When they get close to Twin Elms, Cera spots an Adra arch in the middle of the woods. She stops dead, then darts over to it. "Sagani, can I see the figurine?"
The Nasitaaqi dwarf doesn't question it, just quickly gets it out and hands the now-glowing item over. Cera stares at it for a minute, then takes off running into the woods - Persoq must be close then. They chase after her for what feels like an hour, Kana lagging behind the most despite having the longest legs, and then find her staring dumbstruck at a group of Fangs of Galawain surrounding a white deer on the ground.
Kana wheezes "How is it…she can…run so fast?!"
Cera stares for a minute at the bleeding deer, then at the figurine who's light is flickering wildly, then says "Sagani, start talking to that dying deer." She heads towards the confused elves, saying "We don't want your kill, we just want to talk to it before it dies!"
Sagani starts talking as fast as she can while still being coherent, telling the deer about Persoq's family and all they've done. And its almost like the deer is fighting to stay alive to hear this, as maybe two seconds after Sagani finishes, it dies.
One of the Glanfathans steps forward, and says "Alright, time to move on, Estramor."
Sagani looks up in horror and fury, asking "Have you no respect? A great soul inhabited this body!"
"And now it's gone, what's left is our kill."
Cera tries to get between Sagani and the Glanfathans, as the argument is quickly escalating into bloodshed. "Sagani, listen to me. This isn't worth bloodshed. You came here to find Persoq, you found him. Completed your Tarnek-Illitsak. You had your ritual, now please, I'm begging you, let them have theirs."
Cera can practically feel Aerea shuffling around in her memories, looking for something, anything, that can stop this from ending in violence. Because this situation is one wrong word away from ending in blood.
Things are looking like they're diffusing, right up until they definitely aren't - Cera doesn't know how, she's too busy trying to keep Aerea from unleashing anything via their now-shared Cipher powers onto everyone including the two of them. But she definitely feels the tension of all the other minds ratchet up to off-the-charts levels. Aerea starts getting agitated all over again, taking up most of Cera's attention, but the raised, angry voices make their way through to the both of them. Aerea seizes on one of Cera's memories, the night the Caravan was attacked, and then suddenly everyone lives that night in the space of a few moments.
When Aloth shakes his head, Odema's shout of 'Get inside! RUN!' still bouncing around in his head, all the Glanfathans have run off and Cera is just now darting off into the trees - likely still in the grip of her own memories.
Eder says "That must'a been the night she survived the Biawac. Wait, where'd she go?"
Aloth says "I'll follow her." and runs off - managing to get out of sight before any of the others say anything. Somehow he catches up to Cera - she's incredibly fast for someone so willowy - and finds her standing still with her head in her hands. She jumps a foot in the air when Aloth puts a hand on her shoulder, then whips out with her crossbow aimed at him. She seems to recognize him after a moment, and quickly drops the weapon to her side - then starts trembling.
"Gods, something happened, didn't it? Aerea, she did something, then I thought I was back with Odema's caravan, and then…" She buries her face in her hands, taking in shuddering breaths.
Aloth slowly puts his arms around her, running his hand along her back to calm her down. "Cera, listen to me. It's fine, everything's fine. The Glanfathans left, nobody got hurt, all of it. Now, calm down for a minute."
She nods, taking in hiccupping breaths even as she does, and her shaking slowly calms down. After a small eternity, she whispers "Sorry…"
"No, Cera, listen. You stopped things from getting violent, that's nothing to be sorry about."
Her voice is steady, if filled with guilt and despair, when she says "I let my powers get out of control."
"No, Cera, you said Aerea did that. Used your memory of the attack on the caravan to stop blood from being spilled. That wasn't you, and seeing as it worked like it was supposed to its nothing to apologize for." Aloth can see she's not convinced in the slightest, and a minute later he realizes it's the exact kind of thing she's always worked to prevent. Instead of saying anything else, he kisses her for a moment - figuring that will get it through her head and all her mental defenses that she's put up over the years.
After another minute or so, Cera regretfully says "The others will likely be wondering where we are. And what's taking so long."
"Hm, I'm sure they have their suspicions. But I don't care much either right now." He cups her face in his hands, suddenly convinced there's something different about her he can't put a finger on. Not the now-constant exhaustion, that's not it. Her hair grew out some, now it nearly frames her lovely face instead of being cut short and choppy around her head - that's not it either though. She must be hearing his thoughts, as she blushes but doesn't make any move to pull away. That's when it hits him what's changed - back when he first met her in Gilded Vale, she was closed off and had her mental defenses up. Was wary of everyone in the village - and for good reason, seeing as they were hanging everyone in sight back then. Now though, at least for him and the others, she's opened up. Let them inside her labyrinth of a mind, let them in on her secrets she wanted kept buried - her family, for instance.
Tired laughter sounds in his head in Cera's voice, saying The both of us and all our secrets. Our families. Iselmyr and my powers. Seems we're perfect for each other - we'd never trust anybody else with stuff like this.
Aloth has to grin a little, she's completely right and they both know it. She only told him about her Cipher powers because he saw her use them so openly and didn't overreact - he told her about Iselmyr because she'd understand instead of reacting how he figured most would react at Maerwald's situation.
The blush leaves Cera's face at the mental mention of Mearwald, reminding her of exactly what's waiting for her if she can't find Thaos. And he doesn't need to be a Cipher, or connected to her mind, to feel the dread pouring off her at the thought - one can practically see it, it's so strong.
As if the mere thought sparked the reaction, Cera suddenly lets out a sound that seems like its half a sob and half a breath - not crying, exactly, but close enough. The next thing Cera knows, she's pressed into Aloth's leather armor with her shoulders heaving and him saying everything will work out alright. She feels his fingers running through her hair, so very different from the hundreds of times the servants would twist and pull it up into ridiculously complicated and not-a-little painful updos every morning - one of the many things she was glad to leave behind in Aedyr. She finally manages to get her unexpected burst of emotions under control when Aloth starts rubbing his other hand in a circle into her back.
And then they hear Eder's voice calling "Aloth, Cera, you two had better not be getting busy out here! Save it for an inn, you two!"
Both their faces go bright red, and Aloth mutters "I'm going to hit with him a spell. Or possibly my entire grimoire."
"I'll help. Keep him still so he can't dodge you."
Aloth chuckles and presses his lips to her forehead for an instant before pulling back slightly and says "We should get back. Before he gets all of Twin Elms thinking we're mindless farmhands or some such."
"You don't know the half of it, Aloth. Remember that 'inn' we passed in Ondra's Gift?"
"Yeah…"
"Be glad you can't hear people's thoughts. Eder took one look at the place and figured it was a brothel. And some Cipher powers can't exactly shut off. Like hearing people's thoughts."
"So that's why you insisted on going by the Vailian Trading Company. Now it makes a lot more sense."
"Yeah. Because I did not want to see, hear, or gods-forbid live any of his thoughts or memories or those of anyone in there if I could at all prevent it. I was preventing it."
Aloth chuckles, saying "Lets continue this conversation on the road, shall we? Preferably in our heads, so Eder doesn't get any ideas."
"Done."
AN: Hey, everyone! Next chapter is up! Yeah, I figured Cera's past life might take advantage of her Cipher Powers to keep things from getting bloody if at all possible - the scene with Persoq seemed the best place to do so. The story's getting close to finished - but I'll have some light-hearted moments before the end, I promise! Along with some downright silly things - but they actually make sense, I swear! Enjoy! Please review! More chapters coming soon!