Chapter Ten: A Pit Stop

Raimie, Ryvolim

Raimie

We were halfway through the third day of our journey to the Birthing Grounds when Oswin pulled everyone to the side.

“We’re being followed,” he quietly told us.

Which seemed to surprise only me. Kylorian, Little, and Ryvolim all nodded their agreement while I looked on incredulously.

“What do you mean someone’s following us?” I asked.

And at my side, Dim clicked their tongue.

“What? You didn’t notice?” they said, almost sneering at me. “I thought it was fairly obvious.”

Sighing, Bright said, “Don’t be such a brute. Remember. He’s a little less… attuned—we’ll call it—than usual still.”

I tried to ignore them. As I’d expected, my splinters had been irritable since I’d closed Da’kul’s tear. It hadn’t yet become a problem, but still, I’d rather not reward their bad behavior with my attention.

Glancing behind our group, Kylorian said, “Yeah, I caught signs of it this morning. Any idea who it could be?”

As Little shrugged, Ryvolim chuckled.

“I have a guess, but I’m not sure if I’m right yet,” he said. “Shall I go surprise our uninvited guest?”

Oswin waved a hand back the way we’d come.

“If you think you can do it without trouble, I don’t see why you shouldn’t,” he said.

Hmm. That had been less caustic than he usually was with Ryvolim. With him presenting another persona, had Oswin started getting over whatever had made him so antagonistic to my friend?

“I’ll be off, then!” Ryvolim said.

With a loose salute, he spun on his heel and strode into the nearby brush. While we waited for him to return, I took a moment to enjoy the scenery around me.

After leaving Tiro, we’d taken a loose march through the Cerrin Forest, heading north toward a passage through the mountains. After reaching the other side, we’d entered a new region, one governed by Enforcer Dalinasth. Thank the gods for my Hand, taking the time to figure out which Enforcers reigned over which regions, at least on the western fringe of Auden.

This region claimed the straggling remnants of the Cerrin Forest, but then, that thick clumping of trees gave way to a stretch of plains. My companions and I had been traveling along the trailing ends of this for the last day or so, heading toward a town where Kylorian wanted us to resupply. While there, he and the spies in our midst were also hoping to gather any new intelligence that might have spawned since we’d left Tiro. This town was the closest to the Birthing Grounds, or so they said.

Oo, Marcuset had not been pleased about this part of my plan, the one thing I’d left unmentioned during our meeting. He’d kept pushing me to stay with the army, continually repeating that I’d need their protection until we got closer to the Birthing Grounds. Eventually, I’d had to tap into some of my newfound ‘authority’ to stop him.

I still wasn’t sure why he’d been so worried about me. He knew I could take care of myself.

Soon enough, a disturbance in the nearby forest led to Ryvolim striding out of it, dragging someone along by his tunic’s collar.

“As I thought,” he called. “One younger brother, as ordered.”

While speaking those last words, Ryvolim lightly tossed his ‘prisoner’ into our midst, and after he’d stumbled to a stop, Little and Middle groaned while Kylorian froze, and I slapped a hand to my face. Seemingly satisfied with this display, Ryvolim leaned against a tree’s trunk with his arms crossed.

Kylorian was the first to recover his voice.

“Hadrion?” he gasped. “What are you doing here?”

Wrinkling his nose, the teenager said, “Joining you, obviously. Oh! And Ren says hello, to you and Raimie both. She seemed exasperated about getting left behind again.”

Groaning, Kylorian rubbed his temples.

“You can’t-! I just… ugh!”

Turning away, he banged on his forehead for a moment before spinning back toward his brother with a finger pointed accusingly.

“Does Dury know you’re here?” he snapped.

That question seemed to make Hadrion uncomfortable. Shuffling in place, he looked anywhere but at his older brother.

“Technically? No,” he said. “I convinced him to let me train with those fancy Zrelnach that Raimie moved to the fortress. I was supposed to be headed there, but that wasn’t my real plan.”

He shrugged.

“I don’t know. He probably knows I went off-script by now. The Zrelnach were supposed to send a message to Tiro once I reached them.”

Squeezing his eyes closed, Kylorian muttered under his breath, probably meaning for no one else to hear it.

“Alouin damned little brothers…”

But then, he strode forward to grab Hadrion’s elbow.

“All right. I’m taking you back to Tiro. Right now,” he said.

“What?!” Hadrion said. “No! I want to help!”

“Not with this, you don’t,” Kylorian growled. “This group will be the first into the Birthing Grounds. We’ll be the most in danger during the battle, and I am not letting you walk right into that. Not like this.”

