Moon knew he couldn't do much out here, but part of her wished Fleck had stayed. She and Elice had carried them this far, and another dragon would be helpful.

More cultists had come up. And like Elice had said, they expected the rag-tag group to have some fighting skills now. The colbber with the explosions chose to make her appearance from behind them as well. An imp came out from under the rubble of the building. Elice reflected an attack back at him, and it made his bones twist and snap unnaturally. He was still alive, but Moon was glad that attack hadn't hit any of them. There was a magic user, an elf who pinned Rasha's limbs up, like she'd been tied by invisible rope. And there was a dwarf, who Moon was pretty sure had been in the shack from the start.

Moon sprayed ice at the colbber when she reached for Rasha, and the fight was off again. Moon didn't have much time to focus.

She had to stop the colbber from touching anyone. At least Mr. Bone Crunch was down for the count, but someone new came out, and she had to dodge his hands too. The elf made dust rise up and swarm around them. Moon had to briefly close her eyes against it. That stuff wouldn't hurt her skin through the scales, but it could get her eyes. Her wings went up around her head automatically, shielding her herself as best she could. Her eyelids fluttered as she felt the intensity of the dust fade away, and she squinted out.

Evin was pulling away from the colbber who made things explode. Moon sprayed ice between them to help. It came out as shards, smaller and messier than she'd have liked. Turned out doing this so many times in a row was tricky.

Then it happened. The elf created a dark orb in the sky. It wasn't large. Maybe the size of a bowling ball. But it was unnaturally dark, and the air around it wavered, like more light was being sucked away. It launched towards Wesles.

Elice reflected it. At the same time, the dwarf was coming up close to her. Moon wasn't sure if Elice hadn't seen her coming, or had made the choice to protect Wesles instead. Either way, she didn't respond, and Moon couldn't. Aside from the risks of spraying ice too close to an ally, it happened so quick. It had been maybe half a second since she'd defended Evin. The dwarf grabbed Elice and she. . .aged. In front of their eyes, Elice rapidly grayed and wrinkled, shrinking slightly. The light in her eyes dimmed to nothing, and her dead body continued to dissolve as the dwarf dropped her.

~~~

Wren had hidden in the bathroom shortly after escaping Pauth. That would work for a little, but not long. At some point, someone would figure out the person in here wasn't actually using the toilet.

When the fight started outside, something she knew of thanks to Fleck, she slipped back out, and risked running again. When something hit the ceiling above, it worked even better. Dust dropped down and beams cracked, threatening to fall in entirety. A fire started somewhere. Everyone was either interested in fighting the threat above, or getting out of the underground base, before it collapsed on them or burnt them. They were underground, the smoke from the fire didn't exactly have many places to go.

The downside was that that meant her friends were in more danger. Even the people just interested in fleeing would pass them when they exited. And she couldn't ask Fleck to warn the others. He'd come down here. So she had to join him and get out of here as soon as possible, for all their sakes.

She ran forward. The easiest tunnel to move through had piles of rubble in it, and the ceiling might've been wobbling. So she turned and took a slightly longer route.

Then, something changed, shifted in her mind, and she felt herself stumbling sideways as she tried to keep running, while the world around her metaphorically tilted. It was metaphorical. She might not even notice if she hadn't learned magic. But she had, and it felt very real. It also felt like foggy glass in front of her, something she barely noticed, shattered, and her mind cleared.

~~~

"Mom! Hey Mom!"

Wren ran down the hall after the familiar figure. Her mom stopped and turned around. Her eyes always seemed kind of tired, but she always smiled when she saw Wren, and Wren thought she meant it. Even when she scolded Wren for something, it was done gently. Not like her father.

"What is it Wren dear?" her mom asked, squatting down to be a little closer.

(She was so tall! Wren had asked if she was going to be that tall someday. She'd laughed and said "maybe.")

"Look at this rock I found!"

Wren held up a smooth red rock, shinning in the hall light.

"I found it in the mining cavern." That was the section the cult, mostly the dwarven members, were expanding. It was an in-progress space, and left a lot of neat rocks piled in the hall. "I thought you might like it. Since it's not drab and gray like all the other rocks."

Her mom always seemed unhappy underground. But maybe Wren could help. While she agreed most rocks were pretty boring, this one was nice.

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"Thank you Wren. But are you sure you don't want to keep it?" She spoke in Elvish, as she often did, so Wren could pick up on the language. Sometimes the elves down here spoke to each other in Elvish, using big words and speaking too fast for Wren to understand yet, so she didn't mind her mom teaching, looked forward to when she could understand easily.

