Lillian stormed out of the inn. Pyra had been skittish about her since the moment that they met and that was fine, it was fine. The embers that the woman had managed to cool started to spark when they were about to have their meal. Poison? Really? The fact that Pyra hadn’t left yet at all is either a testament to her terror of these people or how absolutely trapped she was. It was the only thing that made sense, at least to Lillian. Turning on her heel she whipped the key back into the open door, throwing it as hard as she could.

“You sons of bitches deserve the demons!” She shouted back at the inn, rage clinging to each word. “Should have never bothered to reach out to any of us!”

And then she noticed Pyra. Pale faced, trembling. Her big doe eyes watching Lillian’s every movement. Seeing her fear, pure and unadulterated, it was cold water onto the fire. Snuffing out any spark that had grown in her breast. They were mistreating one woman. One woman who clearly wasn’t lucky like them to not have been touched by demonic magic in their life times but, regardless, one woman. They have broken her down so much to the point where even Lillian, the warrior meant to protect people like her, has her staring at her as if Lillian was going to strike her.

Lillian’s heart lurched, dragging its fingernails down her rib cage as she took in Pyra’s terror. What was she going to do? What could she do? She reached out to her, only for Pyra to sharply draw away taking a few steps backwards. Each step was a lash against her heart. They locked eyes, staring at each other one in horror and one in sorrowful regret. As Lillian advanced on Pyra the woman looked around for exits. Escape routes. Lillian’s breath caught in her throat. That look on Pyra’s face continued to dig deeper and deeper into her heart.

“Its alright.” Lillian’s voice was broken, she reached out for her. “I’m, I’m not.”

Lillian didn’t get to finish before Pyra ran off. She took a step, intending to follow, but the look on Pyra’s face right before she ran seared itself in Lillian’s mind. Taking a shuttering breath she simply watched Pyra run. Letting her hand fall to her side, eventually to ball into a fist. They never should have come here. They should have just taken a job near the capital, there were always contracts there. Straightforward, honest, contracts. Go here, kill twelve giant rats. Go collect eight bear asses and bring them to the wife. But no. Oh no The Dissident Flames had to go strike out on their own! They had to go make a name for themselves in the under-served rural country side!

She turned and nearly spat. She couldn’t be there to save every quivering fawn that she came across. She couldn’t be the hero that very clearly these people needed but likewise could never tolerate. The idea that there were people here that also needed protecting, the idea that the contract that her team were bound by could even begin to cover the actions of the Powers That Be. Lillian burned, the blaze threatening to consume her all at once. None of these people really needed her. Or Lorne, or Calisto. Hells the fact that this town was still standing and still had so many people around that still had land and family here showed that at least to her? They could make it.

Lillian stopped that line of thinking dead in its tracks. Of course they still had people here, they had help back then. Whoever it was doing it all these years might not even still be alive, but she drew her gaze back where Pyra had been. To the inn and the scene she had just caused. They could be dead, yes. They could be alive, but maybe, just maybe they left. Not able to stomach what their peers was doing this whole time.

She let out a sigh, holding her head in her hands as she walked off to go find her team. She did make a big declaration about how they weren’t going to be staying at that inn anymore. Was there even any others in town? Calisto would be fine camping out at least. Lorne was going to bitch until the sun burned out but what else was new. She could have managed to find the best suite in the capital, all expense paid, and it even came with a artifact whose sole purpose was to provide him with blowjobs and he’d still find something to winge about.

Finding them at least wasn’t hard. The two of them were effectively the other fifty percent of all the non-humans in this godforsaken town. Lorne wasn’t easily confused with most humans, and she didn’t see any that could pass for dwarves around here. They weren’t rare but they weren’t any here. The term dwarf itself was a bit of contention for both the disabled humans the dwarves themselves. The word that they both were called in the human lands, regardless of language almost always came from the people who had the condition of being a dwarf. Lorne, however, isn’t human. He would call himself "Ost", as that is what his people are called, but it is just as much Nation as it is Kind, and no two Dwarves are the same when one is in the adventuring business. Calisto on the other hand, the term elf in the local human tongue is a sort of telephone butchering of what he could call his people. The two men were easily found speaking lightly in one of the languages they shared. It was musical in the way that they spoke, their words drawn with the same care as one would peel and orange. The rind of each consonant happily discarded for each slice of a juicy vowel. As Lillian approached Calisto turned and smiled at her.

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“There ya are cher.” He said, lazily eating an apple that he cut slices from with a small knife. “We’s been wonderin’ where you ran off to.”

