Oak and Holly

Sweet Dreams

Braedon and Conall had immediately gotten to work on moving bodies after they had all regrouped, while Amerise and Elora did their best to make a small, but reliable fire with the scraps of wood they'd been able to find in the cave. None of them had been able to really cover their surprise that Elora had returned relatively unscathed from her fight with the minotaur, but Braedon had been the least discreet.

It wasn't necessarily anything he had said, since she had taken his initial reaction as a compliment, but Elora had already glared at him a few times for staring at her in shock since then. He didn't really notice how often he kept looking at her, but apparently it was enough that she finally threw her hands up in exasperation.

"If you want to say something to me, say it already!" she snapped. "Otherwise mind your own business."

Shaking his head, he quickly retreated with Conall. The warrior chuckled nervously as he looked over his shoulder where Elora was fuming. "You really get on her nerves, huh?"

"That's how it is for all clerics and sorceresses," Braedon grumbled. Conall had already bent down and grabbed one of the shaman by the arms and begun dragging him to the center of the cavern where the minotaurs' bodies were. The kobolds had been easier to move, so there was only two more shaman to drag along since Conall had grabbed one already. Braedon grabbed them by one leg each and dragged them after Conall.

"And that's why everyone is so surprised to see you two walking around together, right?"

The look the younger boy was giving him was a bit mischievous and he looked at him with a puzzled expression. "Yes. The Coven and the Order have a very tenuous truce, but it doesn't stop the groups from disliking each other."

Conall nodded, looking away from him. He casually tossed the body towards the pile when they got close enough, but Braedon walked ahead to drop them a bit more gently. The warrior cleared his throat and Braedon looked over his shoulder to show he was listening. Though, when he noticed Conall was trying to stop himself from smiling he wondered if he'd regret it. "You didn't seem to dislike her when you were staring at her earlier."

Braedon's eyes widened immediately in surprise, and Conall laughed. It seemed to be a natural assumption that people had been making since he and Elora were walking around together in Mana Ridge. Brother Germaine had assumed the same. But it was still a shock to him when anyone implied that he was looking at Elora as anything other than a teammate just because they weren't at each other's throats.

"I'm just teasing," Conall assured, moving his hands as if trying to calm down a riled up animal.

"I... really don't dislike her though. That doesn't mean what you were trying to imply is true!" He held up a hand when Conall looked shocked, hoping to stop any misunderstanding before it even happened this time. "She gets on my nerves, but I don't dislike her. That's all."

Conall went from shocked to puzzled again, lifting a hand as he gave a half hearted shrug. "So you're friends?"

Braedon wasn't sure how to answer that. They had never been on friendly terms and they didn't really know each other at all. But, he wasn't sure if saying they weren't friends was completely true. She had stayed by his side that day in Mana Ridge when she didn't have to, and she had admitted to his face that she didn't hate him. He had risked his life to try and save hers. Still...

"We just don't dislike each other," he decided. There was really no other way to describe it and he was relieved that Conall seemed to understand and accept that answer. Since no other questions seemed to be forthcoming, he turned his attention to the pile of bodies they'd amassed and quietly crossed himself; not for the sake of the monsters, but to let the Goddess know that he had vanquished evil in her name.

He tried not to think too hard about the fact that two of the monsters had spoken their language.

"There were some more barrels in here... I'm gonna check if they have any food in them," Conall announced. "We didn't really bring enough for camping out anywhere."

"If they're empty?" Braedon frowned and walked back over to him.

"Firewood, I guess," he shrugged. "But I'm sure they kept food in here somewhere though. They were probably gonna be here a while to keep people out. They weren't expecting people like us though!"

He could hear Conall chuckling as he wandered to a corner of the cave that they only noticed because it was filled with glowing mushrooms. He definitely didn't need any help looking at barrels, so Braedon had no reason to follow after him. He doubted that he had been gone long enough for Elora to have gotten to a point where she would tolerate his presence. He wasn't particularly in the mood for stupid bickering or being pelted with verbal abuse that he couldn't morally retaliate against.

He was tired. Too tired to even properly use the mana around him. And when he was tired, his patience was thin. So, like he always did, he prayed to the Goddess for enough patience to make it through the night before he even took his first steps back to the exit of the cavern. Conall hadn't returned yet but Amerise and Elora were both intently watching the fire they had made, and it seemed that every time it guttered or flickered they would hold their breath.

