The Saintdon of Awin. Birthplace of Sigwalism. Cradle of the Tyrian Tale.

Or so others put it. Holly didn't have the first clue what Sigwalism was supposed to be other than that it was a big deal around these parts, nor, she was coming to realize, what being a Tale meant.

In either case, what she knew was what Marquise had told her. A thousand tribes coming together to fight a common enemy, becoming this monster no other power in Ivias could ignore without consequence! One of the biggest enemies the Remnants ever faced! No real chance at Realization, but in a certain way hadn't they already made it? It almost sounded like something straight out of a story!

Soon, she would be there to see how it measured to that reputation from up and close, and the curiosity was one of the things that kept Holly looking alive. The other paced right besides her, stretching an arm high and bare toes on soft earth.

"Aaaaah, nothing beats walking, does it?" Klyla said. "Gotta say, took for granted how good it feels to move around on yer' own. By the by, could ye' chew a lil' quieter, Hols?"

"Sorry," Holly said, swallowing the last few chunks of the moth she had caught. The fuzz tickled her tongue and throat, but the hearty insides more than made up for that. "For both."

"Or try to eat with yer' mouth shut at least, so it stops rainin' bug and spit on me, how 'bout that?" Klyla clicked her tongue, trying to take another step away while running into the limits of Holly's arm. "Or let go of my hand. These lil' legs ain't gonna be losing those ██████ of yer' anytime soon, not here."

"My what?" She frowned.

Klyla sighed. The voice that answered in Yine wasn't hers.

"Stilts," Agare said, some ten paces behind her, otherwise silently following, nothing but a walking shadow under the moonlight.

"Ah. Thanks!"

The night here was pleasant. Far from being light, this part of the Sacred Forest they had come to rest at was no colorful noose like the Floodlands or dark and foreboding like the Hollows, with enough space between the short trees to let her look up at the waxing moon, it's first finger print revealed already, second barely peeking. Philosopher's Moon, if she recalled correctly. Or would that be the next?

Regardless, Agare was a disturbance in that dim, serene scene. She couldn't find it in herself to ignore him for even a moment. His presence weighted on her mind like a snake in a locked room, and she couldn't help but steal the occasional glance his way, afraid he was about to do something.

Logically, she knew he wouldn't. Nonetheless, she couldn't lower her guard, not with Klyla by her side.

"Can't even get privacy to piss anymore," Klyla said, rueful. "At least I'm getting somewhere, I guess!"

"Yeah!" Holly said, taking the chance to send a mild glare over her shoulder. "I can't believe he refused to leave! How improper is that?!"

"I'm talking about ye', ye' ███████ sack of sticks! At least with the lil' guy I hadn't to fight for my life to get one shitty bush in between us!"

"B-but I couldn't!"

Klyla stopped, opening her arms wide. "Tell me why then! Didn't ask ye' to be my new legs, I don't think! Don't even want those things to start the conversation, what do I do with them, they're all bone!"

Holly looked to Agare again. She quickly realized that might have been a little stupid, and averted her eyes.

"What? Yer' afraid of the tike? Look at him, if I told ye' he's half your size, I'd be highballin' it!" Klyla laughed, no, cackled, a sound both grating and painful. "I think I could handle him! Gimme a ████████ swatter or one of em' bigger Ravishes and I could take two!"

"I have to admit, I'm curious why you kept her," Agare said in Yine, tone impassive, head tilted up just enough she knew she held the full of his attention. "With the way she has made more than clear she doesn't like the situation, I thought you would have let her go by now."

"... Reasons."

"My concern is for you, Holly," Agare said. "If you dislike me being close to her, feel free to step away, and I will follow suit."

"A-anyway, if y-you want somebody to watch us, why don't you let Almalilly keep us company? At least, you know..."

"Oi, enough of Bear tongue!" Klyla danced in fury around her feet. "I'm here too, ye' know?! And I'm the topic!"

"Out of the question. Almalilly has her own skills, but she is not fit for the combat. Our situation is sensitive, and requires extreme caution."

"T-then how about Bla-!"

Both froze in unison. She had completely forgotten. How could she have completely forgotten? A wave of guilt struck her with such strength it felt physically sickening. The one time she didn't want it to slip her mind, it had by complete reflex. It was almost comic.

"... Sorry." She said, so low she barely heard it herself.

"The life of Faceless and Face alike is fraught with peril," Agare's voice felt distant, cold. "She lived a long life. That she perished fighting against the eternal enemy to protect her comrades is an honor many of her contemporaries did not have the chance to earn."

