The rest of the trip to Cragcall is quiet. Kara makes the four remaining prisoners carry the injured one on a stretcher made from two tree branches and a blanket. She drives the wagon directly behind them so she can watch them. Ava takes the lead, followed by Persi, Aran with the prisoners, and Kara bringing up the rear. The chain of horses they captured is tied to Kara’s wagon. The Nameless Shields’ caravan follows behind them.

Cragcall comes into sight. It’s enormous, with mountains and a volcano looming behind it. Half-moon walls extend from mountain to mountain, and the city backs up behind them, with the mountains and the volcano forming the rear wall. Farmland sits all around the area leading up to Cragcall’s gates. Workers and farmers pause to look at the caravan as it passes. Four Crownsguards ride out to meet them when they see the size of the caravan. One peels off and brings his horse next to Ava, while the rest ride further back to begin questioning without stopping the caravan. Ava waves at the guard; she is a human female and asks, “What’s with all the people wearing rags and blankets?” Ava tells her the story of the slavers and their rescue of these people. The guard mentally counts the numbers, and then the guard starts to say something, but Ava says before she can, “We’ve got some gold and stuff we’re going to distribute to them so that they won’t drain your great city. Plus, we’ll be keeping an eye on them and helping them get settled, whether they move on or not. Most were coming here when they were captured.” She smiles at the guard, and her stern look breaks, “It’s nice to know there are still good people out there; just keep them out of trouble.” She peels off and heads further back, no doubt questioning others and seeing if stories match up.

A human male rides up to Aran. He motions to the prisoners, “What did they do?” Aran says, “Slavers, rapists, thieves, murders, and worse.” The Crownsguard asks, “How do you get worse than that?” Aran motions to Persi’s wagon, which is full of children. The Crownsguard gets a murderous look toward the prisoners, “You know if they made a break for it now, I would be obligated to run them all down and kill them.” Aran says, “Don’t think we haven’t thought about it, even encouraged it. But the boss wants them to stand trial properly.” The Crownsguard points toward Persi, “Boss?” Aran puts his thumb over his shoulder, indicating to Kara, “Boss. She has a temper about these animals, so please don’t set her off.” The Crownsguard raises an eyebrow, “She’s just a kid.” Aran says, “For gods sake, don’t let her appearance fool you. She’s probably older than both of us combined, and I’ve heard she slew a dragon or five.” The Crownsguard slows his horse so Kara can catch up to him.

“Sergeant Gaelanor Orihorn, mam, may I ask.” He indicates toward the prisoners. Kara tells him, “Monsters, worshipers of Azura, slavers, rapists, worse.” He asks, “Why didn’t you just kill them?” She replies, “I needed information about where the rest of the slaves went, other groups of their gang, their boss, and so on.” She looks at the one on the stretcher, “They needed some motivation to come off that information.” The Sergeant pulls out a paper and hands it to her, “Give this to the gate watch, they will take them to the dungeons and give you a time to see the magistrate and confirm the charges.” Kara says, “Thank you, Gaelanor. Your name is almost the same as my son’s name. I guess I chose it wisely. I’m Kara.” The Sergeant says, “I can’t believe you have a son; you look too young, but I’m honored, Kara. Have a safe stay in Cragcall. If you need help, look for this.” He points to a badge on his uniform. Kara looks at him curiously, then says, “One more thing Gaelanor, if you don’t mind.” He pauses, “Yes?”. She says, “I’m looking for someone I know. She goes by the name Cubbie. She’s a little shorter than me, with blonde braided hair and green eyes. She’s only fourteen and, more than likely, traveling with a priestess of The Dawn Bringer.” He tries to remember, but he sees hundreds if not thousands of people every day. She sounds like a Silent Star elf. So, she would have stood out, “Sorry my lady. I don’t remember, but if I see her, I will send word through the magistrate.” Kara smiles at him, “Thank you, Gaelanor.” He peels off to ride further back. She looks at the other Crownsguard as she gets a chance; three are wearing the badge, and one is not. That one seems to have an attitude.

At the gate, Kara hands over the paper. The guards there remove her manacles from the prisoners and chain them with their own. A lieutenant comes out to look over the paper and look at the prisoners. She also notices a badge on him; again, not all the Crownsguard have them. He checks another paper and tells them to see the magistrate at noon tomorrow. Be prepared with witnesses, evidence, and whatnot. A priest will be on hand with a Truth spell to verify everything. Kara thanks the lieutenant. She sees a cut on his hand that extends under his sleeve, “May I?” She holds her hand out to him, and he takes it and sends healing energy into him. The cut instantly heals, “Thank you, my lady. Sparing got a little out of hand yesterday.” She smiles, “Keep a close eye on them. They’ve tried to escape before. Their boss is still out there, and he has powerful magic.” The lieutenant says, “Our dungeons are protected with antimagic. Their boss won’t get anywhere near them.” He motions to the guards, controlling the prisoners. They snatch the chains and drag them off. The lieutenant looks at all the former slaves, “The Talented Lily Inn has a large hall. You may be able to find room for everyone there. The innkeeper is a bit of an ass, but gold tends to improve his mood.” He sees Kara staring at the badge, “Some of us have been chosen to work closely with the Temple of Veleris.” He gives her a look that says, “Please don’t ask more.”

Caylee and the rest of the Nameless Shields split off with their caravan. She and Zaos yell, “See you at The Soulspring Retreat.” They all wear huge grins that threaten to break their faces.

Kara feels like a weight has been lifted from her. Just knowing those criminals were there made her feel like she did when she knew Azura was headed back to that prison to leave her under the care of her tormentors. She walks by Ava, Persi, and Aran, telling them, “We’re going to try The Talented Lily. They may have room for everyone.” Ava gets her team of horses moving as Kara takes the seat and follows Aran. On the way, she spots the tattoo shop; it’s bigger than she thought. Hopefully, they’ll have the supplies she needs. The inn is on the far side of the market; it also has a large stable and not many horses inside. She walks over to Aran, “Stay out here with everyone while we make arrangements.” He nods. She motions for Ava and Persi to follow. An older dwarf is sitting behind the counter, smoking a pipe. He looks up and continues smoking. Persi says, “I have a pipe that lets you blow all kinds of shapes with smoke, animals that run, ships that sail, and so on.” The dwarf looks up; he tries to show no interest but fails, “What’cha look’in far?” Kara says, “A kind dwarf seeking gold, good company, and a place to rest for about forty people.”

The dwarf rocks forward and coughs, “That woud take all me rooms and tha main hall.” Ava gives him an innocent smile, “And a lot of gold, I would imagine.” " he mumbles incoherently to himself as he stands up, running numbers in his head, “You’d hav’ta rent the whole place, I’d charge ye extra if’n ye causes any damages. Fifteen gold per night far the lots, plus’n ye make sure everyone eats here, so’s that’s an extra ten gold per day. How many nights ye be stay’in?” Kara says, “We’ll take it for the week.” She pulls twenty platinum pieces out of the pouch. He quickly walks over, grabs one, inspects it, and then watches as she lays each down; she says, “Consider the extras a security deposit and payment for your good nature.” He smiles, “Now what’d ye say about a pipe?” Persi pulls out the pipe the slaver was smoking and hands it to him. He points at a large door on the end of the dining room, “Lots O’ mats in there, and ten rooms upstairs, you’d decide’n who goes where. Dinner at eight bells, breakfast one after sunrise.” He stuffs something into the pipe, lights it, takes a draw, and exhales a ram that runs away. His eyes get big with a huge smile.

Kara inspects the rooms while Ava and Persi walk out to get the people and send them in. Ava and Aran start moving the wagons and stabling the horses. Ava asks a stable boy, “Anyone around here looking for good horses? We seem to have a few extras.” The stable boy walks around them, looking at them, “How many are you looking to sell?” Aran says we need two draft horses, a riding horse, and that warhorse. Everything else is for sale, along with the saddles and gear.” The stable boy says, “I’ll let you know.” He continues to walk around them, checking them out.

Persi finds Kara in the main hall, laying out mats as the people file in, “I don’t think I’ll go to the baths with everyone tonight.” Kara sits out another mat and doesn’t look in his direction. “You say that like you think it’s an option. You said you want to be an adventurer; it's time for an adventure. You’re coming to the bath, and I could smell you over the horses.” Persi starts to protest. Kara stops, stands up straight, and glares at him. No words leave his mouth. She says, “Six bells at The Soulspring Retreat. If I have to find you, I’ll drag you through the streets naked. Clear?” Persi grabs a mat and hands it to one of the people. Kara repeats, “Clear?” Persi says, “Clear.”

The person that takes the cot says, “Damn.” Persi grabs another mat and hands it out. Ava and Aran come in as Kara and Persi finish setting everyone up. Ava says, “I think it will be good if one of us stays in this room tonight.” Everyone agrees. Persi asks Ava and Aran to gather everyone as he starts pulling items out of the bag of holding. When everyone returns, Ava pulls out the list she made. They only found a few items that belonged to these people. Kara removes a chest of silver coins and hands out twenty silvers to each person, “That’s just for now; when we sell the other items, we’ll distribute that to all of you also. It should be enough to give each of you a new start. We aren’t keeping so much as a copper to ourselves.” Many of the people start coming over to them to hug them or shake hands and say “Thank you” or offer other forms of thanks.

Kara continues, “I know many of you weren’t happy about me offering them redemption, but if I could find redemption, then maybe they could find it too. In this case, none of them are worthy. All will stand trial before the magistrate tomorrow at noon. Those of you who want to testify, be at the Magistrate’s Hall at noon tomorrow.”

Aran speaks out over the crowd, “Everyone, please be careful. The inn is paid for a week. For those of you wanting to stay in Cragcall, there may be work to be found. The Nameless Shields are leaving for Rivermire in a week. You can sign on with their caravan.” Dinner is at eight bells, and breakfast is one hour after dawn. It’s all paid for.”

Kara keeps Aran, Ava, and Persi with her while the former slaves do other things. “One of the Crownsguards showed me his badge and said if we need help, we should look for that. The lieutenant said the badge indicates they work closely with the Temple of Veleris, then gave me a look like he wanted to drop the conversation. Something strange is going on here. Keep your eyes open.” Everyone nods.

Kara and Ava walk to the market. Ava asks, “What’s up with Persi? He didn’t panic when I mentioned the baths. He didn’t say anything.” Kara says, “He’s trying to get out of it. As I’ve said, we will be very close for a while. That doesn’t mean dancing naked in the woods or anything weird, but we must be very comfortable with each other. If Aran or Persi is afraid to touch you, me, or you to touch them, it could cost lives.” Ava asks, “What about Caylee and her group?” Kara shrugs, “They asked, and I figured it would be fun, plus I enjoy a conversation. You would be surprised what people say when they have nothing to hide.” Ava doesn’t realize they’ve walked into the tattoo shop.

There is a halfling lying on a table with his entire backside exposed as an artist works on a tattoo that covers his entire body. A dark green-skinned inferi woman walks over to them. She barely wears any clothes and has various tattoos covering her head to toe. “I’m Cyania. What can I help you two with? Oh, please turn around and let me see that.” Indicating Kara’s back. Kara turns to show the entire tattoo. “Beautiful, who did that?” Kara says, “The Goddess, Elirae.” Cyania starts to laugh but sees the serious look on Kara’s face. “I believe it. There is so much color and detail. No needles were used on that skin. Can I please draw you before you leave?” Kara says, “We’ll be here for a few days. I’ll come back and allow you to if,” She looks at her with an eager gleam, “you can supply me with some inks and needles so I can craft some spellwrought tattoos.” Cyania puts her hands on Kara’s shoulders, “Anything for a fellow artist.” Kara smiles, “We’ll pay, of course.” Cyania replies, “Of course you will. Now, what do you need.”

By the time they finish purchasing inks and needles, Kara hands over nearly fifteen thousand in gold and gems. Ava comments, “That was a lot of money. Do we have enough?” Kara shrugs, “I think so, but we can use these. With them, I can inscribe spells on the three of you that you wouldn’t normally be able to cast.” Ava says, “I was watching that halfling get that tattoo. It looked painful.” Kara gets an evil grin, “They are exquisitely painful, but in the end, they are worth it. I’ll do the first one on you.” Ava looks worried.

Persi goes to the room Kara claimed to be theirs to drop off his gear. It’s a large room with four beds, foot lockers, and a large mirror. He removes his coat and then moves to where he can see himself in the mirror. Feeling paranoid, he goes to the door and lowers the latch so it’s locked, then moves back to the front of the mirror, where he undoes his shirt. It’s only painful when he thinks about it; it burns like fire. He pulls his shirt open, revealing a large burn that wraps around him, starting at the shoulder, crossing his chest, around his waist, and disappearing under his pants, where he knows it continues to wrap around his legs. Even though it looks like a healed scar, it has always felt like it just happened. He pulls out an elixir and drinks it. A moment of euphoria overcomes him as the elixir numbs the pain.

