The company reached the inn within about thirty minutes. Yarro could no longer tell time he was so tired. They barged in, with their overnight bags and their meals. Everyone seemed to know where to go but Yarro was at a lost, despite him being the only one who had been in here before today. “You can sleep by me.” Kael motioned to the corner of the inn. It felt a bit weird to sleep in a place he had regular meals in, but at this point he didn't care. he was too tired to argue with his gut.

Instead, his mind began to wander towards all the bodies he saw as they passed on their way back to the inn. Some ground to a bloody paste. Others with limbs stuck in odd positions. Due to everyone going directly to the mines, no one had the time to bury them or even pick them up. Yarro took a deep breath, pushed the reminders of his failure out of his mind, and followed Kael with his sleeping bag and to-go meal. However once he started to set up his sleeping bag, Kael grabbed his own meal, as well as Yarro’s, and said, “I’ll be right back.”

Yarro watched as Kael handed their food to what seemed like a fire elementalist. The guy did not look happy, and was pointing at the hearth in the middle of the inn. Kael pleaded a little, and with a glance to him, the guy sighed and gave in. Slowly, he used his element to warm up their food.

Yarro decided to unroll Kael’s sleeping bag in return. He put it close to the wall, since he suspected that since the corner was specifically pointed out that Kael liked not being in the open. But then he had a dilemma came to how far apart should his own sleeping bag be from Kael’s. Yarro fiddled with the distance, careful not to put it too close or too far. Hoping it wasn’t too close that Kael thought he might try something and didn’t intrude in each other’s personal bubble, but still close enough to signal his interest in Kael. His mind too tired to even realize what he was doing.

“Ok, I convinced Marcus to heat up our meals with his fire instead of us having to wait until the hearth fire warmed it up.” Kael handed Yarro his wrapped meal as he sat down. “Here. This one is yours.”

“Thank you.” Yarro unwrapped his meal, eyeing Kael. He leaned against the wall, crossed legged and seemingly relaxed as he scarfed his food down. Yarro stared at his meal for a second. He decided to speak his mind, quietly, so others wouldn't overhear. “Why are you being so nice to me? I mean, you didn’t have to warm up my meal like you did. And you didn't have to help me out in the mine.”

Kael was already chewing his food. He stared at Yarro for a moment, head cocked in confusion, and swallowed. “Like I said. I know what it’s like. I’ve lost people too, and if there’s one thing I remember is that I wished I had people to take care of me when I did.” Kael took another bite, this time talking with his mouth full. He seemed oblivious to the kind words he said. “I don’t know if you have family back in the city or not, but I’m sure you were close to the people living in this town.”

Yarro nodded. This guy read him like a book it seemed. He looked down at his food that was quickly growing cold. In the stress of going down to the mines and fighting the earth elementals, Yarro had forgotten how hungry he was. His stomach rumbled at the smell of cooked food all around him. He rushed to take a few bites, but it didn’t really taste like much to him. He still ate it, since he hadn't eaten for over a day by now.

Kael, on the other hand, was wolfing down his food. He must be used to it. “Who did you lose?” Yarro asked. Kael immediately paused, surprised that such a question was being asked.

Finally he swallowed his food. “My parents,” he simply said. Yarro wanted to know how, but judging by his reaction just now it impolite to dig deeper.

Yarro merely nodded and ate the rest of his meal in silence. He felt bad for asking now. He didn’t know asking would bring up something that terrible. Though in hindsight it was pretty obvious.

A few minutes later, Aster’s group came in. She went to talk with Commander Veer while the rest went to eat and lay out their beds. He watched the room for a while. They were all happily chatting away and eating. Someone found a supply of alcohol and soon rowdy laughter echoed in the inn. Some went to bed immediately and didn’t chat at all.

“Listen up everybody!” Commander Veer shouted. “Wake up call is at dawn.” A chorus of groans from the company. Dawn was only a few hours off from now. Of course everyone would be upset. “We’ll do one last sweep of the area before heading out, so get some rest.”

Most of the company began to clean up their dishes and started taking off their armor and shoes. Yarro followed suit, and took off his breastplate and shoes. His feet ached, badly. He glanced over at Kael to see him already attempting to sleep with his back facing the wall. Yarro kept his shoes and breastplate closer to himself and hoped they would still be there by the time they all woke up.

His braids were put into a protective bun, got into his own sleeping bag, and was asleep in seconds. However, his dreams were anything but pleasant. All the villagers of Dawic lined up in front of him, and one by one, they stepped up, and he killed them. Each and every one. Some were crushed. Some were sent flying. Some sunk into the earth, buried alive.