Practically squeaking with outrage, Hadrion struggled against his brother’s grip.

“Let me go! You don’t understand. I have to-!”

“You know… if you take him back to Tiro, you won’t catch up with us,” Oswin drawled. “You’ll leave Ryvolim without someone watching his back, like we originally planned, and maybe he can handle whatever comes his way, but maybe not. Do you want to be responsible if something happens to him?”

I narrowed my eyes at Oswin. The spy knew that my friend wouldn’t need any help in the coming battle, not with all of the special tricks he had up his sleeve. From what I understood, Ryvolim had accepted Kylorian’s offer of help simply to build upon my ties with the other man.

But Kylorian didn’t know this. Stopping short, he looked torn, and hell, if I couldn’t understand that. What did one do when one was caught between protecting a loved one and following through on a promise?

“Hey Ky, can I talk to you for a minute? Alone, preferably,” I said. “The others can watch Hadrion while we do that. He won’t be going anywhere.”

Slowly, Kylorian nodded, and as he released his younger brother, Little casually stopped at the teenager’s back, widening that now-horrid smirk of his.

I couldn’t spend too long looking at his healing scars, though. I knew they weren’t my fault, that Little had chosen to accept them as part of his duties, but still, looking at them made me feel guilty, and I didn’t know what to do with that.

Fortunately, Kylorian joined me quickly, and we walked a few paces away from the rest, far enough that they wouldn’t overhear us.

Huddling closer to him, I said, “Why not let him come with us, at least for a time? We won't reach the Birthing Grounds for a couple more days. Surely in that time we can find somewhere safe to ditch your brother, and once the battle’s over, we can pick him up on our way back to Tiro.”

Kylorian took a moment to look back at his brother before wincing.

“I don’t like it… but yeah, you’re right,” he said. “Still. Had-had’s always been the one Ren and I look out for, the one we… we have to keep safe. He’s already been through too much. I won’t let anything bad happen to him again, if I can help it.”

“I get that,” I said, “but this way, we can make sure he’s safe, and he’ll feel like he’s helping us in some way.”

Sighing, Kylorian nodded, as if in defeat.

“I’ll go tell him he can stay,” he said. “The rest of you should get ready for the afternoon’s outing.”

Ah, yes. That. I hadn’t been looking forward to our venture into Sanc. The last time I’d introduced myself to unknown Audish citizens, it had ended with most of them reviling me and a days-lingering threat of death hovering over my head. If I somehow fucked up during today’s visit, revealing my identity, how would it go this time?

You will be fine, heart of my heart, Nylion whispered through my mind. And I will be there to help.

Fair enough, I said with a smile. Besides, I have Bright and Dim around for if things truly turn to shit.

…Right, Nylion said.

When I turned back toward my companions, I found Hadrion jiggling in place.

“I can come?” he excitedly said.

Rolling his eyes, Kylorian said, “This might be the worst mistake I’ve ever made, but yes. You can come.”

Cheering, Hadrion ran in a little circle before breaking into a flailing dance, which I watched with amusement. I was glad he was happy.

“Yes, yes, much hurrahs and all for joining up with a deadly mission,” Little said. “Can we get back to the march now? I’d like to reach this new town before dark.”

Mm, that was a good idea. I doubted Sanc’s residents would appreciate strangers appearing in their town during the night, given the many Harvests and other travesties that took place in Auden.

Gods, there were so many things I’d have to fix once Doldimar was out of the picture…

Or maybe not, Nylion said.

He got me to flick my eyes to Kylorian, and I nodded at the unspoken reminder. At some point, he and I should talk about how we’d handle our succession when… or if that eventually came. Maybe I could bring it up when we set up camp tonight.

But first, we had to get through the day.

Fortunately, the sun was still high in the sky when we reached Sanc. As my companions and I stepped into the town’s outskirts, people watched us with wary eyes while a few came out onto their home’s stoops or the street.

As planned, this was when Kylorian took up position in front of us. He’d made sure to roll up his sleeves as much as possible, showing off his Corruption-free skin. Earlier in the day, I’d changed into a set of plain trousers and a tunic, and while this would have been perfectly fine for me in the past, it had become less comfortable over the last few months. In that time, my uniform had become a sort-of second skin for me, and being without it made me feel… antsy, for some reason.

But both Middle and Ryvolim had said it would draw too much attention while in Sanc, and having those two agree on something had been a powerful argument to follow their suggestion.