He thinks back to when he thought he would save the prime planes by creating a concoction to close the portal to the Far Realm forever. All it did was summon a creature that nearly killed him and left this. He has tried everything to heal it, going so far as finding a cleric to cast Regeneration on him; all that did was cost him every coin he had ever saved and pain beyond anything he believed could exist. When he woke up, his gold and the cleric were gone. Minor healing spells don’t hurt much, but major ones feel akin to swimming in lava. The water feels like acid, and the only way he has found that he can clean it is with acid on par with a black dragon’s breath weapon, which painfully burns the skin that’s not scared. He puts his shirt and coat back on, sets up his small portable lab, and then prepares potions and elixirs. Outside, the first bell of the afternoon rings. Kara asked them to all meet in the market at three bells to sell the loot from the slavers.

Aran goes to the stables to check on the horses. He finds the stable boy and several others looking at the horses and talking. When the stable boy sees him, he goes over to Aran, “I brought in some buyers. I can get you four hundred gold for the lot.” Aran frowns, “The warhorse alone is worth four hundred.” The stable boy says, “It’s four hundred, including my commission. That warhorse will require a lot of retraining, and there’s not much call for the rest. You should be lucky I could talk these people into buying them.” Aran slumps a little, “Okay, I guess so.”

The stable boy says. “I’ll be right back.” He goes back over and talks to the other people. They start pulling out coins and handing them over. He sees considerably more than four hundred gold change hands. He walks over to them, “You know, I’m still not sure four hundred is enough for all of these.” The people stop, and there are several mumbles of “four hundred?” he hears one say, “I’m paying four hundred for just this war horse.” The stable boy loudly says, “Where did you get four hundred from? You must have misunderstood; I thought I clearly said seven hundred and four gold is your cut as the owner; my commission for finding these fine steeds is a mere fifty gold.”

The people seemed satisfied with that and started counting out gold again. The stable boy looks at Aran as if he would like to see him drawn and quartered. The stable boy finishes counting out seven hundred and four gold coins to Aran as people take their new horses. Aran says, “If I had sold these for that price, my boss might have chewed me out one side and down the other. But she would probably beat you to a pulp for stealing gold from those people in there.” The stable boy laughs, “Which one, the little blonde or the little pink one.” Aran stares at the stable boy like a dragon about to make a snack of a lone adventurer, “Either of them. Both are as strong as a giant and could crush you until you pop like a zit.” The stable boy gulps, “But, I’ll tell them you got us a wonderful deal, and all those poor people in there can start their lives over, thanks to you. If I hear of you trying to swindle so much as a copper from one of them, I’ll use you as my practice dummy.” Then Aran walks back to the inn. The first bell of the afternoon rings, “Cool, one bell. Maybe I can catch a nap.” He sees Caylee walk into the inn, but she stops and looks at him. “Or something else.” He picks up his pace, following her to a room

.

Ava and Kara walk into From Stone to Silk, which Zaos spoke of. As he said, it’s mostly heavy clothing made for miners or people who work jobs with a lot of wear and tear. A huge, heavily muscled goliath, covered from head to toe with tattoos walks over to them and looks at Ava’s clothes, “Tsk, tsk, dear, those are,” his eyes lock on Kara, and he claps both hands onto his face, “is that, no, is it, oh gods,” he starts bouncing up and down like a little girl seeing new doll, the floor starts shaking, “Please, you have to show me.” Ava looks confused at what’s going on. She knows Kara’s clothes are special and can change form. She’s looking back and forth between Kara and the goliath. Then Kara’s clothes turn dark shades of gray and black, mouths filled with teeth appear all over her, multiple eyes looking, this way and that way, and tiny tendrils begin to writhe about. Ava jumps back, “What the hells?” Kara says, “It’s a mimic. I’m surprised you haven’t seen me feed her. Her name is Em. It’s short for Emulate. She was a gift from The Night Queen.”

The goliath’s eyes are tearing up as he bounces with excitement. Before he can stop himself, he grabs Kara in a bear hug, squealing like a little girl who just got a new teddy bear for Winter Solstice, and spins her around. Some of the tendrils lash out at him but don’t harm him. Kara starts laughing at his excitement. He quickly sets her down and then reaches out to touch her again; a tendril reaches for him, and he snatches his hand back and squeals again. She changes her clothes back to white, trimmed in blue, “I’m Kara, and this young woman is Ava; I’m hoping you have some glamour weave we can buy for her.” The goliath continues to stare at Kara’s clothes, wipes away some tears, and nods, “I’m Eagnak, Eagnak Bearfrightner, but you can call me Egg. Anything you want, I’ll custom design anything for her if you will let me have just a small piece.” He holds up his fingers like he’s pinching something. Still not taking his eyes off Kara. Kara pulls out a piece of jerky, a mouth opens, and a tendril shoots out and pulls the jerky in. A few seconds later, a sleeve extends down Kara’s arm, and a small piece separates, crawling into her hand. The goliath squeals again, holding out a hand as Kara places it in his hand. He strokes it gingerly; Kara says, “It prefers raw meat of nearly any kind, but jerky is fine too.”

He takes it over to the counter and pulls out a box, where he uses his other hand to make a bed of cloth scraps, then delicately lays the piece in it. Then almost skips back to Ava and Kara, places a massive hand on each of their backs, and escorts them to the back room of the shop. He stands Ava in front of some mirrors, turns her, looks, and places his hands on her waist, then her shoulders, and cups her breasts in his hands, to which she exclaims, “Hey.” then he holds one hand on her shoulder and places the other on her ankle. She asks, “Shouldn’t you use a measuring tape? He turns her and looks at her like he’s undressing her, “I am dear. My eyes are better than any measuring tape.” He turns her again to look at her backside. He goes over to a cabinet, pulls out some plain-looking cloth and scissors, then lays it on a table and starts cutting. He looks at them, then points to a clothes rack, “Pick anything from there you want. This will be ready in the morning. Turn all the way around for me one more time, dear.” Kara can’t help but laugh at Ava as she starts thumbing through the clothes rack.

After the second bell, Persi secures his alchemy tools; satisfied with the elixir and acid that he has made, he decides it’s time to head to the market and maybe get some browsing in. The sounds he hears once he steps into the hall indicate Aran may be a little late; he just smiles, shakes his head, and leaves the inn. He notices that some former slaves have used funds to purchase better clothes. Most seem to be in decent moods, far better than that first day when the euphoria of freedom wore off and they began dealing with what happened. He’d listened to Kara talk to them several times, and he could see the inspiration in their eyes each time; if she could endure that, they could deal with what they went through. Before he realizes it, he’s made it to the market. Taking a general survey, he sees an armorer, a couple of them. It looks like one specializes in armor, another specializes in weapons, and next to them is a bowyer. There is the clothier Kara and Ava were talking about, and there is an alchemical and potions shop, “The Skeleton Closet.” Persi walks through the door.

The familiar smells and the sounds of bubbling and hissing greet him. A couple of gnomes have stools pulled up to a table across from each other. Both are wearing magnifying glasses as they move beakers and tubes from one place to another, adjust valves, or apply a drop of that to this. It looks like they are working on a very complicated healing potion. Both speak simultaneously, in perfect sync, “Browse around, but don’t touch; we’ll be with you momentarily.” Persi places his hands behind his back to symbolize that he will only look and not touch. He can already see several things he wants, such as bottles, ingredients, and new tools to replace the ones he lost from Nexus. He thinks, “If I create an “accident,” maybe I could use that to get out of going… no, she would try to heal me or something that would be bad. I need to show her.” He jumps at hearing her voice behind him, “Whatcha doing?” Turning around, he sees Ava and Kara. Ava is wearing something new: a pale green jacket, a striped shirt with white and dark green stripes, and black pants, “Just browsing, I need to restock some supplies for us. Nice clothes, Ava.” She poses a little, “Egg is making me some glamour weave, and we got some stuff for Kara to tattoo us.” The look of fear that crosses Persi’s face makes her hold her hands up, “I’ll be first.”

Persi says, “Kara, please, I need to talk now.” She looks at him, “Then talk.” Persi says, “In private. The two gnomes say, “Yes, in private, please; this is delicate work we’re trying to do here. You can use the room to the left. It’s empty. But don’t touch anything in there.” Persi walks over to the door, opens it, and motions for Kara to enter and for Ava to remain outside. At first, she looks slightly hurt, but then something catches her attention. She reaches for a bottle with a blue liquid, but both gnomes yell, “Don’t touch.” She places both hands behind her back and starts swaying and whistling until both gnomes say, “Quiet, Please!”.

Inside the room, Kara says, “Look, this is the last time I’ll…” Persi drops his coat to the floor and then opens his shirt. Kara starts to say, “Letting me see you, nake….” as she sees the scar wrapping around his torso from his shoulder, back, to his stomach, then disappearing under his belt, “What happened?” She reaches out to touch the scar, Persi recoils, and she withdraws her hand. Persi looks down in shame, “A stupid alchemist thinking he could save the universe. I,,, l had an inspiration a few years ago to seal the barrier. It only succeeded in opening a rift. Something was waiting on the other side, and it reached through. Before I could close it, it got hold of me. I managed to close the rift, but the damage was done.” Kara’s hand starts to glow with healing energy; Persi steps back, “Trying to heal it causes pain; the stronger the healing, the worse the pain, and I think it makes it worse. The same with water; it burns like lava is being poured on me.” Kara says, “That’s why you didn’t come out in the rain.” Persi nods, “I had a cleric cast regeneration on me once. I thought that was the most pain a human could endure.” Kara says, “May I, I won’t touch it.” Persi braces himself; she reaches out and only touches the normal skin, “Persi, this isn’t a wound; I think it’s a curse.” Persi nods, “I figured that out a while back, so I got a cleric to cast a powerful remove curse on me. I woke up three days later. He said he had never heard screams like that come from a living person.”

Kara steps back to give him some room, “You should have come to Sasha and me.” Persi asks, “Why, what could have been done? I admit to making a stupid mistake and not using proper safety protocols. Then I would have probably been kicked off Nexus for being a risk?” Kara frowns, “We wouldn’t have done that, we would have..” Persi says, “If I were in your place, I would have done that or locked me up and made me the experiment of the day off on some secured planet for the freaks we found.” Kara looks down in shame, “You carried me miles; that was burning you like acid the whole way. Oh, gods, I healed you and the kids. That…” Persi says, “It’s okay.

I had so much adrenaline going through me then; if I felt it, I didn’t notice. As for whether it hurt, it doesn’t matter. Getting you to Everwind is what mattered. I did what needed to be done.” Kara says, “Well, you’re excused from the baths. I’ll make up something to tell Aran and Ava. Does anything help? Do you have any ideas?” Persi opens the door, “Ava, would you come in, please.” Persi looks at Kara, “No excuses, truth. If I’ve learned anything over these last few weeks with you. Truth is the answer. Without it, we have no trust.”

Ava walks into the room, and seeing Persi with his shirt off makes her slightly suspicious. Then she sees the scar and does the same thing Kara did, and she reaches out. Kara catches her hand and shakes her head. Persi repeats the basics that he told Kara, adding, “I take an elixir I’ve created to help with the pain, and the only way I’ve found to clean it is with a powerful acid. But of course, if the acid touches my skin, that doesn’t feel too good either.” Ava asks, “What are we going to do?” Kara says, “Go see someone here in Cragcall. Someone who knows curses. I don’t know how he will receive me because he’s the man who cursed me. Cyndra’s father.” Ava asks, “That’s why you didn’t make a beeline for the Temple of Veleris when we got here, isn’t it; are you sure that’s a good idea?” Kara answers, “The only one I have. Trust me, he knows curses. He prefers to curse lawbreakers over killing them. I know Cyndra has stayed in touch with him or tried to. Cyndra has told me a few times that he wants to speak to me, she didn’t know about what, and he wouldn’t say. I’ve avoided doing so, but now he may be our only hope.” Persi says, “I’m not familiar with this story.”

Kara says, “You know that when I was host to Azura,” She leans against the wall and slides down to a sitting position on the floor. She looks at them, worried, “I captured Cyndra and tortured her. It was far worse than anything I had done before.” Ava says, “You’re saying “I” again when referring to Azura.” Kara says, “Sorry, it’s hard to distinguish sometimes. Azura used Cyndra to teach me a lesson. I, Azura, tortured Cyndra.” She stops to catch her breath. Ava says, “We get the idea; no need to explain.” Kara looks at her, relieved, “A few weeks after that, Cyndra’s father and the small army of adventurers he hired caught up to me, Azura. Azura escaped, breaking the pact and releasing me. Her father then put a curse on me, forcing me to fully experience the death of people I,, Azura murdered and tortured in place of dreams when I would sleep. Every dream was the death of a different person. When I found out I was pregnant with Lydria, I went to Khive to ask her what the requirement to lift the curse was because I thought it could hurt my baby.”

