Chapter 11

The Group Meets Ranakir
They exit the cave. At the entrance stands an elder-looking man in a black cloak with a dark blue trim. His arms are folded beneath it and he frowns as he examines them.

"Hello," Eliam calls out tentatively.

"What have you done?" the man replies sharply. He points up to the sky. "Thousands of years he laid dormant and we planted the seeds of control throughout this world. And in an instant you arrive and lead our world to upheaval. You," he points at Eliam, "and you," at Oren. "You look familiar."

Minerva passes them both a quizzical look.

The orc steps back and forth, pacing. "You've led us on quite the merry chase, I admit," he says. "Meadowgrove to Asle Lenor and now as far north as we can go."

"He's some sort of cultist," Oren whispers quietly. "He ordered his friend to kill us in Meadowgrove, but Votig killed him."

"To escape us by getting yourselves arrested... I admit, that was clever," he continues. "A brilliant strategem, for we could never reveal ourselves to the police proper."

Oren shakes his head, takes his horse, and begins to lead it past him as the orc speaks.

"And to then turn and escape the arena... Amazing. Simple amaz- where are you going?!" He stomps the ground and a crackle of lightning erupts in the air, blocking his path.

"You're uh... giving us a lot of credit," Eliam replies. "I mean, I appreciate it, honestly. But we have absolutely no idea what the hell we're doing."

"Buffoons, then?" he asks. "Then you will gratefully accept gifts, oafish as you are. I give you purpose or death," he says. "You may choose."

"We have our own purpose already," Gwendolyn answers.

"You already told us that if we beat your friend we could go," Oren protests.

"Nonsense," he spits. "I merely said that should you survive- and truthfully, I am amazed you did- we would speak again. Now, we speak again."

"And aIso, I mean, we're not buffoons," Eliam adds. "We're just... relatively untrained."

"Now," he says, "you have undermined the work of the Saints undertaken for a hundred generations. You may join the Saints and rectify your mistakes, or you may die here and now."

Oren frowns and tries to lead his horse away once more. The man stomps again and sends a second crack of lightning in his path. "A final warning, boy. The third will be far closer."

"What are the Saints, anyways? I don't- okay, stop that." Eliam feels out along the strings of aether that run through him to the mysterious orc and attempts to restrict them. The orc feels the disturbance to his magic flow and safeguards his power, rejecting his attempts.

"Do you work for the Patriarch?" Oren asks.

He chortles. "The Patriarch? The Patriarch works for me, though he knows not. My Saints have eyes throughout all the land. Even the Children were within my web, though they, at least, did so knowingly. They were magnificent pawns."

"So if the Patriarch killed someone, you would take responsibility?" Oren looks back at the group, trying to gauge their reactions.

"No, you fool," he snaps. "If a puppet strikes another doll, does the puppet master fear judgment?"

"I can't do anything about his magic. I don't know what he did," Eliam warns quietly.

"Is it okay to kill him?" Oren whispers to Minerva.

"Ordinarily? No. But he tried to kill you before? Take him down."

"He tells the Patriarch what to do," Oren points out. "Doesn't that mean he killed Votig?"

Eliam frowns. "If nothing else, he's a part of the system that left us to starve in a pit and fight to the death"

"And he's part of a system that twists the Maker's beliefs," Gwendolyn nods. "Nothing good will come with agreeing to his terms. He'll just try to use us, like he did all his other...'pawns.'"

"That will be enough whispering," he snaps. "Live and serve, or resist and die?"

"It's a... well, it's not really a generous offer," Eliam smiles. "But I think we'll have to decline."

As he speaks, Oren draws upon the aether to try to control the orc's blood. He senses the spell being cast and prepares a retaliatory spell of his own. "Fools. Simpering, middling fools!" He leaps back and throws three pebbles at the ground. As they strike the earth, three glyphs appear, and from each appear a large rat enveloped with a black magical aura.

"My powers are unrivaled on Thirshalon," he growls. "I, Supreme Elder Ranakir of the Saints, will permit none to know of our existence!"

The Battle at the Cave
"Your powers may be unrivaled here, but they're nothing compared to the true children!" Gwendolyn calls out, rallying the others.

Elise hears her words, but she struggles to believe them. Gripping her staff, she moves forward, shaking slightly.

A rat leaps at Gwen's horse and savagely digs its fangs into a gap in the horse's armour. The black aura flares to life and seems to cut through the horse's flesh. Gwendolyn calms her horse, and once she is able, she mounts it and draws her lance, driving it forward to strike at the creatures.

Oren closes his eyes, and the blood of the rats begins to boil within them. With an agonizing screech, they writhe on the ground, a grating keen filling the air. The magic that surrounded the rats fades away, and shakily, they return to their feet.

Eliam supports him with an arcane blast, the magic sending one of the recovering rats rolling sideways. It stands again, but only just.

Ranakir scoffs at his assault. "Is this all?" He laughs openly. "Pitiful!" He draws two more objects from his cloak and throws them to the ground. "To me, knights! To me!" Two more glyphs appear, and a pair of armoured knights arrive through them, flanking Ranakir.

Elise gathers the wind around her, sending a blast of air against the rats. They are knocked down once again, but this time, only one stands back up.

Eliam fires another arcane blast, but this one feels different as it leaves his fingers to destroy the rat. He senses the flow of aether all around him more keenly; he is more in tune with its flow. He can even watch it pass, and observe as it slows... and stops. With nary a time for a breath, he turns his attention to Ranakir and his knights. He lets loose a massive firestorm over their bodies. The flames erupt around them as time begins to flow again, and they yelp in surprise at the flames from nowhere.

Ranakir screams in rage and shock. His cloak ablaze, he removes it, but not before withdrawing one last pellet from an interior pocket. "This is preposterous. Maddening!" He whips it at the ground and in a puff of smoke a final glyph appears. A haunting, phantasmal spectre appears before the party. It floats with a humanoid torso that trails into a wisp of smoke below the waist. Its arms are unnaturally long and end in wicked claws, and its horned, skull-like head looks empty... and ravenous.

Gwendolyn dismounts, her horse backing away from the battle. She discards her lance to the ground, drawing her sword and shield. She strikes at the last rat standing, and it falls, dead. She raises her shield at the spectre, imbuing her will and faith into her shield. "Everyone, stay behind me!"

Elise nods, calming the horse and tending to its wounds.

The novice knight advances on Gwen. He draws a sword and raises his own shield. "Hiding behind a shield, huh? I can respect that." He bashes out with his own shield to disrupt Gwen's defense and slashes out with his sword.

The spectre advances, then feels Gwen's power. It begins to move in a wide arc around her.

Oren steps forward defensively in front of Minerva. "Don't let that monster touch you!" he yells. "It'll eat your memories." He examines it for a moment. "We should probably use magic to kill it?"

He casts an arcane blast at the spectre, but it easily dodges the spell. It turns its empty face toward Oren.

Eliam nods at Oren's assessment of the monster, and strikes it with a spell. The arcane blast strikes true, hitting the spectre in its centre. The mists that comprise its body swirl angrily as the magics have some effect. It turns its head at Eliam.

"Elise, this would be a really good time to get back here!" Minerva yells, and she moves closer.

The knight scoffs at his novice companion, as he just barely scrapes Gwendolyn's armour. "You scamp. That's hardly an attack. She barely felt it. Now... watch." The decorated knight steps into action, his sword screaming at it rends the air itself. At the last moment the orc twists to alter his stance, causing his blade to bypass Gwen's shield. She staggers backwards, but quickly regains her ground.

Ranakir advances. "No longer! I have fight in me yet!"

"Sir," says the novice, "perhaps you should allow us to-"

He is cut off as Ranakir spits, "I was defending the Saints before your parents were alive, boy. Don't presume."

"Is that really the best you both can do? Pathetic," Gwen calls out, striking at the knights.

As the decorated knight dodges her blow, Minerva strikes at his back, her daggers finding a space between his armor and sinking into his flesh.

The spectre continues to move in an arc. He advances no closer to Gwen, but as he circles, he begins to slowly advance on Oren and Eliam. When he sees it approach, Oren grabs Eliams hand, pulling him away behind Gwendolyn and positioning himself between him and the spectre.

The decorated knight, having seen Oren attacking the spectre and recognizing its power, turns his blade on him. "Hmph," grunts the knight. "Avoiding our friend, are you?" He squares his feet. "Nalik. Pay attention now!" He drops his shield and rushes at Oren like a bull. His speed is tremendous, and the air cracks like a whip as he accelerates. The shield bashes into him, catching him fully in the midsection and lifting him off his feet. He careens through the air and lands beside the spectre.

Panicking, Eliam shoots an arcane blast to draw away the creature's attention. It strikes true and the spectre looks at him, irked.

Ranakir turns his attention to Eliam. "You can struggle... but the spectre will come for you in the end." He lashes out at Eliam with magical lightning. The attack runs through his body, shocking him dramatically. The lightning explodes before Eliam, and the shockwave knocks him through the air toward the spectre. He lands just shy of Oren, near the magical ghoul.

Ranakir yells in triumph. "Haha!" he crows at Nalik. "Do you see now what your master can do?! With every blow, we grow strong!"

"Come on!" Gwendolyn cries to Minerva and Elise, rushing to Oren and Eliam's aid. "Stay back, creature!" She raises her shield, and the holy light stops it in its tracks.

Elise follows Gwen and lays hands on Oren, swallowing hard as she stares up at the spectre. "No," she says. "I can do this." Magically, his wounds begin to heal.

The spectre pauses at Gwen's power... and advances through it. It turns on Oren, slashing out with its massive claws... but too slowly. The mage is healed and rolls away.

The decorated knight advances on the party and attacks Eliam. His sword swings and painfully, he draws away, avoiding a full blow. The sword strikes his arm, and unsteadily he rises to his feet.

Gwendolyn imbues her sword with divine power, and swings at the spectre fully, shocking both it and Ranakir. "Impossible," he mutters.

The spectre scowls at Gwen. It sees her divine power, and it despises it... so it steps through it.

The spectre lashes out with long claws at Gwen, piercing her armour with the blow. It sinks its claws into her flesh and momentarily holds them there. She feels herself being drained of something... something? Or is she... the light of her shield flickers, and the spectre smiles an unearthly grin.

Oren throws a shadow dagger at it, imbuing it with ice. The spectre howls as the dagger sinks into it, a high-pitched shriek, and drops its grip on Gwendolyn.

From behind them, Eliam lets loose a massive firestorm that rolls over the battlefield. Minerva recognizes the signs and rolls away quickly as the wave descends on the field. Ranakir can only brace himself as the flames erupt around him. Screeches and wails split the night, and when the fire subsides, only Ranakir remains.

He looks back to where his cloak is smouldering. He turns to run.

Furious and shaken, Gwendolyn stands, and launches herself at him. Her sword finds his leg, and cleanly severs it. Howling and screaming, he falls to the ground.

The Group Asks Ranakir some Questions
Before Ranakir can bleed out, Eliam places his hand where his leg was and heals the wound. He tries to push his hands away, but Eliam pushes his hands aside, frowning. "Sorry, but things keep escalating and we really want some answers."

Oren walks to Minerva's side, assessing her wounds. "Are you alright?" He asks, waiting for permission to apply first aid.

She falls back and sits down hard. "I've been better. I'll live."

Nodding, Oren begins to apply bandages where needed, trying gingerly not to touch her more than necessary. She sighs softly in relief. "Thank you, Oren." She watches him work, noticing his awkward demeanor. "I'm sorry," she says quietly.

"Huh? for what?" He asks. "It's okay, I don't mind."

"I judged you pretty hard when we saw Kunalchusi. But you didn't do it on purpose. It was hard not to blame... someone. But it wasn't your fault. I'm sorry for not getting that sooner."

"It probably was my fault, don't worry about it"

She playfully nudges Oren on the shoulder. "Well, in that case..."

Elise comes over. "Is everyone all right?"

Without answering, Oren sits down next to Minerva.

"I... don't even know where to begin," Eliam says, looking back at the others. "What even are the Saints? I mean, who even are you? How did you know about that snake monster thing? And how did it end up in Sylvatir?"

Distractedly, Gwendolyn leaves, moving past the party and returning to the cave.

He coughs. "Simpleton. You have-" he wheezes "-no leverage."

"No... I guess we don't," Eliam answers. "But that Kunalchusi is serious, right? I think it's in both of our best interests if you help us figure out what the hell is happening here. Especially since I have a feeling we're the only ones left who can stop it."

He closes his eyes. "Kunalchusi... so that was his name."

Eliam nods, kneeling next to him. "Yeah, I guess so? Either way. How did you know about him?"

Frowning, Oren leans forward, his eyes glowing blue. He attempts to freeze Ranakir's hands, but the ice spreads more quickly than he can control, and Ranakir begins to scream. "Why?! WHY"

Minerva places a hand on Oren's shoulder. "Hey. He's beaten already. It's okay."

Eliam looks back at him, concerned "Let's just... try asking him stuff first, okay?"

"I don't want him to hurt Eliam," Oren whispers. "If he can't move his fingers he can't cast any more spells at us."

Ranakir begins trying to crawl backwards desperately, and Eliam grabs his arm. "Okay, that was... we're not trying to hurt you. No one wants to! Just... can you give us some answers, please?"

Ranakir lies back, seeming to gradually accept his defeat. "And if I do?"

Eliam looks back at the others, and Minerva shrugs. "He did just try to kill us."

"He's in charge of the Patriarch, and the Patriarch killed Votig," Oren agrees. "And if it wasn't for him, you wouldn't have a scar on your face and we probably wouldn't have been arrested."

Eliam sighs, "Fair point. I'm still not over the whole judgment thing. That wasn't on purpose by the way," he glares at Ranakir. "You guys are dicks."

He looks at Eliam. "You. Your compatriot who left. She's a holy woman. She puts her faith in the Maker and her word to Her is sacred, is it not?"

"I... I guess so?"

"I could see it in her powers and in the way she repelled my spectre. I would speak with her before I answer your questions. Alone. I'll wait. It's not as though I'm going anywhere." He leans back against the ground.

Eliam sighs dramatically. "Suit yourself I guess. But you know she cut your leg off, right?" He stands, walking to the cave.

Oren stands up, offering his hand to Minerva. She accepts his help, and Oren begins to examine Gwendolyn's horse. He looks it over, then calls out to Elise. "Can you heal horses?" Carefully he takes its reins, calming it and leading it back to her.