"H-how could you say that?" Holly felt her hairs twitch. "It's wasn't nearly enough! S-she still had so much to live for, so much to protect Almalilly from! I-if I hadn't gone, if I had stayed to help them..."

"Chances are, then your opponent would have come to you instead, and in a fight against two more lives would have been lost," Agare said. "I will not say your decision was wise or not. but worse case scenarios existed."

She shivered.

"Why did you follow the opposing Divinity?"Agare asked. "Did you-"

"Will. It's not divinity, it can't-"

"Semantics are meaningless, Holly, I don't care one way or another!" Agare said, and Holly flinched. How long since she had last heard him so angry at her? "You have been erratic lately. From vanishing before a battle, to running without notice, to her. All I am asking is for your reason, if the situation is to repeat itself."

How could she explain it to him? That she did it because she was afraid of what Glashii would do, had done to the others? Because She wanted to know who was that person who knew such a forbidden word? Because of that last night at Lesser Hollow Elder Seneschal had begged her to save them, and she didn't want to fail him again?

Because, knowing it or not, only one Holly Seneschal could have answered the Elder's expectations, one she had buried herself, one with severe consequences she was very much aware of and yet had allowed to dig her way out. A Holly Seneschal who once dreamed of heroics.

Because Holly is such an obedient girl, isn't she?

The hiss escaped in between her teeth against her will. Agare didn't move. She opened her mouth, a thousand answers eager to pour out at once.

"Know what? fair is fair."

A sudden tug at her Robe stopped Holly cold. With a grunt of effort, Klyla began to climb her body like a vine, one handed. Holly let go, curious and a little surprised at what had got into the Goban's head this time. Clutching at her collar, foot finding purchase on her hip bones, they found themselves eye to eye.

"Well, what you waitin' for?" Klya said, patting herself on the rear. "Ain't you going to put yer' hand on my arse?"

"W-what?! No!" Holly said.

Even in the dark, it was impossible to miss the roll of Klyla's red, red eyes. "What, ye' thought ye' were holding my plump, juicy calves while carrying me around? Gimme a break."

"What are you even saying, Klyla?"

"Hols, at first I was under the impression was some unlucky hostage, but if yer' going to be taking me for walks, watchin' me shit on the road, then talking like I ain't even there, might as well embrace the pet life instead, am I right?" Klyla laughed. "But seriously, I'm all ██████ from the trip and about to fall, please hold me."

Holly obliged, cradling the big Goban baby against her bosom again. Happy to fall in, Klyla laid both hands under her own head, relaxing with a good stretch of the legs. Holly didn't miss the way Agare's shoulders shook a little.

"S-sorry, alright? I-it was just a private conversation, that's all," Holly said.

"Private, eh? Must be nice," Klyla said.

Holly sighed. "Next time, I promise I'll stay a little farther, okay? And Agare too, right?"

"You know my terms. I will not bargain," he said.

"That's a yes, I think!"

"Guess I'll have to take it." Klyla shrugged. "So, what says ye'? Let's go back to that tin box of yer's catch some ██? Or ye' both gonna spend the night at it, in private out loud?"

Holly exchanged a look with Agare, who waited for her response in silence. This conversation would not be over if they stopped here. If she let it escape her, it might never be. Agare wasn't the type to pry at her without reason, as far as she could recall. And speaking of...

"I think we had a conversation like this back at the manor, didn't we, Agare?" she said in Ivian, feeling a pang of yearning for that lost month. For all it hadn't been that long ago, it felt like a lifetime separated them.

"I don't remember anything similar," he said, casting an none too subtle glance at a very still Klyla.

"You asked me why I was helping Marquise then, after we caught that Gugly bug thing in the woods." Holly swallowed a knot inside her throat. "I-I still want to be of use to her Agare, I still want to fulfill her goal, whatever it is."

"But?"

"She's not the only one I want to help. Not anymore. I-I wanted to keep the others safe too, and if that happens again that's what I'm going to do! I won't let them get hurt! I-I already lost a lot, Agare, I don't want to anymore..."

"Holly," Agare approached. "You know you are the priority, don't you? You might like them, but they need you, and if your decisions cost you your life, if Marquise's plan fail, their fight will have been for nothing. None of them want you to sacrifice yourself for their sake."

"...Even then."