She tries to uncork her waterskin, but it slips from her shaking hands. Ava uncorks it, sits beside her, and hands it to her. Kara smiles at her, “Thanks. Khive peered into my past to hear the curse. She told me that the curse would lift when I watched my daughter tortured in the same manner his daughter, Cyndra, was tortured.”

Kara takes a few breaths as sweat starts to bead on her forehead. “I went to Sasha with the news. I also told Sasha that I would kill myself as soon as our daughter was born to keep the curse from coming true. Needless to say, she lost her shit. That’s the polite way to describe it. If I wasn’t carrying our child, she may have killed me right then and there. We went to High Throne to talk to her father. Raveneth gives him a Wish he can use or grant to someone once per year. He gave that Wish to me. He told me to use it to lift the curse.” Persi says, “But.” Kara takes another breath, “You’re right, I refused to use it for that. I had made an oath to use any Wish I had to bring back the people I, Azura, no Azura, and I had murdered. Now, not only was Sasha mad at me, but a God of Death was also mad at me. Sasha’s mother calmed them down and told them to trust me.”

She takes a long drink of water and wipes her forehead, “We returned to Nexus and had Anya open a portal to here, just outside of Shadowbel. I contacted the Night Queen and told her I wanted to return these people. She had me sneaked into the city; the only ones who knew outside her inner circle were Whelp, Valas, Thomas, Donjo, and my sisters. We used the arena in Shadowbel, and I wished back everyone; the wording was pretty elaborate; everyone would remain passive until awakened, and it worked. We found Cyndra, made sure she was okay, took her to Trollskull, the house I bought my sisters, and awakened her. When her mind cleared, she wanted to tear me apart. Between the Night Queen, Sasha, Rinwauld, and many others, they eventually calmed her down to the point she would listen. She finally talked to me once she understood Azura did those things to her, not me. I told her about the curse, the conditions, etc., but she wasn’t happy. She was less so when I told her I was pregnant and I was going to kill myself after Lydria was born to save her.” She turns up the waterskin again, but it’s empty, “I need something to drink.”

Ava reaches into her Bag of Holding and pulls out another water skin, and hands it to Kara. Kara takes a long drink. “Cyndra contacted her father; he was there almost instantly. By passing all the safeguards and wards, the Rrostarr Dynasty has to prevent just that. He is a very intimidating and powerful man. His first reaction was just to grab hold of Cyndra and drag her home.” Kara smiles, “Cyndra can be very intimidating, too. She refused and demanded that he listen to me and Sasha. I don’t think he listened, even though I pleaded and Sasha, well, Sasha Sasha’ed, and Rinwauld chewed him out. We were very close to seeing what happens when the daughter of a Raven Knight goes head-to-head with the High Priest of Veleris. Just when things reached the boiling point, he was yelling, Sasha was yelling, Rinwauld was yelling, and the Night Queen was yelling; Cyndra grabbed me and said, “I accept this curse to be shared with me.” I tried to snatch myself away from her, but it was too late; my curse became her curse, too. The yelling stopped. The rage in Cyndra’s father,,, well let’s just say, I thought I wasn’t going to have to kill myself. But she stood in front of me, daring him to strike. I begged Cyndra to release herself from the curse, but she said she couldn’t. She looked at her father and said, “You lift it, or I suffer the same fate.” He seethed for a little while longer, probably trying to think of another way, but eventually, he relented and lifted the curse. Then we all noticed the other woman in the room, a halfling; when we saw her, we realized she had been there the whole time. Cyndra’s father went to his knees. The halfling was an avatar of Veleris. She apologized to me for allowing her power to be used in such a way and said that for Cyndra’s father to repent, he would have to bear the curse of nightmares.”

“I refused; I told her to return it to me; no one should live with that horror. She said he must pay for what he did. I continued to argue with her, saying that losing his daughter in the way that he did was enough. He was ready to accept whatever Veleris handed down, and now the one person who should hate him the most was protecting him. Veleris told me that if I accept her and use my judgment to deal justice, along with the mercy of Elirae, she will lessen the punishment.” Kara smiles, “So, of course, I accepted. Cyndra asked Veleris if she could convert to Elirae, and Veleris allowed it. That’s when Sasha and I asked Cyndra to be Lydria's Godmother. We stayed in Shadowbel for a few days. Cyndra said goodbye to her father and returned to Nexus with us.” Ava asks, “Will he help us? I mean, he could lay another curse out or crap; he may just try to kill you.” Persi says, “No, it’s too dangerous. There’s no telling what he might do.” Kara looks at them, “Both of you think the decision to go see him is open for discussion when it’s already been decided. We’re going, don’t expect hugs. His temple is not far. We can be there in a few minutes.” The door opens. The two gnomes are standing there staring.

Both say, “You touched our walls. Are the three of you done fooling around in there?” As if they are thinking alike, Ava and Kara lean into Persi’s arms, careful not to touch the scar, and both say, “We can never be done with him.” Persi blushes, and both gnomes blush. The gnomes quickly change the subject, “Well, either buy something or rent the room.” Persi fishes in his pocket for a list, and when he finds it, he hands it to the gnomes. “I’ll take everything on this list if you have it.” They look at it, “We got it; it’ll take a few hours; be back at eight bells or tomorrow.” Persi thanks them. They see Aran standing in the middle of the market, looking for them.

When Aran spots them, he jogs over, “Where have all of you been? I’ve been looking everywhere.” Ava blurts out, “Feeling Persi and looking at his body.” Everyone looks at her. “What?” it hits her when she realizes what she said, “No, that didn’t come out right. We’ve been talking to Persi.” Kara motions, waving her hand down in front of Ava, “Aran, can you handle selling the items? We’ve got something we need to take care of.” Aran says, “Sure, by the way, I sold the extra horses for seven hundred and some change.” Persi says, “That’s great.” he hands the portable hole to Aran and pulls out a list, “This is the items, along with what they should fetch; if you can get near or even better prices, that would be awesome.” Aran accepts the two items, “What are the three of you going to be doing?” Everyone looks at Ava like don’t say it. Persi says, “They are going to help me fix something I seriously screwed up. We’re going to the Temple of Veleris.” Kara says, “See you at the baths at six bells.” Expecting to see Aran blush, but he doesn’t, “I’ll be there, I can’t wait.”

Aran crumples up the paper and tosses it into the bag as they walk away.

Ava asks as they walk to the temple, “What was that about.” Kara says, “I don’t think he’s as shy as he was yesterday.” Persi says, “With the sounds I heard coming out of the room adjacent to ours, I can understand that.” They both look at Persi, “I’m pretty sure Caylee came for a visit after the two of you left.” At the temple's steps, Persi looks at Kara, “This is my curse. Stay behind me, let me ask.” Kara says, “I don’t think he’s the surprise kind of man, plus he’s, well, you’ll see.”

Persi and Ava enter side by side, with Kara following. As is custom, they leave their weapons at the door of the Temple of Veleris. A large, muscular, gray-haired man stands at the altar, ending a sermon. Persi sees what Kara is talking about; his face is chiseled stone, and his glare would make a dragon run in fear; he radiates power. He dismisses the acolytes and turns his glare to Persi and Ava. Ava lets out a little “eek.” He asks with a deep, authoritative voice, “What brings you to the Temple of Veleris, Paladin of The Dawn Bringer? What justice needs to be done?” Kara feels chills run down her spine, then realizes he is addressing Ava.

He steps from behind the altar, looking at Persi, “A curse has touched you. I can feel it. I can feel the corruption, the chaos.” He starts walking down the steps toward them. Kara reaches out to Persi and Ava and gently nudges them apart so he can see her. He stops, then stands there and stares at her. She keeps her eyes down. He slowly walks until he’s only a step away; Persi and Ava look at each other, “What do we do?” knowing they are utterly incapable of stopping him from doing anything. In a deep voice that echoes through the temple, he says to no one in particular, “Leave the chamber now.” Acolytes scurry out as fast as they can move. Ava and Persi look like they aren’t sure if he means them, too. He looks at the three of them, “Not you three.”

He reaches out with both arms and pulls Kara into a hug. Kara completely tenses up, then realizing he intends no harm to her, relaxes. For the countless number of times since being ripped from Nexus, all she can do is cry and wrap her arms around him as far as she can reach. Persi and Ava sigh in relief and step back to give them some space. He releases her and then gets down on one knee so he’s looking up at her, “There’s no need to cry.” Those words make it worse as she wraps her arms around his neck. He wraps his massive arms around her and holds her until she gets some composure back, “I see you, Karael, but where are my daughter and her godchild?” Kara wipes away a few tears, “Cyndra and the children are safe in High Throne. We failed, the boundary collapsed, and Nexus was nearly destroyed. I promise Cyndra is in what is possibly the safest place in the Prime Realms.” He holds her back at arm’s length to look at her, “You’re expecting. I can feel her.” Kara nods. The stone face breaks into a smile, “Don’t fear me any longer. I’ve had fifteen years to deal with what happened and realized I should have helped you instead of punishing you.

Kara says, “I deserved it. I had several offers to try to end the curse, and I refused until I learned the condition of the curse when I was expecting my first. Even then, King Cinderblade offered to remove it, and he could have, but I refused. Instead, I used the Wish to bring back Cyndra and the rest that Azura murdered.” He pulls her in for another hug, “And that is why you are a servant of Elirae.” He looks at Ava and Persi as he stands, “Arden Stormhaven. I assume you’ve come to me about what I sense about you?” Looking at Persi. Kara says, “This is Persival. I think he has had a curse placed on him, a very powerful one.” Arden looks at Persi, “Show me.” Persi looks around to ensure they are the only ones around, then hands his coat to Ava and opens his shirt. Arden moves closer, and Persi steps back. Arden glares at him with that stone face coming back, and Persi freezes in place. Arden places a hand on the scar as Persi braces for when it starts feeling like it’s turning into fire. “Explain to me how this occurred.” Persi recounts the tale as he told it to Kara. When Persi finishes, Arden turns and says, “Follow me.” Persi thinks this man must be in his sixties, but the three must run to keep up as he walks. Persi buttons his shirt as he runs.

He walks into his study, and there are two acolytes there cleaning, arranging things, and just being busy. Both come to attention as Arden says, “Get me the volumes on the Far Realm, Chaos Curses, and specifically, anything revolving around The Old Gods.” Both acolytes drop whatever they are doing and immediately go to the new task. Arden motions to some chairs in front of his desk as he walks to the other side and sits, “Show me the acid you use to clean the scar.” Persi pulls out a vial. Arden looks at it, flipping it over a few times, then uncorks it. Persi holds up a hand but lowers it when Arden looks at him. Arden runs it under his nose just enough to get a whiff and recoils back, “Black dragon or a good facsimile of it. Has the scar grown any?” Kara shakes her head, then Persi answers, “About an inch in width since we arrived here.” Both Ava and Kara look at Persi. “Have you felt any different urges, a need to do or complete anything?” Persi says, “At first, no, but I’ve never been involved in battle before arriving here. The more I’m involved, the more I want to get into the middle of it. I don’t want just to cast support spells; I want to attack.” The acolytes return, lay the books on the desk, then move to the side and wait quietly. Arden opens all the volumes and begins scanning them. Then stands and walks around where Persi is, “Open your shirt again, and I won’t lie, this will probably hurt a lot.” Persi slowly opens his shirt and starts sweating, remembering other attempts to heal or remove it.

Arden casts a spell, and Kara, Ava, and Persi feel all their magic items go dead; he takes a pitcher of water on his desk and pours it on Persi. Persi begins to scream in pain. Tendrils reach out of the scar, then retreat after a few seconds. Kara and Ava grab his hands to comfort him and to try to keep him from hurting himself while he blindly flails his arms. Arden takes a dropper to drip tiny droplets of acid onto the scar, which seems to make the pain subside. It takes a few minutes for Persi to calm down; he sits in the chair, breathing hard, and looks at Arden. The anti-magic field fades when he waves his hand, “It’s not magic, it’s a direct link to the corruption. The more you are involved in violence, the more it will spread. Eventually, you will lash out at your friends and infect them with the curse. It will require a ritual to remove, and I can’t guarantee it will work, but there is a chance, gods permitting.” Persi says, “I have to get Kara home.” He doubles over in pain; tendrils reach out from the scar. Arden pulls Ava and Kara away before they can reach for them, then casts a spell. Persi seems to calm down; he’s clearly in pain but sits back down. The tendrils recede into the scar. Arden asks, “I assume those things are new?” Persi nods. Arden says, “It hurt like that because it manifested inside this temple. I will do everything I can for you, Persival. You and the temple will need to be prepared for the ritual.” Kara says, “We’re staying in Cragcall as long as it takes.”