"I'm sure," Wren said, also replying in Elvish.

"Then thank you Wren." With one had, she let Wren place the rock on her palm. With the other, she put her hand on Wren's head. "I will always treasure it. Like I treasure you."

~~~

Harmoni and Wren sat together, Harmoni teaching her to sew. Apparently, where Wren's mom came from, you could put magic into sewing. A design was sewn into a blanket or quilt, and the design could help cast a spell, the same way speaking a magic word did. Or maybe the pattern sewn in could just make the blanket extra warm. You could make some pretty complicated patterns with a big flat space, but Wren was new at this, and she was starting small. The pattern on this quilt was supposed to create a faint light, like a nightlight. Magical power still had to be put into the pattern to create light, which Wren didn't know how to do. But maybe if she did really well at this part, Harmoni would teach her how, instead of just pushing power through the symbol for her.

Their peaceful moment was interrupted. Anvon slammed the door open. Wren dropped her side of the blanket and Harmoni pricked herself with her needle.

"Wren! What's this about skipping classes!"

"I, uh, I was just learning something else," Wren tried. She was, after all, learning how to sew and learning about magic.

"My daughter is not going to be an idiot."

Well that was a little much. "I know the lessons for today," she tried.

She didn't grow up as fast as the imps or zennies or full humans. Even with her class work adjusted for that, she had time to get ahead.

Anvon just grabbed her wrist, pulled her up, and used his dark magic to freeze her if she gave even a hint of resisting.

"There's been no decision on if you're even going to learn magic. And if you do, there will be a proper plan for it, like Edith."

"Leave her alone," Harmoni protested. She reached out. "I was the one who-"

Anvon also reached for her with his free hand, and she recoiled. Didn't want him using his freezing ability on her as well, probably.

"You and I will have a different conversation later," Anvon said. "Come on Wren."

Not that there was much choice. He dragged her stiff body along to the closet at the end of the hall. He put her in. As soon as he let go of her to close the door, his effect promptly broke. But she stumbled forward, bumping her shoulder on a wall in the small space. By the time she was turned around, he'd locked the door, and she could hear him walking away.

She took a few ragged breaths, trying and failing to be fine. This wasn't the first time he'd put her in the closet. She knew struggling wouldn't work. The door was sturdy. There was no breaking it down. Pounding and screaming wouldn't bring any help. No one was going against Anvon who, if anything, would be satisfied to know his punishment was working so well. So she wouldn't freak out while he could hear.

But she wasn't sure how long she'd be left in here. That seemed to vary. (To keep her anxious? Maybe?) She could get hungry, or thirsty. If she had to go to the bathroom, he wouldn't let her out for that either. Did she have to go to the bathroom already? Or did it just feel that way because she was thinking about it? Would he leave her in here over night? He'd done that once, when she tried to sneak out alone, not telling anyone where she was going. This seemed like a far lesser problem, so hopefully not. It wasn't comfortable to sleep in here.

She was standing there, drawing in heavy breaths, when she was interrupted.

"Wren? Wren are you in there?"

"Eddie?" Wren asked, coming closer to the door.

"Hey there," Eddie greeted. There was the sound of her sliding against the door.

"What are you doing here?"

Most of the cult's children lived in the underground base. Better than outside. Wren was one of them. Eddie was another one. She was cool. She could stand tall and walk all flowing without disturbing the bottom of her robes. She didn't use any real magic yet, at least as far as Wren could see, but she could do some stage magic. She wowed the younger kids with that. (Including Wren, when their age gap was bigger.) She always seemed so composed and unflappable when Wren was younger.

But that was when Wren was much younger than Eddie. Now she was only a little younger, and they'd probably hit adulthood at the same time. Such was the fate of a full elf, slow growing up.

Now Wren knew Eddie was intimidated by some of the older, more powerful members, same as Wren. What seemed like a stoic attitude was sometimes just her hanging back. But that didn't ruin things for Wren, per say. It made Eddie easier to approach as a friend, and not an idol. And it was pretty neat that she could look so cool while being afraid.

"Thought I'd keep you company," Eddie explained. "I've got a game. I'm looking at something out here. And I want you to guess what it is."

"The vase with the blue cracked pattern," Wren said.

Eddie was silent for a second. So was Wren.

"Well, you just take the fun out of things by using common sense," Eddie said.

Wren smiled a bit, and sat down on her side of the door. The vase the only thing in this hall.

"Well then, think of something harder," Wren urged. "Not something in the hall."

"Alright. I've got something." There was the sound of Eddie shifted against the door, probably getting more comfortable. "You ready for twenty questions?"