A few hours after the entire disaster at the Brackenbury Sanitarium, Duc Aevar announces that there will be a hearing to decide the fate of Animancy - it'll be held in about a month, and Cera and her friends have been called to testify as to what happened in the Sanitarium.

They head back to Caed Nua, Cera determined that if she is going to die insane, she'll at least die in a safe home that's not being continuously threatened by shades, spiders, Adra Beetles, and the like from the Endless Paths. They already cleared seven levels, and by now they're all getting the idea that the statue was carved with blood as well as copper and adra.

The Fampyr on the eighth floor confirms that little suspicion, and conveniently promises to stay on his floor and not cause trouble.

There's plenty of other dangers on the next few floors, but the next big shock comes when they reach the twelfth or thirteenth floor and find a Vithrack encampment. The guards attack them on sight, but their leader, Tcharek, is a little less shoot-first-and-ask-questions-never. He does ask them to get some stuff from the floor below, as they've lost some scouts and warriors to the Animants and Cean Gwyla.

Pallegina says "Before we go down, might we rest for a bit? It's been a challenge getting this far."

Tcharek nods and whispers into their heads May stay. Rest well.

They all settle down for a few hours, Pallegina taking her sword out to polish it, Eder filling up his pipe for a smoke, etc. And all of them suddenly realize one member of their party is inconspicuously missing. Cera. The girl that is either the least susceptible or the most susceptible to the Vithracks' mental powers.

Aloth and Eder go looking for her, figuring she won't have left the floor if she did leave the colony. Eder asks "You really think she…what? Up and walked off?"

"Remember what happened with the Radiant Spore back in Stalwart? How it controlled the Vithrack colony and they started controlling the miners?"

"Yeah, but these guys aren't controlled by a freaky plant thing. And Cera hasn't breathed in anymore spores since she did it that one time to free the other Vithrack and kill the spore. 'Sides, I really thought for a minute that she was gonna be the one controlling it when she pulled that stunt."

Aloth snickers, vividly imagining the vines tying themselves into knots and wrapping around the main plant. The farmhand hears and jokingly says "Hey, maybe she'd have them do a dance or something! Vines waving around, the big middle thing swaying back and forth - would'a been pretty entertaining while we hacked it to pieces."

Aloth bursts out laughing, both him and Iselmyr thoroughly amused by the idea, and then they hear Cera's voice from around the corner - asking about Vithrack mental techniques. "Really? Your kind can make a mental web with each other? How hard is it to keep up?" They hear a series of hissing and clicking, must be Tcharek answering, and Cera says "This is so incredible! I've only ever met one other colony of Vithrack before, and most of them weren't…in the mood to talk, let's say."

They round the corner to find Cera sitting at a table with Tcharek, looking curiously at the Vithrack leader as he clicks and hisses something else while apparently saying something in her mind. He taps his head and Cera smiles and blushes slightly, saying "Thank you. Though at times they're more of a curse. Too much to process all at once sometimes."

The Vithrack turns his head slightly and clicks something in what appears to be a greeting, and then the two men feel the familiar itch in the back of their minds and hear Human and Elf need something? C

era turns around and smiles, saying "The Vithrack are absolutely amazing! They've developed techniques that even all of Dunryd Row hasn't thought up yet! Projecting the consciousness to another person, for instance. Some of the most powerful Vithrack have experienced dozens of lives at once! All across the area, lying in the background of a person's mind. Experiencing everything, but not directly influencing anything."

Tcharek asks Wish to learn? Like elf-woman with mind like Vithrack?

Eder shakes his head and says "No, sorry. We came looking for Cera as she's got this interesting habit of nearly collapsing from exhaustion at times. That and the fact that she may possibly wander off and connect with something better off left alone."

There's a repetitive chittering from Tcharek, which they realize after a minute is him laughing. Cera fakes an offended look, and half-sarcastically says "Thank you for that lovely description of me, Eder. Really. Now why are you two really here?"

"Aloth was getting twitchy about your disappearance. We went to look, seeing as Kana was talking with another Vithrack, Pallegina was polishing her sword, and Sagani was mapping out the floors to figure out how much farther the statue, and the Endless Paths by association, might go. She figures we've passed the knees by now, if that helps at all."

