Chapter 8

Elise Celebrates After the Judgment
Minerva is unharmed, as is Elise. Minerva looks around at the bloody ground and the broken bodies littering it. She begins to walk away.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

She runs to the door leading outside and opens it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Oren is woozy and lightheaded.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"What do you mean?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

She turns from him. "I know."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Oren finds food, but recognizes little of the ingredients.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Minerva says nothing as Gwendolyn and Eliam speak.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Minerva steps back unconsciously. "Elise..."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Oren reads the note, and tosses the paper into the fire. === Elise and Minerva Talk about Their Journey === Later, the party regroups at a table downstairs. The tea has been made. Oren serves some to everyone before finding his own seat at the table.

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

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

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

Elise grumbles under her breath.

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

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

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

Minerva cries. "I-I bit Elise."

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Did you kill her?" Oren asks.

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

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

Minerva pats her shoulder to encourage her.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"What do you mean?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Oren and Eliam Speak with Gwen
Oren waves to Gwendolyn as the two join her. "Hello, do you need help?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Oren nods. "To drown the Elyde."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Sure."

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Sure,” he says, awkwardly looking around.

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

"Thank you.”

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

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

He nods quietly, continuing to eat.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Not now, no."

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

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

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

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

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

"I really appreciate that.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Can Oren?" Gwen writes.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The mage nods. "That makes sense."

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

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

"Come eat," Oren says.

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

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

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

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

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

"Just conversations," she replies.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Elise coughs into her water.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chapter 9