It doesn’t take long for them to get reorganized. Taran is unconscious, Ax not long behind them, with Shi Cho so drained of Qi it wouldn’t entirely be a surprise to see him lose progress in his realm. Yun Ka, of all of them, seems affected the most strangely; both immune to the loss of Qi, and, surprisingly, weakened almost as badly as Taran. Their battery of green Jade seems to hold some energy still, but even that is flickering, and she seems to be struggling to keep her eyes open. Jun Vral and Project 13 are both seemingly barely conscious, with the serpentine cultivator sort of wrapped around the area where Project 13 lays. The whole situation leaves a crowd of wounded and exhausted mostly to their own devices, close enough to contribute to the conversation, but mostly out of it.

Shapefixit is the least visibly drained, though she’s not exactly at her best either. She stands at the center of an impromptu ring, the Heart beating quietly but steadily behind her, even as dregs of shadow and a strangely fragrant, clear liquid dribbles from the wound Hao Nera put into it. Hao Nera, Qen Hou Raika, Maen, Li Shu and Kaena stand around her, keeping a bit of space between them and making sure that everyone can see in the uncomfortably crowded space.

“So,” Maen says.

“You’re staying?” Li Shu follows up.

Shapefixit nods. “I need to. The heart, it… it’s godflesh. The heart of a divine. This whole place… it’s important. To my people. We came from a place like this.”

“A cave in the ground?” Hao Nera asks. “Yeah, go figure. Everyone knows that goblinoids dwell underground.”

“Yes. We spore and grow in dark places, warm and quiet and wet. But more than that. We began from the deep. From the dark. We began in the tunnels, down deep, to the beating of hearts like these.”

“There were more of them?” Maen asks.

“The Witch said they were harvested,” Raika says. “That they’re… powering them, somehow. Maybe that they’re the reason the Palaces are so large on the inside, and maybe the servants?”

“Servants?”

“The invisible ones. Barely perceptible, fade away the moment you notice them.”

“They have invisible servants in-”

Qen Hou laughs softly. “Of course they do. Shapefixit? Go on.”

Shapefixit hesitates a while, but then chirps and continues. “I… the hearts were lost. A long time ago. Generations and generations of spores ago. The spore mothers, when they can no longer walk, they tell stories of the old days. The way that the tunnels move? The gods of old did more. Made more. We goblins were the first children, but in old days, when the hearts were many, cultivators came, in white and gold. They killed our sibling-kin, the scaled drakes and great bug-bears and dead that walk. The slimes went deeper, and the hearts and our tick-tock kin were taken, and my people had to hide and re-spore over years and years. We live in dens now, but… we cannot spore freely. We are purged, often, even the nests beyond the fourth ring. But…

“With this heart, I could make a home again. If the Empire knew it was here, they would have already taken it. If I become a spore mother, or if the heart can call others of my kind to us… maybe I can make us a home. A new home, deep, deep beneath. Right under noses.”

Raika turns to Kaena. “Will you tell Taurus about this?”

Kaena hesitates, failing to meet her eyes… but eventually raises their head. “Yes. I think he might even help. But… Shapefixit, you’d need to leave. Go deeper, or someplace else than this chamber. To make sure he can’t look in.”

“You don’t trust your handler?” Hao Nera asks.

“I do. With my life. He’s earned it twice over. But… that is my life. I offer it freely in service to what we choose to pursue. A goblin spore colony under an Imperial city… It's useful, dangerous, and hard to control. He’d try to fix that last part. I trust him not to do so harshly… but if you want to keep the leash as loose as can be, you should hide all you can.”

They look over at Raika, as if waiting for some kind of approval after the fact, or trying to see how she feels about what they said. Raika gives off nothing, however. Inhuman face and perfect stillness do plenty, and the way her Qi is diffused through her body makes it almost impossible to track, she knows this. She… is thinking.

Shapefixit just nods. “Not like Zhoulong. But Imperial. Do not want to give over heart. Never again.”

“Knowing him, he’d probably work to cover it up and then assume that’s all he needs to do to make it his,” Maen grumbles.

“I don’t see how to keep it secret without the Witch’s magics,” Kaena says. “They must have used some sort of method to find these things originally. Maybe she’s been hiding it, maybe not, but it’s still better to have him know and try to work to keep it hidden.”