When Amerise noticed that he was watching them, she looked up with a solemn expression. "It has gone out several times already. The wind coming through the cavern is strong here because of the rain. I believe that Elora and I are now contemplating how best to murder either the wind or the fire. Isn't that right?"

Elora was grinding her teeth and wouldn't even glance up when Amerise looked at her. "Everything. I am going to kill. Everything."

"Right. Maybe you can offer some insight into how best to kill everything, Braedon." She smiled in amusement despite her serious tone. The cleric wasn't really sure how he should respond since he could tell that Amerise was probably already included in 'everything' and it would be very easy for him to be on that hit list if he wasn't already there. Instead he felt it would be better to just consult Elora as an expert in all things flammable.

"Where should we move the fire?" he asked. Elora looked exasperated but not angry which he supposed was a lot of progress made in just a matter of seconds.

"We either deal with the smell of corpses or we stay here and appreciate the fresh air." She looked at him. Judging from her sour expression she was going to throw a fit if he suggested they move towards the center of the cavern.

"So there's nowhere to move it to."

"Exactly. If it wasn't so exhausting I could certainly conjure a fire that never died," she grumbled. "But seeing as you can barely draw on any mana at all, one of us has to be able to use their magic by the morning. Wasting it all on a campfire wouldn't be worth it."

Braedon frowned but instead looked around the area they had chosen to use as a campsite. They were rather close to the cavern's opening and though the rain had slowed down to a point they weren't afraid to be washed away, the wind hadn't really improved. He supposed part of the problem was that this area was also concave. He knew that behind him was higher and even ground, because that was where he had killed all those monsters. Naturally there was a bit of blood there. But he had outright refused to sleep there when the discussion had first been brought up.

"If we can clean the blood..," he hesitated when Elora's eyes seemed to light up in victory, "and you will allow me to cleanse the place of any lingering evil, then perhaps we can move back up this incline and build the fire there."

"Do whatever helps you sleep at night, holy man. I'm just glad you're finally coming around to my side on this. I told you it was a bad idea to try and camp out down here. I don't know why none of you will listen to me, even after all I did."

"I'm sorry," Braedon sighed.

Amerise nodded in agreement. "Yes, I'm sorry as well. If we are all team mates than everyone's opinions should be weighed equally. We haven't been fair to you."

Elora was completely skeptical of both of them. She hunched her shoulders and narrowed her eyes as she walked up the incline and away from them, preparing for someone to make a snide comment that was not going to come. Amerise smiled, gesturing to the fire and successfully regaining his attention.

"I'll put this out. Perhaps, if your gloves are strong enough to withstand the heat in the kitchen, you can carry the wood to the new site?"

Braedon was completely baffled when Amerise started laughing. They weren't anywhere near a kitchen and it wouldn't have made much more sense even if they had been. At least Conall wasn't here to claim she had a good sense of humor because clearly her sense of humor was worse than Braedon had originally thought. Since she was completely distracted he took it upon himself to put out the fire.

"That was a good joke, right? Hehehe." Amerise crouched slightly to look him in the eye, since he had crouched down to gather up the wood they had been burning. He glanced around in a bit of a panic, feeling his face heat up slightly the longer she looked at him. She had very, very blue eyes.

"Ha, yes," he said finally. "It was."

He thought he could hear Elora moaning about being surrounded by idiots, but he couldn't tell Amerise that it had been absolutely terrible while she was looking at him like that. And she looked very pleased to hear that he had enjoyed it. Now he just had to hope she didn't catch on that he had lied to her, and the best way to make sure that didn't happen was to look somewhere else.

Luckily there was a loud thud that distracted him as well as Amerise. Conall was rubbing his forehead, resting one hand on a barrel that he had apparently carried over."I found the food—Elora why are you freezing the ground?"

"So I can melt it and instantly have enough water to wash away the mess Braedon made here," she replied simply. She was very carefully and methodically walking backwards, moving her hand in sweeping motions to make sure the entire area was covered. He was still surprised that she was able to use her magic without the help of a staff, since it seemed to be a necessity judging by how she immediately bought one the last time it had broken.

"Man, don't your hands get cold?" Conall seemed to be completely fascinated with magic because he was watching her work as if he had never seen anyone use it before. Elora only shrugged, obviously tolerating questions from Conall better than she would have if Braedon had asked her. He couldn't help but feel, again, that this was obviously the perk of not being a cleric.

"A little. Great sorceresses like Lady Kasarana and Master Cynthia can use magic like this without any side-effects... and it would be as strong as the magic I can do with a staff," she muttered. "Ideally, I'd be wearing gloves."