Standing from this close, Holly couldn't help but think on the contradiction that was Agare. He was terrifying, mysterious, and she actually understood now though she had always known, dangerous. Yet, if she hadn't seen him in action, hadn't seen the people who answer to him or the woman he answers to, would she have guessed at first glance? With so little presence to himself, she didn't think so.

When he spoke again, in Yine, she took notice of his voice once more. So beautiful, with such a confident, unyielding cadence, no wonder the others fell in line so easily.

"The ideal plan does not exist. The ideal enemy who folds to the sway of your fingers is a dream. A good strategist is not one who executes a flawless maneuver from start to end, but one who can adapt to that inherent unpredictability and seize victory regardless."

"I-I don't get it," Holly said. "W-was that from the Marquise?"

"Of course not." Agare said, and Holly detected a hint of amusement on his voice. "It's a common saying from the... Remnants. The kind of grand advice every neonate has to hear until they can recite it to the letter. We of Eligor were made to be transitory creatures, gruesome death became part of us from the moment of our birth, no matter the power we acquire. But you knew that, didn't you?"

"N-no? I mean-" Holly cut herself off, realizing he wasn't looking at her.

Klyla, from her comfortable rest, merely frowned. "He talking to me?"

"What it means, in the end, varies by who exactly you heard it from." This time, Holly was sure he was talking to her instead. "The one who taught me emphasized the grieving aspect of it."

"In what way?"

"In that we should feel none. By the ironically inevitable nature of unpredictability, casualties become a matter of fact, and should be accepted as so. They knew what they were there for, accepted what might become of them, and so should the survivors least they become liabilities to those who still remain," Agare said. "Or so is the way I chose to interpret it."

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

"T-that sounds harsh," Holly said, not buying the sentiment expressed.

"We are in a harsh world, and harsh circumstances therein." Agare shook his head lightly. "But I will not hold you to that moral. I... I myself have issues with his teachings, I have no grounds to force it."

"His teachings?"

"Nothing I wish to comment on," Agare said, returning to Ivian out of his own volition for the first time. "Very well. She would be pleased to see you take the lives of her agents under your arms, so I have no further complains. Let's go back. We strayed too far from camp, and I wish to stay exposed no longer."

"Now he's talkin' my language!" Klyla chuckled. "Literally."

"A-actually, if you don't mind, can I do one thing before that, Agare?"

He stared at her for a solid few seconds, and for some reason she felt a little chided. "Speak."

"I-I want to talk a little with Almalilly."

A few more seconds. "You wish to speak alone."

"S-sorry."

"I will not take my eyes from you both," he said, then turned away from her. "But I will keep my distance. Be brief, The Sacred Forest is safer but far from safe."

Holly sighed in relief. "I promise! It will be real quick!"

"And I guess ye' don't mind me taking a nap right here, eh?" Klyla yawned. "Cause I don't think I'm up for more heart-to-hearts without context, personally. Just a warning though, I fart real loud when I sleep, so I hope you don't mind."

...Perhaps a little haste was in order. Yet, if Holly was in the mood to confront things she would rather not, better take advantage of it.

------

When they returned, they found their Oke, obscured in the shade of a small clump of low trees, utterly empty.

That is to say, the others were nearby, protected under the gaze of a somehow quieter Furfu. Anxious episode quickly averted, Holly noticed they were gathered at the bottom of a slight ravine nested between two stout trunks. Noticing them, Aleh approached, as fast as his body now allowed.

It was impossible not to be at least a little queasy, seeing him like this, knowing it was her fault. The wrappings that now always covered his left eye, the cane that made for his limping leg, its thunking now a constant in their lives.

"You both!" he greeted, tone neutral. At least he didn't seen to be too bothered by it. "You should see this."

"H-hey, Aleh," Holly said, wanting to talk but being unsure about what. Did he blame her for what happened? He acknowledged her with a nod, and he hadn't been ignoring her in the Oke either, but how couldn't he?

Regardless, they followed in silence. Standing side by side, Almalilly and Rosen remained at the ravine, incandescent yellow stones in hand shining faint light upon a large patch of what looked like wood, ceramic, and metal rubble.

She didn't care for it. Rather, her attention next came to lay of the latter, who hadn't once in the last day looked her way for longer than a half second.

Rosen, too, looked different after the ambush, but unlike Aleh he didn't look hurt, closer to emaciated. His notable muscles had shrunken, he had this meek hunch now as if he was always watching his back, and it didn't take a genius to know he hadn't been sleeping well. None of them had, not since they had departed Three Hills- or Treil, rather.

