Ingrid stretched as she forced herself out of bed in the morning. It must have still been fairly early, but nonetheless she found the space beside her where Alice had been when she fell asleep empty. She always did have a habit of waking up before Ingrid. Putting on some unassuming clothes as she cast a longing glance towards her armor, she grabbed a few rations and had a quick breakfast. She still felt sore, whether that was leftover from her using that much magic or her time with Alice was anyone’s guess. As she finished her small meal, Alice entered the room, giving a quick wave to Ingrid.

“Morning, Princess. Your legs okay?” She teased.

“Well, everything is sore, so I can’t really give a proper answer to that.”

“Eh you can walk, I think that’s enough evidence I controlled myself. Malori and Kallen up yet?”

“I haven’t heard anything. What were you up to? Would it have killed you to stay in bed with me for a little while longer?” She huffed.

“Forgive me, your highness, I thought you would have enjoyed an extra couple hours of sleep,” Alice said in an exaggerated elegant voice, “However if you would like to check on the stables and inventory of our journey in the future, I will be sure to wake you up posthaste!”

It was hard not to laugh when Alice talked like that. Then again, Alice’s humor did mesh pretty well with hers. “Well, I do appreciate going out of your way to check on everything. Thank you Alice.”

“Mmm validation does feel good in the morning. We should probably be heading out soon, wanna come help me wake up the ball of anxiety?” She offered.

Ingrid eased herself up from where she was sitting on the bed and grabbed her things before heading to the door. “We should probably wake them up. You said you wanted to leave first thing in the morning right? I’m inclined to agree. Even if the Druidkeeper of this city doesn’t find us, who knows who we annoyed with our little stunt yesterday.”

“Probably a lot of people who we don’t want to annoy. So much for keeping a low profile. Thank our lucky stars that the next segment is gonna be going through some mountains, it’ll give us time to get anyone we’d rather not have following us off our asses,” Alice complained as they walked to the door of Malori and Kallen’s room.

Ingrid stepped forward, rapping her knuckles on the wood a few times before calling out, “Malori? Kallen? Are you two awake?”

Inside was the sound of a small yelp, followed by the sound of something heavy falling onto the floor. There was a curse, a meek voice asking someone if they were alright, until footsteps came to the door.

“Sorry about that, I wasn’t sure what time you guys would be awake,” Said a bedhead-ridden Kallen. She still had her signature smile on her face, despite a clearly concerned Malori kneeling on one of the beds in the background. “So, what’s up?”

“Oh, um, we were about to head out of the city. Alice mentioned that she wanted to leave early on, didn’t she?” Ingrid explained.

“Oh yeah, she did mention that,” Kallen walked back to her bed, Ingrid noting that it was in fact a separate bed from where Malori had clearly been sleeping. “Well, I guess if you guys are leaving, I should be on my way too.”

“U-Um, where are you p-planning to go?” Malori asked, seeming to falter at the thought of her leaving.

Kallen shrugged. “I’m not sure. I’ve kind of just been wandering for a while now, going where the road takes me. I’m sure I’ll find more people like you to help.”

“W-What if you came w-with us?”

Kallen stopped gathering her few belongings and looked at Malori. There was nothing out of the ordinary about her look, but Ingrid swore she could feel Alice freeze up behind her.

Malori shot a pleading look to the two older women that reminded Ingrid of when Mattias wanted to keep pet beetles as a little kid. She couldn’t help but feel a little pity towards her, knowing how she herself was pretty much Malori’s only friend outside of her weird relationship with Alice.

“Well, would you two be okay with it? I mean, I’m not exactly going anywhere else. You all seemed to have some sort of goal in mind. I wouldn’t mind lending a hand with that.”

Ingrid clicked her tongue, not daring to look back at Alice. She couldn’t shake Malori’s desperate eyes meeting hers. It would certainly be helpful to have someone like Kallen around. Alice was a good fighter, but she had proven that when it came to big confrontations, she couldn’t be the front line. Kallen could fill that niche extremely well, and give Ingrid more room to magically support her and Alice during fights. Not to mention having someone that strong would be an asset when climbing the mountains ahead, especially if they needed to carry something heavy that wouldn’t fit in their bag.

