Chapter XLVI: A Flesh Wound

The ride back to camp seemed swifter than the ride there. Maybe it was because there was less of a sense of urgency to getting there as quickly as we possibly could, and maybe it was because we were all distracted by our thoughts after the battle.

Whatever the case, it felt like it took us half the time to get back as it did to find Caesar in the first place, and we arrived at the expeditionary force's base camp without fanfare early in the afternoon.

"Super Action Mom really is amazing!" Rika gushed as we dismounted to walk the last dozen or so yards back to camp. "She beat those two guys basically by herself! Girl power!"

"Are you going to insist on calling me that ridiculous nickname?" Aífe asked, sounding somewhere between frustrated and resigned. Like a mother who knew she wasn't going to win this battle. "It's quite literally three times as long as my actual name. Or my class title."

"Yes," Ritsuka informed her wearily. "Now that she's decided on a nickname, she's going to keep using it for as long as she can get away with it."

"Apparently, my actions don't count for much, do they," Emiya drawled.

"I mean, you're cool, too, Emiya," Rika said, "but you didn't basically solo two super badass Roman Servants back to back."

"I could have blown them both away with Caladbolg from four kilometers out," Emiya suggested. "Would that have been sufficiently 'cool' enough to earn me one of these vaunted nicknames of yours, Master?"

"I mean, would that have gotten them both at once?" Rika asked dubiously. "Your edgier version tried that back in Fuyuki, but Cu never let Edgiya actually get anywhere, so I have no idea how powerful that actually is."

I mostly tuned them out, listening with only half an ear as different possibilities about what had happened to Boudica's team flitted through my head.

We hadn't had contact with them since before our teams split up. They had farther to travel, so it seemed only natural that our team would make it back first, but I'd been expecting them to call once things were over, and the fact that she hadn't worried me.

"Edgiya?" Emiya recoiled.

"Just be thankful she's forgotten to call you her house-husband for now," Ritsuka whispered to Emiya.

At the back, Arash snickered behind his hand.

"Caladbolg took off three hilltops in the myth," Mash informed Rika at almost the same time. "Um, so that might not have been a good idea, would it? Then we wouldn't have had the chance for Caesar to tell us for sure where the Grail was located."

Had we underestimated the distraction team? The reading and the look Arash got had suggested a single primary Servant with a squad of lesser combatants as support, and that should have been an easy enough fight for the likes of Boudica and Spartacus. The longer it went on especially, the more advantageous it should be for Spartacus, and that was part of why I'd thought it best to send the two of them instead of just one alone or a third.

But Spartacus did have a weakness, one both Crawler and Lung had fundamentally shared as well: hit him hard enough before he could start ramping up, and you could take him out while he was still relatively weak and unthreatening. The difficulty with that was that you needed to have something that could deal that much damage all at once, and knowing that one way or another was difficult when we didn't know who the enemy Servant was.

That was why Boudica had gone with him. Defense to his offense.

"Hey, fellas!" Rika greeted the guardsmen at the entrance of the camp.

They returned it with a respectful, "Lady Rika," and then greeted each of the rest of us in turn. I gave them a nod, but my head wasn't in it.

Could they still be fighting? There hadn't been a way for us to check before, not without risking distracting them at a critical moment, but now that we were back at camp, we should be able to get Da Vinci to take a peek for us.

"All I'm saying is," Rika was saying, "we haven't seen you do that much cool stuff yet, Emiya. You tease us with these super special awesome secret techniques you've got squirreled away for the winter, but you never really show them off, you know?"

"Maybe if our fights weren't so close quarters all the time," Arash said genially. "I have to admit, I haven't been getting many chances to show off my archery skills, either."

"I'm guessing that sword I fired into Caesar's back right as he was about to sneak attack Aífe isn't counting, here?" Emiya asked sarcastically.

Rika's brow furrowed. "Yeah, that was kind of cool, wasn't it? But it wasn't…you know…all that flashy."

Emiya snorted. "Because style matters over substance."

"Why not both?" Rika asked cheekily.

"Why not, indeed."

"Hail, friends!" Marcus greeted us as we walked deeper into camp. He was dressed in full combat gear, kitted out with gleaming metal armor wrapped around his torso in segmented plates.

Both of the twins smiled broadly.

"Marcus!"

