“You’re still going on about eating them?” Cleo asked.

Palan shrugged. “Sometimes you have to enjoy the simple things in life, like eating new things,” he said. “It can’t always be about struggling to survive.”

“I never thought you’d be one to relax,” Cleo said and blinked. “You’re always so … diligent. And tense. I mean, even when you sleep, your eyes stay open.”

“Maybe I’ve gotten too used to Div’Nya,” Palan said and frowned. “It’s strange to not face life-threatening situations every day.”

“Eljiam really is barbaric,” Elrith muttered under his breath as the earthen spider ran over a goblin slave working in the field, causing it to squeal. Flapping wings caught his attention, and he turned around to see Sally alight on the spider’s abdomen. His gaze lingered on her longer than necessary, and he furrowed his brow at the tears in Sally’s eyes before looking up for any sign of his sister.

“What happened up there?” Cleo asked Sally. “Did you pee?”

“No!” Sally said as she recalled Cleo’s earlier request to Raea. “One of the harpies mentioned Madison as the real harbinger. And Raea got mad at them.”

Cleo sighed. “There goes my plans…,” she mumbled. “One day, Cleo, one day it’ll happen,” she told herself. Sally tilted her head at Cleo, but wasn’t sure if she wanted to know what the little lizardman’s plans were.

“Are you hurt?” Elrith asked.

Sally raised her head and blinked before looking around. She blinked a few more times when she saw that there was no one behind her and gestured towards herself with her wing. “Me?” she asked and raised an eyebrow.

“Who else?” Elrith asked.

“Oh,” Sally said without answering. After a few seconds passed, she furiously shook her head, causing her hair to fly outwards. “I mean, no! I’m not injured at all. I’m perfectly healthy.” She nodded until her face turned red.

“Relax,” Elrith said and laughed at the flustered harpy. He smiled and asked, “What are you getting so worked up for?” Cleo and Palan exchanged a glance.

“It’s been a while since someone cared about me,” Sally said and lowered her head. Her eyes shifted towards the two who were more curious about the situation in the sky than her wellbeing. “I was surprised.”

“Well,” Cleo said with a wrinkled nose. “You looked perfectly unhurt. Why would we ask if you were hurt? Right, Palan?”

“If you were hurt, I would know,” Palan said and smiled at Sally.

“Really?” Sally asked. He cared about her that much that he would recognize a difference in her behavior?

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“Hunter’s instincts,” Palan said and tapped his nose. “You don’t smell injured at all.”

Sally sighed and covered her head with her wings. Sometimes she wasn’t sure if it was better to be stuck underground or stuck with these three. At least the food was better. Simple pleasures in life, right? “Don’t mind them,” Elrith said, interrupting her train of thought. He beckoned with his hand. “Let me untie that rope for you.”

As Elrith undid the rope, Raea touched down on the spider holding onto a slightly crisp harpy corpse. She handed it to Palan and smiled at him, showing her teeth. “You wanted one to eat, right?” she asked. Palan grabbed it and inspected its skin. He nodded and grabbed Cleo before shoving the corpse down her space.

“Rude!” Cleo shouted and clawed at him to no avail. “I’m not a bag for your convenience!”

Palan ignored the hissing lizardman. “Good job,” he said to Raea and pat her head, running his fingers through her hair. He found out a few days ago that Raea became oddly cooperative when he did that. As expected, Raea seemed to deflate and leaned against his body with her eyes half-closed.

Cleo frowned as her tail swished behind her, thumping against the spider’s body. After spending so much time trying to get Palan and Raea together, she felt no satisfaction at all from seeing this scene. She had the urge to tear them apart, but she didn’t have the courage to. Instead, she went over to Sally who was sitting next to Elrith and plucked a feather out of her butt. The harpy yelped which eased some of the irritation in Cleo’s heart.

“What was that for?” Sally asked and rubbed her rump.

“No reason,” Cleo said with a smile before sitting in Sally’s lap. She made herself comfortable before turning her head to look at Elrith. “Are we there yet?”

“See for yourself,” Elrith said and snorted. Ahead of them, a line of red could be seen on the horizon. It seemed to be growing in size with every passing second. “Didn’t I say we’d make it by sundown?”

Cleo shielded her eyes with her hand and squinted. “That’s an awfully big wall,” she said. “Like a mountain. How are we going to go past it?”

“We’ll go under it,” Elrith said. “Solra’s not the only one who can dig tunnels. We’d be shot down if we tried to go through it via the normal methods. I wouldn’t be surprised if Michael already told everyone I was a deserter.”

“Couldn’t you just force your way through?” Cleo asked.

“The properties of the wall cancels out powers,” Elrith said. “Although I could probably force my way through with patience chains, I don’t want to create that big of a commotion. I’m not worried about this wall; it’s the one guarding the capital that’s the problem.” He sighed and muttered, “It just had to be the capital, right? Couldn’t use the portal at Hailing.”

“Is there a difference between the two?” Sally asked.

“The portal in Hailing is calibrated to connect with Haalbeh. The portal at the capital can be calibrated to go anywhere on Eljiam since it’s powered by the council,” Elrith said as his brow furrowed. He wasn’t sure why he was telling this information to Sally.

“Oh,” Sally said. “I see.”

“You’re not thinking of going with him, are you?” Elrith asked and grabbed the tip of Sally’s wing, where he thought her hand would be if she had one.

“No!” Sally said and rapidly shook her head. “Of course not. It sounds way too scary.”

“Good,” Elrith said and let out a sigh. He realized he was holding onto Sally’s wing just a bit too tightly and released her while clearing his throat. “Sorry about that. I was just nervous.” He paused. “For your safety.”

Sally lowered her head and rested the tip of her wing on Elrith’s hand while biting her lower lip. “That’s okay,” she said in a barely audible voice. Cleo climbed out of Sally’s lap and grumbled as she walked over to Palan, but found that Raea was still practically glued to him. Cleo plopped her butt down and stuck her legs out while crossing her arms over her chest. Her tail rose up and down, thumping against the spider’s earthen surface. A moment passed before she reached over and plucked another feather out of Sally’s butt—it made her feel better.