Persi puts his head on his knees in defeat, “I fucked up, didn’t I?” Arden answers, “Yes, the longer this lasts, the more difficult it is to remove.” He looks at the two acolytes, “Go prepare the ritual chamber, let the other priests know there will be no sleep tonight. We will begin at midnight.” He looks at Ava and Kara, “Both of you are welcome to come, but you must just observe, stay quiet and not interfere. If you can’t do all three, do not return until tomorrow morning.” Kara says, “Clear.” She looks at Ava. Ava nods, “We’ll be here, probably with a third person, at least.” Both move back to Persi and gently put their arms around him. Ava says, “We’re in this with you and will be here with you until this curse is gone.” Persi pulls a vial from his belt and drinks it. The pain almost completely subsides as a euphoria comes over him.

Kara motions for Arden to follow her, asks Ava to stay, and then walks out of the room. Outside, Kara turns to Arden, “I was very hesitant to come here, and every feeling was telling me not to. I’m so glad I don’t listen to anyone, including myself. I’m sorry. I feel like I’ve kept Cyndra away from you all these years.” Arden lays a hand on her shoulder, “Cyndra has been talking to me quite a bit these last few years. It took her some time, too.” Kara smiles as he continues, “She would have, “Anya?” open a portal, or if she was away from Nexus. She would use Sending and other manners of magic to talk to me. This leads me to ask. Who is this Gunthar, and what kind of man is he?” Kara looks surprised and asks, “Why? How does Gunthar factor into anything?” Arden’s face turns back to that stone, intimidating visage, “She told me she is engaged to him. She also told me how great he is and so on, but I can’t trust an opinion from my daughter regarding a man, especially when that opinion is clouded by love.” Kara is stunned, but she thinks. “I remember seeing them talking. Now that I think about it, they were spending a lot of time together and requesting the same missions together. Shit. Why didn’t I see that, and why didn’t she tell me?”

Kara stands open-mouthed, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know. She never said anything to anyone, and she’s one of my best friends.” Arden says, “That doesn’t surprise me. She was an accomplished priestess and a leader of an adventuring group for nearly a year before I found out. Now, my original question.” Kara says, “Oh, I’m sorry. Gunthar, he’s great. Probably one of the most honorable people I know. He was Camiella’s right hand. She and I trusted him with our lives. If Camiella trusted you, you had to be honorable above reason.” Kara shakes her head, “If I had known, I would have found a reason to evacuate him with her. I would have probably had to knock him unconscious to do so. Arden,,,”

He looks down at her, then she throws her arms around him again, “Thank you.” Her arms barely come up to his waist. He strokes her hair. “I’m sorry.” He picks her up and holds her in a hug. She lifts his holy symbol of Veleris and turns it over to look at it. He gives her a curious look. She says, "Looking to see if you had a holy symbol of Elirae, too." After a few moments, he sets her down, “Now, while my priests prepare, please catch me up on your life, this princess of yours; that girl scared me fifteen years ago. Is she still that scary? Tell me about my daughter’s life at Nexus. The stuff she didn’t tell me.” Kara gives him an affectionate push, “Only if you catch me up on the stuff she apparently hasn’t been telling me, and Sasha can be scarier, but besides my children, there are none I love more.”

In the study, Ava moves her chair around so she’s in front of Persi, then takes his hands, “Would a Bless hurt?” He shakes his head, “I don’t know, I don’t think so.” She says the words, and Persi is enveloped in divine light. “When Kara gave you Camiella’s cloak with Galathor’s symbol, she said “May it protect you and bring you faith in the darkest of times.” Have you tried praying to Galathor?” Persi says, “I don’t know how.” Ava puts her hands on his face and tilts his head up so he’s looking her in the eyes, “Well, it’s a good thing I do know how to pray, and it’s a better thing that I also pray to Galathor.” Persi gives her a weak smile. Ava says, “Listen and repeat after me.

* Bravery above all. There is no glory in cowardice.

* Strength is the path to greatness, but greatness is the responsible use of strength.

* The glory of the Storm Bringer lives through your glory on the battlefield.”

Persi repeats the words with her, slowly at first, but she continues until she’s confident that he knows them, and then she stops. He stops after the first tenant, but she says, “Go on.” He finishes the last two tenants on his own. “Now we ask the Storm Bringer for what we need. I’ll ask him to give you strength and to protect you on this battlefield.” Both feel a presence in the room. It feels, no, smells familiar. Persi says, “Do you smell that?” Ava nods. He says, “I used to make a perfume for Camiella. It was flowers from the Fey Wild.” He smiles. After a few moments, they both sit up.

Ava says, “I can stay here with you until the ritual begins.” Persi looks at her and smiles mischievously, “I’m not alone. She’s here with me. Plus, you’d like that, wouldn’t you? No, you’re going to the baths with Kara.” Ava’s face changes to that of a kid getting caught doing something they shouldn’t, “You’re not getting out of that, plus I want to hear everything when the ritual is over. At one time, I would’ve fainted at the thought of doing something like that. Now I wish I could be there. Do you know what this ritual involves?” She replies, “No, but I’m guessing many fiery words. You remember and repeat those tenants, no matter how dark it gets.” Persi nods, “You should go find Kara so the two of you can ensure Aran isn’t giving everything away.” A priestess steps through the door, “I will stay with him until the ritual. I think I saw them walking in the garden.” Ava gives Persi another careful hug, then leaves.

Ava finds them exactly where the priestess said they would be, walking around the garden, not looking at anything but talking. She sits down next to a fountain, watches them for a little while, and then loses herself in the sound of the fountain and the ripples on the water.

Ava is walking through a wasteland of burning embers when a wright bursts through a wall, charging at her; she stands her ground; it draws back to strike, then stops. She screams at it, “Kill me.” It leans in and sniffs, then runs. Ava falls to her knees, “Please, just kill me instead, let them live.” She doesn’t know how long she kneels there; the sun is up when she realizes she is alone again. In the distance, she sees a tall building that isn’t burned out. She stands and starts walking toward it. Something moving catches her eye, and she turns in its direction, hoping that maybe it will kill her. Getting closer to it, she hears battle and explosions. Closer still, she sees several people fighting, but not with guns; it looks like they are using handheld weapons and bows; some are gesturing and calling out strange words, and then rays or explosions of fire appear. She starts running and sees six people circled around, one of whom seems to be focused on something in the middle. They are all strange and alien to her. Only one has horns.

A strange-looking blonde girl yells to the one they seem to protect, “How much longer, Set? We need that portal yesterday.” The one in the middle is an inferi with purple skin and black horns. He yells back, “Not much, just hold them back.” Undead of all kinds are charging at them. They are destroying the undead in waves. One in their group, a small, alien-looking girl with black hair, grasps something hanging around her neck, holds it high, and whispers a word that echoes off the ruins. A shock wave rolls out from her; as it passes, the undead turn to dust, and the few that don’t turn to dust turn and run. Some run past Ava. She sees sheer terror on the faces of those. She has never seen them show any fear of anything or anyone.

Ava starts to run toward these people. The blonde girl uses the reprieve to gather energy around her. Her eyes flare bright, light shines from her like a flare, and then she floats off the ground. Wings unfold from her back like an angel. She points at one of the few undead that didn’t turn to dust or run. It explodes as a beam of light strikes it from the sky. The angel looks at Ava as she runs toward them; at first, it seems like she thinks Ava is one of the undead; she points at Ava. Ava feels the air heat around her. She stops running, “Finally.” and prepares to die, but then it stops.

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She hears the angel shout, “Cover me.” Hell breaks loose around Ava as they begin firing at the undead around her, explosions and arrows passing so close to her she can feel the air from them as they brush past her. The ground behind her turns to barbed spikes, vines grabbing the monsters and flinging them around. The voice of another intertwines with the sound of a violin and becomes a weapon burning the undead. A ball of energy that looks like thousands of glowing katanas appears around the group, consuming the monsters. She sees the angel flying toward her, twisting in the air, sweeping the undead away with her wings. Ava covers her head with her arms; something, no, someone grabs her; it’s the angel, “You’re going to be safe now; I’ve got you.” she says. The angel’s wings thrust them straight up, into a loop. They fly toward the group, and a portal opens. The rest keep up the covering fire as the angel and Ava fly through the portal...

“ava, Ava, AVA!” She snaps out of her vision, and the angel, no, Kara, has a hand on her, shaking her gently, “Sorry, I must have…” Kara says, “It’s five bells, we should go. We’ll be back for the ritual tonight. Are you okay?” Ava nods, “Just daydreaming.” She doesn’t know why she just remembered that.

A ripple in the air moves from across the garden. The person thinks to themself, “Interesting memory. The little bitch saved the inferni. I can use that.”

They find Aran in the market eating a sandwich with a large mug of ale. Both Kara and Ava realize they haven’t eaten since this morning. Aran swallows, “Where’d you guys go? Where’s Persi?” Kara takes a deep breath and lets it out, “Persi is at the Temple of Veleris, preparing for a ritual.” Aran stops eating, “Why?” Ava says, “He has had a curse on him. Apparently, he’s had it for a while. The priests will try to remove it tonight at midnight.” Aran sets the sandwich down and looks at Kara. “Well, let’s go.” Kara says, “It’s going to take them several hours to prepare, and they don’t need or want us buzzing around.”

Ava picks up the sandwich, tears it in half, and hands one of the halves to Kara. Aran starts to say something but stops. After swallowing a bite, Kara continues, “We’re going to the baths, as planned, then we’ll pick up Persi’s order from the alchemist’s shop, and then the four of us will go to the temple.” Kara takes another bite, and Ava says, “Where we will stay quiet, out of the way, and just be there for Persi. Any interruption could endanger the ritual.” Ava takes a bite. Kara says, “Clear?” Aran nods, reaches for his ale, and frowns when he realizes Ava is downing it. Ava sits the mug down, “How much did you get for the gear? don’t tell me you traded it for beans?” Aran says, “What? Beans? Oh, seventeen thousand gold, so that’s seventeen thousand, seven hundred and five gold to split between the thirty slaves we rescued.” Both Ava and Kara swallow their bites. Kara says, “That’s,“ Ava coughs and says, “A lot.” Aran smiles and takes the last bite from Ava’s hand, “Yep, that’s five hundred and ninety gold and some change for each of them. They should be able to set themselves up pretty well with that.” Aran pops the last bite in his mouth as Ava and Kara dive over the table to hug him.

Aran, Ava, and Kara walk into the baths at The Soulspring Retreat. Steam is venting out through pipes on the roof, making the whole area damp as it condenses. Huge marble doors, inlaid with silver and gold, stand open, welcoming all. A faint aroma of exotic spices drifts through the air. They get hints of lavender, cinnamon, vanilla, and berries. Several people are milling around in the lobby, some dressed in nothing but towels, others dressed in nothing, talking to each other while they wait for space to open, either in a public or private bath. Kara feels she should have made this her first stop when arriving. She goes to the counter, dragging her two bug-eyed companions with her. Behind the counter are three very beautiful humanoids: a human, an elf, and a water elementi, all wearing nothing but the tiniest strips of cloth. The elementi comes over, “May I help you?” Kara says, “I think I should have come earlier. I was wondering if I could get a private bath for nine, The Nameless Shields and Wandering Mountain. The name is Kara?”

The elementi looks at all three of them, wrinkling her nose, “All of you are long overdue for a proper bath. The room is ready. It was reserved by Zaos this morning. The Nameless Shields are already here. Please, use the private showers too,” she pinches her nose, “to clean yourselves before entering the baths.” Kara grabs Aran and Ava, dragging them toward the private room. Opening the door, a wall of steam and aromas greet them. It’s challenging to see ten feet; the first room is a dressing room where a big, heavily muscled half-orc stands, completely naked except for the staff he is leaning on. Ava points at him, “Who is that?” The half-orc answers, “I’m the guard. I’ll make sure no one touches your stuff. Names, please.” Kara says, “Kara, Aran and Ava.” The half-orc nods once, “Welcome to Soulspring, Wandering Mountain. I was expecting four of you. Will another be joining?” Kara shakes her head, “Sadly, no. Just us.” The half-orc motions to a wall with several cabinets with doors that go from floor to ceiling. Some have red rags hanging on the latches.