"How went the battle?" he asked. "Were you victorious?"

Aífe snorted and crossed her arms over her chest. "Was there any doubt?"

"Super Action Mom beat up both of those big, bad emperor dudes!" Rika told him.

Marcus lifted one eyebrow, befuddled. "Super Action Mom?"

A long breath hissed out of Aífe's nose.

"Storytime can wait," I interrupted, and Rika's mouth snapped closed with a click. "Marcus, has there been any news from Boudica and Spartacus?"

Marcus shook his head. "I'm afraid not. Have they yet to report back from their own battle?"

I'd figured as much. It was possible that they finished with their enemies long before us and started back sooner, but if they had managed to make it back already, there was no way we wouldn't have noticed.

"No, we haven't heard from them either."

"They did have to go almost twice as far as we did," Arash pointed out reasonably, and that was something I'd been thinking about, yeah. "That Servant's Noble Phantasm could also be a troublesome one."

"You don't think something happened to them, do you?" Ritsuka asked worriedly.

"There's no way of knowing."

Damn it, I wished we'd been more insistent about forming a formal contract. But Boudica had turned the idea down, saying that she wouldn't officially join up without Spartacus back when we first asked, and I hadn't seen the need to press the issue at the time. Not when I could barely understand Spartacus, let alone figure out how to convince him to put himself under our command. It seemed a minor miracle that he'd been willing to go along with our plan of attack.

"We should go help them!" Rika said. "If Queen Booty needs our help, we're wasting time standing around!"

Her heart was in the right place, but realistically, battles between Servants lasted minutes at best. Fights between regular people often ended within the first thirty seconds. With them almost fifty miles away, even on Aífe's chariot, the ride would take somewhere around ten minutes. If something had gone wrong, the only thing we'd get there to do was discover the aftermath.

The first thing we needed to do was establish whether or not we were worrying over nothing and whether or not Boudica and Spartacus had been defeated. Since Boudica was wearing Ritsuka's communicator, the presence of Servants around it would tell us who won and who lost.

If there were no Servants close to it… Getting to Lyon would have to be our first priority. A Servant who could take out both Boudica and Spartacus wasn't one we could just let go.

"Maybe we should try contacting them first?" Mash suggested.

"If they're still fighting, we could distract them," I told her. "Mash, set up a magic circle. Aífe, we need it stabilized. I'm going to check with Da Vinci and see if she can tell us anything."

"If it would help, I could scout in their direction, see if I can find anything," Arash suggested.

For an instant, I hesitated, reluctant to divide our forces again, but a moment later, I gave him a nod. "Any information you might be able to find would be useful. Be fast, and if you have a shot on the enemy, then take it."

He nodded.

"Roger that, Master."

He turned to leave, but I stopped him before he could vanish into the forest.

"And Arash?"

He paused and looked back at me over his shoulder.

"No unnecessary risks. We need to know what's going on more than we need you to kill the enemy Servant."

Translation: don't use your Noble Phantasm.

He nodded again. "Understood."

He bent his knees, and then he rocketed into the air, across the camp, and disappeared into the forest. I felt him rushing through my swarm, and it was only a matter of seconds before he was outside of my range. The moment he was gone, I turned back to Mash. "Magic circle."

She blinked, and then startled. "R-right!"

She rushed to the first clear space she could find, set her shield down, and started digging a plain circle into the trampled dirt with meticulous haste.

"Should we really be sending him out alone?" Ritsuka asked.

"Independent Action is the specialty of the Archer class," Emiya told him. "It might sound a little strange, but this sort of thing is actually where we Archers perform best. Have a little faith in him."

"Arash is a badass," said Rika, "but so was Queen Booty. And Spartacus! If that guy managed to beat them both —"

"Then Arash will retreat," Aífe cut in as she bent down next to Mash to start carving the necessary runes. "For all that he's celebrated as a martyr, a Heroic Spirit like him won't needlessly throw his life away fighting a battle he can't win."

"Worst case scenario…" I gestured to my Command Spells.

I hated the idea of having to use one, especially since it would take almost three whole weeks to replenish it, but if it was the difference between losing him and not, it would be a worthwhile trade.

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"Magic circle complete, Miss Taylor," Mash reported. She and Aífe straightened up, and just as she said, the magic circle had been finished.