“I agree,” Raika says.

She most certainly notices that she gets some looks at that, especially from Maen. She shrugs. “He’s our main Imperial resource. He has his own agenda, and it might not be to help anyone, but keeping tools useful is something Imperials seem to excel at. Better to have him know enough to convince him to help, especially since he already knows we were to try to find the Witch and her allies.”

Kaena nods, but is frowning as they do so. “That’s… calmer than I expected of you.”

“It helps that I won’t be dealing with him anymore,” she replies.

She continues before the curious looks can turn to interruptions. “Being under his leash hurts us. My Truth, especially, but… I wasn’t dealing with what I needed to. If there’s any chance of going back to who we were under his command, we’d rather not be anywhere near him. The main thing holding me back was the threat to Li Shu, Qen Hou, and Maen, and he claimed most of that threat would come from other Imperial agents, or Researchers, trying to find out my location if he marked me as missing. After the chaos in the arena, with nearly everyone I care about here, where we can make decisions, there’s no better chance to get away.”

Stolen novel; please report.

“Why not just do that, then?” Li Shu asks, her eyebrow raised. “Leave, I mean. I… we were worried that the Divine Beast would follow us to you, and ended up here anyways. Now… there’s no reason to stay if it means it’ll hurt you. I swore to you plenty, and I intend to keep those promises. If the best thing for you is to leave your Division, then I stand by it.”

“Good. Especially as I need your help. Unless I intent to stay as I am, divided, I’ll need support structures to reinforce us and accommodate change. I’m only the Mask, for now, and we need time if we’re to change that.”

“I… alright. Don’t know what that means, but I’d like to try.”

“Not all of us can leave,” a voice rasps from the wounded.

Turning, Raika is surprised to see Taran sitting upright, their eyes that same new shade that denoted the currently unnamed persona fronting.

“Sarai, it’s-”

“It is what it is, Kaena,” ‘Sarai’ interrupts. “We can’t leave. Kaena wouldn’t especially not with how likely it is the Garden’s already breathing down the boss’s neck. And if we leave Taurus, we die. Not a threat- we need elixirs only the Empire provides. He’s saved us plenty, even before we knew how to be useful. I’m not letting the kid or the fucking crowd in here to ramble off with some gorgeous freak. You said yourself, you’re changing, barely in control. I saw some of what you were, back in the arena. You’re a mess. I’m not entrusting him and the rest to you, even if he wanted to.”

Raika nods. “Good. It would be inefficient. In fact, I assume you, Kaena, Yun Ka, Jun Vral and Project 13-”

“No,” Jun Vral hisses.

The Mask turns in surprise, not even sure he’d been awake. With the weakened pull on their Qi as Shapefixit apparently speaks to the heart, he’s gotten up to his hands, his lower torso mostly just serpentine.

“No. We won’t go with you, but… I’m done. And I’m taking… I’m taking 13 with me.”

“Where will you go?” Kaena asks.

“Home,” he hisses. “I’m done. I don’t know what deal you all have with your Taurus, but… I saw that thing in the shadows. I heard his voice. It just… I can’t be in the Empire anymore. And I don’t want to be near you either, Raika. I’m sorry. My village is in the fourth ring, and the only Imperial cultivator I ever saw there was Zhoulong when he took me away from them. I’ll take 13 with me. If… if there’s any chance they can heal, that I can heal with them, away from him… then I’d like to try.”

Raika takes a moment, his words penetrating a bit… but the Mask just nods. “Understood. Losing five of his research group is a major strike but I’m sure he’ll-”

“Four,” Maen says. “He’ll be losing four. I’m staying.”

Raika says nothing for a while. The core of her shakes a bit, and the Mask… fails, for a moment. Something doesn’t click. She turns to face Maen, slowly.

She has a look on her face that is sad, but determined. “As much as I trust Kaena… I’d like to keep an eye on things. You need someone who’s watching your back entirely. Right now, that’s me. I can get stronger in the Division still, and you don’t need someone to fight beside you, you need someone to watch your back. Right now, that’s making sure that they’re not looking for you… even if Kaena decides it’s time to tell the bull too much about where you’re hiding.”

