There were no more problems with Loiya and he seemed to be better but Kaetar wasn't sure what to make of him. It made him question whether or not his mind invented the memory of waking up to Loiya holding him in a strange position. There was no conversation about it either and that was fine with Kaetar who wanted more time to ponder about it all. With little worries, the next couple of days were spent in boredom until there was a small commotion in the village. Loiya and Rylar were watching in amusement as another part of their team was being questioned by the villagers. It was odd that they were questioned but the part of the rebellion who had been there for days hardly ever was. Kaetar also found it odd that it was Peter and Joel who was answering, or maybe debating. Occasionally, Nicholas also chimed in.

There was actually a handful of people that Kaetar couldn't see and he suspected that they just weren't there. Rylar and Loiya laughed, but he could see Arum and he looked disappointed. Elli was one of those who weren't there and he knew Darius would be a little disappointed that Chifee seemed to be gone too. It seemed to have taken awhile but the rebels who were there were finally allowed to enter the village. Kaetar supposed that they could have recruited the village their side during their stay but it simply slipped his mind. There was a lot that happened but he was glad that between Joel, Peter, and Nicholas, it was all figured out anyway.

"Do we tell them now or later?" Loiya asked.

"Now. Isn't it weird that Syrin isn't with them? We have to find out why," Kaetar muttered, making his way to the door. However, he heard a sigh from Rylar so he decided to at least see what he had to say.

"You make it sound like all of us are concerned about their well being. He'll be back. We all have this bad habit of not dying," Rylar said, folding his arms in front of his chest. Kaetar couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or serious, as his expression was neutral and his voice gave him no clues.

Arum shook his head and growled slightly. "We're all mortal here with many things out of our control. These soldiers haven't been difficult but stuff happens. Don't forget that."

"Stuff happens? Fuck you, Arum! You're always so patronizing and I'm fucking tired of it!" Rylar yelled, shoving Kaetar aside to exit the room. Arum rolled his eyes at first but then started chuckling like he wasn't offended at all by Rylar's language. Kaetar on the other hand he definitely didn't appreciate being shoved and he was rather uncomfortable with his language. No one swore in the palace, at least not in his presence. They definitely knew the words, because he learned that Loiya definitely knew those words, they just knew better than to use those words around the royal family.

"What an idiot," Arum mumbled after he left. "Using that language doesn't make him look more mature or anything. I just don't understand how someone like Duma raises someone so self-entitled and rude as Rylar is. His attitude is going to get one of us killed and he'll be the one to suffer from it. Mark my words," he mumbled, his expression going dark. However, he relaxed himself rather quickly. "Anyway... weren't you going to go find out where Syrin is?"

"Oh yeah!" Kaetar said as he ran out the door and out into the centre of the town where the rebellion still was. The first one to notice him was Soren, who tugged on Joel's arm. At first, he seemed annoyed, but then he realized what Soren was trying to get at all in all of his silence, and he jumped off the horse. He tackled Kaetar in a fierce hug.

"Kaetar! I'm so glad you're alright and closer than we thought! That's a load off our minds."

"What are you doing here?" Misha asked. "And is everyone else with you?"

"Yeah, we're all in the inn! But Saira was after us so we decided to keep going forward, especially since we knew where you planned to go anyway," Kaetar answered when Joel stepped back but not without a pat on the back. However, when everyone began to disperse a bit, leaving Joel and Kaetar alone to talk.

"Not bad! It won't be long until she finds us though," Joel said with a sigh. "Well, she's probably already here but I guess she's not attacking yet. She doesn't seem to like attack up front."

"What about Syrin?"

The grin on Joel's face fell. "I... don't really know and I hate that. They went to investigate something. Apparently the middle town was found to be abandoned, so he picked some people and sent the rest of us over here. I didn't think they would take long but there's no sign of them so far, not even Chifee was seen."

"Then we should go look for them," Kaetar said.

"Honestly, it's the best bet right now. I thought we would have to go all the way back to Toha, so the fact that you're here actually helps a lot. We need to be reunited once for all so that we have the best chance with to proceed forward. This will have to wait until tomorrow though, since everyone is kind of exhausted."

