ruining his threat. Of course ants and stuff would show up, but those weren't scary like a bear. He didn't even believe a bear was going to show up any time soon in the first place, he just wanted to scare their captive and make him start talking. But ants and flies aren't much of a threat.

Ugh, or maybe they were. He took a cautious step away from the trail of ants and put his hands over his ears, holding them down against the side of his head. He had very large ears. Just the thought of having ants crawling around in them... ehehheeh. He didn't want to think about that.

And it looked like their captive didn't want to think about that either.

"Okay, fine! I'll talk! Just get this stuff off me! We weren't really trying to make people think the place was haunted. It was supposed to be obvious it was actually people. Look."

He motioned a hand toward his shoulder, which had the golden crest of the royal family in Sol City emblazoned on it. For someone that obviously hated sun Elves, it was incredibly suspicious for him to be wearing the symbol of a family of them.

Marion, while demonstrating exceptional knowledge about the wildlife so far- especially about insects, did not seem to recognize the symbol at all. He sort of squinted at it in a thoughtful way, and then made a little aha, and fished out a solar from his satchel to hold up against the embalm. There are certain some design similarities on the currency to the royal crest.

"I thought that it looked familiar... does that mean you want people to think... the minting press is playing ghosts...?"

He faltered eventually as he continued to speak because that idea did not make any sense, even more so spoken aloud.
"... I don't really know a whole lot about where Solars come from. Dada said it's from a minting press and minting presses are where they make coins out of metals so... "

The moon elf looked, absolutely abhorred, at this revelation.

"You don't know- you tell me you don't know what the crown's crest looked like? Holy- you know what, I'm not even going to ask."

And suddenly it made much more sense to Marion with this context given.
"Oh, so you want people to think that royalty is bad! Because they don't do their jobs and come out to spook people at night."

The moon elf looks to be utterly defeated.

The moon Elf man let out a sigh as he tried to figure out a way to explain things a little more simply.

"We dressed up as crown agents today. Tomorrow, we wore a different symbol, the symbol of the Oniwanban." He said as he easily removed the royal symbol from his shoulder with a click. Some kind of button or clasp was revealed to be holding the emblem in place and allowed it to be switched out. He tossed the emblem to the side, uncaring.

Hylltywyll caught the still slightly sticky emblem in one hand and used a quick bit of the same magic he'd used earlier to clean it and his hands off before slipping it into his shadow where it vanished as if it fell into a deep hole.

"We alternate symbols, let people get a glimpse, and then run off to pretend we didn't want to be seen." The captive explained. He seemed like he just didn't care about keeping this whole operation a secret anymore. He was sticky, being slowly covered in ants, and facing a living lie detector and a walking dictionary of the most disturbing bug facts he never wanted to know. He just wanted to get out of here.

"So you want people to blame the Crown and the Oniwanban?" Hylltywyll summarized, and the man nodded. "But, let me guess. You're not actually either of them."

The man nodded again, glad at least someone here could connect the dots without him needing to spell it out for them.

"Then who are you?" Hylltywyll asked.

"I..." The man started, but held himself back. He revealed the whole plan, but he still had some loyalty to his group. He couldn't just out them like this, even if some of them left him for dead. It wasn't the orgnaization as a whole that betrayed him, and he still believed in their cause.

"Are you from moonglade?"

Marion piped up, now.
He really could never had thought of a ploy like that- well, not with his utter lack of awareness of social factions as a whole- but he notices other things.

"You sound like one, at least. You all have this weird little thing you do with your w's and vowels when you say them... well, it's not that obvious, but then we say it pretty differently in King's vale so it sort of stuck out to me!"
He added cheerily.

Meanwhile Kweh the dragoonfly seemed to get bored, and it sort of just sat itself on the forest floor and rolled onto it's back and got up again- and Marion left a quick excuse me to go and talk to his mothish friend. They didn't speak with words, per say, but after a while the dragoonfly ambled over to the captured elf, lowered it's large head to scent him out with his pair of large feathery antennae that almost looks like bunny ears- and then shook open it's large golden wings to take off into the night once more.

"He's going to try and look for your friends! It's mostly just something for him to do since he gets bored and doesn't want to go to sleep yet."

Marion explained thus.

At Marion's words, the man's look of defeat suddenly changed to one of fury.

"I am not from Moonglade! I'm from the Crescent Isles! We are not the same place, no matter what you damn sun Elves or your damn royal family say!" He shouted angrily, leaning forward.

Hylltywyll raised an eyebrow and smiled, watching the man's outburst. Now, this was something interesting. That really seemed to get the most reaction out of him than anything else so far. Did he hate being seen as someone from Moonglade that much?

Hm, that did bring a memory back to Hylltywyll. He wasn't very into following politics, or laws in general. But, he did hear something about a lot of people in the Crescent Isles not wanting the Isles to be considered part of the same political region as Moonglade. They had their own identity and culture and hated the royal family for claiming them as part of their land and then just clumping them and Moonglade together without a thought. There was even a group who was especially fervent in this belief and actively fought for the freedom of the Crescent Isles from the crown. Who were they again? The moon people? No, it was something like...