“I can solemnly swear,” Kaena says, “on my-”

“No. I like you, Kaena, I think we’re damn close to friends with how much you’ve helped us, me… but I won’t be putting Raika’s life in your hands.”

Kaena nods. Their face is quiet, drawn… but they smile, a bit sadly. “Fair enough. I’ll do my best to help until I’ve better earned the trust you ask, hmm?”

The Mask… nods. It hitches slightly, the movement going against something deeper inside her- but for now, the Mask is in control, and the logic makes sense. There’s hesitation, even in the Mask, the idea that Maen might end up in greater danger holding their logic back, but in the end the Mask wins out. Part of the damage to their dynamic had been the lack of trust she’d placed in Maen recently, trying to protect her, coddle her. But Maen is a cultivator, and there’s proof positive in her actions arriving here to help that she’s plenty capable. If this is the way she wants to contribute, and her choice… then it stands to reason that it should be supported, even if it hurts in the short run.

Maen still laughs at her, though. A small, soft little huff of a laugh, the twitching of Raika’s Mask calming as the felinid reaches up to her fanged, altered face.

“I think I still love you, Raika. But I’m not weak. I need to be stronger, for myself, and to protect you. I liked coming to the rescue when you needed it, and if things work out with Taurus properly, maybe we can arrange to visit sooner than later. But you need someone you trust on the inside, and I’d rather know you’re in a better place healing while I keep you safe than watch you keep breaking yourself apart to keep me safe. I’ll have Taran, Kaena, and Yun Ka with me, and Taurus will know that if he hurts me, you’re going to fuck up his plans to get to him, whatever they really are. And... I think we should take a break anyways.”

The Mask says nothing for a moment.

She's right. There's an imbalance, a heavy one, and it's been there a long time. Spiraling during the tournament... likely didn't help, no matter the reason for it.

She just nods. Maen takes the nod for what it is.

Cutting the tension ever so slightly, Li Shu coughs into a fist and clears her throat.

"That’s… I don’t know this Taurus, but it seems well thought out. And you do need healing. Raika. I’m… I don’t know what this Mask situation is, but you’re still my patient. And I assume these boneheads come with me.”

Qen Hou sighs softly, but Hao Nera just snorts. “Obviously. Not only did we only just start sleeping together, you think I’d join up with the Empire? Fuck that noise.”

Li Shu rolls her eyes, but… Raika can’t help but feel something behind the Mask stir and smile, slightly, at the sight of her reaction.

“Alright then,” she says. “I… leave. Go to figure some things out, heal. Li Shu, Qen Hou, Hao Nera, you all come with me, I suppose. Kaena, Taran, Yun Ka… and Maen, you all go back to Taurus. Jun Vral, 13, you… go find your peace, and Shapefixit, you’ll be here.

“Let’s go, then. We’re losing time waiting, and the worst it’ll feel if we take too long.”

“Give it a minute, though,” Li Shu says. “The Witch mentioned books, right? I’d like to look for them.”

“Alright. We get everything we need, then go.”

“And the Beast?” Shapefixit asks, looking over to the still form of the Not-Tiger, its body still wounded and mutated. “Can we keep it?”

Raika shrugs, the Mask putting on a laugh. “All yours, if you can hold it.”

Shapefixit nods happily, looking up at Raika.

“Thank you. Saved us from Zhoulong. Helped me here. Found this place.”

The Mask smiles softly. “Didn’t plan for most of it.”

“But still did it. Have request. Offer.”

Raika crouches down to Shapefixit’s level, massive limbs and hinged joints taking a while to get her so low. Surrounded by allies and friends, they all give a bit of space, respecting Shapefixit’s focus on Raika.

“Let’s hear it.”

“The Heart. Take a piece. Let it grow with you. Find it a home. Will make for strength.”

“You’d trust me with something like that? It’s…”

“Is an advantage. And think… the heart. It should not be alone. If it’s you… maybe you find a new place for it.”

Raika is silent for a while… but eventually, as a whole, she nods.

And waits, as her allies split paths, as her friends find what remains of the Witch’s writings, and as a new ally crafts for her an infant, fleshy pearl that makes the space around it ripple when she holds it out to her.