"Well, Darius isn't."

"We should stay together for the time being. We'll leave together to go look for them and that will be tomorrow, unfortunately."

"...I see," Kaetar mumbled with a sigh.

Joel patted his shoulder. "They should be fine... I think. Let's not forget that Stefan is with him and that Syrin is no pushover with magic. He also specifically chose people that he thought could get away quickly if anything happened. I would be there too but there needs to be someone who can make up strategies around here since Syrin isn't here. Someone needs to lead."

"Never lacking in confidence, are you?" Kaetar asked with a smile.

"Never!" he said with a laugh. "But I've had a good education. Father had me with the best tutors in Daein and the best sword and lance users in Daein. When Gander wasn't working with your father, he was training with me! There is good reason for me to be confident! And you'll be confident with your skills in time too. It's only a matter of time and you've already come a long time. You haven't had that bow for long, right?"

"Not even a year," Kaetar answered.

"And you're already capable and if Saira has her way after this, you'll be one of the best in Daein. You're just hesitant about killing," Joel mumbled, motioning for Kaetar to follow him while he grabbed his horse's reigns. They left the village together and Joel let his horse, Gawain if Kaetar recalled correctly, graze where the grass was longer and more plentiful. Joel decided to sit down near his horse and Kaetar joined him. "So about that guy with the beard..."

"You might recognize him. He was the one who saved Liam but he decided to join us."

Joel frowned. "Kaetar! We can't trust people like that!"

"Oh but I'm good on my word! I can promise you that," Chibuike said suddenly. He apparently had the same ability Stefan did and could appear without warning. Joel didn't jump like Kaetar did but he didn't look pleased.

"You're suspicious. I could have killed that asshole had you not interfered! I almost had him! How dare you do something like that then come and join us?"

Chibuike merely shrugged, seemingly unfazed from Joel's angry outburst. "For fun."

"Why you!" Joel suddenly shot up, making a grab for Chibuike but Kaetar grabbed his shoulders and held him back. Kaetar knew that it wouldn't be hard for Joel to throw him off but Joel didn't struggle against him. Kaetar could his friend's muscle tense under his touch but he was breathing deeply as if he was trying to calm himself. Despite what anyone else may say, Joel could be a nice person to Kaetar, and Kaetar knew that Joel wouldn't hurt him. Chibuike grinned.

"He said he would tell us what we needed to know! He won't say anything unless Syrin is around, so it's all the more reason to find him!"

"The princeling knows what he's talking about."

"Fine. But I swear-"

"If I betray you, you'll kill me? I welcome you to try. In the very least, it should be fun. Good old fun, I say!" Chibuike said with a hearty laugh. Joel still looked angry but Kaetar could relax his grip on him, confident that Joel would keep his hands off of Chibuike. "Besides, my information is top quality. I know who Liam works for and it's obviously not the king. Oh, that reminds me, you failed to tell Joel about Liam haven't you?"

Joel looked at Kaetar curiously. "What about Liam?"

"He attacked again at Toha and he's a laguz. We just never noticed because he cut his tail off and tried to act like a beorc. He actually attacked Loiya and I too but we're alright now. It was some time ago."

His friend frowned. "I suppose the explains a lot, at least from what I've seen and heard," Joel said with a sigh. "You can tell me everything later. I'm going to make sure everyone knows what the plan for tonight is."

Joel patted Kaetar's shoulder one more time and then walked away, grabbing the reigns of his horse and steering him back to the village. Chibuike glanced down at Kaetar and grinned, but he suddenly dashed away, so Kaetar wandered back to the inn on his own. He saw Aletta and Mike talking, with Aletta petting Makken's head affectionately. He saw Duma, who pulled Misha away from her conversation with Nicholas and Peter. Duma had one hand around Rylar's arm, preventing him from leaving the conversation.

Kaetar took a deep breath and headed upstairs to rest for a bit. He just had a strange feeling of anxiety for tomorrow and instead of talking it over, he decided to just rest it of and hoped that tomorrow came when he woke up.