"The Lunar Rebels?" Hylltywyll half asked, half stated.

The man's look was all he needed to confirm he was correct.

"Oh, sorry- crescent isles, got it."

Marion looked abit abashed at that, and offered an apology- well, he really does not know much about people. He also didn't know what that name Hylltywyll had mentioned was, so he asked.

"What is the Lunar Rebel? Is it like... organization?"

The iridescent golden sheen passed over them once more, and Kweh returned- rather quickly, much sooner than expected, and seemed to be able to convey itself though gesturing and some other means that could not become known to you, but Marion seemed to be able to understand it well enough.

"He said the rest seemed to have gone down a cave nearby, but he didn't go further in since he couldn't fly in there."
Relaying the message, the sun elf gave Kweh a good rub on those fuzzy cheeks, and turned to the man before them.

"But by any means, I think we still need you to take you to see the grand chancellor. You are making quite the disturbance and people are not getting a lot of rest here. you know, and travelers are avoiding these parts and the shops doesn't make as much money, and people had moved out- you know, it's not very easy to move house, so it's pretty bad all around."

The man didn't seem like he cared for Marion's apology. He just thought it was more of an insult, sarcasm, or trying to trick him. He had accidentally let slip his emotions and clued the small one in on his actual affiliations. He'd revealed everything already. There was nothing else they could squeeze out of him, so he didn't care what they said or what tricks they used anymore.

"Freedom fighters, trying to shake off the shackles of the royal family from the Crescent Isles!" He answered loudly, his voice sounding out through the trees. There was no point hiding it anymore. He could speak of the Lunar Rebels with pride now that the cat was already out of the bag. "We will be free of the crown's tyranny! They do nothing to help us while taking too much from us. They don't care about the Crescent Isles and the Isles don't care for them!"

"_{How dramatic.}" Hylltywyll mumbled under his breach while watching the man monologue. He didn't really care about that kind of thing, but the man's impassioned speech was something. He wished he had some popcorn.

The man looked a bit alarmed for a moment at the bug finding where the others were, but he knew it would have been only a matter of time anyways. They hadn't exactly been subtle when they ran away from the beast. They probably left an easy trail to follow. This was just the first time anyone had actually chased after them. Not a lot of people wanted to confront what might be ghosts, or if they caught the sight of one of the two emblems, Oniwanban agents or royal soldiers.

He looked a little guilty at the trouble he and the other Lunar Rebels were causing the town, but he had resolved himself to it.

"Sacrifices have to be made for the good of the Isles. One little town's momentary pain is a small price to pay for freedom." He said, repeating the words he'd been told by his superiors.

"... But if the people are not happy, then- what is the point?"
Marion seemed genuinely puzzled, and so he asked.

"A good harvest that doesn't put food on the farmer's table can not be called such. If your cause is the for the good of the isles, and you are not doing it for the sake of things like... the environment, or other things like that, then- by the good of the isles, you should mean 'the good of the people that lives in the isles', right?"

The sun elf have a habit of motioning with his hands as he spoke, and he did so quite subconsciously as he went on.

"I'm sure... I hope that you can talk things out with everyone involved, if that is possible. With the chancellor, about your sentiments, and most importantly with the people that live here as well, you know, to see if they feel the same way."

It is something so important to keep in mind, Marion learnt, to always be clear with intention when you are going to do something involving another person- especially when you are trying to help them. Many times the idea two people have can be so different entirely- Marion could only begin to imagine how complicated it would be for an entire region.

"It would be a lot of work, I think, but you've got this!"

"It is for the good of the people, including them. They might suffer for a moment now, but in the long run, this town will benefit just as much as the rest of the Isles from being free of the crown's rule. Don't try to lecture me on morals when you're holding me captive, glued to the ground by some monster's spit, sun Elf." He replied with contempt, spitting out the last words especially venomously.

"Trying to change my mind here is useless anyways. If you think this little operation in this town is all the plans we have, you're wrong. And don't even try to interrogate those plans out of me. I couldn't tell them to you if I wanted. I'm at the bottom wrung of the organization, out here playing ghost. All of us are. No one who made it back to the mines will be able to give you any information you didn't already get from me."

Sure, they had left him behind, but that didn't mean he was going to sick these two fuckers on them all by lying and saying they could get anything from them. Besides, he was still in the presence of the living lie detector. He smiled slightly, knowing that this ability being used against him was actually doing his allies a favor now.

"Hmph." Hylltywyll huffed in annoyance because everything the man said was the truth.

"I mean, you did do them wrong, and you do need to be reprimanded for that offense before you go ahead and do other things. I think."

Marion looked to the little fella beside him.

"Do we need to... turn him in? Do you know how do we turn a person in? Is there any tying-up of people involved...? I don't have any experience in this sort of things, Im afraid. "
He asked Hylltywyll, just kind of speaking his mind right now.

"The request I got was to get to the bottom of the haunting and, I think I've sort of finished what I set out to do now, even if it possibly did not really help... or maybe they'd stop the haunting now that the whole truth is out? I don't know..."

Signing, Marion rubbed his cheek with a hand.