Almalilly had that sunken, exhausted face to her as well. But unlike both others, the only signs of the battle that lingered on her was a slight bend of the waist, a hand resting over her lower back.

"H-hey, Llly, Rosen!" Holly called.

"Hey yourself!" Almalilly smiled. "Enjoyed dinner?"

Rosen nodded, not ever turning her way.

"Yes! I found a bunch of fireflies, and then there were she huge moths-"

"L-let us discuss important matters before our particular diets, shall we? I would like to be on the other side of the island before the topic gets brought up again, if you wouldn't mind," Aleh said. Stepping into the ravine through its shortest yet steep slope, he nearly stumbled on his face. Holly made to help him, but as quickly as an arrow Rosen reached his side, steadying him by the waist. "S-shit. On Lords and Whores, I'm so tired of fucking forests..."

"Almalilly, what did you find?" Agare joined the trio at the bottom. Without options, Holly descended as well, trying no to jostle the fake-sleeping Klyla.

Taking a closer look, the mess hidden behind her comrades did look quite curious. Sharp stakes of wood that had been polished into very fine angles, obviously unnatural curves jutting out like broken bones, pieces of iron or steel or something similar forged into shapes now quite strange separated from the whole. An image began to form inside her mind. She had seen something similar once, though this was not a quarter as weather worn.

"Is this a carriage?" she asked.

"Close. We think it was a cart, or a wagon of some sort," Almalilly said. "Yine, too."

"How do you figure?" Agare asked, crouching besides the pile.

Instead of answering, Almalilly reached into its midst, pushing miscellaneous broken objects aside.

What she pulled out, Holly took several seconds to recognize. It was much smaller than the last time, no longer than Almalilly's own foream with its feet broken, and the stonework was much less skilled in comparison: its face was practically a mask with its exaggerated features, its hair was a blot, it limbs were shaped like tubular worms, holding a pose so stiff it was like the poor guy had a spine of steel. It once held a weapon above its head, its tip now gone, but she didn't need to see to know.

"The Intrepid Youth?" Agare asked as he was passed the statuette.

"With the Peaceful Night, I'm sure," Almalilly said. "I've seen and heard of people owning representations of the personage around these parts, but this particular image is all but gone, considering its history. Might even be illegal, but I'm not sure."

"W-what history?" Holly asked.

Under the light of the Fireflypebbles, and the shade of her own hand, Holly almost missed the way her face went blank for a second. "Oh. That last time in the Gale we never told you what the Peaceful Night was for, did we?"

Holly shook her head.

"It's a tool of execution."

Holly jolted, and Klyla grunted in complaint. Rosen's answer had come out of nowhere, and she couldn't help but feel hesitation at the haggardness of his voice. There was nothing of the handsome, suave man she had met at the mouth of the Hollows there.

"It's not a weapon of war," he continued. "Closer to a symbol, a gesture. During the times of the Lesan Empire, when an enemy general or noble was captured, a scaffold would be raised on the battlefield, and an officer chosen to unveil it. One blow to the back of the neck, spine severed, and among cheering the body would be hoisted in display for all to see. Eventually, its particular places of use would expand, but it always remained reserved for leaders, heroes, figures of esteem."

"I-I see," Holly said, feeling unsure of herself for some reason. "I-it did look very weird, I guess. I had never seen a blade like that."

"It's not a blade."

"I-it isn't?"

"Not for a long time. Back during its Lesan days, sure, when it had longer edges and thinner center, made for decapitations. However, Lesa fell, and Yine rose from their still burning ashes, taking old concepts and enhancing them in the dried blood shed out of their every failure to better fit a perfect machine of war and conquest."

"Rosen?" Almalilly quietly asked. "What are you trying to-"

"The Peaceful Night of the old Yine Empire is no more, either. They were only forged in small numbers, given to select individuals, and with its death, Galehold was born from its ashes but abandoned much of its past ways. Back, when it was still employed? It was terror. Blades made shorter, core made larger and heavier, almost like a mace. Full decapitation became difficult, but that was the point."

He looked at her. For all he shouldn't be able to see into her hood, she couldn't dismiss the notion he was looking into the depths of her soul, expression uncharacteristically somber.

"The failure was the message. The blow severed the spine, crushed bone and flesh into pulp, leaving the enemy to die a gruesome death. Whoever came to retrieve the body, if it was ever retrieved, would see the pain and fear on their expression, the wreckage left of their body, and understand what meant to stand against true might.

