Chapter 8

Elise
kneels next to Eliam, who is supporting Oren. "What have we done...?"

"Nothing we need to worry about right
now,” he answers. “...I'm assuming she's heading back to the inn.
Let's meet her there." With Elise's help, he secures Oren on his
back, and the two begin to walk.

The reddened landscape
extends almost too far to comprehend. They spot nothing noteworthy,
no signs of life as they trudge forward.

They arrive. The inn
is deserted. Minerva steps out to her and Elise's room and closes the
door behind her.

Eliam carries the mage upstairs, placing him onto a bed. He moves downstairs to the kitchen to find
beers. Alcohol will solve all problems today. Elise says, "I'll be right there,"
and removes Oren's bag and boots so he can rest comfortably.

Elise
listens at the door for all the footsteps to fade. She lowers her
hood and sits next to Oren. She sighs, with a slight tear in her eye. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

"There's just... there's no one else. There were so many orcs before. So many.

"I
don't... I can't just be hungry forever. It's not fair. I'm sorry.
I'm so sorry." She leans in, puts her lips to Oren's neck, and
drinks a portion of his blood.

She takes little. Just enough
to quell the worst of her hunger pangs without seriously harming Oren
or shocking him enough to wake him. It is painless.

She slips
the covers over Oren and tucks them in beside his neck so the pricks
where she drained him will not be noticeable until they've had a
chance to heal a little.

She stands and begins to close the
door behind her. Then she turns and says, "Minerva would never
approve... but we all know this is her fault, anyway." She
leaves and closes the door so Oren can rest.

Eliam returns and
jingles three mugs of beer. Elise takes one, knocks on Minerva's
door, and says, "There's ale out here for you. You can't hide in
there forever." She takes Eliam by the arm and leads him
downstairs.

"So... she just locked herself in there,
huh?" Eliam asks, unsure of what to say.

"She's not
good at losing people," Elise says, "whether she knows them
or not."

She sits by the window and stares into the sky.
The light on the skyglyph that was yellow remains blackened. Eliam
takes a seat next to her, chugging his beer. "I don't... I don't
really get it. Does this mean we're not actually the
children?"

Elise leans her head against the window. The
glass feels cool and comforting on her forehead. "Oren flooded a
giant arena with a river. It shouldn't be physically possible but he
did. You did... SOMETHING and made his magic strong enough to create
a pocket of dry land in the middle of a rushing stream. I can hea--"
she stops.

She stands up and stares at Eliam, but her gaze is
a thousand miles away.

She runs to the door leading outside
and opens it.

Elise stands in front of the inn, closes her
eyes, and raises her face to the sky.

Eliam follows her
outside and stands in the doorway. Her body is shaking.

"Um...
are you okay?" He starts to ask. She puts a finger to his lips.
"Shhh..."

Each time Eliam attempts to speak for the
next minute, she hushes him. Tears are dripping down her cheeks.
"It's... it's so quiet."

She whirls around and wraps
her arms around Eliam. Burying her face in his chest, she fully
weeps, "I never knew... I never knew how beautiful it was. It's
so quiet. Just the wind and the rustling of the grass. No people. No
talking. No conversations. Oh, Maker, bless you.”

Eliam pats
her back awkwardly. "I was kind of only half-joking before. I've
cut people off from their magic in fights before. I can't guarantee
it would work, but I could try it on you? But I have no idea if it
would be temporary, or permanent, or what. I mean... I guess you
don't need it now, since Oren... well, yeah. But when we get back to
Sylvatir, maybe."

"I... I think I would like that,"
she says, "Do you really think you can do that?"

"I
mean, it's worth a try if your situation is as bad as you say."
Eliam says. He tries to guide her back inside, but she resists.

"I'll come in in a minute. I just want to enjoy this,"
she says.

He shrugs, and sits down near the door, getting back
to his drink. The night passes uneventfully. Elise and Eliam retire
to bed eventually, and they notice as they do so that the mug of beer
outside Minerva's room is gone.

The next morning sees Oren
stirring. Minerva has left her room and is drinking an early morning
beer on a porch attached to the inn.

Elise is humming to
herself on the steps leading into the inn.

Oren is woozy and
lightheaded.

He flops to Eliam's bed, leaning over him and
shaking him a little. “Eliam, are you awake?” when he fails to
stir, Oren climbs up onto his bed, shaking him harder.

"I...
what? What are you doing? It's too early, why are you doing this,"
the bard mumbles.

"Wake up!" Oren says loudly. "Did
they all die?" he lays down next to him, resting his head on his
chest.

Eliam, half-asleep, puts his arm around him. "Yeah,
everyone's dead. You did it."

"Well, they killed
Votig so I had to,” he explains. “It's what he would have
wanted... are Minerva and Elise alive? I hope so."

"Yeah.
Elise was pretty shaken up. Minerva just went to her room and didn't
come out. She'll probably be fine too though."

"I
know she and Votig were really close,” Oren says. “She always
gets sad when people she likes die..."

"She should
be happy that his killers are dead at least, then," Eliam
responds.

Oren sits up, looking Eliam in the eyes. “Now we
can go to that cave without anyone stopping us."

"Wait,
cave?" The bard asks, confused.

"Remember that
vampire? She said the lotus flowers only grow in a pool of water
within a magic cave in the foothills, to the north. We need to go
there."

"Well... I guess we don't really have any
other leads,” Eliam decides. “Though I'd like to focus on getting
back to Sylvatir..."

"Maybe the wellspring is there
and we'll get more powers,” Oren suggests, “and a way
back."

Eliam shrugs, getting up and getting ready to go
downstairs. "Well... it's as good an idea as any. It would be
nice to get stronger. And find a way back home."

"Well
if anyone can find, the cave it's you," Oren says, fighting his
lightheadedness as he tries to stand.

"What do you mean?"

"You
can sense the aether, so you can find the cave if it's really
magical. And once you find it for me, we can go home."

"Oh,
right! That was amazing!” Eliam says, excitedly. “How are you, by
the way? I didn't think you could actually flood the whole damn arena
to the top, but you did. I guess that proves we really are the
strongest around!"

"I don't really know what I did,
but I think I'm even more tired than yesterday,” Oren replies.
“Maybe we should just hang out and rest somewhere before we go
wandering the frozen mountains"

"That's fine.
Nothing's stopping us from staying here. Elise said there wasn't
anyone around, probably for miles I guess. And the kitchen is well
stocked. We can probably find some things to take with us before we
go, actually."

"Everyone in the country except the
old and weak came to Judgement. And a few guards. So.... almost all
of the country is dead. That would probably make it easier to get
there." Oren gets up to walk downstairs, stumbling as he tries.
Eliam offers him his arm, and together they walk towards the
group.

They arrive downstairs to find Minerva being hurried
into the house by Elise, her hood covering her face. She closes the
door and says, "Someone is coming. I hear a horse."

Oren
quickly stumbles over, hugging Minerva. "You're okay. I'm glad I
didn't drown you."

Minerva returns his hug, stiffens,
pulls away, fixes him with an unreadable expression, then hugs him
again. "I'm glad you're all right. I-I was worried."

"I
think you told me to stop, sorry...” Oren says. “I wanted to make
sure they were all dead first."

She turns from him. "I
know."

“Hey, can either of you cook?" Oren asks,
looking at Minerva and Elise.

Elise flaps at his shoulder.
"Not right now! Someone's outside."

"So? It's
an inn," Oren says. "Let's get some food."

Elise
seems unsettled by visitors, perhaps because of how unaccustomed she
was to silence.

"It might just be someone looking for
another survivor,” Eliam says. “...Or someone trying to loot the
place."

### **Gwendolyn Arrives**

Oren throws around the pots and
pans, trying to figure out what does what. He decides to look for
foods he recognizes as already cooked, recognizing little.

Eliam
casually gets himself a beer, waiting for someone to provide
breakfast.

Gwendolyn ties up her horse outside the inn. She
walks around a little, keeping her horse within sight. The quiet of
the place unnerves her.

She enters the inn and sees Minerva
sitting quietly at a table, Elise hiding below the window while
trying not to look like she's hiding, and Eliam drinking a beer at
the table.

Warily looking at the people inside, she clanks her
way up to the bar, peering over it into the kitchen. “Hello?
Innkeeper?”

Oren looks up briefly from his search through
the cupboards, regarding her with suspicious. He quietly glances
towards the door.

"How can we help you, miss?"
Eliam asks.

"Oh, sorry, I just assumed..." she
glances at Oren, confused, then turns to Eliam, assuming he's the
innkeeper. ”I was just looking for some information, is all.
Perhaps some food, as well. It's been a long night and I fear it's
only just started." she reaches for her coin purse, counting out
what she hopes will be enough. "Do you know why it's so quiet
around?"

"I... sorry, is that a real question?"
The bard asks, confused at the idea that someone hasn't noticed the
devastation at the arena.

"I know there was something
called a Judgement but I thought it would be over by now." She
glances at Minerva and Elise, suddenly uncomfortable.

Oren finds food, but recognizes little
of the ingredients.

"Well... I guess it is over,
in a way. There was some kind of weird incident. No one's really sure
what happened, but the wall burst and the river flooded the whole
place. We were lucky that we happened to be outside at the time, but
no one else has come back since,” Eliam lies.

Oren begins to
sort through it, trying to figure out a breakfast plan. He separates
the obviously edible foods, like cheese and bread.

“Oh.”
She looks incredibly worried at this news. "Thank you, sir. I'm
afraid I must pass on breakfast then." She fishes out a silver
coin from her bag, and puts it on the table by his mug. "For the
information,” she explains, leaving quickly.

"Can you
come make a fire... and cook everything?" Oren calls out to
Minerva from behind the counter.

She turns her back on the woman
after she goes outside. "Start a fire? Yes. Cook with it...
hm."

Eliam takes the coin, examining it closely.
Wordlessly, he stands and shows it to Minerva.

"Okay,
well, we can figure it out..." Oren holds out an egg. "What
is this? If you drop them they explode. There are a lot of them, but
I don't think they're food."

Minerva blinks at the coin.
"Wh-- oh!" She says, "Oren, I have every faith in your
ability to figure out breakfast." She moves toward the door. As
she passes Elise, she mutters lowly, "Don't eat anything until I
get back. Eliam, she's from Sylvatir," Minerva says. "If we
figure out how she did that, we can figure out how to get
home."

"Right," the bard says, quickly exiting
the inn.

Oren moves to the table, setting the table nicely
with plates, cutlery, and napkins. He sets out wine for those who
drink it, and water for those who don't. He quietly takes a seat, and
waits for the others to join him.

