{-Casrane-}

It seemed that everyone stopped and turned their attention to Casrane and the twins. Some of them just looked in confusion—to them, it was just a random cry by a stranger on the street. For too many of them, however, there was something deeper than that. They knew exactly what that person meant, and seemed rather eager to play their part in helping.

Kaerio mumbled something before looking around him. As others began to creep closer, he looked at the three of them and said, “Follow me.” Then, almost too quickly for the order to be understood, he started heading into one of the streets.

Casrane, only after a moment to process it, made sure the twins stayed behind her and went to follow him. She tried not to be nervous when it became rather clear that there were more than a people following them; she decided not to dwell on the fact that their paces got quicker as time went on, how soon it seemed they were no longer followers but pursuerers. It felt like they were in danger, like this was something that truly posed a threat to them. She just told herself that it wasn’t—it couldn’t be. Nothing bad could happen here, she knew that by the way her father allowed her to do this at all.

Then again, some other little things had altered thanks to what she was doing. This could turn out to be one of them.

No, she shouldn’t consider that. She just needed to calm down… Somehow assure herself that this was going to be okay, no matter what happened.

She was too busy with her own thoughts that she hardly noticed when Kaerio stopped. She could no longer hear the noises of anyone else following them.

“I think we lost them for a little while,” Kaerio dared to say. “I’m just going to assume that you ticked off the Rune Reactivation Project while you were at Anthalas..?”

“We may or may not have been a part in ruining their plans,” Myr replied casually.

Llewel seemed focused on other matters. “Didn’t you say that no one knew that we were here yet?”

Kaerio shrugged. “I guess their information came a little quicker than I thought it was going to. But that doesn’t mean the situation is completely out of our control. If they knew that you’re here, then that means that you’re going to need to get out of Kehnore. I know a guy that can get you three closer to Kyirius again.”

“And you can trust him?”

“Have I shown you to anyone else who’s tried to hurt you?”

Casrane decided to offer her own words of comfort. “I promise, nothing bad is going to happen. It’s going to be alright.”

Myr, at least, decided that she needed no more convincing. It took Llewel another moment, but he nodded to show the same. Casrane almost wished she could explain it all to both of them, so that they wouldn’t need to be worried about what came ahead, but she knew she probably shouldn’t. Besides, she felt that if they knew the trials they’d face… they might keep waiting for the future hardships instead of be happy for the time they had in the present.

“Then come on,” Kaerio prompted. “It sounds like they’ve lost track of us for now, but we’ve got to make sure it stays that way. We need to stay one step ahead of them on our way to the docks, so let’s get going.”

They gave a collective nod and once again started following him. Casrane, for a moment, considered asking how he knew these back roads as well as he seemed to. She decided not to for two reasons: their current situation wasn’t exactly time for that kind of question, and she had a feeling she really didn’t want to know the answer.

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They needed to be even more careful when they got to the docks—there was more open space and definitely a lot more people wandering around. Still, Kaerio only stopped for a moment to take a deep breath, look around, and then continued to guide them. He didn’t falter once until he’d brought them to a stranger who seemed busy loading his smaller boat with boxes.

“Ilias, I don’t suppose you can spare some extra room for a few people?” Kaerio asked, earning them this stranger’s attention.

Ilias looked between the four of them, then out to the crowds, like he both did and did not understand why Kaerio would be asking. “I’m assuming this is a more urgent affair?”

“Do you think you can take us closer to the border of Kehnore and Kyirius?”

“Should I be telling Iris about this later or is this a part of something you’re doing for Gouzla?”

“Please? This is kind of time sensitive. I need to help these three get out of here before anyone tries to hurt them.”

“And what did they do?”

There was a brief pause before, “Nothing, except decide that they wanted to be in Kehnore.”

Whatever second conversation was had between those questions and half-answers, it seemed to work. Ilias gestured them all onto his boat.

“There’s not a lot of room, but make yourselves at home. We’ll head out in a few more minutes.”

It seemed that Kaerio first thought of arguing, though he simply settled with a nod. He guided the three of them on to the boat. They all sat down in a place where no one from the docks would be able to see them, and he kept his voice quiet when he talked with them.

“I’ll stay with you until we get there,” he said. “I’m not going to leave you alone in case something else ends up happening. If I had anything that I needed to, I’d message Vureta to make sure that she knows to come and get you…”

“You’re doing enough already,” Casrane assured him. “We’ll be fine.”

Still, he took out the box with such a solemn air that it was like he didn’t hear her at all. “It’s probably good that we got these, since I doubt any of you are too familiar with water. I hope we still won’t need to test to make sure they actually work, but… best to put them on now, just to be safe.” He passed a pin to each of them, then put the last one on himself.

It was a moment later that Ilias announced, “Hope you have everything you needed! We’re leaving the docks as soon as I can get this thing to work the way it should.” Even though what he said suggested some kind of struggle, it wasn’t much longer that the boat started moving.

“So, do we really have a better plan than this?” Llewel asked. “Are you just going to make sure we get to Kyirius?”

Kaerio shrugged. “I mean, that’ll make sure the three of you are safe. I don’t think there’s a lot else that I can do aside from that.”

“They saw you with us and they could’ve realized why,” Myr pointed out with a concerned frown. “Are you going to be alright there on your own..?”

“I’ve been a neutral party for a long time, and that doesn’t change what they think about me. I doubt seeing me with you, whether or not they connected the dots, is going to make that big of a difference.” He considered it a little more, perhaps since she seemed no more assured. “Even if it’s not, I’ve got Iris and Gouzla. I don’t want to bother them, but I know that they’ll always be there if I need it. You don’t need to worry about anything.”

Then they fell into silence. The only thing left to do was to try to ignore how real the boat ride seemed—particularly the worst parts of it.

It was not helped in the slightest when, after something very large hit up against the boat.

“Do any of you know what that was?” Ilias called from his spot at the helm. “I’ve got other valuable stuff in—”

Another, harder hit. Waves splashed onto the boat, enough to force everything—including them—that hadn’t been previously tied down to move closer to the edge. Another wave came with the third hit, causing everything that moved before to be completely thrown off.

Casrane instinctively held her breath when she hit the water, reminding herself not to panic. She caught a glimpse of the creature—some hulking mass of metal, some monster of human design—and felt a piece of it knock up against her. That was all things she was expecting.

But she certainly was not supposed to be watching her charm freely floating in the water, further than what she could muster the strength to grab in her growing panic.