Hand clutched tightly around the object within it, Vari thought long and hard about what she was going to do… and that was strange. The answer should have been obvious and immediate. She had a task from the Saints, a chance for redemption for her failures. Alva often went to isolated places along with the others, so it would be simple to accomplish. Then she would go back to the Harmonious Citadel.

Why did that not appeal to her? Her whole life, she had longed to be accepted into the service of one of the Saints. Her cultivation style had been dictated to her. All of her efforts were for that. There was just one simple question. Why would it ever have appealed to her?

She had been allowed to peruse the various techniques to decide her own fighting style. Barriers, to protect those she served. Grappling techniques to restrict her enemies. Logical choices, yet somehow it had been decided that they were the wrong choices. Even if she were forgiven, where would she go, what would she do? She could not join the service of one of the Saints before, and with a tainted record it would not be possible afterwards.

Even so, her thoughts swirled. She could not make the choice. She had to serve the Saints. What had they ever done for her? She had to atone. What had she even done wrong? She had to give up her friend Alva. Was Alva her friend? Were the others?

A familiar presence got her attention. None of those traveling with Vari were exactly subtle, but she hadn’t noticed Alva approaching. “You should go to sleep,” Alva commented.

Vari guiltily slipped her hand behind her back. “I probably should.”

“It’s not good to stay up worrying about difficult topics.”

“I’m not particularly…” Vari shook her head, “You’re right, I’ll go.”

-----

Days turned into weeks, which turned into months. So far, no decision had been made. Vari could only delay so much longer. Cultivators had patience, but it might seem as if she had no intent to comply if she took any longer. So she would do it.

She held it in her hand, formulating the message she would send. Almost unconsciously, her head scanned the courtyard around her. Nothing, just rocks, Alva leaning against a wall, trees… standard stuff. She almost dropped the communication stone. Alva? Her presence might be muted, but Vari still should have felt her arrive. Unless… Alva had been there the whole time. She’d been careless.

The hand that held the communication stone trembled. “I… I haven’t sent the message yet.” Vari swallowed. “You can still kill me and stop this.”

“That’s the only option, is it?”

Vari nodded. “Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because a group of elite disciples will come to kill you.”

Alva remained with her arms folded in front of her, though Vari knew the woman could likely grab her bow and fire an arrow through her before she could properly respond. “That doesn’t really answer my question.”

“I don’t know what else to say,” Vari shook her head. “I have to. I’m sorry.”

“Is that so,” Alva stated without really phrasing it as a question. “Who do they have? Friend, family, lover… pet?”

Vari was confused by the question, and her face doubtless showed it. “What do you mean?”

“Those are the things that could be worth more than your life. If they just had some way to kill you, you’d be more concerned about the immediate consequences here.”

Vari shook her head. “That’s not it. I don’t have… any of those things. And my life doesn’t matter.”

Alva frowned, “I don’t get it then. Why do it?”

“I can’t… not.” Vari had thought about it a lot, and that was the conclusion she came to. “It is the will of the Saints.”

“What saints?” Alva finally uncrossed her arms, waving a hand dismissively. “There are just strong assholes up in towers feeding off of devotion they farm in people like they’re animals.”

“That seems to be the case,” Vari agreed.

“Then why listen to them? Just throw it away, or crush it or something.”

Vari’s fingers twitched. Her arm swayed, but she held her grip on the stone. “I can’t.”

“What, did they break your brain or something?” Alva said. “Of course you can. What are they going to do, kill you?”

“Yes,” Vari answered. It took her a moment to realize the answer was ambiguous given the questions asked. “Both, probably. I can’t…” Vari shook her head.

“Oh.” Alva’s face mellowed out. “Why didn’t you say something? I could break it for you.”

“I don’t think… I can let you do that,” Vari shook her head. “And the conflict would ultimately result in my death. So I would ask that you do it painlessly.” Vari held her arms out wide.

“Don’t be stupid,” Alva said. “What do you have to do, report our locations?”

“I’m to inform them of a time you will be isolated away from prying eyes,” Vari said. “Then they will kill you. Though I’m not sure why the specifics matter.”

“Why not do it then?” Alva retorted.

“... I don’t want you to die,” Vari said. “Or the others. You are my… friends, I think.”

“Let’s sort out some details here,” Alva said calmly. “They want to kill… me?”

“Yes. You refused the doctrine of the Saints,” Vari said. “So that is what they determined appropriate.”

“That’s stupid.”

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“I… agree. People should be given a choice.”

“I mean, how many of them were there?” Alva asked.

“Three Integration stage archers.”

“And they don’t know about the others?”

“I don’t think so,” Vari said. “They did not comment on them, at least.”

“Then call them. Tell them I’m going to be out in the woods on our next stop.”

“They won’t give up if they don’t find you.”

“They’ll find me,” Alva said.

“But you can’t-” Vari stopped herself. “I… the risk is too much. Facing three people alone…”

“Alone?” Alva raised an eyebrow. “I could do that, I suppose. But why would I?”

“Oh. Oh!” Vari’s mind finally got onto the right track. “That’s… still dangerous. And I can’t guarantee it will be just the three I saw.”

“Then we’ll have to prepare for more. I can’t imagine they have that many people to throw away on a backwater planet for one cultivator, though.”

“I… don’t know,” Vari admitted. “There are many Integration cultivators throughout the domain of the Harmonious Citadel. But I do not know what would be appointed for this.”

“We can see what they send… and run if it’s too much. Just don’t mention the others.”

“Of course,” Vari nodded. “And… I don’t think I can help you fight.”

“You’re not weak,” Alva said, “Just a bit lower in cultivation. We’d be glad to have the assistance.”