She let out a sigh. “You know what? I’m inclined to think this is a good idea. We could use someone like you in the group, Kallen,” She said happily. Almost immediately after she said it, she felt a tug on her sleeve.

“Hey, Princess, mind if we sidebar real quick?” Alice said in a sarcastic voice. It was also clear she wasn’t taking no for an answer as she pulled Ingrid out of the doorway.

Ingrid was surprised at how forceful Alice was. It wasn’t enough for her to have much of a reaction, but it was surprising nonetheless. Her friend had a smile as sarcastic as her voice as she held her hands together.

“Kay, so Princess wanna explain what the fuck?” She said quickly.

Ingrid blinked, unsure of what to say. “Um, what’s wrong?” She asked nervously.

“I’m asking for an explanation as to why this random woman is suddenly going to be a part of this group,” She hissed quietly.

“She helped us, and she could be extremely helpful going forward. What’s the problem with that?” She furrowed her brow, trying to keep her voice down so that the other two wouldn’t hear.

“The problem is that you don’t see a problem with a six plus foot behemoth who can body check down the gates to a warehouse and no direction in her life suddenly being around us for an extended period of time!”

“I don’t understand, you were having drinks and laughing with her last night,” She pleaded.

“Yeah, because I was under the impression that that was the last time I’d be seeing her. Prince- Ingrid, this is a bad idea. You say you want my thoughts on things, and these are mine on this. I don’t like this, I don’t like her,” She said flatly, the sarcasm gone in lieu of annoyance, “I don’t want her here.”

Ingrid was taken aback. She’d never seen Alice this angry about something before. Sure, she got annoyed at certain things, but they’d never had an actual argument in all of their time with each other. “Alright, I um, can understand being nervous about it, but we’ve seen good things from Kallen. I think having her here would be good for this.”

Alice’s eyes narrowed. “You aren’t doing this because of Shortie’s little puppy crush on her are you?” She deadpanned.

A part of Ingrid wanted to scream, but that wasn’t uncommon. What was with this? Every time someone had done something nice for them, Alice was assuming that there was some ulterior motive in mind. The innkeeper in Lhanbryde, her first impression with Malori, Glakhon, Kallen, now even her? It barely computed in Ingrid’s mind how that kind of train of thought would make sense.

Alice’s eyes betrayed something else with that look though. They were worried as they scanned Ingrid’s face. Of course she was worried. This entire journey had been dangerous, and she had almost died twice. Alice had made it clear that she cared about Ingrid, and even if things were rocky at first, Malori too. She was doing everything in her power to keep the two of them safe, as well as find Mattias. She took a breath. It was still the same Alice.

“Alice, I know that you’re worried. I appreciate you caring this much. There are merits to her being here though,” She said calmly, “Her taking the attention off of you will help you in fights, right?”

The taller woman bit her lip, but didn’t say anything.

“Not to mention, the bag can hold a lot, but only so much. She’s strong, she can help with that. She can help with Malori if she gets tired as well. I know we’re taking the carriage, but we don’t know how far we’re going to be able to take that. Is this making sense?” She pleaded, taking one of Alice’s hands in hers.

Alice averted her eyes, but it was hard to mistake the way her cheeks lightened with a blush. She bit down harder on the side of her lip. “I… Guess it makes sense,” She muttered, not meeting Ingrid’s gaze.

Ingrid brightened. “You’re an enormous help, Alice. But I really think this is something we need. It’ll all work out in the end. Trust me.”

“...Fine. I can’t say I like it, or her, but I guess I’m kinda outvoted here,” She relented. She gave Ingrid a strange look. It was difficult to tell what kind of emotion was behind it, but it made Ingrid’s smile falter a bit. “If this goes poorly though, you can bet your sweet ass I’ll be saying I told you so.”

“You think my ass is sweet?”

“Is that really what you’re focusing on here, Princess?” She grumbled, rolling her eyes, “Let’s head back. We need to make sure they don’t forget anything.”

“That’s not an ans-AH!” She yelped as her hands shot to her butt, having felt a swift smack to it as Alice walked by.

“You’re not great at flirting, Princess. Come on.”

Ingrid pouted, but hopeful as they headed back to the room. Kallen was laying on the floor, seemingly doing some stretches while Malori desperately tried not to stare.