"Well, you can use my gloves," Conall offered. He had already moved to take them off when she shook her head.

"Special gloves," Elora clarified. She paused to admire her handiwork and then with a smile set it all on fire. It wouldn't be as effective as scrubbing the place down, but as water started to run down the incline and pool at Braedon's feet he could see even in the dim light that it was red with blood. Luckily he had picked up the wood they had been using by then, but when she glanced down where he and Amerise were he couldn't help but think that she had melted the ice without warning on purpose.

Amerise easily jumped over the flood of water and blood, landing at the top of the incline completely unbothered; though he had watched her fight before, and he assumed Conall had as well, they all were surprised by how agile she was. Elora did not seem to be particularly impressed with the front flip she had added in, narrowing her eyes when Amerise walked past her. Braedon wasn't sure if he should enjoy Elora's bitter expression or not, but she was already focusing her attention back on the ice and making sure it all melted.

Braedon waded through the puddle collecting around him and headed up the incline, charred bits of wood in hand. Elora unsurprisingly ignored him melting the thicker chunks of ice with bursts of fire until there was none left. He couldn't exactly set the wood down on damp ground though. "Can you dry it with your fire as well?"

She paused and he only caught a brief glimpse of her glare before there was a burst of flame that would have definitely burned his eyebrows off if he had not scrambled back. "What a stupid question. Arcane magic has more uses than you seem to realize," she snapped. "As if I wouldn't have thought of that already, anyway."

If there had been more room she probably would have stormed away from him, but with Conall and Amerise blocking her escape to the center of the cavern and a pool of bloody water in front of the exit of the cavern, her only choice was to turn her back to him. He was too surprised to do anything but drop the wood on the ground and he decided that it was best he keep focused on the task at hand. His thoughts needed to be clean and good if he was going to cleanse the place.

It was not a particularly arduous process; most of it involved praying and carefully moving around the area as he did so. The others stayed out of his way, which he only knew because he didn't once run into anyone. He knew that Elora was probably watching out of annoyance, but she of course wouldn't be able to see the holy energy that he was filling the area with. He didn't know if all Sorceresses were non-believers, but they certainly were not as receptive to the Goddess as a cleric.

Or rather... as a good cleric. Brother Cedric certainly hadn't been receptive to the Goddess. He abruptly stopped, looking at the faint blood stain that he was standing over. There was certainly no holy energy here. Was forsaking Her really so easy? Was there really something else that was more reassuring than the Goddess's love?

"Do you wanna eat something now, Braedon? It's not bad, considering it was for monsters."

He hesitated when Conall spoke to him; he hadn't realized until then that he felt rather sick and he took a few moments to regain some composure before turning to him. They were all sitting on the ground nearby. No one had built a fire because he had still been walking around, but it seemed that what Conall had found consisted mostly of dried meat anyway so there was nothing to cook.

"Maybe we interrupted him," Amerise mused.

"No, I finished." His voice sounded strange but the only one that seemed to notice was Elora, who was staring at him rather intently.

Conall clapped his hand on his knee before then stood up with a sigh. "Alright. Time to start a fire then."

Amerise was holding out food for Braedon when he approached and he seemed to be the only one that was surprised when Conall suddenly hefted the barrel above his head and walked away from them. "What are you—" before he could finish, Conall threw it as hard as he could at the cavern wall. The barrel, now that it was shattered into pieces, was clearly empty.

"This should be enough for a pretty big fire, right?" Conall was casually snapping some of the bigger planks of wood, or the pieces that were still stuck to the metal bands. Elora shrugged, then fell into a discussion about where the best place to start the fire would be, so clearly he had done an acceptable job.

Braedon didn't pay any of them much mind until he felt a tiny nudge at his leg. Amerise was looking up at him, reminding him that he hadn't even sat down and she was still patiently holding his food. He sat down, offering a flustered apology which she quickly turned down. "It looked like you were concentrating very hard on your previous task. It's easy to become a bit lethargic afterwards, so I understand."

He ate quietly and watched as Conall and Elora carefully built the fire in the center of the area they were taking over. Judging from the way they were talking, they figured the area that was surrounded by stalagmites would be the ideal place to sleep. The fire would be at their feet, close enough to keep them warm now that it was larger.

"No one's hair will catch on fire if someone rolls over," Elora reasoned.