Our presentation seemed to have worked for these townspeople. As we traveled deeper between the buildings, families and individuals returned to what they’d been doing, and we were allowed to reach a small marketplace unimpeded.

Sanc looked similar to Paft and the other towns that sat near Ada’ir’s Withriingalm. Wood-board houses with the occasional shed lined the thoroughfare with a few homesteads standing apart from the rest. The road itself was dusty and well-traversed, judging from the evenly spaced ruts forged down the center of it, and there was a mix of open-air booths and enclosed shops in town square.

What was completely different from Ada’ir, however, were the people. While the Zrelnach and I had been traveling through Ada’ir last year, the occasional armed party might have greeted us, but at the time, we’d been a veritable army, moving through relatively uninhabited land. Here, six people, or six visible ones at least, made up my party, and on seeing us, these people had hurried to hide their children in houses or grab any weapons within arm’s reach.

Scared. They seemed much more scared than anyone I’d met in Ada’ir or even Tiro.

When we reached the marketplace, I didn't approach shopkeepers and the like. Not only was I not very good at negotiations—not ones like this, at least—but I wouldn’t be the best choice for it in the first place. That honor went to Kylorian, who knew this land’s customs best, and the spies in our midst, who could fake their way through anything they didn’t know.

So, instead of talking with merchants or trying to get intel, as Ryvolim had taken off to do, I stood in the middle of town square, probably looking like a lazy lout. In reality, though, I was taking the pulse of this town, just… feeling what it was like to be here. Trying to put myself into the mindset of the average Audish citizen.

If I'd been born here, what would it have been like? Would I have looked over my shoulder for a Harvest or the next disaster to drop? Would I have felt like I was in constant danger, prepared for death to come at any moment? From what I understood, that was what Sanc’s citizens faced on a daily basis. Why was it so easy and somewhat familiar to imagine what that would feel like?

Dim interrupted my introspection before I could get too deep into it.

“That kid you took on has gone wandering,” they said. “Headed toward something delicious smelling too.”

Great.

Turning in a circle, I found Hadrion before taking off after him. He’d disappeared behind a house’s corner, and as I approached that point, I heard thuds and the clash of steel coming from nearby.

Hell. Had we somehow wandered into a fight for this town?

That idea had me putting on a burst of speed, which made running into Hadrion once I’d turned the corner hurt much worse than it should have. Somehow, I stayed on my feet, reaching for the teenager as I rebounded.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t looking where I was…”

I trailed off, unable to speak a single word more.

A small, fenced-in yard lay behind the house, and in it, a group of children had formed a ring around two of them, both of whom were pummeling each other. I took a step forward, meaning to stop whatever form of bullying this was, but stopped when I saw the adult sitting on a nearby fence post. With her arms hanging from her knees, she was calling out to the kids in the center, carefully watching them. Why… why wasn’t she stopping the fight?

“I was wondering where I’d find this,” Hadrion quietly said.

I turned to him with my mouth gaping before slowly closing it.

Clearing my throat, I said, “Hadrion. What the fuck is going on here?”

He glanced at me with a half-smile.

“What do you mean ‘what’s going on’?” he said. “Don’t you have training yards where you’re from?”

“Well, yes. Of course we do,” I said. “Pretty sure every kingdom has one somewhere in it. Why?”

Gesturing to the kids, Hadrion said, “That’s what this is.”

…What?

With every muscle locked in place, turning my head back toward the group of children was a fight for me. I watched one of them straddle the other, raising a fist back to punch the kid’s face and- and-

“How can this be a training yard?” I asked.

But as they’d emerged, those words had sounded far away, and I could swear fuzz had coated my tongue.

“No one in there looks older than what? Six-years-old?”

That couldn’t be right. Gods. It couldn’t… be right. Couldn’t!

“That’s right,” Hadrion said. “You start learning how to fight practically from birth here. Is that not how it’s done in…?”

The rest of his question vanished into the background. Instead, the words ‘from birth’ echoed on repeat in my head, and for reasons I couldn’t begin to comprehend, this made my stomach lurch.

Slapping my hand to my mouth, I took one slow step back. And then another.

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I didn’t understand. Why was this happening? I shouldn’t want to run, shouldn’t-

It was just some children, doing what they must to-!

“Gods,” I panted against my hand.

“You ok, Raimie?” someone… maybe Dim… asked.

Forcing my hand down, I swallowed while curling my hands into fists.

“I’m… fine,” I dazedly said.

Had to be fine, must always look strong, could never let anyone see an opening into-

GET AWAY FROM THERE NOW, Nylion shouted in my head.