“Uh, you doin alright there? Either of you, I guess,” Alice asked, crossing her arms.

“Oh yeah! Malori just mentioned that we were going to be mountain climbing. That stuff gets tiring, I didn’t want to pull something,” Kallen chuckled.

Alice gave an unamused look at a flustered Malori. “Uh huh. She mention we were taking a carriage too?” She deadpanned.

“Huh, I guess not. Well, it doesn’t hurt to be prepared. I’m sure she just forgot. Yesterday was super stressful after all!”

“You really are dumb as bricks huh,” Alice muttered under her breath.

“Hm? Did you say something?”

“Nah, just working out a few things in my head. Shortie, you got your stuff together?”

Malori yelped as she was suddenly called upon. “Y-Y-Yes! I um, g-got everything packed. I’m ready to leave w-whenever,” She stammered, her face bright red.

Alice sighed, then turned back to Ingrid. The wary look was once again in her eyes. As she walked past again, Ingrid caught her once again speaking without intention of being heard.

“Really hope we don’t end up regretting this…”

With Kallen now in tow, they made their way towards the stables to get their horses. Luckily, they didn’t have to deal with any more trouble, though Ingrid did notice that Alice was making an effort to be as hidden as possible. Her hood and scarf were both up, hiding most of her face. Ingrid felt a bit of guilt at Alice’s clear annoyance. No matter how much she tried to convince herself that it would be alright, that it wasn’t her fault, she just couldn’t.

Was inviting Kallen to the group really a bad idea? She thought it would be fine, and even now Malori seemed so happy at Kallen’s side. It was too soon to go back on the decision she already made, but the weight was already there.

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Reacquiring their horses without issue, Ingrid hopped up into the driver seat while the other three piled into the back. The silence between the group as they set off was enough to make Ingrid start to sweat. Alice was, admittedly, rarely quiet. Even when she wasn’t talking to Ingrid, there was plenty of time spent poking fun at Malori or having surprisingly in-depth discussions about her novels. Currently, there was nothing.

Glancing back, she saw Kallen fiddling with the bandages on her wrists. Malori was still blushing like a schoolgirl, hiding a goofy smile behind a book as she periodically glanced at Kallen. Alice on the other hand was glaring at Kallen like she would try to attack at any moment. Her scarf remained covering her mouth as well. Ingrid wasn’t sure if it was something from her training, or a personal thing, but she refused to speak with the scarf up. Even if she needed to say a single word, she made sure to remove the scarf. It was one of many strange habits that Ingrid had picked up on. She wanted to try talking about them, maybe lighten the mood. She could ask about her strange method of running, or cool knife tricks she had learned.

Every time she tried to work up the courage to say something, the words were dead on arrival. The silence felt far too tense, like a single word would bring everything crashing down around her. With each failure, she could feel the wind pick up around the carriage, or the temperature shift. She would quickly busy herself with focusing on returning things to normal, but a part of her felt even more nervous when Alice didn’t notice. For someone who usually picked up on these things, there was never any acknowledgement of them.

Once the city was finally out of sight, disappearing behind the hills as they approached the mountains, Kallen finally broke the silence.

“So you never actually explained it, but what are you guys trying to do here?” She asked politely, “Not that I’ll have a problem with it regardless, you seem like good people. I did feel like I should at least ask.”

So she was at least learning to ask more questions, that was progress. Ingrid mentally spoke to the horses, making sure that they’d be okay without her driving for a moment. Once she was sure they’d be alright, she hopped back into the carriage, sitting down next to Malori.

“We’re looking for someone. My brother, specifically. Him and I lived in the capital, but one day he disappeared,” Her voice faltered as she explained. Just the thought of what could be happening to him was enough to make her anxious. She took a deep breath before continuing. “He’s a sorcerer, with Umbrakinesis, specifically. One of his specialties with his magic is teleportation. So that generally implies tha–”

“Hang on, what’s Umbrakinesis?” She asked, seeming slightly embarrassed.

It occurred to Ingrid that not everyone understood magic like she did. She was one of four druids in the capital, her brother was a sorcerer, and she regularly got to see the mages of the castle train.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” She chuckled nervously. “Sorcerers are each attuned to an element. That element signifies what they can control and use for magic. Umbrakinesis is control over shadows. It’s one of the rarer bloodlines, so it was pretty surprising when he started moving around the shadows in our house.”

