{-Casrane-}
On the trip back to the city, they upheld a casual conversation of what felt like a job well done. Sure, they might not have solved every problem, but Bezyu assured them that it was definitely going to help; that, soon enough, everything else would get better, too. Casrane barely thought about what was supposed to happen after they returned to the city though, when she got there, she wished she’d been able to warn them a little sooner.
The streets were empty, just as they’d been when they first arrived there. Except, there was a more dire sense of tension lingering in the air—a kind of feeling that one wrong move could cause a scene. Their conversation died immediately as they stood in the streets.
“One of your coworkers said that the rune should’ve started working again by now, right?” Myr asked, glancing at Bezyu. “Do you think no one’s noticed it yet..?”
Bezyu nervously looked around. “I don’t know. I think this is worse than what it had been like when we left. As much as I hate to bring up the idea… something else might’ve happened since we were gone.”
“Someone in the inn could know something,” Llewel pointed out. “Tiolfe might be able to talk with us. And, if this really is just about the oasis, she should be able to convince the others that it’s alright now.”
Casrane nodded and led the way. Though, once the full weight of the silence had settled in, Bezyu ultimately took the lead—she was the first to the inn, and the one to push open the door.
“What happened?” she tried to ask, but it seemed the people there weren’t interested in listening.
“What do you think Ilataesi hoped to do with it?” someone questioned. They were one of many who were confused and conflicted; while they were all gathered together, Casrane got the impression that none of them really knew the answer.
Another shook their head. “I heard that it was someone from Kehnore who took it.”
“No, I saw the guy! Or at least, I think it was who it was. He was definitely from Eslasera. He was a traitor!” a third said.
Several more joined in to add to the chaos. Tiolfe stood at the counter watching it all—she must not have known what to do. She… had the same kind of expression Bezyu had had earlier, in fact. Like she wanted to do something but she couldn’t.
“Think calmly here, all of you,” Tiolfe finally managed, though she didn’t move from her spot. “We’re not going to get anywhere by pointing fingers at each other.”
“Well, we’re not going to get anywhere by accepting it, either!” someone argued back. “We need to do something!”
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“No, we need to stay out of it,” another said. “It doesn’t matter who took it, they’re likely ten times better off than we are. We can’t start a war here. Not when we barely have the resources to take care of our own needs.”
Bezyu pushed through the crowds, in an attempt to break them up. Then, when it looked like she might’ve gotten their attention, she repeated, “What happened?”
Casrane, Llewel, and Myr slowly walked up to the rest, too. It didn’t really seem like anyone noticed them, though. Perhaps that was for the better.
“We learned that someone took the rune we need for our water,” someone explained. “Someone purposely took away what we need to survive here.”
Llewel sighed, and went up to stand beside Bezyu. “Your problem isn’t with each other, or any of the other regions. You should be blaming the Rune Reactivation Project—they’re the ones responsible for the missing rune.”
There was silence as the people considered it. For a moment, Casrane thought that it might’ve worked—that they’d realized that Llewel was right.
And then one of them asked, “But someone has to be harboring the Rune Reactivation Project, right?” There were nods of mutual agreement throughout the crowd. “Then those are the people that we’re after! Whoever’s allowing them to stay—whoever’s letting them do this—is just as bad as they are. And we can’t just let this happen!”
Most of the crowd cheered then, even some of those who’d seemed against the idea before.
Myr looked between her brother and Casrane. “Is there anything we can do? It doesn’t seem like they’re listening…”
Llewel shook his head slowly. “I don’t think anything we say is going to do anything at this point.”
“I don’t understand,” Bezyu mumbled. “Why would they all be so intent on this..? We were never the kind of people to do this sort of thing before…”
Casrane hoped she sounded a bit reassuring when she said, “There’s a chance that all of this has added up. They’re ready to have someone to blame for everything that’s happening—and, at this point, they might not be willing to accept that there’s other options besides violence.”
Actually, that didn’t sound reassuring at all.
“But this doesn’t have to be forever,” she continued, in an attempt to make it better. “What the three of us are doing—it’s going to help all of this. We’re going to stop what the Rune Reactivation Project is doing and, once we do, everything can go back to normal. I’m almost certain things will actually be better once we’re done.”
Slowly, Bezyu nodded. “Do you… think there’s anything I can do here, to try to help?”
“Try to keep these guys from anything too serious,” Llewel said. “Say whatever you think would make them think about what they’re doing—to think twice before actually accusing another region. If you can manage things here, I think it’ll be a little bit easier to adjust to everything once it’s done.”
“And make sure to stay safe!” Myr added. “We… don’t really know what’s going to happen, especially if things are like this. I don’t want to hear that you got hurt trying to help.”
“Alright.” Bezyu gave another small nod. “I’ll do what I can. I think, for some of them, I might be able to convince them—they know me. And I could ask some of my coworkers to help as well. Between all of us, we might be able to do something…”
Casrane knew that this was about as assured as any of them were going to get. “Then our next stop is Anseshara. That’s where we end this.”