Nodding to him, I pointed behind me.

“I’m just… going to…” I numbly said.

At the edge of my vision, a man appeared, flanked by several other people in uniform, and they were there but they weren’t but they were but they weren’t.

Barely keeping from screaming, I rattled out, “I’ll be right back.”

And then, I promptly ran the fuck away.

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Ryvolim

I was in the middle of a pleasant conversation with one of Sanc’s farmers, gradually plying information about the Birthing Grounds from him, when Raimie flat-out sprinted past us, moving as if monsters were on his tale. I was on my feet, reaching for a weapon, before he’d passed, same as the man beside me, but when nothing followed him, we both slowly relaxed.

“What… was that?” the farmer said. “Is he with you?”

He glanced at me, suspiciously squinting, and I moved away.

“I’m not sure what that was, friend,” I said, “but I’m going to check on it regardless. Want to come?”

Snorting, the farmer retook his seat on his home’s porch.

“Nah. You have at it,” he said.

Perfect.

Lifting a hand in farewell, I started off in a trot toward where Raimie had disappeared into a patch of trees nearby.

I almost missed him in there. No one was standing under these trees’ protection, leaving the copse seemingly empty, and I saw no traces of my friend anywhere else.

So, I opened my senses: hearing, smell, and the more mystical ones as well. A pocket of distortion was sitting high in the branches of a tree beside me, and at the edge of my hearing range, I could hear a voice mumbling.

“We’re ok. Not gonna get us up here. We’re ok.”

What the hell was Raimie doing up a tree?

Coming to a stop beneath him, I rested my hands on my hips.

“Raimie?” I called. “What’s going on?”

After a pause, my friend shouted back, “You… go away. You can’t get me up here, and I’m not coming down.”

What the…? Slowly, I took a step forward.

“Raimie. It’s me. Your friend,” I said. “Whatever’s going on, it’s ok. You’re safe right now, all right? Nobody’s going to hurt you.”

A pinecone flew from out of the tree to bounce off my head, and I stopped short with a yelp, rubbing at my scalp.

“GO AWAY!” Raimie roared.

And that raised, terrified voice pushed so many flashing memories, ones full of myself after a session with Reive, through my mind.

…Oh, shit. I might know what this was, and if I was right, it was not a good time for Raimie to experience it. I needed to get him down as quickly as possible.

“I won’t leave you here, Raimie. I would never do that to a friend,” I said, keeping my voice as soothing as possible. “Do you know where we are right now? This is Sanc, in Auden. Remember? We came here to resupply before moving on. We talked about that this morning. Right? You were being a lazy sod when the sun rose, kept asking for five more minutes in your bedroll, and I-”

“You smeared grass and soil all over my face to get me up, you asshole,” Raimie blearily said.

Oh, thank the gods.

I gave my friend a moment, waiting for him to speak again, and he did so within a few heartbeats.

“Why am I up a tree? I don’t… ugh, what the fuck happened?”

“I think I might know,” I called up to him, “but you’ll have to come down here before I can explain. I’m sure as hell not coming up to you.”

There was a beat of silence and then…

“Fuck,” Raimie muttered before raising his voice. “All right. Give me a second.”

With an abundance of noise, my friend slowly and clumsily climbed to the ground, which I watched with many a wince. Raimie was usually much nimbler than this, but then, I couldn’t blame him, if I was right about what had happened.

Turning to me, he brushed himself off before looking around.

“I was just beside Hadrion,” he said. “Where did that kid go? I was worried he was going to…”

He trailed off with his eyes going distant, and I hurried forward to rest my hand on his arm.

“It’s ok,” I said once again. “I’m sure Hadrion’s fine, and so are you.”

“Right,” Raimie slowly said before shaking his head. “So? What in the void is going on?”

Oh, boy. Wouldn’t that be a fun question to answer?

Before I could get started with that, though, a teenager trotted into view, releasing a held puff of air when he saw Raimie.

“Oh, good. You’re ok,” Hadrion said. “I wasn’t sure. What happened? I’ve never seen someone take off so quickly before, and that’s saying something.”

“I…”

But Raimie said nothing more, looking increasingly confused and scared, so I patted at the air, getting his attention back on me.

“Don’t worry, my friend,” I said. “I’ll still explain because Hadrion will most definitely understand what’s happened here. He’s the most kind and considerate kid I’ve come across in a while, matched only by you. Right?”

