With the lack of windows in his cell he had no way of telling the time. This combined with his inability to get a normal night’s rest in any other circumstance made for a complete lack of how many days had gone by. If at the least Drosera had come in once a day that would give him some way of knowing, but her attempts seemed sporadic as far as he could tell.

Somehow, however, he slept more than he usually would. Probably due to the fact that he had nothing else to do at the time. It was either that or drown in the thoughts that have plagued him hence far, and he didn’t want to do the latter more than he had to.

The iron door screeched as it opened and what he would’ve considered a friendly face appeared. Her bright red hair that caught his eye before the rest of her was a dead giveaway. Revi.

For a fleeting moment he felt his spirits rise, then he took note of her lack of chains or any form of binding for that matter and immediately became skeptical and standoffish.

“Hey.” She said.

Linias didn’t try to hide his skepticism, and thus Revi was forced to acknowledge it sooner than she would’ve liked.

“Look, Linias–”

“You joined them.”

Revi sighed, “Okay, yes, I did, alright? But you have to listen to me Linias, it’s not just my clan, everyone would die!”

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“And you believe them? Just like that?”

“Based on what happened with Elena I’m surprised you don’t, or I wouldn’t be surprised if you knew all along about her connection to him and you just kept it a secret to protect him. And if my clan believes Drosera then so do I. They wouldn’t travel this far from home and go through all this effort based on something they thought was a superstition.”

“Don’t try and kid yourself. It’s only about your clan. If you had to choose between letting them die or the population of an entire city–not even the world, what would you choose?”

Her ocherous eyes knit as she pressed her lips together.

“And what about the other dryads huh? You don’t give a fuck about them either?”

“You should say that about yourself since you were so eager to kill one before. If any of you really cared about my kind then you’d leave us alone rather than trying to coerce or force us into more servitude even if it’s for a so-called greater cause.”

“But you’re completely fine with serving Haetia?! At least stick by your own words and bail if you’re not going to help!”

Linias glared at the fire elemental and she clicked her tongue in response, realizing now that wasn’t even an option that he had the liberty to have.

“Then say I get her to let you go, would you-”

“Why ask when you know what I’ll say?”

“...I just don’t want you to think that I want you to be locked up like this. I thought I could convince you to if not at least help then you and him both to just go into hiding or something, that way…Forget it.” Revi turned for the door, then paused as she held the handle. “Just…at least consider it, alright?”

She didn’t wait for a response, knowing full well she wouldn’t receive one.

If even the dryads couldn’t hide their whole lives, he knew it was wishful thinking to believe they could too. Yet still, it was a faint wish.