It was such a strange parallel - the similarity between how the Heart was rapidly emptying out its population and energy draining out of Verne. Aris almost felt comfortable materializing into her physical form right in the middle of the road as she sensed so few people around them. She doubted the Sekrelli would even notice if she materialized stark naked out in the open.

They managed to track down a merchant or two, the first one in the middle of packing a wagon to leave town. He sold them pencils and small carving knives at next-to-nothing prices. Verne packed it all up in a backpack without her prompting him to and wordlessly wandered to the next street.

It was as if he was simply moving on instinct. His dark green solute looked strangely calm as if he was constantly asleep. It disturbed Aris since a solute would occasionally flicker or react somehow to its surroundings, unless its owner was purposely controlling it to still. It was what Ral tended to do when he readied himself for a burst of speed - in her begrudging curiosity with the Yscian, she can see Ral learned it from his time with the Somas.

But Verne wasn’t doing it purposely. His solute looked… dead on its own.

Aris sighed. She floated next to him in her shade form - now the default for her when moving simply for convenience. It would be impossible for her to move with ease and she didn’t have time and energy to accustom herself to the physical space around her.

“I’m hungry,” she said. “Get me some steamed buns.”

She followed him like a loyal spirit as he did as she asked without complaint. Verne made no effort to converse so she filled the silence by studying the dark line in the sky. The bulge in the middle was becoming more prominent to her. There was still no sign of a solute fueling it. If it was anything like the other Gates, there should be one near it, but Aris couldn’t ‘see’ any signs of it.

Furthermore, she noted that the Gaians still in the streets of the Heart were still Gaians, solutes unturned. Perhaps the Gate was too far or still at an unopened state. It was unprecedented to see the darkness yet have the Gate unopened.

She eyed Verne's dark green solute again. After much walking, he managed to track down someone selling bread. It wasn’t steamed buns but the bread merchant told them the bun seller had skipped town the moment the dark line appeared, as did many others.

“You should be grateful I’m still here providing the good people with food,” the baker sniffed.

Verne did not engage - he simply paid for the two loaves of bread and left. Aris wondered if he even realized he bought bread, not steamed buns. She had hoped the food would bring out some sort of reaction.

“I want to eat by the water,” she then announced. “A spot with a good view.”

If this was Ral, he would have immediately complained and pointed out that a good view would be wasted on her. But Verne made no such comments and started walking. As she continued to follow him, she could hear the growing sounds of crashing waves. At some point they traveled at an incline.

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“It’s safe here,” Verne finally announced after a long walk. Aris switched to her physical form and was greeted by a cold salty breeze that came with the sound of the ocean. Immediately she felt his hand grip hers to steer her down to sit on a rock.

“Is this at a cliff edge?” she asked.

“There’s enough space. Just don’t move from here.”

It was fucking freezing. Aris immediately wanted to leave but she chewed the inside of her lip while wondering how much it would help to aggravate Verne even more. She didn’t have any plan beyond trying to distract him and it wasn’t working in the slightest. Of course she hadn’t done anything beyond making him do stuff for her, but what else was Rask expecting her to do? They had tasks to complete to fix a hole in the sky and it was the most convenient use of their time to pick up whatever Laell needed.

As they continued to sit in awkwardness, now with cold bread in their hands, Aris was beginning to think closing a giant Gate and perhaps even facing a rampaging god trying to turn everyone into mindless monsters was preferable to this.

“I’m sorry,” Verne said.

If she had eyes, she would blink in confusion. “What in the sun’s name are you talking about?”

“I don’t know. I feel I owe you an apology,” Verne said. “For doubting you. For everything my parents have done. They sent me out here with you, expecting me to kill you and Ralos.”

“You already told us about that.” He had ‘confessed’ everything that night immediately after the incident.

“If it hadn’t been for Ral or Camaz… if I hadn’t had the experience I’ve had, perhaps I would have done it.” His words came out hesitantly. Aris knew that he found it hard to say them aloud.

“So I’m grateful. I’m glad you met my brother and mentor,” Aris shrugged. “You didn’t hurt me. You would never hurt me or Ral. You’ve said so yourself.”

There was a silence and Aris thought perhaps Verne was staring at her. The thought bothered her for some reason so she concentrated on ripping apart the bread in her hands to eat. She braved another blast of cold ocean breeze as she chewed on the slightly stale bread.

“We have enough to think about without worrying about things we emphatically have not done,” Aris added. “Or being ashamed of a version of ourselves that does not exist.”

Verne remained silent, solute not reacting.

“I feel like you already know that,” she pressed. “You’re bothered about something else.”

Cold, salty air swirled between them. During the chaos of the fight, Aris was preoccupied with trying to close the Gate. The room they were in was covered in a dazzling array of runes that were nearly blinding in her ‘vision.’ There was too much noise and movement for her to really understand what was happening. She had seriously thought that they made a massive mistake breaking in there as Ral’s defeat of the manservant was what triggered the Gate to open. However, with Verne’s explanation afterwards, she understood they were going to sacrifice Verne to open the Gate. Ral had killed the manservant as an act of self defense.

It was arguable that what Verne did was also self defense. Aris caught his father’s solute turn into the void-like form immediately after the Gate opened, so his father would have died regardless after it closed. She heard fighting and Ral confirmed afterwards Verne drove a sword through his own half turned father. His mother died in the process.

Perhaps he felt guilty for their deaths. Perhaps he felt guilty for grieving. She wished he would tell her.

He made a sound that she recognized as a hand over stubble. “Aris, I didn’t have a talisman on me when the Gate opened,” he finally said. “Neither did my mother. And neither of us turned.”