CHAPTER: To Vasselheim!

Neither bodyguard or Lady saw Vox Machina downstairs, so they headed out to the Slayer's Cake. The smell of freshly fallen leaves fills the air along the main street. The Sun Tree has grown since the Briarwoods were ousted. The branches that had once been truncated and barren now extended a proper canopy over buildings and the main thoroughfare. It was objectively a magnificent sight.

And even still, Cassandra seldom looked up at it. Having basically walked in Cassandra's shadow for the better part of a year now, Trisha never remarked on it. She was young when the Briarwoods arrived, but the bodyguard remembered Cassandra's family sans Percival, some of whom disfigured by obvious torture, swinging from the boughs of the Sun Tree. Trish remembers how the Lady Delilah had paraded Cassandra around in the early days. How the little girl was made to look up upon the atrocity that had befallen her family. The corpses of the de Rolo family were on display for long enough that it just became normal to look up and see them without eliciting the initial outrage and despair. Trisha shook her head of such thoughts as her Lady made a path to the Slayer's Cake.

Stepping into the delightful shop her friends had put up almost a year ago, Cassandra didn't see any of them here. The woman that was behind the counter zoning out while humming to herself was in her early thirties. Though grief had aged her a bit to look older prematurely. Not an uncommon feature of Whitestone's denizens, Cassandra thought to herself. "Hilda dear, have you seen any of Vox Machina this morning?"

Hilda came back to herself with a quick inhale, "Oh! My Lady! Um, they've not come into the shop today. The big one, Grog, collapsed just over there," she indicated the path leading up to the castle, "And Pike called the others over to them. Withing a couple minutes, Lady Keyleth did her druid thing and they walked through the Sun Tree."

Cassandra listened intently and as much as she wanted to cuff her brother 'round the ears for leaving again so suddenly…Hilda's expression was worried. Something had clearly happened to Grog and the others, some of the most powerful mortals walking Exandria seemed panicked. Fuck.

"Did you happen to catch them talking about where they were going?" Cassandra asked kindly.

"Vasselheim, I think. Yes. That's what Lord Percival said," Hilda said as she nodded to herself.

Vasselheim, Cassandra shuddered almost imperceptibly. Shaking off the cold creep of ice at the nape of her neck, Cassandra turned to Trisha and said an a calm tone, "I'm going after them to find out what's going on. I'll use Vex'ahlia's transportation circle to get there. Please inform Keeper Yennen, I don't want them worrying unduly."

"My Lady, I'm afraid I must insist on accompanying you," Trish replies neutrally. As much as Cassandra wanted to argue with her most loyal guard, she knows she won't be winning this argument.

"Fine," Cassandra sighed as she turned back to Hilda. "Are there any of your exemplary cream puffs available?"

Hilda blushed a little at the praise, even though it was a regular refrain from any who tried this legend's cream puffs. "I have some in the oven now, but they would be baked and furnished with frosting and the like in twelve minutes."

Cassandra nods and gives the baker a smile, "Thank you Hilda. Let's go Trish."

Finding Keeper Yennen was no trouble. The wizened priestess of Erathis smiled at the young de Rolo as she and Trish entered the temple of the Dawnfather.

"How can I help you, Cassandra?" Yennen asked. She looked at Cassandra with an intent gaze that told the young noble that her transformation via the Raven Queen's hand did not go unnoticed.

"My brother and his friends seem to be dealing with another small crisis involving Grog. They have absconded to Vasselheim. I'm going to follow them, but I also have business at one of the temples there that hopefully still remains standing."

"Child, are you alright?" Yennen asked gently as she approached the girl she once heaped wounded feelings and contempt upon.

Cassandra considered lying for a moment, but realised it was a fruitless endeavour. "No. I died yesterday. But I think in time, I'll recover. I've been through worse."

Yennen cupped Cassandra's cheek in a way that unintentionally mirrored the Matron of Ravens and said, "Is your sudden urge to visit a temple in Vasselheim part of your recovery?"

"Yes."

"Very well. I will inform the others on the council of your departure. I take it you won't be as long away as Percival is likely to be, again?" Keeper Yennen said with the slight curl of her lip. Cassandra apparently wasn't the only person slighted by the fact Percival fucked off with nary a word for the umpteenth time.

"If all goes well, I'll be back in the evening. More likely tomorrow by midday," Cassandra replied.

"Take care then. I'll let Kynan know to have the Pale Guard be extra vigilant," Yennen said.

"Actually, Trisha, you can tell him." Cassandra replied with a look at her guard.

"At once, my Lady," Trisha replied and immediately headed off to do Cassandra's bidding.

