Adira led the way, and sure enough, after not even a half hour's worth of walking, they arrived at an enclosed area, ventilated through openings in the ceiling but otherwise closed off to all except the entrance. There Adira disappeared, though she promised to fend off attackers should they dare try again to collect them. Her words sent a chill down their backs.

Along the way, Varian made note of several bioluminescent mushrooms and stones (which on further inspection, were covered with a film of moss). He sequestered some of them away in his pockets, wiping the glow off of his hands and onto the sides of his clothes. Who knew what long term skin exposure could cause? Although, perhaps there could be beneficial reactions. He'd need to test it out.

What an odd thought.

Varian found that more and more often he'd have a thought or observation regarding some small detail about their surroundings pop into his mind unprompted. He knew not to touch certain plants, or that they were headed East, or even that the caves they were in lay between and connected Corona, Koto, and Ingvar. But then he couldn't recall what the plant was called, or how he knew the direction they were travelling, or what those names meant to him specifically.

By the time they had set up camp (with far fewer issues than they'd had previously), Varian had thought himself into a spiral, the lingering aches from when his memories started paired with the headache that had formed from clenching his jaw as he tried to focus. He began to hum to himself, having found a place for himself and Ruddiger to curl up for the evening in the far corner of the camp, as far from the entrance as possible.

The humming helped his headache, and he found the aches and pains of the day fading. What caught his attention was a blue glow that couldn't be attributed to the items he had gathered earlier.

Reaching up, he found that a single lock of hair was glowing as he hummed, but faded back to its natural blue hue when he finished.

Was this another thing he had forgotten?

It was certainly useful. While he was still fatigued, his legs, which had been cramping from the travel, were back to normal, and his headache was much abated. The raccoon was eyeing him in a strange manner, but Varian couldn't find it in himself to care. Maybe he had been better at hiding it before.

He wondered if it worked for other people, or just for him.

Seeing that the group had gone their separate ways for the evening, Varian picked out the most agreeable of the group to ask to try it out on.

"Eugene?" Varian approached the man where he was tending to and holding some kind of conversation with the horses.

The man startled, turning to him, "I've never hidden Lance's Socky before. Oh, hey kid."

"Um." Varian's brow creased in confusion. "Good to know? Who's Lance, and what's a... sockey?"

Eugene waved his hand, dismissing the question. "Oh, it's nothing, I'm just missing my very best friend in the whole wide world. Along with Rapunzel. Though I'm not missing her, per se, she's here. It's just a shame that Lance isn't. He came down with bunny flu just before we were to set off. We had to keep light company. Anyway..."

Varian stood there, allowing Eugene to muse about his friend and their adventures, not really knowing how to broach the topic he had come over for.

"...and that's why we have to keep an eye out for this guy called the Baron. Never know when or if he'll show up."

Having very nearly lost his purpose, Varian stood there for the duration of the spiel, more confused than when they'd started speaking. Ruddiger had made his way over, curling around Varian's legs and teasing the horses before finally settling on one of the more comfortable looking packs.

"So, what was it you wanted to talk about?" Eugene asked charitably, seeing the look on Varian's face.

"Oh, right." Varian cleared his throat. "I wanted to know if your feet were doing any better."

"Ah. Right. Not really," Eugene admitted. "But it's not your fault. I apply dozens of poultices a day, there was no way to know that this particular plant didn't agree with me."

Varian didn't believe him, but it didn't matter in this case. Maybe he could fix it. "I think I could help. Maybe."

"Oh?" Eugene's wariness shone through despite his attempts to smother it. Varian didn't have the best track record with 'helping'.

It occurred to Varian that he had no idea how it might work in the first place. Maybe contact? But he wasn't about to touch Eugene's feet, ew. Especially not with the boils that had cropped up. He had another idea to try first.

"Yeah, uh. If you could just put your hand on my head."

Eugene hesitated a second before shrugging and ruffling Varian's hair before leaving it there, getting a surprised laugh out of Varian.

Varian closed his eyes and started to hum, pulling on the feeling from before and hoping he didn't make a fool of himself.

First he felt the chill that acted as a balm sweep through him, relaxing tensions he didn't realize he still held. Then he heard Eugene's surprised "Oh." He finished the melody and then peeked through a cracked eyelid, seeing a pleasantly surprised Eugene standing before him.

"Well, kid." Eugene shifted his weight from foot to foot before grinning. "I'd say you've got a gift."

Relief blossomed in Varian's chest, a genuine smile breaking out. He'd done it! He'd actually helped somebody, and without something terrible happening instead, to boot. He felt a little drained, but it was fine, things were great, in fact.

So great, he didn't see it coming when he passed out.

"Rapunzel!"

Hearing Eugene's panicked voice call for her, Rapunzel dropped what she was doing and darted for the sound of his voice, unclasping her hair along the way so she could use it for battle, or catching someone, or whatever might be needed at that moment.

"Eugene, what is it, what-" Rapunzel reached him the same time as Cassandra, who had her sword drawn, likewise ready for battle.

She saw him lowering Varian gently to the ground, the boy completely unconscious. Her guard lowered, even as her worries grew. She knelt besides them as Cassandra sighed, sheathing her sword and calming the spooked horses.

"What happened?" She asked, laying a hand against Varian's forehead. It was cool, if a bit clammy. No fever, thankfully.

"Well, you see it's a funny story, and I'm just as surprised as you are, but essentially..." Eugene was talking around the issue, something that didn't bode well for the situation. "His hair can do the healy-thing. Like yours can- could. Like yours used to. Except when he was done he passed out and I didn't know what to do!"

He could heal? Rapunzel was stunned. That was a gift of the Sun Drop, and he didn't have it, right? She thought back onto when Varian stole the flower. Maybe...