Kaetar was sure that they were almost there. When they set out, Rylar was in a sour mood and he refused to make any sort contact with his father even though Duma tried to talk to him. Kaetar supposed that Duma decided to tell him about his bigger family. Arum did nothing to antagonize him but he also didn't talk very much. Everyone was strangely quiet.

Rykuu was the only one who was transformed and he dashed forward suddenly. Kaetar frowned at what he saw. It was just a lot of rubble. When he stepped closer to it, despite Loiya's and Joel's protest, he could see spots where buildings could have been but all he could see were the outer frames of it and the rectangular shape of the ground it used to occupy. He could see furniture in some of the others, less destroyed ones, though even those homes looked scorched. The roads were all covered in debris, so everyone stepped around the perimeter to get a look at it.

Rykuu was sniffing around on the ground, but he didn't seem to find whatever it was he was looking for. He shifted back for a brief moment. "I smell blood but it does not seem to be strong here. I do not believe anyone died here."

"This is the place they were going to, right?" Duma asked.

"It is. These buildings were still here when we passed by," Misha mumbled.

"I smell the blood too. There was a battle close by," Darius said with a sigh.

"What about all of the citizens though?" Nicholas asked. "We saw it when we passed. It was like they dropped everything and left."

Chibuike's face was hard to read. The looks in his eyes was as glazed over as ever so perhaps he was thinking. "I haven't heard anything about this village but I can guess what happened. Anyone who lived here is a lost cause. We're aren't going to find any of them alive," he said with a shrug. "This isn't a good sign then. Eero likes innovation and I guess this village was the unlucky one."

Kaetar could guess what was he was implying and he didn't like it. An entire village had to be wiped off the face of Tellius for the sake of innovation? He didn't know what kind of innovation that was but his thoughts drifted to the sandmen he heard about. He never saw them in action, but how were they even created? Were people somehow involved?

"What does that mean?" Rykuu asked. He and Darius were already wandering a little, as if on the track of the blood.

"What do you think? Eero and his crew are not above using beorc for experiments. I think Elymas would be overjoyed for new subjects... he never liked people anyway."

"You're using a lot of names that we don't know. Eero? Elymas? I haven't even heard of those names!" Misha shouted.

"All in time, sweetie," Chibuike said with a chuckle. "When everyone is here, then I'll tell you guys all that you need to know. They can't be far away, so you won't have to wait long."

"Do you want Darius and me to go and look for them?" Mike asked. He was still riding Makken, though Makken was on all fours and the wyvern looked uninterested in all of the rubble, snorting in its direction.

"It might not be a good idea," Joel mumbled. "I mean, they could contact us easily because they have Chifee with them and yet they chose not to. It might not be safe for either one of you to go. I wonder why they haven't tried to tell us anything."

"Maybe they just can't," Loiya mumbled. "Maybe one of them is injured. Peter's with us, isn't he?"

"But that doesn't explain why they feel they can't send Chifee to tell us what's going on their side. Instead, all we have is this collapsed town and apparently some blood somewhere!" Joel jumped off his horse and started looking around the buildings. Kaetar didn't know what Joel was looking for when he was staring up at the taller pieces that remained. While Joel investigated, he could hear Pete whispering something under his breathing with his hands clasped together in front of him. His eyes were closed, and when Kaetar saw his dull blue eyes open again he asked what it was he was doing almost instantly.

"I was praying for the village – luck for those who survived and good blessings for those who have passed. I don't think another priest will say anything on their behalf, or at least they won't offer their prayers to Ashunera," Peter said with a sad look.

"Was that the ancient language though?"

"It was. We always pray in the ancient language. It's traditional so we have to be able to understand some of it," he answered. "I'm not sure if they're dead or not but I sense some sort of heaviness here so I fear for the worst. I wonder what it is."

Kaetar pondered on his words. He had to say though, it was one of the few times where he saw Peter actually do something like that, but it wasn't like Peter had much of an opportunity. If he prayed for anyone else, maybe even after every battle, then maybe he just did that in private. Peter usually kept to himself unless someone was injured.

