"A war camp is no place for a child either Zalia, at least if we take her with us we know she will be safe. If we leave her with some family here who knows what will happen," Ember urged quietly.

“Look, I don't like it but I'll let her decide, okay?” Zalia said to Ember.

“Fine, we'll let her decide.”

“But, here and now, her safety takes priority over everything else,” Zalia added.

“I agree. I don’t think I could take it if something did happen to her because I convinced you to take her with us. You want to ask her?” Ember asked.

Zalia sighed.

“Yeah, let’s go. We should probably be off soon.”

They walked over to where Boreal and Aylie were still playing, Boreal thankfully being extremely gentle. Apart from dragging her around on the grass but that was fine. A little dirt never hurt anybody.

“Boreal, Aylie, we’re going to be leaving for the north soon,” Zalia informed them.

Boreal sat still, looking at Zalia as Aylie pulled one of her whiskers.

“Aylie, you can either stay here or come with us, I’ll leave the decision to you. It’s very important you understand that it will be dangerous though, alright? We’ll try our best to take care of you but there are many creatures out there like the one we saved you from. Otherwise, you can stay here in the Grove until we get back.”

Aylie looked a little unsure, nervously twisting her hands in front of herself.

“Will you be long?” she asked in a small voice.

“It will be perhaps a few weeks. It depends on if we get slowed or interrupted,” Zalia said.

Aylie looked like she might be about to cry.

"What's wrong?" Zalia asked.

"You... you said to that General lady to find a family for me. Please don't leave me too," Aylie said, her soft voice falling apart as she began to cry.

"Oh, no darling. I won't, not ever," Zalia promised, pulling the young girl into a tight hug.

They stayed there for a while, Zalia trying to comfort Aylie while the girl cried. She really shouldn't have had Aylie there for that conversation and she berated herself for her idiocy in that matter. She just forgot to take things like that into account.

"Aylie, I'm sorry for saying that. I'll always be here if you need me, okay?" Zalia said softly, still holding the girl.

She felt Aylie nod against her shoulder and she hugged the girl even tighter. Zalia really did feel like an idiot.

She pulled back and held the girl by the shoulders.

"If you want to come with us, you can. Would you like to?" she asked.

Aylie looked at Ember over Zalia's shoulder, who nodded encouragingly, before giving a nod as well.

“I’ll come,” Aylie said, voice still trembling.

“Alright, but you have to listen to us when we're out there okay? We'll avoid any trouble as much as we can but it is important.”

She nodded once more so Zalia didn’t push the matter any further.

“Alright, we’ll have to get you some travelling clothes as well as some much warmer ones for the north. We will probably need a tent as well, though, no, we can sleep in the vault. I can probably store some…” Zalia’s rambling faded away to thought.

“I’ll go with Aylie to get some clothes then Zalia, I know a good tailor at camp,” Ember suggested.

“Sure, yeah. There are a few things I need to get stored into my vault… oh hey, did you ever get my bag back?”

“Your bag?” Ember asked.

“You know, the one they took when they captured us,” Zalia said.

“Oh… no. We kind of left it there, we didn’t really see any point in taking it,” Ember said, scratching at her neck a little self consciously.

“You… nevermind. Do you have some gold I can borrow then? All of mine was in that bag.”

“Oh, sure, yeah. Gold ain’t nothing much these days though. Most people will trade for food, clothes, that kind of thing. Gold won’t help you much in these times,” Ember explained.

“Right, maybe I can find something to trade then. I got this cool sword and…”

“What’s that?”

“Nothing, I just remembered I need to go speak to the Hidden before we leave,” Zalia said.

Ember’s expression darkened.

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“We haven't been able to get him to say a thing, bloody traitor,” she hissed.

“He might talk to me,” Zalia said quietly.

“What makes you think that? He won’t talk to any of the rest of us,” Ember asked.

“Just a feeling. Go on, I’ll come around to the camp later. I’ve got a couple things to do first,” Zalia urged.

Ember walked off and Aylie followed after, sparing a glance backwards at Zalia like she was making sure Zalia wouldn’t leave without her.

Giving Aylie an assuring smile and a wave, she turned about to Boreal.

“Right, we’ve got some errands. If you could hunt something nice for us to trade, I want to go take a look at the nest we burnt out,” Zalia said.

Boreal licked her lips, an excited energy entering her body at the thought of a hunt. She ran off out of the Grove as well.

Zalia smiled, casting the ritual of flight on herself, the wispy air wings forming across her back. She took off, flying towards the burnt nest. She’d gained a level in Nature’s wrath from burning it down, though she hadn’t seen the message until some time after waking up and checking.

She flew low up the hill, finding herself at a scorched hole in the ground before long. She looked down into it to see a spherical chunk missing from the land, the sides and base frozen solid in the image of flowing liquid. She really had done a job here.