Huffing a short laugh, Raimie said, “Yeah. That’s right. You want to come over here, Hadrion? I… I think I ran off on you. So, can I reassure you that I’m ok with story time between friends?”

Shoving his hands in his pockets, Hadrion grinned so damn wide, ambling toward us.

“Sounds great!” he chirped.

Finding a nice spot of earth in front of me, he plopped to the ground, but Raimie and I remained standing. I wasn’t sure when my friend would calm down enough to relax like that, and I wouldn’t make him feel awkward by leaving him the only one on his feet.

How did I start with this again? I’d had to have this conversation a few times in the past, unfortunately, and after the many times I’d done it, I’d come up with a great way of explaining something that most would consider unnerving, a way that wouldn’t scare the listener.

Oh, right.

“I think we can all agree that bad things happen to people every so often, right?” I said.

While Raimie hesitantly nodded, Hadrion laughed.

“Yeah, of course,” he said. “What about it?”

“Well sometimes, when that thing is so bad that a person doesn’t know how to handle it, it gets stuck in the person’s brain, like a splinter,” I said. “It can remain like that, just sleeping, for decades at a time. Sometimes, it’s quiet for long enough that the person forgets it’s there, but sooner or later, they’ll stumble across something that reminds them of that bad thing.

“When that happens, the person will usually endure a flood of what they were feeling in those moments of pain and fear, and sometimes, the brain and body will remember what happened in perfect clarity. The person will react to a perceived threat, one that’s very real to them, however way they did before. All of which is a perfectly normal and natural response to the bad thing that happened to them back then.

“I think that’s what happened here.”

If anything, Raimie looked even more confused by my explanation, but Hadrion seemed to understand.

“Oh….” he said. “Yeah, that makes sense. I’ve had that happen sometimes. It’s not fun.”

Reaching out, he sympathetically patted Raimie’s leg, even as my friend’s brow crinkled.

“I understand what you’re talking about, but… I’m not sure if that applies to me,” he said. “I’ve never… those kids. I’ve never been in a situation like them. When I was growing up, I spent most of my time playing outside, so…”

I was a little lost, unsure what kids Raimie was referencing, but at this point, that didn’t matter.

“Hmm,” I said. “Well to me, it certainly looked like your body was reacting like I’ve explained. Maybe we can figure this out. Do you remember what you were saying when you were up in that tree?”

“Oo! Or did you see anything before you ran away?” Hadrion added.

When we both looked at him, he shrugged.

“What? Sometimes, I see things when I’m reacting to my 'brain splinters',” he said.

“As do I,” I quietly said.

Although I refused to think about what those things were.

For a moment, Raimie chewed on his lip.

“I don’t know,” he drawled. “I…”

Shaking his head, he collapsed to a seat beside Hadrion, letting me sit as well.

“There was this little boy,” he hesitantly said. “A group of people was chasing him. I think they were soldiers, maybe? I vaguely recall them wearing uniforms, but I’m not sure about that. Anyway, I knew… somehow… that he’d be in mortal danger if those people caught him, and he wasn’t running fast enough. So, I grabbed the little boy and ran for him. Got him somewhere safe. Or that’s how I remember it, at least. Not sure how it applies to what actually happened.”

Hadrion and I exchanged a glance, at which I shrugged. When I’d had to deal with my locked-tight memories, I’d never experienced anything quite like that, but I knew how varied humanity’s reactions to trauma could be.

Fortunately, Raimie seemed too lost in thought to have seen our interaction.

“I don’t see how that’s related to me, though,” he said. “It’s just… it’s just…”

He fell silent with his motions getting lethargic, which concerned me.

“Maybe this ‘bad thing’ was something that happened while we were traveling in Ada’ir?” I said. “Or you could have experienced something while here that could explain it. I’m not-”

With a hiss, Raimie jerked his head up. He fixed me with a fierce stare, even as he pressed one hand to the top of his forehead and groaned in pain.

“Stop. Pushing,” he snapped. “In the next few days, we will be going into combat, where we will all hover over a balance beam of life or death. It is an exceptionally bad idea to poke at these kinds of things right now. Or do you want… me to continue with these panic attacks and… ‘reactions’ over the next few days? Because that is all that will happen if you keep pushing. Gods. Why do I have to explain this to…?”

For half a heartbeat, Raimie seemed to space out, blankly gazing at me, before roughly shaking his head.

“Sorry,” he mumbled. “My head is killing me right now. I’m not sure how what I saw is related to me or my past, but maybe we should leave it as it is for now. We have to meet up with Ky and the spies before we can set up camp, and I need some rest soon.”