"I have heard before that the name comes from an old Lesan saying, 'scared neighbors make for peaceful nights.' That's just a translation thought, and of the saying at length. It's proper name, shortened from that, was-"

"Rosen." Agare's spoke, low yet clear enough to silence the night, dripping with threat. "Enough."

Rosen had frozen, his back straight. Finally, he sighed. "Of course, sir."

"Go back to the Oke, cool your head."

He nodded. "As you wish."

He threw another glance Holly's way, before rising and slowly trudging towards their vehicle. leaving Holly to unravel what he could possible mean with the rant. She looked askance towards her other comrades, none which looked any more sure. Only Agare had remained unmoved, order nonewithstanding, discarding the statuette to examine the rest of the pile..

Almalilly sighed. "Always a touchy one, that guy."

"I-is he?"

" 'touchy,' perhaps, would not be my choice of words," Aleh said. watching Rosen's light disappear behind the Oke. "Though I suppose it fits."

"Don't mind him, Holly." Almalilly nudged her with an elbow, gently. "He's been a little out of it, but he'll recover, just give him some time."

"I-i didn't mind, I just didn't get it either? I mean, I guess it was interesting, but why just drop that story like that? I think there was more to it."

"Pure and simple petulance," Agare said, no louder than a whisper.

"S-sorry?"

"Almalilly, had you both noticed the blood?" Agare asked, and Holly fumed.

"O-oh, yes, I was meaning to tell you that." She crouched besides him, pointing to a cracked plank, a couple smudged droplets blemishing its surface. "It's only a little, here and there, but it looks rather recent, doesn't it?"

"A few days old, at least." Agare answered, thumbing over one of the stains. "On itself, not a sign of much. Holly?"

"M-me?"

"You. Would you mind using your Will?"

"Sure! B-but what do you want me to find?"

"Anything out of place."

She nodded, and let her Will loose. It took to their surroundings with starved eagerness, groping through shrubs and burrows for anything there was to be felt. She closed her eyes, focusing on her hands as they brushed past hunting spiders and cunning mice, skulking leeches and stranger, unnameable things stalking out of sight. She pointed to her left. "There's something over there that feel a little like the wood of this cart."

"Fragments lost during transportation," Agare looked, but didn't sound interested. "That much was to be expected. Anything else? Can you sense any bodies?"

Holly shivered at the idea. Said so casually, too. How would a dead body even feel like? For some reason, those apparitions she had broken that night came back to mind. She searched, stretching to the limits of her being while rooting for anything but what she was looking for. The dry husk of a cocoon, bones of some barely hand sized creature buried in the soil, a plant strangled by a larger rival and left to wither, all who had this... mushy, she wanted to say, quality to them. The same way she knew something was rotten with a whiff, a touch alone made her subconscious scream decay.

And yet. "N-none out of place, no. Just animals and stuff."

"What else?" Agare said, sounding expectant.

She frowned. "Nothing?"

"Try it."

"Try what?"

"Anything." his words were simple, yet made her nervous. "Anything you can do to find more."

She didn't have to wonder what he was asking for. Still, it left her with a question: How did he know? Had he seen her?

They hadn't discussed it yet. They had talked about her flight from the inn, what they had been to since she had fallen asleep, but never actually touched onto the night itselt, on who had come for her that day. Why? She preferred it that way, to be honest, but why not ask? Blame her? Things weren't like they were before, couldn't be like they were before, so why?

As if she had the grounds to speak. She shook her head.

She looked to Agare, then remembered, then understood. Marquise had been awlfully interested in her Revealing ability, hadn't she? It's because of it that Holly had a special place in Marquise's plan. It's why she had practiced with it so much back at the manor, and why Agare now seemed so keen on it too, wasn't it?

In the end, regardless of what he had done, of where they differed, they were both working for the sake of the same person. The realization made some of that hesitation she had felt for him fade.

She looked up. Beyond the moon, ten thousand eyes, always seeing, always waiting. From there, all she had to do was follow instinct, and let that sight flow through her.

The Sacred Forest didn't brighten. There was no more light here than there had been seconds ago, the canopies were no more open, the stones worked no better. It was, however, revealed. Everything there was to be seen, no matter how deeply buried in the dark, how well camouflaged against moss and bark, how well its presence mixed with the air, was revealed.

"W-what the fuck?" Almalilly murmured, eyes wide, tanned skin gone pale, finger clutching at the skirt of her light dress, shocked and afraid.