“That sounds kind of crazy. I uh, I have more questions about that. I don’t exactly understand magic super well. I won’t interrupt anymore though,” she said apologetically.

“It’s fine! I’m not that great at explaining things either,” She admitted, “I talk too much sometimes, and don’t always make sense. But, we found a note in my brother’s room saying that he was going to Reach. It’s uh, the territory in northern Amalthea.”

“Oh I know Reach! I grew up near there.”

That one even got Alice to raise an eyebrow in surprise.

“Y-You’re Amalthean?” Malori asked in shock.

“Um, yeah, is that bad?”

Ingrid clicked her tongue. Tensions between the two countries were extremely high. It seemed like both were itching to start a war with each other, with Caer Siorradh being one of the only things keeping it from breaking out. The slightest international incident could cause something extremely bad for everyone involved. The border was also heavily guarded at all decent roads through the mountains. She had a million questions about how this woman got past the border and doubted that Kallen actually knew the answer to any of them.

Shifting her gaze to Alice, she didn’t like what she saw. The simplest word she could use to describe the look on Alice’s face was pissed. Ingrid’s heart dropped, and she quickly looked back to Kallen to try and stop thinking about it.

“I-It’s fine, again. I just wasn’t expecting you to be from another country. I’m not quite sure what I expected.”

“Eh, I don’t really consider myself from there anyway. Like I said, I’m a wanderer. I just walk around and hope something neat happens,” She said far too casually. “That just so happens to be helping you guys right now. I never had any siblings, but I really loved my parents. Let’s make sure you get your brother back, alright?”

Despite the uncomfortableness of the entire situation, the idea of Kallen being at her back did make her feel a bit better.

“So, I’m sorry if you don’t want to explain it, but you’ve kinda thrown out big words like Umbrakinesis and sorcerer. Not to mention talking about druids and mages,” Kallen said, sounding sheepish for once. “Like I said, I’m not very smart, and don’t really understand magic. What’s the difference between them all?”

Ingrid clicked her tongue. That was a loaded question. The boundaries between the different types of magic users were rigid in some places, but lax in others. She tried to figure out the best way to word it before Malori spoke up.

“O-Oh! It’s actually really interesting!” She said excitedly. There was a beaming smile on her face, like her day had just been made. “Th-there are four different types of magic users. D-Druids, clerics, sorcerers, and m-mages. There are parts that are k-kind of complicated though.”

Kallen turned to face Malori, sitting cross legged. She rested her elbows in her lap and her chin in her hands. It kind of reminded Ingrid of a child listening to a story, but that might have been a rude comparison to draw.

“D-Druids use nature magic. Like I-Ingrid! They manipulate natural forces and f-formations. A s-strong enough druid is said to be able to shape entire mountain ranges, but th-there aren’t any actually that strong. So it’s hard to say if that’s t-true. I’m a cleric. We use d-divine magic through our faith. It’s a g-gift from our deities,” She said happily, gesturing to her holy symbol. “I-I worship Carys, the goddess of love. Druids and clerics are the only magic users who can use h-healing magic intrinsically, though a few sorcerous elements can as well. It’s very l-limited for druids though. Clerics can also use d-divination. Like asking deities or celestial beings questions, or for g-guidance.”

Kallen seemed to be listening as well as she could, but her brow was furrowed in confusion from the amount of information. Nevertheless, she nodded along.

“That’s kind of a lot, but I think I’m following,” She said slowly, “So Ingrid could make the wind pick up, and you can force a bad wound closed? Those kinds of things?”

Malori nodded happily. “Y-Yes! Then there are sorcerers. Their magic is the m-most limited, so to speak. Each one is attuned to an element. Their magic is s-something they’re born with as well. They can only use magic of their element, and different elements fo different things. There’s fire, ice, acid, p-poison, lightning, water, sound, shadow, and l-light.”

It seemed like Malori had more to say, but Kallen held up a hand. “Hang on, aren’t all of those natural things though? Would a druid be able to manipulate them?” She asked.

“I can actually answer that,” Ingrid chimed in, “There are some we can manipulate a little bit. Mainly fire and water. It’s hard to explain why we can’t manipulate the others other than that we simply can’t. Not every explanation is set in stone, it’s more that we try to explain what we observe as best we can. After all, magic existed before our definitions of the different kinds.”

