Cassana PoV [https://i.imgur.com/9L8UEEu.jpg]

Cassana placed all that she needed on a small desk beside the creaking bed: a bowl of crushed garlic, bottle of vinegar, rolls of bandages, a curved needle and spools of thread. If only she had a focusing stone, she wouldn't need any of that, and she should be able to relieve Rei of all his injuries in no time.

Ashvell stood behind her, ready to assist her in case she needed something. Trev was standing by the door, watching, or maybe studying how Cassana works. She was the learned one after all, and he was merely a hobbyist. Cassana started by wiping the blood off from Rei's arms and neck. She then studied his garment to try and figure out how to remove it from his body but the foreigner motioned for her to stop.

"I'll have to undress you to clean your wounds. You also need to take off your mask. I know it's your religion or whatever, but I'm sure your god would understand."

As Cassana reached for the strings that kept Rei's clothes together, the foreigner grabbed and squeezed her hand tight.

"I've seen naked men before," said the redhead, "there's nothing underneath this that would surprise me, okay?" But as she loosened his shirt and saw a glimpse of what was underneath it, she found something that surely surprised her.

"Uhm... boys," Cassana announced without looking back at the two men, "do you mind stepping out? I just need some air so I can work here."

"Sure, no problem. Just call us when you need anything." Ashvell stepped out without any hesitation, pulling away Trev with him.

The redhead turned around to secure the door and shouted to those on the other side. "And knock before you enter, okay?" She continued what she was doing, and gently unfastened Rei's upper garment. Underneath the embroidered cotton fabric, she found his chest tightly wrapped in strips of strophium. Without the shirt, she could clearly visualize the protruding twin mounds of fat and flesh that had been kept reasonably flat by the binder.

"I thought you were a boy." Said Cassana, her eyes in shock and her mouth agape.

"I am." Rei finally spoke to her, with a high register voice. It was not how she imagined he would sound like.

Cassana took a deep breath and gathered her thoughts. "Alright." She continued undressing the foreigner, gently pulling the parts that got stuck by the dried blood. She could tell that Rei was eyeing her intently, waiting for any sort of reaction.

"Does Minos know?" she asked him.

"Yes." Answered Rei.

"And he doesn't have any qualms, or anything?"

"No."

"Good for him." She nodded approvingly.

Rei finally glanced away, a wave of relief awash on his face.

"Is that why you avoid talking? Cause you really sound like a girl. No offense." Cassana said with a toying grin.

"I do not want others to hear me in a voice I didn't choose to have."

"Your voice sounds lovely."

"It's not my voice."

"Your voice doesn't dictate what you are. You dictate what you are."

Rei nodded his head as Cassana pulled over his sleeves from his limbs. He sat up straight, with only the bloodied bindings left to cover his upper body. Without his garments, it was clear to anybody who would look that he had the body of a woman, albeit more muscular than the average type.

"We'll have to replace this," Cassana pointed to her blood-stained strophium.

"I should have another on my saddlebag."

"Alright, but I'm gonna remove this for now, are you okay with that?"

Rei started unwrapping the lengthy strip of cloth covering his chest, and Cassana moved in closer to study his wound, raising his arm up.

"How bad is it?" he asked her.

"I'm not an expert on curses and diseases, but from what little I remember, the infection will spread through your blood vessels," explained Cassana, trying her best to sound confident. "Then to your nerves before it reaches your brain. Your body will try to fight it, so you will have noon-fevers. Your first transformation will come in about a month, usually, I think, then after that, every night with a full moon.

"So it's true then..."

"I will make a poultice to help slow down the spread of the disease, but... there's not much it can do really. What you need is The Cure."

"And where can we get that?"

"The high-ranking wizards can make them," explained Cassana as she was applying the crushed garlic on Rei's wounds. "The only high-ranking wizards I know are in The Tower, in Ad-Nilem."

"How far away is that?"

"If we travel by land, we can get there in under four weeks. Three if we're really lucky. We'll have to cross Auhrean lands though so I wouldn't count much on luck."

"We?"

"Yes we. I'll help you get there of course."

"You don't have to."

"I know. But I want to." Cassana bit her tongue as she continued to clean the blood off Rei's skin. She hesitated with the words, taking a few moment before continuing.

"You saved Otheric, this is the least I can do."

"But I didn't. I failed," said Rei. His eyes glanced shied away from Cassana with a mix of shame and guilt.

"You tried. That's what matters. His death is not on you." Cassana almost choked on the words.