"Sorry, where did you
get this coin?" Eliam calls out to the woman as he walks towards
her.

"I'm sorry, I know you haven't
seen it before, but it's real silver. Please believe me,” she says
distractedly as she mounts her horse.

Eliam grabs her horse's
reins. "Sorry, but it's kind of important. Did you find this
coin on the ground somewhere? Or did someone give it to
you?"

Minerva steps to the doorway to watch what's
happening.

Gwendolyn rests her hand on the hilt of her sword,
unsheathing it slightly in warning. "Sir, I must ask you to
release my reins. Time is of the essence, and while I would prefer
not to harm you, I *will not* allow someone impede my
quest."

Minerva steps forward, her demeanor calm. "Easy,
friend. Eaaasy. He was just curious about your coin. I don't suppose
you could tell us anything about your silver?" She
smiles.

Eliam removes his hands slowly. "No need for any
violence. I didn't mean any harm."

Gwendolyn looks back
and forth between the two, and takes her hand off her sword. "What
about it? It's simple coin."

"It's just strange to see currency
from Iquai all the way out here, is all," Eliam says
casually.

"Iquai? How do you-" recognition dawns on
her face "It's you, then. It must be. *You're the*
Children.*"*

"I don't know if I'd say that,” he
replies. “But what do you want with the children, exactly? Why
don't you come inside and we'll talk about it." He holds out his
hand to help her dismount.

"My name is Lady Gwendolyn
Oberle, Paladin of the Holy Church of Fallowfield, sworn protector of
the *True* Maker and those who follow Him." She accepts his
hand, gracefully stepping off the horse. "And I've come to
rescue them."

He smiles. "I'm Eliam Westmonte, of
Glenhaven. Sort of. Legendary hero and child of the Maker. And more
than happy to be rescued and able to finally leave this
place."

Minerva says nothing as Gwendolyn and Eliam
speak.

"Oh." Gwendolyn's body language turns
defense, as if put off, and she busies herself retying her horse.
"What do you mean, 'sort of?' I imagine it's hard to only
partially be a part of one of the more prestigious families in
Iquai."

"Haha, well... it's a bit of a long story,”
he answers cheerfully. “Just a minor squabble with my family back
home. But it's not really that important"

Minerva raises
an eyebrow, but says nothing and returns to her drink.

"Hm."
Gwendolyn turns to Minerva after ensuring her horse is secure. "And
you are?"

She stands up and extends her hand. "Minerva.
Nice to meet you."

Elise pokes her head around the corner
inquisitively. Only her eye and cheek are visible behind her hood and
the frame of the door.

Gwendolyn takes Minerva's hand and
politely shakes it. "So, then, back to the matter at hand. I
believe this belongs to one of you." She reaches into a bag on
her belt, opening it to reveal Votig's yellow orb from Fallowfield.
She is careful not to touch it directly.

Minerva stares at it
and glances at Eliam. She successfully hides the surprise on her face
and passively regards the orb with an appropriate expression of
inquisitiveness.

Eliam immediately steps forward. "Well...
it did, once. The person it belonged to is... gone, now. Careful not
to touch it, I think it hurts you if it does."

Elise
shyly steps out and sits quietly on the step, a forlorn expression on
her face. Minerva sits and joins her, and Elise leans against her
noiselessly.

"Gone? Oh, Maker..." she says, sadly,
bowing her head slightly. "That would explain the Skyglyph,
then. When I saw a part of it disappear, I felt such... *sadness*.
For a Child to die..." She sighs. "How did it happen?"

"It
turns out the orcs here are pretty merciless,” Eliam explains. “A
shopkeeper falsely accused us of stealing, and within the day the
police had taken us to fight in the judgment. Minerva tried to escort
us all out, but, well... none of us had slept or eaten for a while. I
don't know if he was thinking clearly, but Votig decided to stay and
fight. He was the best fighter we had, honestly; I think he wanted to
keep proving himself... but when the river flooded the place, he,
well... he didn't make it."

Gwendolyn has seen much in
her life. She has seen good people making good decisions and bad
decisions. She has seen the occasional bad person making bad
decisions. She is not certain whether this man is a good person or a
bad person, but she knows he is making a bad decision.

Eliam
said they were falsely accused, but surely there must be more to the
story? He said this "Votig" chose to stay and fight but who
would accept that almost certain death when freedom was so close at
hand? And a river flooding an arena? How is that possible? This story
doesn't add up. He is trying to trick her, and that is a bad
decision.

"You... *let him stay?*" Gwen says,
horrified.

"I mean... we did try to talk him out of it!
And it's not like we were in any state to fight," Eliam says
defensively.

Minerva puts her arm around Elise comfortingly,
then says, "Votig was my friend. A good man. And twenty-five
pounds of stubborn in a waist satchelbag. He made up his mind. I
could either stay there to convince him and get us all caught, or get
my other two friends to safety. So yes. I let him stay. I've replayed
that moment over and over in my mind," she says, standing up and
walking over to them, "about what I could have said or done to
stop him, but every time I just see him in my mind shrugging me off
and choosing to fight. Votig drank, and Votig fought. That's what he
did. Halfway through our journey, he stopped drinking. I guess I
shouldn't have been surprised he stopped fighting, too."

Gwendolyn
mumbles to herself, "*Forgiveness, Gwen. The Maker forgives.*"
She sighs, "What's done is done. I believe that you tried all
you could to save your friend, and above all, we must strive forward.
I'm sure this was in His plan, as well. Have you recovered the body?
A Child deserves to be laid to rest, after all."

Eliam
puts his arm around Minerva. "It wasn't your fault. You could
have spent all night trying to talk him out of staying and he'd never
have listened. And I mean, you saved Oren and I. We'd be dead if it
weren't for you." He frowns as she mentions the body "It...
only just happened last night. And one of our friends was passed out.
We came back here to take care of him."

Elise's eyes are
open and fixed. She says, "There were hundreds of orcs in that
arena. Water and blood and ice and stone everywhere. Mashed and
severed limbs. And as soon as the walls cracked, the wind carried the
voices to me. When I close my eyes, I hear more screams than you can
count. More deaths than you can ever possibly remember." Her
voice shakes for a moment. She closes her eyes, but trembles and they
snap open again. "Votig was my friend. But I will not go
back."

She is crying now, silent sobs that shake her tiny
frame. She stands and enters the building in a failed attempt to
remove herself from the conversation as best she can.

Eliam
pauses for a moment, and helps himself to the rest of Minerva's
drink. "So... I think I'm going to need another one of these.
Sounded like Oren found some wine before we came out here."

Minerva
stands up after Eliam takes the beer. "Agreed. Let's have a few
for Votig today. We can figure out what to do tomorrow."

The
rogue looks at Gwen, assuming she's leaving. "It was nice
meeting you." She steps back inside.

"Hey Elise! Are
you hungry?” Oren asks happily as she walks in. “Come sit down so
we can eat." The table is set for five, and covered in food.
Cakes, and pastries sit on the table, next to an unbaked pie and a
raw steak. Unpeeled veggies sit on the table next to a bowl of
uncooked eggs.

Elise moves past her to the
bedrooms. Her voice wavers as she says, "Thank you, no."

“Oh, hi Minerva!” Oren tries again
as the rogue walks in. “Are you hungry? Come sit down. There's some
breakfast if you want.”

Minerva sits, takes a deep breath
and says, "That's really nice. Thank you, Oren. What've you
made?"

"I didn't make any of it," he answers,
pouring her some wine. "After you carved that wall up did you
feel tired? I feel really weak and tired, and kind of light headed
like I used to when I had bled a lot. Is that normal? Though I guess
we haven't eaten much since we left Fallowfield..."

"Tired,
but not exhausted. I didn't do as much as you did and I was eating
all week," she notes.

"I guess that's why, maybe I
should go sleep again." Oren eats one of the pastries slowly,
staring at the door and waiting for Eliam. He keeps an eye on
Minerva, waiting to see what she deems edible enough to eat.

Gwen is fairly taken aback at
Elise's tale, and after they both go back inside she looks to Eliam.
"What did she mean? She could hear them?"

"Everyone
could. There... there were a lot of people in there. But hey! This
isn't the time to think about that stuff, right? There's food and
wine inside. And I'd love a chance to drink with a beautiful woman
like yourself," he says, trying to take Gwendolyn's arm.

She
laughs, not mockingly but more surprised. "I've heard stories
about you Westmonte boys. I guess some of them were true, huh?"
She doesn't allow Eliam to take her arm, but smiles at him before
walking toward the door.

"Wait... stories? Only good
ones, I hope. Your name sounds vaguely familiar though... where are
you from, anyways?" He follows her to the door,
undeterred.

Minerva picks some bread and cheese and eats
intermittently with sips of wine.

"Eliam come eat! ...If
you're hungry," Oren says as they near the door.

"Some
good, I suppose. Others, well..." She walks to the table as she
answers him. "Well, I believe I mentioned I was from
Fallowfield. Though before that, I lived in Hadleigh."

Once
more, Eliam tries to slip his arm around her. "Well, I promise
you only the good stories are true. Oh... Hadleigh, that's south,
right? They grow wine down there or something."

Gwen
slips away before he can succeed, and takes a seat closer to Oren.
"We don't really... *grow wine*. We grow the grapes that
turn into it, though." She turns towards the mage, hoping to
hide her discomfort at the conversation. "Hello."

"Hi.
Are you hungry?” Oren asks. “There's a lot of it, you can have
some if you like." He pours her some wine, then gestures to the
food. "Help yourself"

“Either way. I like the end
result," Eliam says as he pours himself another glass. "This...
wow. Did you set this all by yourself?” He looks around. “Where's
Elise?"

"She's not hungry, she went upstairs,"
Oren answers. He eats, keeping his eye on the eggs to see if anyone
reveals how they're meant to be eaten.

"Oh. Thank you,”
Gwendolyn says awkwardly, surprised and uncomfortable and Oren pours
the wine. “I think you're the only one I haven't been introduced
to."

"I think so," Oren confirms, looking
around the table awkwardly. He returns to his meal.

"Oh...”
Eliam says, raising his glass. “Oh well, her loss. To
Votig!”

Minerva raises her glass, murmurs, "To Votig,"
downs it, and pours another.

Eliam follows her lead, drowning
his glass and pouring another for himself.

Gwen matches the
cheer, "To Votig." before taking a small sip. "What
was he like?"