She nods and lays her hands on the horse. "I believe so." She heals some of the horse's injuries with a healing touch. "There, there, friend. You're all right, now."

"We should probably stay near here tonight, since it's getting late... unless you all want to leave...?" Oren asks.

Minerva shrugs. "The cave would at least offer shelter from the wind. We might as well camp out in there and make for the forest tomorrow."

Oren nods. "Do either of you want to ride a horse alone? We have... five of them, so... we could all ride alone if we wanted to.. if you're able." Minerva nods, and Oren returns to tending the horses.

Inside the cave, Gwendolyn sits in a shadowy alcove near the entrance. Her gloves lay on the ground next to her as she holds her face in her hands silently.

Eliam pauses when he sees her, then quietly sits next to her. "Are you okay?"

"No, I dont think I am."

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asks softly.

"I don't...I don't think I can. There's no words to describe...that. What it did. How it felt."

He nods, "Yeah that... that looked bad. I'm really sorry," he says, putting his hand on her shoulder. "If you want to try though, I can listen any time." He leans back against the wall, thinking for a moment. "I feel bad asking this... that Stritox guy, he said he'd only speak to you, and only alone. But given what happened I'm not sure you should say yes anyways. If you need time to recover, I think you should."

"What? Why me...?" She asks.

"Beats me... he said something about your word to the Maker being sacred, I guess? Maybe it's something to do with you being from the church?"

She nods, and after a long moment, stands. "I'll do what I must, then." She straightens her back and walks outside, taking her lance as she leaves.

"You don't have to!" Eliam calls out as she leaves. "Just... be careful."

She approaches Ranakir, her weapon drawn. As she does, Oren takes the horses and leads them back to the cave. He hands one of the reins to Elise, and motions for her and Minerva to follow.

While Oren and Eliam set up camp, Minerva sits at the entrance to the cave and stares out, watching to ensure nothing happens. Elise quietly sits with her.

Oren and Eliam Chat at Camp
After they set up camp, Oren sits on a blanket by the fire, frustratedly running a comb through his hair.

Eliam sits down next to him, watching him work. "Hey, that's new. I thought you tangled your hair on purpose?"

"Sort of," Oren answers. "I didn't care what it looked like and that was easier."

"Oh... So, you care now then? Does that mean you're okay now?"

"I guess so..." Oren trails off, setting the brush down. "Thank you for saving me. And helping me... And being nice to me. I'm sorry I lied to you and tried to trick you. I didn't even need to, you helped me just to be nice. Thank you "

"I mean, of course! I'd help you any time. You're my best friend. And... I'm glad you're better," Eliam smiles. "It makes all the stuff with that snake thing... well, it's worth it now."

Oren smiles back sadly. "Well I don't know about that, I feel guilty for benefiting from all of this. So many horrible things have happened because I found that seed but I never would have met you or Minerva or anyone, or obtained all this power or seen so many things. Though as wonderful as all that is for me it's definitely not going well for Iquai... Saloria and Fallowfield were both probably destroyed and a lot of people died. And Prilla and Votig and probably Chompy all died too. And you're all here suffering, and the Lyriad fell apart and Minerva isn't there to run it, and her dad might not have died too... Not to mention everything that happened to this world because of me. lf I could prevent myself from ever finding it I would definitely do it." He looks down. "And none of that even compares to releasing that demon, so there's that too."

"Okay it... It sounds kind of bad when you lay it all out like that. But... But some of that, we don't know. Maybe... Maybe iquai is okay? I mean even if Prilla... The other people still there are fine. I'm sure of it. But I mean, you didn't know this stuff would happen. No one did. Or could have. Why was that seed even somewhere you could find it anyways? Why wasn't it hidden away in some church vault or something?"

Oren closes his eyes, thinking. "I assume my master found the seed and knew it was a blood lotus... They don't grow in Sylvatir, and he collects things like that and has a large garden with rare plants, for making potions and spells... So, he probably tried to grow it but it wouldn't grow so he just tossed it on a shelf in the library. I mean, he probably forgot about it... The pouch it was in looked old, so maybe he had it for a long time before he brought me back. And maybe he didn't know what it really was or what it would do to me. But I'm guessing, it's also possible he knew everything and didn't care if I found it."

Eliam shakes his head. "No one would be that crazy, wizard or not." He looks at the fire, thinking. "What you said about changing things in the past, if you could... Have you ever heard of magic that would be capable of such a thing?"

Oren shrugs. "It's probably possible, but I don't know of the arcana that allows it. That would be very powerful. When we get to Iquai I can check in the library to see if there's a book about it...? Maybe my master can teach you. He would probably like having an expert mage like you to teach. And if anyone can use magic like that it's him."

"Yeah... Maybe. But like you said, even if messing with time was possible, It wouldn't be worth it. Not if we all might not have met each other. Expert mage?" Eliam laughs. "I mean, I'm pretty great at the arcana I know, but I don't think I could handle being an apprentice. Not if I can't leave whenever I want, anyways. I'll leave the magic stuff to you. You're the one who's been practicing it for years."

Oren shakes his head. "No, you're really good at it, it's better to be good at something without any practice. And I'm not good at magic, the flower makes it work. Without it I can't cast spells at all."

"Wait, really? I mean I knew you couldn't heal, but... I guess you have that mace, if you need it. But wait, in that last fight, didn't you cast some spells? You didn't... I mean, you wouldn't have kept a piece of the lotus or something, right?"

Oren reaches into his pocket, pulling out the blood lotus he picked from the fountain. Quickly, Eliam angles himself to hide it from the others, glancing nervously over at Elise and Minerva.

"I think it's safe, but I think someone other than me should decide that," Oren says. "I mean... It was just the one seed that was evil, this one doesn't talk... But like I said, I don't think it's fair for me to benefit from all of this. But I want to be able to cast spells and help you get home. Without it I'm just a doctor, but with it I'm a powerful blood mage. I want to be useful... But not if it's bad."

"it's definitely good to be useful, yeah. And I trust you know what you're doing... So if you say it's safe, I'm sure it's fine. We can always get you a different magic focus though, if you want. I mean you don't have to give up magic forever after this."

Oren nods, putting the flower away, and lays down, putting his head on Eliam's lap. "Is this okay? I like sleeping with you near me but I don't want to.. uh... lead you on, or whatever."

"Of course it's okay! But it's not really leading me on, is it? I mean, that night before we left, when I was really drunk, you were pretty... Straightforward. I don't really remember what happened after that, but..."

"Oh, we just went to sleep. You didn't want to do anything like that."

"Wait, I didn't? ...Seriously?" Eliam asks. "Though that implies you do..."

"What? No, I don't think I do. Not with you. Um... Sorry."

Eliam laughs. "It's fine. I kind of figured that one out. Honestly it's probably good you're actually asserting yourself now. Though uh... I guess I should warn you, sleeping next to each other heavily implies that is what you want. But I really don't mind the company, and it doesn't seem to have stopped Minerva anyways."

Oren nods. "she probably wouldn't mind if you were sleeping with me, I mean having sex or whatever you want to do, because she can have you whenever she wants so she doesn't have to be jealous.."

Eliam looks down at him quizzically. "I know you wanted to ignore it, but after you all but confessed to her she's been desperate to spend time with you. She's pining for you pretty bad."

"When did I do that? That doesn't sound like me. I'm not really the sort of person to make moves on a girl, it's always the other way around. And there's no way she likes me like that at all, she doesn't even like me as a friend... And after what happened earlier she probably wishes she let me die. Though you're right that she has been nicer sometimes. "

"Yeah, it was pretty surprising. And kind of funny. You didn't want her to seduce that orc; we thought it was because you liked her and couldn't stand seeing her with anyone else. Even if you didn't mean it that way, I'm pretty sure that's how she took it. I mean, you saw how her face fell when she didn't get to ride that horse with you. And yeah this stuff is... It's pretty bad. But I'm sure she doesn't hate you that much. She might be upset for a bit, but we're going to fix it all and save Sylvatir. She can't be mad after that. Hell, she shouldn't even be mad now, since it's not like we planned to unleash that thing on purpose."

Oren nods, closing his eyes and thinking. "I hope you're right."

The Group Chats with Ranakir
Ranakir looks at Gwen with little surprise in his face. "You came."

She stands over him, her knuckles white as she grips her lance. She stares down at him, making no attempt to equal their positions by kneeling down to him. "Yes."

"Ah. You seek control. Very well, very well. This is fine. You have it, after all. Your friend wants... information from me. I'm sure you all want to know more about what you saw in that cave, did you not?"

"They all seem to want more information, yes."

"And I," he says, "want to live. So I will leave the choices up to you, my dear. Kill me or not, I don't care. I've lived long enough and this world is... well, with the number of orcs you killed, it won't last long anyway." He coughs. "But I confess I want my life if I have the choice. So I will give you the information on one condition.

"You," he points. "You are a holy woman. I saw it in your power. So swear to the Maker. Swear to the Maker that if I give you what you want, you will see that no further harm comes to me, and you will leave me with my life. And swear to the Maker that if anyone harms me before you leave me, you will be the one to enact equivalent vengeance on them. These are my terms."

"I have a condition of my own."

"Which would be?"

She stares at him quietly for a moment, her eyes cold. "I will grant you your life, and see that no one in my group harms you. In exchange, you'll give us your information, and a vial of your blood. And then you will disappear. You will not go back to Ilemashi, and you will not warn the Patriarch, or any of his surviving followers. If there is the slightest hint that you gave them information, I will not stop in hunting you down.”

He swallows roughly. "Your terms... are acceptable. Call your rabble."

Without turning, Gwendolyn speaks. "Elise, go get Oren and Eliam. He's ready to talk."

In the cave, Elise starts a little, but stands to go get them.

Ranakir eyes Gwen suspiciously. "How did you do that?"

She ignores him deliberately, waiting for the others.

They regroup around Ranakir, and he eyes each of them in turn. "What do you seek to know?"

Eliam tilts his head, thinking. "I guess... what was that thing?"

"It spoke to you, did it not? And gave you its name."

"That name doesn't really mean a lot, honestly. And it was sealed away pretty far from here. Yet you seemed to have known about it?"

"My... organization... deals in secrets. Whispers. Legends. We... orchestrate things. Deal in information. Even that which is lost to time, such as the Destroyer. Our world for millennia has worshiped the Maker... but as one Makes, so too must one Destroy. The Maker and the Destroyer... two sides of an eternal conflict which was long ago thought to have been won.

"Learning the name of one, though... Now that is new. Kunalchusi, the Destroyer. And you brought him to us! All hail your benevolent works," he adds dryly.

"I mean, we didn't... how were we supposed to know that would happen?" Eliam asks, annoyed. "This whole system is a mess. You'd think some sort of benevolent organization that considers itself nigh-omnipotent would have tried to offer us guidance or teaching or something"

"Which raises another question," he says, frowning. "We watch every inch of Thirshalon. Yet never did we see any of you until recently. How is that possible?"

Eliam looks at the others, waiting to hear what they want to share with Ranakir. Oren shrugs in response.

"It was not part of our terms for us to answer your questions," Gwendolyn says flatly.

He scowls. "You can forgive me for wishing to know more about the rabble who unleashed the Destroyer on our world."

"Well, either way," Eliam says. "It was sealed away once, right? So it can be sealed away again? How do we do that?"

"That I don't know," he answers. "We know the Maker sealed the Destroyer away in some manner of prison, but time failed to record what it was beyond "a cage of life."

"Oh... okay, that makes sense. So we can try something like that again... Do you know why only one light in the skyglyph went out?"

"History records the lights disappear, every thousand years or so, then gradually illumate over the next millennia. None know why."

"Okay... so they're not irreparable either. That's good," Eliam smiles. "That's really all I can think of to ask... you guys?"

"Is the Patriarch in Ilemashi?" Gwendolyn asks.

"If he has returned from seeing the Judgment, yes."

"I guess we'll go there next, then," Eliam says.

"To speak with him and beg mercy?" Ranakir asks. "Or to kill him?"

"Speaking of mercy... what happens to him now?" Eliam asks, ignoring his question.

"He lives," Gwen answers, "Unless he goes to Ilemashi. He's also agreed to give us a vial of his blood, for Oren." She leans down, patting his clothing.

"What are you doing?" He asks, as she withdraws a small green stone from a pocket within his sleeve. "Thief," he spits. "This, too, was not part of our bargain."

Gwendolyn turns it in her hand, inspecting it. "And where does this lead, hm?"

He pauses. "Home."

"Where is home? Illemashi, perhaps?"

"Why don't you try it and see?" he answers cryptically.

Oren shakes his head quickly. "Don't."

Gwendolyn looks at Ranakir coldly. "You might want to reconsider your answer. Something more informative."

"I have given you the honest answer. It will take you home. Mine, specifically. What you do with that information is up to you."

"I thought the stones just activated glyphs, and the glyphs determined the destination?" Oren asks.

"Correct," he answers simply.

Oren sighs. "I don't think cryptic answers were why we kept you alive."

He closes his eyes and leans his head back silently.

Minerva turns her back on him. "It's getting cold. Are we leaving him here?"

Eliam shrugs. "Your choice." She eyes Gwen.

"Yes. Unless you all want to invite back to the cave." Gwendolyn looks at Oren. "I'm assuming you have vials?"

He nods, drawing one, and takes a small sample of Ranakir's blood. As he does so, Minerva guides Elise back to the cave. When he is done, Oren and Eliam return as well.

Gwendolyn turns to Ranakir, giving him one last look. Wordlessly she throws the stone down at him, then turns and walks back to the cave.

Oren sits back down on the blanket he claimed earlier. Minerva ties the corners of a few blankets to some rock overhanging the mouth of the cave. "It might cut the wind down a little bit." She weighs it down with rocks near the ground so it doesn't flap about.

"Good call. Thank you," Eliam says as he sits next to Oren.

Elise sits delicately against the wall of the cave. "So what do we do next?"

"We should go home," Oren answers.

Minerva nods. "Ilemashi, then?"

Gwendolyn nods. "Ilemashi."

"Ilemashi will be dangerous," Elise says, fretting slightly. "If the Patriarch lives there, it must be defended."

Oren pulls out the map, examining it closely. "It's... right by this weird river..." he turns the map to face her, drawing up his hood, and lays down to sleep. The night passes, and the others fall asleep one by one as well, their destination decided.