"Ah, right. Thank you, that's…that's good. The Endless Paths may have an end after all."

They all laugh a little, and then Tcharek looks at the three of them, then directly at Cera and chitters and clicks something. Cera immediately turns a shade of red to rival Magran's fires and the people she 'blesses' and starts stammering out "What? No, no, no, you've got the wrong idea!" Tcharek, please don't ask them!

He clicks and chitters out another laugh, making Cera's face nearly glow in the dim lighting, and Aloth asks "What's he asking?"

"Nothing! Nothing at all, Aloth!" She darts past the two of them, failing to hide the fact that she can't even look at Aloth at the moment, making Eder burst out in laughter.

Aloth, for one, looks confused as he asks "What just happened?"

Tcharek stares after Cera for a minute, then connects to their minds and asks What happened?

Eder says "That depends on what you just asked her. What was it?"

Elf-things…mates?

Now its Aloth's turn to go bright red, and he to stammers out a denial and quickly leaves the farmhand with the Vithrack. Tcharek looks immensely confused as Eder gives in to his hysterical laughter, ending up sitting on the floor and holding his sides as tears stream down his face. What…I say?

"You hit the nail on the head, that's what! Those two have been dancing around each other almost since Gilded Vale, each coming up with excuses. Everyone else can see it, but they are either oblivious to the other's feelings or think there'll be all this time after everything's said and done to work it out somehow."

…Oh.

"Yeah, oh. And at this point, that's what should be driving Cera insane - I'm pretty sure Aloth's going nuts over it." Tcharek tilts his head, but doesn't make any kind of response.

Eventually, Eder goes back to the others to find Cera apparently sleeping - or faking sleeping in order to avoid questions like the ones brewing in his head - Aloth buried in the back of Ninagauth's Grimoire and occasionally sneaking glances over it at him, and the others almost exactly as they'd left them with little change. Pallegina's moved up from the hilt of her sword, etc.

Eder gives Aloth a smirking glance, which he responds to by putting the book up further, and asks nobody in particular "What happened to Cera?"

Kana says "She came back, looking somewhat mortified, and hurriedly said she'd rest before we went down to the lower level. What happened?"

Aloth immediately says "Nothing! In fact, I think I'll follow her example!" He quickly shoves the book back inside his bag, nearly throwing himself down onto the bedroll he's sitting on, and turns so he's facing away from all of them.

All four of their friends barely manage to suppress their laughter, suddenly getting a pretty good idea of what 'didn't' happen. They don't say a word though, just share a series of looks asking each other when the heck the two elves will finally get their acts together and get together already.

When they next meet Tcharek, its with arms full of copper, Cera holding an Adra crystal carefully, and Eder and Kana wearing pieces of the Animant shell in jest and to make it easier to get back upstairs.

Tcharek clicks out his laugh once again, and offers them a beautiful knife in return along with his gratitude and deep thanks. Cera seems enchanted by the knife, and sticks it in her belt - just in case an enemy gets in too close, she's got no ideas about running up to where at least three people with much bigger blades are fighting and maybe get her head sliced off by accident.

And Krivi comes running up to Cera, clicking and hissing something that apparently she understands - he likely connected with her head, because she looks really interested by it. "Um, be right back guys. Krivi says he found something to show me."

She follows him, responding to his excited speech they don't understand, then suddenly asks "What? Let's go!" She darts off, and Krivi has to follow her.

Twenty minutes later, the two of them come back with some ancient books for Kana - one of them is apparently Od Nua's journal, they'll have to translate it after all this.

Krivi gives Cera a confused look, but she apparently says something to him via her mental powers and he doesn't say anything else. At Eder's questioning look, he simply says into his mind Other book. Surprise.

AN: Yes, I'm still alive, everyone! And I didn't give up on this story, I've had tests to take and study for. If anyone's wondering I am going to do a chapter for the bottom of the dungeon, don't worry about that! Just be patient, especially for Aloth and Cera to finally get together. A few more chapters to go for that! Enjoy! More chapters to be posted soon!