"He was the most stubborn son of a
bitch I ever met,” Eliam answers, grabbing a pastry. “He was
genuinely nice, though. He used to cook for us, and keep watch. And
look out for us. Honestly we probably only made it this far thanks to
him fighting for us."

"His cooking was good.
Though, Minerva complained," Oren adds.

Minerva says,
"His cooking was fine. Drove well. I miss his lizard."

Oren
leans towards Minerva, pointing at the eggs. "Do you like
those?" He leans back in his chair, sipping his wine.

Minerva responds, "I've never been a huge fan. A little
too... gooey?"

"Yes, I know right? That's what I
said.” Oren slides the bowl to Eliam. "Just goo..."

Gwen listens quietly to the conversation, sipping politely
and sampling some of the cheese.

"I don't think I've ever
seen them prepared like this,” Eliam says, passing the bowl to
Gwen. “I think I'm good for now, thanks."

"Thirshalonian
food is really different, I guess.” Oren gestures at an unpeeled
onion. "Like that." He refills his cup.

Gwen picks
up an egg. "It's different? It's just... uncooked, isn't it?"
she examines it, trying to understand what they're getting at.

Oren
looks at her, on the edge of his seat. "So... what is it? I mean
how... do you normally... eat it?"

Minerva frowns
slightly. "Are-- are you serious right now?"

“You... cook them, I guess?” Eliam
tries to answer. “Just toss them into the fire?”

"There
was no fire in there, the stove isn't magic so I didn't know how to
make it heat up. I was going to make some tea... hey, wait!
Minerva!" He grabs her hand, pulling her out of her seat and up
the stairs. "Come with me!"

"I need to ask you
about wonderful teas and Eliam you should *see if Gwendolyn knows*
about them.*"*

When they reach his room, Oren closes
the door and locks it. "Did you see a pale woman with dark hair
when you were traveling?" he asks.

"Oh. I get it."
Gwen says to Eliam. "You think just because of my family name
I've never cooked before, right?"

"What? I didn't
say that," Eliam protests. As Oren leaves, he tries to make
sense of his words.

Gwendolyn hears Eliam whisper her name but
nothing else. She thinks he's trying to subtly get her attention,
which is odd as everyone else is leaving. Gwen watches as the other
two leave the room before looking at Eliam, "Yes?"

"Oh,
sorry, nothing. Don't mind him, he's sort of... weird. I think maybe
he wants tea? He can get that himself though," Eliam answers,
continuing to drink.

Gwen is unsure of what to say, and sips
her wine as well.

"So... How did someone like you end up
becoming a paladin?" Eliam asks, making conversation.

"I
lacked an interest in following in my mother's footsteps, and had a
desire to do good in the world away from my family's burdens. This
led me to Fallowfield, where I met Prilla."

"Oh... I
remember her. She was nice. I still don't understand why she sent us
to this Maker-forsaken place, though. Your mother's
footsteps?"

“Yes, she was a great mentor, as well as a
great person. Iquai is worse with her passing." Gwendolyn takes
another sip, "She runs the family winery, of course. I was to be
groomed to follow in her footsteps, being the only heir, but..."

"So
Prilla... okay. I guess, with what happened, that... that makes
sense,” Eliam says quietly, pouring himself another glass."You
were the only heir and they let you go? That's surprising. If I'd
been heir to my family's company I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have
disowned me so quickly."

"There's not much left of
the church, either. The only thing I could recover was that orb, and
even that was too late." Gwen sighs. "They didn't really
have a choice. I left in the middle of the night, and the church
offered some protection. It's hard to force someone back who's given
their life to the Church without social consequences. ...Wait,
*disowned*?"

"There was a... minor incident
with a business partner's daughter. Honestly it wasn't even entirely
my fault. I mean, you'd think she'd have gotten some blame too,
right? But no, I was the one kicked out into the cold. I mean, they'd
warned me, but... I didn't think they'd ever actually *do* it,
you know? Why you would leave by choice, I have no idea. Especially
to join the church."

"So that was *you*, then,”
she says, looking at him. “I had heard the story, but never the
name... my *cousin's* family refused to tell my own the name. We
just heard the rumors."

"Sorry, what do yo- ...Oh.
Oh, no. You're joking, right?"

"You weren't aware
that the Talstons were related to my family? What do they teach you
up north, I wonder,” Gwendolyn says, taking another sip.

"I
er... I didn't really listen to my tutors much,” Eliam says,
embarassed. “But, hey... the past is the past, right?"

Gwen
downs what was left in her glass and pours another. "I...I
suppose. At least now I know to keep an eye on you. When did you
realize you were one of the Children?" she asks, changing the
subject.

"Oh, pretty recently actually. Though... Maker,
it feels like forever ago,” Eliam answers. “I was in an inn when
some of the Rorgh came and tried to start trouble. A fight broke out,
and well... Votig actually punched one's ribs out, which was honestly
pretty terrifying! Great for us, but terrifying. Then Minerva showed
up, and took Oren, Votig and I to join her weird rebel cult thing.
They sent us off to the wellspring, at which point we all sort of
ended up jumping in. We didn't die, so we realized something was
special about us."

"The wellspring? I was over in
Saloria before I heard that the Rorgh were marching on Fallowfield,
trying to figure out how it was destroyed. Do you know anything about
that?"

"Not a clue, unfortunately...
though after we left, I heard that some of the Rorgh were heading out
to the wellspring. It's possible they came and destroyed it after we
left for Fallowfield."

She tilts her head, sensing that
something is not quite right about his story. "You know..."
she takes a sip of wine, "I feel like you've been lying to me
since we met. I don't feel like I've done anything to deserve your
mistrust, so really, why don't you trust me? I am exactly who I say I
am, someone sent to help you."

Eliam looks at her for a moment, and
quietly finishes his drink. "I don't... mistrust you. I just...
I don't like when people are upset with me. Or my friends."

"I'm here to protect you. The
*Maker* sent me. I'm not here to judge you. The past is the
past, remember?" She says, smiling at him.

Eliam rests his head on the table,
the day's drinking getting to him. "Just... everything has gone
wrong. Absolutely everything. We broke the wellspring. Votig didn't
want to touch it, he hated being a mage. He hated having those
powers. So he broke it. I thought things were okay, but in Saloria,
all the wildlife just... went wrong? They attacked the town. What
were we even supposed to do? I don't even know if the town is okay
now. It's probably not; they're probably all dead, like Prilla,
because of us. Eventually someone's going to realize that was all
us."

Upstairs, Minerva steps to the
window and turns her back to Oren. She opens the curtain and looks
outside. She very obviously avoids looking at him, and folds her arms
over her chest. "We saw many people while we traveled here."

"Well,” Oren repeats, “did
you see a creepy pale lady in a nice wagon at night who likes to
drink blood of innocent mages?”

"I don't think so," Minerva
says softly. "There were many people on the road, like I said."

"Ok, that's good." He moves
closer to her, reaching for her hood, stopping before he reaches the
clasp. "Can....you… take this off? I want to make sure you're
not a vampire. It's not that I don't trust you, but if you were a
vampire you would probably try to hide it and I want to make sure."

Minerva raises her hands to undo the cloak's clasp and
removes it. She opens the window, sticks her head outside, squints in
the light, then pulls herself back inside. She closes the window and
draws the curtains closed, then puts her cloak back on. She walks for
the door, and pauses as she's about to leave. She slurs, "The
next time you ask me to remove some clothing when we're alone in a
room, make it more interesting," and turns to leave.

"Hey,
wait!" Oren calls. She pauses in the doorway and he takes her
hand, pulling her back inside. “Wait, I need to check you for
bites. Please don't be mean.”

"That's ridiculous,"
Minerva says, "don't be silly." She turns around to leave
but Elise is suddenly standing in the doorway, hood raised, blocking
her.

"Yes, Minerva," she says. "Go ahead.
You've nothing to hide. Right?"

"Oh hi, Elise, um...” Oren
pauses, nervously. “We're just... doing grown up
things..."

Minerva steps back unconsciously.
"Elise..."

"I can't do this, Minerva," she
says. "I can't. Please don't make me hide anymore."

Oren steps between them. “Don't
fight.”

Minerva goes to bracingly place her
hands on Elise's shoulders but Oren is in the way, separating them.
"Oren, please, not now."

“No, now is fine. Now is
perfect," Elise says, "We need to talk anyway."

"Why
don't I go get Eliam... because I don't understand you two on a good
day and you're acting absolutely insane right now," Oren
suggests, trying to move to the door. Elise blocks his path, hovering
a foot off the ground while the winds rise around her.

Downstairs,
Eliam and Gwen sense a disturbance upstairs as wind begins to tear
through the building.

Gwen listens to him intently.
"Remember, the Maker has a plan for you all. Even the bad...I'm
sure that it was just a test. Perhaps to make you stronger, for the
trials to come." Gwen puts a hand on Eliam's head, kind of
brushing his hair some, "But thank you for telling me - what is
*that?!*"

The bard looks upstairs, standing
quickly as the winds furiously begin to gather. Gwendolyn, sensing
something is dangerously wrong, follows him upstairs.

Minerva
is stunned, her eyes welling slightly. Oren moves her and before she
can react the door is closed and locked before her. The wind beats
against the door ceaselessly and Elise's words are wailing on the
opposite side.

"Why is she so angry? What happened?"
Oren asks, pulling her into a hug. "Why are you crying?"

"Tell
them! Tell them, Minerva. Go ahead. Go ahead, I don't **care**
anymore!" she shouts. “Votig's dead. Chompy's gone. We got
attacked because everyone kicked us out and-- and I can't stop
hearing e-everything and the hunger just... it doesn't stop. I can't
stop it, someone, please, I can't stop it, help me, please."

"We
can't help you, go ask Eliam!" Oren desperately shouts over the
wind.

Minerva places her forehead against the door. She's
trying to find the words to respond but they haven't come to her
yet.

"We didn't kick her out!” he says to Minerva.
“See, this is what I meant- she throws a tantrum over everything,
how can she handle a real fight?"

Minerva whips around
and **grabs** Oren by the clothing at his shoulder. She pulls him
forward by his shirt and says, "We're suffering this **because**
of you. Her powers already made her life a living hell and **you**
made it worse**. You don't get to infantilize her. Not over**
this."

"I never told her to leave!” Oren argues.
“We were going to leave her somewhere safe so she wouldn't get
hurt, not send her out on her own to wander. And she shouldn't have
left Ushad in the first place! Do you think she'd be better off if
she got arrested with us?!"