He glanced at me with a hesitant smile, and I… I needed to listen to my friend. When I’d encountered people who handled trauma in the way he was, letting them lead the way had always been best. So, while I wasn’t sure why Raimie had reacted so fiercely to my final suggestions, I’d respect what he’d said about getting some rest.

“That’s fair,” I said.

While Raimie breathed out a sigh of relief, Hadrion hopped to his feet, resting one hand on his hip with the other pointed at an angle into the air.

“To find my brother, then!” he shouted.

Which only made me laugh.

As we climbed to our feet, he marched back toward Sanc, but before Raimie could follow him, I rested my hand on his shoulder.

“I promise I won’t push ,” I said, “but if you ever want to talk about this again, I’m open to it, whenever you’d like.”

With a crooked smile, Raimie said, “I’ll keep that in mind. For now, though, I think we have a kid to keep out of trouble?”

“Very, very true,” I said with mock seriousness.

I dropped my hand, letting my friend hurry after Hadrion, and if worry still clung to me as I followed in his footsteps, I refused to admit that out loud.

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Raimie

By the time dinner rolled around, I was exhausted in a way I hadn’t been for a long time. My fucking brain was hurting, right alongside my aching calves and feet, but still, I did what I could to get our nighttime meal prepared before settling around the fire with my companions.

As soon as everyone was comfortable, I said, “So, what did we get?”

I’d much rather focus on our efforts to gather information than any other strange things that might have happened today, no matter how much they might concern me in a variety of ways. Nylion had disappeared shortly after… then, and I wasn’t sure where he could have gone.

“Well…” Little drawled, “we might have a problem when it comes to the Enforcers side of things.”

He took a moment to chew a bite of his food while the rest of us impatiently watched him.

“I was talking to some people in that town’s tavern. Nice folks. They were super sympathetic to the ‘poor orphan boy who got his scars from a rogue Kiraak’,” he continued, batting his eyes as he shared his cover story. “Anyway, they told me that Doldimar’s left two Enforcers behind for this year’s trek to the capital instead of just the one. There were also rumors of a third too, but most of the tavern regulars didn’t take them seriously.”

“Any idea of which ones he’s left?” Ryvolim asked.

He was sprawled across the ground, propping himself up on an elbow, and contrary to Kylorian’s bug-eyed look of terror at his side, he looked perfectly at ease with the idea of handling twice as many Enforcers as we’d originally planned.

“My source mentioned Adrinosk, like we’d originally heard, but apparently, some girl named Arabelna has stuck around as well,” Little said. “The rumors of the third came from the fact that Foln apparently has yet to return to her home roost of Nephiron, but that doesn’t mean she’s stayed in the Birthing Grounds. Not for sure.”

“She has, by the way. Stayed there, I mean.”

Grimacing, I snapped my gaze to Dim, hovering around our group’s periphery.

“Dim. Are you telling me you could have let me know about this insignificant detail of the plan before now?” I said. “Because if that’s so, why the hell did you wait to share it until now? What was the point of visiting Sanc?”

Lifting an eyebrow, Dim said, “Besides getting more food so you lot don’t starve?”

As I continued glaring at them, I tried to ignore the stares coming from the distinctly real people around me. Soon enough, though, Dim made a face.

“Look, I thought visiting the town would be fun! Ok?” they said. “I didn’t expect you to go all panicked rabbit on me.”

As I jerked away from them, Bright hissed, “Really? Why bring that up now?”

Fortunately, Oswin was quick on the uptake for what had happened, drawing my attention back to him.

“One of your splinters confirmed the rumor?” he asked.

“In the snarkiest manner possible, yes,” I grumbled, vaguely wishing I could smack Dim.

They seemed to find that idea amusing, chortling into their hand.

“That might throw a kink into the plan,” Oswin said. “Ryvolim, will you be able to handle three Enforcers, possibly all at once?”

Making a face, Ryvolim said, “Probably? It’ll be much more difficult, and I’ll need a lot more time than I originally thought, but since I’ll have some help—”

Here, he nudged Kylorian with a mischievous smile.

“—I’m pretty sure I can manage it.”

“You’re ‘pretty sure’?” Oswin said. “I’d rather if you were definitely sure, considering how much of Raimie’s plan hinges on you taking out the Kiraak’s Enforcers.”

Abruptly, Ryvolim dropped any sign of enthusiasm or mischievous behavior, letting a piece of his true personality peek through.

“They will be handled, Oswin,” he said. “Of that, I can assure you.”