--

Morning breaks. Minerva removes the blanket, grumbling that it didn't do quite as much as she'd hoped.

Outside, Ranakir is gone. Gwendolyn gets the horses ready, while Eliam packs up their things.

Haltingly, Oren walks over to Minerva. "I'm glad you're not a vampire anymore," he says quietly.

She smiles sincerely. "Trust me. I think I'm the happiest of all. Thanks for your help."

"Thank you for stopping me," he continues. "Ah... I'm sorry I... did that... I mean, I promised I wouldn't kill anyone but then I did... sorry."

Her face falls a little. "I'm less concerned right now with the fact that you murdered Herb as I am with the horror you unleashed when you did. Don't get me wrong; you're not off the hook, but we have other things to deal with right now."

Oren nods. "I didn't know that would happen."

"Can you tell where Ranakir is?" Gwendolyn calls out to him.

He takes the vial of blood obtained from him and casts bloodhound, but after a moment, shakes his head. "He's not nearby, I don't know where he is."

"We might want to move quickly, then," Minerva says.

"I'd rather get out of the cold sooner than later anyways," Eliam agrees.

They finish grabbing their gear, and Oren pulls out the extra bridle for what was Herb's horse. "Do one of you want to ride this one?" He asks Elise and Minerva.

Elise pats the horse. "This is a gentle one. I'll take it, if that's okay."

Oren nods, helping her up onto the horse. He gets up on his own, waiting for the others to prepare to ride as well. Minerva looks at one of the horses for a moment, then takes a seat behind Oren, sharing his horse.

The Group Goes Back to Ariglodo
The party travels four days back to Ariglodo. They are not stopped or followed on the road. The journey is uneventful, but relaxing. When they arrive, they see the boat they left behind still on the docks, untouched. A few elder officers roam the streets, looking tense.

"Do you guys want to take the boat?" Oren asks.

Minerva looks it over. "We can probably just hug the coast and get there. Wouldn't have to worry about getting lost."

Oren nods. "It would be faster and more comfortable than the road, and less likely to run into trouble."

"Works for me," Eliam says, dismounting his horse. "More comfortable than the wagon for sure."

"We should go grab some supplies and things from this town and go as soon as possible. Should we bring the horses with us? Or that wagon?" Oren asks.

"If we're taking the boat there, we probably wouldn't need horses, assuming it's correct in that it's the way home," Gwendolyn answers.

Minerva offers Gwen a half smile. "Including yours?"

She nods. "It'd probably be safer to let them go free here, if Illemashi is going to be as defended as we think. She's been a good companion, and doesn't deserve that fate."

Oren nods, dismounting his horse. He takes its rein and saddle off, and pats it. "You're free, horse. Thanks for the ride." The horse slowly meanders away, looking for grass. "I'm going back to the inn to grab something. Do any of you want anything from there? We could raid it like the other one and probably get some food and wine."

"I don't," Gwendolyn answers.

Oren nods, and walks to the inn. Inside, an elderly lady sits behind the counter. "Oh. Hello, there."

"Is there anywhere I could buy some food and supplies and things that's open?" Oren asks.

"Hm..." she thinks. "The market is closed, of course. The general store may be open tomorrow. Marcus tends to run it every few days during the Judgment."

"Thanks," he nods. "I'll check it out."

Outside, Minerva sits on the dock, waving her feet back and forth in the water. She chats lazily with Elise. Eliam stands a bit away, looking out at the water, and Gwendolyn sits alone, thinking.

Oren places the chest of gold from the wagon onto a small cart, pushing it back in the direction of the boat. "The lady at the inn said everything is closed, but if Eliam can open locked doors we can take what we want, since everyone's dead anyway."

"I mean... I guess if we're not coming back?" Eliam shrugs. "I mean what are they going to do at this point, arrest us for shoplifting?"

Oren takes the chest to his room on the boat, then returns to the dock. "So do you want to go see what we can find?"

"May as well, I guess," Eliam agrees.

Oren nods, and walks over to the others. "Eliam and I are going to go loot the city, do you want anything? Or you can come with us?"

"No thank you," Gwendolyn says quickly, walking to her room on the boat before he can respond.

"You can watch the boat... then... bye," Oren says, as she retreats. He shakes his head, annoyed, and looks at Minerva and Elise. "Do you two want to stay here as well?"

Minerva stands and dries her feet before finding her boots. "We may as well. Being well-supplied will be important."

"I should have known you wouldn't pass up a chance to spend more time with us," Eliam says, smiling at her. Oren wheels the small cart he used to carry the money chest with them, and they start off down the street. A ways down the road, they find a general store, and a finance office which regulates currency in Ariglodo.

"Um... can we... stop at the bank first?" Elise asks shyly.

Oren stops. "Sure, why?"

She blushes a little. "I... I think it would be nice to leave money when we take supplies. You know... just in case someone makes it back."

"If you steal the money from the bank to leave at the store, though... Does that still count?" Eliam asks.

Minerva's face softens at Elise then immediately glares at Eliam.

"We should steal the money anyway," Oren says. "Then when we get back to Iquai we can melt it into ingots and exchange it for real money."

Minerva puts her hands on Elise's shoulders and guides her in the direction of the finance office. "Yes, dear. Yes, we can get money first."

Inside, the finance office is empty. Minerva breaks in, and they begin to pile currency into the small cart.

"When we get this back, we can destroy the economy and cause a recession," Oren says, as the cart fills. "The Elyde won't expect that."

Eliam nods, then looks it over. "Is this enough?"

Minerva raises an eyebrow at him. "Enough for what?"

"To... pay for everything, I guess. Insofar as it matters."

Elise looks over the money. "I think half of this would be too much. Should we really take it all...?" she asks Eliam earnestly.

Oren pats his shoulder, and leans in, whispering. "We're not really paying for anything, but don't tell her that."

Minerva swats his shoulder gently. "Oh, come on. Putting a few silver on the counter won't hurt."

"Sure, if you want," Oren nods.

"I guess... we can leave some here? If it makes you feel better," Eliam tells Elise. "We should definitely bring some back to Sylvatir though."

Before she can move, Oren takes the cart and wheels it outside to the next store. Eliam picks the lock, and they enter the general store. Eliam begins to pile varieties of alcohol into the cart, and Oren packs some food and containers of water. In the back, they find some fine clothes; Oren packs those as well.

"You understand all the currency stuff, right Elise?" Eliam asks casually. "It's kind of an interesting subject. Did you want to try to explain while Oren and I keep searching, Minerva?"

"Of course I know," she says, giving him a weird look. She shakes her head a little as she goes to help find things to take. "Who doesn't know that...?"

Eliam smiles at her. "I figured it would be good to make sure, just in case. But your sister's a shopkeeper, so I guess it makes sense."

"Don't take it for granted Elise, lots of people don't know things like that," Oren says, giving Eliam a sidelong glance as he takes some books from the shelves.

"Oh?" she says. "That's strange. I guess people are different all over, though."

They finish raiding the general store. Oren wheels their items out, and they return to the boat; though some of the townsfolk gave them odd looks, none attempted to stop them.

The Group Sails to Ilemashi
Minerva claps a hand on Eliam's shoulder. "I believe this is where you come in!"

"Of course," he says confidently. "I have this, don't worry."

The ship slips smoothly out of port. Minerva whistles lowly. "I'm impressed, Eliam. You're not half bad at this."

"I had to help with some of the boats when I got in trouble as a kid," he explains. "So I picked up a few things."

Satisfied the boat situation is handled, Oren find Gwendolyn's room below decks. "Hey, Gwendolyn. Or is it Lady Gwendolyn?" He calls out as he knocks.

At first, Oren hears nothing. But after a couple minutes of waiting, the lock cliks, and Gwendolyn opens the door, looking like she has hurriedly made herself presentable. She stifles a yawn as she looks at Oren. "What...? Gwendolyn is fine. The title is only necessary in a formal situation, that I don't thin-" she stops, interrupting herself. "Nevermind. What did you need?"

"I wanted to ask you something," Oren says, trying to look past her into her room to find her shield.

Gwendolyn shifts slightly, blocking his view into her room as much as she can. "Yes?"

"How did you keep that spectre from approaching us?"

At the mention of the spectre, Gwendolyn pales, but quickly composes herself. "A blessing from the Maker, I suppose."

"Okay, so was that the first time you did that?" Oren asks. "Because we have a zombie situation waiting for us back in Iquai and I think if you can do that again, it'll really be useful."

"Yes. It was the first time I'd seen anything like that before. A... what situation?"

"Oh, nobody knows that word..." Oren sighs. "It's like when a person who is dead comes back. Like a corpse that can move around. I don't know much about it. We did fight a moving skeleton once. But this was different."

"That sounds...horrifying. How is that possible?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe it's some sort of magic. The skeleton came out of the Bramble after The Wellspring there was destroyed. The zombie... or zombies? Well, Minerva's dad had died, but then at Fallowfield there was an army of orcs and her father was among them. I think we need to ask her exactly what she saw. She's the only one who looked out, and she described the army as being battle-scarred I think, but I thought about it later and they might be zombies too. We'll see when we get back, I guess."

"I could barely keep that spectre back. I'm not sure how much help it'd be versus an army like that."

"Okay, well it might come in handy. If you see one you should try it. Hopefully it won't come up."

"I'll keep that in mind, thank you," Gwendolyn smiles, waiting for Oren to leave. "Did you need anything else?"

"Was Fallowfield destroyed?"

"Yes. The church was burned to the ground."

"Was the library destroyed?"

Gwen nods in response.

"And everyone died?"

"I don't know exactly..." She looks away. "But I believe so."

"Okay. I don't know if the glyph in Ilemashi will take us to Fallowfield or somewhere else. When we get there you should use Votig's orb to get through again. We can let you go first and see if it works first. That locket will help us find it, it heats up when you're near it."

"Is that why Prilla gave you it?" Gwen asks. "Why would she want you to come here?"

"I don't know, she told me to keep secrets and follow my heart. I may have misunderstood though," Oren pauses. "She was nice."

"She was. The world is worse without her."

Oren nods, and looks around. "Um... I'm gonna go. I'm glad you're okay." Awkwardly, he backs away and leaves.

"Thanks, Oren." Gwendolyn goes back into her room, locking the door behind her.

Oren returns to the deck of the ship, finding Eliam at the helm. He waves as Oren approaches.

"How is everyone? The worst part of having to drive this thing is getting stuck at the helm. But maybe no one will notice if I leave? It'll steer itself at this point anyways... Mostly."

"Uh, well, it's getting dark so maybe we should... park," Oren suggests.

"Probably a good idea." Eliam leads him to the anchor and begins dropping it. "Hey... Do you really think everyone is okay back in iquai?"

"No."

"I mean.... It's a long shot, but there's always a chance, right?"

"Gwendolyn said that the people in Fallowfield died. And I would bet Saloria didn't do much better with all those monsters. Who knows what else the Elyde has planned. Though I'm not sure why they would want to kill people, they're supposed to run the country not destroy it."

"Yeah! It's weird, right?" Eliam says. "I mean, why do they let the Rorgh get away with everything if they want to stay in power?"

"I don't know, but I guess we can stop them. They seem bad, and Minerva wants to kill them all. She's usually right about that sort of thing."

"Yeah... I mean, whatever she wants to do, it can't be worse than what we had. What do you want to do when we get back, anyways? I mean, we'll probably not be able to fight that monster right away... maybe fix Saloria?"

"We should fix the wellspring, and maybe visit Votig in The Valley and see if we can talk to him. ...Not necessarily in that order," Oren adds.

"Yeah... I'll let you guys decide. I kind of want to see if my family is okay, too... And that wizard! Maybe we can ask him why he had that flower, or maybe he knows something."

"...Maybe. I hope he's not mad at me. You said you were from Glenhaven right? That's near where I lived so it would be easy to do both. We could stop in Ushad first and let Minerva talk to Linea, and maybe leave Elise with Heather. And Votig lived over that way, in the mountains up the river, maybe we should talk to his wife and explain what happened."

"Yeah... Glenhaven was pretty close... And Linea might be able to fill us in on everything we missed. And don't worry if he's mad at you, I'll handle it. I mean, shutting down other magic users is pretty much my specialty."

Oren looks suddenly concerned. "Don't do that! He's really strong and it probably won't work, and he won't like it. I mean he probably won't want all of you visiting anyway, and he's already probably mad at me so that'll just make things worse if you do that."

"Okay, okay! I won't," Eliam frowns. "But I'm not just going to stand back and do nothing if he tries to hurt you."

"I don't know if he'll hurt me, he might but most likely he'll just tell me off and that's just as bad with him. Either way I deserve it, I was pretty bad. Maybe we'll get back before him and I can clean everything up and he won't know it happened! But then I'd have to explain how I met all of you, I guess..."

"Whoa, hey, you don't have to feel like you deserve to be punished," Eliam says. "I mean, it's basically the wizard's fault, leaving an artifact that important out where you could get it. What do you mean, clean everything up? You didn't trash the tower or something, did you?"

"...No, it's fine," Oren says. "And people who do bad things probably should be punished. That's why we're going to kill that patriarch. And if you had been punished when you were bad as a kid maybe you would have behaved better and they wouldn't have kicked you out. And if Elise had been punished she wouldn't be so spoiled."

Eliam looks briefly annoyed, then looks at him askance. "The tower... Is fine, so you're panicking about cleaning it up in time? What did you do?"

"Well I stopped cleaning, and it probably got really dusty and messy, I mean over nearly six months... Right? It's probably messy. And uh, I had the flower growing and that got... messy too. It's fine, I'll clean it. It's mostly one room, when you first walk in... Like a room where you can take visitors who need healing. That room needs to be cleaned."

"The flower got messy? But you had it growing while we traveled, and it never got anything I'd call messy. Except for the bleeding... on it thing..." Eliam trails off, and looks at him concernedly. "...You didn't seriously hurt yourself for it or something, did you?"

"I gave it blood whenever I could but it's not serious." Oren holds out his wrist, showing him his scars. "It all healed, you just can't give too much. So I borrowed some from hurt people, they didn't even know, it just ended up getting kind of bloody in there so I need to clean it up. Sometimes blood spills, and it's messy... But I didn't care about cleaning too much so it never got mopped up or anything..."

"Oh... Okay. I mean, it's probably better that you didn't just use your blood, if you needed a lot. And yeah, that makes sense. If you took so little they didn't even know, I'm sure it was fine."