As Eliam crests the top steps
and sees Elise hovering in the air, she shouts, "If you wanted
me gone, I would have rather you just killed me! It would have been
better than this!"

"I didn't want you gone, I wanted
you to be safe!" Oren shouts to her.

Minerva pushes off
Oren, ignoring him. She opens the door and jumps to Elise to try and
hold her.

Eliam connects to the strings of aether and sees the
ones that tie Elise to the wind. He constricts them, weakening their
flow. The wind dies down and Elise drifts to the floor. She buckles
to her knees and Minerva envelops her in her arms.

Elise weeps as Minerva squeezes
her. The rogue is crying, too, and muttering, "I'm sorry, I'm
sorry, I'm so sorry. I was too weak and I just couldn't... It's all
my fault."

After a moment, Elise calms. She sniffles, "I
just... I don't know what to do."

Minerva answers, "None
of us do. But you're not alone. I'm here. I'm with you." Minerva
coaxes Elise to her feet. "Are you sure you want to talk about
it?"

Elise looks at Eliam, then at Oren. "They have
to know. If they leave me behind again, at least I'll probably die
this time."

Oren sits down on the bed, sighing
dramatically at Elise's hysterical words.

Minerva slaps her
hand. "Absolutely not. You stay with me. We stay together. We'll
make it through. And **you**," she says, when Oren sighs.
"**No.**"

"We didn't leave you!” He
insists. “You left!"

Minerva's eyes glow red. Elise's
purple. They are holding each other back.

"This is
crazy,” he says, annoyed. “I know I'm not very good at
communicating but all I did was try to have a conversation about the
best way to keep Elise out of danger."

"Okay! Okay,
easy. Everyone,” Eliam interrupts. “Oren, why don't we go to the
kitchen real quick and get some drinks for everyone? I think everyone
could use some tea. And a moment. You know how to make tea,
right?"

"I seriously don't understand why that makes
me bad?” Oren continues, then answers Eliam. “...Yeah, I can make
tea, but I don't know how to turn on the stove down there."

"That's
okay. We can go figure it out,” he responds, taking Oren's arm. “Do
you know how to use a stove, Gwendolyn?"

"I
think...I would like to stay up here, for now,” Gwen answers. “You
two go ahead."

Minerva holds her forehead to Elise's and
whispers, "Everything's okay. You're okay."

"Okay. We're not leaving,”
Eliam stresses, “we'll be right back.” He guides Oren downstairs
to the kitchen.

"So. May I ask what that was
about?" Gwendolyn kneels beside the women and asks
quietly.

"Can you give us a minute?" Minerva asks as
levelly as she can. "We'll need to talk to everyone anyway.
We'll come down momentarily.”

Gwen nods and heads toward the stairs,
but turns her head back at the two before she walks down. "The
Maker has a reason for everything. Remember that."

As the two men get downstairs, Oren
walks immediately to the desk, grabbing a pen and paper. He fills a
kettle with some water, and sets it on the stove. "Figure out
how to start a fire in there, I guess," he tells Eliam while he
writes. After a moment, he hands his note to him.

“What is wrong with them? Did I
really do anything that bad? I don't understand, I never wanted to
abandon her; I don't want her to get hurt and it's dangerous for her
to be with us,” the note reads.

Eliam pulls out a flint and tinder
and starts a fire in the stove. He reads the note, and picks up the
pen and paper to write a response while Oren makes sure the fire is
stable.

"It's... rough. Elise looks so
young. But she wants to be treated like an adult. And with how Votig
died... don't think they're handling it well,” he writes.

Oren reads the note, and tosses the
paper into the fire.

### **Elise and Minerva Talk about Their Journey**

Later,
the party regroups at a table downstairs. The tea has been made. Oren
serves some to everyone before finding his own seat at the table.

After he sits, Minerva says, "We... didn't have the best
of luck the night we separated."

Elise looks at the
table, not meeting anyone's eyes. She says quietly, "We tried to
pick a quiet spot off the road to sleep where we wouldn't be spotted,
but a woman with dark hair found us."

"We had both
fallen asleep. It was stupid of me but I couldn't help it,"
Minerva says. "I tried to keep watch but I just... I passed
out."

Elise grumbles under her breath.

"When
I woke up," Minerva says, her voice wavering, "that woman
was... biting me. In the neck. It was awful and painful and terrible.
I felt like something was just... leaving me. It was one of the worst
feelings of my life."

"I couldn't... think straight.
It felt like hours but I guess it was only a few minutes. But for
those minutes I was just... animal. Animal and instinct and rage and
pain and sorrow and absolutely no inhibitions," Minerva
explains.

"And," Elise cuts her off suddenly in a
sharp tone, "instead of turning your instincts on the **woman**
who just attacked us...**"**

Minerva cries. "I-I bit
Elise."

"Elise and I spent the better part of the
night moving through the wilds, searching for anything to bite.
Animals. People. Whatever. The woman with the dark hair watched us,
followed us with sadistic glee," Minerva continues. "For
some reason we never... saw her as a target. Just an ally."

"Oh,
okay" Oren sips his tea. "So are you both vampires?"

"But
then," Elise says, cutting over Oren's question, "our
powers just... saved us. Kind of. The first thing I remember being
really... coherently aware of was looking at Minerva in the dawning
sunlight, surrounded by her Child aura. And I surrounded by
mine."

Minerva adds, "The woman explained a little
of it to us. Her bite cursed us. She called herself one of the
Noctyr. They add to their numbers by biting and infecting others with
their curse. Over time, a normal Noctyr would come to their senses
and, if they hadn't died in the wild, they could join back into
society to infect others."

"But we were different,"
Elise says. "Our Child powers brought us back to our senses and
erased almost all of the curse... Except for the hunger. The endless,
awful hunger."

"Normal Noctyr are hurt by sunlight,"
Minerva says. "It stings us a little but we can tolerate it.
It's like being in a bath that's a touch too warm. You don't
necessarily like it but your body adjusts."

"Did you
kill her?" Oren asks.

"We tried," Minerva said,
"but she got away as soon as she realized we were Children. We
couldn't catch her since she had that wagon."

"So
now," Elise says, "we, um..."

Minerva pats her
shoulder to encourage her.

"We need energy from life to
survive," Elise says. "We have to consume from living
beings to keep the hunger at bay."

"Animals can do
in a pinch," Minerva adds, "but... we had to drain blood
from orcs." She looks downward. "I'm not proud of it. But
we have to live until we cure the curse."

"I wonder
why she didn't bite us," Oren wonders.

Minerva looks at
him. "Yes, I meant to ask you about that. You saw her too, you
say?"

"She pulled up to where we were camped,” he
answers. “I asked her a few questions about Thirshalon which she
answered. She was talking about tea, I thought she meant the flowers
could be made into tea but I think she meant blood. She called me
'wonderful tea,' though her grammar was weird, she said it likes
'teas', she cut my hand and licked the blood off a knife and rode off
towards you. I think Votig scared her off."

Minerva's
face goes white. Her expression hardens. She looks similar to how she
looks immediately before a fight.

"Don't worry,” Oren
says, reaching over and patting her back comfortingly. “If you get
hungry you can have some of my blood. I'm used to it."

With
gritted teeth, she forces herself to say, "Oren. I know you're
trying to help. But if you don't remove your hand. I'm going to burn
it off of you."

Elise narrows her eyes at Minerva. "What?
Don't you remember? The woman said that a group had tipped her off
that there were two woman on the road. That woman was looking for us
because of a group of three people and their pet."

"I... I didn't want to think it
was you,” she answers, looking around at the group.

"It
seems I wasn't sent here to just protect you all from outside
threats, but from each other, as well,” Gwendolyn says, quietly.
“Maker give me strength."

Eliam puts his hand on Oren's
back, trying to ease the pain of Minerva's rejection.

"You
sent the Noctyr to us. You sent us this curse," Minerva says
slowly.

"She was already heading that way, we didn't tell
her about you,” Oren protests. “She asked why Chompy was looking
that way and we said 'our friends went that way.' Don't blame us, if
you two could control your emotions and had stayed to discuss things
instead of storming off we all would have been better off."

"No
one did anything maliciously or on purpose,” Eliam explains. “We
hadn't met anyone from Thirshalon at that point. We had no idea that
this place had vampires or deathfight pits or whatever other horrors
we're going to find next. We're all lost and confused here and just
trying to do the best we can."

Minerva grits her teeth,
then breathes and says, "I know... that you're right. But it's
hard to **feel** that through the hunger."

"I know,” Oren answers. “You
just have to remember that being my friend will lead to more food,
and then you can allow yourself to be kind to me even though the
curse doesn't want you to bother with it."

Elise says, "We think we know
of a cure. We're not sure but it's the best chance we have."

Minerva
folds her hands and rests her head in them. "Our Child powers
responded to the sun and the aether around us to cure us of the worse
symptoms of the curse. We thought that if we were to find a super
concentration of aether, it might finish the job."

“Well,
I know where the wellspring might be,” Oren offers. “So, do you
want to try jumping in?"

Elise opens her eyes wide. "Do
you really know where one is?"

"It might be our only
chance..." Minerva says.

“Maybe. That vampire told me
about a cave in the foothills to the north that has a magic pool of
pure water where lotus flowers grow, but it sort of sounds like a
wellspring doesn't it? Either way it's magical and might be helpful.
But we should try to find a library or something here and research
it, I don't have to go there right away, we can help you first."

Minerva sighs again. "I don't
know how much I want to trust that Noctyr again but... if there IS a
wellspring, we need it."

"This curse... Have you spread
it, like the other Noctyr?" Gwendolyn asks.

Elise shakes
her head in response to Gwen. "No," she says, "we
watched our first victim to see if he changed and he was fine."

"The Child's Blessing has
taken away our ability to spread the curse, which, thank the Maker,
has protected everyone we've touched," Minerva answers.

Oren hops up from the table,
looking for a map. “That's good, so you can feed from us until we
fix you. Or forever if not."

Elise is feeling better.
"Oren, that's really sweet of you to offer. Thank you so
much."

Oren "I'm used to it, and blood is hard to
find. People get weird if you try to buy it"

She places
a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I look forward to it,
especially since I, uh... maybe already know how you taste
thanks-very-much-I-appreciate-it!"

"Sorry, you
*what*?" Eliam asks, concerned. He and Gwen exchange a
confused look.

"What?" Oren asks, shaking off her
hand. "And you wonder why we don't trust you."