“That’s… A little confusing, but I think I got it,” She said, sounding a little winded. She gave Malori an apologetic look. “This is a lot of information. Is it alright if we hold off on the mage explanation? Otherwise I think my head might explode.”

Malori seemed to deflate slightly, clearly wishing to talk more about magic and its properties and individual contradictions. Noticing the look on Kallen’s face though, she relented. “Of course! S-Sorry, I studied magic a-a lot. Talking about it is v-very exciting for me.”

“Well, I’m glad it is,” Kallen smiled, “Maybe I can get that explanation another time though. We have a few days on the road after all.”

Ingrid smiled at the conversation. It was nice to have some level of normalcy after what had just happened to all of them. She closed her eyes, leaning her head back against one of the supports that held up the cover. Taking a moment of deep breathing, she tried to let that feeling of calm linger for a bit and enjoy it. She focused on the sound of hooves against the cobblestones, the gentle wind, no longer being adjusted by her anxiety, the occasional songs or cries of birds.

Even with the calming sounds of nature around her, she couldn’t shake the feeling of Alice’s irritation. She frowned. It hadn’t even been more than a couple of hours and she was already starting to regret her decision. She had held off on so many questions for the purpose of keeping the peace between her and Alice. All she wanted was to avoid fighting. Why was that suddenly becoming so hard? They were approaching two weeks on their little journey, and it already felt like things were falling apart.

This stretch of their trip to Amalthea was going to be hellish if this air continued. She hoped Alice would maybe broach the topic, but they had never tread ground like this before. What would it take to convince her that keeping Kallen around wasn’t going to be a terrible idea? Was she that set in her ways? Was this going to be their dynamic permanently? She desperately hoped it wouldn’t be. The thought of remaining like this with Alice made her stomach lurch.

She just wished Alice would talk to her. There was so much the other girl left as a mystery, both good and bad. Thinking about the likely numerous other things Alice was leaving unsaid did no favors for her anxiety, but it was almost like a nightmare she couldn’t wake up from. The more she tried to change the topic in her head or banish the thoughts entirely, the more they took center stage. No matter how much she ran, her anxieties would always catch up, just like they had with Mattias.

Thinking back to her brief panic attack in Malori’s arms when she found him missing, it wasn’t too far off from this. She had panicked more during that, but she had long had nightmares about something happening to Mattias. On that day they came true. He was gone, and here she was, trekking across the country and the next for a chance to get him back.

Ever since the day she met Alice, she was worried about arguing. Of course Alice cared about her, that was shown time and time again, but it wouldn’t have been the first time someone who cared fiercely about her had suddenly changed. Alice was not going to become her sister. She had to have faith in that. Even while she prayed for Cecilia to move on and get better, for them to start being a family again, she prayed now that she wouldn’t have to go through that with her closest friend. Was friend even the right word? It didn’t have to be. She wanted Alice in her life, and she’d do anything to preserve that. All she had to do was hope this tension would pass.

“Um, hey Kallen, is it alright if I ask something?” Ingrid called back. It was a rather sudden shift of mental topic, but it was something to think about that wasn’t Alice.

“What’s up?” She asked happily, shifting to sit up from where she was lying down in the cart.

Ingrid winced. Something about how nonchalantly Kallen spoke made her feel bad about the situation. Was it selfish of her to try and focus on something other than her fight? She shook away the question, dreading the answer.

“During the fight, there were people you let go. Others you attacked without hesitating. Maybe some of them survived their injuries, but you seemed to be going for the kill at the very least…” She trailed off, staring at the road in front of her. “How do you know whether or not to attack them?”

The cart went quiet. Ingrid felt her heart start to race as she wondered if she had said something wrong. Kallen was an extremely sweet girl, maybe the thought of killing was something that tore her up at night.

“Oh that? It’s kinda just second nature. Aurelia taught me that in a fight, if someone has a weapon, you need to be ready for them to try to kill you. If you don’t strike with the intent to kill, you’re not going to survive,” She said plainly, twirling one of her fingers in the air. “But it’s all about balance too. You shouldn’t just kill everyone you fight. If someone looks like they might surrender, you should let them.”