Kara drags her companions to the first three without the markers, opens the door, and sees a few towels, wash rags, bars of soap, and small bottles of what’s probably oils and perfumes. She holds out her hand, and Em crawls into her hand and folds herself neatly, then she starts removing everything else. She looks at Aran and Ava, standing there and looking in the cabinet, “Look, you can either undress yourselves, or I can undress you.” Ava looks at Aran and the half-orc. The half-orc seems to be paying attention to nothing, and Aran slowly pulls his gear off. He’s doing it too slow for Kara because a very naked Kara goes over to him and starts unbuckling straps to his armor, “Hey, I’ve got it.” He glances at her and sees she’s completely naked. He can’t stop himself from staring, but she doesn’t seem to notice. Kara stops, “I’m going to the showers. If the two of you aren’t there before the soap hits my hair, I’ll return.” She tosses a towel over her shoulder, grabs a basket containing the rags, soaps, and oils, and walks into the next room.

Ava says, “I guess we had better get moving, as she undoes the Storm Girdle, then begins removing everything else. She looks at the half-orc again, who still seems lost in his thoughts. She grabs a large towel, drapes it over her, and removes everything else. Aran asks, “We can do that?” Ava yells at him, “Quit watching me.” She grabs the basket of soaps, oils, and stuff and runs as fast as possible without slipping to where she saw Kara go. The half-orc says, “No running.” Ava slides to a halt and goes stiff, realizing he is watching. Then begins to try to walk as calmly as possible. She sees Kara under a waterfall, scrubbing her back with a long-handled brush. She sees Ava enter, “Ava, shrub my back, then I’ll do yours.” Ava drops the basket and towel and steps into Kara’s stall. The water is delightfully hot. Kara stops and points at a lever, “You can use that to control how much cold water is mixed with hot.” Ava looks at the leveler in front of Kara, which is pushed forward to the hottest possible. She hasn’t felt this good since the first dawn Kara took her to the steps to introduce her to Elirae. She doesn’t even notice when Aran steps into the stall next to them, and then he screeches about the water being too hot. She leans around and points to the lever, “Pull it back to make it colder, wimp.” For the first time, she notices he is very well-built. She would have blushed if she wasn’t already red from the hot water. Aran tries to cover himself and noticeably blushes when he sees her staring.

Aran pulls the lever back until the water runs cool and keeps pulling it back until it turns cold. Something about the heat from the steam and cold water feels great. He thinks, “Maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea.” then thinks, “Ava and Kara are…”He cuts that thought off and starts thinking about the abomination they fought and the ugly hunchback man at the gate of Everwind, then pulls the lever back further. Then he peeks over at them, “Gods, they are hot…. Shit.”

Kara lets the heat and the water wash away all the dirt and worries from the past week. She allows herself to vanish from this reality for a few minutes. She hears Sasha speak into her mind, “How is everything, Beautiful? We’re rebuilding, setting up supply lines, and some people are already showing up to help. I can’t wait for you to get home”, Kara comes back to her body, “We’re fine Babe, stopped in Cragcall for a little while. Saw Arden, and we reconciled. Broke up a slaver operation. Can’t wait to be home.” She opens her eyes, and both Aran and Ava stare at her. Ava says, “Was that Sasha? Did she Send to you? You didn’t say anything about Persi, your brother, Azura. You need to tell her at some point.” Aran is just standing with his arms crossed, nodding in agreement. Kara says, “When the time is right, like I said. Sasha is very focused, but that can change if she worries about us. Aran, are you just going to hang out there?” He covers his crotch with his hands. She rolls her eyes at him, “I’m just joking. Not bad, though.” He looks down, then back at her, “Not bad? I’m excellent.” Ava giggles at the exchange.

Aran grabs a towel, realizing he is entirely naked. Ava holds a towel, too. Kara laughs, “See, conversation. You weren’t worried about being naked. You were focused on communication.” Then Kara pauses with a sudden worried look, “Shit!” Aran asks, “What?” Kara says, “I didn’t end that with “I love you,” I always end a Sending with “I love you,” the one time I didn’t, The Six were in big trouble, and it was questionable as to whether we would make it back.” Ava says, “Maybe she didn’t notice.” Kara looks at her with a “Really?” expression. Then she hears Sasha’s voice again, “Is everything okay? Are you telling me everything, or do I need to send or locate help? Teleportation is bad here. I love you.” Kara thinks quickly, “Making sure former slaves are cared for, Babe. A lot to do. Otherwise, fine. Even taking a bath with friends tonight. I love you too.” Kara sighs, “That was close.” Aran asks, “She won’t be jealous of you bathing with others?” Kara shrugs, “No, why? She knows I won’t allow anyone to touch me. She also knows I love baths, public, private, in rivers, wherever.”

Sasha turns to Anya, “Something is wrong. Tell me about these two kids she is with.” Anya says without hesitation, “They’re not kids. They were on the edge of those we required to evacuate, meaning they could have left or stayed to fight. I assume they chose to stay. Avallie, or as Kara calls her, Ava, is an inferi. The sole survivor of the world, Ziri. It was a tech world. Five years ago, we sent the Chain Breakers to find a necromancer artifact that would allow a person to become an archlich. Kara had never seen a tech world and wouldn’t shut up until you said it was okay for her to go. We didn’t know the world had already been overrun. It was because someone on that world had already used the artifact to transform themselves and turn the entire world’s population into undead. The Chain Breakers, specifically Kara, rescued Ava and brought her back here. Since then, Ava has been watching and emulating Kara. Nothing weird. She idolizes her. I never saw a reason to raise any alarms about it. She will follow Kara to the ends of the Prime Realms.” Sasha says, “I remember her. She has pink skin. If Kara were in the pit, she would have been there watching. I often saw her in the tavern, listening to Kara tell stories and sing. Kara frequently inquired about her, ensuring she had everything she needed.

“Aranark, or as Kara calls him, Aran, is a half-orc. He came to Nexus three years ago from Donoe with a trading caravan you arranged to travel to Gyke. But he slipped away from the caravan and hid in an unused storage room before the caravan left. From his mannerisms, I suspect he was an escaped slave. He hid for a few days, coming out only to find food. Once he became more comfortable with his surroundings, he began to do odd jobs to blend in. He would practice with the guards and was quite good in the pit. Since I figured he was an escaped slave, I didn’t think you would have a problem with him staying, so I said nothing. He was helpful and never committed malicious acts beyond taking food we give freely anyway. I can’t judge his loyalty to Kara, as I have no reference to judge him by. He was a hard worker and had a talent for fighting. I thought he would make a good guard someday or maybe even a fighter worthy of joining one of the companies.” Sasha shakes her head, unable to remember him.

Sasha asks, “Is there anything you’re not telling me, Anya?” Anya looks at her blankly, “A lot, far more than you would be able to retain or want to know.” Sasha frowns, “I mean about those with Kara.” Anya says, “Persival began acting strange, or stranger about two years ago. Sequestering himself in his lab, not coming out. Having food brought to him instead of dining with everyone else. Given our nature, acting strange is not out of the ordinary.” Sasha asks, “Did Persival’s lab survive the fall?” Anya replies, “I believe so,,, yes. It is intact, and no one has entered.” Sasha tells her, “Go to his lab, tell me what you find, and is there anything else I don’t know that I should know?” Anya says, “Gunthar and Cyndra are engaged. Cyndra is expecting, but Gunthar doesn’t know. The kitchens are running low on meats. The tunnelers have made their way down to the second sub-level. The…” Sasha says, “Okay, okay, I get it. Let me know what you find, and just say something when new people decide to stay or someone is stalking my wife.” Sasha turns and walks off.

She walks out of the room. She stops, turns around, and walks back in, “Wait, what? Cyndra is pregnant? Gunthar is the father? They are engaged? When the hells did all this happen? Never mind.” She resumes the walk, the roof is still gone from when Kara broke it open to save them, “Damn that girl, always acting before thinking things through, but in this case, she saved me and Anya and Nexus. She arrived here as a sacrifice and left as a sacrifice. I will have her back soon. She’s a force of divine will. Nothing will stop her.” The memory reminds her of Camiella. She stops to regain her composure before entering the main hall. Several people are eating lunch, and they immediately stop, turn to face her, and stand. Sasha motions her hands down, “As you were.” The main door has been replaced, and she walks out into the courtyard; again, many turn to face her as she comes out, and she motions for them to continue. The sun is shining and feels so good; she directly looks at it and can see the prominences dancing from its surface, but the night still feels so much more “at home.” The walls are coming along. What’s left of the Phoenix Rising, Captain Bloodhammer is trying to rebuild; he thinks he can maybe build something that at least flies. He said she would never pass through to the Astral or any other planes again. The Needle is standing like a guardian over Nexus, and the contingent of dwarves that showed up shortly after they crashed here have reported finding a strange, black form of mithril. Felicity has been working with those dwarves to figure out how to forge it. It was a miracle of diplomacy to get those dwarves to accept an orc into their ranks, but she seems to be getting along with them. “Damn it, Kara, why do you always have to be the hero? I need you here.” Someone says, “Excuse me, Princess?”

Sasha looks at Gunthar, “Just thinking out loud, my friend. Why didn’t you tell me you and Cyndra were engaged?” He seems to shrink some, “We were trying to figure out the right time, then, well…” Sasha walks over to him, reaches up, and places a hand on his shoulder, “Congratulations, we will find a way to get her and everyone else back. Then we’ll have a wedding for you two that surpasses anything this world has ever seen. Give me a status update, and don’t hold anything back. Clear?” She thinks of Kara while Gunthar updates her, “It’s not good, but it’s better than yesterday. Today is better than yesterday, and tomorrow is hopefully better than today.”

Sasha tells Gunthar, “Assemble a group to travel to the village where the Laughing Ogres are from. Include an arcane caster familiar with teleportation circles so they can create one there. Let’s find out if new ones work. Whom do we have that’s good with diplomacy?” Gunthar says, “You’re not going to like it. But Elvish is the best we have.” Sasha sighs, “Okay, send him. We need a good source of meat, and The Laughing Ogres said Mosshore is the primary source of fish on this continent. Hopefully, he won’t get the entire village pregnant. Please make sure there are plenty of guards with them, no female guards. But send Galga; she can’t stand Elvish; she’ll keep him in line. Ask her to please not kill him. Take whatever horses they need. I need a diviner. I have a thousand questions that need to be answered. Whom do we have for that?” Gunthar thinks briefly, “I’m afraid all the diviners were lost in the battle or died when we crashed here. The clerics probably could, but they are stretched thin, spending all their spells on healing or supporting us. I’ll send Avvaran to you.” Sasha holds up a hand, “No, leave them be. The questions I have will wait. Nexus needs their support more than I need my questions answered.” Gunthar leans on the rail overlooking the lower courtyard, “I’ll have them ask at Mosshore if there are any diviners around.” Sasha places her hand on his, “That will be good. Thank you again, my friend, and again, congratulations. Maybe one day we can laugh about all this.” Sasha walks out into the courtyard to see their progress. As tired as he is, Gunthar feels a new motivation pushing him, “She called me friend? Wow.”

Kara walks into the bath area with her towel over her shoulder, and the Nameless Shields are already in the pool. All of them look in her direction. It’s hard to tell which, but one whistles. Kara tosses the towel and poses to ensure they all get a good look, showing no embarrassment. Lynn says, “Told you so, I expect payment before the end of the evening.” Kara lowers herself into the pool, letting a feeling of euphoria wash over her, “It’s been way too long?” Zaos asks, “Where are the rest?” She yells, “Come on, the longer you wait.” Aran and Ava come in with towels wrapped around them. Zaos caws, “Booooo, what’s with the towels?” Caylee starts chanting, “Drop them, drop them, drop them.” Everyone else starts joining in. Kara opens her eyes so she can watch what happens. Ava is the first; she takes the towel off and tosses it to the side, and everyone applauds. Kara can tell she is embarrassed but braving it and showing the others no fear. She makes it look like wearing the towel was part of the show by taking a moment to pose, showing her butt. Ava slides down into the pool and then turns her attention to Aran. Not wanting to be shown up, Aran drops his towel, and everyone applauds again, including Ava and Kara. There’s another whistle. Then, he quickly slides into the pool. After a few minutes, everyone is relaxing. Ava notices Caylee slowly working her way toward her. Ava slides a little closer to Kara.

Eventually, Caylee is in the center of the pool, just out of reach from Ava, and Ava is up against Kara, “If you get much closer, the Princess may have words with you.” Caylee uses this prompt to quickly move closer to Ava, “Tell me about this “Princess,” I like fairy tales.” Telling a story relaxes Ava, and she looks at Kara. Kara nods. Ava thinks for a second, “The Princess, or Princess Sasha Proudshard Cinderblade,” Kara smiles and closes her eyes, “is possibly the most beautiful woman alive. She is Kara’s wife,” everyone looks at Kara, her smile gets bigger, she almost seems to start glowing, “she rules Nexus, it’s our home. Sasha is a diplomat and a mighty sorceress, commanding fire as easily as we can splash the water in this pool. Sasha sets up trade between worlds and negotiates treaties, but most of all, she makes sure the people she leads are taken care of; she gave me a home when I lost mine. But I think the best thing about her is, she is a great mother and…” Valovar says, “Mother, wait, is there a husband too? How?”