And just like that, her shoulders felt less heavy. The pain in her chest slowly going down to a dull throb. “I was talking to a local.” She said with an apologetic smile. “I… may have gotten out of hand.” Calisto nodded, like this was to be expected. So she continued. “There was this girl, she was getting jumped so I stepped in. She was going to have dinner with me as a thank you at the inn but.” Lillian looked at both Lorne and Calisto, both men relaxed against the statue that they’d found, and decided to leave out the bit about nearly going to her house. “But she let it slip that the innkeep and their lot were willing to try and kill her.”

Lorne furrowed his brow straightening up upon hearing that. “Did she say why?”

“No, but she doesn’t have to. She’s got the curse of embers.” As Lillian spoke all the sound got sucked out of the air, she watched both men chew it like a particularly thick piece of fat. Trouble spelled over both of their faces, even Calisto’s normally whimsical one. “That curse ain’t anywhere close to a blessing, not for her. And it won’t be here.” Lillian spoke in a low, conspiratorial voice, glancing between both of them. “But we can’t just take her.”

“Sure we could, it’d only make everything worse and might even give them reason to try to validate their actions towards her and people like her.” Lorne threw his two cents in. A smoldering anger burning in his eyes.

They called themselves the Dissident Flames for a reason. It was better than what they all knew what Pyra was likely called here. Cursed, Demon-spawn, Demon’s whore, Monster. All three of them knew that deep down they all came out here to prove all of them wrong, that they each could take the curse and bend it to their will, that it wasn’t a true curse - but a blessing. That’s what Lillian called it when people asked. The Blessing of Flame. As far as innuendo went, it was pretty poor she had to admit. There were probably things that she could call it that wouldn’t get raised eyebrows or skeptical looks, or straight accusations if she was being honest with herself. All three of them had it, and the different ways that it manifested within all of them. Lillian herself knew how to live in stealth, Lorne and Calisto had taught her how. They’d been at it much longer than she ever will. She could see it in their eyes, in their movements. The gentle ever present hum in Calisto’s voice, fleeting as the wind. The surety of Lorne’s stance, the way that he knew that he needed to ensure that nothing could ever take him off guard. She knew it well, deeply engrained into both of them in ways that they will never shake. The embers may be in the core of their being, but who they were were not molded only by its warmth.

“Maybe we could show her the way.” She said softly, putting her hand over her heart. “Show her that it doesn’t have to be this way.”

“Would she listen?” Calisto prodded, “Would she listen to you?”

That was the kicker wasn’t it? Pyra would have to listen to them. The people that were going to make her life here worse by their very presence if they didn’t do something about it. She thought back to the inn, and what she’d said to the barmaid. Who was she kidding, there was no way that they weren’t making her life worse already. Or… to be fair to her team, there was no way that she wasn’t making her life worse just by being here. She just wanted to make it stop, to make them stop, she had the power now to force people to think about what they were doing. To think about the harm that they were doing, and it felt so good to see the way that they drew away from her when she stoked those flames. The look in the barmaid’s eyes as Lillian threw the bowl back at her, she’d wanted to draw on her right then and there. Really make her beg the gods for forgiveness. But then what would happen the moment that their contract was up and Pyra left their protection? Lillian knew. She always knew. The people here? They couldn’t tolerate having their power questioned, even if that power was questionable in of itself.

“I don’t think there’s anything we can do about it today.” Lillian said with an air of finality. “We still have work to do and just because this town if full of good for nothings doesn’t mean that we get to shirk our duty.” She was met with amused chuckling as she watched both men get up. “Make sure to go drop off our room keys before heading out, I did uh, kind of make a very loud proclamation when I left.”

“By the ancestors child, control your anger just a little bit.” Lorne laughed at her as he turned to head off. “Yeah, we’ll meet you by the gates.”

Calisto shook his head with a wry smile and left Lillian alone. They went off on their errands, and it was silent once more. Alone with her thoughts Lillian sighed and turned to go to the gates. Nothing would make her feel more better than a good patrol, that was for certain. There were always some manner of beastie or ghoulie that the skittish townsfolk wanted dead and after making an ass of herself today? She wanted nothing more than to bring her blade to bare. To loose the flames that she had been holding back all day for sake of not just those that she had promised to protect but for her own. She walked with purpose now, a surety that hadn’t existed moments prior. There, there it is. Her drive, why she does this. They were only an iron rank team right now, but soon. Soon they were going to be so much more.