After a moment of intense scrutiny, Oswin shrugged.

“Fine, then,” he said. “Did we learn anything else of note? I know we were mostly interested in who Doldimar left behind but…”

On looking over the blank and unresponsive faces around me, I huffed.

“I don’t know about you, Oswin, but I’m happy to have the information we needed,” I said. “That seems like enough to me.”

Making a face, Oswin said, “Fair.”

“Mm!”

Kylorian finished with his bite before grinning at me.

“I figured out one way we could implement our plan while in Sanc,” he said. “We don’t have to talk about it now, but I thought I should let you know.”

Oh, good. I was glad he’d been thinking about that because I’d been a bit too… busy to give our proposed contest more than the slightest of thoughts.

“Raimie, what’s he talking about?” Oswin said.

I glanced at Kylorian, asking for his permission to share, and on receiving a nod, launched into an explanation with enthusiasm.

“Something I recently learned: Ky here is apparently my distant cousin,” I said, “which means he has as much of a right to Auden’s throne as I do. Before we got here, he and Tanwadur were using this fact to advance their resistance’s cause, and after I learned about it, I proposed that instead of fighting over who would lead Auden once this war is behind us, we should let the Audish people make that decision for us.”

Leaning back on my hands, I waited for Oswin’s response to this idea with anticipation. I was rather proud of it, but instead of looking pleased, as I’d thought he might, the spy frowned.

“Raimie,” he practically snapped, “you can’t keep running away from your responsibilities-”

“I’m not!”

As my shout rang in the air around us, Hadrion shifted in place while Little looked anywhere but at me, but I couldn’t help myself. After everything else that had happened today, Oswin’s accusation had hurt worse than it normally would.

Taking a calming breath, I continued, “I have accepted the position of king when it comes to our people, and so long as they will have me, I will carry that role. If the Audish people decide that I am the best man to lead them into their future, then I will do my utmost to be a good and just king for them, but forgive me if I want to give freedom of choice to people who’ve long been without it, especially for something as important as who will lead them.”

Oswin was angry with me. I could tell from his flared nostrils and the heat practically blazing from his eyes, but I didn’t know how to fix it. I wasn’t backing down from this idea. It was important to me in a way I couldn’t fully describe.

So, much as it might pain me that Oswin disliked it, I would carry through with it regardless.

“Well. Personally, I think that’s a good idea, sir,” Little said, breaking the silence. “People should always have choice in as much of their lives as possible, yes? And this way, you’ll still need your Hand for a while too.”

Oh…. shit. Was that why Oswin was upset? Did he think I was trying to abandon him with this idea? Why would he think that?

“That’s right,” I said, “and even if I didn’t require a Hand anymore, I’d still absolutely need my friends at my side. All of them.”

Slowly, Oswin relaxed from his tensed state, fixing his stare on the fire instead of me, and after a pause, he jerked his head in a single nod.

Beside me, Dim chortled.

“Hell, you lot are fun,” they said under their breath.

And I ignored them, as I must.

“Does that mean me too? And- and what about Ky?”

Rapidly blinking, I focused on Hadrion, who was curled over on himself while leaning away from the group.

“Of course I’m talking about you too, Hadrion!” I said. “Of course! You’re one of the kindest people I’ve ever met. I’d be honored to call you friend. And as for Ky…”

Hesitantly, I glanced at the other man, who was chomping away at his dinner as if nothing dramatic had happened in the last ten minutes. Given the small bits I’d seen of his interactions with his father, his nonchalance in the face of arguments didn’t surprise me.

At the sound of his name, he paused with his chewing, looking at me warily.

“As for Ky, I’d like to be his friend,” I said, “but I also wouldn’t want to force that sort of thing on him too.”

Choking, Kylorian pounded on his chest for a minute before he could recover.

“Yeah, that… friendship’s fine by me,” he coughed.

Which only made me smile. Gods, how many people could I call friend now? Five people, if I included Dath, left on the other side of the sea? Hell. I’d never thought this sort of thing would be possible. When I was a child, the only relationship that had come close to friendship had been with Nylion. I’d never thought I’d have the social acumen or a desirable enough personality for other, real-life people to call me friend.

But here we were now.

“Great. Two more people for us to keep an eye on, then,” Little said, rolling his eyes. “All right. So, since this is apparently going to be a thing, tell us more about yourselves, please. Kylorian, you’re a distant relative of our oh-so-magnificent king, plus some sort of freedom fighter. That makes sense. What about you, Hadrion? What’s your story?”

Oh, that had been rude.