"Trying to set Trisha and Kynan down a romantic path?" Yennen asked with a grin.

Cassandra huffed with a matching grin. "Kynan needs somebody strong, and Trish has been eyeing him less subtly as of late. You know me well."

"I do. I hope you find what you're looking for there."

The Priestess of Erathis paused before saying in a softer voice than the Lady of Whitestone could remember hearing from her in a decade, "And Cassandra, I saw Mr. Gilmore bring you back." Keeper Yennen drew the near touch-starved Lady of Whitestone into a hug she wasn't expecting. It was the first hug the older woman had ever graced Cassandra with. The youngest de Rolo froze up, but Yennen's warmth didn't retract quite yet.

"You've suffered so much, and I haven't always been the priestess you needed, or deserved." There was plenty Yennen wasn't saying, but Cassandra could read between the lines. They'd both had to get used to each other on the council, and it hadn't always been so amicable.

"I don't begrudge you not liking me Keeper. I would've been far worse to me were I in your position," Cassandra said slowly.

"I'm not entirely over what happened when the Briarwoods reigned, but I have certainly come to respect you woman you are now. And seeing your body in Gilmore's arms was…" Keeper Yennen trailed off a bit there. She rallied as she slowly released their embrace and held Cassandra at arm's length gently with a hand on each shoulder.

"It brought upon me a great deal of shame when I thought about why I held such contempt for you for so long. Because in that moment I was reminded that you're still so young. And younger still when the Briarwoods had you turn on us." Keeper Yennen spoke slowly and deliberately. "Seeing you dead fucked me up, as the kids say. And I'm sorry it happened to you."

Cassandra was taken aback. Yennen had been amicable, if aloof in most of their dealings on the Council of Whitestone. Cassandra knew the fact that she held the most powerful position instead of Percy always irked the priestess.

"Your words are appreciated," Cassandra said, not exactly knowing how to transition from such an emotional topic to a different one. "I'm headed to Vasselheim to inquire after both my brother and a vision I had when I d-died yesterday." All the etiquette training in the world couldn't help Cassandra stuttering over her most recent trauma. She wasn't sure if she was pleased or pained that Keeper Yennen flinched as well.

"Vision? How do you mean?" Yennen asked.

"From the Matron of Ravens. She…she named me her Emissary and instructed me to visit her temple in Vasselheim," Guardian of the Woven Stone spoke aloud her new Title for the first time.

Yennen nodded and took a moment to formulate her thoughts before saying, "Well, then you should do your Matron's bidding. Things have calmed down a bit, now that the threat of the Whispered One is over. So you shouldn't feel too hurried to return if she has additional tasks for you after you commune with her. Do you by chance know what is going on with Vox Machina? I was told they left quite abruptly."

Cassandra let out a small breath of relief that Yennen had just gone with it instead of bombard her with questions. "I think the big one, Grog needed aid. I also intend to speak to them about it myself."

"You shouldn't go alone." Yennen said with a bit more edge than she'd been using previously.

"I'm not a child," Cassandra replied a bit petulantly on reflex.

"Of course you aren't. But you are just one woman, and even the strongest people we know often travel in pairs at minimum," Yennen points out.

Cassandra knew the priestess was right. And unlike her younger self, was able to admit it to herself fairly quickly. "I'll see if Gilmore or Kaylie are interested in coming."

"I believe Gilmore departed at first light, actually. I'm not sure where, but he seemed keen on going somewhere quickly," Yennen poked a hole in Cassandra's plan.

"Alright, do you know if Kaylie is in the castle still?" Cassandra asked.

"I believe so. But you might want to check one of the taverns before making your way back up to the castle first."

"That's a good idea," Cassandra admitted. "I'll be off now, no use in dallying."

Keeper Yennen nodded and gave the young woman a smile, "Be well, Cassandra. For what it's worth, I'm deeply relieved that you're with us once more."

"Thank you, Keeper Yennen. I'll find a way to send word back if there are any complications you or the Council need to know about."

With that, Cassandra left the temple to The Dawnfather and did in fact find Kaylie on Yennen's suggestion, the nearest tavern to the castle.

"Hey, Kaylie, would you be interested in a trip to Vasselheim?" Cassandra asked as she approached the gnome girl who had just polished off a hearty breakfast and a pint of local ale from the looks of it.

"With you? Sure, why not. Might as well do something interesting today. Beats sitting around thinking about what a shite few days we've had," the Kymal native replied with a genuine smile.

Cassandra laid a couple gold down on the table and the two women left the tavern. "Do you have all you need?"

"Me Da' got me a bag of holding, so I'm set."

Cassandra smiled and replied, "Then let's be on our way."