{-Casrane-}

“I think you’re going to like him,” Vureta said casually as they walked. “If there’s one guy you’re going to be able to trust while you’re in Kehnore, it’s going to be him.”

“Have you known him for a while?” Myr prompted, the only one of the three who was specifically trying to hold a conversation.

“I met him when he got lost in the forest a couple years ago, but we haven’t actually seen each other for a while. It can’t be now, either—I can only walk you to the edge of the forest, then you’re going to need to find him on your own. I told him you were coming, though, so you won’t have to worry about that part.”

After a moment, Llewel asked, “Are you going to tell us more about him? You haven’t even told us what his name is…”

“If you’re worried about the, uh, Emmyth thing, there’s no need. I’ve known him long enough that I’m confident he won’t hurt you—he’s probably more on your side than you might think he is.” Vureta shrugged. “Plus, I hear the people in Kehnore really like him too. Apparently he helps out a lot. I can’t really see it, since the only time I saw him he was crying like a baby in the non-haunted portion of the forest, but that all came from reliable people. I don’t think you’re going to be finding anyone better to be with you while you’re there.”

“She’s right,” Casrane said. She knew she’d be able to do more to assure him than Vureta could. “He’s going to be able to help us all while we’re there. He’s friendly.”

That seemed to do something, because he nodded before they fell back into silence.

It took a couple more minutes, but eventually Vureta announced, “This is as far as I can take you. He should be around here somewhere—I doubt he’s going to be too hard to find.”

Casrane offered her a smile as thanks and gestured for the twins to follow her. It really wasn’t as much aimless wandering as it was meant to be; she knew exactly where they’d find him, and had the understanding it was better to get to him as soon as possible.

That didn’t mean she didn’t jump when she heard the unfamiliar voice.

“Are you those friends of Vureta’s?” Someone walked out into the open, probably not much older than them. Just looking at them seemed to answer his question and he offered a hand out to them. “Nice to meet you. I’m Kaerio.”

“I’m Casrane,” she said, “and they’re Llewel and Myr.”

“Vureta didn’t say anything about you!” Myr remarked, smiling. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Llewel didn’t actually say anything, but it was clear he felt the same.

Kaerio gestured for them to follow him. “The city’s still a little bit away from here, but it’s not too far. It gives us some time to talk about, uh, let’s call it the ‘other things.’ You haven’t… interacted a lot with the Rune Reactivation Project yet, have you..?”

“We encountered some in Anthalas,” Llewel replied. “We’ve been lucky enough to avoid any more of them so far, though.”

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Kaerio let out a nervous chuckle. “Yeah, you’re going to need a lot more luck if you intend on keeping it that way…” He paused. “On a possibly-related note, are you sure you really need to be in Kehnore?”

“Duuzlo had told us that we needed to visit all the regions of Masylm,” Llewel said. “That’s the only way we’re going to have enough experience to be able to put an end to it.”

“Are there a bunch of them there?” Myr guessed.

“It’s… more than just a bunch…” Kaerio mumbled. He continued a little louder, “Look, I’ll be honest, Kehnore’s kind of gone seriously downhill in the past couple of years. Given how important you guys all are, you’ll need to be safe while you’re there… and, well, I don’t exactly know that I’m going to be able to assure that while you’re in Kehnore.”

“It can’t be that bad, can it..?” Myr—and Llewel, after a moment—looked at Casrane.

If someone was going to be able to warn or assure them, it would be her. But she made no sign of it either way. She knew they needed to go there, and she wasn’t exactly sure how admitting that Kaerio was right would affect things. If they were convinced out of it, she didn’t know what she could say to get them to do it anyway.

She just hoped that, by the time they realized it and if they ever did, they’d be able to see her reasoning enough to forgive her.

“Just stay close to me,” Kaerio eventually said. “I know the city and everyone that lives in it pretty well. As long as you follow my lead, I think we should be able to avoid a lot of the possible conflict…” He did, though, mumble some things under his breath—plans, from the sounds of it, in case things didn’t go well.

That mumbling, though, died after a little while, leaving only silence in its place. No one had tried coming up to them and they didn’t walk towards the few people they saw along the way. Casrane didn’t want to do any of the other quests until they’ve done everything for this section of the main story anyway—that’s more or less what they’d done so far.

At first, when they got to Kehnore City, it seemed like nothing was wrong. Everyone at the edge of town was just going about their day, sometimes pausing to look at the newcomers, but only lingering a moment longer. Some of them greeted Kaerio, a few more tried to start a conversation with him, but he just politely told them he had something important to do.

The real issue with Kehnore became apparent by the time they reached the center of town.

“This power is one they will quickly use against us!” someone standing in the middle of the street proclaimed. They were waving around papers and had a decently-sized crowd around them. “They will not overlook their opportunity! So tell me, people of Kehnore, how should we respond? By cowering? By giving in to their desires?”

“When in hundreds of years have they been our enemies?” someone else tried to ask, but no matter how loud they were, their voice was drowned out by the agreement on the other side. “Don’t you remember the things Nafrius has done, providing us with their new technology that we might be on equal footing? Or the joy the people in Eslasera had when we agreed to share our resources? Do you really want to fight those who have been kind to us, and have shown us gratitude when we were kind to them?”

There was a brief pause, then a near-simultaneous cry of, “Yes!”

“They might have been allies once, but they are no more,” the first said. “Do you not remember what we were the last time we saw this power? What do you think is necessary to keep us from becoming like that again?”

“Think this through logically! I assure you, causing a conflict will not prevent one!”

But their words were largely ignored.

Kaerio seemed to instinctively pull his coat a little closer, walk a bit faster, and give the three of them a nervous glance to make sure they were still following him.

“What was all of that about..?” Myr dared to ask.

He sighed. “That’s just the current state of Kehnore. Let’s get to the inn and rest a while, then maybe I’ll explain the rest of it. Don’t draw any attention to yourself, and if you do, definitely don’t give anyone a true answer.”

That was all he ever said. They made the rest of the way to the inn with no words shared between them—just the background ramblings of paranoid citizens and overconfident speakers.