Elise
looks slightly crestfallen. "I'm sorry," she says quietly.
"I just... I couldn't take it and you were there and I didn't
know how to tell you and I ... I know I should be dead but I want to
survive this curse long enough to take that ... that... that.. that
bitch of a Noctyr with me!"

Minerva and Elise retire to another
room together as Oren searches for a map.

### **Oren and Eliam Look for a Map**

After they leave,
Eliam grabs the pen and paper from before. He jots down a quick note,
and passes it to Gwendolyn: “Elise can hear everything you say out
loud, regardless of where she is. So be careful what you
say."

Gwendolyn accepts the note, reads it, and downs the
rest of her wine. She writes a note back and passes it to Eliam, who
reads it in turn. He pockets it, and goes to join Oren while he plots
their course. Gwendolyn rises and walks outside to feed and tend to
her horse.

"Ok so we're around here,"
Oren points near Asle Lenor, "and we need to get here," he
points at Agridolo. "Maybe we can take a boat, if they weren't
damaged, and just go up through the bay. That would be nice because
we could rest and prepare without staying here long, and avoid any
survivors..."

"That should work, I think,” Eliam
says, looking over the path he's traced out. “We should be able to
find at least one undamaged ship out there. Hopefully the rooms here
have some supplies left behind as well."

"Well there
are likely abandoned shops in the city. Or we can get what we need in
the North, and just pack food for now. Do you think they threw all of
our things in that arena?"

"Oh... good question. Do
you have anything you still need that you didn't already get,
though?" Eliam asks.

"Nothing essential, but we had
armour and clothing and books that would be really useful. A book
about the wellspring would probably help, and there was that book
about Thirshalon. And the orbs. I bet you could find those with your
abilities,” Oren suggests.

"Oh! Right. I forgot about
the books. We could maybe use those. Yeah... that should make it a
lot simpler. Do you actually think the wellspring is up there?"

"I'm
not sure, it's a guess. You need to make sure I don't trick you into
going to the cave first, helping Minerva and Elise is our priority
but I'm not going to care about that later, probably."

"Well,
it's as good a guess as any. What do you mean, you won't care about
that later? And tricking me?"

"I don't know, being
with the river before helped me be more normal I guess but now we're
far from it and it's full of blood so it's not going to last, I'll
probably start worrying about going there more and it'll matter more
to me than anything, so don't let me prioritize it over more
important things,” Oren warns him. “And when we get there don't
let me hurt anyone who's important, I'll probably need some blood and
I don't want to hurt you or anyone I know. Maybe we should bring a
sacrifice. Then the girls could eat..."

Eliam laughs,
"You saw what happened out there. Where do you plan on finding a
survivor to sacrifice? And don't think like that. Maybe you'll stay
like this, if you feel better like this. I know you won't hurt anyone
though. I mean, you haven't hurt any of us yet, at least."

Oren
takes his hands and faces him, smiling serenely."don't worry, I
won't hurt *you*. I probably won't lie to you, I really care
about you and it's not necessary to lie because you're already going
to help me, right?"

"Oh..." Eliam looks at his
hands, trying to figure out if he should be concerned. "That's...
reassuring. Thank you. I really do care about you. You're one of the
only people that's been nice to me ever since this whole mess got
started. I'm glad you won't lie to me though. I won't lie to you
either. I mean, we're in this together, so there's not much point.
But... yeah, I do want to help you, if I can. You're my
friend"

"Good,” Oren says happily, “and after,
we can go home and I'll be normal and you'll be my top priority,
okay? I'll do whatever you want to thank you. Just don't let me do
anything crazy until then... I'm still really tired from yesterday
and Minerva has the flower, but when we leave I'll be like that
again. I can still care about you because you're so useful, but I
worry that I'll be a bad friend and I don't think you should have to
deal with vampires alone as the only sane person. Will that woman
Gwendolyn be with us? She seems nice, is she human? Maybe she can
feed the girls and be the sacrifice..."

"No,
absolutely not. Gwen is nice,” Eliam says quickly. “We'll hunt
some deer if we have to but we're not hurting her. Also, we're
barring the door at night from now on; no more surprises like the one
Elise just threw at us. You don't have to just do whatever I say
though; I'll be happy if you're happy. You're not a bad friend though
but... wait, sorry, are you saying it's the flower that makes you
crazy?"

"But I *will* do anything you say,”
Oren continues serenely. “The flower made me crazy, I guess, I mean
I'm not how I was before, but it's not so bad. I just have to get rid
of it. But when I didn't have it I felt like that still, it wasn't
until I jumped in the water and I sat there relaxing and talking to
Minerva that I felt more normal, so maybe it washed all the blood off
me and let me worry about real things for a while. But it's wearing
off. I keep feeling impatient again...” He frowns. “But that
river is full of blood, and I killed all those people, so I don't
know if that'll work again"

"I mean... you say that,
but... I don't know. But Gwendolyn is a paladin! Apparently Prilla
sent her. Paladins are supposed to be good at weird, evil artifacts
like that, right? I can take the flower to her, maybe she can fix
you."

"I know how to get rid of it, at that cave,”
Oren says. “Prilla sent her?"

"Yeah, she said it
was her mission to rescue us; she's from the church. Is that what's
at the cave? That's great news!" Eliam says, excited.

"Yeah
I hope I get to be normal after. We'll see.”

"You
definitely will. Then we'll figure out what to do when we're done
with this whole quest. You should meet Gwendolyn, though. That was...
a pretty horrible introduction all around, but she is really nice. I
think you'll get along."

"Okay, that's good, I'm
glad you have someone as refined as you are to talk to now. She'll be
better company than us peasants."

"I... whoa, okay.
Sorry,” Eliam says, taking his hands back. “Are you trying to be
sarcastic?"

"No? I'm sorry," Oren says,
worried. "You're a gentleman so you deserve a lady to talk to,
we're all just normal people..."

"I don't see you
that way at all,” Eliam sighs. “You're my friend. I'm not better
than you. And I mean, I'm not exactly a gentleman anyways... even if
I'd stayed home I wouldn't have inherited much, and I'm not really
good at anything to make up for it. But you're good company. Way
better than some.”

"Well maybe if you marry her you
can be rich again, then your family would like you again. And she's
pretty.”

"It's a little early to start planning that,”
Eliam says, laughing. “But I appreciate the thought"

"Well,
I just mean, maybe don't seduce her."

"What do you
mean?"

"If you sleep with her then she's going to
expect you to propose,” Oren explains, “and then you're going to
take off and we'll have to abandon her. So just be polite and
respectful, that way she'll help us and you can court her later when
we're home. It'll be easy if she's that loyal to the Maker. I mean
you're important to her, she'll want to be with you for
sure..."

"Oh... I mean, I wouldn't... I wouldn't
just take off like that,” Eliam stammers. “I don't even know why
you think that. And you can't just abandon her here. She's from
Sylvatir, you can't subject her to this shitty place." He frowns
for a moment, thinking. "Can you even get married if you're a
part of the church?"

"Why not?” Oren shrugs. “She's
not a priestess, she's a paladin. Probably different rules. And
you're a Child; she can break the rules for you. Do you even like
her? I thought you liked Minerva. And you said I was second. But you
can actually marry Gwendolyn, so maybe just impress her for now and
then when you want children go ask."

Eliam laughs at his last statement, then considers the question. "I... I mean, I used to like Minerva. But she's just... I don't know. She keeps being
so mean to you, for no reason. And I don't even know if she cares
about any of us, except Elise. She knows nothing about us, because
she doesn't bother to ask, she just tells us what to do and then goes
and shuts herself up in her room. I wouldn't be surprised if she
didn't even know my name at this point. I don't think she'd even be
speaking to us now if we weren't the only people around."

Oren
thinks about his answer and nods. "That's true, she is mean. But
you know she's my only other friend, other than you. So I think I
shouldn't be picky, but I do wonder if she even likes me. I think she
only likes you. She thinks you're attractive, maybe that's
why."

"Haha, what? No way,” Eliam laughs, “I'm
pretty sure they *both* hate me. And that you're the only one
who likes me. Their loss, really, and that goes for both of us.
You're allowed to be a little bit picky with friends, though. You
don't have to put up with people who are mean to you or don't respect
you."

"You say that,” Oren says quietly, “but
I'd rather have Minerva be mean to me every day than be alone
forever." He walks to the window, looking outside. “Do you
think it's safe? Maybe we should go get our stuff, or find some new
stuff."

"May as well get new stuff,” Eliam
answers. “Not like anyone in the shops will get mad at us this
time."

"Do you think there are horses? I don't
really want to walk all that way again, maybe we can find another
cart and try to drive it there. We should probably feed the horses...
If there are any..."

"Oh... Good idea. I hadn't
looked. Do you think they have stuff for them to eat here?"
Eliam helps steady him, and they walk outside together to the
stables.

### **Oren and Eliam Speak with Gwen**

Oren waves to Gwendolyn as the two
join her. "Hello, do you need help?"

"Oh,
hello...Oren, wasn't it? Sure, if you'd like,” she answers, petting
her horse and feeding him an apple. He walks forward reluctantly,
unused to horses; he pats it and looks around for some food for
it.

"This is Oren, yes,” Eliam answers for him. “Don't
mind him; he's really nice"

Gwendolyn nods, looking at
the mage uncomfortably. "After we feed them, I think we should
let a lot of them go. Since you say no one's coming back for them..."

"Yea, they can eat grass right?" Oren asks. "We
only need a few… Do you think anyone in Asle Lenor is
alive?"

"They can. What's Asle Lenor?" She
asks.

"Then again...” Eliam pauses, and pats one of the
horses apologetically. “I guess we should give Minerva and Elise
first dibs on the horses... better them than us"

"Eating horses? Maybe there
are other animals, like a cow," Oren suggests.

"I won't allow that,” Gwen
frowns. “A person can...consent to that. It's their choice, I
suppose, but I'm not going to let an innocent animal suffer because
of their unholy hunger."

Oren leans against a beam,
supporting himself as his fatigue hits him once more. "Maybe we
can find an orc. They said the old, sick, and weak who couldn't make
the journey stayed home. And someone has to take care of the
livestock and everything, right? And there are guards to keep the
towns safe from thieves... so if we find an orc or two we can capture
them and let the girls eat them."

Gwendolyn frowns. "I
*did* say consent. How sure are you that they're still Children?
Do you really think they can be cured?"

"I... I'm
pretty sure they're still children, at least,” Eliam says
uncertainly. “They have powers still if nothing else. But... At the
same time, they've lied to us a lot. But they wouldn't sic themselves
on sylvatir if there wasn't a cure."