If Kara’s smile gets any wider, her face may break, and she says nothing; she thinks, “Ava said it; Ava can talk her way out.” Ava clears her throat, “Well, no husband, I mean no males in the, I don’t know. She’s half succubus. I don’t know how it works. I do, but I don’t.” Caylee looks at her directly in the eye, “I can teach you.” Ava gulps. Kara says, “As Ava said, Sasha is a half succubus, meaning she is also half incubus so she can father children. She is a shape changer, technically neither, and both a woman and man.” Kara’s eyes glow a little brighter, “Any part of her can be a man's or a woman’s parts. She is also my soulmate; we have lived entire lifetimes together. Somehow, the multiverse brings us together, time and time again, millennia after millennia. We knew the second we saw each other that there is no one else, and there never will be anyone else.”

To change the subject, Kara opens her eyes and looks at Caylee, “Tell me about the Nameless Shields. How did you come together?” Zaos says, “Wait, you say soulmates, meaning there is no one else for you, period?” Kara nods, “Didn’t I just say that? No one. Period.” She looks at Zaos, “Trust me, Sasha is the jealous type. She wouldn’t kill me because I’m the mother of her children. But you,,, she is the daughter of a Raven Knight.” Zaos’ eyes get big as he sinks some. Lynn laughs and asks, “Are you serious?” Kara continues to look at Zaos, “Completely, her father is a demigod of death. He’s also very protective of his daughter, grandchildren, and me.” Trying to change the subject again, Kara asks, “Caylee, the story of The Nameless Shields?”

Caylee stops leaning toward Ava and sits back but keeps eye contact with Ava as she begins the tale. “We came together about three years ago, end of the story.” Ava and Kara look at her, “What?” Then Caylee says, “Just joking. We were members of two groups, and many people are no longer with us. Each of our groups was hired to find out what happened to a village south of here at the base of the Hollow Peaks. We had never heard of the place, but apparently, they traded opals, and two different caravans that went there didn’t return. It took us a couple of weeks to get there from here, and when we arrived, the place was dead, with no one around. There were signs of battle, but not the complete, wanton destruction you normally find after a battle. It was like,” Kara says, “They came for the people and nothing else.” Caylee nods, “We even found both caravans; horses are gone, and there are no people. Kal noticed not even bodies but no sounds, birds, bugs, or anything else. If you don’t believe silence can be deafening, wait until you hear it. It had been so long that any tracks were gone; we found blood splatters and weapons, but only weapons that the villagers or the caravan would have had. We decided to set up in two houses across a street from each other, half on watch, half down. It was so quiet I could hear Kal’s heartbeat from across the room.” Caylee sees that Ava is wholly immersed in the story; the only sound is the running water. She runs her fingers across the bottom of Ava’s left foot. Ava screams, and even Kara jumps.

Ava splashes water on Caylee and starts laughing. Then Caylee continues, “I don’t think any of us fell asleep that night; it was so quiet, and we still didn’t hear them until they broke through the windows and doors. Something hit me, and I was paralyzed; all I could do was lay there watching my friends fight and drop. Then they picked us up and carried us into the forest. They also got our mounts and even carried their own dead. The things looked like what nightmares fear: walking on four legs, using two more of them like arms and hands, mandibles, and pincers. When they got us to their nest, they held us up to the walls and sprayed us with something that hardened, sealing us against the wall and just leaving our faces and stomachs exposed. Then, I could see where the rest of the villagers and members of the caravan were. They were attached to the walls, all around us. Even the animals, or what was left of them. When they finished with us, they piled on their dead like some horrific orgy, eating them. I can still hear those sounds.” Caylee shivers, and she looks at Ava. Ava is completely lost in the story. She inches slightly closer, then continues. “They left us pinned to the walls, then it got quiet again. I could hear some moans, but that was it. I started calling out names, and only Lynn and Kal answered. Kal said he could see Aelgir and Zaos and thought they were alive; Lynn said she could see Valovar but couldn’t tell if he was alive. I looked around; I saw a few others; their heads were lolled forward, and I didn’t see their stomachs rising and falling.”

“I hear one of the ones already there start moaning louder. Then the moans turn to screams. One of the creatures returned to watch the person. Then his stomach bursts open, and hundreds of tiny versions of these things come crawling out of the hole in his stomach. The creature chitters, and the little ones start eating the man. When they are done, the only thing left is bits and pieces of the skeleton. The little ones climb onto the bigger creature, and it leaves. Then I notice the floor is covered in bones.” Caylee inches toward Ava again; she’s close enough to place her hands on her waist if she wants now, “I don’t know how many minutes or hours passed. I see one of the ones I thought maybe dead move his head; then I hear something coming. It sounded big; I can hear bones crunching with each of its steps.” Caylee reaches out under the water and touches Ava’s legs. Ava jumps but doesn’t recoil away. Caylee never breaks eye contact with her.

Caylee takes a deep breath like she’s preparing for the story, “I thought the things that carried us there were what nightmares feared. What came around the corner was truly nightmare fuel. Until then, I thought I was ready for anything, but then I was so scared I couldn’t breathe. One of the things that brought us there grabbed a man across from me; it tilted his head back, and then the big one inserted some appendage into his mouth. I saw things like eggs flowing down the appendage and into him. He never regained consciousness. Then it turned to me. I tried to fight, but the smaller one bit into me, and my body went numb again; it grabbed my head, and then it did the same to me. I could feel my stomach filling until it hurt. When it was done, it moved on to the others. It took a while before the feeling returned, and then I wished it hadn’t. It hurt, my throat hurt, my stomach hurt. I watched another person explode with those baby versions. Only this one was awake when it happened. I’d never heard screams like that before.” Caylee begins to massage Ava’s feet, “When I could, I called out to Lynn and Kal, “We need to get out of here.” it wasn’t more than a few seconds later that Kal appeared around the corner. Making sure the things were gone, he used the dagger he had to cut me free, then Lynn. We cut down Valovar, Aelgir and Zaos. The rest were dead. Lynn gave as much healing as possible, bringing everyone back to the waking world. We took inventory. We had a few daggers the creatures hadn’t found between us and a few spell components.” Ava starts moving her feet so Caylee can massage different areas.

Aran asks, “What happened then? How did you get out?” Caylee continues to look at Ava, “Maybe we didn’t; maybe we were turned into those things and just lured people to the baths. To plant eggs in them.” Ava pulls her feet back, then nervously laughs at the joke. Caylee waits for her to move her feet back to her hands before moving a little closer. Aran squirms a little. “I told Kal and Zaos to scout ahead, then for the rest to stay in the middle, with Valovar closest to me at the back. Kal found out how they brought us in, but I guess one of them found we were gone. It started screeching. Then, there was screeching from all around us. I thought that was it. I wouldn’t go like that or let any of my friends go like that. I prepared myself to kill them first, then myself, if I had time. Then Valovar reached down on the floor and picked up a little piece of bat shit, said a few words, and tossed it back the way we came. I’d seen fireballs before, but something else caught in it. The whole place started going up; we hit the floor as the fire blazed over us; the roar was deafening, and we could hear the people who were still alive screaming and those monsters screaming. We all got our backsides scorched, but when it ended, we were still alive. We didn’t waste another second; I grabbed Valovar and came up at a run. Zaos and Aelgir each grabbed under Lynn’s arms and ran, with Kal leading the way. We ran for hours. Then we were in the daylight.” Caylee lets go of Ava’s feet and moves over next to her. She pauses for dramatic effect and waits to see what Ava does.

She feels Ava lean against her and away from Kara. Ava asks, “What about the eggs? Hadn’t they put eggs inside you?” Caylee continues the story, “Yes, and it still hurt like crazy, but there was nothing we could do. Lynn was out of spells. The only way to get rid of them was to use restoration magic. I made everyone promise me that if those things started to hatch in me, they would kill me. We all made that promise to each other. Our only option was to run as hard as possible for Raven’s Hill. We knew there was a Temple of Raveneth there. It was a three-day ride by horse. We were already exhausted. Lynn said to leave her; that was not an option. We all took turns helping her run all day, all night into the next day. We swam across the Napacill River, dragging each other. When one of us tried to stop, the others would drag them. We had no idea how long the things took to hatch. At some point, I don’t know when we couldn’t go on. The sun was setting, and we were delirious. We sat down; I didn’t think we would get back up. Zaos saw the lights of Raven’s Hill when the sun went down. He dragged us all to our feet and got us moving again. We must have been a sight. We were covered in blood and dirt from the run; most of us had run out of our clothes, and our feet were bleeding. As I passed the gate and truly felt hope then, a stabbing pain hit me in the stomach, and I doubled over. I don’t remember anything after that, only what I was told. They all grabbed me and carried me to the temple, where the High Priestess was able to save me with a healing spell.” Caylee looks Ava in the eyes and moves her face so their noses barely touch, “It was the best thing I ever felt, until now.” Ava doesn’t push back, “It was too late for all of us to use restoration magic. They had to wait for the things to hatch, heal us, and kill the little monsters. I imagine there were some cussing priests that night.”

Caylee lets her lips touch Ava’s, and she still doesn’t pull back. “We stayed at the temple for several days, recovering. None of us talked about what had happened then. The high priestess there, Mother Ruruck, asked us what the name of our adventuring company was.” Ava’s lips are still brushing against Caylee’s. Her eyes are closed, and she says, “That does feel good.” Now, everyone is torn between the story and watching the two of them.

Caylee says, “We looked at each other, and we all said, “We’re nameless,” Mother Ruruck said, “All of you protected each other pretty well not to be an adventuring company.” The name hit me like a slap in the face; I said, “We’re the Nameless Shields,” and Gimble just nodded at us. Everyone agreed that we like the name, and we’ve been together since.” Kara slowly stands and motions for everyone else to leave quietly. As Ava and Caylee remain in the pool, they are lightly kissing as Caylee positions herself so she is in front of Ava.

In the changing room, Aran asks what’s going on back there. The looks he gets tell him to shut up, get ready and leave. Kara says, “I’ll stay in the changing room here to ensure no one interrupts them. Aran, go to the Alchemist’s Shop, pick up Persi’s order, and meet us at the Temple of Veleris at eleven bells.” Aran is still turning this way and that, trying to figure out what’s going on. Zaos takes his arm, “Follow me, I’ll show you the way.” Kara hands Lynn five gold coins, “Give this to the desk and tell them we need the bath for another hour or so.” Then she looks at the guard, “Does the resort offer massages?” He nods, “I’m a masseuse, or I can get a female if you’re uncomfortable with me.” Kara shakes her head, “You’ll do fine. I’ve been getting cramps in my shoulders and lower back.” She lays on a padded table with a hole for her face. He sets some oils on a table beside her and goes to work. Her mind drifts off to a day she spent with Sasha. The steam feels good, a massage feels even better, he is a true professional and doesn’t touch anywhere he shouldn’t. It feels great to be clean again.

Outside, Zaos asks Aran, “So from that, I’m guessing I stand no chance with Kara?” Aran shakes his head, “Huh, what? What’s going on back there? I was with Caylee last night and this morning.” Zaos says, “Stay focused. She’s with someone different every other day; it’s nothing personal. Now, Kara?” Aran points at a wall, “You’d stand a better chance with that wall. Forget about her.” Zaos sighs, “Oh, hopes and dreams, it’s off to the brothels with me again, want to join me?” Aran says, “Brothels? They have brothels here?” Zaos gives him an incorrigible look, “Of course, they have brothels here.” Aran says, “Oh, I have to be at the temple in a few.” Zaos smiles, “My lad, the brothels never close. Look, I’ll come to the temple with you afterward; we’ll go to Elven Whispers; you’ll never think about Caylee again.” After picking up Persi’s order from two rude gnomes, they see Lynn, Aelgir, Valovar, and Kal sitting outside a bar, eating and drinking. Lynn kicks out a seat for Aran, and Zaos takes another seat. Zaos asks, “What are all of you doing out here? I figured you’d be back at the house by now?” Lynn answers, “We started to, but then we decided we’re in all the way. Kara told me about Persi and the temple. We’re going to the temple. We figured you’d dump Aran and be at a brothel by now.” Zaos says, “After the temple, something to take his mind off Caylee.” Lynn asks Aran, “So, you heard our story. What’s the story of The Wandering Mountain Trading Company?”

