The group travels South through the mountains towards the desert. The night before they are to exit the mountainous terrain, it starts to rain, forcing them to set up camp early.
Just as they are about to retreat into their respective tents to wait out the storm, Gwendolyn makes an observation, “Hold on, Kali usually sleeps outside. You can’t in this kind of weather”.
“I’ll be fine,” Kali responds gruffly, perhaps still trying to subtly prove her toughness to Drakthar.
Gwendolyn doesn’t accept Kali’s answer grabbing her arm and pulling her towards her tent, “No, you will not be fine, you’re going to sleep in my tent tonight”.
Kayde glances over at Xander and lets out an elongated, “awkward…”
“Oh, yeah Xander you sleep in their tent tonight,” Gwendolyn orders in response to Kayde’s comment.
“Okay,” Xander agrees, not seeing any other logical way to handle this.
“Don’t sound so sad, it’s only because it’s raining,” Gwendolyn tries to cheer him up, sensing the disappointment in his voice.
“Oh, you’re in the dog house dude,” Kayde jokes, prodding at Xander a bit. Fore barks along with Kayde’s assertion, really bringing home the point. Xander gives Kayde a disgusted look before disappearing inside their tent.
The next thing Xander sees is Fore bolting in after him.
“Kayde, why did you let him in!? He is going to get everything wet…” Xander’s complaint is silenced when he realizes Fore doesn’t have a drop of water on him despite being out in the rain.
“How?” He mutters to himself.
“What were you saying?” Kayde asks Xander as he enters the tent.
“Nothing,” Xander drops it, not wanting to look like a fool when there is nothing to worry about. They settle in and fall asleep, waiting out the storm for the night.
The inhabitants of the other tent aren’t as tired.
“Thanks, you didn’t have to do this,” Kali tells Gwendolyn once they are inside.
“I wasn’t going to let you sleep out there in the rain,” Gwendolyn insists, seeing it as only the decent thing to do.
“Still…” Kali trails off.
“So now that we have some time alone, tell me about yourself,” Gwendolyn demands, having set up this situation in an attempt to get to know Kali better. Kali seems hesitant and pauses, not sure what she should reveal to Gwendolyn.
“Oh, come on. We should know at least the basics about each other if we are going to be friends,” Gwendolyn comments, sensing her trepidation.
“If it’s easier, I can go first. I’m the leader of a group called the Silent Brotherhood, which my dad used to be in charge of before I took over; I don’t have any family outside of him. Okay, now it’s your turn,” Gwendolyn explains the basics about herself.
“Okay… you already know that I was the guardian of the fountain of luck…” Kali pauses to come up with more.
“Anything else? Did you do anything before that?” Gwendolyn tries to get her to think of more.
“Before that, I was being trained along with my siblings in order to become the guardian,” Kali recounts, her life having led up to this one duty.
“Oh, what about your family? What are they like?” Gwendolyn asks, latching on to the detail that might finally give her more insight into Kali’s personal life.
The thought of her family brings Kali only more panic, “My family will probably see me killed, or at least have me severely reprimanded, for failing in my duties as guardian”.
“I’m sorry, I guess I shouldn’t have pushed you so hard,” Gwendolyn sees how discussing such things could be difficult for Kali after what Fore has done.
“No, I’m the one who screwed up, I was distracted so much over some silly fight that I forgot my purpose entirely, and now I will have to suffer the consequences of my actions,” Kali takes responsibility for her shortcomings.
“Why? Your family doesn’t know anything right? You can just stay with us and run from them. You don’t have to deal with any of this if you just stick with us,” Gwendolyn tells Kali what she already wanted to hear, but didn’t feel good about doing.
“Okay, for now, I guess,” Kali agrees, glad that her idea is being validated by someone else.
“Even if they do find you, it can’t be that bad. I mean, your family should still love you, right?” Gwendolyn comments, only having had loving family members herself.
“You don’t understand, in my family, it’s always about raising the next guardian, and the glory of attaining that privilege. Now that they don’t have that anymore, I don’t know what they will do to take it out on me,” Kali gives a little insight into her family.