"...Yeah. Let's go inside, it's kind of cold here," Oren says, taking his hand and leading him to their room. "The best part about going home is it's summer so we can be warm again. Though I'm disappointed we didn't get to see any snow. I've never been snowed on before."

"Yeah, it's so cold out I'm surprised. But no kidding, I definitely miss the heat. And also I was punished and talked to as a kid... I always thought they were overreacting though. Or taking things too seriously. I mean, I never did anything that bad. No idea about Elise, though."

"Why did they kick you out then?" Oren asks as he leads him inside, closing the door behind them.

"Just... Another overreaction, I guess. And paranoia about the Rorgh. But I really never got caught, and we were too far from the cities for them to care anyways."

"That's not fair, hopefully they let you stay when we go there. I mean I don't want you to stay if we're all traveling but I want you to be happy."

"Yeah... I mean, traveling with you guys comes first. We have to save Sylvatir. But... Yeah, maybe?" Eliam sits down on the bed. "I don't know if it would even be the same if I went back. Not after they just kicked me out. I don't know. I'll worry about it when we get there. But maybe you could meet my family! You'd like my sister. She's really nice."

"If you want me to, I'll meet people."

"I mean, you don't have to! Do you think you'll stay with the wizard when we get back?"

"I don't mind. I think he won't want me to stay. But I don't know if I want to stay there anyway, not if I can't see you. You said we would live together somewhere, that sounds better. I don't know a lot about living in the real world but I can be a doctor I guess, isn't that what you wanted?"

"Yeah! I mean, if you want to," Eliam says happily. "I mean it's a great way to keep a roof over our heads, and healing isn't really that hard of work... At least magic anyways, I'm not sure about the kind of stuff you do. You'll like living outside the tower, I think. You can take as many walks as you want."

"That's nice. I hope we get to see Minerva sometimes, she probably won't want to live with us though. Do you think you'll see Gwendolyn after we finish doing everything we need to do or will she go back home? I guess her home is destroyed?"

"I'd really like to... Minerva too. Maybe they'll stay nearby? It'd be nice if they were close. Or hey, maybe they will want to live with us, who knows? But yeah, Gwen's home was destroyed. I don't think she's thought much about what she wants to do beyond help us yet, to be honest."

"Well they can live with us if they want to. Minerva can cook, which is good. I asked her if she wanted to rule Iquai after we took over and she said she wanted the citizens to choose the next leader, and I thought you could do that. You're so likeable, everybody will vote for you. Then you can be king, and Gwendolyn can be your queen. Do you want to try that? You sounded like you wanted to be king before, and this way Minerva won't be angry."

"I thought you were just saying that to manipulate me before," Eliam says. "I mean... I'm sure they would vote for me, I'm really likeable. But I mean... I don't really... Understand a lot of the government stuff. Or stuff a king would have to know. And I don't even know if Gwen wants to be queen, but I sort of doubt it. Honestly I think Minerva would try to assassinate me after like, a week. ...Hey, what about you? You could be king."

Oren shakes his head. "No, you could do it. You're very regal, and that's all a king needs. I mean what does the Elyde even do? You'll do better than them. You just hire people to do all the work and get some advisors. Maybe Minerva can use the Lyriad to get information and keep you up to date on dissent, so you won't be overthrown like the last king. And Gwendolyn is a fancy lady and would probably like to marry a king, and she likes you."

"You really think so? I mean... You'd know better than I would. You'd be one of my advisors, definitely. And having the lyriad on hand would be useful..." Eliam sits back, thinking. "This could work."

Oren nods. "I was trying to manipulate you before you know, but I intend to keep all the promises I made. I want all of you to be happy. If I can do this and repay you for everything you've done, then I want to do it."

"Okay! I just hope everyone else thinks it's a good plan too. I feel like they're going to be a little wary of letting us plan stuff for a bit after the whole Kunalchusi thing, even if that really isn't fair. It makes sense one of us should rule after the Elyde, though, since we're the Children. We'd be hero kings!"

"I guess, and there's nobody to stop us." Oren picks up Eliam's lute, and hands it to him. "You should be practicing. If you learn how you can write a song to convince people to vote for you."

"Would have to be a hell of a song," Eliam laughs, "but I should practice more, yeah. I guess. Should we ask Gwen? About the king thing? I mean... We sort of keep messing decisions up. But if she says it's a good idea, we'll know it's okay for sure."

Oren nods. "It's not a secret. Do you want to talk to her...alone? I could go ask her to come here, that'll be more romantic."

"I mean, if you want to? I don't mind if you're here," Eliam says. "I'm uh.... Sort of worried about romancing anyone in our group. I don't want anyone to act crazy, like you said, and I mean... I can't just leave the next day, I guess. So if I did, it might end up a problem."

"That's good. You should probably do that. I mean... not do that, don't romance anyone. Or seduce anyone. I'll go get her, just pretend she's not a woman and talk to her normally and it'll be fine..." Oren leaves, walks down the hall to Gwen's room, and knocks on the door.

This time, Gwen opens the door quickly, looking much more awake. "Hello," she says, surprised to see him again.

"Hi. Eliam wants to talk to you. He's in that room," Oren points, and looks around to make sure the others aren't listening. "it's sort of private, can you go listen to him?"

"Okay..." She says, looking concerned. She steps out of her room, locking it behind her, and she steps out of her room and shuts down, locking it with key before going to their room. She opens the door to see Eliam playing the lute, an open bottle of whiskey next to him. On the floor sits a large chest, overflowing with gold coins.

"Good evening," Eliam says, putting the lute away as she enters. "How are you doing? Sorry, I hope you weren't in the middle of anything important." He pours a glass of whiskey, holding it out to her.

Gwendolyn pauses in the doorway in surprise, looking the room over before accepting the drink. She closes the door behind her and sits across from the bed. "No, I was just reading... but I'm fine. How are you?" She smiles. "Were you practicing?"

"Yup! Boat's anchored, so not much else to do. ... Oh, don't mind the gold. Elise wanted to rob the bank. ...But anyways, Oren and I were talking about what we want to do when we get back to Iquai... And I kind of wanted to run our plan by someone else to see if it's okay? I mean, after the whole Kunalchusi and uh, other plans going wrong, I guess it seems like a good idea to make sure. We figured we'd throw in with Minerva's group, I guess... And then Oren wants to make me king."

Tentatively, Gwen takes a sip of her drink, grimacing at the taste. "So then, you're planning on overthrowing the Elyde? That's fine with me, as long as the Rorgh go as well. Why does he want you to be king?"

Eliam leans over into a crate of bottles, pulling out some wine to offer instead. He pours her a new glass and offers it to her. "Beats me. I don't really know much about government, or other stuff you'd need to know to be king, I think. But he said he'd be my advisor, and I could just hire people to do all that stuff. And that I just need to look regal."

She accepts the wine, and takes an appreciative sip. "That sounds like he just wants you to be his puppet, so he can rule..." she looks at him, taking another sip. "But surely that can't be right."

"What?" Eliam laughs. "No way, he'd never want that. I mean, he says he wants me to be happy more than anything, and he wouldn't just use me like that. He's too nice to do that. But he reads a lot and studies a lot, so I'm sure he just realizes he knows more about that stuff than I do. Minerva wants to let the people elect a leader though, and he figures they'll vote for me over him, if he tries to become king."

"Elect? That sounds... complicated. I don't believe King Rodric was elected, was he? What happens when everyone wants to elect themselves? I'm sure there's plenty of commoners who would enjoy such a change in lifestyle. It's a nice thought, I suppose. I just find it a little unrealistic."

"Yeah... I don't really understand why Minerva wants elections either. She probably hasn't really thought it through," he says, pouring himself another drink. "So... Probably not our best plan, then. But enough about me. How are you holding up? You sounded like you were having a rough time yesterday."

"Don't misunderstand me. I just find fault with the election. I think if you truly want to be king, and feel you can lead Iquai, then you should just take the throne. Who would argue against the hero that stopped the Elyde? And like I said, I'm fine," she says, looking away and taking another long sip of wine.

"I mean... I guess that's why I wanted to ask you. I don't know if I can lead. I mean, I definitely wouldn't mind being that important, but... Well, we'll worry about that when we get there. I'm glad you're okay though," he smiles.

Gwendolyn smiles back. "I think you could handle it. You seem genuinely nice, eager to help others and you're regretful of the mistakes you've made, which shows that you know you aren't perfect."

"Oh... I mean. Thank you," Eliam looks away, slightly flustered. "Maybe it could work out after all. You know, Oren wants you to be queen? But I think he's just saying that because we both come from important families."

Immediately Gwen chokes on her wine, her face turning red as she coughs. "He what?"

"I mean... I just, don't worry about it. He didn't mean it. Uh... We stole a bunch of alcohol in town, the really good stuff. Would you like some? You're welcome to take some."

"Oh no, you don't get to say something like that and drop the subject," she says, setting her glass down and looking him in the eyes. "I don't know if Oren really knows what he was saying, or what that would mean. But you should, Eliam. And you don't seem the kind of person to marry someone because their friend suggested it. So is that what you want?"

"I mean, of course he doesn't," Eliam stammers. "I don't know. I thought you'd find it amusing. I mean, marriage is- I wouldn't just ask something like that. We barely know each other that well, and I... I'm sorry."

Gwendolyn shakes her head as he backpedals. “Until I joined the Church, I was fully expecting to marry your brother. After the Elyde, families of our prestige are kind of…lacking, to say the least. And then I expected never to marry anyone. I’ve never felt I’ve had much choice in this area.” She pauses, refills her glass, and takes a long drink. “Being Queen sounds better to me than following Prilla’s path. But that’s how I feel. You need to decide your own path.”

"Oh... oh wow, yeah, my brother. That would have made sense, yeah. I uh. Did you just say you'd marry me? I mean, I'm not... The whole king thing probably won't even work out, there's no way." Eliam downs his glass in one go, quickly pouring another. "I don't... know about my own path. I mean I just never thought about it much, ever. I guess being a healer wouldn't be so bad... but king, I don't think I'm cut out for. If someone else wanted it, I'd help them though. I mean, hell, you can still be Queen on your own."

"Yes, your brother. Did he never tell you we met? It was at a grand ball, thrown in honor of my eighteenth birthday in Siraj. I suppose you are right though, in that we don't really know much about each other. I believe that's what courting is for." She gets up, sitting next to him on the bed. "And I've heard the best Kings are those that don't want it."

"I mean... I guess so? I don't... I mean, if you guys can help me with it, it'll probably be alright. He uh, he never told me, no. Do... do you want more wine?"

"I'd love some," Gwen smiles. "And there isn't really much to tell. I mean, it's hard to describe that night. He seemed nice though, but not overly charming despite himself. We danced."

He pours her a glass of wine. "Yeah, he was always a bit serious, I guess? That... sorry, that night?"

She takes a sip."Yes, it was kind of an overload. The music, the dancing, the drinking... It was my first real night as a Lady. Most of it seems like a blur. I remember P-" she catches herself, "I remember my father making a speech, and being presented to the guests."

"Oh, right, yeah, you meant... yeah," Eliam says, looking relieved. "Those parties really can get overwhelming."

"It wasn't long after that, that I left my family. That night, I think, was kind of the end." She smiles sadly.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Eliam says. "That must have been rough. But I'm glad you found a good place to stay."

"Thank you." Gwendolyn sips her wine and looks at him.

"I was thinking, you know, when we get back, we can put things right in Sylvatir. I mean, more than just fixing Saloria or whatever. We could go back to your family, and mine. Rub it in both their faces that things ended up better for us than they expected."

"I'd like that," Gwen smiles. "I'm sure we wouldn't have to wait long, as soon as they hear about King Eliam."

"Exactly," he grins, clinking his glass against hers. "I suppose I should go see how Oren is doing? It's been a while. I mean, unless you think you'd rather stay here together a bit longer."

"He's probably fine. It's a nice night, I think, and wasn't this conversation his idea?"

They sit together for a moment, and Eliam sighs. "Okay, believe me, it's not that I'm not interested. But I mean... if something happens tonight, we still have to travel together, you know? I mean, I've gotten enough lectures about not ruining our group dynamic... so maybe we should just... call it a night?"

Gwendolyn looks at him, slightly offended. "I believe something did already happen. I don't think I imagined you essentially proposing to me, did I? Being King, with me as your Queen... being lectured on what you can or can't do. Oren isn't here. What do you want, Eliam? How do you really feel about those topics?"

Eliam shifts awkwardly. "I mean, I didn't mean to! I mean, marriage? I mean... it would be bad for you too, you know. I don't have the best track record with this romance stuff. I just... I don't know. I don't want to fuck this whole group thing up by ruining it. I don't need to get kicked out of somewhere yet again. I don't need to be left homeless and alone yet again. I guess that's what I want. To not have to worry about everyone fighting over something and breaking apart in Thirshalon, leaving us alone here when we're so, so close to just being done with this place. If people want me to be King, I'll do it, I guess? I honestly just don't care at this point beyond getting home and finding out if everyone I knew and cared about is dead after all. For all we know we're talking about being King and Queen of some ashes."

For a moment, Gwendolyn sits in silence. "Oh." She thinks to herself, taking a long sip of her wine. "I'm not sure what I expected, but I appreciate the honesty. Do you really think the group would fall apart over something like that?"

"Sorry... I didn't mean that," Eliam says, composing himself. "No, I'm sure they wouldn't. I mean, they're too nice for that, really. And honestly, Iquai is probably fine... I was worried the Rorgh would have gone after our families after we disappeared, you know? But even they wouldn't do that, assuming they even found out who we are... I mean, only a few monks knew who we were, really... things are probably fine. And hey, we're going to need some government after the Elyde fall. Why not me? I'm sure I could learn the stuff you need to know for it."

"Perhaps you can," Gwendolyn says, standing as she finishes her glass. "I think...I should be going now. Goodnight, Eliam."

"Oh... Yeah. Here," he says, handing her another bottle. "One more for the road. I'm sorry. I think I handled this poorly. But I'm not opposed to... maybe we can try this courting stuff again sometime. I would like to learn more about you."

Gwendolyn shakes her head, walking to the door. "You really are bad at romance, aren't you?" She says, as she closes the door behind her, walking past Oren to return to her room.

He stands up quickly, walking into their room. He sits down on the bed next to Eliam, but hops off immediately, examining it. "Uh... is... this clean?"

"Yeah, it's clean..." Eliam trails off, falling back onto the bed. "I really messed up."