"I could have done better."

"Could have, would have, won't change what happened." Cassana sniffed, pulling back her tears. She was almost done with the wounds on his torso, and motioned for Rei's face. "We will need to take that off."

Rei nodded and carefully pulled out the mask over his head, revealing his soft, round face, his snub-nose and his almond-shaped eyes. He rubbed his hand over his head to fix his short cropped, raven-black hair.

"Aitur's belly, you're pretty," praised Cassana, "or handsome, whatever."

Rei replied with a smile of acknowledgement, but his face slowly turned dejected. "I didn't like what my face looked like as I was growing up."

"Hence the mask?" Asked Cassana before quickly correcting herself, "wait, silly me, of course the mask is for your mak-na."

"It helps. I can cover my face without anyone questioning it."

"Good point." Cassana nodded. "You still haven't told me what your mak-na is.?"

"I did already. It's him."

"Minos?"

"Yes."

"It doesn't make sense, how is he your purpose in life? What, you're gonna marry him?"

"No," he said with a fetching smile, "when I came of age, I was brought to our Seer. There, I was told about my role in the future of our clan, and our kingdom.

"The seer told me to travel west, and to cross the Great River, and enter the Kingdom of Zephyrus. There I will find the... him and..." Rei paused, seemingly collecting his thoughts. His eyes wandered around the room, he then took a deep breath before continuing. "In order to avoid a terrible future for our kingdom, I must stay by his side and protect him; I will accompany him in... well, whatever it is he is doing, and help him accomplish his quest."

Cassana leaned back, incredulity written all over her face, with one hand holding the rag she was using to clean his wounds, "That's... actually sounds interesting. How is he connected to the future of your kingdom?."

"Only the Lord of Heaven knows, these are esoteric visions he gave to us that our Seer simply interpreted."

"I still don't get it. Your kingdom is thousands of leagues away, with the Great River in between, how does it..."

Rei shrugged.

"It sounds like a load of bullshit to me. Again, no offense to your religion." She continued on what she was doing after a sigh, "Well, who am I to judge? We've got our set of rules and traditions that make no total sense whatsoever."

"You don't make sense to me." Rei said, in a voice that was almost inaudible.

"Why?"

Rei held Cassana's wrist and gently pushed it away from him, "have you had a look at yourself? I don't think you should be doing this right now. You should rest."

"I'm not tired."

"You said that none of these would alleviate the sickness that is growing on me. So why bother?"

"If I..." Cassana's lips trembled, talking about what she feels was also among the list of her weaknesses. She could recite the seven principles of Arkana Conjura without batting an eye; she could quote Fuchs or Saufhaus without breaking a sweat, but when it comes to talking about the things she harbors in her chest, her knees would shake in fear. "It's the right thing to do. Plus... with the inn gone, it's not like I've got anything important to do anyway..."

"His body is still out there. Don't you have funeral rites here?"

"We do, of course, we do." Cassana dropped her arms to her side, thinking. "I don't know... I..."

"Are you scared?"

"I'm not scared, I'm just..."

"What are you feeling?"

Cassana looked up and finally faced Rei, "pain. It's just pain. All pain." She said as her lips trembled.

She dropped her head as she sniffed one more time, but Rei raised her chin up. "In our religion, we were taught that pain only exists for the sake of pain. That we get hurt today, so that tomorrow we'll be ready to get hurt more. Life is all about suffering, and all we can really do is endure.

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"But then, once it is your time to face judgment from the Heavens, the goddess Yuhwa will weigh all the suffering you have endured and measure them against the suffering you have caused others. And if yours weighs more, then you will be welcomed to the afterlife."

"That sounds... pretty depressing." Cassana grimaced.

"We were taught from a young age to accept pain and suffering. To expect them, welcome them even. So that when they arrive inevitably, we would be ready."

"And Otheric called me a pessimist," Cassana shook her head at the first of the many memories of her lover that would soon begin to haunt her every moment.

A knock on the door interrupted Cassana's musing, it was Trev, calling for her. "I've got clean clothes here for you and for... your friend."

She quickly got up and went to the door, opening it only slightly to make sure Rei wasn't seen. "Thanks," she told their host and reached for the clothes he was offering.

"No problem."

"Uhm, thank you for letting us use the room. We'll be out of your hair as soon as possible."

"No, don't worry about it, you can stay for as long as you want."

