Three days after getting back from the Night River's hunt, Multrak's skill finally deactivated. The old man kept working tirelessly through the night ever since he activated whatever power he had. At that point, he just crashed. Not in a violent way, but in a way that someone would collapse after a long day of hard work. Unlike what he was expecting, the chieftain didn't enter into a coma, but during the next week, he spent most of his time sleeping. Only waking up to eat and go to the bathroom, or to take a shower every couple of days. On the sixth day after they returned from the hunt, Multrak had Berylla bring Hera and Adriel over. He heard that the two of them were making sure Reynara was doing ok and wanted to talk about that.

When Hera entered the house on the second floor of the tree house, she prepared herself for something very different than what was actually inside. The bedroom was like a large studio apartment. There were some decorations and some rugs around the place, giving a very cozy appearance to everything. Around the walls there was a very intricate painting with several types of monsters moving around. It wasn't something scary, but almost as if it was a representation of the jungle itself. In the middle of the room was a large, king-sized bed with Multrak sitting on top with his legs under the covers. His complexion was surprisingly good, too, with rosy cheeks and a glimmer in his eyes that showed he wasn't about to kick the bucket.

"Hera, Adriel. Thank you for coming. Please, sit," he gestured to a couple of chairs by his bed that didn't match the feel of the room all that well, "Berylla took the stools I use away and gave me these chairs. She said it's better for whoever comes to talk to me."

"Thanks," Hera sat on the chair farthest away from the man while Adriel took the one closer to the bed, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm just tired. Honestly, I expected much worse, but apparently, the longer I stay without using that skill, the weaker the penalty for using it will be. It also helped that I got some blood during the fight."

"You drank blood during the fight?" Adriel asked.

Multrak nodded, "Our teeth are surprisingly useful during combat, and most people overlook that, allowing for some interesting openings if you know where to look."

"I see…" Adriel pushed his chair back, trying to move away from the chieftain.

The man just chuckled and didn't do anything. It wasn't unusual for people to worry about that kind of thing, and if he was being honest with himself, he would do the same in someone else's shoes, "Now. I won't keep you for long. I can't even if I try. I'm already feeling sleepy. Anyway, Reynara. How is she doing?"

Adriel and Hera glanced at each other before the elf started speaking, "Honestly? It's hard to say. There are moments when we are talking, and everything is fine. Other times we are all just in the same room without speaking, and the mood is ok, I guess. But that is just about a third of the time."

Hera continued the explanation, "The other two-thirds are split into her being incredibly sad. Crying, feeling depressed, just seeming like she gave up, you know? Or she is angry and starts talking about all the signs she should've noticed and all the things that went wrong. She keeps making illusions of a map of the area and replaying the events over and over, trying to find ways to stop the rebels or to kill the Night River before it reaches Grilat. In both scenarios, she says that she is going to kill everyone and is prone to breaking things. When she is between sad and angry, she is calm and asks to learn more about illusions and other things. We realized that is possible to keep her in that state for a long time. But it's a balancing act. If she is getting too sad, we need to mention the rebels; if she is too angry, we mention Grilat. For the record, we do not like or advise anyone to do this. We only do that when Mylo or someone else is nearby, and we don't want them to get hurt or be more afraid of her than they already are."

Multrak heard what they were saying and thought for a moment, "You know. One of the skills in my legacy is, essentially, a way to control our impulses as much as I would rather have Grilat as the next chieftain. I always imagined that this skill would help Reynara much more. Even if she is not doing all that great, I think giving her the legacy now is our best option."

"Are you sure?" Adriel leaned forward in his chair, "What if that skill doesn't go to her right away?"

"Then we need people who are strong enough to stop her. And if she is not making sensible decisions, it will be easier to deal with her," Multrak replied bluntly.

"Honestly. I think that's a bad idea, but you are the chieftain. If that's what you want to do, then that's what you want to do," Hera was tired of all this politics. This wasn't something she had to deal with. She came to destroy the curse, and that was it; being a part of this was never in her plans.

Multrak just nodded, "I'll send someone to bring her when I wake up again. Can I ask you two to be here? I'll have a few others in the room and some people outside in case things go south."

Hera sighed, "Sure. Not like I'm busy or anything."

"Yeah, I'll be here," Adriel added.

"Very well," Multrak yawned, "I apologize, but I have to sleep now. This penalty is very annoying. I hope I can count on you two."

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Hera and Adriel left the chieftain's room and just sighed. Both of them were tired, and like the Empress, the elf was working a lot. They lost a lot of people responsible for making food, and since he was among the ones who got the least injured, everyone was asking him to help with the more strenuous tasks.

"I'll go back to the farms," Adriel waved Hera off as she walked back inside the potion lab.

The Empress called her entire court out when she arrived at the secret area. Even Nimbus and Armory were here. Ever since the curse told her that her daggers were lost, she decided against having the two of them go search for them every day. It really sucked, but they had other priorities, and ever since returning from the hunt, no one was able to find out more about the curse's origin.