"Agare, this is..." Aleh cut himself off, brows eternally creased, hand clasping at the unadorned wooden cane that offset his stiff, unresponsive, yet unharmed leg as if he wanted to beat someone with it. Anger, wonder.

And the man himself too was pierced, the occult muck that once obscured his facelessness cast away to briefly reveal the liquid void of his Mark, placid and slow. Yet, he remained nothing, a nothing so sharp its absence was as bright as the light at the end of a tunnel; his body language restrained, his thoughts occluded, a mystery.

Her goal had been there all along, faint and forlorn, Will with no intent. An emission? Waste? cast off remains, left behind to be eaten away by the World of Wills and repurposed, or destroyed, or returned, or who knew. Familiar yet not. Solid yet no longer.

"I got it." Holly saying, feeling the start of a headache, "It's been gone at least for a little while, but there was something here, something a little solid and maybe a bit heavy? It's kind of like holding water or something, I can tell it's there but-"

Then Aleh's cane did hit somebody. Her, muddy bottom poking her straight in the palate.

"Blaa' ghaaghh?!"

Spitting out chunks of soil, she lost concentration and the Revelation began to crumble. She was staring at Aleh's good ol' glare with a milder one of her own design.

"W-w-why?" Was all she could ask among the coughing.

"Ye' ████████, the shit's falling all over me!" Klyla, whose eyes had shot open, said, protecting herself with her arms.

"Holly, forgive me for this uncouth comment, but are you fucking stupid?!" Aleh shouted at her, "Has my prestige tricked you into believing me to be some sort of field surgeon? Have you, in all truth, never looked, or felt, your own person until this moment?"

"What are you even talking about?! What was that for?!"

"What you went through can best be described as a backstreet healer's hack-job, and on no paper cut either! Now, I employed rituals that would expedite your cure by a good margin, and perhaps you don't feel active symptoms on your mundane life, or even the patched wound itself. That being said? You. Are. Still. Fucking. Recovering!" Every word was punctuated with a jab to her chest and stomach. "Do you wish to see what happens when one's Merurgical body splits in half? Or when an Ashic wound tears open so deep it gets incorporated into your being? Allow me to assure you, then, that descriptions of it are more than unpleasant enough and I do not share of your ambitions."

"W-wow, slow down Aleh!" Almalilly intervened in between then. "She didn't know!"

"Y-yeah, I didn't know!" Holly said.

"But you know who did?" Aleh whirled on Agare. "What were you thinking?!"

"Beyond the chance that the Citrine Tale had staged an ambush for travelers and we were in its eye, to confirm its function for myself and show you. Do you see what I mean now?"

The mention of a Tale's ambush gave her pause. Aleh, somehow, look mollified.

"It still was a tremendous risk."

"Not one I would take lightly." Agare said. "In this topic, we are equals, I knew what I was doing."

"U-uuhm, excuse me, what topic?" Holly asked.

"And can we have that discussion elsewhere?" Almalilly said. "I gather we aren't fully in the clear, so I rather not have more angles towards my neck then necessary."

"Holly, when you identified something different, do you think you could guess if it was a Tale or not?" Agare asked.

"I-I don't know!" Holly said. "I don't even know what is happening anymore, you guys are speaking too fast!"

"Try it."

"M-maybe? It felt a little like the trail that led me to t-that thing in Trel, behind the walls with the burned buildings. But it's a lot weaker."

"A Merurgical Impression," Aleh said, ponderous. "One not backed by lingering presences, and likely at the edge of fading, if we didn't catch it beforehand."

"So it's possible they are still active in the area?" Agare asked.

"I would not hazard a guess."

"Unsure is more sure than I am comfortable with. Everyone, we are going back to the Oke."

Holly paused. "Uhm?"

"Not a second too soon." Almalilly sighed. "My back's still killing me."

"W-wait, Almalilly, we have to-"

"Holly," Agare said, "For your safety and hers, its better you head inside."

"But didn't you say-"

"... Another time, you can have your conversation. Whichever you mean to discuss, it can wait."

With Almalilly growing ever distant, and Aleh slowly following while never quite allowing her out of his sight, Holly gave up. How could there be another time? She couldn't be sure the willpower would be there ever again.

She could still do at the Oke, right? But, if she already found it difficult one on one, could she speak freely with everyone else overhearing, maybe even butting in?

She would have to think about it. downcast, she trailed behind.