{-Rennyn-}

Kharis had been in incompetent fighter—he may have had a good understanding of what his powers could do, but not enough of an understanding of how it affected things around him. Rennyn barely needed to put up a fight; it wasn’t long until Kharis’s own fires forced him to retreat, and Rennyn made his way back to Zaitha with only a small burn to show for it.

He first told some guards near the station of an ambiguously-started forest fire. They sent a handful of water spirits to the area, after his other warning of being careful if they encountered anything other than fire. The whole thing went surprisingly well and without question—perhaps it was because of Xarena and the others who’d gone with them.

It must’ve been his instructions that alerted everyone else to his return. Or, more specifically, Kaylin, who rushed up to him the moment she realized he was back.

“I had all the trip back here to figure out exactly what I was going to tell you,” she said in a mix of concern and annoyance. She circled around him like it had been a premature encounter with Dhymos himself. “I couldn’t think of anything! Well, nothing except for what the hell?”

“It got the rest of you out of the way, didn’t it?” he mumbled, unintentionally sounding apathetic. Perhaps a fragment of him understood where her thoughts had led her, yet at that moment, he couldn’t quite find himself connecting with it.

“What if something had happened to you? What would we have done then?” She must’ve realized, though, that she wasn’t going to get through to him. She sighed. “Let’s just sit back down with the others. I’ll get something to treat the burn.”

She walked into the station while Rennyn wandered over to where the others were. They didn’t have nearly as much to say as she had; or, perhaps, what they did think to say they kept to themselves.

“Do you remember the group that had gone out to follow Dhymos’s minions?” Seldir asked after a moment. “Apparently they’d returned around the same time Xarena did—they couldn’t find anything. When we came back, I told them what we’d seen, too. They’d already sent a water spirit before you came back—maybe you just missed her—and it looks like they sent a couple others. Once they get back we can all figure out how we’re going to approach this.”

“We need to go back,” Rennyn mumbled. “At least to make sure whatever they were trying to do has actually stopped.”

“So, are you the ‘it’s only a flesh wound’ kind of hero..?” Lyrei asked half-jokingly. “Because I feel like we’ve done enough for one day…”

Seldir nodded. “Yeah, even most mercs don’t go from one situation to the next, raring to go for another…”

“Whatever it is, we can do it tomorrow, can’t we..?” Noa mumbled, the most hesitant of all of them. “The guards should be able to handle it for the night. If Lord Aymer told Queen Vaeri about us, then maybe he mentioned the other stuff you helped with, too—she might be more prepared for whatever Dhymos ends up doing.”

Xarena walked up to them—Kaylin was trailing behind her. “Yeah. First and foremost, most of you guys are visitors—and one pretty important one. Let the guards handle it. Trust me, nothing’s going to get past us.”

“This whole thing probably would’ve gotten past you if I wasn’t there,” Rennyn pointed out. “What happens if they try something you don’t know how to defend against, or something you can’t stop? Kaylin and I are probably the only ones with that kind of knowledge. I need to make sure that nothing’s going to happen. No one else can do that.”

“I’m sure we could all use the rest,” Kaylin said calmly. “Someone else can take care of this—all we need to do is tell them what to look for. If it turns out to still be a problem, it should be able to wait until morning. Or at least for a couple of hours.” She sat down next to him and started preparing to treat his burn. Only to him, she absently muttered, “I’d ask you to try not to squirm, but… I already know you’re not letting yourself feel it.”

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Xarena seemed like she’d been pretty set on whatever she was there for, until she heard that mumble. “Wait, did I hear that right? And does that imply what I think it does..?”

“I’ve almost died before,” Rennyn remarked. “After so many times of that, stuff like this is barely anything worth fussing over.”

It used to surprise his parents, now that he thought about it—how well he handled the occasional mishap. He found he was either completely calm, despite whatever amount of blood might suggest, or forced himself to be, so his head stayed above the water.