Cassana nodded her head, not really knowing what else she could say more. Trev was the kind of neighbor whom you don't remember how you met. For some reason you just know their name. All Cassana remembered was that one of his parents was the town's herbalist, and he inherited the position when they departed. He had no real background on herbalism, everything he knew was just traditional wisdom passed down through generations.

Nevertheless, her mother taught her to be grateful, and grateful she would be. She gave Trev the most appreciative smile she could conjure before gently closing the door.

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Cassana spent the rest of the day cooped up inside the room. It was around an hour after high noon when Rei's fever kicked in. She fell asleep beside him at the edge of the bed, resting her head on the mattress when he started convulsing. Ashvell and Trev came in to help him and she could tell that they were panicking, but she was used to it. Her mother was feverish for days when she was still alive, and she was the only who was there to soothe her pain.

Bonnie arrived soon after, and she sobbed the whole time Cassana recounted everything that happened the night before. The redhead would have wept with her if only her eyes were not yet exhausted from crying the whole morning. Though having somebody to share her pain with made the burden in her chest feel lighter, and the overwhelming relief she brought with her made Cassana feel a little bit better.

The two stepped out of the room when Rei's fever let up, and they moved to the small garden behind Trev's house. Cassana rested on a hammock while Bonnie sat beside her, rocking her to sleep.

Robb arrived in the middle of the afternoon bringing a clay jar of hartshorn with him. Bonnie told him to hand them to Trev instead so Cassana can continue sleeping. Several more neighbors arrived, bringing food, beverage and condolences, Bonnie received them all and promised to forward their regards to Cassana. Ashvell's father was among those who came, but he offered more, volunteering to prepare a coffin for her departed beloved. Bonnie agreed and Trev came forward to help prepare Otheric's body for the funeral.

The shrubs and tiny trees neatly arranged around the garden were basking in the rays of the sunset when Cassana's horrified voice pealed across the air, shaking Bonnie out of her empty stupor.

"Are you alright?" she asked her friend as she stretched her limbs from the uncomfortable hammock.

"Ric..." she whispered. It took a few seconds for Cassana to get her thoughts straight. She stepped on to the mossy ground and she could almost hear her bones creak.

"Trev took Otheric's.. body..." Bonnie hesitated for a spell, as if not saying it would mean it wasn't real, "Ashvell and his dad are gonna prepare a coffin for him. They wanted to know if you would rather have the funeral at the plaza or at the manor?"

"No," answered Cassana, "no funeral. I wanna bury him tomorrow the soonest."

"Okay. If that's what you wish..."

Cassana stood up and with help from Bonnie, walked back inside. She checked on Rei who was still sound asleep. From the front porch, they could hear Ashvell and Robb's voice and Cassana took a peek. The two stood up and greeted her.

"How are you feeling?" asked Ashvell.

"I'm feeling much better."

"That's good to hear."

"You just missed the soldiers, Cassana," said Robb excitedly, "they got a knight with them and they took the ugly drow away."

"They're bringing her to the Capital to face trial," continued Ashvell.

"Good," Cassana nodded.

"Pops and Trev are preparing Otheric's body, just tell us where you want to hold his funeral."

"No, I told Bonnie I'd like to bury him as soon as possible."

"Okay, that works too."

"Can you come in for a minute?" requested Cassana.

"Yeah sure."

Ashvell stepped inside the house followed by Robb. They all cramped around the small dinner table where Bonnie prepared a kettle of tea.

"I don't think Trev has enough cups for all of us..." remarked Bonnie, but nobody seemed to mind. Cassana sat at her end, fidgeting her fingers, as Ashvell waited for her to say her piece.

"Ashvell, I'd hate to ask you another favor, but..." she started.

"No, don't worry about it, ask me anything." interrupted Ashvell. He leaned in closer, focusing his eyes on Cassana, while she shied her head away. Bonnie rested her back on the chair, feeling out of place.

"I'd like to borrow your wagon, and you too, to drive it. I will pay when I return."

"Why? Where are you going?"

"To The Tower, at Ad-Nilem. I need to bring Rei there to get rid of his curse."

"Is he really gonna turn into a werewolf?" asked Ashvell. All eyes turned to Cassana.

"I'd give him a month or less. What's important is that he gets the cure before his first transformation, or the chances of him surviving through it is gonna dwindle..." answered Cassana, sounding less confident in each word.

"This is not my area of expertise, to be honest, so I need somebody who is better equipped to look at him and see what he needs," she continued.

"Why?" asked Bonnie. "I don't mean to sound ungrateful, yes he saved my life, I'm thankful for that, but isn't he that guy's responsibility? What's his name, the Capital guy?"

