Cera wakes up to find her new puppy snuggled in next to her body - at least he didn't run off. When she rolls over, she feels the contours of a crossbow dig into her back - she's really got to stop laying it quite so close by…wait, is she feeling two arrow bolts?
Careful not to disturb the puppy, she picks up the crossbow and finds she's definitely not holding her own - unless it was transformed by one of the gods themselves, Abydon maybe. Because it's a hand-carved crossbow, exquisite in detail, and it holds two bolts in the body to fire separate from one another. And her own crossbow is nowhere to be seen.
Getting a hunch, she reads the recent history of the crossbow - and then her face turns bright red when she sees Aloth buying it in the emporium. She quickly stops reading the item when he walks outside, not wanting to intrude on the conversation he and Sagani were having before. Snow would melt instantly from the heat of her face right now - he must've just been waiting for a good time to give it to her, right? Or it was going to be a birthday gift or a 'you-saved-the-Dyrwood' kind of gift.
She catches herself trying to come up with something to surprise him with in return, and then absolute panic explodes in her for no reason she can find.
No, no, no! You're going insane! You're going insane, and you're going to end up like Maerwald, and it wouldn't be at all fair to Aloth to tell him that you feel for him what you never felt for any of the suitors your parents tried to marry you off to only to go crazy maybe a few days later and end up like Maerwald! And he probably just got it for you because it would be useful in keeping yourself alive and killing things like Skuldrak and such!
The frantic voice of whatever reason she has left isn't doing much to help, because she knows all that stuff and it doesn't help in the slightest. Another voice in her head - thank all the gods it's in her voice and she's sure she doesn't have any mental connections at the moment - says Face it, Cera. You're in love with Aloth. And you're so deep you can't even see the surface.
Cera doesn't try to deny the fact - there's no use, she'd just be lying to herself and she knows it - but what difference does it make? They go from one battle to the next, have to find Thaos somehow, and she's on a timer that's getting closer and closer to zero with every passing minute until she loses her sanity entirely and becomes like Maerwald - baggy-eyed, talking to himself in three different voices, and almost completely unhinged.
Kith move on from loss if it isn't world-shattering, so even if he has some feelings for her he could move on…right? But if they get close, closer than they already are…it could break him entirely. She moved on from her parents, after all.
With his help.
That's it, they're both screwed.
She's on borrowed time and just getting deeper and deeper in this mess that is her feelings for Aloth, and he maybe doesn't even feel that way - she's an idiot. A stuck-up, vain, idiot who can't even keep herself from making a mess for someone else. She tried to prove she wasn't like her parents, but all she proved was that she's got a knack for getting into trouble in every way possible - because even if she goes as mad as Maerwald, she suspects she'd still feel incredibly guilty about taking advantage of Aloth like this. And trying to put any distance between them now is useless and even more idiotic - he'll know something's up, and he'll want to help, and it'll just make her love him more for caring so much.
Well, no use agonizing over it this late at night anyway - chances are Aloth would wake up, see she's awake, and offer to keep her company.
The next morning, Eder asks "Hey, Cera. Where'd you get the crossbow?"
She looks down at the weapon like she didn't notice it before, feeling Aloth's apprehension skyrocket. She fakes some confusion, then asks "Remember when I said 'if there's a special crossbow out there, I'll find it'? Looks like it found me instead. Must be magic."
Aloth relaxes instantly, Eder gets a smirk on his face, and Sagani actually drops her bow for a minute and stares at first her, then Aloth, then back at her. Nobody says anything though, right up until there's a ripple of energy from the crossbow - jeez, looks like the gods seem to like her for the time being. One of them, anyway.
She's fairly certain she hears some thought about both elves being oblivious knuckleheads that can't see what's practically being shoved in their faces.
"We should…we should probably head back to Stalwart before going to the Abbey, get some supplies - because it's kind of a long journey."
And that would be when they meet the tall Aumaua woman dressed far too thinly for the White March asking for directions to the Abbey of the Fallen Moon.
Cera blinks, then says "So that's the name. Good to know. Abbey full of Ondrites? Hidden away in the mountains? Yeah, we're headed there right after getting some supplies."
She clearly thinks it's a massive joke, until she looks at the serious faces of each member of the party. "Ondra's Tears, your serious."
Aloth says "She doesn't usually joke about finding an abbey hidden in the middle of nowhere. As it is, we have some business there as well. Have to stop a massive metallic army from destroying the Dyrwood and now Raedceras as well."
"You all mind if I join you for a bit? I'm good in a fight."
Kana and Eder are busy getting supplies like food, and just now come back - and Kana stops dead upon seeing Maneha, as she introduced herself.
Apparently, she's currently a Giftbearer of Ondra up from Ixamitl, went looking for the Abbey to get something good and forgotten. She won't really say what though.
AN: Hey, only a few more days until I go back to school! And yes, while this chapter is something of a filler, it's also when Cera comes to terms with her own feelings for Aloth - and, yes, she absolutely panics when she does. Not that unreasonable, given the fact that she's slowly going crazy at the moment. And seeing as she doesn't just go into someone's head and doesn't mess with their memories or feelings, she hasn't pried into his feelings or thoughts any more than she has no choice in doing. So she doesn't know he feels the same way for her. I really will get the two of them together, just not at the moment. And I will be doing a crystal scene, please be patient.