Michael. Julia. Pearla. Yanik. Erica.

Their painful screams echoed in his head until it sounded like nothing more than background noise. The intense smell of blood nearly made him gag multiple times but he couldn't. He had nothing to vomit. And yet he couldn’t stop himself from killing either. Some of the townsfolk appeared twice. Thrice. Four, five, even six times. A never ending line formed for them to be killed, murdered, over and over again.

He had become the Master Earth Elemental that killed them all.

Yarro woke up gasping and drenched in sweat. His heart raced a mile a minute.

It seemed Yarro only got to sleep for a few hours, so it was more of a nap than a full sleep. When he woke up, half of the company had already awoken. The company bustled all around him, putting away their things, getting ready to leave, and those who didn’t eat last night were eating now. He heard Commander Veer talking to someone, and the voice that replied seemed distantly familiar. Yarro rubbed his eyes and looked over. Pearla and Jochel stood by the counter, looking frazzled but otherwise unhurt.

Yarro jolted up and ran to hug them both. “Oh sweet stars! Someone’s alive after all!”

Pearla laughed and hugged him back. “Yes, dearie. We hid under the inn, in the cellars. We saw those Earth Elementals earlier all around the village and thought they had finally broken in. When I finally came up and peaked, I saw you all!” Pearla patted his cheek, a gentle gesture he was familiar with by now. Yarro took her hand in response and squeezed it in his, smiling ear to ear. “I was going to make you all some breakfast but Commander Veer says you guys ate just a few hours ago.”

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Yarro wiped a tear from his eye, unable to stop the overwhelming amount of relief. At least two survived. He didn’t know what to say and instead just hugged Pearla again. She gave a comforting sigh and gave him a tight squeeze. Finally Yarro spoke. “Would you two be able to come and testify what happened here to Queen Illa?”

“Testify? Oh sweet stars, no! We’re too old,” Jochel scoffed. “We’d never make it there at your company’s pace.”

“But wait,” Yarro interrupted. “Where did everyone go? Is Governor Erica still alive? Or her husband? What about Minae and Courtney? Surely everyone is going to have a hard time without the healers..." Yarro's worry trailed off as he remembered his dream.

Pearla pat his hand. “Don’t worry, dearie. Erica is fine, and so are the healers. It’s unfortunate that some folks didn’t make it out, but most of the ones farthest from the north mine were able to escape, once they saw what was going on. I’d say at least half the village is still out there. Last I heard, Erica wanted to take them to Gestassi.”

“That’s at least 2 and a half days on foot, with only one or two people, but a whole group?” Commander Veer frowned. “Army General Calina will have to send another search party for them. Are you sure there’s no one else here?”

“We don’t know,” Jochel said. “Like I said before madam, we holed up underground once we saw all hell broke loose. No windows down there to see if anyone left afterwards or if they hid, like us.”

Commander Veer sighed and went over to Aster, who was already up and dressed in armor. “Get a search party up, preferably whoever’s awake at the moment. Do a quick sweep before we leave, indoors this time.” Aster nodded, and began to gather peopl. She moved fast, and was able to gather up whoever was up in only a few moments. “Peacekeeper Yarro,” Commander Veer said. He looked over. “Wake the rest of the company. I still need to write an official report.” She picked up a clipboard, made some initial notes on the parchment, and motioned for the elderly couple to begin.

Most got up with just a nudge or a tap, and some needed a playful slap on the cheek. Those people always fully jolted awake and it was hilarious every time. Finally, Yarro arrived at Kael. He was still asleep, his face resting peacefully. Yarro almost didn’t want to disturb him. He didn’t know what Kael thought about the massacre out there. But maybe he was having a nightmare, like he did.

He kneeled down close to Kael’s face. “Kael?” Yarro almost whispered. There was a deep breath, but he was unsure if that meant the man was awake. He moved his hand close to Kael’s face, intending to nudge him, but to his surprise, Kael’s hands came up and wove his fingers with Yarro’s before they could touch his face.

“I’m awake,” Kael mumbled. After his eyelids fluttered open to reveal his obsidian eyes, they stared, hand in hand. Yarro took in every inch of Kael’s face, finally able to get a better look at the other. Black and short, overnight stubble. His shoulder-length even-messier-than-before black wavy hair. His bushy eyebrows and long eyelashes. Judging by Kael’s wandering eyes, he was doing the same. He even sat up a bit and glanced down at his feet. “You’re not dressed still?”

Yarro shrugged and a slow grin spread throughout his face. The fire was still warm and he was too happy about finding Pearla and Jochel still alive. “Someone from the town is alive,” he said. Kael raised an eyebrow and looked behind him. “The elderly couple that takes care of the inn. They hid in the cellar.” Yarro continued to smile and looked back at them.

