Nights in the Emerald Plains were cold now. That had been the case even in the mountains, but here, where there was little more than gently-sloping hills to protect against the elements, the breeze was all the more noticeable. The fact that a moderate rain had begun to fall from the sky now did not help that fact at all.

Veldin, sat inside one of the tents he and his group had prepared for the evening's sleep, tried to focus his attention away from that and onto other things. The single shard in his possession, perhaps. The research notes he had taken from Lady Elcevier's home, detailing the traits of the scale's corruption as well as their flight paths and the expected locations they would have landed.

Veldin flipped through the pages, seeing only more and more of Lady Elcevier's delicate, smooth hand-writing. The elegant curve of the letters that were kept neat and legible. How her note-taking was thorough and clear to read rather than some half-scribbled notes and thoughts that would make sense only to the writer. Just as expected of a woman such as her, intelligent and considerate, always ensuring to—

Veldin's grip tightened on the edges of the journal's cover and he tossed it to the ground. He still felt it. He still felt this affection for Elcevier, for the woman who had lied to him and abandoned him. Why would he still feel this way? Was this part of her powers as well, the powers she had used to turn him into a blind idiot?

Outside, a light approached the tent in the darkness of the night. It was one Veldin recognized as the same common light spell he often used, but it flickered and struggled to stay ignited. It went out just as Remerick opened the tent's flap to step inside.

"Was the hunting successful?" Veldin asked. His question was not out of curiosity nor of a particular eagerness to speak to Remerick, but out of a need to distract himself.

Remerick sat down, careful to avoid the bedrolls spread out in here with his wet clothing and boots. He had accompanied Misha and Grey to hunt for food while Aliana and Veldin set up the camp for the night. That had been a quiet event.

"Well enough," Remerick said. "A few rabbits, we won't starve."

Veldin nodded, having no further response to that. Silence fell between them. On most nights, Veldin would have been fine with that. Being left to his own thoughts was often preferable. Not tonight. "Why do you call me Velvet?"

"Hm?" Remerick was in the middle of slipping his boots off, having already put aside his soaked coat, the question catching him off guard. "Well, uh... Your... Your name. And, your hair." He chuckled nervously. "That's, uh, that's really it. I just—I thought of it spur of the moment one time and I thought it was cute. So I kept using it. You never objected, so..."

"Straightforward, then." This felt wrong. All of this sat poorly in Veldin's mind. There had once been a... a connection of some sort between him and Remerick. Should he have felt that? He wanted to. Or maybe he did not. Would his memories return if he did? The questions were making Veldin's head ache.

Remerick slid back onto his own bedroll, looking around the tent. "So... Indervel. It'll be nice to go back there. I can show you some of the places we used to visit—um, if you want me to." There was an excitability that returned to his voice whenever he said things like that.

Veldin nodded. "Yes, that may be of help."

More silence. Why was this so difficult?

"Veldin?"

Veldin nearly jumped, not realizing he had been so lost in his own thoughts before Remerick spoke up. "Yes? What is it?"

"How have you been feeling?"

Veldin tried to think, cataloging his experiences over the past days. Which aches and fatigue were from traveling mountains and plains for days on end? Which chills were from the autumn air? He was fine, he decided. And he would tell Remerick that.

"I am not certain."

Why did he say that?

Remerick frowned and nodded. "Do you know how long it takes before your symptoms tend to start?"

Veldin mentally backtracked to his trip to the Orchard Forest. "Some number of days. A week or two." Their group had already been pushing on that time limit, especially since they’d had to move more slowly since leaving the fey village. Grey’s injured leg meant they hadn’t been able to move far at first, and though the wolf was recovering more quickly than Misha had predicted, that lost time would add up. "The most severe of the symptoms take longer than that."

"Misha told me you collapsed once."

Veldin was glad she stopped at once. He had only properly lost consciousness the one time, after all. The second time was debatable. Even if he was carried to Lady Elcevier’s mansion on the back of a wolf. "Yes, well..."

"What's going to happen?"

Veldin tried to think of a plan. He needed one. "Since we are returning to Indervel at any rate, we will use this opportunity to acquire medicine that I can use. That should last us long enough to resolve matters." That last part was entirely hope on Veldin's part.