They stepped out of the way as I stepped over to it and flung out my hand. My fingers found my own communicator and pressed the activation button at the same time as I barked out, "Anfang!"

A pale, blue panel appeared over Mash's shield, and for a moment, it showed only the back wall of the Command Room and an empty chair.

"Incredible," Marcus breathed. "What kind of magic is this?"

And then a harried Da Vinci rushed into view and flung herself at the screen, filling up the entire panel with her face.

"Sorry, sorry!" She moved back and dropped into the previously empty chair. "Your call was a little unexpected, so I wasn't here to receive it!"

"Is Doctor Roman still asleep?" Mash asked.

"It hasn't been that long since your last call, you know," said Da Vinci wryly. "Not for us, at least. Less than an hour."

"Oh." Mash blinked. "Right. I forgot."

"Da Vinci!" Rika called, leaning forward like she was going to try and shake Da Vinci for answers through the hologram. "Is Queen Booty okay? What about Spartacus?"

Da Vinci blinked, bewildered. "Ah?"

"We gave them Ritsuka's communicator," I explained shortly. "We haven't heard back from them since we split up. Can you detect them at all?"

"Ah, yes, that would explain why Ritsuka's body has been in one place and his comms device another," Da Vinci said reasonably, nodding. "In any case, yes, I should be able to detect the presence of Servants if there are any in proximity to Ritsuka's communicator. I should even be able to get a rudimentary read of nearby Saint Graphs — in other words, I should be able to tell that it's Queen Boudica or Spartacus who's near it or not."

"Hurry!" said Rika, bouncing on her heels impatiently.

"Yes, yes, I'm going."

Da Vinci's fingers flew across the keyboard out of sight, and a moment later, something on her screen beeped. Her brow furrowed.

"That's odd."

My lips drew tight, and I braced for bad news.

"The readings are faulty," Da Vinci eventually said. "I'm not getting as much data back as I was expecting. That is, I can detect at least two Spirit Origins in close proximity to Ritsuka's communicator, but I'm having trouble getting more complete data."

"Could it be interference?" Ritsuka asked. "U-um, I mean, we need a magic circle to stabilize the connection, so maybe it's because they don't have one?"

"Not impossible," Da Vinci hedged, "but it's unlikely. The reason we have trouble contacting you inside of Singularities like this isn't really a problem with us receiving a connection from you as it is you guys have trouble receiving a return signal from us. When you're close to a Ley Line Terminal, the magical energy all converging on a single spot is like standing beneath a cell phone tower when you make a call. Similarly, these magic circles that are enhanced by Primordial Runes are like antennae that make it easier for you to receive a signal."

"I thought as much," Aífe said with a nod of her head. "After all, if you're constantly monitoring the Masters' vitals, then you would have no trouble at all picking up a communication signal."

"So if there's a problem with Senpai's communicator," Mash summarized, "it's on Queen Boudica's end, not yours."

Da Vinci nodded. "That's right. Unfortunately, the nature of any such problem was what we were trying to determine, so by existing, it serves as a confirmation of sorts that there's a problem in need of addressing in the first place."

"They're in trouble!" Rika insisted. "We need to go help!"

"Not necessarily," Da Vinci said, holding up one index finger as though she were lecturing a student. "Your communicators were never intended to be taken into combat by a Servant. It's entirely possible that the reason we're getting less information back than expected is because the communicator itself was damaged during combat. After all, Servants have different limits than humans, so all Queen Boudica would have to do is be a little too rough with it and it could break entirely."

A design flaw that I was sure Da Vinci herself would be rectifying as much as she could when we got back.

"You should have seen already, Master," said Emiya. "Although a monster like Aífe isn't quite the norm, that sort of speed and strength isn't so far outside of what most Servants are capable of."

"Unfortunately, Ritsuka and Rika have only really seen some of the extremes of Servants' capabilities," Da Vinci said with a wry smile. "Their first real experience with a Servant's raw physical power was King Arthur, after all."

"Suddenly, I understand Master's unrealistic expectations of my close combat skills," he replied dryly.

"You said two Servants?" I asked, addressing Da Vinci.

"Spartacus and Queen Boudica," Mash breathed, some of the tension in her shoulders easing.