"I feel it too, actually. That heaviness that you speak of," Meagan said suddenly. She looked sad but Gus had his arm around her shoulders, so Kaetar wondered if she would be worse off without his tight embrace. The feeling of sadness was kind of heavy, considering Chibuike's words. Someone who had a brief idea of what happened, the one who knew what he was talking about, had no hope for those people. He didn't strike Kaetar as being a pessimist but with Chibuike, it was hard to know what he was thinking. The man had no problems admitting that he was a liar and that worried Kaetar.

"Is this a mage thing? I don't understand what either of you are talking about," Gus answered with a sigh.

Peter merely shrugged. "It could be. I'm just unfamiliar with it. I was always surrounded with the comfortable feeling that comes with healing magic. I'm not so used to offensive magic. I feel like if there was a battle though, it would have happened a while ago. I wonder why the feeling lingers."

"I wonder if it's because the spirits enjoy it here? The more malevolent spirits, I mean," Meagan said, her face looking grim. Gus took her hand with his free hand, his grip tight.

Peter looked like he wanted to say something but Joel suddenly cleared his throat. "Let's not linger here anymore guys. I don't think it's helping. We should go back and camp out near the last village and figure out what to do from there."

No one disagreed. Kaetar began following but Peter suddenly stopped him by grabbing his wrist and pulling him back. "Kaetar, a word please?" Kaetar nodded but he was confused. Peter never asked for a personal conversation before and Peter looked serious. Rykuu gave him an odd look. "Don't worry, we'll catch up! Now, I wanted to ask you about Chibuike. Did you hire him?"

"No, he said he wanted to be with us."

"That's... odd. Maybe you already figured it out, but you have to be careful around him. Don't try to get too attached to him and don't try cling to his words. My church hires him as a scout to see if we can expand ourselves to other locations and begin spreading the truth about Ashunera and he does good in this regard. He always has results. However, when it comes to asking about an injury, well, he told five other priests a different story. He may try to lie to make you think you can relate to him but he may also sell such information later on. If he was willing to work alongside Crimea for any length of time after working with our ministry..." Peter's voice quivered in anger. "Then he can't be trusted! It's intolerable that he would even think of it!"

"I understand. We should go now if we are to catch up with the others," Kaetar said, hoping Peter had calmed down. Kaetar didn't really see that side of Peter. He was generally tolerable of what others did but not even he was immune to anger. Peter nodded at him. The others were far but viewable in the distance and unmoving. They were waiting for them and Kaetar didn't want to hold them any longer.

"Yes, we should. I'm sorry for keeping you but I thought it was fair to warn you about him," he muttered. Suddenly, Peter gasped when he was pulled back. As soon as Kaetar realized what was going on, he too was grabbed. When he looked behind, he was held back by two Crimean halberdiers. Peter was held back by a single fighter, but Peter managed to drive his elbow into the man's stomach, forcing him to let go. Peter panted as he put distance between himself and the Crimeans. "There aren't many of them. Just looks like a small squadron," he mumbled, raising his staff. He swung his staff around, aiming it at one of the ones who held Kaetar. The staff flew out of hands when someone knocked him away on his side. He landed on his other side with a large thump.

There was a loud roar and Rykuu in his laguz form thundered into the squadron. It didn't look as though he used his claws or teeth but he simply just ran into everyone to knock them out. Peter got up quickly and caught Kaetar before he could join his captors on the ground. "Of course they would catch up to us, huh?"

"They should know to bring more people," Kaetar muttered. When he saw how many people Rykuu ran into and there only seemed to be ten. Rykuu was sitting on someone's back, and whenever anyone tried to get up, he growled angrily and the soldiers stayed on the ground. Soren caught up to them and cracked a smile when he saw Rykuu.

"You really are a big tiger," he said quietly.

"Aren't a lot of tigers large?" Kaetar asked as he picked up Peter's staff. It was a little heavier than he thought it would be. He gave it back.