Flying down, she found herself wondering at the power of the ability. She had pumped her entire mana pool into it, true, but it seemed absurd. It reminded her of the strength of the abilities the shadowy twins had, the two whose abilities were stronger working in tandem with each other. They had summoned an acidic rain and shadowy arms that had helped take down the Gold rank elemental that the mine had become. She wondered how those two were doing, all of Endelbyrn for that matter. The other two leaders of the Morning’s Shade were surely still there, Hildebrandt and… Marcus? She didn’t remember the other man's name.

Still, the fact that the strength of her abilities stood up to that of two other Bronze rankers working in tandem gave her a little bit of confidence she sorely needed. Sure, she had managed to survive against some steep odds in Cormaine but the things they were fighting…

She recalled the emotion flowing through her as she had fueled the fire ever higher. Anger, a pure rage at the demons for their invasion of Endaria, their corruption of nature, for killing Delphi.

A pair of eyes and a crunch.

Zalia shook herself back to the present, ignoring the little flames that had ignited around the place and the floor that was beginning to melt again, and taking off back into the open air. She flew back down into the forest, following along the tug of the bond that let her know where Boreal was. Making sure to have her armour on so as not to create any sound, she gently alit upon a high tree branch, watching Boreal stalk her prey below.

It was only that tug of the bond that let her even see Boreal, the sight, sound, heat signature and vibrations of Boreal so well hidden that she had trouble even then.

She seemed to be hunting a strange four legged animal with a low hanging body and a neck that pointed forwards, a diamond shaped head on its end. It was one of the more bizarre creatures Zalia had seen in her time in the new worlds, and that was saying something, yet she felt bad about its soon approaching fate. Almost bad enough to call out to Boreal to stop, yet, with a quick pounce and some frenzied movement, it was soon over.

“Good catch!” Zalia called down.

Boreal looked up proudly, a little bit of blood dripping from her maw. It was blue, another oddity about the creature.

“I’ll store it in the vault,” Zalia informed her, jumping down and doing just that.

The two of them left the forest and went to the war camp, having to go through the inspection process again. It was becoming a little tiresome, though it was performed by the extremely nervous man again who was at least quicker than the other person had been.

They walked through the camp, Zalia keeping her armour on to try and maintain some type of anonymity. It was kind of hard to do that with the large wildcat at her side but while she looked like the smaller Boreal on the statue, it was at least enough to deter some assumptions. Not all of them though, as they still received awed looks here and there.

They found General Faian in the administrative building, busy with a whole stack of paper she seemed to be struggling with.

“I didn’t think being a General would include so much paperwork,” Zalia commented, standing on the other side of her desk.

“Neither did I, though I’ve become more of a camp administrator than a General these days. We can’t assault the city until our other forces catch up from the other parts of the kingdom and we can’t leave the city to go help them lest the garrisoned troops decide to leave and cause us other issues. It’s quite frustrating,” Faian agreed.

“Certainly seems so.”

“Now, what can I help you with today?” Faian asked, putting down the sheet of parchment she was holding and looking up at Zalia.

“I want to talk with the Hidden,” Zalia said.

“I thought you might, at some point. I’ll get Indis and we can go down to see him then.”

“No, just us. I’d prefer Indis isn’t there.”

“And why would that be?” Faian asked, raising an eyebrow.

“We had… a bit of a fight and things need to cool down. I’ll see her before I leave for the north most likely but that can wait for now,” Zalia explained.

“You’re going to the north?”

“Yes, I believe I might be able to find some help and… something else I’m looking for. I have a friend up there I need to see.”

“Alright, I won’t say no to more help, though I’ll admit you’ve got me curious,” Faian said.

“Have you heard of Those Born of Heat and Stone, I believe your people call them goblins.”

Faian furrowed her brow at Zalia’s use of the term “your people” but didn’t comment on it.

“Yes, I know of them. Are they the help you speak of?”

“Correct. They are quite powerful and are quite a bit more accepting than most people I’ve met. They would be a valuable ally,” Zalia explained.

“Curiosity sated. I’ll lead you to the Hidden now if you wish,” Faian said, standing up.

“That would be appreciated.”

“Very well, this way,” Faian said, walking towards the door.

She led them out of the office and back through the calmer administrative building, through another door in that chamber to a large locked iron gate that Zalia could tell was definitely magically reinforced. They weren’t taking any risks on him escaping it seemed.

Faian took a key from her coat pocket and unlocked the door, swinging it open on quiet, smooth hinges.

She led Zalia and Boreal down a steep set of winding stairs deep into the ground. It ended at yet another door that Faian unlocked, moving into a circular chamber with a single pedestal in its centre. Atop that pedestal was a dark cube with wisps of shadow flickering around its edges.

“Hello Zalia,” the Hidden said.