"Ok, everyone. You all heard what Multrak said. He wants to give Reynara his legacy, but the legacy is the thing that turned him into a blood-crazed vampire. A juice cannibal, if you will. Someone who wants to shove a straw in you and dry you like a juice box," Hera said out loud.

"Now that's an image I didn't need in my head," Nimbus shivered.

"Well, it was in my head, so it was already in yours anyway," Hera tried to give a playful smirk, but her next sentence was already weighing on her mind, "I don't want another kill to my name, but if Reynara flips out, we might need to fight. Because of that, I want everyone to look into the poisons we have here, especially the nonlethal ones. I'm going to take a few with me when we get there, but I want to see if I can use a Poison Mana Reinforcement that has a specific flavor or poison. It's going to be a rush job, but if even one of you manages to make that work, it will help a lot. Pulling out a vial will catch their attention while having an elemental buff can just be another layer of precaution."

"What do you want uz to do?" Lurize asked.

"I'm giving each of you 100 thousand mana. Use it to make a poison mana reinforcement and try to make that poison do something different. It doesn't matter what, as long as it is not just killing someone. Try for nonlethal, but if you can't, try for something weird, and we go from there," Hera walked to a cabinet where Kadhan already had some stock of poisons, "Here, there are several poisons here. Use them as a base, and use the information in the recipe room to know what each of them does. I know it would be much better if we had actual magic in those vials and not just a mixture, but that's the best we got right now. Daskka. I know you won't be able to do that, so try to help them see what is happening with the mana they are using."

"Mum… I don't know if that is going to work," Daskka replied.

"Me neither, but we figured out that Nimbus and Lurize can use spells that I can't. Sure, it was just changing the color of a light spell, and if I want to, I can do that, but I never made a red light with purple stripes."

"Yeah, but they are titled blades. The others aren't."

"I know, but I never asked them to try making something new. And it's not something new entirely. I am just telling them to change a spell if they can. If they can't, that's ok. I'm not going to be mad or upset at anyone, but we need to be doing something, and I don't want you all to just stare at me as if you were waiting for a breakdown." Hera huffed. Ever since they came back from the hunt, her entire court seemed to be walking on eggshells around her. They would be very careful not to mention Kadhan or Pielle and make a point of changing the topic whenever someone started talking about the rebels. Worst of all, they couldn't hide their emotions from the Empress, and she could feel how every single one of them was constantly worried about her.

"Hera… We all know you went through something traumatic. We can feel it, and you didn't stop. Even when you had to rest, you never actually stopped. You kept your mind busy with other things. Spells, theories about the curse. It's like you are ignoring what happened," Nimbus pressed.

"Yes, I am ignoring. I don't have the luxury to break down now. Especially if I'm going to break down like I did last time I killed someone," Hera clenched her fist tightly, "Do you hear what I just said? The last time, not as in, this was the last time it will ever happen, but as in it happened before. And now I doubled it up! What is going to be next? I kill four instead of two? Then eight? Sixteen? When does it stop?!" at the end, Hera was yelling, but she realized that as the echo of her voice resonated with the cave and took a deep breath, "I'm sorry. I know you are all worried about me, and I'm not angry at you for suggesting this. I'm just… frustrated and going through a lot."

'That's ok, Hera,' Armory said with a gentle voice.

'We understand what you are going through better than anyone,' Ooze added.

"And we are here for you. No matter what." Lurize nodded.

"Can I just make one last suggestion?" Nimbus knew this wasn't the best idea, but he had to try.

"Sure." Hera shook her head.

"There is someone here who is, quite literally, made to help people cope with things. Maybe you can talk with Sammy about this."

"I really don't think this is the best moment to do that. We have a lot on our plate, and trying to fix my shit won't help right away. Things get worse before they get better," Hera sighed.

"But it doesn't get worse right away. I remember how it was last time, and you didn't spiral in your first therapy session, Mum." Daskka left Hera's neck and floated to the table in front of her.

"Why not azk him? After all, he has more knowledge about zuch thingz than any of uz," Lurize suggested.

"Fine. Sammy!" Hera called.

"Hello." the turtle appeared from one of the smaller caves, floating towards Hera. "I have to apologize. I was listening in the conversation."

"Since when?" Hera frowned.

"Since my name was first mentioned. And I agree with both sides. Yes, you could use some help, Hera. But also, we can't delve too deep into the issue. Self-reflection is not easy, and it takes a lot of effort. If we start really unraveling some issues, you will be too distracted to notice things happening about the curse," for the first time since they got here, the small flower power turtle looked serious. Not in a worried kind of way, but in a way that someone wise parted with their knowledge.

"Ok, so we'll do that. We can start, and when we are back home, we delve deeper into everything," Hera looked at her court, "Is everyone ok with that?" after getting confirming nods from everyone, including Sammy himself, she continued, "But that's tomorrow. Today I want that poison thing. Let me know if you need more mana. We only have a day to make it work, and I really hope we can."