Aran shrugs, “Honestly, there’s not much to tell. We just decided on the name.” Lynn can see something is troubling him; she says, “There’s got to be a story behind the name; come on, work on your storytelling.” Aran thinks for a little while. “The name comes from the world I came from. It’s a trading company that roams the land, trading in everything they can.” Everyone stares at Aran, waiting; Aran sighs, “Where I came from, my village was raided when I was little. We were all taken prisoner, and then they separated us. I never saw my parents or my brothers and sisters again. After a while, it just became how things were. One of the great houses bought me. They put me with their gladiators to be one of the gladiator servants, so I was always locked in with them. Whatever the gladiators wanted, I did. It was far from fun, but they kept me alive if I did what I was told. I learned the hard way not to become a favorite of any one of them. If that gladiator died, you would have difficulty getting others to accept you. Look, I hate thinking about this, much less talking about it. To tell the truth, Kara came up with the name when I told her I had hidden within that trading company to escape. She named us to prove she doesn’t hate me, but I see it whenever she looks at me. She sees that I lived, and her friend died because I’m a coward.”

Lynn leans forward, “Listen, Aran, I’ve got a pretty good sense of people, and when I healed her, I sensed nothing but a pure soul. What do you mean it’s your fault?” Aran stands up, “If I had let go, maybe she could have saved Camiella instead of me. But instead, I screamed when I started slipping while Camiella fell to her death. Camiella is worth ten, no, a hundred of me.” Lynn stands up and places a hand on his shoulder; Aran ducks out from under her grip and walks off. She looks at Kal, “Go, keep an eye on him, don’t let him see you. I guess I pushed a little too hard. Caylee made another one fall in love and broke his heart.” She looks toward Aran, walking away, when she looks back at her friends. She sits back down, “That boy has emotions flying all over the place, and Caylee didn’t help by playing her games with him and the girl. I didn’t help by encouraging it.”

Ava and Caylee exit the baths and enter the changing room at around nine bells. Kara sits up, “I assume you two had fun.” Both just nod. Ava sits beside Kara and asks, “Why didn’t you tell me?” Kara holds her hand out to Em, and the mimic crawls up her arm and forms into the white clothes with blue trim, “Good girls don’t kiss and tell, but I’m pleased you had fun.” Caylee says, “I need one of those. Where did you get it?” Motioning toward Kara’s clothes. Kara looks at Em, and then Em changes to blue pants, a black/white striped shirt, and a blue jacket, “Em was a gift from the Night Queen for bringing the Celestial Star to Shadowbel. I’m not sure where they got her. I assume you had fun, too.” Caylee’s mouth opens, “The Night Queen, the Celestial Star. Who in the Prime Realms are you? Never mind, don’t answer that.” She looks at Ava, then Kara, “Don’t let that girl fool you. She is a master. I haven’t felt this good in ages.” Kara looks at Ava, “We have time to find something to eat, then we’ll head to the temple.” Ava nods, and Caylee asks, “Okay if I tag along? We’re friends now, and friends stick together.” She kisses the tip of Ava’s ear, causing her to flash red.

Kara stands before Caylee and looks up at her, “No games at the temple, and you need to talk to Aran and make sure he understands that this thing with you is just that, a thing.” Kara turns to Ava, “You understand, it’s just a thing, right?” Caylee shrugs, “Yeah, yeah, he won’t be the first or last heart I break. I can’t help it; I’ve been like this since our encounter with those things.” Ava says, “We talked, I know. Quit staring at me. It’s embarrassing.” Kara smirks and walks out the door. She hands the guard/masseuse a gold coin; he accepts it. Kara, Ava, and Caylee walk toward the temple and stop at a tavern to get water, ale, and food. Caylee asks, “You don’t like ale?” while looking at Kara. Kara replies, “Love it, though I love mead most. I don’t drink anything stronger than watered-down mead when I’m carrying a child. It just doesn’t feel right.” Caylee takes a drink of ale and spits it out, “This Princess of yours?” Kara smiles and nods. Caylee leans forward on the table, “Say, would you introduce me some time, you know, for fun.” Kara leans forward and smiles, “Remember what I said about her being the jealous type? Well, I make her look like a brothel whore when it comes to being jealous.” Caylee inches a little closer, “I love a good fight as much as good fuck, plus I want both of you.” Kara inches closer, “So do…” Then Ava puts her nose between the two of them and gives them both a little kiss. Both start laughing and sit back. They hear Lynn’s voice, “There the three of you are.” Kara turns toward her, “What’s wrong?”

Kara stands and turns to face Lynn, “This is either a wonderful show of friendship, or this isn’t good.” Lynn gives a defeated look, “Some of both, I guess. We were going to meet you at the temple to stand with you for your companion when Zaos and Aran caught up with us. Dumb, dumb me started pressing Aran for the story about how all of you came together.” Kara frowns as Lynn continues, “He tried to blow us off, but I pressed. I’m sorry. He started talking about his past, then cut it short and said, “You chose The Wandering Mountain Trading Company to make him feel like you didn’t blame him.” Kara asks, “Blame him for…? Crap.” She turns to Ava, “Ava, you know Camiella’s death is not your fault, right?” Ava looks terrified, “Well, I do,,,” Kara gets on her knees in front of Ava, “That was all Camiella; there is no way she would have allowed you, any one of you, to die in her place. I know you’ve watched me for a while and probably heard Camiella and I talk many times; you understand that, right?” Ava nods, and tears are dripping down her cheeks now. Kara stands, grabbing her in a hug, “Naked and covered in slime. Remember?” Ava chuckles. Kara holds her back at arm’s length so she can look her in the eyes, “Camiella knew I could support her, or the three of you, not any other combination of you. She also knew I would die to save all four of you. Clear?” Ava nods, “Camiella’s sworn oath was to protect the Cinderblade family, no matter what. Clear?” Ava nods and wipes away more tears, “I would have died to save all of you. Camiella knew me as well as Sasha does, and she could see I had already made that decision. That’s why Camiella broke my grip, taking the choice away from me.” Ava sniffles, Aelgir and Valovar sniffle, “Something you don’t know about Camiella. Once per year, we would go to High Throne; if you were watching, you probably heard us talking about Aurora’s birthday, right?”

Ava nods, “Yes, I always wanted to go.” Kara says, “That wasn’t the real reason we went; I mean, yes, it was Aurora’s birthday, and we would go to her party. The real reason was it was also Camiella’s anniversary.” Everyone looks a little confused, “Camiella fell in love ages ago, but someone they considered a friend murdered him. Camiella made it her life's quest to bring her lover back to life but couldn’t. She could be a little stubborn. She thought she could force a Raven Knight to bring him back, so she attacked High Throne alone.”

Lynn mumbles, “shit,” “King Cinderblade was impressed by a lone paladin assaulting his citadel and his legions, so he spared her and offered her a deal. He would not bring Jorrith back to life, but he would allow her to visit him for a day once per year.” Kara hears a sob behind her; she looks at Aelgir, wiping tears, “I can’t help it.” “Once per year, Camilla would go to High Throne where she would be killed, spend a day with Jorrith in the afterlife, then return; in exchange, she would protect the Cinderblade family with her life. So that’s what we would do: Sasha, Ambriel, Encarna, and I would attend to Camiella in her death. Sasha and I would sit with her and hold her hands while she was gone. Clear?” Ava wipes away the last of the tears, “She also made us promise years ago that if she died in the service of a Cinderblade, we would let her stay dead and would not ask her to return. That, and only that, would allow her to end the pact with King Cinderblade and let her spend eternity with Jorrith.” Aelgir is sobbing now, and Lynn makes him sit down and drink. Kara turns to Lynn, “I’m sorry we’re so much trouble. This wasn’t you, this has been boiling for a while, and I didn’t see it. Where is Aran?” Lynn says, “Kal is following him, so don’t worry about him.” The eleventh bell rings, “We need to get you to the temple. Kal will contact me if there is any trouble.” Lynn looks at Caylee, shakes her head, and then walks toward the door. Caylee shrugs, “What did I do?”

Aran walks fast, not seeing anything around him nor caring where he is headed. He doesn’t notice when he passes into the slums of Cragcall, but others do. Silent signals, chirps from birds that aren’t birds, a tap on a rail, or even a puff of smoke communicate with the local gang that a stranger, wearing nice armor, has just walked into their territory. Kal sees and hears every signal and stays silent in the shadows as he follows Aran. Aran does see the three individuals step in front of him, about ten feet away. He stops and looks at them, “I just want to be left alone. I’m not looking for trouble.” Then he remembers the Portable Hole in his pocket, with not only all the gold for the slaves but all of Kara’s stuff, coins, gems, and that trophy cabinet she is so concerned about. He also has the Bag of Holding at his waist with more coins, some of his stuff, and Persi’s stuff.

The woman in the center of the three says, “See, that’s the thing. Not wanting trouble here costs, so you drop that shield, the mace, the armor, and the rest of the stuff you have, and then you can keep walking and thinking all you want for the rest of the night.” Aran sees a dagger appear in the woman’s hand, a sword in the hand of the one to her right, and the one to the left unslings a crossbow. He hears more movement to his left and right as he unslings Camiella’s shield and lifts the mace off his belt. “shit.”

In a blur of motion, the woman hurls a dagger at him. Sheer luck has the shield in the right place, then it reappears in her hand, and she hurls it again; there’s no luck this time as it buries itself to the hilt in his left shoulder, then vanishes, reappearing in her hand. The one with the crossbow fires, and he hears the shot whistle past his ear. He feels a sting on his left; he never saw that one coming; it’s a boy; he can’t be more than twelve, but his dagger is in Aran’s left side. The one with the sword raises it to charge, and an arrow appears in his shoulder, knocking him back, and then another arrow protrudes from the boy’s arm. Aran slams the bottom of the shield on the ground and projects a wave of force at the three in front of him, all go flying backward. He hears movement on his right and sees a young girl charging from behind some refuse; there is no way he can move to avoid the blow from her short sword. Then another arrow goes through her thigh, causing her to plant face first into the ground with a sickening crunch as her nose and several teeth shatter. Then, someone is standing next to him.

Kal says, “Let’s go, more will be coming.” Kal grabs Aran around the waist, and they start running back the way Aran came. They round a corner and duck into an alley. Kal hands Aran a potion bottle and says, “Drink it now.” Aran pops the cork with one hand and turns it up. He feels the pain leaving. Kal asks, “What the hells were you thinking coming down here?” Aran asks, “Why were you following me?” Kal says, “That’s what friends do. We look out for each other.” A crossbow bolt ricochets off the wall and zings past Kal’s head. Kal looks at the mace, “You know how to use that, or do you just like to pose with it?”

Aran stands with the shield in front of him. He bangs the mace on the shield, “Yeah, I know how to use it.” A man comes charging around the corner with a sword raised over his head. The mace collides with his jaw, and the man slides to a stop on his face in front of Kal. Kal nods with a satisfied grin, then fires over Aran’s shoulder; Aran feels the fletching from arrows brush by his ears, then hears two thuds as they hit someone out of his sight in the dark. Kal grabs Aran’s shoulder as they run again for the next alley. A rock comes flying out of the darkness and hits Aran in the head. He stumbles but keeps running, with Kal dragging him. A crossbow bolt nicks Kal’s cheek as he looks over his shoulder to see where the enemy is.

Kal jumps, spins, and releases two more arrows before landing. Aran drives a shoulder into Kal, pushing him into another alley as a volley of arrows flies down the street they were just in. Kal looks at Aran, “Thanks.” Four people come running around the corner with weapons raised. Aran turns the shield toward them, and a force wave pulses. All four fly across the street and slam into the wall opposite them. Aran asks, “Who are these assholes?” Kal yells back, “The Bloodhoods, the local thief’s guild, they are kind of the enforcers down here. Go.” Aran and Kal go running up the street again to the next alley. An arrow embeds itself into Aran’s thigh as he yells in pain, and another arrow hits Kal in the arm as he grabs Aran and drags him to cover. Aran reaches into his Bag of Holding and pulls out two healing potions. He drinks one and hands the other to Kal. Kal drinks his, “We having fun yet?” Aran looks at him like he’s crazy. Kal says, “Listen, if you’re pondering Caylee, don’t; she has another man or woman with her every other day.” Aran asks, “Are we going to talk about this now?” Kal shrugs, “Do we have anything better to talk about?” He fires two more arrows at targets outside of Aran’s vision.

The woman’s voice comes from down the street, “Kal, leave the boy, and you can leave with your life.” Kal mumbles, “Great, they saw me. I know they saw you, but they don’t know you. You can get away without them knowing you.” He smiles at Aran, “So, about Caylee?” Aran says, “Really, right now? I don’t care anymore. Is there a way out of here?” Kal yells, “Over the dead bodies of The Nameless Shields.” Then looks at Aran, “Yeah, we fight our way out. How many times will that shield do that pulse thing?” Aran says, “One more time.” Kal asks, “Can it pull them?” Aran nods. Kal says, “She’s down the street. You can pull her to you if we can get within your range. Then we both lay into her as hard as we can. If we can take her hostage, then we use her to bargain our way out. Sound like a plan?” Aran nods. Kal pulls out a yellow potion that seems to vibrate and downs it. He looks at Aran. Aran sees Kal’s pupils fully dilate, then shrink to tiny dots. Kal grins, “Oh yeah, that’s the stuff.”

