The ox cart that came to Arvel’s farm brought a small portion of the wood they’d collected the day before. The men set to work returning Tim to his yard, before they started using some of the wood to make a few repairs around Arvel’s farm, mending fences and patching up the neglected tool shed. While they worked outside, Fidget led Frederik in, to try to put his worried mind at ease.

The visit had the opposite effect. Frederik was devastated to hear of all the horrors that had befallen Rain, Lunette, and Arvel during their mountain excursion. He could barely bring himself to look at Rain’s bruises and her hoarse voice, and Lunette’s frail body draped in blankets, for the shame he felt. The four of them sat around the kitchen table, while Fidget busied herself in the kitchen.

“How awful,” Frederik muttered softly, looking down at the cup of mildly steeped tea that Fidget slid in front of him.

“Wasn’t nothin’ you could’ve done,” said Arvel, “The settlement needed wood, and ain’t no way of predicting when someone like her would show up.”

“I had no idea such a demon even existed in these mountains!” said Frederik, lifting his head to look across the table at Arvel; “Have we... chosen poorly, for the site of the new settlement? Should we look somewhere else?”

“Need I remind you we’re in the Nathulan Province?” Lunette asked quietly, “There is no place that is ‘safe’ from demons until we make it so.”

“But there’s a difference between run-of-the-mill demons and that, isn’t there?” Frederik asked, “I’m not saying that we should give up on Elediah’s Crossing. But if you would consent to sending survey teams a little further out—”

“Won’t help,” said Arvel, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms. He gazed down at the table, before glancing at Rain beside him, and realized she’d been staring. He was quiet for a moment, before asking, “What?”

“She knew you,” Rain said softly.

Arvel said nothing.

“That demon, ‘Melodia’, she knew you,” she said, barely above a whisper, “Not just like someone who had been watching you. She spoke to you like... like an old...”

“An old ‘friend’?” Arvel asked bitterly, “I wouldn’t use a word like that.”

“She was focused, spiteful,” said Lunette, “These were not the tactics of someone who just wanted to drive our settlement off of their perceived territory.”

“And?” asked Arvel, growing more tense.

Lunette looked at him, eyes narrow, and said, “It would be helpful if we knew more about her in order to better protect ourselves. This has little and less to do with delving into your personal history and grudges, and everything to do with learning who our enemy is.”

Arvel glared at Lunette for a moment, before looking down at the table. He then glanced across at Frederik and asked, “You mapped the area south of here?”

“Sadly, no,” replied Frederik, “We’ve done little surveying outside of the immediate area, and close to the border as we are, we’ve no wish to run afoul of the Geldemere Province’s patrols. I’ve heard they’re a humorless lot.”

“Humorless is one way of putting it,” said Arvel, “They don’t treat their own folk much better than they treat merchants or travelers that they can wring a toll out of. That’s why so many folks from Geldemere will try to move out with whatever they can carry on their backs.”

“Well yes, but not to Nathulan, surely,” said Frederik.

Arvel looked down at the table, and said, “About thirty years ago they did. A whole bunch of them got the wise idea that in this bloodstained wasteland, wouldn’t nobody bother em. The same idea my pa got.”

“There was a Geldemerean settlement in Nathulan territory?” Lunette asked, raising an eyebrow, “Why have I heard nothing of it?”

“Because they wanted to keep to themselves,” said Arvel, “and they did a damn good job of it. They were real fine folk, good at digging up clean soil and treating it right. They taught my pa a whole lot back when he was just startin’ to lay down roots. They had themselves a whole little town in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by green grass, orchards, fields of crops, and even grazing land.”

“Had...” Frederik whispered.

Arvel gave Frederik a small nod, and continued, “They fought off a bunch of demon attacks over the years. Had themselves a fine little militia. Made themselves more trouble than they were worth to try to prey on. They’d lose a cow or a pig every now and then but they’d pitch in together to make sure nobody suffered for it.”

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“What changed?” Rain asked softly.

Arvel sighed, and he stood from his chair. He began to pace around the kitchen table, burning off nervous energy as he continued, “My pa brought me there a couple of times a year from when I was jus’ a lil’ ankle biter. When I started gettin’ older, he’d let me make the trip on my own to trade stuff. I started makin’ some friends. I’d just turned eighteen when I met this real pretty girl my age with long black hair.”

Rain’s heart sank and her shoulders sagged, hands wrapping firmly around her teacup.

“A newcomer to the town?” Frederik asked, “Surely if you’d visited that often, you’d have noticed her before that.”

“Ain’t like that,” said Arvel, “She wasn’t ‘new’, not in any way anyone could realize. She was charming, and everybody adored her. I didn’t think much about it or ask questions, since everybody loved her so much.”

“That’s her power, isn’t it?” Rain asked quietly, looking down at her reflection in her teacup, “She walks up and starts talking to you, and you just... you feel like you’ve known her for years.”