"It sounds like you didn't mess up if you didn't sleep with her. I mean not for you, but for everyone else." Satisfied the bed is safe, Oren hops back on beside him.

"That's a good way of looking at it, yeah. Thanks. I sort of, accidentally proposed to her? Then I just panicked, and well... I don't think you need to worry about me sleeping with her anymore. Let's just say it wasn't a great night."

"Well once you're married you can sleep with her every night. But then I'll have to sleep alone." Oren rolls over, pulling up the covers and trying to fall asleep. Sighing, Eliam falls asleep as well.

The Group Arrives and Shops at Ilemashi
The next morning, Minerva stands at the bow of the ship. She looks over the waves and the wind blowing off the water causes her hair to fly furiously behind her. Her eyes narrow as, off in the distance, a castle begins slowly appearing on the land near the horizon. "I think we're close," she calls, until she's sure everyone has heard her.

A few minutes pass, and the party meets her up on the deck. Minerva folds her arms. "So... plans? I'm going to assume the city is defended well."

"It depends on how they greet us, I guess..." Eliam says. "Hopefully no one's tipped them off. They might just think we're average visitors."

"And if they come after us?" Minerva asks. "Should we try to bluff our way through or just... you know. Be ourselves."

As the ship moves closer, they begin to see what they believe is a port, and large stone walls that surround the city in a semi-circle on land.

"We could just drown everybody again," Oren says reluctantly.

Elise looks reluctant as well. "Perhaps... a different method?"

"The only thing with that I'd be worried about is damaging the glyph," Gwendolyn says.

"We don't really know what we're facing... and we're just us. I think our only options are bluff our way in, or sneak our way in. Or drown them, of course," Eliam adds.

Oren nods. "They might have a library like Fallowfield had. It would be better not to get it wet. Maybe we can just knock everybody out with poison or something, then we can walk by and they won't stop us."

Minerva eyes him curiously. "Do... you have that much poison?"

"No. But a city like this might have a few healers or apothecaries. I don't know if they usually carry that sort of thing, but we definitely had some things that could knock a person out."

"We could probably buy some," Eliam says. "Since Elise robbed that bank, we have plenty of funds."

Elise purses her lips slightly but nods.

Oren nods as well. "Then we just need to find a water source that the people share, we put in the poison and wait a day. Not everyone's going to be knocked out but they might be drowsy at least. It can't be too strong or they'll notice right away."

"Okay. Let's look for an apothecary when we get into town," Minerva says. "Elise, can you listen around for one when we land?" She nods.

Within an hour, the ship has landed at the dock. Some guards mill about, looking disinterested. A grey orc lumbers over to the ship as the group is tying it to dock. "Papers, please."

"Sorry, papers?" Eliam asks, looking around at the others.

He rolls his eyes. "The patriarch lives here. We don't let just anyone in."

"We don't have papers, where can we get some?" Oren asks.

He snorts. "Go back to wherever you came from and send a letter to Ilemashi Security. Or," he laughs even more heavily, "you could just give me 300 gold and I'll look the other way, but who has that kind of money?"

Oren fetches ten gold from the ship, and hands it to him. "Is this enough?"

"We don't plan to stay long; we just want to restock quickly," Eliam adds.

He drops the ten gold into the water. "Don't mess around. Come back with papers or 350 gold."

Oren frowns, annoyed. He closes his eyes, and with a subtle hand motion, controls the water around them. A whip of water rises from the beck, catching the orc's foot and dragging him into the water. He splutters about for a moment, trying desperately to cling to the dock as the metal of his armour weighs him down. "Hey!" he coughs. "Help me back up!"

Minerva looks around to see if any guards have noticed this. Oren moves forwards to the guard, taking his arm. He feigns pulling up the orc, but causes the waters to pull him deeper. The orc's head drops below the surface. Two of the guards sprint over, concerned.

By the time they get there, it is too late. The guard has been pulled under. They attempt to give him a rope or pole to grab on to, but he has gone too far down. He does not resurface, and momentarily, the surface of the water becomes still. "By the Maker," one of the guards gasps. "What happened here?"

"He slipped on the docks and went under," Eliam says, feigning concern.

"That's... what a way to go," the guard says. "I'll have to report this. For now, do you have your papers?"

"We gave them to him," Gwendolyn says quickly.

The second guard looks down over the water's edge. "That... that's unfortunate." They look over the group carefully. "Maybe we can... do this abridged, just the once. We have some pressing business to see concluded now. Purpose of your visit?"

Oren turns away, holding out his hand to Elise to help her off the boat. Eliam steps forward. "We're hoping to restock on basic supplies in town."

"Length of your stay?"

"One day. We'll be leaving tomorrow, ideally."

The guards exchange a look, then shrug. "We'll be marking your boat for departure at this time tomorrow. If you fail to be on your boat and ready to leave at that time, we'll be repossessing your ship and property for sale for the good of the Patriarch. If these terms are acceptable, you may enter Ilemashi."

Eliam looks around for confirmation, and Gwendolyn nods. "Sounds good," he smiles. "Thank you."

The guards step aside. "Welcome to Ilemashi."

"Is there an inn nearby?" Oren asks, after helping Elise to the dock. He pulls the heavy chest of gold with him, and Eliam goes over to help him carry it.

One guard takes a lingering look at the water, then walks away. The second says, "Quarter mile north, then take the road going left. You can't miss it."

Oren nods, and with their things gathered, the group departs for town. They pass a variety of stores as they walk, and Oren stops them at a book store. "Guard this," he tells Elise, motioning at the chest as he walks inside, Gwendolyn following.

Eliam looks quickly at her. "I'll stay here as well," he says.

Inside, the book store is narrow but long. Rows of books line the walls, and there is a central aisle of paperbacks leading toward the rear. Gwendolyn walks to the paperback section, stopping to look at some romance novels. Oren looks for a section on magic, but finds only books on basic spells.

Gwendolyn takes an armful of paperbacks, and wanders over to Oren. "Anything interesting?"

"No. They don't seem to like magic here." He leads her to a section of rare books, though they aren't as rare as he was hoping for. He takes what looks interesting, and goes to pay.

Gwendolyn holds up her books, smiling. "Can you get these too, for me?"

He nods, and their books paid for, returns outside. "Do you want to check out the armour store? Or weapons?"

"It might not be a bad idea to see what we can find," Minerva says.

"I wouldn't mind seeing what weapons they have," Gwendolyn says, "but I'm rather attached to my armor."

"Last time I got armour it encouraged a monster to slash my face up," Eliam adds. "But a new weapon could be alright."

"But it's better to get scratched in the face than to be dead. Maybe the armour protected you," Oren tells him. After a few minutes of walking, they reach a weapon store. They go inside, leaving Elise to guard the money. A variety of weapon types and strengths adorn the walls.

The shopkeep steps out from behind the counter. "Yeeeeeeeeeeees?"

Eliam ignores her, walking to where some bows hang on the wall. Gwendolyn nods at her, and they look around the store. Minerva examines a pair of daggers with a blackened metal for blades. She picks them up and spins them briefly. "They're balanced well..."

"Why are they black?" Oren asks.

The shopkeep lifts them carefully and says, "Very rare technique used in smelting. Mixture of different ores. Stronger. More durable. Sharper. Darker."

Oren looks at her, frowning. After a moment, he turns to Minerva. "She's lying."

She looks at him curiously. "How can you tell?"

He shrugs. "Do you have any actually good daggers?"

"Thiiiiis is the finest dagger in all of Thirshalon!" she insists.

Oren shakes his head at Minerva. "Yours are fine, you don't need new ones."

She pats her daggers. "I am quite fond of them..."

Oren walks slowly around the store. He stops in a darkened corner and notices a variety of weapons hanging from the wall, and a few sitting in cases. There is a wide variety of weapons in this section. Each shines with a bright silvery gleam.

Minerva follows him, and he pulls out two daggers from a display. "Do you want to try these ones?"

She holds them. They fit easily in her hands as she spins them with a dexterity she's not yet felt from her other weapons. "O-oh. Wow. This... yeah. Wow."

"I'm glad you like them. You should have the best daggers if..." He looks around. "Well, if you need them..."

He looks around for Eliam and Gwen. Eliam is testing a bow in his hand, but Oren beckons him over, pointing at the finer weapons he's found in store. Eliam grins, dropping the weapon he was holding against the display, and walks over, Gwendolyn following him.

"Do you want a new one?" Oren asks.

"This looks amazing! Thank you! ...You can take care of buying all this stuff, right?" Eliam asks, smiling at him.

The shopkeep saunters over. "I see you have found the rarest of my... collection."

Gwendolyn looks at the lance and the glaive, comparing the two.

"How much for the bow and the daggers?" Oren asks. "Go check on Elise and get some money," he adds to Eliam, taking the bow from him. He nods, and goes outside.

The shopkeep examines Oren with a critical eye. "How much do you haaaave...?"

"We have a little bit of money. ...50 gold? Is that enough for all of them? And whichever one she wants," he adds, gesturing to Gwen.

The shopkeep laughs. Then she stops, and laughs again. "I will give you the hilts of those daggers for 50 gold. 100 gold per weapon. No less. These are treasures."

"100 gold? Surely that's too much, even for something as grand as they are," Gwendolyn says, inspecting the sword closely. "I've seen better craftsmanship in Ariglodo. 60 gold each."

She glares at Gwen. "Such insulting insolent insolence! 125 gold apiece now! What nerve."

Oren sighs, and goes outside to collect the money.

--

Outside, Eliam sees Elise giving an orc a handful of gold. "Everything okay here?" He asks, walking over to her.

The orc leaves. "Hello. Everything is fine," she says serenely. "He was very pleasant. He said his family died at the Judgment; he was too sick to go. He seemed down on his luck, so I thought a little gold might help him. I mean... I did steal so much. We don't need it all, right?" She looks at Eliam almost as though daring to be challenged.

He raises his eyebrow at her. "No... look, I was just teasing you about stealing it. That's... admirable, to help someone like that, I guess. But don't go overboard, okay? We need to be able to pay for the inn, at least."

Elise frowns. "I gave him 10. I think we'll survive."

"Oh! Yeah, 10 is fine, that's nothing. Hey, okay, so you're trying to pay for some daggers, a bow, and some other stuff I guess," he says, leaning down and opening the chest. "How much would you say you need? Like... 200? Oren asked me to bring some gold back in."

Before she can answer, Oren walks outside, taking some coins. "She said it's 100 each. That seems high, but I don't know weapon prices."

"Beats me," Eliam shrugs. "Maybe that's average."

Elise blinks. "That seems absurd. My sister charged far less than that for armour..."

"They're really good weapons. What would you normally charge for something like that?" Oren asks. He hands her the money. "You go inside and tell them that, maybe you two can negotiate a lower price. I'll watch the cart."

Eliam glances at Gwen inside the shop, and frowns. "I'll stay out here and help watch the money. Also uh... here," he says, handing Elise five gold from his pocket. "Just in case someone else needs help, alright? I don't know if this is enough, but either way."

"Oh.... Okay," she says. She takes the gold and walks inside.

"What's wrong?" Oren asks, looking concernedly at Eliam. "I thought you could... y'know... swindle her. The shopkeeper, not Elise. Why did you give her money...?"

"Sorry. I guess I'm just sort of... distracted? Don't worry about it," Eliam answers. "I don't know. I feel bad about making fun of Elise. I mean, she's just a kid, it's probably not fair to make her feel too much like a criminal. She was giving some guy ten gold for some story about his family dying at the judgment. As long as she doesn't go overboard, we have plenty of money, so if it makes her feel better may as well let her go for it."

"Money isn't going to help that man much, but I guess we can spare it," Oren says. "We'd probably be able to help people back home once we get there if there's too much money... Let's just convince them to hold on to it for now. We don't know what we'll need." Oren takes some heavy coins from the chest, handing half of them to Eliam. "We can only take the things we can carry, remember."

Eliam nods, putting them into his bag.

Inside, Elise walks in to see the shopkeep glaring daggers at Gwen. "Is... she always like that?"

"She's upset I offered less money," Gwendolyn whispers. "You're welcome to try."

"What is she charging? 100?" Elise asks.

"125, now. She seems like she has a very short temper."

Elise looks at her warily, then sighs. "Best not push it if we really want those weapons. Are they useful weapons?"

"Oren seemed impressed. The sword I was looking at was nice."

"How many are we buying?"

"The sword, bow, daggers. I'm not sure if you want the staff or not, and Oren didn't seem to want anything."

Elise touches her own staff. "I... will be fine. Let's get your weapons. Three weapons for 150 apiece means we'd need 450 gold. Shopkeep, is this correct?"

She nods, and Elise steps out to Oren and Eliam. "I need 450 gold."

Eliam looks at Oren, who hands her the money. She takes it, returns inside, and holds it out to the shopkeep. "This should be sufficient." She eyes the money warily, then takes it and waves her away.

Elise, Gwendolyn and Minerva return outside, weapons in hand. Minerva equips her daggers, and Elise brings the bow to Eliam.

"Hey, thanks. You did really well," he says.

Elise smiles. "Thank you."

"Good job, we only overpaid a little," Oren adds. "Do you want to check out the armour shop?"

Minerva shrugs. "I mean, it can't hurt. I feel like our next battles will be... intense."

They continue along the road, reaching a shop selling armour. "I can stay with the money," Eliam volunteers. "Leather armor is fine with me." He sits along the fence, beginning to turn his new bow into his arcane focus. Gwendolyn quietly sits next to him.

Minerva steps into the armour shop and takes Elise with her. Oren looks at Gwendolyn, and follows them into the armor shop.

Gwendolyn stares at Eliam as he casts. "Well... the weather is nice today," he says awkwardly, looking down at his bow. "A little warmer here, compared to up north."

"It is nice. Have you ever used a sword?" She smiles.

"No, actually. How come?"

"Well, I have an extra one now that I don't really need. I thought you might like it. It might make you look more... regal."

Eliam looks startles. "Oh... I mean... sure! Who knows? Maybe one day I can use it. Uh... thank you."

Gwendolyn smiles at him, helping him put on the sword belt.

Inside, Minerva looks at Elise, frowning. "We need to get you something stronger. These battles will get more dangerous and I won't have you unprotected."

"If it's too heavy and cumbersome, she won't be able to cast spells as well," Oren warns.

Minerva steps toward the shopkeep. "We're looking for high-quality armour. Do you have anything?"