"At least two, yes," Da Vinci confirmed. "Considering their opponent, however, and what sort of Noble Phantasm he likely had…"

It wasn't a guarantee that the "two" Servants she was detecting weren't just whoever it was and his duplicates. In fact, I thought with a chill, if he was clever enough, he might be using a pilfered communicator to listen in on our conversation right now.

"Do you have a heading for them?"

"It's not exact, but they seem to be returning your direction," said Da Vinci. "At speed, as well. The route they're taking means that I can't say for sure they're not going back to Caesar's base camp, but all things considered, it seems like Queen Boudica and Spartacus succeeded."

A general wave of relief washed over the group.

"Don't get too comfortable," I warned them. "If it's the enemy Servant, he might be looking for revenge for Julius Caesar."

"The Romans tended not to take rebellion well," Da Vinci added.

"Should we?" Marcus asked pointedly. "If you'll forgive my impertinence, is not the rebellion of these…Servants you've spoken of the entire reason all of us are here? Is not our goal to restore the Empire to its proper place?"

He wasn't wrong, but the reasoning was different. We didn't have to like or even support the Empire to know the importance of its place in history.

"I didn't think of it that way," Mash admitted. "For us, this is about fixing something that went wrong, but for you and Emperor Nero… It's a civil war, isn't it?"

"It's not as though Rome is particularly unfamiliar with those," Aífe said dryly. "Half of their emperors came to power by usurping the previous one or killing a rival for the position. The Empire couldn't go a decade without one rebellion or another."

"And that is why it is all the more important to deal with them swiftly and decisively," Marcus countered. "It may be true that there have been numerous rebellions throughout our history, and there will undoubtedly be more long after my bones are dust, but when we have peace and unity, true peace and unity, the splendor of Rome is the envy of the world."

My cheek twitched, but this wasn't a time to get into a fight about it, so I deliberately chose not to mention that Rome's splendor was often built off of the exploitation, conquest, and slavery of the peoples they invaded. Boudica and Spartacus may have been two of the most famous, but uprisings of the poor, the downtrodden, and the underclass weren't exactly uncommon in the Roman Empire.

"Whoever it is, Arash should see them coming long before they get here," I interjected, cutting off any argument before it could get started. "We should know who and what we're dealing with soon enough."

"And whether or not Boudica and Spartacus won," Mash said with quiet solemnity.

"Speaking of winning," Da Vinci segued, "congratulations are in order, are they not? Not only did you defeat Julius Caesar, but the mystery man who was with him turned out to be Lucius Tiberius, and you beat him, too!"

"I…" Mash opened her mouth, paused, brow furrowing as she thought about it, and then smiled a little. "I guess it really was something of a team effort, wasn't it?"

"Not for lack of a certain someone's trying," Emiya drawled.

"I make no apologies for who I am," Aífe replied stubbornly.

"Even when it nearly cost us the battle?"

"But it didn't," said Ritsuka. "And it was a team fight from the beginning, wasn't it? That Noble Phantasm that was affecting everyone…"

Right. Constantine the Great, presumably. "Pax Romana," Caesar had called it. A Noble Phantasm that enforced "peace" within his territory, or at least near as any one of us could tell it. We would likely have to see him and use Master's Clairvoyance to get anything clearer than that.

"There were some unusual readings in the Servants' Saint Graphs during the battle, but…" Da Vinci trailed off. "Perhaps you should explain what you mean about a Noble Phantasm affecting everyone."

Our group shared a look.

"We noticed it before we even found Caesar himself," Mash began.

Mash took point, but between our whole group, we explained some of the finer details of our battle with the erstwhile emperors, from Constantine's Noble Phantasm to Caesar himself to Lucius Tiberius. We covered the major moments and the important bits, and once that was done, what Caesar himself had told us before he faded away.

"Pax Romana," Da Vinci muttered when we were finished. "What a terrifying Noble Phantasm. In an ordinary Grail War, it would be hard to use, but here, with the entire breadth of his faction's breakaway empire under his heel…" She shook her head. "And then there's this court mage figure, said to be in possession of this Singularity's Holy Grail. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Professor Lev," Mash mumbled. "He's here."

"Fou, fou," the beast on her shoulder added mournfully.

"Caesar was expecting us," I chimed in, agreeing with Mash. "He called us 'Chaldeans,' and said he was expecting Mash, the twins, and me to be there, but he was surprised by Emiya and Aífe. Gilles and Jeanne Alter didn't seem to have any idea who we were in Orléans, but Caesar recognized us."