Ingrid nodded, trying not to show how stunned she was. Alice appeared to be ignoring everything, but Malori was just as enraptured as she was. Ingrid leaned back as Kallen continued.

“It’s more than just that though. We were fighting human traffickers. They broke into an inn and stole a girl out of her bed. Aurelia always liked to say, ‘if you spare an enemy, you’re responsible for their victims,’ when talking about it. I didn’t let most of them live because odds are if I did, they would have done that again.”

That wasn’t something Ingrid had thought about. Would the ones who survived do something like that again? Zelzar had shown little to no remorse. He was willing to kill Malori just to spite them. It was hard to imagine he would have learned from his actions had he survived. The others it was hard to say. It wasn’t like she knew them. They were just faces that passed by. Even when they had tried to kill her, she made an active effort to let them live. Did that make her merciful? Or was she just ensuring that they’d hurt someone else down the road? She wished Labhras had taught her about this. Maybe she’d understand what to do more.

“Um, K-Kallen, who is this Aurelia?” Malori asked quizzically.

“Oh right! She was my teacher,” Kallen chimed, “She was apparently a friend of my mom. When my parents were trying to scrounge coins or food together and I was left alone, she’d take care of me! She was the one who taught me how to fight. Well, the basics at least. I’ve been doing this for years. Training is no substitute for actual experience,” A wide grin spread across her face. “That’s another phrase she liked to use. Maybe she had a notebook full of them?”

“Well, if she taught you how to fight, she must have been a good teacher,” Ingrid offered, realizing that she hadn’t even registered Kallen saying a name she’d never heard before. “Did she teach you how to jump around like that when you fought? It was rather impressive, like an acrobat.”

“Yup! It took her a bit to get the hang of teaching me. The first month or so she kept having to remind herself that I didn’t have wings,” she chuckled.

“W-Wings… Was she an ari? The b-bird-like people?”

“Nah, she was an angel.”

Ingrid and Malori blinked. Even Alice in her deliberate state of ignorance opened one eye from where she was pretending to nap in the back of the cart.

“A-An angel? W-W-What do you mean?”

“It’s what she said she was. In her actual form she had silver skin, and really big wings. She’d have to hide them to not attract attention. She’d take me for a flight every once in a while though, it was a lot of fun,” She said fondly. “She went missing a few months before my parents got sick. I never really saw her again after that. I still wonder what happened to her sometimes, but I don’t really know where I’d look.”

Ingrid looked to Malori. A cleric hearing about someone apparently having combat lessons from an angel must have been a lot, to say the least. Sure enough, the girl looked dumbfounded. The thought crossed Ingrid’s mind that depending on what deity Aurelia served, Malori might have been able to search for her. That didn’t really seem like something she should offer without talking to her first.

She looked at Alice again to see if there was any further reaction, but she had gone right back to sleeping. Her heart sank. Maybe this was something good though. Alice mentioned that sunlight hurts her eyes, like most dark elves. Maybe sleeping would give her some sort of reprieve from that. She hoped so at least. Still, the look on her face was far from a happy one. Normally she had a satisfied smile when she was sleeping, but right now she just looked irritated.

Her eyebrow would twitch every once in a while as Kallen and Malori continued their conversation. Ingrid found herself tuning them out, instead focusing on steering the cart. At the very least she could be happy that Malori and Kallen were hitting it off. That seemed to be the norm with Kallen though. She was even polite to the traffickers that she let escape. Ingrid couldn’t really tell if that was admirable or not. Maybe it was just another aspect of her intelligence. Her intelligence seemed to fluctuate wildly depending on what was talked about though. There were moments where that made her seem like she understood a lot more than she thought, but she also seemed to really believe the idea that she was an idiot. She even said it with pride. Ingrid wondered if that was something that someone had told her and she had just accepted, or if it was a thought she had had for herself.

She almost found herself wishing that they hadn’t changed their minds on stopping at a few more villages to the north. At least then there might have been something to do instead of just sit and stew in her own anxiety. Malori never seemed to tire of talking to Kallen. Even if Kallen fell asleep or wasn’t talking, the little esper would immediately have her nose in a book. All she could do was chat with the horses. As she mentally prepared herself for the coming days, it was impossible to shake the feeling that this was all her fault.