Zalia wandered about the Grove, greeting many of the animals who very calmly greeted her back. Birds landed on or near her to carefully inspect her before flying off to their comings and goings once more. Ironfur rabbits hopped around her feet before dashing off. The large feline animal that was lounging in the boughs of a tree didn’t greet Zalia but stared very intently at Boreal. It was Bronze rank, none of the other animals reaching that rank, and definitely a dangerous creature.

Zalia left Boreal similarly staring down the other feline, the target of her gaze more akin to a cheetah, less fluffy, more lithe. Boreal was larger and definitely more muscular but Zalia had a feeling the other feline would outrun even her.

As she didn’t detect any hostility, more mutual curiosity, Zalia wasn’t worried about a fight breaking out. Boreal would win that fight even if it did anyways.

For now, she had something a little more important to look into, something she had perhaps been putting off for longer than she should have. Part of the reason for that was her memory of receiving this memory was also stored away.

Before the collective had… died, a jumbled mess of memories had been shoved into her brain.

She hadn’t yet tried to decipher those memories, not wanting to bring forth the memory of, well, the memory of what had caused it to be there in the first place.

Now, she was safe in the Grove, relatively safe at least, and wanted to attempt figuring out the odd memory.

She walked through the Grove until she reached the secluded little waterfall, walking behind it to the small space that held the altar dedicated to Ro. Leaning against it, she closed her eyes and tried to recall the memory.

It felt similar in a way to the memory she had first seen upon using the gauntlet, the end of the life of a Bathar researcher. That memory had not been her own, disjointed and without place in her mind, yet the collective had used their own power to help guide her mind to an understanding of the memory, allowing it to fit into place.

She had no such help now.

There were flashes, images seen through eyes that were not her own, a very different way of seeing things.

She saw herself in the keep of the city of Hetheir, fighting a battle against undead. A flash of the city from afar yet in its former glory, bustling with life and buildings intact. A river flowed nearby and there was no sign of the floating islands in sight. Another flash and the same city from the same view point yet as it was now, destroyed and desecrated, filled with the roaming undead.

Her eyes opened and she slid down the altar to sit on the floor, head aching as recalling the memory made her recall another. The battle for survival and the death of the collective.

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Tears came to her eyes in that secluded waterfall hideaway, her own memories of times spent with Delphi flashing through her mind. She could feel that the memory given to her by the collective was much, much more than the three images she had just seen yet even trying to decipher more made her head pound.

"Why did you do it?" She whispered, a shiver passing through her body as a tear fell to join the waterfall.

Had it been the only path they had seen to take that would lead to her return to Endaria? They had mentioned something about the future of their world, did they foresee that she would free Cormaine from the corruption?

She knew the collection of memories the collective had been reduced to would hold the answers to those questions, if only she was able to see them.

She sat there in silence, allowing the memories to fade away once more into the vault where they lived.

She stood, running her hand over the surface of the altar.

"I hope you still live, wherever you are," she thought.

Ro was strong, if anyone she knew had the power to survive fighting two of those monsters, he was the one. She thought she could almost feel him, holding her hand to the altar. He was intrinsically connected to it in a way she didn't fully understand. The power of faith was something that stretched across worlds, apparently.

She left the cave, returning to the Grove proper. There, Boreal and the other feline were busy being in the middle of a fight. Her heart jumped for a moment before she realised it was a playful fight and they were not attempting to kill each other.

Shaking her head at her silly friend, a bright point in the darkness of her memories, she walked to the entrance of the Grove. She needed to talk to Indis and Faian about meeting with the Hidden. Not only that but she needed to tell Indis quite a few things about the history she had discovered while in Cormaine. Unfortunately the only things she had brought back in her vault was a sword, a demon's body and a few shiny collectibles belonging to her crow friend.

"Boreal," Zalia sent to her friend.

She must not have heard Zalia as she continued her fight, wrestling the other feline to the ground.

"Boreal," Zalia tried again.

The two of them rolled about in the grass, crushing it underneath.

"Borreeaaalllll," Zalia yelled.

She finally noticed and stopped fighting, standing up and cleaning herself inconspicuously.

"I'm going back to the camp, want to come with?" She called over.

Boreal bounded over and the other feline watched her go. Zalia was tempted to invite Aylie along but when she found the girl sitting on a log surrounded by small cute animals that she was telling a story to, Zalia decided against it.

She waited a moment for a pause in the storytelling.

"I'm just going to head back to the camp for a little bit, you'll be ok?" Zalia asked softly.

She received a small nod of the head in answer and Zalia left the girl to her important activities, leaving the Grove with a wave towards Mate.