"And the only one who could have told him about us is Lev Lainur," Da Vinci agreed grimly. "Yes, that was my thought, as well. That doesn't mean Lev is necessarily here — he could have simply told Caesar and the United Empire that we were coming and what to expect — but this mysterious court mage fellow is quite suspicious."

It was still no guarantee. The signs all pointed to Lev, for now, but there wasn't anything ironclad enough to say it with absolute certainty. It might, in point of fact, just be a Caster class Servant and Lev had only been here long enough to drop off the Grail and warn the United Empire about our inevitable arrival.

I still wasn't sure I wanted it to be him. For Marie's sake…would it be better or worse if she got to confront him herself? If she got to watch as we took him down? Would she sleep easier if she saw his broken body with her own eyes, or would the burden be lesser just knowing he was gone?

We'll cross that bridge when we get there.

"Whoever this court mage is, it looks like we're going to have to take Constantine out before we go after the Grail," I said. "We can't afford for everyone's abilities to be diminished when we fight any of their Servants, especially their leader. He's going to have to be our first target when we invade the United Empire."

"We'll have to figure out where to look, first," said Emiya.

"Not hardly," Aífe disagreed. "A trump card like that… Isn't it obvious that he'll be sitting in the seat of their power?"

If he wasn't a strong combatant himself… No, even if Constantine had a good offense to go with such a powerful defense, if I was the one leading the whole thing, there were only two places I'd park him: somewhere out of the way, where he would be hard for the enemy to find, or right behind me, where my enemies would have to make their way through every other defense I could throw at them to take him out.

"As much as I'd like to disagree, the best place to put an important asset like that really is behind the strongest defenses you have." Da Vinci sighed. "Well. The alternative is… That is to say, the most surefire way to negate that advantage is to reduce the size of the territory under the United Empire's control."

My eyebrows rose.

"You mean beat them back," I said. "Through conventional warfare."

Da Vinci grimaced. "It's not palatable, I know, but it's the safer method."

"E-eh?" Rika squeaked. "B-but… H-hang on, that could take years!"

"Not necessarily," Da Vinci hedged. "In fact, with enough Servants, you could force them back to their capital in a matter of weeks."

"Unless they summon more to fill out their own ranks," Emiya pointed out. "Then it could become a protracted campaign. A war of attrition. They could win just because it's faster and easier for them to summon reinforcements."

Da Vinci sighed again. "Yes, there is that. Even if we sent the rest of our own Servants to help, we still have to think about our future missions, whereas for the enemy, this is all or nothing."

"It wouldn't solve the core problem, anyway," said Aífe. "Even if we beat them back to their capital city, it's the city itself where Pax Romana will be the biggest issue. Showing up with an army of Roman soldiers is just going to inflate the body count."

"The less people get hurt, the better," Ritsuka said firmly.

"Another good point," Da Vinci conceded. She hummed thoughtfully. "In the end, you're going to have to face him in his own territory, no matter what. If we had an Assassin class Servant and a good idea of where Constantine was… But, well, there might be something we can do about the one, but the other would be down to luck and chance at best."

"You have an idea?" I asked.

"I've been thinking about it ever since we first found that Singularity," Da Vinci confirmed. "Originally, I was going to bring it up after you made contact with Emperor Nero in Rome…but you landed far off course, and you might not be heading that way under other circumstances to begin with."

"Is there something important about the city?" Mash asked worriedly.

Da Vinci shook her head. "Not the city itself, no, but the nearby Mount Etna." Her lips tugged to one side. "Well, nearby, relative to where you are now and most of the rest of the Empire. Mount Etna is the center of a Ley Line Terminal that connects to all of the ley lines throughout the entirety of Western Europe. More than that, the Mount Etna ley line is also one of the most powerful."

"Should we attempt a summoning there, then?" asked Ritsuka.

That wasn't a bad idea, was it? Unless I was misremembering, Mount Etna was far to the south, near the bottom tip of Italy's "boot." It was close enough to the Mediterranean Sea, to Greece… If we attempted a summoning there, could we get a powerful, Grecian hero?

Fuck, imagine if we got Heracles.