"I don't think there's a medicine that..." Remerick's paused, realization coming over his features. "Veldin, no, not crimson elixir."

"What other alternative is there?”

“I would have hoped a legal one…”

“I have little choice in that matter, I am afraid. But, I already have means to procure more. If that is your concern, you need not feel that way."

Remerick gripped at the edges of the bed roll, holding back words.

"That aside," Veldin said to shift the topic, "Once we have done that, we will continue on in search of the scale shards. As it seems, one would have fallen somewhere southwest of Indervel, and the last would be by the shore. Ideally not in the ocean itself."

"If it is in the ocean, then what?"

"We'll likely need to find a boat willing to sail us towards any signs of disturbances."

"Which means we'll need to worry about Sapphire."

"So long as we provide a suitable offering, Sapphire should not cause us much trouble." Veldin was making that more as an assumption than anything, as he had no memory of ever crossing the ocean.

While Veldin was focused on that plan of action, Remerick seemed to noticed the journal on the ground. He picked it up, flipping through the pages. "Are you going to be alright after… all of this?"

"You do not need to keep asking me that, I've suffered no symptoms thus f—"

"That's... not what I meant."

Veldin looked at the journal in Remerick's hand. Again he had one of those lapses in judgement, a desire to hide his true thoughts, and yet a conflicting instinct to answer Remerick properly. "I do not know what to make of things at this moment, I admit. I... I have lived a lie for the past year. I suppose that is the most accurate answer you will receive."

Remerick nodded. "Yes... I, um... She treated you..." He seemed to be struggling with his words, reaching for a way to express whatever question was in his head. "You lived with her for a year, then? The whole time?"

"Yes, since I awoke in her home."

Remerick allowed a beat of silence. "Did... Did she hurt you? Did she treat you well?"

There was a slight flicker of emotion in Veldin's mind somewhere at the thought that Lady Elcevier could ever bring harm to him. He still felt some irritation when he heard comments that spoke poorly of her, yet those feelings were lately drowned out into a tumultuous mixture of emotions that he could hardly even begin to sort through. Was he angry with her? Did he miss her? What did he feel? "She was kind to me. She treated me well and respected me."

"Did..."

"What is it?"

Remerick stared down at the ground. "No... Never mind. It's not important, forget I ever asked about it."

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He wanted to know what their relationship was. That was not lost on Veldin. It was only natural. For Remerick, he had been reunited with a lover he had lost only a year ago. For Veldin, he had met a new acquaintance, and lost Lady Elcevier, whatever she was to him.

"I would like to know what our relationship was as well," Veldin confessed, and Remerick locked eyes with him. "I know that is not what you wish to hear, I am sure. But I do not have many clear answers for you at this point."

"I understand that. And I... I don't mind if you want to talk to me about it."

"You truly want to hear my thoughts on that matter?"

"If you have any interest in sharing."

Veldin thought that over. He wasn’t even sure where to begin with his questions, let alone whether he wanted to share them. "I will keep that in mind. It is late. We should be sleeping for now."

"Right... That's probably a good idea."

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

Indervel. What a relief it was to once again step into the city through it’s gate and reinforced walls. To see the crowds of people traveling up and down the roads or filling buildings. Their conversations and footsteps and activities filled the air with their sound. Aliana felt a stress and weight melting off her shoulders that she hadn’t realized was there these past days. When she was here, in this busy place full of so many different people, with so many distractions and sensory experiences, her problems faded away for the moment. As much as they ever would.

"So, this next shard is southwest… where, exactly?" Aliana asked as she and her companions walked through the roads of the city.

"At the moment, I have few specifics beyond the direction," Veldin answered.

"Well, that's not all that helpful, is it?"

Veldin made no comment, despite Aliana’s expectation of him to do so. She always expected some new scathing comment from Veldin over just about everything. In fact, it was coming to Aliana as odd when Veldin simply did not.

“Indervel is big,” Misha said, riding on Grey’s back to avoid being underfoot of the crowds of people. “Maybe we can find someone here who knows something about it. Do you know how far southwest it could be?”