But then he wouldn't have needed them to free his father, right? What was she missing?

Eugene wasn't done. "Did anything like this happen when you healed people?"

"No, nothing like this." Rapunzel couldn't recall a single time as far back as she could remember. Her gift always came naturally until the loss of her hair. Not to mention that Varian's hair had definitely been cut, and it wouldn't make sense if he could do exactly what she used to.

"Lay him out on a bedroll. Maybe he's just exhausted." She knew the day had been a long one for all of them, and try as she might to get him to ride, Varian had definitely taken more than his fair share of the walking turns.

Once the small alchemist was positioned, Ruddiger curled up on his chest, the rise and fall the only indication of life in the small body.

"We'll check on him in the morning," Rapunzel promised.

Come morning, Varian felt better than he had in a long time, bolstered with excitement.

He was an alchemist!

The information clicked into place like it had never been missing in the first place, filling in so many blanks that he'd been missing. The plants and rocks he'd been gathering all along had useful properties, particularly in caves. As soon as he was up and moving, before any of the others had even risen, he was working away creating acids for clearing rock cave-ins, glowing substances for vision in the dark, and of course, small doses of anti-toxins that allowed a person to eat the otherwise toxic but highly nutritious and plentiful cave mushrooms.

He could help so much now, he could barely contain himself. He couldn't quite remember what had happened after he had healed Eugene, but it had definitely worked, so there was that too. Varian found himself with a purpose, and he couldn't wait to surprise the others with his inventions.

Absolutely nothing could go wrong!

He reached up to adjust his... his what? Varian frowned, suddenly aware that he was still missing things. Both memories and physical items left holes that his subconscious kept reaching for.

Sneaking a peek at the group, he made his way over to the packs, particularly the one where he'd found the useful vial in the fight. He now knew that it was lucky that he had picked the vial he had, as the others would have been either useless or extremely destructive in a way that should not be used against a human being. Fishing the other vials out, his hand brushed against metal, and he pulled out an oddly familiar pair of work goggles. He brushed his thumb over the lenses, finding them uncracked, if dusty.

"Varian?"

Startling at Rapunzel's voice, Varian nearly dropped the goggles, yelping.

"What... are you doing?" Rapunzel's voice held a note of uncertainty, but was generally still pleasant, so Varian didn't read too much into it.

"Oh, I remembered I'm an alchemist, so I figured, heh, that these," Varian gestured with the colorful vials in his hand. "Were probably mine."

"Oh, well, yes," Rapunzel came closer, noticing the goggles in his other hand. She gently took them before positioning them on Varian's head, smiling slightly. "These too, of course."

"Right." Varian beamed. It felt right to have them again. "It was smart to keep them here. I wouldn't have known what to do with them and they're quite dangerous, if I remember right."

He took a spare slip of leather, tying them and one of his glowing concoctions to the end of his walking stick. It would be easier to access them this way, and the glow could spread in front of him more readily. He didn't catch the conflicted look that crossed Rapunzel's face.

"So! I decided I'd make some things to help our adventure, since I've, well, you know." He grabbed her by the hand and led her over to his impromptu work station, shoving a glowing jar into her hand. "So, I hope you don't mind, but I moved some of the provisions to the same containers to make these, and we're definitely going to need these."

"That's... nice Varian." She looked at the other creations with some trepidation. "So, I can guess what this is for," she lifted the glowing concoction. "But what else have you prepared?"

Rapunzel asked it with a smile that didn't reach her eyes, but Varian was so caught up in sharing that he brushed it off. Obviously, he was seeing wrong, she had just recently woken up after all.

"I made these." He showed her the pellets that he'd put together. "They'll let us eat the mushrooms that grow here without side effects."

She did seem impressed by this, taking one and turning it over in her hand. It would be useful if they ran out of food, she supposed. But they could always leave to hunt, with the lands around well able to sustain them.

"Oh, and, and more importantly I have this," Varian pulled up a covered dish. "Acid that can eat through stone, perfect for if we get trapped in a rock slide."

"That's... nice?" Rapunzel was clearly uncomfortable. But he had it under control. He'd even lined the dish with a base that could counteract the acid, making it perfectly safe to transport.

"Heh, yeah. But don't worry, I was super careful. Didn't even singe my hands." He grinned, proud of himself.

"You know, there's something else that you should probably have-" Rapunzel made her way over to the packs hurriedly, pulling out a pair of black gloves. She came back and handed them to him. They were a perfect fit.

"Oh, yeah that'd probably have helped." Varian could feel the quality, the thickness blocking out sensation without hindering his dexterity. The odd feeling of exposure of his hands vanished with their presence.

"And Varian?" Rapunzel fiddled with her hair, a sure sign that she was uncomfortable.

"Yeah?"

"These," She gestured to the pellets. "Are great and all, but maybe we shouldn't take the acid. What if the container breaks open?"

Ah. For some reason he hadn't considered that. Oh, that would have been awful.

Varian drooped. "Right. Right, sorry, I'll just-" A few moments later and he had mixed a base powerful enough to offset the acid, with Rapunzel looking worriedly over his shoulder the whole time. A few moments of careful mixing later and he had a harmless, if useless creation. He poured it out over the rocks in a corner and it flowed harmlessly into the cracks.

"There, ha, all gone." Varian waved his hands, offering the container to Rapunzel. It was only after a moment that she carefully accepted it, tucking it away with the used dishes.

"Thank you, Varian." She smiled, a weight of her shoulders. "Not just for the acid thing, but for these other gifts. They'll come in handy, I'm sure."

Varian grinned, bashful.

Maybe he wasn't such a disaster, after all.