"It sounds all awfully complicated, plans and ruling and stuff like that. But Kweh is not a monster! He's a perfectly good boy aren't you? Oh, I do want to say sorry for the fright and all, but it seemed necessary, so it's not anything personal. Come on, Kweh- give him a little nuzzle. Dragoonflies are generally really gentle and his morph doesn't have any teeth, so the worst he could do to you is to spit in your face, don't worry too much about it!"

The large moth-like creature obliged, and lowered it's head to give the captured elf a boop- those huge dark eyes only reflecting a little spot of light. It is somehow both cute and terrifying in the way most insects are to the average person.

The man looked away from Marion, silently signaling that he had nothing more to say to him.

"What's your name?" Hylltywyll asked him, realizing they had never asked while interrogating him, but he didn't respond.

Hylltywyll shrugged, uncaring. If he didn't want to tell them his name, he didn't care. They really had already gotten any important information out of him, and what to call him wasn't part of that.

Hylltywyll looked at Marion and gave him a shrug too, not really having a lot of experience with turning people in to the proper authorities either. Busting people out of a prison, he had done before. Getting someone thrown in, not so much. He and local authorities didn't often get along. Or foreign authorities. Or authority figures in general. Or anyone else that thought they had even the slightest authority over him.

"Your request? That's not really my problem." He said, crossing his arms. He wasn't getting paid for any of this. He was just here to watch the show and have a good time. He just happened to get a tiny bit involved, but that still didn't make turning this guy in have anything to do with him.

The captured Elf didn't seem to find Kweh or his eyes cute at all as he recoiled away from the big moth creature as much as he could while stuck in the sticky honey mucus.

"Ah, right! There is a promised reward for completing it, and I think I ought to share it with you, Hylltywyll. Your help had been invaluable- I insist, actually. After everything is said and done, where can I contact you? There is a noodle shop in this town I had been staying at and they have the most amazing soup noodles I have ever had! Bamboo shoots, nori, and creamy white pork bone broth- they also have these odd pan-fried ravioli but there's no cheese inside and have a crispy bottom- gyoza, I think they are called! Absolutely charming."

As he talked, Marion rummaged in his bag to produce a seed, and sowed them into the ground quite abit far away before returning- he hummed a little melody, and then the seed began to rapidly grow into... quite a ginormous pitcher plant. The tendrilled leaves are quickly removed by Kweh grabbing them and tearing them away from the plant itself with ease- the pitcher not responding to a creature that did not own any magic.
And after all the tendrils are removed in his way into a pile of tendrils- still writhing like snakes- Marion trotted up to the standalone pitcher, and put his hand on it, and the sound he made was something that sounded like the previous melody in rewind. The large pitcher then totally reversed it's growth process in front of your eyes back into a seed, which Marion promptly pocketed.

"—— As I was saying, I'd love to treat you to a meal there, if you would have it."
He smiled.

Hylltywyll raised an eyebrow. Why would he insist on sharing the reward when he had no reason to? Hylltywyll hadn't asked for it, or struck a deal, or anything. He was just giving it away. What a weirdo. Hylltywyll didn't even need to use his magic on him to know he was being honest. He was just too nice.

That food did all sound really good. Hylltywyll didn't actually need to eat regular food, but he still could just to enjoy the taste. Those tastes sounded very enjoyable, too. But, there was something else that got his attention. The scent of powerful light domain magic that was coming from Marion, along with a hint of earth domain. Now that was appetizing... Hylltywyll drooled a little at the thought of the food and the scent of the rich magic.

He snapped out of it and jumped back as a giant pitcher plant suddenly sprouted up, vines writhing. He knew that plant. That was a witcher pitcher! He hated those plants! They tried to anything with magic, and Hylltywyll was practically overflowing with magic! Why was he growing that here? Was the innocent act just a trick?

Hylltywyll watched suspiciously as Marion had his pet tear off all the tendrils and leaves and then make the pitcher disappear back into the ground, leaving only the torn off parts.

"Hm... Maybe..." He responded cautiously. He wasn't against taking half the reward and getting a free meal. He just also didn't want to be tricked and fed to some plant.

Marion only then seemed to realize that he probably should have given some forewarning, now that he isn't doing stuff all on his own, and the little elf lifted one of those large leaves that the tendrils extended from, and went over to their captive that looked quite equally as alarmed by the writing plant tentacles.

"It's ok! The trick to dealing with them is to remove these arms, so that they have nothing to grab you with- then it's just a plant, you see, and I can safely approach it. These leaves are very tough especially in the parts that are used to capture and drag, but not so on it's base! You need to snap them or tear them from there, or you can just burn them. But here we are going to use these as rope! Very convenient, they still have a grab reflex remaining in them, so when something touches the tips of these tendrils- "

He demonstrated by touching the unfortunate moon elf with said part of the leaf, and the whole thing quickly snaked out of Marion's arms and wrapped itself tightly around the other's figure.

"They are also quite long, generally makes for very good rope material- but the downside is that they are only this long and is hard to extend by tying them together, since the knots can't be tied tightly enough and they would just slip out and fall apart, like when you try to tie a lock of hair into a knot- there is a similar bounce to it."