Once the fire was made they all moved and settled in, sitting with their backs against the cavern wall. Now that they were sitting by a warm fire, it became more apparent just how cold and damp they all were. Elora's mood in particular seemed to grow very sour. Too sour, it seemed, for her to even bother with complaining about sitting next to him, but her dark expression was certainly hint enough she wasn't happy about it. Braedon wasn't sure she'd be any happier sitting next to Amerise, so there was no suggestion that the archer move from his side to sit between them. Besides, as Conall pointed out, he could now easily heal the two members of the team that still needed the most help.

"If he even has the energy to do it. Maybe you should just focus on one of us," Elora grumbled. He assumed that meant he should focus on Amerise which he did rather gladly. Since he didn't have to cast the aura across as wide an area he was able to sit silently for the most part and listen to the others discuss when they should go to sleep, when they should wake up and what, if anything, they could rest their heads on. Since he was completely focused on his magic, he had no comments to add; the most he could do was simply follow along with what everyone else did, so when everyone else began to lay down, he did as well.

Using healing aura was rather relaxing after the dark thoughts he had been having earlier; this was, if nothing else, proof of the Goddess's blessing. No one else could give someone the power to heal the wounds of others, as far as he was concerned. Focusing on this also helped him ignore the fact that Amerise had to keep rather close for him to continue healing her. This he was able to do until at some point, he wasn't sure when, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

By the time Braedon found himself squinting up at the vaulted expanse of rock above him, the fire had diminished to embers; it was doing little to warm or light anything now. He wasn't completely sure why he had woken up since he couldn't recall having any nightmares—which was honestly a blessing—and he wasn't that cold despite the dead fire. He knew that he was the only one awake, however. He was starting to feel sore from sleeping on a stone floor though; he had probably woken up because he was uncomfortable and unable to move because he was trapped under everyone else's weight.

At some point during the night Elora had put herself at an angle, stretching her legs over his and using Conall's stomach to support her head. Conall had gotten close enough that Braedon's upper arm was caught under his elbow; Braedon had fallen asleep with that arm on his chest, and his most alarming discovery was that Amerise's hand was on top of his. He could vaguely remember her putting her hand there when she had rolled over and thanked him for healing her, but apparently that was also how they had fallen asleep.

Staring up at the cavern ceiling in shock, Braedon could feel his face slowly heating up in embarrassment. What if the others woke up before she did? What if she woke up and realized he was awake? Maybe she was already awake? He glanced down at her and confirmed that no, she wasn't awake. They were all still sleeping, oblivious that they had fallen asleep holding hands. The last thing he wanted was for Conall and Elora to get the wrong idea and constantly tease both of them for it.

What would Jacob say to see him getting worked up over this?

When all he could picture were lifeless eyes he turned his focus back to Amerise's hand, but the image of Jacob's face was persistent. Everywhere he looked it seemed those eyes were staring back at him. His forehead began to break out in a cold sweat and his heart felt like it was gripped by the familiar panic from his nightmares, even though he was awake. It took him a moment to realize that Amerise was sitting up slightly, looking at him with a groggy expression on her face. "—little tight."

"What?"

"Your grip on my hand is a little tight," she repeated gently. Braedon lifted his hand up in alarm, mindful that Conall was still using his arm to rest his own on. He couldn't even remember moving his hand to hold hers but Amerise didn't seem to be bothered by it. "A nightmare?"

He hesitated, but he couldn't think of any other way to describe what had upset him. "Yes. Sorry for waking you."

"There are a few more hours before the sun rises... you should try to get more sleep." Amerise smiled slightly as she lay back down on her side, bending one arm so she could rest her head and extending the other so she could hold his hand again. "Since it is a custom to hold hands when one is worried about nightmares, it is okay if you hold mine. That is the least I can do for you."

He was in a stunned silence for quite a while, and when it had finally crossed his mind to tell her she didn't have to, she had already fallen back asleep. Clenching his jaw slightly, he wondered if he should simply try to free his hand from hers. Though he supposed it wouldn't matter as long as no one else woke up before-"Tch!"

It was a struggle to only flinch as sharp pain raced up his leg. He wondered if he had been bitten by something but after a few moments he came to the conclusion that it had felt more like someone had kicked or stepped on him. Alarmed he looked at his legs as best he could, but the only thing there were Elora's... oh.

"Flirt when Conall and I don't have to listen to it."

He closed his eyes, wishing that he could cover his face somehow. Jacob would surely be laughing at him if he was here.