"If they're
not, the wellspring will kill them,” Oren says. “I hope that
doesn't happen though. And Sylvatir isn't much better than this
place, I think we should head to Siraj and move the sages' river
next."

"Move...the river?" Gwen asks,
confused.

Oren nods. "To drown the Elyde."

Gwendolyn
looks at Eliam, flabbergasted. "You can do that? Even if you
could... *why*? There's innocent people living there. Wait, are
you saying that's what happened here?!"

Oren blinks,
looking at the bard as well and waiting for guidance.

He
sighs. "We... weren't really thinking straight. We'd been
starved and sleep deprived for a week in prison. Our friend Votig was
in the arena, alone.... We thought that if we weakened the wall, the
river could flow in just enough to disrupt things, and then we could
save him. It... didn't quite play out that way.

Gwendolyn
stands up straight, and looks towards the door. "Do you want to
go to Asle Lenor before it gets dark? Maybe there are people there.
I'm not sure if we should be avoiding them."

“Oh...
today?” Eliam asks distractedly. “I guess we might as well. Might
be able to find some useful things to help us on our trip."

"Yes
and the books from Fallowfield and the orbs, and Prilla's locket and
the Lyriad necklace... there was also a bag of medical supplies...
and clothes, weapons and armour, a lute...” Oren lists. “Plus
whatever else we can carry, maybe we can hook up a cart to one of
these horses and just take things we need from abandoned shops. Like
a tent and blankets, it's going to be cold up north..."

"I'd
like to see what happened for myself. Are you even up for traveling?”
Gwendolyn asks. “You seem kind of... exhausted."

"Oh,
I should definitely lie down for a bit,” Oren nods. “But if we
take a cart or something I could probably come along. I don't think
I'd be useful in a fight though, hopefully there's no
trouble."

"Then it might be better if you stayed,”
Gwendolyn says kindly. “Eliam and I could take a horse, it'd be
quicker than a cart. Especially if there's trouble. You'd be safer
here, I think. There's no way Minerva and Elise would let harm come
to you when you're the only one who's agreed to be... fed
from."

"I'll just lock the door to be safe."
Oren takes Eliam's arm, and walks him out of the stables, looking
concerned. “Are you okay with being alone with her? I don't want
you to do anything dangerous, and not just because I need you to help
me. I don't want to lose you too..."

"Don't worry,"
Eliam puts his arm around him reassuringly. "I'm not going
anywhere. We'll be fine. She looks like she can fight, and I can talk
my way out of anything."

"Yeah that's true, you're
so charming,” Oren nods, leaning in as they speak. “But don't
seduce her, okay? There isn't any time for that. And don't let *her*
seduce *you* either. You have to politely decline without
offending her. Can you do that? Just go see what's happening and come
right back, and if you can steal some things or find a boat that's
good too."

"Okay, okay. I promise not to seduce
her, as best I can,” Eliam says, hugging him as he pushes himself
closer. “But no guarantees. I'll try to get our stuff back if I
can."

"Okay, good luck." Oren returns inside,
careful to lock the doors and windows. He pushes the dresser in front
of the door and, satisfied the room is secure, draws himself a
bath.

Eliam moves to help Gwen with the horses. “I can
finish up here,” she tells him. “You should go grab your things.
I'd like to be back before nightfall, so the sooner we leave the
better."

"Okay. I'll be back in a minute."
Eliam runs in, quickly grabbing his bow. He places his flint and
tinder back in his pocket, and takes some fruit and other portable
foods from the table. He returns to his and Oren's room, and knocks
on the door. "We're going out, but we'll be back before
nightfall. So don't worry about us until then.” Certain enough that
he heard, Eliam goes to leave.

As he heads downstairs, Minerva and
Elise rest on the couch. The former waves at him as he leaves and
says, "Stay safe. The odds of seeing hostile orcs are low, but
there will likely be some hungry Noctyr out if you're out past
sundown."

"Oh... uh. Thank you,” he says
awkwardly as he leaves.

When he goes outside, Gwendolyn is
already on her horse. She trots it over to Eliam when she sees him
leave, offering him her hand to help him up. "All
ready?"

"Yes!" He says. Slightly flustered, he
accepts her hand and sits behind her.

She smiles at him.
"Then let's be off, Mr Westmonte."

### **Eliam and Gwen Return to the Arena**

Eliam and Gwen
leave the hotel and travel to Asle Lenor. The smell of iron and decay
is carried on the breeze toward them, the wind from the Beck pushing
the scent inland. The ground is red and soggy. Their feet stick and
make squelching sounds with every step.

At the land outside
the arena, broken bodies and discarded items lay everywhere.

"So...
why did you want to come out here?" Eliam asks Gwen. He looks
around for his lute, but it is nowhere to be found.

“To find Votig, so that we can
give him peace,” she answers. “If he was a good as man as you all
say, he deserves that, at least. And to speak honestly, I don't know
what he looks like."

"Oh! Yeah, that makes sense. He
was a dwarf, had a beard, you know the like. Uh... hold on though."
Eliam closes his eyes.

Votig's body was crushed and mangled by
the ice within the arena. Eliam attempts to trace the aether to find
his body, but finds no evidence of earthen Child power anywhere in or
around the arena.

He takes a breath. "I don't... think
he's left behind a simple corpse,” he says, visibly uncomfortable.
“There was a lot of ice, and well..." he motions to the grisly
scene around them, "... yeah."

Gwendolyn sighs. "I
had hoped that wouldn't be the case, but I couldn't feel at ease
until I saw the destruction myself, anyway."

"Okay,"
Eliam says quietly. "Well, I guess... we can just try to find
some of the things Oren asked about instead." He closes his eyes
once more. He attempts to follow the aether to the orbs. He feels a
promising lead, but as he walks, he trips in the sludgy earth and
puts his foot into the brain cavity of what was once an orc. There
are no orbs to be found.

He stops for a moment, and turns back
to Gwen. "I don't think I can do this. I'm sorry."

"It's
okay,” she says, putting her arm around him comfortingly. “What
did Oren want? I can look for them, you can stay with the horse."

"We had the other orbs Prilla gave us,” Eliam answers,
“like the one you brought. They had been spent though, so I don't
know if we need them. And a green necklace from the Lyriad, that
would let you teleport to their base from specific glyphs. Prilla
also gave us a locket of hers before she left. Everything else, I
think we can just find in a shop somewhere."

Gwendolyn
nods, and goes to begin her search. She walks up and down the fields,
searching for the orbs. The one she carries gives her no indication
of their presence. They must not be here. Gwendolyn continues
searching, but is convinced they have washed out to sea...

Gwen
is irritated by her lack of success thus far. She anticipated this
would be a difficult challenge but this is ludicrous. With renewed
dedication, she digs through some limbs that have gathered near the
arena wall when she spots a familiar-looking locket hanging on a
disembodied orc wrist.

Buoyed by her success, Gwen begins
searching for the Lyriad necklace that Eliam described to her. Her
search is unsuccessful, and she returns to him.

"All I
could find was Prilla's locket, I'm sorry. Was there anything else
you were looking for?"

"Oh... thank you. It's fine,”
he says quietly. “Finding anything out here is kind of a long shot
anyways. Oren had a couple books he needed, one on blood magic and
one on Thirshalon in general. I don't really have high hopes, but you
never know"

"Blood magic? I've never heard of that,
before."

"Me neither, really,” Eliam says with a
shrug, helping search after having composed himself. "Oren does
it though. I think the idea is just using the aether in your blood to
power your magic, I guess? It looks sort of painful to do so I really
don't have an interest in it." He finds the book on Thirshalon,
but the other book remains missing.

He looks one last time for
his lute. Gwen attempts to help Eliam find it, but a quick search
returns nothing. The lute must be in the Beck.

"I think
that's everything. I don't really know if I even want to try to find
anything else,” he tells her.

"A shame. I would've
liked to hear you play." She gracefully gets on her horse,
helping him up once more.

"I have gotten a lot better!”
Eliam says, joining her. “I didn't really start to learn until we
all left. But maybe we'll find another one as we travel."

"Well,
at least we found something. Are you ready to head back?"

"Yeah,
better than nothing. Let's go"

Gwendolyn secures Prilla's
locket around her neck. They begin back towards the inn. "Can we
pass by the docks on the way back?” Eliam asks. “I think we
wanted to see if any of the boats were still intact. It will make
getting north a lot faster."

"Sure."

"Well, if we have time
anyways. We can always look tomorrow instead."

They pass
by the docks, noting several boats still intact. They return to the
inn late afternoon. Eliam leaves for a walk to think, and Gwendolyn
stays outside to tend to her horse.

### **Oren gets his Flower Back**

Inside the inn, Oren sits in his room.
He sips from a bottle of wine, and sets to work preparing for the
next day. He is careful to avoid anyone else, not actively snubbing
them, but unsure of what to do or say after the night before.

He takes a sheaf of paper and a pen
from one of the rooms, sits down, and carefully writes four letters.
After reading them over one last time, he leaves them on the table to
dry. Wandering idly and drinking as he goes, he gathers up several
sets of clothing and miscellaneous items he believes his friends will
appreciate.

He sets a bed and some clothes out for
Gwendolyn, making sure her room has everything he thinks she'll need.
After he's done, he takes the notes he wrote, and sets them out in
front of everyone's doors, neatly addressed to their intended
recipients.

Minerva sees him as he leaves notes for her and
Elise on top of a neat pile of clothes outside their door. She
approaches him tentatively with a plate with a sandwich on it and a
beer and says, "So... we should talk. Are you hungry?"

“Sure,”
he says, awkwardly looking around.

Minerva hands the plate and drink over
to Oren. "It's not great but I've never been a fantastic chef."
The sandwich has cheese and slices of ham, and the drink is a golden
ale.

"Thank you.”

She opens the door to her
bedroom, piles the clothes on the end of the bed, and sits on the
side. Elise is nowhere to be seen; presumably she is outside.

Oren slinks in, setting the beer down
on the dresser. He picks quietly at the sandwich as Minerva sits on
the bed. She sits in awkward silence for half a minute and then
finally says, "Look, things have been... weird. The last...
what, two weeks? Three? Things have gone sideways harder than I
thought they could."

He nods quietly, continuing to
eat.

"And all the stuff with Elise and I now is just
adding on top of that... and then Votig, too..." She draws a
deep breath and forces herself to look at him. "I think what I'm
trying to get at is I'm sorry if I've been... um... snippy with you
lately. It's just... hard to look at you right now and not see Votig.
I hope that makes sense."