"Not much demand for that," the shopkeep says. "But we have a little. I don't suppose any of you are magicians, are you?"

"Why do you ask?" Oren says quickly.

"Well, the best armour we have for mages is different than for non-mages."

"Oh ok. Well... what do you have for mages...?"

He walks to a side shelf and draws out some soft leather armour. Touching it, Oren feels a trace of magic. "This is light aetheric armour. Magical wearers report that they feel their magical power return when being struck."

"Do you have anything else?" Oren asks.

"For magicians? Nothing with magical effects."

"How much is it?"

"65 gold for one. 100 if you get two."

"How many do you have?"

"Unfortunately I only have the two," he replies.

Oren nods towards Elise. "Can you make one of them fit her?" He pulls out the money, counting out the gold.

"Easily," he replies. He takes the second one and does some minor alterations.

Oren puts the money on the counter while he works, and takes the other one outside. "Here, put this on," he calls out, tossing the armor to Eliam.

"Oh! Hey, nice. Thank you," he says.

Oren nods and walks back inside, finding Minerva. "See anything you like?"

She looks around a little. To the shopkeep, she asks if there is anything similar for non-mages. The shopkeep shakes his head. "Only fine armour with excellent stopping power. That armour only works because magicians already hold magical power within their bodies."

"Do you already wear armour?" Oren asks her, examining her clothes.

"Yes," Minerva answers. "Just thin armour to allow for mobility." Oren nods.

"Well," the shopkeep says, "if you're set on light leather and you don't want to upgrade, you could also try this." He takes out a light leather vest with nearly horizontal pockets on either side, below the ribcage. "Light leather with two pockets for throwing knives. You can whip them out for a ranged attack. Might surprise a foe and give you an upper hand."

"Do you have the knives?" He asks.

"I could throw them in," he says. "Nothing particularly special about this piece otherwise. 25 silver and it's yours."

He looks at Minerva, who nods. "I think that's reasonable." Oren pulls out the silver and pays.

"Thank you, Oren," she says warmly. "I'll have to work on my throwing..."

"It's all our money, don't thank me. You should change now in case something happens, you never know."

She steps into a changing room and returns with the new armour on. Oren looks her over appreciatively. "You look good, and now you can stab people from far away."

"Let's hope," she says.

The three return outside, and the group walks together to the apothecary. Minerva and Elise volunteer to wait together outside.

Inside, Oren looks around at the drugs, searching for something to cause drowsiness. Eliam follows him, reading some of the labels curiously. Gwendolyn looks around for potions to heal wounds.

The potioneer sidles over to Oren. "And what is it you are looking for?"

"Just some medicine, we're leaving tomorrow and want to stock up. My friend there," he says, pointing to Elise outside the window. "How old would you guess she is?"

He squints. "8?"

"Thank you," Eliam mutters under his breath.

"Yes, she looks like a mere child but she is, in fact, 19 years old," Oren continues. "Unfortunately she suffers from a condition that requires iron supplements daily to counter it. It's a form of anemia..."

"Iron?" he says. "We have iron tablets. They are made from fine iron filings that are gathered into tablet form."

"That would help... wait, what? Uh... sure," Oren says, giving him a strange look. He takes a basket, and begins stocking it with various vials from the shelves. "I'll find what I need, thanks."

"How do you remember what all this stuff does?" Eliam asks as he piles in various medicines.

"I just learned it from books," he answers distractedly. Gwendolyn adds a handful of healing potions to their pile, and Oren pays for the goods.

The Group Visits a Pub in Ilemashi
Outside, they find a quiet back alley. Oren distributes the remaining money between them all, telling Elise to distribute the money back home, if she wants to give some away. Once the money is split, he looks around. "Now what?"

"Figure out where their water source is, I guess," Eliam shrugs.

"Perhaps not just their water. I imagine soon many people will be going to the tavern to relax after work. Maybe there's a way to tamper with their ale," Gwen adds.

Minerva looks half-offended and half-inspired. "That's brilliant," she says. "Part of me hates that you're messing with the beer but brilliant."

"Sounds like we have a plan," Eliam smiles. "Any idea where the tavern is?"

Elise closes her eyes. "I think it's this way." She leads them down a side street and focuses on a pair of walking orcs. She follows them from a distance for a minute or two, then points as they step into a building. "The Rusty Nail. That's it."

"Try to find one where the guards hang out," Oren says. "We want them, not normal people."

"Oh," she says. "Maybe closer to the castle itself, then?" She starts walking in the direction of the castle.

"Do all bars have such weird names?" Oren asks. "Like in Ushad that place was called 'the Grainhouse.' I thought it was a bakery or a restaurant, but I don't think that's what it was."

Eventually, they approach a building just near enough for her to begin hearing snippets of conversation. "It sounds like a lot of the guards go in and out of here when they're done with work." She gestures to the building, atop which sits the sign, "Herb's."

"That's not ominous at all," Eliam says quietly.

"See, that makes me think they sell spices," Oren says. "Or plants."

"So next up: How do we get to the ale?" Eliam asks. "I mean, I can distract whoever's at the counter, I'm sure. But someone will have to get to the kegs in the back, I assume."

"Maybe there's a glyph that leads inside, if it does belong to the same Herb," Oren suggests. "We have that necklace, we could teleport in to the back."

"Might hard to find a glyph, though," Minerva points out.

"Well... if it's like back in Saloria, there could be one in the pub itself," Eliam shrugs. "But yeah, it'd be difficult to find the glyph leading in. But it's a way out, maybe... maybe there's a back door?"

Oren nods. "Maybe you can sense it. A glyph, not the back door. We can just find that."

Eliam closes his eyes, then shakes his head. "Nothing, sadly. Possibly not even inside. But yeah, a back door might work. They must have some way to bring the kegs in."

They move around back to find an empty alley. Behind the building is a wooden door. Quietly, Oren pulls it slightly open, peering inside.

"Did you see any kegs in the kitchen? Maybe they just keep them there?" Eliam asks.

"Just one, they have to be elsewhere," Oren answers.

"Damn... the way into the cellar is probably inside, then. If there even is a cellar."

"How long would you need to slip in and do what you need to do?" Minerva asks.

Oren shrugs. "A minute or two for each keg, probably."

She leans against the wall. "I can seduce them for a minute or two."

Elise says, "Do you want hel-" "No," Minerva answers firmly.

Gwendolyn shifts in her armour, looking deeply uncomfortable with the conversation.

"That would be a good distraction I guess... but you don't have to if you don't want to. Eliam can do the seducing," Oren offers.

Minerva gestures at the door. "By all means, if you feel up to it."

Eliam shrugs. "May as well, I guess."

Minerva looks somewhat taken aback that he agreed. "Oh! Well. All right then. Good luck. We'll be out here if you get into trouble."

"I mean, do you want to help?" Eliam asks. "I hate to take away the opportunity from you. You seemed pretty disappointed back in Ariglodo."

She raises her hands. "Oh, no. I can't seduce an orc. How will I go on."

He grins. "I mean, you volunteered so quickly, I just assumed."

"Mission comes first. Pride second," she says.

Oren looks at her uncomfortably, and raises an eyebrow. "...Well... I'm sure you'll have plenty of chances to seduce orcs later..."

"Okay," Minerva says. "Eliam, you throw the door open, run in and draw their attention away from the door, then lay on the charm. That way Oren can slip in before the door closes so there's no second squeak. From there it's... all on you."

"No problem there," he answers, smiling at her.

"We're right out here if you need us," she adds. "Just bang on the door if you can reach it."

"I don't know if this is better, but good luck I guess," Oren says. "Please don't actually have sex with them while we're all listening. If I get stuck in a cellar listening to that I'm going to drown the whole bar."

"If you could drown me, too, that would be swell," Minerva quips. Oren nods.

"Yes," Gwen adds. "Please don't."

"Oh, right, don't worry. I wouldn't want to make you jealous," Eliam winks at Minerva.

"Wait," Minerva says hastily to Oren, "That... That was a joke. Right? We're joking. You're not actually going to drown me. Right?"

"I mean we are leaving town, so maybe it's a good chance for you, Eliam," Oren says, then looks at Minerva. "I would never drown you. Even if I was trying to kill you I'd find a less painful way."

"...Thank you for your gentlemanly reassurance," she answers.

"Well, we'll see how the night goes," Eliam answers him cheerfully.

"Gwen, Elise, let's hide behind the door so we can't be seen when Eliam opens it." Minerva moves to be out of sight, and Elise follows. Gwendolyn hangs back for a moment, but hesitantly joins them.

Eliam throws open the door to the kitchen dramatically, rushing in. "Oh, Maker! Please, help? Out front, there was someone out there, they looked hurt, they were saying something about a fire down the road, and to get as much help as we could?"

The orcs regard him suspiciously but turn from the door to look at him. "A fire? Where?"

He shakes his head. "I don't know exactly. I'm sorry, they just said it was down the road, and to find help. I didn't know where else to go."

"Well, let's get everyone to get some buckets and we'll go down. Which way?" asks one.

"West. Thank you so much," Eliam says, leaning against the counter and feigning being out of breath.

One of them gives him a bucket anyway. "Come on, suck it up, we've got to help." Outside, Oren rolls his eyes.

Three of the four orcs grab buckets and leave out the back door. The fourth points for Eliam to follow. "Go, man, go!"

Eliam shakes his head. "Sorry, I.... I ran down here as fast I could. I sort of regret not working out more... but I'm sure the others have it handled. Eliam, by the way."

"Fine," he says, "there are twenty-five men in the dining room. Go out there and tell them to get a bucket and get moving!"

He nods. "Sorry, just... could I trouble you for some water, first? For myself?"

The orc frowns at him, but turns to get some water. While his back is turned, Oren scampers inside, immediately spotting the door. He barrels through it and the chef hands Eliam the water, unaware of Oren's presence. Immediately, he sets to work poisoning the kegs.

"Thank you," Eliam smiles. "Sorry, I don't think I caught your name?"

"Yannik," he says. "I am the chef Yannik."

"Yannik. I'm sorry we met under such unfortunate circumstances. But thank you for your kindness."

"Okay," he says, "now that you have your water, I'm going to get the buckets from downstairs for the men. You let them know what we need to do."

He begins walking to the basement, and quickly, Eliam grabs his hand. Yannik turns back to look at him. "I thought you said someone was hurt and there was a fire. We don't have time for this."

"I'm sure the others who left will find more help. Is it really okay to leave the kitchen unattended?"

Yannik takes his hand back. "No. That's why I'm getting the buckets for you and the others, and I'm staying here."

Eliam sighs. "Yeah, that's a good plan. Thank you again for the water. Oh, but first... I'm sorry, I think I hurt my ankle. Could you help me make sure it's okay?"

"No, I really can't if it's as bad as you've said. Sit there on the stool and I'll help you when the others have gone to help."

He opens the cellar door, and nervously, Eliam sits back down.

As the door creaks open, Oren looks up. He withdraws a vial, pouring some liquid onto a piece of cloth, and stands to the side, ready to act as he hears the orc walk down the stairs.

Yannik notices that a keg is open. "...The hell?"

Quickly, Oren grabs him from behind, forcing the cloth to the orc's face. Within moments, he falls to the floor.

Years from now, the people of Ilemashi will remember the story of Yannik, the disgraced chef. He was found wasted and unconscious on the floor of Herb's cellar. When he finally came to, he immediately recounted a tale of a nutjob who burst into the kitchen and told everyone there was a fire. He went downstairs to get buckets to help, but was attacked. No one, of course, believed him, having found him passed out on the floor next to an open keg of beer. The obvious explanation was that he had skipped helping put out the fire to skim beer off the kegs without paying. Yannik was fired, and spent the rest of his days searching for Eliam.

Oren finishes his work, and returns upstairs to find Eliam waiting. They meet up with the others outside.

As they exit, Minerva asks, "Did it work?"

"Flawlessly," Eliam answers.

"Yes, it's fine. He won't remember anything that happened," Oren adds. "We should try to find a few wells inside the castle if possible, or maybe they use pipes to bring water in from somewhere."

"Also we uh... really need to leave, like, now. And probably not come back this way for a while," Eliam says. Oren nods, and leads them in the opposite direction that the men from the kitchen ran earlier.

"Don't worry," Oren adds to Minerva, "you can seduce someone later."

"Oh. Good," she says flatly. "All I've ever wanted."

"Really?" Elise asks. Minerva sighs.

"Sounds like he's giving you a pretty clear signal," Eliam says, smiling at Minerva.

"Eliam didn't even do a great job at it, the orc came downstairs anyway," Oren smiles. "I'm sure he would have been distracted by you." Eliam looks at him, betrayed.

"It's not your fault Eliam," Oren continues, confused at his reaction. "Maybe he doesn't like men?"

Minerva smirks. "Uh-oh," she teases. "Westmonte boys losing their touch?"

"Hardly," Eliam answers, putting his arm around her waist.

Oren shakes his head. "He wasn't trying to seduce him. Orcs are ugly, nobody wants to sleep with them. Though you seem very eager to seduce one. I hope that's not due to your own preferences."

She shudders. "Maker forbid..."

Oren smiles. "That's good. Your father would not approve at all if you married an orc."

Eliam frowns. "I mean, I'd seduce one orc. There were four in there. That's a little too far."

She shudders again. "Yes. Yes, it is." She puts her arm back around Eliam. "Maybe let's both lay off the orc seduction for a while, hm? We have enough things to have nightmares over." She moves away from his arm and withdraws her own.

"Once we get back home it hopefully won't come up again," Oren says. "Those orcs are even worse than these ones. You'll both have to settle for..." he looks around, making sure no one is listening. "Well, people like us."

Minerva shrugs. "There are worse things."

The Group Visits an Aqueduct in Ilemashi
They walk through the town, eventually arriving at the river. They follow the water, and eventually find a large aqueduct covered in a heavy brick arch. The covering continues past the lock entrance, extending far into the Beck itself.

Oren examines it. "Can you make a hole in this?" he asks Minerva.

She looks around. "Probably. Make sure we don't get spotted?"

"Sure," he says. "Elise, listen for people." She nods.

Oren and Minerva climb on to the brick covering, and Elise signals that no one is around. "It's pretty quiet," she says.

Minerva stabs her flaming dagger into the brick. She seems to have hit a vulnerability, because the stone begins to crumble with incredible speed. Oren falls backward and scrambles to get away from the widening hole Minerva is making. Gracelessly, he manages to avoid falling in, though he bangs up his shoulder in the escape.