“I’m glad someone’s still here, then,” Kael said with a small nod.

“That’s not all. Pearla said at least half the town escaped and headed towards Gestassi. We’re not going though. Commander Veer said another search party will be sent for them.”

Kael nodded, and broke their hand holding to sit up. “I assume we’re leaving soon then?” He moved to put on his shoes.

While Kael and Commander Veer talked, Yarro rolled up his sleeping bag, and then Kael’s sleeping bag as well. He set them next to each other, and made sure his own bag was ready to go before reaching for his breastplate and shoes. Yarro inspected it a bit before putting it on and had noticed the back was scratched. Most likely from being thrown against the rocks in the initial attack. He sighed. At least it was the armor and not his body.

“Here, let me.” Kael appeared next to him and helped strap in the breastplate.

“Oh thanks. Can you also check the back of my head? I hit it pretty hard when we were attacked. My coworkers wrapped it up but I don't know how well they did,” Yarro said as he pulled his bun down.

“Where?”

Yarro removed the bandages and had to feel around before he found the spot. “Here.” He felt Kael’s hands touch the spot. It was still a bit raw and he flinched. Kael sucked in some air through his teeth.

“Why didn’t you say so earlier?” Kael looked around the room, clearly searching for someone. “Hey, Ophe? Can you come look at this?” A man a few feet away was chatting with a small group when one of them pointed them out.

The man named Ophe came over. “What’s up?”

“Yarro’s got an injury from the attack. Can you heal it?” Ophe went around to the back of his head. He spread some of the braids away to see better.

“I can. Come over by the fire so I can see.” They moved closer, and Ophe pulled out some water.

Yarro gasped. “You’re a water healer?” Some folks can heal through the natural properties of healing water. Some earths could pull out the natural healing properties of various flora. Water healers were more rare, since the concept was so difficult to understand. Yarro himself didn't either.

Ophe chuckled, and the cool sensation of healing water came over his skull. Yarro instinctively closed his eyes with the soothing feeling that came with being healed. “Well, they wouldn’t just send a company without any way to get better after a fight, would they?” Yarro nodded. “Please don’t move your head.”

“Oh. Sorry.” They continued to chat about the one thing they had in common, Rylin. A few minutes later, Ophe pulled the water away. Yarro felt much better, and his head no longer aches. More like a dull throbbing, very faint almost.

“There. Good as new. Well, almost. You’ll have a scar, definitely, since you waited too long before saying something.” Ophe got up and left without so much as hearing a thank you.

Yarro turned his head away from Kael. “So? How does it look?”

Kael leaned in close. “Looks better. You can hardly tell you have a scar, but it looks like you might have a small little bald spot for a while.” Kael took his hair and started pulling it into the half bun he had on yesterday. “But if you do your hair like this, no one will ever know.”

Yarro looked back at him with a smile when he was done. “Thanks.”

The rest of the company was also getting ready for the day. Some even refused to get up at first, but their buddies eventually woke them up. At some point, Commander Veer had finished her report and had gone outside. The sun was rising, the buildings covered in shadow while shades of orange chased a cloudy violet black sky.

The search party led by Aster came back and reported her results to Commander Veer. Words and nods were exchanged until the commander turned to the rest of the group. “Alright everyone, let’s move out,” She said and left to where the horses were stationed. It seemed there were no more survivors. A pang of guilt stung Yarro's heart but he had to push it out if he wanted to keep up with the company.

They all began to file out of the inn with all their items in hand. Yarro hugged and kissed the cheeks of Jochel and Pearla before leaving. The only survivors. “I’ll make sure Trader Abel makes his way over here with some food.”

“Oh, thank you dearie, but we have enough for now. If it’s just going to be us two, we’ll survive for a bit longer. Don’t worry about us,” Pearla said with one last hug.

Yarro waved goodbye, blew out a kiss as he left the door, and saddled his horse. It hurt him, but if he had any chance to save the town, he had to leave now. They needed to get permission to deploy the army to Gestassi, since the Master Earth Elemental wasn't here. It would be useless for Yarro to go by himself.

The travel was slower this time, but they still needed to reach the Rylin fast enough to give an update on the missing villagers and escaped Master Earth Elemental. They took a break about four hours in so they could feed and water the horses, and ate an early lunch. Yarro took the time to stretch his body in as many directions as he could. At some point he felt eyes behind him and when he looked, he saw Kael, eating, and totally not looking at him. Yarro smirked at the thought of Kael watching him. Thinking he was sneaky but he wasn’t.