"Minos," butted Robb. Cassana squinted her eyes at him, wondering for a moment why he was taking part of the conversation but dismissed it afterwards.

"Bonnie's right, I don't think you're fit to travel yet. You should at least take a rest for a month or so..." said Ashvell.

"Don't forget, you need to rest too," Bonnie told Ashvell.

"I'm okay, I feel a lot better now." Ashvell shrugged, which earned an exasperated eye-roll from the young lass.

"I really hate to ask this of you, but it's something that I need to do, and see through myself. It's okay if you can't, I'll just ask someone else, but you're really the only person I can trust."

"I can do it. I'll talk to Pops and he'll... he'll be fine with it. He'll find a way to move his merchandise without the wagon."

"But isn't that far away? You'll have to cross Auhros, are they even gonna allow you to pass through? Aren't they like, angry at us for winning the war? And how long will you get there." Bonnie looked at Ashvell, who was also clueless, he then passed the look to Cassana.

"It will take us about a month to get there, that's why I want to leave as soon as possible." Cassana gave the answer that nobody was prepared to hear. Ashvell's eagerness dropped, the further he had ever travelled was four days between the village and Mugendale where he would sell his father's charcoal every month.

"We can get a ship..." Robb blurted, breaking the desperate silence.

"Where would they even get a ship?" asked Bonnie.

"Soliton Bay. It would take twelve days to get there through the main road," the boy continued.

"Have you been to Soliton?" Ashvell asked Robb.

"No, but I've read about it," he answered with confidence.

"Twelve days? Are you sure?" doubted Bonnie. Robb glanced at the table.

"Ships are expensive. Though it will be a lot quicker for sure. But I don't think I can afford it..."

"Again, why are you making this your concern? Didn't he travel here with somebody?" Bonnie couldn't help but raise her voice a little bit, feeling that she was the only one who was making sense.

"If I don't do this, no one else will, and he'll transform and be a much bigger problem for everyone..."

"That's not true. Where is his companion, anyway? I haven't seen him yet..."

"I left him outside when I came back with the jar thing..." Robb answered.

"Look," Bonnie continued, "I know he saved my life, they both did, and I want him to get better, of course, but I'm concerned about you." Her eyes locked onto Cassana as she fought for the courage to look back. "You should be resting, and you should be grieving right now. The love of your--" Bonnie stopped herself and glanced at Ashvell who didn't seem to be paying much attention.

"Our friend died." Bonnie corrected herself. "And we have the right to grieve for him."

"We don't have time to grieve, that's the problem. But you're right, where is Minos?" Cassana asked nobody.

"I'll go and find him,' answered Ashvell.

"I'll come with you." Robb followed.

"No." said Cassana. "It's dark already, stay here."

Robb sat down and started scratching his nail on the table, as Ashvell stepped out of the house.

"Cassie..." Bonnie whispered after a few moments of silence. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

"What do you mean?" replied Cassana.

"Why do you wanna do this so bad?"

Cassana shifted on her seat, trying to find the right answer that would end the conversation quickly, "It's the right thing to do. This is what wizards do, it's just is. I know I'm not one yet, technically, but this is my life, this is what I will be doing once I pass the Ranking exam. If I pass the Ranking exam."

"Well you better do, because you are literally risking your life for it."

"Don't worry about it too much, it's nothing, it's not a big deal. It'll be safe, I'll just sit in a wagon for days, it's like taking a rest. But yeah, being a wizard is a risky business, so this is nothing compared to what I'll be doing out there in the future. So, don't be too worried about me. But thank you."

There was nothing more for Bonnie to do but nod.

"As for Ashvell, I promise he'll be safe. And if we travel by sea, he doesn't need to go with us to Ad-Nilem, he can just drop us off at Soliton and he can go home by then. And I will compensate him. Eventually, I'll make sure of that."

Bonnie nodded some more. She knew Cassana enough to understand that she can in no way convince her against something she had already decided on. Even her own parents couldn't succeed in changing Cassana's mind, on any decision she had made.

"And of course, I'll make sure the wedding pushes through," she added coyly, finally flashing a smile. Bonnie side-eyed Robb, and the young boy's head propped up from the table.

"Wedding?" he clarified, "who's getting married?"

Bonnie kicked Cassana's leg under the table, and they both giggled. "Nobody, we're just joking around," she told the young boy. "Also, don't you know that it's impolite to butt-in on adults' conversations?"

"You're not an adult! You're only five years older than me!" Robb called her out.