“Ignore him, Hadrion,” I said. “We don’t need-”

“I’m originally from the Birthing Grounds,” Hadrion said, interrupting me with aplomb.

And everyone went silent. That had been quite the fact to drop on us.

“Had-had, you don’t have to say anything…” Kylorian quietly said.

But Hadrion shook his head.

“No, I want to tell them,” he said. “They’re good and kind. I can trust them with my story. So.”

He scooted closer to the fire, holding his hands out to it with his gaze pinned on its flames, but I could understand that. If I were him, I wouldn’t want to see how we’d react either.

“My parents were Conscripted soldiers, stationed in the Birthing Grounds. I’m not sure why I was born because usually, pregnancies are terminated there, as soon as they’re detected, and yet, I was brought to full-term.

“In the same way, children don’t typically… survive in the Birthing Grounds. Kiraak take particular pleasure in hurting kids. Something to do with the joy that the Corruption in them takes from stealing a child’s innocence. I don’t know. All I do know is that children either die quickly around Kiraak or they get taken away to be used in ways I don’t even want to think about.

“But I was left alone, for the most part. I don’t remember much of those first few years, just snippets. Mom doing her level-best to keep me at arm’s reach. Other members of the squad playing games with me when they had the chance. Being hidden away whenever an Enforcer from another region came to visit. It wasn’t the worst childhood but…”

Falling silent, Hadrion chewed on his lip, and as I watched him collect his thoughts, I knew why he’d been so understanding with me earlier today. No wonder he’d intuitively grasped what Rhylix had been talking about!

“Something changed when I was six or so,” Hadrion soon continued. “I’m not sure what happened, but if I had to guess, I’d say my parents learned why Adrinosk had let them keep me. I think he had designs for me… but that’s beside the point. Whatever happened, my parents weren’t ok with me staying in the Birthing Grounds anymore.

“So, they got me out. And Dury… Dury…”

When Hadrion buried his face in his hands, Kylorian reached for him, squeezing his knee.

“We found him in the woods, near Avernik,” he said. “At the time, he didn’t look good, like he’d been by himself for a while, so… we took him in: me, mom, Ren, and Tanwadur. Of course we did. He was such a tiny thing…”

And now, that family protected him like he was the most fragile of beings. That made sense.

What they didn’t see, though, was how much that was harming Hadrion.

“That’s why you want to come with us, isn’t it?” I gently said. “You may also want to help because that’s the sort of person you are. But mostly, you want to go back. You want to face your demons.”

Snatching his face out of his hands, Hadrion somehow pulled a grin onto a tear-streaked face, but I’d expect nothing less from him. This kid was the most resilient and compassionate person I’d met in my life. He amazed me.

So, I turned to Kylorian.

“I’m sorry, Ky, but we can’t stop him from doing that,” I said. “He needs to be with us when we attack. I know that wasn’t the plan but-”

Shooting a hand up, Kylorian said, “No, no. You’re right. I can clearly see that, but I still need to keep him as safe as possible. So, how will we do that?”

“Well, obviously, he shouldn’t go anywhere near the Enforcers,” I said, watching Kylorian all the while, “which means he can’t go with you.”

Kylorian scrunched his face up. He clearly wanted to argue that point, but after a moment, he nodded.

“So, he goes with your half of the team,” he said, as if it were a question.

“Yes,” I said, “and when he does, he’ll be with three incredibly capable people: a dual primeancer and two spies from his Hand. If we can’t keep your brother safe, no one else can.”

As he breathed out, Kylorian slumped.

“All right,” he said. “All right.”

There was a pause, but then, Hadrion snapped.

“You were planning on leaving me somewhere, weren’t you?”

At the same time, Ryvolim said, “I feel like I’ve missed something.”

And I laughed. I couldn’t help it.

Waving at the bristling people around me, I said, “I’m sorry! Truly. It’s just funny how often I get into situations like this. If I’m to be forced into fighting a bunch of angry Daevetch primeancers and their bloodthirsty horde, there’s no one I’d rather do it with than all of you.”

“If I had a pillow right now, I’d throw it at your head,” Oswin said with a scowl. “You and your fucking propensity for changing perfectly good plans!”

Still laughing, I gasped, “I know. I know! I’m the worst.”

“Don’t you dare,” came from at least one of the people around me.

I couldn’t tell which, but then, I supposed that detail didn’t matter. Danger was coming for me, as usual, and as always, I’d go into it half-assed and barely prepared.

But they’d be with me. So, I’d be ok.

We’d be ok.