“I think so,” Oren nods. “Do you
have my arcane device? Sorry I forgot to ask for it earlier... I hope
it hasn't bothered you."

Minerva takes out the flower
pouch from around her neck and cradles it in her hands. She opens the
top of the pouch and stares at it intently.

He sets his plate
down and steps forward. “Thanks. Thanks for taking care of it I
mean, it really helped me..."

She hesitates, then says,
"Do you... hear anything from it?"

"I
uh....no....not really"

As he draws near, she
instinctively leans back. She doesn't **want** to keep it but it
almost feels like she is compelled to.

He reaches out to take
it back. “May I have it, please?”

She blinks at him. She
extends her hands and holds the flower out to him. He takes the pouch
and lifts the chain off of her neck, placing it on himself and
tucking the pouch under his shirt. "Are you alright? I hope it
didn't do anything to you."

At the moment Oren's fingers
touch the flower, for the briefest of moments, Minerva'a eyes seem to
flash red. Then the flower has left her hands, and it is gone.
Minerva shakes her head. "I... uh. Y-yeah. No, yeah. I'm fine.
Everything's... fine."

"I'm sorry I gave it to you,
I shouldn't have,” Oren says. “I hope you're okay. That Noctyr
didn't like being near me, and I think it's because of the flower. So
maybe it was bothering you?"

Minerva holds herself as
though for warmth. "It was... strange. It was like... hearing
the faintest whisper but the words were impossible to
understand."

"It'll go away, try not to think about
it."

She looks at him curiously. "And you... you
didn't hear anything? You don't, now?"

"Not now,
no."

Her brows furrow. "But before...?"

"Sort
of.” He shrugs and goes back to picking at his sandwich.

She
leans toward him. "What did you hear?"

"I was
sort of low on blood at the time, I don't know if I really heard
anything. It's more like a feeling. Hey you're wrong, you're very
good at cooking. This is the best food I've eaten in weeks."
Finishing his food, he goes to leave.

"Oren," she
says as you leave. "For what it's worth... Elise and I are going
through some shit. But you're my friend. And I've never bitten
you."

"I really appreciate that.”

Minerva
looks very conflicted, though whether about the flower or about
herself, it's hard to tell.

### **Eliam and Gwen Go on a Date**

At midnight, Eliam slips out of his
room, careful not to wake anyone up. He walks towards the stables, as
the note requested.

By the time he arrives at the stables,
Gwen has already been there for over an hour; everything has to be
perfect, after all. She has brought a small table, along with a
couple of chairs, from the main part of the inn's dining area and
filled the enclosed room with lit candles. Just enough for a dim
light, but not really so much that someone could see clearly what was
going on if they peered in from outside.

On the table sits a
bottle of the best wine Gwen could find after Oren's morning raid of
the cellar, as well as a single empty glass. Beside the bottle lays a
small notepad and pen, ready for the main communication of the
night.

Gwendolyn herself sits facing the only door, waiting
patiently for Eliam to walk through, occasionally sipping at her
wine. It is the first time she has been out of her armor in what
feels like forever; the smile on her lips is genuine.

Eliam
stops short at the entrance to the stable, as he sees the elaborate
setup. "Oh... oh wow,” he stammers, flustered. “This is
incredible."

Gwen raises her fingers to her lips in a
shushing gesture, and points at the paper before grabbing the pen and
writing a note: “I'm sorry for the illusion, I just had to make
sure that if someone else came or peeked in, they wouldn't see why I
really called you here.” She passes him the note and pours him some
wine.

"Oh, right. Of course,” he says out loud, trying
to hide his disappointment. He picks up the pen, and writes his
response. "Why did you really call me here?"

"To
know more about Minerva and Elise,” Gwendolyn writes. “They
seem...unstable. Have they always been like this? Or is this the
curse?"

Eliam leans back, considering the question. He
takes the pen, and writes an answer. "I don't know Elise as
well. But Minerva used to be quite a bit nicer. She had a rough go of
it though. Her father died before we left, and it hit her hard. I
don't know if that's what prompted her to be so short tempered but...
she does seem to be getting worse. It could be the curse, I don't
know. Or we're just not the heroic companions she wanted. As for
Elise, we don't know much about her.

"She joined before
we left for Thirshalon. She acts like a child, and Oren wanted to
take her somewhere safe so she wouldn't be in danger. She reacted
pretty strongly to that, and left us to set out on her own. Only
Minerva followed her; we assumed she would calm down and join us by
nightfall, but she never did. I guess she was attacked soon after,
and well, we just found them both again last night.

"Maybe
Elise was always like this, I don't know. She could apparently hear
everything we said; the wind carries our voices to her. She never
told us, so I guess she heard us discussing where to take her, and
now she hates us."

Gwen takes the note, sipping her wine
as she reads through. She considers it, and writes back, "Has
Minerva always been so casual with her threats? Threatening to burn
Oren's hand off after he was the only one who was openly offering to
help them with their... feeding. They seem dangerous."

He
writes back, "After we knew her for a bit, yes, I think she was.
Even before she got turned. She's always been oddly violent towards
him in particular. Even slapping his hand away when he needed her
dagger to help try to save Votig."

"To think I
could've been so late,” she writes. “They said it may be possible
to cure them, but I fear the darkness is already consuming their
Light beyond repair. Once we reach the wellspring, will you be able
to tell if it worked? Truly tell, beyond what they may say?"

Eliam
thinks about his response for a while before taking the pen. "No.
I probably couldn't."

"Can Oren?" Gwen
writes.

"Maybe. Probably not. He spent some time with
Minerva but I'm not sure.”

“I see." Gwen taps the pen
on the paper a few times, before continuing to write, "Ultimately,
I feel that I must protect you and Oren, the last two pure Children,
with everything that I am. But I also must protect Sylvatir. If
there's any doubt after the wellspring, even the tiniest hint... I
cannot allow this Maker forsaken curse to spread to our home. If such
a time comes, or, Maker help us, that they fall even farther from the
Light...will you stand with me?"

Eliam looks at her,
flustered, and writes back, "Thank you for your help. I don't
want to hurt them. But if the wellspring doesn't work, I'm sure we
can find another solution. There has to be one."

She
smiles at him and writes, "You're a good man, Eliam. Maybe too
good. But I've never seen anything like this curse. Their Child light
has stopped it from fully awakening, but for how long? I will not
allow this risk to you and Oren. I will not lose another Child. I
will not lose *you.* There may be another way, but there also
may not be, or it may be too late. I just want to know that I can
trust you fully if such a time comes."

"No one has
ever accused me of being good before,” Eliam writes, smiling. “I
will try to support you though. If they turn against us, or Oren,
we'll do whatever we have to."

"But you are good,
Eliam." Gwen speaks this for the first time tonight, as she
gathers up all the written notes and places them in a nearby bucket,
before taking a candle to them to erase any evidence. "I'm sure
even your family would welcome you back with open arms after this is
all over, if that's what you wished. Unless you're aiming for
something more." She sits back down and takes a long sip from
her glass, finishes it, and pours another. “Now you simply *must*
tell me about that scar. I'm sure there's a great story behind
it."

"O... Oh, thank you,” he says, embarassed.
"You're really good too. And nice! Probably one of the nicest
people I've met so far. I don't... Really know what to do after this,
honestly. I've been kind of focused on just getting home. But I was
thinking I'd ask Oren if he wanted to open a healing shop or
something together. He's pretty good at the doctor stuff, and I have
some healing magic, so it could work. This thing?" he says,
rubbing his scar. "We were in a town to the west here, and we
ended up in a fight. This weird cult guy summoned a bunch of monsters
and one of them *really* wanted to scratch my face off. Oren
patched me up after the fight, but I ended up with this. It's
actually pretty cool though, I guess! But what about you? How did you
even get to Thirshalon?"

"A... a healing shop?"
Gwen laughs, which turns into a giggle. "So *noble*. And
*adorable*. That's a nice goal." Her nose scrunches up in
disgust at the mention of cults, as if the wine she was drinking had
turned sour in her mouth. "As if this land wasn't bad enough,
now there's also cults that summon *monsters*? Thirshalon was
truly forsaken by the Maker. After I made it back to the church, I
started looking for some of our ancient artifacts. The only one I
could find was Votig's orb. Picking it up somehow teleported me here,
but I can't remember how. I just knew I had a purpose.

"But
tell me...You talk about Oren a lot, you seem very close. Are you
two...?" she stares at him intently, sipping her wine.

"I...
I mean, with the wellspring destroyed, no one else could heal. So
we'd pretty much have the market all to ourselves" He answers,
embarrassed. "And oh! Oh, no. I mean, not for lack of trying on
my part, but I think he's pretty uninterested. We're just really good
friends, I think. Though really, someone like you is much more my
type."

"Someone like me?" She asks, thinking
aloud, "Do you mean a devoted member of the Faith? Or the heir
to a wealthy family?"

"I just... meant an attractive
woman like you. Uh, sorry,” he says awkwardly, downing his own
drink. “Don't worry about it, it's not important.”

"Oh."
Her cheeks flush red, from either the compliment or the wine. "That's
not... you spend a near decade with monks who are *very* devoted
and... well, I haven't heard that in a while. Thank you."

"Oh!
I... of course. Sorry." He drinks his wine, trying to figure out
how to explain. "I promised Oren I wouldn't seduce you."

"Did
you? Perhaps we should end this night, then, before it's too
late."

"Yeah,” Eliam says, disappointed, “that's
fine. Thank you for the drinks though, and the talk. I'm sure things
will work out fine." He offers her his arm to walk her back to
the inn.

She double checks the the fire is out, and their
notes are thoroughly burnt. She retrieves her sword from where it was
hidden in an empty stall, and takes his arm. "No, thank you, Mr
Westmonte,” she says as she leans against him, the wine causing her
to struggle to walk straight.

As they get to their rooms,
Gwendolyn pauses and smiles at Eliam. "This was nice. Maybe we
can do it again some time." She walks inside, locking the door
behind her.

Eliam stares at her door a minute, flustered. He
manages to unlock his own door, forgetting to relock it, and drunkely
stumbles to bed without waking Oren up.

### **The Group Plans to go to Ariglodo**

The next morning arrives to find a
different atmosphere in the building. Minerva is a little more
upbeat. She is trying to prepare breakfast and snippets of humming
can be heard throughout the main floor.

Elise's eyes seem a
little puffy but she's pointedly not talking about it.

Eliam
arrives downstairs, slightly pale and wavering ever so slightly in
his steps. "G'mornin'," he mumbles, sitting down at the
table and resting his head on it.