"You jerk!' Bonnie chaffed. "You are too smart for your own good, do you know that?"

"Oh he knows that. He definitely knows that." Cassana seconded. The two friends continued laughing as Robb smiled at himself. He returned to scratching his nails on the wooden table. The tense air that filled the room minutes ago had finally dissipated.

"Actually... Can I say something?" Robb requested. The two women nodded for him to continue.

"I'd like to come with you. To Soliton."

"What? No." Cassana rebuked.

"Why not?"

"It's too dangerous, okay?"

"But earlier you said it'll be safe, and you'll just sit in a wagon for days..."

Cassana felt her blood boiling after hearing what Robb said. She couldn't believe she just trapped her with her own words. She was half-tempted to tell him that he couldn't come because he's a kid, but that would only make her sound like her parents.

"You have no business coming with us, okay?"

"So if I have, can I come?"

"Sure, if you can convince me that you should come, I'll let you come with us," Cassana maintained, eager to end the conversation.

"The last time I saw my parents was three years ago... The night before they left, they said that they were going to Soliton. I've been waiting for them to return since then, but now... I don't know if they will ever come back.

"I can stay here and wait, or move on and accept that I will never see them again. Or I can do something about it. If I'm gonna find them, Soliton is the best place to start," Robb explained.

Cassana sat in silence. Every word he said made sense for her, but she still couldn't bear the thought of bringing the boy with them. Yet, refusing to bring him felt like a violation of everything she fought and stood up for. She could say no and order the boy to not talk about it again, but instead, "How will you even find them?"

"I don't know, honestly. I know I'm just a kid, I know it's not safe for me to be out there with nobody looking after me... but I really feel like this is what I should do."

Those words felt familiar to Cassana. Those may not be the exact words she told her parents when she decided to become a wizard, but for all intents and purposes, those were her words, her own naivete wisdom talking back at her. Her mouth stayed agape; if her mother and father couldn't convince her out of her decision, how dare she try to decide against Robb's wishes?

"I don't know Robb, but... sure. If that's your decision, then I won't stand in your way. Even if I told you not to come, you'll follow us one way or another anyway..."

"No. If you tell me not to come, then I'll stay. I trust you."

Otheric trusted her.

And he died anyway.

Cassana pulled the thought out of her head. "Aright, then... you better not slow us down or I will not hesitate to leave you behind."

"Yes! I won't, I won't, I promise!" Robb almost jumped off his seat from excitement while Cassana tried to smile despite the gnawing anxiety in her head.

The door behind them opened and Ashvell stepped in with a greeting, followed by Minos.

"There you are," Cassana started, "we need to talk."

"I'm all-ears," said Minos. "Did you get the hartshorn?" Minos scanned the room and closed the door behind him. He noticed Robb looking at the empty space behind him as if expecting another person, or creature, to come along with him.

"Trev got the hartshorn," answered Bonnie.

"Good," acknowledged Minos, he then moved his eyes to Cassana, "what do you wanna talk about?"

"It's about Rei."

"How is he?"

"He's not doing good. He needs treatment," declared Cassana.

"Okay. Whatever he needs, I'll pay for it. He has to be in tip-top shape."

"I can't help him here, we need to bring him to Ad-Nilem. And soon, before he gets worse."

"Ad-Nilem? That's thousands of miles away. Not to mention across the enemy territory..."

"That's why we're not going there by land. We'll head to Soliton Bay and from there, board a ship that'll get us to Ad-Nilem."

"Soliton?" Minos' face contorted. He turned his body around to face the closed door, then turned back towards the room.

"Yup. And we will need money to pay for passage because I certainly can't afford it."

"Forget about paying for passage, I can pay for a ship," boasted the young nobleman.

"What do you mean?" asked Ashvell.

"I can charter a ship, and we can go wherever we want."

"You can do that?" asked Robb.

"Aitur's belly I can, I'm rich. I mean, my father is rich, but I got access to his money. So, this isn't a problem."

All the faces in the room were frozen with amazement, except for Cassana who remained unamused.

"Alright, I guess I was worried for nothing," she shrugged.

"One thing, though..." Minos countered, "Somebody else will be coming with us..."

"Who?" asked Cassana.

"Lira? Chime in anytime," Minos announced to the air. All the heads in the room were shaking in confusion, except for Robb who was smiling in anticipation.

"Hey everyone." A voice greeted from the other side of the room. Everybody turned around and found a female drow leaning on the wall, waving her hand at them.