Valerie had only gone a few feet into the dark tunnel when she was seized by a twisting vertigo that stole any sense of spatial awareness she had. Suddenly, there was no up or down, forward or back. Just a stomach churning sense that she was moving fast.

And then, as quickly as it came, she was standing in the hills just outside of Shadefall. It was nearly dark out, the light of the sun down to a thin stripe along the horizon. But compared to the all-consuming black of the tunnel, the dusklit sky and glow of Shadefall's lights in the distance were a dazzling lightshow, and Valerie had to blink to readjust.

She turned around just in time to see the dark hole in the hillside behind hers shrink until it was only a pinprick of black, and then it was gone.

The others were all there; Kaleb still with Arden over his shoulders, Xigbar tying his jacket around his waist in an attempt at modesty, and List cast in a red glow from the fading light of her tattoos. José and Kiva were both staring at all of them, as if waiting for something, but they were unhurt, and home was in sight.

Relief washed through Valerie. They were all alive. They'd made it.

And then something else washed through her, like a delayed reaction. Her stomach lurched, as if it hadn't come through the tunnel at the same time that she did, and it had only now caught up to her. Nausea twisted her guts, and the next thing she knew, she was vomiting.

"Two out of four," José noted. "Not bad for their first time."

Kiva smirked. "You owe me five scales."

----------------------------------------

José left the same evening they arrived. He had "spy things to do, spy people to seduce." He winked at Kiva, wished them all well, and strode off into the night, puffing on his too-long pipe. Kiva told them all that they needed to talk, but understood that after everything that happened, they needed some time to recover.

Arden was taken to Shadefall's local Church of the Seven's Light. They didn't have anyone as powerful as Arden, but there were at least priests with enough divine magic to stabilize him enough that, once he recovered from the exertion of blasting Agnizzar, he could heal himself. And then, hopefully, the rest of them too.

Kaleb and List had newly broken bones, and even Xigbar had a few burns. Valerie had nothing that wouldn't heal itself in a couple days, though even she was healing slower than usual.

They were all staying in List and Valerie's old room in the Scaled Maiden for the evening. Xigbar was lying in what had previously been Valerie's bed, while Kaleb sat on the floor next to him, and the girls sat on List's old bed together.

An uneasy silence had settled onto the group ever since Kiva had left them alone and they'd sorted out who would be sleeping where. Xigbar was rolling a single scale between his fingers with his eyes closed. Kaleb was taking inventory of their things, laid out on the floor in front of him. List was alternately summoning and dismissing a dagger in her hand, trying to control where in her tattoo the weapon appeared whenever she stored it. Valerie had her field journal open in front of her, and had for the last half hour.

She'd yet to write anything in it.

"We should talk," she said. "Between us, before we talk with Kiva."

"Not that I don't appreciate the saves," Xigbar said. "But what exactly does she think we need to talk about with her?"

"About whether or not we want to join her rebellion against the Chosen," Kaleb said. He looked up from the scattered contents of his bag, the sum total of their collective possessions now. "Do we?"

The silence came back, though now everyone was looking at each other. Even Xigbar cracked his eyes open, though his expression was more incredulous than contemplative.

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"Uh, no?" he said. When everyone else didn't immediately agree, he sat up. "Seriously, no, right? We're not actually considering this. I'm still on the fence about joining up with you guys, now you want to go and join the revolution?"

"Oh please, don't feel the need to stick around on our account," List said. "You can leave. Really."

"Don't pretend you're not on my side here, Hellion. You and the Boss Man were just as much on the 'avoid the Chosen' train as I was when the blind guy tried to rope us into this mess."

"Yes, well," List said. "That was Gidus. This is Kiva."

"That literally means nothing to me."

"She's our friend, arsehole. I don't want to square up against an army of Agnizzars, but I'm not about to let her do it without me."

"She's managed just fine so far. And it's not like she's on her own—she's got Big Pipin, and whoever the fuck gave her that vomit portal."

"You vomited. I was fine."

"You have to admit, we would probably be an asset to anyone opposing the Chosen," Kaleb said. "Five outsiders, immune to the King's Authority, with enough magic and combat skill to match elites? If we did join, we could make a real difference."

Xigbar looked at Valerie with a pleading look in his eyes.

"I've been in Xykesh seven months, not counting our time in the prison," Valerie said. "In that time, I've seen the towns and villages abandoned to crime and monsters. I've seen the Chosen's soldiers abuse their power and puppet people with magic. I've been sentenced to public execution for the crime of being easy to blame problems on when I was trying to solve them. Where Zaman isn't neglectful, he's abusive. Where he isn't abusive, he's corrupt. Everything I've learned about him has made me dislike him more."

And now a fire came into her voice as she went on. "And more to the point, I don't think it matters that we don't want to fight him. He's decided to take the fight to us. We would have to fight through his people to leave the province, so if we're going to fight no matter what we do, then I want to fight to make a difference, not just escape."

She looked at each of them in turn. "We might be outsiders, but if the legends are right, we're never leaving this place. And if it's going to be my new home, then I don't want people like Zaman running it. I want to do it. Join. Fight."

"Well, there's my answer then," List said. "Where you go, I go."

"I'm in too," Kaleb said. His eyes flashed to List, the only person who might really know why he was so quick to agree, but she wasn't looking at him. "It…would be nice to do some good here. And, I basically came to Xykesh to pick a fight with one of his top men anyway, so…"

Now the room's gaze shifted to Xigbar. The animaborn withered under two questioning looks and a red-eyed glare.

"Fuuu—" he groaned, before throwing his hands up. "Fine. Whatever. I owe the Pavers a few knives in the back anyway, and they're basically another branch of the Chosen's government at this point."

"You can leave," List offered. "We won't stop you."

"Fuck you, I'm staying. Deal with it."

"Well then," a scholarly voice spoke up from the doorway. "I'd say that you've all come to a decision."

"Dr. Siren!"

Arden stood in the doorway, without his hat for once. Between its absence and the stubble that had begun to grow in, he was more disheveled than Valerie had ever seen him, and he winced when he moved. But he was up, and moving, and talking. He was alright.

Valerie rushed forward, but stopped short of hugging him. Not only was the priest not much of a hugger, but she didn't want to hurt him.

"I was going to talk to you, after, when you woke up—"

"It's alright, Valerie. I'd say you've already made convincing enough arguments," Arden said. "We do have business waiting for us in Trandore. But with as much trouble as we've had so far, it maye genuinely be more expedient to remove the threat pursuing us before proceeding. And, I confess, I can only suffer so many attempts on my life without responding in kind."

"So, we're doing this then?" List said. "We're overthrowing one of the King's Chosen?"

"Zaman did it himself a few years ago," Kaleb said.

"We should speak to Kiva, and whatever allies she's working with," Arden said. "It would behoove us to know exactly what sort of plan and operation we're working with before diving in. But . . . yes. It would seem at least on a local scale, our eccentric rescuer was right. We have a tyrant to depose."