“Easy to trust,” Lunette added, “Far too easy.”

Arvel nodded, and stopped behind his chair, gripping the back of it as he continued, “I don’t think her ability works on me real well. Maybe somethin’ I inherited from my pa. But it ain’t just magic charm, she’s real sweet ‘n charming just on her own, and when nobody else around you thinks it’s weird, you ain’t got a reason to question it either. Besides, I was always sorta a loner, so it was nice to just spend time around one person.”

“But she wasn’t just there to make friends,” said Lunette.

“I’m gettin’ there,” said Arvel with a grimace, “We’d been spendin’ time together for a good year or so. Talked about everything. She told me she had a bunch of sisters, ‘n her dad liked to play favorites. I didn’t get why she was always tryin’ to impress him if he was that kinda asshole, but she just said I wouldn’t understand. So I gave up tryin’.”

Arvel gripped the back of the chair until his knuckles began to whiten.

“I fell asleep under a shade tree with her one evenin’,” he said, “Woke up hearin’ all these screams and smellin’ smoke, so I took off toward the town ‘n saw it gettin’ torn to shreds. There was a whole army of demons descending on it, and she was leadin’ em like a general. All those good ‘n kind folk who treated her so nice were gettin’ harvested like grain. She wasn’t just drinkin’ up their lives, she was drinkin’ up their souls while she was at it, so not a single person survived.”

Frederik said quietly, “Except you.”

“Frederik!” Lunette snapped.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Rain asked.

Though Fidget didn’t know why everyone was yelling at Frederik, she sensed the tension and quickly ran over to deliver a swift kick to his shin.

“OW!” Frederik yelped, pulling his leg up to rub his shin under the table, “It wasn’t an accusation!”

“Then what was it?” questioned Rain.

“Oi, it’s fine,” grunted Arvel, “Guess she held a sweet spot for me. I ain’t seen her in six years and when we spoke, she tried to act like she was doin’ me a favor, killin’ all those good kind souls ‘n emptying the wasteland.”

“A favor?” Lunette hissed, eyes narrow.

“Ain’t got a damn thing to do with me for real,” said Arvel, “She’s a daughter of the Pale Emperor, the strongest demon sittin’ down in the core of the underworld. Her whole life’s about gettin’ more powerful than all his other daughters, get stronger, get the bigger army, claim more territory ‘n all that noise. A real miserable existence, if you ask me.”

“So she’s made this mountain her throne,” whispered Rain, “and she’s going to try to prey on our settlement the same way she attacked the Geldemereans.”

“Ain’t lettin’ it happen again,” said Arvel, shaking his head.

Rain looked up at him and said, “I can’t ask that of you.”

“You didn’t ask for nothin’,” he replied, looking at her, “My pa wasn’t around a real long time after what she did. I think he felt guilty that he never knew there was a demon princess walkin’ around in their town in broad daylight. It was like a slow-moving poison, all that regret, but it killed him nonetheless. And I won’t let history repeat itself, and I won’t let that guilt drive me into an early grave either.”

Rain’s eyes began to mist with tears.

But while Rain was touched by his words, Frederik scoffed, and said, “Even when you perform acts of great kindness, you still feel compelled to frame it as selfishness. I’ve not a clue what drives a man to such boorish behavior. ...OW!”

Frederik looked down at Fidget beside him, who’d kicked his shin once again, in precisely the same spot, and was now glaring daggers up at him. When he looked at the other ladies at the table, they looked every bit as furious as the goblin.

“He’s entitled to his opinion,” said Arvel, shrugging as he let go of the chair, finally beginning to relax, “Ain’t nobody forced to like me, or how I do things.”

“I suppose not,” grumbled Frederik, his voice dripping with venom, “so long as we’re the passing beneficiaries of your occasional acts of kindness, we’ve no reason to complain about the attitude you carry.”

“Glad we’ve reached an agreement, then,” Arvel said, waving a hand dismissively, “It sounds like your friends’ve stopped hammerin’ outside, so you’re welcome to head out any time you feel like it. I gotta get some dinner started, if we’re gonna get Lunette back on her feet sooner rather than later.”

Frederik stood from the table, as straight as he could with one leg throbbing, and when he turned to head out the door, Rain quickly followed him outside.

“Imagine he’s about to get a tongue-lashing like he ain’t never had,” Arvel said, shaking his head, “Wish she wouldn’t get so damn defensive over a thing like that.”

Arvel looked at Lunette and saw her staring intently at him.

“What?” he asked.

“He had no reason to carry that guilt to his grave,” she said softly, “Nor do you have reason to carry yours.”

Arvel’s eyes widened in surprise before they narrowed sharply.

“Don’t recall askin’ for your opinion,” he said, his voice low.

“Of course, you wouldn’t,” she replied, shaking her head.

Arvel clenched his fists, before slowly relaxing his hands. He turned for the door, a heavy stomp in his feet as he walked, and said, “I’ve got chorin’ to do.”