"Rykuu is the only tiger I met." Soren shrugged at that. For a moment, he seemed perfectly normal.

Suddenly, Peter approached the soldiers who were tamed by Rykuu. "Why do you guys continue to do this? Why do you continue to reject Ashunera as the true goddess of Tellius by defending Ike's so-called divinity?"

"Are you alright, Peter?" Kaetar asked. He was starting to feel concerned.

"I have to know! My purpose is to guide the misguided!"

"It's not like we choose to go after you! It would be nice if we could go back to the way things were! At least we didn't have to worry about our survival everyday," one of them, a women, answered. "Besides... when one of us went traitor and joined you guys, her family had to flee to Daein to avoid persecution! Do you think we want that? It's just easier to not ask questions."

She meant Misha. Kaetar never even considered that people would flee like that, let alone Misha's family. He knew Daein would be hospitable, assuming that they didn't have many refugees, but he was worried that if they took too long then Daein may become overwhelmed. It was all the more reason to be quick with their journey. One of them would have to tell Misha the news if she wasn't already aware.

The rest of the rebellion caught up. Joel sighed. "You would think they would have more with them."

"We're not here to fight! We just came to collect the bodies of the mages who died here!" the same woman from before shouted. "We weren't going to hurt you, honest. We don't have a death wish."

"If that's the case, let's just tie them and go," Joel mumbled. Nasir retrieved some rope from their supplies. The Crimeans were oddly cooperative. They had their hands behind their backs when the rebels approached and made little fuss even when the ropes around their wrists were tied off. Though Kaetar found it odd that they would even grab Peter and himself while they collected the bodies, he felt safe knowing that not only was Loiya and Joel with him again, but that those Crimeans wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon. These people didn't have much wiggle room with their constraints and it would take time if any them could get themselves out.

The rebellion ate the newly recruited town that day instead of making Rykuu and Soren go hunt for food. It was almost a given that Ema would collect food since she enjoyed it so much, but apparently she was with Syrin and so it could take so me time to see her again. With their meals served and the rebellion camped out away from the town, Kaetar fell asleep.

Only to be woken again. It was Loiya who first shot out of his bedroll, which disturbed both Nicholas and Kaetar. At least it was Loiya doing something normal. The bodyguard crawled out of the tent with Kaetar following out of curiosity. Outside, he could see a cloaked figure talking to Rykuu. He recognized the voice as Zeke's.

"In the morning, I'll lead you back to where everyone else is," Zeke said with a bit of a huff. "It took a little while to find you guys. I see you found the other group though."

"We did. It was unexpected. Why is Syrin not with you now?" Rykuu asked.

"Yeah, where is he?" Kaetar asked. Zeke glanced at him but Kaetar could not see his face in the angle.

"Well, stuff happened and Syrin decided to use magic a couple of times to get us out of it," Zeke said with a sigh. "He's alright last I was there. He was resting like he we wanted him too."

"So his arm was bothering him?" Kaetar mumbled. It probably took a lot of strain for Syrin to cast one spell, so two spells was probably a lot more than his arm could handle. He also didn't know the strength of those spells, so if they were both strong spells then it could possibly be drastic for him. It made a lot of sense that he wasn't fit for travel but Syrin seemed so stubborn that Kaetar was honestly surprised that they managed to convince him to actually take care of himself.

"He actually passed out for a while but other than some exhaustion and left over pain, he seems to be doing alright. It wasn't exactly easy to convince him to stay but he'll be glad that everyone is actually here. He wanted to travel as soon as he got up because he thought we would have to go to Toha."

Kaetar frowned a little. He wondered what he ended up doing to put himself in such a bad way and why he needed to cast at all. Did they meet the sandmen?

"What happened?"

Zeke seemed hesitant to answer. "They tried to collapse that village on us but Syrin used a tornado spell to shield us. Then there was a dark mage and he used magic against him too. The rest of us got out without a scratch. We don't know much about him, aside from the fact that he was pretty much responsibility for the disappearance of everyone in the village so that's why we need everyone together again... after some rest of course. I'm beat." With that, Zeke flopped himself onto the ground and rested his head on his hands.