Minerva manages to kick off sideways but, being next to the hole, she does not get clear. She catches the edge of the hole and dangles into the aquaduct, her feet dangling over the water. Oren grasps her hands, and begins to pull her up. He makes gradual progess, but her hands, not his, begin to slip.

"Don't you dare let go!" she shouts at him.

"I'm not!"

Minerva tries to hold on but one of her hands slips out, and her second follows soon after. She hits the water with a loud splash.

Eliam scrambles onto the archway to help, as Oren jumps in after her. Minerva treads water, desperately trying to fight the current. Oren catches up to her, and together they try to avoid being swept away.

"Does one of you have a rope?" Eliam shouts to Gwendolyn and Elise.

Gwendolyn shakes her head. Elise turns around distractedly. "No, why?"

Eliam gives her a look. "They fell in! I can't reach them!"

"Well, I didn't fall..." Oren says quietly, grabbing Minerva. He closes his eyes, extending his magic to the waters around him, and still them. The current fades, and they easily tread water.

Gwendolyn climbs up to help, lowering her lance into the hole. Minerva reaches for it and grasps it tightly. Oren pushes her up as best he can, and with a heave from Gwen, Minerva rises up through the air. She manages to grab the lip of the hole and pull herself to safety.

She lowers her lance once more, and Oren grabs on, manipulating the waters to push himself closer. With another pull, Gwendolyn brings him up to safety as well.

"Thank you, Gwen." Minerva gives Oren a strange look. "Um... thank you, too, Oren. You didn't have to jump in, but... you know. Thanks."

"Well I just told you I wouldn't drown you. I should try to keep some promises at least."

They catch their breath, and after a moment, Minerva shakes her head. "Well, that was exciting," she says dryly. "What's next on our list?"

Oren pours several vials into the water. "Now we wait for everyone to drink, or cook with it... and visit that pub," he answers. "We could go find an inn and get ready to go, or rest... it'll be a few hours before everyone is really affected by it. Then we can walk right in and nobody will stop us. ...An inn that uses a different aqueduct, ideally..."

"Definitely not the pub we went to before," Eliam adds. "I don't want to get recognized."

"No, somewhere else, definitely," Oren agrees. "We should eat and figure out what we're bringing. We can go to the castle and find that glyph in the early morning."

Minerva looks herself over. "Maybe we should let ourselves dry off first...?"

Oren grabs some branches, and positions them over the hole in the aqueduct to hide it."You can take a bath at the inn and change, if you want, we'll have time. It's nice having clothes to change into now, though I don't know if we can carry everything back. We'll have to carry Gwendolyn too. Do you still have Votig's orb?" He asks Gwen.

"I do, but, carry me?"

"Well, it would be preferable to leaving you behind," Minerva says.

"Yeah," Elise nods. "You're one of us now."

Oren shrugs. "You don't look that heavy, with the armour off." He leads them back towards the city.

"Well, no one carried me here," Gwen says. "What would happen to my armour?"

"It probably would get left behind, unfortunately," Eliam answers.

"Someone else can carry the armour, or you can wear it," Oren suggests. "We brought a bunch of books with us, and Votig brought Chompy. You'll be fine."

The Group Has a Spa Day in Ilemashi
The party walks through the city, and eventually arrives at an opulent-looking inn. As they enter, some orcs give them a strange look. A lavender-skinned orc with his nose in the air speaks as they enter. "Greetings," he says. "Welcome to Patriarch's."

"We'll have the suite," Eliam announces. "Whichever is the best you have."

"Hm," he says, looking down at his ledger. "The suite, you say? As it so happens, with most in Asle Lenor, we have a rare availability."

"Perfect," Eliam says, looking around for someone to carry their things. "We'll need a menu for dinner as well."

"Very well. The suite will be 55 gold a night, with an additional 15 gold booking fee paid in advance."

Oren hands him 15 gold. He accepts the payment, and gives him a pair of keys. "Up the stairs until you get to the fourth floor. The door to the fourth floor is locked behind that key. You'll have the floor to yourselves."

"You wouldn't happen to have more than two keys, would you?" Eliam asks.

"I am afraid two will have to be sufficient," he replies.

"It's fine," Oren says, carrying his things upstairs. Eliam shrugs and follows him, the rest of the party in tow.

The hotel, while not at max capacity, is still busier than most places since the judgment. The second and third floor are guest rooms, wall to wall. The first floor contains a bar, lounge, indoor pool, exercise room, sauna, and what looks like a small hall for theatre. The upper floor, the suite, has two separate rooms containing some of the largest beds any of them have ever seen, plus a central living space with comfortable sofas, a fireplace, and a large bay window that overlooks the city.

"Nice," Eliam says as they walk in. "We should have robbed a bank earlier. Oren and I can share a room, I guess... and someone can take the common room?"

"We can move one of these sofas into the girl's room, or two people can share a bed," Oren suggests. He goes into the nearest room and sets down his things, looking around.

"That too. I dont mind sharing a bed with Oren," Eliam adds.

Minerva shrugs. "I can share."

Oren goes into the bathroom, locking the door behind him. Gwen goes into the opposite room, setting down her things and going to take a bath as well. Eliam nods at Minerva, and she and Elise leave to put their things in the room Gwendolyn claimed.

--

Time passes, and Gwendolyn steps out from the bath. Minerva sits on the bed, running a comb through her hair, while Elise reads a book.

Gwendolyn looks at her for a moment. "Elise, you have such pretty hair. Why do you always wear it like that?"

She shrugs. "When the hair falls over my ears just right, it helps muffle the sound a little bit. I don't hear quite so much. I mean, not very much but... in my situation, every little bit helps." She looks a little nervous. "Is... is it bad?"

Gwen smiles. "Not bad, just a little...simple? I think I could help, if you'd like."

She looks in the mirror for a moment, thinking hard. Then she pulls the ties from her hair and lets it fall. "I think I'd like that."

Gwendolyn starts to work on her hair. After a few minutes, she turns to Minerva as well.

She blinks. "Oh... even me?" She flushes slightly. "Well... okay."

"Of course," Gwendolyn smiles. "I'm sure you have someone you want to impress, right?"

"O-oh," Minerva says. "Well. I..." She sinks into silence, reddening despite herself.

--

In the other room, Oren leaves the bathroom, tying his hair back into a ponytail. Eliam sets down his lute, and goes to clean up as well. Oren goes to the common room, and starts a small fire in the fireplace. As he sits on the couch, there is the sudden chiming of a high, tinkling bell from just outside the room.

Oren stands to open the door, but finds a bell located above a slat in the wall outside the rooms. Below it, in the hollow, is a circular metal tube with a cover on a hinge. There is a small sign beside it that reads, "Raise hatch when bell rings."

Tentatively, Oren raises the hatch, and a voice echoes up through the metal. "Ah, splendid. Are the accommodations to your satisfaction?"

Concernedly, Oren examines the hatch, looking for the source of the voice. "Um. Yes."

"Wonderful. Please be advised that the evening's dance will begin in an hour, should you be interested in attending. First drinks are, of course, free for guests of the suite."

"Can you send up some dinner?" Oren asks, grabbing the menu. He reads it for a second, and frowns. "Two of everything. And drinks... some good wine, and whiskey, and water and... do you have anything kids like? She doesn't drink alcohol. And dessert too, some of these..."

"Right away," The voice assents. Oren waits to see if anything else is said, but after there is only silence, he goes to sit in a chair by the fire. He curls up with a blanket and tries to sleep.

--

Later, Eliam walks out into the common room. As he goes to sit down as well, there is a knock on the door. He looks at Oren, as though debating whether to wake him, but goes to open the door himself.

"2 gold's worth of food, sir," says a young orc.

Eliam hands him the money, and the orc wheels the food in. He raises an eyebrow at the amount, but says nothing.

After he leaves, Eliam gently nudges Oren awake. "Food's here. You really went all out, wow. I have to say this beats camping out."

"I just told them to send everything because I don't know what anyone likes, or the names of foods," Oren answers.

Oren knocks on the door of the girls' room, and goes to set the table. Eliam sits and begins eating, while Oren patiently waits. After a few minutes, they walk out into the common area. Minerva steadfastly avoids Oren's eyes.

"Oh, hey," Eliam says. "You guys look nice."

Elise smiles happily at the compliment, then sits to eat.

Oren looks up at them, examining Minerva's hair. "Oh, are you going to that dance thing? We got food."

"That sounds like fun," Minerva answers. "You know, before assaulting a castle and fighting for our lives."

"Dance?" Gwendolyn asks.

"The guy ... someone said there was a dance soon, but I don't know what that means," Oren answers. "Votig said dancing was how he got his wife, so maybe it's only for people looking to get married."

"Hm," Gwen responds. She walks to the door.

"Are you going already?" Minerva asks.

"I'll be back, don't worry," she answers, closing the door behind her.

Once Minerva sits, Oren pours out wine for her, pouring an extra glass for Gwendolyn. "Do any of you want some? There's also whiskey, and they probably have lots of other things if you want..." He pours Elise some juice, and pours Eliam and himself some whiskey. The drinks served, he starts to eat.

"Anyone can go to a dance, even if they're not looking to get married," Eliam says. "I guess we may as well? I figure we can't take this money with us, so tonight's the night to spend it."

"Why can't we take it?" Oren asks.

"I'll join you on the whiskey, actually," Minerva says. "Can't be the only one out." Oren pours her a glass.

"I mean, we can take the money, but they won't accept it in Iquai, right?" Eliam asks.

"We can melt it down, it's gold," Oren explains patiently. He takes a glass of water and freezes it, making ice, and puts in in their drinks.

"Thanks. I think you might have gotten the best magic out of all of us," Eliam says as Oren hands him back his glass.

"Yours seems better. Mine just makes things easier, but nobody else can control aether."

Elise sips a little bit of wine slowly.

"Back home there's a magic box that's always full of ice," Oren continues, "and there are faucets that produce water that's hot or cold, so it's not that impressive."

"What? No way, that's incredibly impressive," Eliam says. "Where do you get those?"

"I don't know, they're just there. There's a lot of stuff like that. Like, all this food, you just sit down at the table and it'd appear- you don't have to order it or wait."

"That sounds amazing. We should find one of those. Especially if I'm going to be king, I feel like I should have that sort of thing," Eliam says, leaning back in his chair.

Minerva blinks. "I'm sorry, wait... what?"

Elise gasps loudly. "You're a prince?!"

"You can ask him to make you some things like that, I guess. But I don't know if he'll do it.  He likes to be special, he might not want to share all of his things." Oren looks at him, thinking after Elise's outburst. "Wait, are you?"

"No, of course not," Eliam answers. "But we were talking about it, and someone has to rule when the Elyde are gone, right? I mean, I wasn't really sure about it, but we figure I can get advisors or something and learn as I go. I mean, we're the Children, so why not one of us?"

"Yeah, why not..." Oren trails off, sipping his drink and trying not to look at him.

"Well, me, or I still think Oren could do it," Eliam adds.

"No," Oren says quickly, shaking his head. "No way. I'd be bad at it and I don't want to do it."

Minerva takes a long drink. "You're going to need to study hard and long," she cautions Eliam.

He frowns, resting his arms on the table. "That's uh... not really my strong suit."

"How did you do that to your hair?" Oren asks, leaning a little and studying the back of Minerva's elaborate braid.

She flushes furiously. "A-actually, Gwen did it. Do... you like it?"

Oren nods. She turns away, becoming curiously interested in her drink.

"I think they brought dessert too," Oren adds. "I wonder where Gwendolyn went..."

"Honestly, I think me being king might a terrible idea," Eliam says, ignoring him. "I mean, it would be pretty great to be in charge of everyone, but well... we might need a backup plan."

"Yea, maybe. Besides didn't you want to be a healer? You can't do both," Oren says. "That plan sounds better and easier anyway. But I'll help you with whichever you choose."

The Group Goes to a Dance
Behind them, the door opens, and Gwendolyn returns. Immediately, she pulls Minerva and Elise aside, telling them to wait in their room, and pours herself a glass of wine. "Eliam, I'm assuming you've worn a suit before, yes?"

"Yes, of course. How come?"

Before she can answer, there is a knock on the door. Smiling, Gwen goes to answer it. "Hello."

There is an orc with five sets of clothing on hangers, wrapped in garment bags. "Your request, I believe."

"Yes, thank you," she says, tipping him a gold. She takes the bags, handing two of them to Eliam, and disappears into her room with the rest.

"I guess this is going to be a more uh... formal night than I expected, then. Have you ever worn one of these before?" Eliam asks Oren.

"I usually just wear whatever I've got." Oren answers, looking down. "Orc clothes are really different. I can't wait to get home and start wearing my own things..."

"I can help if you need," Eliam smiles. "This is the sort of thing you usually wear to really nice dances, orcs or no. And hey, you might end up impressing Minerva even more."

"Do we have to dance? I don't want to end up married tomorrow."

Eliam laughs. "No one's getting married. You just dance and talk with whoever you're dancing with. Just ask Minerva and hopefully she'll be able to lead you; maybe the Lyriad taught her or something."

--

Eliam and Oren sit in the common room, chatting. They both wear a suit, though Oren leaves the top buttons undone and refuses a tie, claiming it's so he can breathe. Oren clutches a book tightly.

Elise emerges from the room in a light blue dress that goes down to her shins. Her dress is backless just past her shoulder blades, and the front rises up to her neckline.

Minerva steps out of the room in a low-cut red dress. There is a long slit on the left side that rises toward her thigh.

Lastly, Gwen follows in a strapless purple dress with a wide, flowing bottom that flutters about her ankles when she turns.

Eliam stands as they enter the room, while Oren stares at the fire, frowning and waiting to leave. Eliam stare's at Minerva's dress. She bends over to adjust one of her high heels a little. Her cleavage prominently bounces in front of him. He stares openly as she stands up, smiling at Elise. "That looks great on you, Elise," she says.

"Thanks," Elise says, looking it over. "Not fully certain about the back, but... if Gwen says so."

"Is your other heel okay?" Eliam asks Minerva, smiling.

"Hm?" she says. "Yes, I think it's..." She looks down to see her heel and notices her bust. "Oh. Eliam. Damn it."

"Good to see both of you clean up well," Gwendolyn says. "And the dress looks great on you, Elise."

She smiles. "Thank you. I like yours, too."

