Aloth's watching Cera with some apprehension - she's been staring at the corpse of the dwarf woman for the past five minutes, motionless and by all appearances dead to the world.

She told him she had one very strange dream, the woman calling her 'Watcher' even though she was dead even in the dream. And her breath was awful, apparently. And so now they're out here in the early morning before anyone is even awake yet and she's having a staring contest with a dwarven corpse.

She suddenly blinks and looks around, going pale as she does.

"Are you alright?" He steps closer and puts a hand on her shoulder as she sways, and she nods after a moment.

"Yes. No. Maybe. I'm a Watcher, apparently."

His eyebrows quickly rise into his hair, that was not at all what he was expecting. It certainly explains a few things to. "Well, that is interesting. And I suppose it explains how you survived the Biawac, hm?"

"Yeah…"

She suddenly falls to her knees, and Aloth hears a voice shout "Hey! She alright?!" A man with blonde hair and a short beard comes running over, kneeling down beside the two elves.

Cera's breathing hard, suddenly covered in sweat, and has her eyes squeezed shut like the world is spinning around her.

"Hey, listen. Talk to me. What's your name?"

"Ce…ra…"

"Okay, Cera. Nice name. Don't pass out on us here, Cera." He looks over at Aloth, and says "Maybe moving her away from this tree might help."

Aloth wrinkles his nose and says "Definitely. Any suggestions…"

"Edér. Name's Edér. Yours?"

"Aloth." He gets one of her arms around his shoulders, and they both pull Cera to her feet - she stumbles, pressing her free hand to her head, but she doesn't pass out or anything.

They head over to the old temple, and get her sitting on one of the larger stones with her head in her hands. She's starting to recover now, and Aloth lets out a relieved sigh when she looks up at him and Edér.

Cera tries to stand up, but Aloth and the human she thinks is called Edér are fast enough to catch her before she hits the ground from another wave of dizziness. "Okay, bad idea…"

Aloth eases her back onto the stone, and says "Stay there for a moment, Cera. Start from the beginning. Preferably at the part about what you said before."

Edér quietly says "I heard something about a Watcher. Best to keep that quiet if it's true. Ciphers, Animancers, Watchers, all the same thing to people around here."

The two elves share a glance, and Cera mutters "Wonderful. Really."

"Hm, now I'm starting to think that maybe I'm not Nineteen after all."

They both give him blank looks, until he angles his head at the tree they left. Aloth's expression turns disgusted, and he asks "Is that what you people do for fun around here?"

"Not me, but the townies have no problem doing the pointing when Raedric's men come. And they're likely looking at me next."

Cera looks at him for a minute, then simply asks "Want to leave town before they come looking for you? Aloth and I already planned on leaving soon enough."

Aloth grins ruefully, and says "We've no desire to end up like those others."

Edér considers it seriously, these two are probably the only ones here who don't want him hanging from the tree. That's it, he's going with them. Crazy Watcher or not, they won't hang him. "Alright, where're you headed?"

Aloth looks at Cera, who says "An old keep near here, called Caed Nua. It's beyond the Black Meadow, an old Watcher named Maerwald lives there. Maybe…maybe he could tell me just what's going on with me." She glances behind Edér and sees another person tied to a post with firewood tented around the base - and this time there's a fire to go with.

She quickly looks back at him, as he says "That's a little over a day away from town, we'll need some supplies first. Tuatanu makes good armor and weapons, Pasca can sell us some food and such. We're outta luck on the grain though, the crops are failing and what the mill can make from them is not something I'd put in my mouth at any point in my life. Yet some folks think Trumbel's hiding some secret stash in the mill for himself, idiots. Bad crops are bad crops, no way around it. It's mostly the drunks that are at it."

Aloth lets out a humorless laugh and says "Figures."

Cera thinks for a moment, then says "Alright, we'll leave tomorrow then. We'll get some supplies, and head off in the morning."

Edér suddenly gets a gleam in his eye, and says "Wait, I remember something about this Maerwald fellow. He was real famous years ago, helped people with all sorts of stuff. 'Course, that was when you didn't have to say the word with a hush on your breath."

Maybe he could tell me about Woden!

Cera sees the sudden gleam in his eye, how Edér suddenly stands up slightly straighter and has a determined look in his face - looks like he's coming with even if she didn't want him to, good thing she'll welcome all the company she can get.

They end up clearing the ruined temple of shades and spirits - along with Skuldur and spiders - getting a bunch of dead priests' bones up to Wirtan and confronting him - he goes to make amends - sorting out the situation with Trumbel and the drunk villagers, and agreeing to help Aufra and find Tuatanu's missing shipment of goods.

In one day.

Going to Anslog's Compass and the Black Meadow will take another few days, and then there's actually getting to Caed Nua. Either way, it's going to be an eventful few days.

Here's hoping she doesn't pass out at any point during them.

AN: Alright, I know. A lot shorter than the last chapter - relax, if anybody's actually reading this. Will add in more background and details for Cera in future chapters! If anybody's actually reading this story - its currently got ten views in three days, dismally low compared to all my others - please review! Maybe tell your friends to! Anyway, enjoy!