"You're going to sleep there?" Loiya asked with a frown.

"It's a nice night and might not be like that for much longer, so I'll enjoy it while I can," Zeke mumbled. Kaetar wanted to convince him to sleep elsewhere but he already looked comfy and Loiya already retreated back into the tent. When Kaetar didn't follow right away, Loiya began tugging on his pant leg until Kaetar followed him inside.

There was no breakfast in the morning. Everyone packed up quickly, unfazed by Zeke's sudden appearance. In fact, there was a strange excitement in the air that came with the knowledge that their friends weren't too far away now and that they were fine. Darius and Arum were both restless. Darius' wings were twitching again, kind of the way they were when he was drunk, while Arum began to just pace around the edge of their campsite. The usually optimistic Zeke was also pacing but he a had of worry on his face that Kaetar never seen before.

He also saw Rykuu with Soren by his side and noted an orange amulet around his neck. He could remember Rykuu trying to give it to Darius back in his home. Kaetar had no idea that Rykuu brought it with him.

At first they walked in silence with Zeke in the lead. They were going across a large, open meadow with no sight of a town in front of them.

"Long time no see, Peter," Chibuike said suddenly. Kaetar knew the man liked to speak, so perhaps he was a little uncomfortable with the silence that came from the anxious rebels. Zeke, Nicholas and Darius were all relatively silent, which wasn't normal, but Kaetar knew that they just wanted to be with everyone else again. "How is everyone else?"

"Why do you make small talk about the ministry when you have lent your skills to Crimea for any amount of time? You know better yet you chose to work with delusional people anyway!" Peter said, the anger from before slipping back into his voice. Kaetar could even see anger in his normally calm, dull coloured eyes. He saw Nicholas and Loiya do a double take before looking at each other as if they expected the other one to have an answer for Peter's sudden change in attitude. Chibuike grinned and laughed.

"You know how contracts work, don't you? I don't just lend my skills to anyone – most people buy them. Crimea offered a sweet deal and when I got enough gold, I came over here. As soon as I involve emotions and bias in my work, then I'm no longer so useful. Surely you understand?"

"As soon as the head priests finds about this, he'll never hire you again," Peter growled.

"You say that but you know I'm the only one dabbles with religion at all. Most people for hire just like to kill – it takes a while to find someone to scavenge information as well I can. I already know what to look for and I did my job well enough that I'm the one your head priest turned to when he needed, or rather, wanted more information. You think he would drop me?" Chibuike asked. The look on Peter's face was venomous but he took a deep breath and visibly calmed himself.

"It will be a long conversation," Peter said.

"Are you... alright?" Misha asked suddenly.

"He'll be fine. His loyalty and passion for Ashunera is something to be admired. He just feels a little wounded on her behalf is all," Chibuike answered with a shrug. "I guess someone's gotta be. She isn't here to offended."

"She probably wouldn't be," Peter said, shaking his head.

"You... did this all for a conversation, didn't you?" Joel asked. "You must be bored."

Chibuike only grinned but he nodded.

"Stop right there," Arkit's voice rang out. He was on the other side of the open field with a lot of soldiers at his side. Joel growled for a moment, but he motioned for everyone to stop.

"Shouldn't we flee and meet up with the others?" Misha asked.

"Where would we go? There's no cover for us to hide in. We have to fight," Joel mumbled. "What is it?" he shouted back to Arkit.

"I can't let you continue to pester my superiors in such a way without punishment," Arkit shouted back. "Though it's not how I would do things, I have orders. Come and face me!" Arkit grabbed his axe and swung it. Everyone jumped out of the way. Joel was the first one to charge, using his lance to go straight at Arkit.

Arkit grinned.

So next chapter will be in Arkit's perspective. It's about time we get learn some things about him but I need to stir some things up first. I haven't forgotten Elli's chapter next, but again, some things need to happen first.

And again, as always, sorry for any mistakes. Perhaps I should not be editing with a headache.