"You look a little
worse for wear," Minerva says, flipping a few eggs. "I
found a great book back here about preparing food so I'm trying them
out. Did you know you can **scramble** eggs?" She carries a
plate with eggs and toast over to Eliam, along with a large glass of
water. "Drink up. It'll help." She sits down next to him
for a minute. "Do I even want to ask why you're so... shaky this
morning?"

"Oh! That's really kind of you, thank you.
This... actually, this looks pretty good." He sips his water,
reading Oren's note as he does so. "I uh, *might* have
drank a little more than normal last night, but you're one to talk on
that front. You look pretty good this morning, though!"

"Hm,"
Minerva sounds. "Well, I think we all drank a little more than
usual in the last few days." She places a hand gently on Eliam's
shoulder. "Recover. I'll get you some booze this afternoon if I
can join you."

"You're always welcome to join
me," he calls to her as she leaves to go back to the kitchen. "I
look forward to it!"

Upstairs, Oren wakes up and quickly
throws on his clothes. He checks the bathroom frantically, then runs
downstairs. He slides by Eliam, hugging him tightly. “You're back!
I thought you were dead.”

Eliam returns the hug."I told
you I wasn't going anywhere. And hey, thanks for getting all that
stuff! Are you... did yesterday go well? No problems?"

"Yea,
they didn't try to drink my blood if that's what you mean. And
Minerva was very nice to me. I didn't really see Elise. Did you find
anything in Asle Lenor?" He moves back, checking the bard's neck
for any sort of vampire bite marks. He finds nothing out of the
ordinary.

"Okay good. I um... we couldn't find much. I
don't know. Maybe you'll have better luck, if you guys want to look.
But it was mostly just bodies. No luck finding Votig's though. But I
found one of the books, the one on Thirshalon. It's in our room.
Gwendolyn found Prilla's locket; I think she still has it."

Elise
arrives in the dining room. She looks around, quietly says, "Good
morning," and walks over to a couch near the window.

"That's
good. We should..." Oren notices Elise and trails off, "Good
morning." He turns back to Eliam. "Did you find a
boat?"

"Oh! Good morning, Elise,” he greets her as
well. “Yeah, there's several. A lot of them are still tied up, so
they should stay there. We'll have our pick of several, it looked
like."

Minerva carries a stack of bread over to Oren on a plate. She seems more excited than usual this morning. "Okay. Okay, okay. Okay. Watch this," she says, oddly bubbly.

"That's great, we can hopefully find a cart or something and use those horses to bring supplies there. Then we can just take the boat north..." Oren stops, watching her.

She takes a piece of bread off the top of the pile and summons a small flame, which passes over the slice. It toasts instantly, and only slightly browner than Oren would have preferred. "Ta-dah!" she exclaims. "Man, that cookbook is wonderful..." She hands the toast to Oren and returns to the kitchen.

"Hey wow you made that crunch-bread! Thanks," he says, happily taking a bite. "This is just like when we were in Saloria"

Gwendolyn stirs upstairs. She reads the letter she finds left for her, attempts to freshen up, and goes downstairs, wearing the same clothes she wore the night before.

"Good morning, everyone," she greets the room. She casually takes the seat by Eliam. “Hello, Eliam.”

Oren continues eating his toast, and
gives her a polite wave.

"Morning, Gwen," he says
as he eats.

Minerva walks over with a plate of an
unrecognizable dish. "Good morning, Gwen. Here, try these.
There's a cookbook back there and I'm trying to learn." She
places a plate in front of Gwen. "The book calls them "creeps"?
I never heard of them but it sounds appropriate for a world of
orcs..."

“Oh, thank you,” Gwendolyn says
with a polite smile. She declines to eat, not yet sure if she's up
for it.

Oren leans over to Eliam, and asks quietly, "I
thought her name was Gwendolyn. Is it... Gwen... Dolyn... like... is
that her last name?"

"It's a nickname,” he
answers. “So you don't have to say someone's full name every time,
if their name is long. Everyone here has pretty short names so we
never really needed one, I think."

The mage nods. "That
makes sense."

"Are you hungry, Elise?” Eliam calls
over to her. “I mean, you know. For this,” he motions at the food
on the table.

Elise looks sheepishly over the back of the
couch. "I, um... I rather thought you might prefer not... having
to sit with me today. Considering... you know."

"Come
eat," Oren says.

Elise stands and awkwardly, very
awkwardly, she slowly makes her way to the table and sits.

"Try
this,” Oren says, passing her a piece of toast. “They eat it
where you're from right? It's really good."

Elise looks
at Gwen and says, "Um..." She blushes a little. "Minerva
told me it was important to tell people who I was going to spend a
lot of time around... and it sounds like you're going to travel with
us, so... I hear voices. The wind gives them to me. I can't stop them
and I can't turn it off, so... if you're somewhere that the wind
could connect us, assume I can hear you.

"I'm sorry,"
she says softly. "If it helps, I try really hard to block it
out..."

"Can you only hear actual words, or other
sounds?" Oren asks.

"Just conversations," she
replies.

"Oh," Gwen feigns surprise, "I
appreciate that. So then, did you hear Eliam and I...?" She
trails off.

Minerva drops a plate and stares at Eliam. It
shatters on the floor but she doesn't move to clean it.

“Are you okay?” Oren asks her,
concerned, as he goes to help clean it.

"I mean-- we
didn't-- not like that. We just talked last night, I didn't--"
Eliam looks at Gwen, hoping she'll back him up. "We just had a
conversation. We somewhat had heard of each other back in Sylvatir.
And we discussed if she'd be traveling with us or not."

Minerva
looks skeptical and a little suspicious, but she doesn't pursue the
conversation. Quietly, she thanks Oren for his help. He looks
skeptically at Eliam as well.

"I was talking about...you
know, our trip to Asle Lenor?” She clarifies. “I believe everyone
knew about that? If there was another chat we had last night, though,
I seem to have drank a little too much and don't remember. I'm sorry
if I *said anything weird*, Eliam."

Oren follows
Minerva back into the kitchen, throwing away pieces of plate. He
whispers to her, "I told him not to seduce her, now she's going
to try to marry him and he's going to run off and we're going to have
to deal with *that*. Just what we need is more drama.”

Minerva
tilts her head and whispers dryly, "Well, we could always leave
her like a barmaid."

Elise coughs into her
water.

"Definitely, he's more important than her, but it
would have been nice to have another person around... I guess it was
only a matter of time, and she's the first human woman he's seen in
weeks who's not a child or a... you."

"Oren,"
Minerva whispers quickly. "Oren, I was joking."

"Oh,” he says. “Well
either way I hope they didn't actually do anything."

Minerva
sighs as the last of the dish is picked up. "As for that,
Oren... we may never know."

"Actually, if he's
saying he didn't he probably didn't. He's not very humble..." He
returns to the table and sits back down. He looks at Elise. "So
can you actually hear other things like Minerva's ...singing
noises?"

Elise shakes her head. "I mostly just hear
conversation clearly. Other noises are... muted. Mumbled. Indistinct.
It's like.... Imagine rubbing sheets of foil against each other. That
sound, but really, really quiet and in the back of your head, always.
That's what everything sounds like all together."

Oren
nods, and eats. "Eliam, how far away is the boat?"

"Huh?
Oh, probably about a half hour's walk,” he answers. “There's some
horses in the stable we might be able to take, though."

"A
cart or wagon would be really useful, we have a lot of stuff we could
bring if we wanted." He gestures around at the crates of food
and other supplies he'd retrieved from the rooms.

Minerva rubs
her chin thoughtfully. “You know," she says, "there were
tens of thousands of people here who were going to be travelling back
home after the Judgment, right?"

"Presumably, they
left a ton of traveling supplies here,” Oren confirms.

"Oh,
I saw the stuff you gathered, by the way! Thank you for that,”
Eliam interrupts. “You even found me a new lute!"

Gwen perks up. "Oh, I can't
wait to hear you play."

"Yeah," Minerva says.
"That, and there were probably some **huge** boats ready to
take them back. Eliam, were there any boats that we could drive a
wagon onto?"

He nods. "We didn't get a
close look, but there were a lot of larger ships, yeah. Does anyone
know how to drive one though?"

"We've all been
waiting for months,” Oren tells Gwendolyn. “He never plays, he
just holds it and sings."

"I mean... I think I got
it, like a week before I met you guys. I've barely played one of
these before." He strums his lute a little, testing his
abilities. He manages to play two basic chords. He does not yet feel
comfortable stringing words together along with his backing
sounds.

Oren smiles. "Wow that *was* good! I had no
idea you could actually play it."

Eliam arcs an eyebrow at him,
trying to decide if he's being sincere. "Thanks," he says,
putting his arm around him. "I'll keep practicing, then you'll
really be impressed."

Gwen smiles, a little disappointed,
but trying to hide it.

Minerva steps out of the kitchen
and says, "Well, I'm going to start packing some stuff into a
wagon, assuming that's what we're going to take."

"Did
you see the things upstairs?” Oren asks. “I don't know what
everybody needs but there's a lot of stuff. We should probably leave
in a few hours. If we get the ship out onto the sea before dark,
we're less likely to get bit by vampires."

He looks around at Elise and Minerva.
"I mean,” he adds with a smile, “other than you two."

Elise stands and puts her glass of
water down. With a measured look at Oren, she glances disdainfully at
the glass. "Could have used more iron." She goes upstairs
to pack.

Minerva says, "I did! Thank
you. That was really thoughtful."

"Oh, yes, thank you for all
the things,” Gwen adds. “And don't worry, I won't let you get
bit."

"Thanks,” he answers
smiling. “I feel safer already."

Minerva walks upstairs to help Elise
pack, while the others go outside to tend to the horses.

They
select the horses they think best suited for the journey and set the
others free; Minerva and Elise stop one before it goes to drink their
fill. The meal is not as satisfying as humanoid blood but beggars
can't be choosers.

Oren continues packing, ignoring them.
Eliam turns away, while Gwen looks disgustedly in their direction.
She turns to Eliam and smiles at him. "If the cart gets too
crowded, you can always ride with me."

"Oh! I mean..." he looks
at her, strongly considering it, but remembers his promise to Oren.
"I appreciate that, thank you. But I should be fine for now.
You're just as welcome to join us though, if you'd like."

The party takes the largest wagon
they can find and hitches the four strongest horses to it. They load
all the gear and food they can hold, and hop on. Gwendolyn takes to
her own steed.

**Chapter 9**