{-Llewel-}

Nezri kept talking the entire time they were together. There was a certain kind of nervousness in his voice and, no matter how much Llewel hinted, he never realized it was preferred if he stayed quiet.

“You know, I never thought I’d come across a Beithana,” Nezri remarked. “I heard a lot of stories about you but I was never able to see you myself. At first you were just two people under Duuzlo’s care in Nafrius. Then you started traveling with Casrane. You did something that no one else thought would be possible. Finally… at the end, they got rid of you. Or at least they said they did. I wonder why I never heard people talking about you until now, if you’ve been here all the time that Casrane has.”

“They were looking out for us,” Llewel mumbled. “It’s safer if there’s not a lot of people that realize who we are…”

Nezri paused and let out a self-conscious chuckle. “I suppose that includes me, huh? You’re right, it would be rather unfortunate if they came across you again. But I have to ask, if you’re looking for Casrane, why aren’t you with Myriani?”

“She prefers just Myr. Didn’t Vureta call her that..?” Llewel was, vaguely, aware of the time they were here with Casrane. It was a blurry mess but he was able to piece together their encounter with the girl, at least.

“Ah, sorry. The code calls her that, and I always default to the code when I’m not sure of something. I’ll be sure to keep that in mind for next time. But that doesn’t really do anything to answer my question.”

“I already told you that she’s in Kyirius City.”

“Yes, and I’m curious to know why. It sounded like you two were never apart, not this far and not for long. Perhaps it isn’t my place to question, though I imagine she would’ve liked to come with you.”

“She probably would’ve, but she wasn’t feeling well. I left her with Relenri.”

“Wasn’t feeling well?” Nezri repeated, scrunching up his nose in confusion. “We’re NPCs. We’re not real. We don’t function the same way that the players do. I don’t think I’d encountered anyone that didn’t feel the exact same as they did when they were first created—even after what you did.”

Llewel shrugged. “I’ve always figured it had to do with our code. Or, rather, the lack of it.”

That didn’t seem to make Nezri understand any more than he did before, but he pretended like he did. “Well, it’s a shame. I would’ve loved to meet both of you.”

Something else caught Llewel’s attention.

“You know, you’re a lot better at this than you might think you are.”

“You are too,” he mumbled back without thinking.

Nezri glanced back at him. “Who are you talking to?”

“I thought I heard—”

“Oh, that…” Nezri sighed. “I don’t know what it is, but it’s best if you ignore it. You know what I said about the illusions ending and those ghosts?”

Llewel had started to ignore him, however. There was something oddly interesting just in front of them; a clear version of the scene that had played through his head so many times. If Nezri had said anything else to him, he didn’t hear it. He wandered over to that scene and, after stepping into that clearing, was locked into a dance.

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Casrane was smiling and the momentary confusion he might’ve thought to be dancing with her was replaced with happiness as well. That odd feeling returned to him as they followed the motions of the other duos around them.

“I know we haven’t been doing this long, but there’s one thing I want to ask you.” He was quieter than he’d wanted to be; there was something about it that made it feel like it could collapse at the faintest of whispers. “Even after everything, when we’re all finished and you’ve done what you wanted… you’re going to leave, aren’t you?”

She didn’t seem any more willing to admit it after considering the implications, but she nodded all the same. “I’m going to have to. I have life and school…” That didn’t mean her smile wavered, however. “But I can always come to visit. You’ll be able to remember me by the end—or at least, I hope you’ll be able to. No matter what happens, we’ll still be able to be together.”

It reassured him to hear the words from her, but there was something he couldn’t shake. “What do you do when you’re not with us?”

“I guess it’s working pretty well already, if you’re remembering what happens when I log off,” she mused. “I go to school, help my father or some of our neighbors…”

“It usually only feels like a blink before you’re back again… but once it was more like several. What were you doing then?”

It was clear that she knew what he was talking about, though the only thing she did to admit it was a nervous chuckle. “That’s not anything you need to worry about, I promise.”

The music was slowing down, a sign of the end, and he blurted out the question without much thought: “Is there ever a chance that, one day, you’re going to leave and not come back?”

“I’m always going to come back to you. I’m not just going to leave you, not like that.” Yet there was something in her tone that made him doubt it.

When the song ended, Casrane was promptly swamped with dozens of thankful townspeople. Llewel left to find Myr; she was talking to another set of townspeople, laughing with them and only noticing him after someone else did.

“Did you have fun?” she asked.

“It would’ve been better if you told me you were going to do that.”

“I knew you probably wouldn’t have asked on your own so I helped. Maybe you should be more prepared next time.” She shrugged. “So, what did you talk about?”

“Nothing, really…”

“You’re the one that said you wanted to spend some time alone with her! You didn’t even do anything?”

“There was something else on my mind…”

She glanced back at the others and, exchanging the merry tone for a darker one, asked, “What did she say?”

“She couldn’t guarantee anything.”

Then reality came back to him—he was alone in the forest clearing with a rather concerned-looking Nezri in front of him.

“You had me worried there for a moment! You didn’t seem to hear me at all when I was talking to you,” he remarked. “I was afraid I was going to have to explain to your sister why you weren’t there!”

“All of that… was just an illusion…” Llewel still ignored Nezri in favor of his own thoughts. It had felt so real, like he was truly reliving the moment; dreams still had yet to give him that kind of imagery, though he hoped that soon they might.

Tinath dropped down from the trees, landing a bit away but still looking relieved. “I said that you’d probably see her. I thought you would’ve been smarter than to fall for it, though.”

“What?”

“We needed to walk through this place with ghosts that projected illusions for the quest. There was a ghost around here that did all of that, and it came out while you were in that illusion, so I took care of it.”

“Was that what you were talking about? The place we could’ve seen Casrane that we could only access through this quest?”

“Don’t give me that look. I technically didn’t lie to you, you did see Casrane there.”

“When were you going to tell me that there were illusions?”

Nezri, though nervously, said, “If you’d listened to me earlier, you would’ve known that there were illusions around here. It’s one of the reasons I wanted adventering companions to begin with. I wouldn’t be able to defend myself against those things on my own.”

Tinath decided to shrug it all off. She started to walk out of the clearing and gestured for the others to follow her. “Come on, the place the heirloom’s supposed to go isn’t far from here. Let’s just get this over with as soon as possible.”