They all looked like they might’ve wanted to say something, honestly, but none of them did. Finally, Xarena spoke, though it was of different matters. “Well, I can tell you that the guards have it under control. We’ve alerted any and all nearby towns of any suspicious activity and we’ve got more people around the city. You can rest easy tonight, at least. It sounds like they’re planning to do a full recon tomorrow morning. I don’t think they’d mind if you came with them.”

“Tell them I’ll be there,” Rennyn muttered. “I’ll be up and ready to go at the first light of dawn. I expect the other guards to do the same.”

Not like he really intended on being able to sleep.

~~~

Sometimes, magic was something only children dreamed of; others, it built the backbone of society. Rennyn didn’t find himself as awed as the rest of his peers—other budding mages—but, somehow, he still had a fragment of that wonder within him.

Those times didn’t come to mind because of the magic, however. It was because of a vague, creeping realization of something else. The fifteenth life hadn’t been the first time Kaylin admitted to knowing more than he did. Rather, it had been the ninth, and the tenth felt the full consequences of that otherwise forgettable moment.

Rennyn had just finished telling her his part of the story—what Dhymos had stolen from his teachers.

It wasn’t Kaylin’s statement that alerted him of something more; it was something he agreed with as well. “We need to get it back from him.” It was what she, after a moment’s hesitance, also suggested. “In fact, it’s probably best if we destroy it…”

“Destroy something like that?” he repeated. “You realize what that means to some of these people, right? What happens if the rest of them find out that we were the ones to do it?”

“Then so be it. They’re not like us. They’re not going to understand the situation like we do.”

“I don’t understand the situation. Can he use it for something else? As long as we defeat him before he can use it, it doesn’t matter what happens to it, does it?”

She shook her head. “It’s more important than that. He needs this to keep going. If he has that kind of power, things will only get worse.”

“You’re still not making any sense. Why does he need it? How would him getting this here affect any future life?”

She paused. It was clear, in that moment, that she hadn’t meant to say enough to have him question it. From that moment on, no matter what he tried to do or the questions he’d ask, she only ever gave one response: “Just trust me.”

By the end of the life, he still didn’t know what she meant. After they defeated Dhymos, they found the object destroyed and discarded—but, despite being what she originally wanted, Kaylin’s frown only deepened when she saw it. She never gave a reason for it.

Because of that, a part of him wondered… if she felt responsible for what ultimately happened, too, or if she was content in saying “I warned you, and you didn’t listen.”

~~~

He didn’t bring Seldir, Lyrei, or Noa with him; they were all still asleep, or too tired to get ready quick enough. It wasn’t like they’d do anything but possibly put themselves in danger anyway. He couldn’t, however, stop Kaylin. She was ready moments before he was and had already confirmed with the guards that she’d be coming.

It was a small team, one of capable fighters should the need arise. Or, rather, Xarena described them all as capable fighters. At least they were taking Rennyn’s predictions seriously enough that there was a solemn air among them; they walked to the spot, to those now-ashen trees, in silence.

“Well, we’re at the spot you guys were talking about, right?” Xarena remarked, looking back at the two of them. “Go ahead and have a look around. You’re the only ones who know what you’re looking for—the rest of us will be around surveying all the other details.”

Rennyn gave an absent nod and wandered to where one of the trees were—or, perhaps, had been. He tried looking for any possible sign, but eventually he found himself mumbling, “It doesn’t look like anything happened…”

“Kharis was probably just trying to taunt us,” Kaylin pointed out. She was inspecting something nearby. “He might’ve thought that, if he could convince us it was pointless, he’d get to do what he wanted and we’d leave. I’ve never known there to be a way to ‘fool-proof’ these. If Dhymos had that kind of knowledge, he would’ve used it a long time ago.”

“I still don’t think we should assume it just didn’t work…”

“We don’t have any evidence that it did, though, do we? No need to jump to conclusions if there isn’t even any evidence. The guards can keep close watch on everything. If there’s a problem, we’ll help, but there’s no point in trying if there isn’t one…”