Eliam grins at Minerva. "I guess we should be going then. Do you want me to put that book away for you, Oren?"

Oren glares at him. "Sure, and I'll stay here with it."

"Alright, alright, take it with you then," Eliam says, rolling his eyes.

Oren stands, opening the door for everyone. The group descends the stairs and reaches the main floor. The dining hall has been cleared, and the smooth wooden floor shines from the candles set on the walls around the room. Musicians are set up in one corner of the room, warming up softly.

Several orcs mill around, waiting for the music to begin in earnest. The innkeep inclines his head at the party's arrival. "Good of you to join us."

Oren walks past him, quickly claiming a quiet table opposite the musicians. He sits down and opens his book.

Minerva sits next to him. "So... what kind of music do you think they'll play?"

"I don't know any songs except the ones Eliam and Votig sang. I doubt they can match their skill, but we'll see. They have a lot more instruments, at least." A waiter walks by, and Oren orders two drinks for them.

"Well," Minerva says, "I look forward to seeing you dance tonight."

Oren looks at her. "What? I don't know how, and..." he looks at her, remembering Votig's words. "Uh... you... what?" He stammers, blushing.

"Oh, it's easy," she says. "We can... I mean... I can show you how. If you want."

"Um... maybe later... if you really want..."

Eliam takes a table away from them, near the bar. Elise taps him on the shoulder and says, "No, silly, they've got a table for us over there," and begins walking toward Oren and Minerva.

Before she goes far, Eliam grabs her shoulder. "I think they need a few minutes alone, for adult stuff. We'll meet up with them in a bit." Gwendolyn leaves them, taking a seat at the bar itself.

"Maybe later tonight, when nobody is looking," Oren tells Minerva. He passes her a drink as the waiter delivers his order. He looks at her dress, examining her figure, and she pretends not to notice, glowing a little.

"Aren't you cold?" He asks.

"Hm? Oh... maybe a little, but we can go dancing soon and I'll warm up, I'm sure," she answers, smiling at him.

Oren takes off his jacket, putting it around her shoulders. The music finally strikes up, and the first song, a slightly up-tempo string piece begins playing. Oren pulls out his book, and begins to read again.

Minerva holds the jacket around herself momentarily, then looks at the dance floor longingly. "Well... shall we, um... dance?"

Oren looks at the dancers, studying them for a minute. "I'd rather stay here with you. I don't think I'd be very good at dancing. And you don't want people to think you want to marry me."

"Wait, what?"

"Votig said dancing is how you get a woman to marry you."

"It... um... It's something women like. But it doesn't mean you're married," she says, with a faint smile.

"...Oh. Well, we can if you want to later. This one looks hard."

"Oh," she says. "Well... okay then." She stands up, and hands his jacket back. "I'll... see you later on, then, I guess." She walks over to the other table. Oren watches her intently as she leaves, before returning boredly to his book, drinking the drink she left behind.

Elise pushes a chair for Minerva to take. "Why's he still over there? Does he want us to come?"

"No, I think he just wants his book," she says, sighing a very tiny amount. "Should have figured."

Eliam sighs. "He's horrible at that stuff. You really just have to go over and tell him you're going to dance with him now."

She shrugs. "Well... I was rather hoping he'd be... interested."

She stands up. "Anyone want to take to the floor? I'd hate to be the only ones missing out."

Elise rises as well. "Sure!"

Eliam shrugs. "Trust me, he is. He couldn't stop staring at you when you walked back here. He's just... really, really bad at this stuff."

She smirks at Eliam. "He's not the only one, I think. Should I read into that, too?"

"I mean, I wouldn't say no, obviously. And hey, you're the one who decided to bend over in front of everyone. I'm not sure you can really blame me for that one."

"Hm," she ponders. "I suppose there's nothing wrong with window shopping. Now come on," she says. "It's dancing time." She and Elise step onto the floor. She waves at Gwen and gestures to welcome her to dance as well, should she be interested.

Gwendolyn smiles faintly, but remains seated at the bar. Oren watches the dancing, resting his chin on his arms. Eliam stands, taking a seat next to Gwendolyn.

"Oh, hello, Mr. Westmonte. Not dancing?"

"Mr. Westmonte?" Eliam smiles. "I didn't think I messed things up that badly, Lady Gwendolyn. But no, no one to dance with, sadly enough."

"Well, it was a surprising outcome. But you can always make it up to me, if you'd like."

"Alright. Would you like to dance then, Lady Gwendolyn?" Eliam asks, offering out his hand.

She takes it. "I'd love to, Eliam." Together, they walk out onto the dance floor. They dance together quietly, uninterrupted by the crowd.

Minerva spins on the floor, her dress flapping around her. The orcs nearby take notice, and Elise steps away as some of them clap for her. Oren raises an eyebrow as he watches her.

Her body moves in rhythm with the music, her hair dancing behind her as she weaves her way in and out of the crowd. She twirls and spins gracefully, and stops on the corner of the floor nearest Oren. She raises a hand toward him.

"Your turn. Come on," she directs.

"What?"

"Dancing. Together. Us." Almost as if in response to her, the music suddenly slows.

Oren stands up, taking her hand, and tries to lead her out into the hallway. She holds her ground. "Why?"

"Just come with me."

"Not if you're ashamed of dancing with me," she responds.

"I'm not."

"Then why?"

"I don't want everybody looking at us," Oren answers. "I want to be alone with you. You can show me how to do it in there," he gestures to the hall.

She nods. "Okay." She allows him to lead her into the hallway, away from the eyes of the crowd.

Elise begins to follow. "Oh, are we leaving?"

"No, go dance with an orc," Oren tells her. Minerva smiles, and Elise returns to the dance floor.

"Okay, how does it work?" Oren asks, once they're outside.

Minerva places his hands on her for him. She begins to sway with him in time with the music. "And now," she says, "we're dancing." She leads him in turning in slow circles, rocking gently, matching the flow of the song.

"You know, I've never really gotten to dance with anyone before," she admits. "It's nice to... get to do this."

Oren nods.

"Have you, um... thought about what you'd like to do when we get home?" she asks.

"I should go home, but I'm dreading it. We can do everything else first. He can't be mad at me if I save the world. He doesn't like the Elyde much so he might like that too, if we can manage it."

"Do... I mean..." she stutters over her words, tripping over what she should effortlessly manage. "Would it be easier to go home if I came with you?"

"I'm not sure, maybe. You can come if you want. I can show you where I live. Well, where I lived. I guess I don't live there anymore. We can live somewhere else."

"W-we?" her breath catches a little. "Like... all of us?"

"If you want."

Minerva stays silent, unsure of how to interpret his answer.

"Do you usually live in Ushad?" Oren asks. "We can live there if you want."

"I did. I've lived there as long as I can remember... but now, maybe somewhere else would be nice. Too many memories," she says.

"We can find somewhere new to live. I don't care where we go."

Minerva smiles at him as the slow dance music begins to end. "As long as we're together..."

The music swells to its final notes. "...everything will turn out all right," she says, and she kisses him briefly.

The music stops, she pulls away, and she steps back. "Enjoy your book," she says with a smirk, and she goes back upstairs.

Oren watches her leave, and after a moment, goes to follow her. Elise steps out from the dance hall. "Are you done already? Where's Minerva?"

"Upstairs, you can stay with Eliam if you want but don't wander off. Stick with him okay?" Oren goes quickly up the stairs.

She frowns a little. She steps outside to feel the breeze and watch the clouds in the last of the daylight before the sun is gone.

Oren reaches their floor, but sees no signs of Minerva in the common area. He looks nervously at the door to her room, and pours himself some of the wine. He stares at her door for a long moment, then takes the bottle of whiskey, and returns to his own bedroom. He changes into his normal clothes, sits in the middle of the bed, and begins to drink. He thinks again for a moment back to her words, and opens his book, settling in for the night.

Gwen and Eliam Chat at the Inn
"You know..." Gwendolyn says, as she and Eliam dance. "I've been thinking about what you said, about how our home might be like when we get there. With what that thing could've been doing, or already done."

"Oh... that was kind of a bad night. I'm sure that there won't have been too much damage done," he says, trying to sound reassuring.

"Well, we can't really be sure, right? We could be walking into hell. That's why I wanted everyone to have this night. To relax, and have fun."

"That was honestly a great call. Thank you for setting this up, with the clothes and everything. I do think we needed it."

"Of course. I enjoyed it as well, you're a good dancer," she says, smiling at him as the music stops.

The orcs clap for the musicians as the song ends, and the conductor bows and promises more music in a few minutes' time.

"You are as well," Eliam says, smiling back. "Hopefully we get more chances to dance together in the future."

"I'd like that," Gwen says, looking at him expectantly.

Eliam looks at her, thinking for a moment. "Would you like to go somewhere more quiet?"

She looks around at the crowd, and nods. "That'd be great. Lead on."

He leads her into the empty hallway. "Is there anything else you'd like to do here this evening? It looks like this place has plenty of features; I think I saw something about a pool, earlier; there's a lounge, as well."

"I could think of a few things... though, the pool sounds nice. Especially if they have a heated tub."

"One way to find out, I suppose. I'm sure if they sell nice clothes here, they'll have something to wear for that as well."

Together they walk to the pool area, where an orc sells clothes designed for swimming. Eliam buys them each a set, and they leave to get changed. Gwendolyn changes into a modest, one piece suit, and returns to the pool area to find Eliam in the heated tub with a bottle of wine.

"This place is amazing," he says. "It's going to be impossible to go back to camping out after this."

"It is. I've nearly forgotten how nice all these things were, after living in the church for so long."

"I won't lie; I did miss it," Eliam says, pouring her a glass of wine. She takes it happily, joining him in the tub.

"At least we'll be going home," she says, sipping her drink. "And soon, maybe we won't need to be without these kind of luxuries."

Eliam looks down at his own glass, thinking. "Yes, that's true."

"So how was life in Glenhaven? I've only been there a few times, and never for long," Gwendolyn says, smiling.

"It was nice! Busy, I guess. I always enjoyed the town; there were always interesting people passing through. Mother was always taking care of my siblings, and Father wasn't home much, running the business and making sure my brother was ready to take over, so I had quite a bit of freedom. Probably too much. The benefit of being the youngest son, I guess... I do miss Glenhaven as well, to be honest. We'll have to go see it when we get back to Iquai; it's a shame you never got to spend much time there. Though there isn't much to do there compared to Hadleigh or Siraj, I imagine; it's really just a small village. What was Hadleigh like?"

"It was nice, I suppose. We were always entertaining guests and visitors, though, so it became kind of taxing honestly. Being the heiress gave me a certain quite a freedom, however. There was really nothing I could do that would ever get me really in trouble, so that was nice growing up." As she speaks, she moves from sitting across to him to sitting next to him.

Eliam laughs. "That does sound pretty convenient. You must have some great stories."

Gwendolyn smiles. "Stories, yes. Not sure how great they are, though. I'm sure you have some too."

He thinks for a minute. "Well... you mentioned my brother, Arlan. We didn't necessarily get along all the time; he was a lot older than me, and he always claimed I was too flippant about things... Anyways, my other brother Micah was trying to make peace and make us spend time together. He took us out fishing at the river, and it was probably one of the more boring things I've tried to do. I tried to pass the time with some conversation, but he started complaining that I was scaring all the fish away and ruining the trip. I mean, the point was to spend time together, and it's not like we needed the fish to eat. I was pretty annoyed with him, to be honest, so when we got back, I sort of... cut his hair while he was asleep. It looked awful. I think he would have killed me if he'd been in charge of the company by then, but as it was I just about got away with it. Except that after that, some of the work I was supposed to do for my tutor went missing. And I'm pretty sure it was him," he grins, and puts his arm around her. "Okay, your turn. You must have a pretty good story too."

Gwen finishes her glass as she listens. “You cut his hair?!” She asks, laughing softly. “That is actually great.” She snuggles against him as she thinks. “A story…well, when I was 14, I was very big into horseback riding competitions. And it was the day of a major one in Siraj. I was incredibly nervous, so I had the bright idea of going to my family’s store, and telling the worker there my father requested a bottle. My parents had been allowing me to have a glass of wine at dinner for some time at that point, so I figured I could maybe use it to relax a little bit. Instead, I got drunk enough to where I continuously fell off my horse before I could even start. I ended up being disqualified; I had never seen my parents embarrassed before.” She blushes slightly as she remembers the story.

"That's an amazing story," Eliam laughs, then quietly sips at his wine. "It'll be nice to go home, finally."

Gwen smiles. "It really will. Though I'm still worried about tomorrow... but at least we still have tonight. And this is nice."

Eliam leans in to kiss her. After a few moments, she pulls away. "Glad you've finally decided to make it up to me."

He nods, and frowns. "I guess... we should probably go back and make sure everyone is okay, then?"

"So soon? I'm sure Minerva and Oren are spending their time similarly to us, with the way they were looking at each other earlier. We shouldn't interrupt them."

He nods. "You know... I wasn't sure about the whole king thing. I mean, I don't really know anything you'd need to for that... I mean, it seems like the stakes there are too high to risk not knowing what I'm doing. But everyone has been surprising okay with it. So I guess... Maybe it is a good idea? Maybe I should go through with it."

"It seems everyone has faith in you to do well. I think your honesty and good nature will be refreshing on the throne. And with our families' backing, we could bring an era of prosperity to Iquai. We could lower taxes, even more than King Rodric did. You'd already have the support of the people for getting rid of Elyde, and together we could do so much more."

Eliam smiles at her. "Then let's do it. Together."

She smiles back, and holds up her glass. "A toast, then. To the future of Iquai. To us."

"To us, then, he says, toasting. They finish their glasses.

Gwendolyn looks at her hand, frowning. "Maybe we should get out... my fingers are starting to prune."

"Right, yeah," Eliam says, stepping out of the tub and offering his hand to help her out.

Gwen accepts his help, wrapping a towel around herself. "Oh, Eliam. Do you happen to have a few gold? I forgot mine up in the suite."

"Of course," he answers, handing her 100 gold. "If this isn't enough, there should be more."

"Oh, um, thank you. But really, I just needed enough to see about another room," she smiles and offers back 95 of it.

"Oh?" Eliam smiles. "I don't suppose you want company tonight?"

Gwendolyn thinks for a moment. "Actually," she says, "I don't... think I'd mind that. I've been having trouble sleeping, ever since the wellspring. Maybe your presence will help."

Chapter 12