"Perhaps, but that's not what I had in mind," Da Vinci replied. "We won't know for sure until we try, but if my theory is correct, we should be able to use the ley line as a sort of…signal booster. It might just be possible for us to scan the entirety of the Singularity and find out both where the Grail is, and where each and every one of the United Empire's Servants is located."

Mash took in a sharp breath. "That's incredible!"

Rika grinned. "I never did like hide and seek!"

"You're sure about this?" I asked.

It would be an amazing boon if true. Knowing where everyone on the map was wouldn't exactly solve all of our problems, but it would definitely give us a good idea of where and who to attack first.

"It's not a guarantee," Da Vinci hedged, "but on the chance I'm right, isn't it worth taking a look?"

It was. It definitely was.

"It's going to have to wait a little, no matter what," I said. "We need to meet with Emperor Nero first, see if he knows anything more about who and what to expect from the United Empire's Servants. After that, though, we can take a trip to Mount Etna and you can scan the whole continent."

"A few more days of waiting, then, at least on your end." Da Vinci smiled. "In the meantime, I have a certain special puppet to start putting together. A few hours might not get me very far, but I can at least get started, yes?"

And get Marie her body back.

"The sooner the better."

"Aw, yeah!" Rika cheered. "One step closer to saving Director Marie!"

Da Vinci's smile tilted a little. "Well, it's not going to happen instantaneously. In fact, I might not be done even after you guys have wrapped everything up in that Singularity. But yes. One step closer to saving Director Animusphere."

"This Director of yours must be quite the person, to inspire such loyalty," Aífe noted.

Da Vinci's smile wavered and became strained.

"W-well," she hedged, "she's definitely a…unique personality, that's for sure. Most importantly, though, is that she tries her hardest and never accepts anything but everyone's best efforts!"

A very polite way of saying that she doesn't think she's good enough and tries too hard to meet her own high standards.

Aífe grinned. "She sounds like my kind of woman, then."

"Then," said Da Vinci, "with any luck, you'll be able to meet her soon enough." She turned back to me and the twins. "For now, we'll leave things here. If anything important happens, feel free to contact us again. If not, then I'll expect to hear from you after you meet Emperor Nero. We can go over plans and options at that time."

"Right!" said the twins and Mash.

"I'll see you again soon!" Da Vinci waved. "Ciao ciao!"

Her image flickered and disappeared. As soon as she was gone, Rika giggled, grinning. "The Director's coming back!"

"She might even be back by the time we finish things here," Ritsuka said, smiling.

"Coming back? Saving?" Aífe asked, bemused. "Is this Director of yours away, or in some kind of trouble?"

The twins stopped and shared a look. Several expressions crossed their faces.

"Director Animusphere was badly injured during the sabotage that resulted in our first Rayshift to the Fuyuki Singularity," I told her, saving them from answering. "She needs a very specialized prosthesis and a very specific kind of surgery, and Da Vinci hasn't had the resources for either until recently."

Aífe nodded. "Hence the crabs."

"Yeah. I —"

Master, came Arash's mental voice.

I held up a finger. "A moment."

I found Boudica and Spartacus, he reported. The good news is, they managed to defeat the Servant and his squad of Pseudo-Servants.

Pseudo-Servants?

I didn't ask. It wasn't important, just then. And the bad news?

Borrow my eyes for a moment, he said instead of explaining.

I frowned, closed my own eyes, and pushed my consciousness down the thread of our contract. A moment later, I was looking out of his eyes into a patch of forest, and a large, musclebound Spartacus, covered head to toe in blood and for once not smiling, had in his arms a bundle of white and red — Queen Boudica. Her face was haggard and drawn, and one arm was curled against her chest while the other ended abruptly at the elbow, wrapped in white bandages that were stained with splotches of crimson.

Is that —

It seems we underestimated the assault team, Arash said grimly, confirming my thoughts before I could finish forming them. Spartacus and Boudica's victory wasn't without cost.

But they did win. That was the most important part.

His eyes swung around, and through them, I saw a very familiar mountain pass, one that we had come through at another time, when Thiers was a small but flourishing city.

We'll be back in about ten minutes, he continued. We should be entering your range soon.

I retreated from his eyes and opened my own again. Is there anything we can do about it?

Unless you happen to know a thing or two about spiritual surgery, he told me, then I'm afraid not.

A grimace pulled at my mouth.

Things could never be that easy, could they?