“Given the travel distance of the shard which landed in the Orchard Forest,” Veldin said, “It could be as much as a few weeks’ travel out from Indervel. At the very least, Lady Elcevier’s notes indicate it is unlikely to—“

“Is there a point in calling her by her title?” Aliana cut in. She regretted it when she earned a glare from Veldin, and even brief glances from Misha and Remerick. Aliana knew the comment was pointless and instigating, but she had spoken before it occurred to her just what she was saying. “You were saying?” she said after a moment.

Veldin turned his attention away from her. “It is unlikely to have landed further out than that. As a result, we can reasonably assume it would be somewhere in the Emerald Plains.”

“Would Emerald have noticed it?” Remerick asked then. “If it’s in her territory…”

“She made no comments when we last interacted with her that would indicate she was aware of such a thing.”

“Wait. You spoke to Emerald?”

“We had a bit of a run-in last time we were in the Emerald Plains,” Misha explained.

Remerick sighed slightly. “I… I am glad to see things went well, at the very least.”

“I imagine you know Emerald is of little threat to mortals,” Veldin said calmly. “She is far too unmotivated to take action unless pressed to do so by other Dragons.”

Aliana rolled her eyes, recalling that Veldin had been just as intimidated by Emerald’s presence as the rest of their group.

“At any rate,” Veldin continued, “Once we have made accommodations for our time here, I have business to attend to while we are here. If you wish to gain a head start on investigations in the meantime, by all means.”

“Are you visiting the earthcraft shop?” Misha asked. “I wouldn’t mind stopping by there myself.”

There was an uneasy glance to Veldin from Remerick, and Aliana wondered aloud, “Do you have the money for things like that?”

“Oh…” Misha ran a hand over her whiskers in thought.

“I took the liberty of taking a notable sum of caldr from Lady Elcevier’s stores when we departed from her home,” Veldin explained, “Monetary concerns should not be a problem to us for some time.”

“At least you had the common sense to take her money while you were at it,” Aliana muttered. When Veldin’s gaze fell on her, she quickly added, “Because… that’s, uh, very practical of you. We’ll need that.”

The plan was to spend the night at the same inn their group had chosen before in the hopes that the staff’s familiarity with Grey would cause few issues. Much to Aliana’s surprise, when she stepped through the door and initially scanned the interior, she spotted someone of note sitting at one of the first floor’s tavern tables. A familiar blonde figure sat at the table, enjoying a mug of drink and a plate of food.

“Liessa?!” Aliana called out, hurrying across the room to the table, much to the sudden confusion of her allies. Liessa glanced up from the table, smiling when she saw Aliana.

“Aliana! I was hoping to come across you here.”

“You’re supposed to be in Fellsdale!”

“And I was.” Liessa leaned forward, elbows propped up on the table and fingers crossed into each other. “And, I’m doing well enough now that I figured it was time to come check in with you. Friends of yours?” She glanced behind Aliana noting the others who approached, eyes particularly drawn to Grey.

Misha waved in greeting from atop Grey’s shoulders. “Hello. You know Aliana?”

Aliana grinned wide at Misha. “This is Liessa!”

“Oh!” Misha nodded enthusiastically. “Liessa, it’s nice to meet you. Aliana’s told me about you.”

Liessa smiled and nodded. “I had a feeling she would. She’s the talkative type over things like that. And I take it your friend here is well-trained?”

“Yes, he is,” Misha said, patting Grey on the shoulder even as they earned more stares from the patrons of the inn.

“I take it you intend to catch up, then?” Veldin directed the comment to Aliana, but did not actually allow her a moment to answer before continuing, “I will handle the matter of the rooms in the meantime.” He separated from the rest of the group immediately after saying that, with Remerick looking on after him. Aliana rolled her eyes at Veldin’s usual curt demeanor, but paid him little mind.

Liessa’s gaze drifted down to Aliana’s belt for a moment, and she asked, “I’m guessing you’re still looking?”

“Oh…” The question hadn’t been accusatory by any means, but Aliana still felt guilt when she had to answer with a nod. “We know who has Seraphim, at least. We just… need to know where she ran off to now.”

“I see.” Liessa kept her smile, though there was still a worry in her eyes that Aliana recognized. “Aliana, I could help to track them down.”