“I mean… I don’t know if I can ignore further orders.”

“Ah,” Alva nodded seriously. “We’ll work on figuring that out.”

-----

Xillade was at the far end of the Bloodsoaked Nebula. The group could have traveled many times further in the time they had, but they had been taking on missions of various sorts as well as hunting for Fuzz. Rumors of wolves abounded, and though some spoke of wolves bigger than the Fuzz they knew, they didn’t discount those. Xillade had another fire wolf somewhere, but it also had varied terrain that was good for choosing a location to fight.

It didn’t make much difference to Vari where she fought, since she didn’t need much space. Though upon considering it, that was exactly why picking a good spot was important. Hindering their enemies was important. Though the spot was chosen more so Catarina could set up a good formation there.

Vari had been told to continue to report. Though she didn’t feel the same compulsion, she was told to continue. So she did. Strangely enough, she didn’t even feel hesitant at not giving a complete or even truthful report. She did need help coming up with something that wouldn’t be suspicious, however. “Stopping to make camp. Might be here for some time.”

“I’d love to lead them on a merry goose chase around the whole planet,” Alva said, “But that’s a lot of our time spent being unable to relax. Here, we can set up properly… and then be done with them.”

Alva could be scary. Everyone could, in fact. Catarina was a very nice woman who set up deadly entrapment formations like it was nothing. And that was before she learned new ones.

“Do I have time to set up subformations?” Catarina asked, mostly to herself. Vari wasn’t an expert on formations, but she did know they worked off of being complete. Having formations that functioned continuously between stages of completion was abnormal. But she wasn’t going to complain when they were keeping her safe.

Time passed swiftly, and soon a message was coming in. Vari looked to the others to see if she should receive it.

“Go ahead,” Alva nodded.

“We are imminently approaching your location. You must-” Vari stopped herself there. No doubt orders transmitted via communication stone were less strongly binding on her, but if she never saw them, they couldn’t do anything.

“They’re coming,” Alva said. “Look busy.” Though the others shuffled around the camp, keeping their hands next to their weapons, Vari had no weapon to draw. So she followed around Alva, helping how she could. Or at least looking like she was helping with the nothing Alva was supposed to be doing.

Vari saw Alva react before she felt anything coming. That gave her an extra fraction of a second to form a barrier in front of herself and Alva. They had practiced Alva firing from behind her barrier, and though it weakened the barrier to have spots that didn’t block everything, a small area where Alva’s shots could go through was minimal enough. Vari’s arms stretched out in front of them, holding the shield in place as arrows slammed against it. Alva would have to deal with the ones coming from other… directions. Except there weren’t any yet.

Only after Alva had begun to fire in return did Vari sense anything that wasn’t just a direct shot. There were more than just the three she had met. They had another handful of cultivators more her strength with them as well… but that wasn’t the limit of their forces.

“I’m sorry,” Vari said. “I didn’t think they’d send this many.” There were another two Integration cultivators, and another half dozen Life Transformation. Axes and spears were their weapons, and they’d managed to creep close before the archers began the ambush.

Vari couldn’t hear whatever response the others gave to her words. A moment later she was seeing the two cultivators in the lead stepping out from behind some trees. She should have sensed them sooner. Were her senses that bad? Okay, maybe they were, but even so it was rather embarrassing.

The one wielding a spear gestured to her, speaking. Then he gestured to Catarina and raised his spear. They were going to attack her, and Vari was supposed to… help kill her? That wouldn't do. They were going to attack her and Vari was supposed to watch. That… was not a reasonable interpretation. They were going to attack Catarina, so Vari should go protect her. That did it.

She had to admit it was a stretch to interpret those gestures that way, but from her perspective it only made sense. Catarina was Vari’s ally, so of course she should protect her. Likewise, these newcomers were enemies, so she should resist their attempts. The fact that they were trying to give her orders was irrelevant.

Vari was reluctant to leave Alva’s side, but Hoyt was coming to assist and she still felt a compulsion. Her effectiveness would be reduced if she tried to stay, and she needed to get the utmost out of her abilities if she were going to help. Timothy looked at her as she ran towards Catarina. The spear wielder charged with several others behind him. Vari stopped, facing Timothy. His sword thrust out towards her, and she twisted her body. Her hands angled to throw up a barrier to one side.

Timothy’s sword passed by her as he stepped immediately next to her, lunging. One of the weaker spearmen caught the tip of the sword in his chest, not a fatal wound but he staggered back. The leader, however, had been aiming for Catarina… with the path going through Vari. Though she’d chosen that position on purpose. Her barrier flexed and then shattered under the force of the spear, but managed to just barely deflect it enough to slip past her. Then her arms wrapped around the spear, grabbing tightly.

She lowered her stance, yanking on the spear. She didn’t have the power to pull it out of her opponent’s grip, but she did lift him. When she slammed him headfirst into a nearby rock, she wasn't sure which of them were more surprised. Yes, he wasn’t hurt- the rock was destroyed by the impact and he was fine- but she actually moved him. The formation empowering her wasn’t that powerful, was it? No, Catarina was good, but not that good. But this was one of the direct disciples of the Spear Saint, and a phase of cultivation ahead of her. It didn’t make any sense.

But it didn’t have to. She kept her grip on the spear. As it turned out, when her opponent was ready for her actions he held his feet better and next she was the one getting slammed into the ground… but it was just the ground. Soft dirt, and nothing harder than granite. The man wildly slammed her back and forth, but she didn’t loosen her grip on the spear. She thought about pulling herself closer, but she actually made his leverage the most difficult where she was.

She wasn’t exactly winning this fight, but keeping an Integration cultivator occupied was actually a pretty decent accomplishment for her.