{-Lyrei-}

She found Rennyn’s sister quite interesting, actually. Allyna acted rather curious, yet seemed to know a lot from her travels so far; that wasn’t even getting into the exciting mystery of why no one remembered her. Had she been cursed by Dhymos, too? Maybe she was one of the first to get swept into Dhymos’s chaos. Or—and Lyrei tossed the idea out the moment she thought of it—Allyna had always been tainted by Dhymos, and they didn’t recognize her for the same reason they didn’t recognize Dhymos’s minions… even if that itself was a reason she didn’t quite know.

So many questions, so little answers, and barely any time to ask them all…

It seemed, though, that Allyna definitely shared Lyrei’s fascination with the whole situation.

“So you all worked together before this, right?” Allyna prompted, after she’d announced they’d gotten closer to the place they needed to be.

Rennyn, though, quickly dismissed any such conversation. “We need to focus. We don’t know what Dhymos is going to throw at us or when. The only way to not fall for a trap is to have a clear head going forward—otherwise, we’d be just as distracted as before.”

“But I’m curious!” Allyna tried.

Lyrei nodded. “I’m interested in all of it, too. I remember some of it, but it’s always interesting to think about what else has happened—to fill in the blanks that none of us remember.”

“Well, if none of us remember it, then how are we supposed to fill in the blanks?” Rennyn questioned.

Slowly, Kaylin nodded. “I’m going to have to agree with Rennyn here. We need to stay focused. If you’re really that desperate for answers, we can talk about it after we have all of this figured out. It’ll be better when we’re all back in the inn—at least then we won’t have to worry about whatever Dhymos’s minions might end up doing out here.”

Allyna sighed. “Fine, I guess you win. But can you at least tell me how you all met each other originally? That won’t take too long, right? And it’s not like we’re speculating everything! It just has to be a little explanation.”

Before Rennyn or Kaylin could shoot it down, Lyrei enthusiastically went to respond. “Oh, this is one of the parts I remember! See, Dhymos started threatening Rennyn’s village. He got a dream from Elidia and Dalleira to go out, find his four companions, and save the world. So he did! Or started to, anyway. He found Kaylin in her village, Noa ran away from home to be with them, and then they found Seldir and I!”

Well, she remembered another story she’d been told that was a little different than that… how their hero admitted that things didn’t quite go as he’d expected. He’d said that brave heroics weren’t really all that true, and those fairytale knights had it easy. But she kept that part to herself, because she felt that it was something he’d want to keep to himself… at least for the time being.

She was drawn out of her thoughts when Allyna suddenly stopped.

Rennyn immediately lowered his voice and asked, “What is it? Do you see someone?”

“This is where the traps are supposed to be,” she explained. “I… don’t think I see or hear any of those wolves, though. That’s what I figured would be here…”

“Uh, guys…” Noa nervously gestured in front of him—right to where Kharis and Ether were. “I think we’ve got a slightly bigger problem than the wolves…”

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Seldir drew his sword and cautiously looked around. “Do you think that Viragi is with them? I think we should try to avoid a fight if possible, but if he’s here, we should probably turn around completely. He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy we want to mess with…”

Allyna shook his head. “He’s probably waiting for something else. You see that thing Kharis is holding? That’s a piece of wood that’s going to create a lot of smoke when burned. It’s probably part of their signal of what’s supposed to happen if they don’t show up. When he sets it on fire, it’s probably going to be too late to try to change anything.”

“How did you know which one was Kharis? Or his abilities?” Kaylin questioned. Lyrei had the same questions, but they were borne just from honest curiosity; Kaylin sounded like curiosity wasn’t the only reason she asked. “None of us have said anything about who was who or what their powers were.”

“It’s not hard to guess which one’s Kharis,” Allyna pointed out. “It’s a guy and a girl, you can practically tell by their names. I’ve heard of all three of Dhymos’s minions while I was out traveling. Do you really think Queen Vaeri wouldn’t have mentioned people like that to me?”

Rennyn nodded, also glaring at Kaylin. “If there’s one person we can trust, it’s Allyna. Or are you not even going to admit to that?”

“Alright, fine, you win,” Kaylin mumbled. “But you’re not exactly the one that should be blaming me for having my doubts…”

It seemed that they might not have been as discreet as they might’ve been hoping, because Kharis and Ether immediately turned to look at them. Rennyn muttered a curse when they started to casually walk closer.

“Allyna, can you watch Kaylin, Lyrei, and Noa?” he asked, glancing over at her.

“Wait, why am I the one who has to do it?” she questioned in response. “I’m capable of handling myself! I’ve done it this long, right? I want to be able to show you that you can rely on me!”

“I already know that I can rely on you. These two are more powerful than they look—I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

Kharis interrupted their conversation with a sigh. “Are the two of you almost done arguing? If you take any longer, I’m going to get bored, and I’m sure you know what that means…” He casually drew attention to the piece of wood he was holding.

Rennyn stepped closer, his sword drawn. “What do you plan on doing here?”

“We’re just collecting a few things, nothing out of the ordinary. We don’t have to make this anything special at all, if you don’t want it to be.

Kharis tossed the wood to the ground. Ether visibly relaxed, too, taking one step away from them.

“And why do you think we’re going to trust you?” Rennyn didn’t seem to think that their actions were enough.

Lyrei desperately glanced at Seldir, hoping that he might be able to do something. Luckily, he was already on it—he placed a hand on Rennyn’s shoulder.

“If they’re giving us the option to avoid a fight, then we should take it,” Seldir pointed out.

“But what if this is a part of the trap?” Rennyn muttered back. “What if they’re just going to go back on their word?”

“What if this is what they were planning to do the whole time? You need to stop just rushing into things. Sure, we’ve got three fighters with us, but we still don’t know the full extent of their abilities. We should avoid the fights we can. I think you’ve gotten hurt enough for one day, don’t you?”

Kaylin stepped up beside him, too. “You always say you don’t want to get the others involved. If we step out of this fight, then no one is going to risk getting hurt.”

“That, though, has its own risks,” Rennyn mumbled.

Kharis sighed. He stomped on the piece of wood, breaking it. “This is getting tiring. This whole thing was an experiment. Whether or not you passed… well, we’ll decide that when Dhymos hears about all of it. If you don’t take a step closer, we can all walk away from this. But I am a bit desperate for some target practice, if you’re willing to allow me to use your friends as the goals.”

Rennyn stepped back, slowly sheathing his sword again.

“That’s a good boy. See you around, Songbird.” With a flick of his hand, Kharis and Ether both started walking away.

“Let’s just… go back to the inn,” Rennyn said quietly. “We can figure out something else there.”