“Well, think of us as your family now. I know we can be more than a little dysfunctional at times, but we look out for each other,” Gwendolyn offers, trying to brighten the mood.
“Thanks,” Kali appreciates the gesture.
“Well, I mean you already kind of are, aren’t you…” Gwendolyn starts to point out.
“What do you mean by that?” Kali isn’t quite sure what she is getting at.
Gwendolyn’s voice gets hushed, “I mean we all saw. You didn’t really hide anything”.
Kali is only slightly flustered, “I know, it was slightly indecent of me, but I was caught up in the heat of the moment”.
“Oh, don’t worry, I understand that. At least you got some right away ... I had to wait two and a half years for Xander to make that move,” Gwendolyn complains.
“How do you feel about him? I mean, I know you like Drakthar, but I wasn’t sure as to how much,” Gwendolyn asks, genuinely curious.
Kali now seems nervous, her face gets flushed as she looks down at the floor of the tent, “I do like him… a lot, but… well, I guess I’m more confused than anything about his behavior”.
“In what way?” Gwendolyn asks, looking to give her advice based on the situation.
“Okay, I guess I have to admit that the time in front of the fountain wasn’t the only time we have done it. Most times it just ends up happening after we finish training, but outside of that, he acts coldly towards me. He is sending me mixed messages and I’m not sure if he really feels anything towards me, or if he is just using me,” Kali explains the situation to Gwendolyn.
“That’s horrible! I don’t know… it seems like he is just using you. I’m sorry to say it, but from what you said that’s what it sounds like,” Gwendolyn is not happy to admit.
“I know, I feel like I should just not let him have what he wants, but I am afraid if I do that he will cut himself off from me entirely and I don’t know if I can handle that,” Kali opens up even more to Gwendolyn.
Gwendolyn wraps her arms around Kali and tells her, “I’m so sorry, I wouldn’t know what to do either if I was in your position”.
“Thanks,” Kali accepts her hug.
“Why don’t we get some sleep?” Gwendolyn suggests, realizing they have been talking for a while. Kali agrees and they fall asleep.
The next morning they awaken and find that the rain has stopped. They continue down from the mountains, the soil damp from the rain overnight. They make their way back into the desert with a little bit of mud sticking to their boots.
Drakthar finds his horse and cart where he left them and they start to head South towards some sort of civilization. Gwendolyn pulls Xander to the back of the group.
“Yeah what’s up?” He asks not sure why she wanted him to hang back.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
“I talked to Kali last night…” Gwendolyn trails off trying to determine how she wants to phrase this.
“What did you two talk about?” Xander asks, trying to help her out.
“None of your business, it’s between us,” Gwendolyn intends to keep it a secret.
“Fine, we are playing it that way then,” Xander gives up, not too bothered by the secrecy.
“The truth is I’m not too happy with Drakthar right now,” Gwendolyn finally gets at what she wanted to.
“How so?” Xander looks down at her, genuinely confused about what might have brought this on.
Gwendolyn starts to explain what she learned in her conversation with Kali in the tent during the rainy night, “Kali, she told me that her and Drakthar have been well, having sex after they train sometimes”.
“Okay?” Xander questions why this is even a problem during a pause.
“No, but after he acts like nothing happened and it’s really bothering her,” Gwendolyn elaborates as to why she is angry with Drakthar.
“I see…” Xander acknowledges her statement but still doesn’t know exactly why Gwendolyn is telling him this.
“You should talk to him about this,” Gwendolyn tries to rope him in on this.
“Hell no… I’m not going anywhere near this. If he comes to me and tells me about it, I’ll talk to him, but until then it’s their business, not mine,” Xander explains, adamant in not butting in on this particular issue.
Gwendolyn crosses her arms, and pouts, “Fine, no sex for a week”.
“Okay, fine. That hurts you more than me anyway. I’m still not going to talk to Drakthar about this,” Xander points out, remaining reticent in breaching this topic with Drakthar.
Xander’s response makes Gwendolyn incredulous, she knows it’s true, but how could he say something like that?
