When Egil woke up, he found himself in a bed that was a bit too small for him. Following that, he noted Vanea was next to the bed, sobbing in relief as he groaned and sat up. On his other side, squeezed onto the bed, was Alvis who quickly wrapped his arms around Egil and clung…

You would think he had nearly died and not just fainted, the way they were treating him!

"That's enough of that…" He pat Vanea's head and rubbed Alvis's back a bit with a sigh. "I'm fine, there's no reason for the two of you to act like I was actually in any danger."

"This is the second time you've fainted, Egil!" Vanea looked up at him, a frown on her face. "If this keeps being a trend, I can't help but worry."

"It's clearly taking a toll on you, going into the Bionis." Alvis spoke, arms still wrapped tightly around the Machina. "It makes me want to hold you right here and keep you from going anywhere near the innards again."

"And now I'm sure you're just trying to be cheeky, seeing as you can't hold me down to save your life." To punctuate the statement, he swung his legs over the bed and stood, Alvis still clinging like a monkey.

"Aw, and here I was trying to have a nice moment…" Alvis pulled his face from Egil's shoulder and revealed the smirk Egil had been expecting the entire time. "Must you ruin nice things?"

"Yes, I'm mean." He let Alvis hop off of him, flicking his forehead as soon as he was not being held. "You should get used to that, Alvis."

"I suppose it is a charm of yours…" Alvis sighed, patting Egil's leg as he could not reach anything higher very easily. "I will break down that cold exterior of yours one of these days, though."

The clearing of a throat and Egil's attention was on the rest of their group as well as Sharla, all standing in the room or the doorway, watching. Well, that made this entire interaction a little more embarrassing, didn't it?

Oh, of all the impressions to make on Homs, this was not the one he wanted to make! He would blame Alvis for this, though, if questioned about it by Sharla. Hopefully she would just glaze right past it, though...

He looked to Sharla, avoiding the looks Tyrea and Linada were shooting at him. "I trust your little brother made it to you safely, then?"

"He did, thanks to all of you." Sharla nodded, giving them all the smallest smile. "And I'll live up to my end of the bargain. Let you be on your way… if you're looking for the boy with that sword, you'll want to head towards Colony 9. Travel down the Leg and you should reach the passage quickly enough."

"I see. Thank you, Sharla." It was nice, seeing as the Homs were following up on their end of the deal. "I hope this means the others will not get in our way?"

"If they try, they'll get a piece of my mind, I can tell you that." Sharla gave a firm nod. "If you were bad people, you wouldn't have saved Juju for me, I know that much."

"Thank you, for believing in us." Kallian shot her a princely smile. "We'll be on our way soon, but we will never forget your generosity."

Sharla giggled a bit, moving some hair behind her ear. "Oh, now you're just trying to flatter me…"

"Not at all!" Kallian shook his head. "I truly believe everything I'm saying! Us High Entia could learn a thing or two from-"

He let out a yelp as Tyrea kicked him right in the rear, following it up by tugging him along by his arm. "Enough of that. We're moving on… Thank you, Sharla, for your assistance. We will be out of your hair from here on out."

Sharla snorted. "At least let me take you to the exit of the Colony!"

Egil glanced at Fiora, who still seemed to be in a deep sleep. He brushed her bangs out of her face once again before nodding towards Sharla. "That would be nice, thank you."


With Colony 6 behind them and the Bionis Leg in front of them, Egil couldn't help but let out an annoyed groan. He had known the leg would not be short, but… Seeing all the hills and nature to go through? He was wishing they could skip through it, in some way.

But they couldn't, and so he sucked in a breath and started out across the bridge. "This is going to be the worst part of this journey yet."

"Don't be so sure." Tyrea shook her head. "Those Ether Mines were worse."

"I have to agree with Tyrea." Linada tapped her cheek. "It was so stuffy and made you faint, after all."

"...Fair enough, but at least that was a fairly quick trip." He kicked a stone that sat at his feet. "This is going to take a lot longer."

"Oka think Egil being dramatic." She snickered. "If Egil keep his head up, friends be done with the Leg in no time!"

"I wish I could be half as optimistic as you." But he couldn't, ever the pessimist that he was. "...For now, let's just focus on getting away from Colony 6 before they change their minds."

"I agree, I trust Sharla's word, but…" Kallian glanced back over his shoulder. "That Gadolt, and that Otharon… I doubt they truly wish to just let us go."

"An untrustworthy lot, truly." Tyrea made a face, picking up her pace and even passing Egil. "Come on then, the less Homs making my life more difficult, the better."

"Agreed." Egil glanced back. "Alvis is plenty a thorn in my side for the entire species."

"Aw, you do care."

"Not a compliment, Alvis!"


"You are a strange one, Alvis…" Vanea watched the Homs as they made camp for the night, watching him closely. "Always so vague, off-color…"

"I suppose I always have been this way." He chuckled, looking at her as she moved to sit next to him by the fire. "It's one of my quirks."

"A quirk, or do you do it on purpose?" Vanea narrowed her eyes, watching him carefully. "I'm starting to think it may be the latter."

She truly did not trust Alvis, not fully. Never had since they met, if she was being honest. There was just so much about him that was strange… And he never did help himself with that, given the way he spoke and acted. He almost played into the strangeness of his being…

And, given all that had happened, Vanea did not like that. Not one bit.

Alvis, however, just chuckled. "Perhaps it started out something I did for fun, but now? Now it's quite normal for me. More normal than you would think."

Vanea scowled at him, arms crossed. "Oh, you just love to annoy others, don't you?"

"My! Cranky…" He clicked his tongue, patting his cheek with a finger. "I would expect that from Egil, but you?"

"I'm tired of your constant vague comments and cheeky attitude." Vanea sat a bit straighter. "Being honest with you, I do not trust you. And I do not like how close you are to Egil… If you hurt him, I swear to Lady Meyneth I will-"

"The last thing I want is to hurt Egil." He cut her off, eyes shining with a bit more emotion than they usually did. "You do not have to trust me, Vanea, I would never ask that. I just ask you to understand that Egil is important to me."

Vanea sighed, her anger simmering down just a bit. "...I am not sure I can understand, but I will try. Just know, Alvis, I will be watching you."

"I understand." He nodded, going quiet for a moment before speaking again. "Just know that I want what you want. Happiness for Egil."

"We'll see just how true that statement of yours is." She stood, turning away from him. "Good night, Alvis."

"Good night, Vanea."