The moment Liessa said that, memories flashed through Aliana’s mind of everything she and her allies had faced recently. “No, Liessa, I can’t ask you to do that. You saw that… that thing that took Seraphim in the first place.” Aliana failed to notice Remerick’s shoulders tense up as she continued, “I have Moonlight, but I can’t drag you into this…”

Liessa sighed, addressing the others present when she asked, “Can I at least assume you’ll keep her safe?”

Misha answered, “We will. You won’t have to worry about her.”

“Alright. Then, why don’t you all join me for dinner while you’re here? I’d love to hear some proper introductions, and all about what you’ve been doing.”

“Actually, I, um,” Remerick said hurriedly, stumbling over his words and avoiding eye contact with the others. “I don’t know if — I should talk to Velv — I mean, to Veldin about some things. You all have fun, though.” He walked away from the table almost as quickly as Veldin had, leaving Aliana confused as to what that had been about.

“Aliana…” Misha said gently, “Maybe we should be more careful about talking about that ‘monster’ in front of Remerick…”

Aliana immediately felt like an idiot. “Oh. Oh.” She’d talked little with Remerick since meeting him, but he’d been so docile that, in her mind, Aliana had completely divorced the man from the cursed shadow beast that Elcevier had used to steal Seraphim. “But — but that’s not his fault, it’s nothing he should…” She tried weakly to defend her lapse in judgment, giving up quickly.

“I’m sure he’ll be alright,” Misha said. “I’ll keep an eye on things after.”

“Right…” Aliana answered the confused expression on Liessa’s face over the whole exchange with, “There’s a lot to go over. We’ve been busy.”

Aliana tried to keep details as simple as she could for the rest of their conversation over dinner. While Grey enjoyed a plate of steak tips on the floor, Aliana and Misha elaborated on the nature of the shards, Elcevier, the fey, everything. Or more accurately, almost everything. Aliana could feel Misha’s gaze on her periodically through the conversation, but was relieved when her mousefolk friend did not force the topic of Moonlight. Aliana wasn’t ready to tell Liessa that part yet.

Once meals were finished, Misha departed with Veldin for the earthcraft shop. Grey, tragically banned from many businesses in the city, made himself comfortable by the lit hearth in the inn’s ground floor. With night falling, Liessa and Aliana took a walk out in the city streets for the night. Just the two of them, like old times, leaving their armor and weapons behind — a proper reprieve from Moonlight.

"A vampire," Liessa said quietly. “I was never even certain they were real, and now you’ve gone and gotten yourself into a mess with one.”

“Do you believe me now when I say it’s too dangerous for you?”

The faintest hint of a smirk crossed Liessa’s lips. “I should say the same to you. I sometimes forget you’re not the same little girl I met all those years ago. It’s difficult to think of you facing something like that.”

“Are you jealous I’m making the step up from bandits before you?” Aliana jested.

“Oh, don’t be silly. I may not have encountered mythical monsters of dark magic in my life but I have fought fey here and there.”

"Wait, you -" Aliana nearly walked into a lamppost as she stared wide-eyed at Liessa. "You've fought fey before?! When was this, why didn’t you tell me?!"

“Well, quite some time ago, and,” Liessa’s playful smirk faded, “if I’m being honest, I was worried that… If I told you all of those stories, you might try to run off to do the same.”

“And I am, apparently.”

“You are. And I should have expected that. Our lifestyle is dangerous.” Liessa took a breath. “I say it’s difficult to think of because it’s frightening. Some days, I think that you’re practically a daughter to me.”

“I…” Aliana’s words caught in her throat. She hadn’t been prepared to hear that. “I am? Really?”

“After this long? Of course you are. But you wanted to be a swordswoman like me, and I was hardly going to stop you from doing that. I can’t wield Seraphim forever.”

“So… You wouldn’t be scared if you were going in my place?”

“Well, I never said that. I lived like this because I've seen terrible things. Bandits and monsters hurting innocent people. Things that they couldn't do anything about. So, I wanted to be someone who could. But that requires courage and, sometimes, a bit of recklessness. It takes running headlong into danger even at times when I’m afraid. Maybe it helps that I’ve always had someone I could trust to back me up, though.”

“You mean Seraphim.”

“Seraphim.” Liessa nodded. “And you.”

Aliana smiled, receiving the same from Liessa in turn.