She decides that this is something that must be done, adding more penalties for his obstinance, “You can sleep outside for that week as well then”.
Her willingness to go this far shocks Xander, making him reevaluate what is slowly developing into a full-blown argument. He takes another look and can tell by Gwendolyn’s expression that she is starting to lose patience with him. He realizes the insignificance of this fight, and that he should just cave before it gets out of hand.
“Okay, okay, I’ll talk to him,” Xander gives in, not wanting to ruin anything between him and Gwendolyn.
She wraps her arms around him, “Thank you, I’m glad you could see it my way”.
“Yeah,” Xander agrees, looking down at her bright smiling face knowing he made the right decision.
After they stop down for the first night of trekking through the desert.
“So what is our next move?” Kayde brings up, trying to determine where they will be off to.
“Taking down the Purity in the Sacrosanct,” Xander responds, a fire glowing in his eyes just thinking about it.
“I’m sorry what? You can’t be serious?” Kali starts to laugh at that ridiculous notion.
“Okay, so what’s the plan?” Kayde asks, ignoring Kali’s laughter.
“Hold on, you guys are serious? You know that is the religion of the most powerful nation in the world right?” Kali tries to get them to realize how delusional they sound.
Xander ignores Kali’s statements as well as he lays out a plan, “First we need to gather as much information about the capital city as possible. We will assassinate the archbishop like before. Once he is out of the way, the people should realize that the king is dead and a new one will be instated; one that hopefully can be swayed to abolish the church”.
“Sure, that sounds really easy,” Kali agrees sarcastically, not able to believe this is an actual conversation right now.
“Our best bet would be to go to the desert capital city. They would be the most likely to have information on the Purity. I’m sure they have taken measures to scout their opponents. If Jorge is still in the military there, we can get information through him,” Xander decides on their next destination.
Kali stops commenting generally, she looks at Drakthar and asks, “You aren’t going along with this madness are you?” Drakthar stares back at her coldly and nods.
“You too?” Kali turns to Gwendolyn sure she will see reason.
Gwendolyn replies while gazing lovingly at Xander, “He’s so dreamy when he is determined”.
Kali cannot believe these people, are they idiots?
“I don’t think this is a good idea, it’s too big a task for only five of us to overcome,” Kali once again tries to get them to look at what they are saying.
“You’re right, but we have six. Don’t forget about Fore, he is really lucky,” Kayde points down towards the wolf.
“Nobody said you had to come with us,” Drakthar tells her, not wanting her to come if she doesn’t believe this is something they can accomplish. Kali’s face cracks, the harsh response from Drakthar acting as yet another reminder of how little he actually cares for her.
“No, I’ll go,” Kali relents, all of her previous confusion wiped away by Drakthar’s comment and replaced with both wanting and sorrow.
“Alright, now that everything is settled, let’s head towards the desert capital,” Kayde repeats the plan so they are all on the same page.
The next day Xander makes good on his agreement with Gwendolyn, pulling Drakthar aside as they take a break in the middle of the day.
“Look, I don’t want to do this anymore than you do,” he starts off saying, confusing Drakthar more than anything.
“Do what?” Drakthar asks, unsure of where this is going.
“Okay how about this, if Gwendolyn asks I talked to you about Kali, just say I did, okay?” Xander tries to dodge the responsibility.
“What?” Drakthar is just more puzzled.
Noting Drakthar’s confusion Xander is forced to explain, “I was supposed to talk to you about not mistreating Kali because apparently she and Gwendolyn are friends now because of that one rainy night. Anyway, Gwendolyn is forcing me to talk to you about it even though I told her I don’t want to”.
Drakthar doesn’t react to learning of this.
He responds calmly, “Then why are we talking about it? You don’t want to right?”
Xander sighs and puts a hand on Drakthar’s shoulder, “Love is a double-edged sword, my friend, anyway we talked about it, alright?”
“Sure…” Drakthar agrees, unsure of what just happened as they rejoin the group. Gwendolyn gives Xander a wide grin thinking he just did what she demanded of him.