Kal explodes from the alley at an unnatural speed, and the world around him seems to be moving in slow motion. He fires two arrows at people hiding on balconies; he stows his bow and pulls out his scimitars. She’s less than twenty feet away as Aran follows in slow motion. Aran plants the shield. The woman braces to keep from being pushed, but suddenly, she’s flying toward the shield. She hits the shield with a thud, then a mace collides with her jaw, and the backside of two scimitars hits her in the back of the neck. When she opens her eyes, Kal has one arm wrapped around her neck and the blade of a scimitar against her throat. She says, “You’re going to pay for this, Kal; we’ll come after all of you.” Kal whispers in her ear, “Say that like you mean it, please.” She yells, “Kill them, kill them both!” Kal motions like he’s going to slice her throat open and yells, “Make one move, and you’re looking for a new boss.” as he drags her up the street with Aran holding the shield in front of him and looking around.

Kal sees several lower their weapons, and he whispers to her, “Looks like your people don’t hate you. Let’s keep it like that. I’ve only shot to wound; I don’t think anyone is dead yet. You escort us out, and we go our separate ways. Then, we both have stories to tell. How about it?” She tries to wiggle free, but his grip is too firm, and he continues to drag her backward. She grits her teeth, “I mean it, we’ll kill you all. I’ll skin your new boy alive.” Kal stops, and Aran notices several Crownsguards standing in the street. Kal says, “Promises, promises. Now, you stay in your territory, and we’ll stay in ours. No hard feelings.” He releases her. She hits the ground on her ass, then kicks up to her feet and spins around with her dagger out, and looks at the Crownsguard. The leader of the Crownsguard shakes his head. She points her dagger at Aran, then turns and walks back into the darkness.

The Crownsguard officer asks, “What the hells was all that about? Who kicked that hornet’s nest?” Kal says, “Sorry, Rogel, my friend here took a wrong turn and met my old girlfriend.” The officer looks at Aran, “And who are you?” Aran says, “Sorry, I didn’t know. The name is Aran, sir.” The officer looks at Aran and Kal, “Get your friend off the streets and somewhere safe. I don’t want the Bloodhoods causing problems in my district.” Kal says, “Absolutely, sir.” He looks at Aran, “Shit, you’re a mess. We need to get cleaned up.” The eleventh bell rings, “You planning to be at your friend’s thing?” Aran nods. Kal says come on, try to keep up. We’ll stop by my place, get some clothes, and wipe off the blood; we should be able to make it. Both take off at a sprint. They get to a three-story house; Kal pulls out a key when a female goblin opens the door, “Evening, sir, you’re out…” Her lips curl into a smirk, “I’ll go get the water and some clean clothes.” Kal enters and motions for Aran to do the same. Kal says, “Thank you, Toenail, you’re a lifesaver.” The goblin walks off to another room. Aran asks, “Toenail? We didn’t have many goblins at Nexus; is that a common name?” Kal answers, “That is her name. Goblins name themselves differently than most other races. She’s been with us for three years now. Her husband and their son. Beardung is probably in the basement working on something; he’s a bit of a tinkerer, and their son, Bearbelch, is probably upstairs playing. They watch the place.” Toenail returns with towels and a water pitcher; she looks at Aran, “I think Aelgir will fit you. I’ll get you one of his shirts and a pair of pants. I’ll be right back. Go ahead and get cleaned up.” She leaves again. Aran asks, “So, do I need to worry about your “girlfriend”?”.

Kal looks at Aran, “I called her that to try to piss her off enough to ignore you. Yeah, we need to watch our backs.” Kal starts pulling off his armor and clothes, and Aran does the same. Toenail lays some clothes down for them, and Kal says, “Hey, Toenail.” She stops and looks at him, “I think we pissed off the Bloodhoods royally. You know the protocols.” Toenail nods and leaves. Aran looks at Kal questionably, “They have secret rooms they can hide in. They’ll keep Bearbelch inside. They also have a few friends they can call on to help watch for trouble when we’re gone.”

Aran says, “This is all my fault.” Kal pushes his shoulder while he’s trying to get a leg in his new pants, “We all fuck up. It’s the Adventurer’s Handbook, under the chapter “Fuck Up” I hope you worked out your problems on our little adventure?” Aran frowns, “Caylee threw me off my game, but I understand. I’m still worried about Kara.” Kal says, “You will have to work it out with her. I met her once before, and not much bothered her then. Back then, I watched her throw herself against a god without hesitation. So, whatever you need to work out with her, I recommend you throw yourself against it.” Toenail returns to help them finish with their armor and two Healing Potions. Aran says, “Thank you, Toenail.” She replies, “You’re most welcome, sir.” The twelfth bell rings. Kal says, “We gotta go.” Both run out toward the temple.

Kara and everyone walk up the steps to the temple. She stops and looks back into the city. Lynn says, “Kal will take care of him and get him here if he wants to come. I trust Kal to keep him safe.” Kara lays a hand on Lynn’s shoulder, “Thank you.” Inside, some acolytes are waiting. They look at the size of the group, and one says, “Your friend is in the ritual chamber; he has been given a potion to calm him. Please remain quiet during the ritual. Any interruptions could be disastrous.” Kara nods and looks at everyone. Everyone nods. Kara says, “We’re expecting two more. Please bring them to us when they arrive.” The acolyte says, “As you command Dame Cinderblade.” Zaos says, “Damn, it’s Dame now. I didn’t know you’re a knight, too.” Kara follows the acolyte. Ava steps next to Zaos and whispers, “Several times over, among many other titles. Technically, she’s a Princess too, a Duchess on another…” Kara says, “Enough Ava. I said no titles.” Ava puts a hand over her mouth and follows. The acolytes bring them into an audience room overlooking a ritual chamber. Persi seems to be asleep on an altar draped in the colors of Veleris. Prominent symbols of Veleris are inscribed at eight points around the room, and the altar is in the middle of a magic circle inscribed with thousands of divine runes; some Kara understands, most she doesn’t. She does notice that a large banner with the holy symbol of Galathor hangs from the ceiling on the wall across from the foot of the altar; she says, “Protect him, my friend.” The twelfth bell rings.

Acolytes enter the chamber and stand around the walls, then priests enter and stand at the eight points. First, the acolytes begin a slow chant; then, the priests start with a faster, separate chant but at a similar tempo. Kara has witnessed many rituals, but this seems far more intricate than anything she has seen before. An acolyte enters the audience chamber and motions Aran and Kal to take seats. Aran starts to say something, but Kara quickly touches her lips, silencing him. He turns his attention to the ritual chamber. She sees that he looks like he’s been in a fight but turns her attention back to Persi.

Arden enters and stands at Persi’s head, then begins speaking in a language Kara doesn’t understand. She tries to pick up the cadence, which seems chaotic and random. She can’t grasp it, and listening to it starts to give her a headache, then she realizes it’s the language of the Old Ones. She silently uses her lay-on hands on herself, which ends the headache, and then she touches Aran’s forehead; she sees Ava do the same to herself, and then she touches Lynn, and everyone leans in close enough that she can do the same to them.

Arden’s voice rises until it’s booming off the walls around the chamber, and the magic circle bursts with light. Persi’s back arches as he convulses, then his robes rip as something unwraps and rises. It lashes out at Arden but hits a shield; it lashes again, and this time, the shield seems to give. Arden yells at the creature, and it recoils back before lashing again; this time, the shield around Arden shatters, but Arden grabs the thing and holds it. He continues the chant in the Old One’s language. The thing starts to try to pull away from him. It lashes at Persi, but the Holy Symbol of Galathor bursts to light, and all it hits is another shield. Kara swears she sees Camiella standing next to the altar, holding her shield over Persi and protecting him, but when she rubs her eyes and looks again, she doesn’t see her.

The thing releases Persi and begins to coil around Arden. Arden is clearly in tremendous pain; smoke is rising from his skin where the thing touches. But he continues to hold it; it lashes at Persi repeatedly and meets the shield again. Kara sees Camiella again. Now she knows it’s not just her seeing things. Everyone is looking at her. They all want to ask who it is but know to keep silent. All the priests change to another chant, similar to an Imprisonment spell, and all the acolytes change to a chant like a Banishment spell. The thing starts to panic and begins lashing out all around the room. Arden switches from the language of the Old Ones to casting a Gate spell. She sees three of the acolytes nearest Arden casting Healing Word on him repeatedly. The creature lashes out at one of them; now she knows she sees her; a ghostly image is suddenly in front of the acolyte with her shield extended. It lashes at the acolyte next to the one she’s in front of, and her sword slices the tendril off. All three acolytes look stunned at the sight, but they continue casting. Camiella places a hand on Arden’s shoulder. His wounds heal, and his strength returns. There is a bright flare of light, and the thing is gone. Camiella looks up at the audience. She smiles at Kara, then looks at Aran and Ava, silently saying, “It’s not your fault.”

Camiella fades, and the other priests run in and catch Arden before he falls to the floor, already casting healing and restoration spells on him. He looks up at Kara and gives her a thumbs up.

Kara inhales; she doesn’t know when she stopped breathing, but it was long enough ago that the breath feels very good. She relaxes some. She aches all over from tensing up. Zaos whispers, “Can we talk now?” Lynn slaps him on the back of the head, “Yes, we can talk now.” Kara looks at Aran, “You’ve been fighting.” Aran bows his head, “I’m…” Kara lifts his head and places a finger on his lips, “Listen to me first, then say what you want. I will not be mad. I want you to understand this clearly. Camiella knew I could save all of you, including her, by sacrificing myself with no hope of me surviving. She knew I would do exactly that. She swore an oath long before I was born to protect the Cinderblade family at the cost of her life. Clear?” Aran nods, “She also knew I was not strong enough to support her with her armor and any combination of her and you. Her in her armor was my limit. She understood that when she pointed out the three of you falling out. I knew that too, but me, being me, I denied it. I knew what she would do when I dove for you; again, I denied it. She died with honor, upholding her sworn oath. Trust me when I say this: she is happier now than ever. It is not your fault or anyone’s fault she died. She died by her choice and under her terms. I do not blame you for her death. I do not blame any of you for her death.” Kara looks at Aran and Ava, “I don’t blame myself either, so erase that guilt. Clear?” Kara moves her finger from Aran lips to brush away a tear. Aran nods. Kara says, “Good, now let’s go get some sleep. Persi will be out until tomorrow.”

Aran says, “We may have a problem.”

Lynn looks at Kal, “What did you do?” Kal holds his hands up; Aran says, “It was my fault; I stumbled into the Bloodhoods’ territory. They tried to roll me. Kal saved me.” Kal points at Aran, “That, exactly that.” Lynn says, “All of you can stay at our house tonight.” Ava asks, “What about the former slaves.” Lynn sighs, “Okay, we all go to the inn tonight, Lynn looks at Kara, “If that’s alright?” Kara replies, “Fine with me, the more the merrier. We give the former slaves their money tomorrow. They will be free to do as they wish. Then they will be out of immediate danger.” She starts to laugh. Everyone looks at her like she’s lost her mind, “Damn, I didn’t realize how much I missed being an adventurer, being cooped up in Nexus all these years. Don’t get me wrong, I loved spending time with my family, but there’s nothing like a good fight or not knowing where the ambush is to get that “Alive” feeling going.” Ava bounces, “I know, right.” Aran shakes his head. Zaos says, “I’ll guard Kara.” Lynn slaps the back of his head again. Zaos asks, “No brothel either?” Caylee puts her arms around Aran and Ava, “Dang, all those tentacles got me feeling so horny.” Both Aran and Ava step away from her. Caylee pouts and looks at her hand, “It’s just you and me tonight, babe.”

The walk to the inn is quiet, with the sounds of the city at night. Music and laughter can be heard coming from taverns as they pass. Caylee asks, “What was that thing we saw anyway?” Kara says, “I’m not sure, but Persi said he was researching how to close the rift to the Far Realm permanently. Something went wrong. Instead, it opened a portal, and something came through. He managed to close the portal, but not before that thing had gotten a hold of him and cursed him. Then it started growing.” Caylee asks, “Then he should have gotten help, right?” Kara replies, “Yes, but. Nexus tried to guard the Prime Realms against the Far Realm. Our normal protocols were to destroy “infections” or isolate them for study. He was afraid and tried to take care of it on his own. To tell the truth, I don’t know what we would have done. Persi has been with Nexus longer than I have. He came there when he was a young boy. I understand his fear of seeking help.” Lynn asks, “What would have happened if he had said nothing?”