Later at night in their tent, Gwendolyn asks Xander about how he handled the situation, “So what did you say to him?”
“You know… I told him to consider her feelings and stuff,” Xander lies, not wanting to upset her.
“And what did he say?” Gwendolyn asks, her growing skepticism starting to seep into her tone.
“He said he would consider them more,” Xander tries to get away with it.
“You’re lying, I talked to Kali tonight and Drakthar did the exact same thing he always does after they trained together today,” Gwendolyn calls him out on it. Xander sees two options before him, either commit to the lie or just come clean.
While initially, he thinks it is easier to just lie, he doesn’t want a relationship built on lies. He tells her what she already knows, “You are right, I’m lying. It is just a really awkward conversation”.
“How many other times have you lied to me?” Gwendolyn immediately grabs as much of the metaphorical rope as possible now that Xander’s grip has let up even a little.
“This is the first time, I’m sorry, it will never happen again,” Xander apologizes, his sincerity apparent in his voice.
She knows he is telling the truth, but still decides to punish him for lying in the first place, “You will do two things for me”.
“Yes,” Xander agrees, without even hearing what they are.
“First, you will actually have the conversation you were supposed to with Drakthar,” Gwendolyn remains adamant in helping her friend.
“Okay, I will, but I can’t promise it will change anything,” Xander warns her, knowing Drakthar’s mind is not one that is easy to change.
“The second is the punishment from before, you must sleep outside for a week,” Gwendolyn explains the last half of his punishment.
“What about the other part?” Xander remembers a little more in her initial threats.
“I… rethought that part. You can come into the tent for that, but right after you have to leave,” Gwendolyn creeps towards him. She uses Xander, much like how Drakthar uses Kali, before kicking him out of the tent for the night.
Kali, who is lying on her bedroll outside, watches as a disheveled Xander exits his tent and lies his bedroll down in the sand.
“What are you doing out here?” She questions what he is doing.
Xander just sighs, before completely ignoring her question and going into a monologue, “You know, we are more alike than you would think”.
“What?” Kali has no idea what he is getting at.
“We are both the ones chasing after those we love,” Xander elaborates, seeing a lot of himself in Kali while she pines after Drakthar.
“I… I’m not in love with anyone,” Kali denies her own feelings.
“It’s okay, it is nothing to be embarrassed about,” Xander shrugs off her protests.
Kali no longer trying to hide it goes back to his initial statement, “You say we are both chasing people we love, but it looks like you already caught yours”.
Xander sighs heavily, “I used to look at it that way, but the more I think about it, I don’t think the chase ever ends. The moment you think you’ve finally caught up to them and become content is the moment they start to slip away. So even now I can’t stop trying, so that makes me exactly the same as you”.
Kali is taken aback by everything Xander has just told her, she processes it for a while before asking, “Why are you telling me this? I don’t even know you that well”.
“I don’t know… I guess I was just talking as a romantic to a love-struck individual,” Xander shrugs, not quite sure why he said all of this himself.
“You know you don’t need to help me out?” Kali points out.
“Actually I do, Gwendolyn told me to talk to Drakthar about you, maybe convince him to change how he is treating you,” Xander explains, resigned to his fate at this point.
Kali’s face turns slightly red, flustered from hearing about her new friend’s intervention in her love life, “I didn’t ask her to do that, you don’t have to do anything”.
“No, I do. I have to do it in order to keep chasing after her… I understand that now. I’ll do anything to make sure she doesn’t slip away,” Xander declares confidently knowing what must be done.
The two of them are surprised as they see Gwendolyn emerge from the tent.
“Xander, you can come back in,” she tells him, her face flush only partially from the cold of the desert night.
Xander stands up and grabs his bedroll, “So you heard all of that?”
Gwendolyn grabs his arm and pulls him close to her, “Yes… I did. And I don’t want you to feel like I am slipping away from you”.
She puts a hand up to Xander’s face, resting it there softly. Xander leans in and kisses her. Kali watches from the sand as the moonlight behind them silhouettes their form.