Breaking point
It felt like a march for the dead. After next to no sleep because everyone was so fed up and the weirdest meditation session ever, which felt more like a silence death stare contest, the group had moved on. Yet unlike before after four hours of rain the sun didn't come out like before instead it was an endless downpour. The formation was broken up and everyone was trying to cut themselves a path. They boys had continued to throw bickering at each other and Julius as well as Mercury had given up on keeping everyone in line since they constantly were just shouting if they tried and then all had to stop, but nothing got solved. Blade tried to help out yet Iolas shut her down with his toxic comments, which in return got the boys all up in arms to keep her temper in check. None of them was eager to lose their spot in Red Fountain after all and Blade didn't want them to get kicked out either and had begun to bite her tongue.
Blade hated all of it. She wanted to help her friends but couldn't. 'That stupid Council Guard is constantly undermining me. How am I supposed to share my experience from Phere-Moan if he is slandering anything I say...where is that stupid Elf anyway? He always turns up in the worst second...'
Julius fell back to her, "Have you enough berries or fruits to give everyone a sample?" His stomach was rumbling and it was time for the next break they had walked on for quite a while.
"Yes, I have, but not to be a pain, some look identical to the poisonous ones. I would feel better if we first collect and I check them all. Just to be safe..." Blade requested quietly.
"Hmmm, well, if someone comes back empty-handed from his search, we could distribute rations better if we create one haul to divide..." Julius nodded, a shiver went down his spine and he rubbed his arms. "Is it getting colder?"
Blade inspected him closer. His magic was low. "You aren't using enough magic to counter the cold." She tapped him on the shoulder plate infusing some magic as she gave him a small bundle of berries and leaves. "Here, those should be easy to find. Just don't eat them before I have checked them." Blade moved on to everyone else to hand out the samples and give them a small boost of magic for the food search. 'We really need a better food supply... Or something meaty. They all are burning through their magic like crazy...'
Iolas watched baffled as the group was ready to fan out. They had found a tree with a highly dense crown with long branches like a willow. It basically created a tent and it was mostly dry inside. 'Why aren't they using tag teams...just great,' He rubbed his nose bridge in disbelief.
"Alright, you all heard it. Bring back whatever you find. Don't eat before we could check and don't forget to bring leaves back. Don't go further than half a kilometre and we meet again in thirty minutes. You all have a flare if something's the matter," Mercury laid out the rules all had agreed upon after yet another heated discussion. Blade used her voice of nature connection to give everyone an estimated direction and off they were.
Keith looked up to the clouds, "So much rain...no wonder there is such a diverse vegetation..." He stepped on and looked around. "Blade's spells are so versatile... She is covering for me and I repay her by shushing her all the time... Ahhh, stupid guard. What the heck has she ever done to him?... She's giving it her best. The others have no idea how hard spells are. It's not like with a simple elemental weapon's burst… and those are hard enough to control," Keith stopped. 'Isn't that?' he inspected the plant, "Yes!" He nearly stuffed on into his mouth. "Ahhh, no, no, no got to wait..."
Dean slashed away at the vines and branches. He had a hard time getting through. "Ah, damn it!" A branch had smacked him in the face. "Geesh... Why did Blade refuse to give me another sword? She has nothing else to cast after all…well besides body enhancement for herself… maybe she is low as well…I can't tell…" His sword got caught in some bush, "Oh, you stupid nature, I hate you too, argh, it takes ages with the phanto-weapons in comparison! These plants are just sooo, uuurgh. Stupid rain, stupid Kai, stupid trip. How are we supposed to learn anything!? That stuck-up Elf will get us all expelled if they don't all just fucking do their jobs." He stomped on, his size really was a drawback here.
Julius poured the rest of his soup into his bowl which he had saved from his portion of the last ration distribution. "Ahh, always keep something for later, rule one o' one of survival." He grinned happily as he held his hand over it, so it wouldn't water down so much from the never-ending rain. Now that he was alone. He at least could eat it without hungry eyes wishing for his death or random accusations that he had taken more or some other bullshit. He had endured more hunger for this after all. "Oh, hey! That's the one, right?" He stared at several bushes clustered together. He sat down his bowl next to him on a stone next to it a pretty colourful plant with bigger leaves to protect it from the rain. "Watch that for me, alright?" He chuckled groggily. It was relaxing to be alone for once. Julius pulled out the leaf and berries from Blade and compared them. "That looks good. Wow so many in one spot? I thought the compendium stated that there is mostly only one bush, but bigger...lucky! But first to my - WHAT THE HECK?!" Julius stared at the colourful plant next to the stone he had placed his bowl under.
"AHHHHHhhhhhhh," with a relieved sigh the plant tipped the bowl and showered itself in his precious warm soup leftovers. Steam rose as the soup seeped into the earth. The plant reacted to the heat and a flower bud opened and bloomed, revealing a flower with coloured leaves giving the impression of a laughing smiley face. Self-satisfied it dropped the bowl to the ground.
"Are you kidding me!?" Julius was furious. He tried to grab the plant, "SPIT IT OUT! GIVE IT BACK!"
The roots broke the ground up and the plant jumped high into the air, "Tche, he, he, he, he, he!" It giggled as it landed on Julius's head first and then bounce off, hammering him into the ground as it used some magic to enhance its strength.
Julius raised his head from the mud, "I'll kill you!" He jumped to his feet, but the plant was gone and nowhere to be seen.
Iolas raised an eyebrow, 'Ahahaha, fool, you never leave your food out of sight. I thought he learned that the last time.'
A giant stomach rumble from Julius, "This stupid, arrgh," He kicked against a tree, which hurt of course. He was cursing furiously. He turned around and stared at the bushes. "Fine berries it is! Fucking forest!" He picked some and ate them, he was starving, and the rest he put into the gathering bag.
Iolas couldn't believe his eyes, 'She warned him several times. He's group leader and he of all people…good thing those aren't deadly…'
Kai had run around in circles a bit some parts of the forest were just too thick to get through. But after climbing some trees he had finally managed to reach the bush in question. "Ha, ha! Score! Now let's hurry!" He stuffed as many berries into his bag as he could. 'I'll show them incompetent.'
Dean pressed onward a giant stuck in the forest. It was getting slippery on the ground as it got a bit muddier in this never-ending downpour. So, he held on to branches or vines. "There it is, finally…" He spotted the berries. Dean made a big jump to another fallen tree. Crack. Dean looked down, 'What now?!' Too late, the stomp was rotten and his weight too great and he crushed through. "Woahh!" He caught his balance again. One leg had sunk in while the other had found hold again. "This stupid forest!" He wanted to pull out of the hole but was stuck, "Really?!..." His stomach rumbled, but the bush was out of reach and now that the stomp was crushed in that hole filled with rainwater the ground here seemed to be mostly clay soil. "UUUURRRGHHH!"
Blade had picked the longest route, she didn't want the boys to get more fed up. She brushed away some more dangling branches as suddenly something held her back. "He?" She turned around nothing. Yet again something else tucked on her or more precisely her hair. Blade looked up. Her hair was held by the tree. It was caressing it gently and twirling it between the fine dangling branches. "Ooookay…" She checked with voice of nature.
'Beautiful…'
'It likes my dreadlocks? At least that tree isn't dangerous…' Blade chuckled, 'Ridiculous…' softly she unwrapped some dreadlocks. She had not enough time to play around with a tree.
'Beautiful… so beautiful…' The tree wasn't in the mood to let her go. It was so fascinated by her hair.
"I like you too, buddy, but I really have to go," Blade tried to explain to the tree.
'Stay, beautiful…' The tree was entranced by what it had found.
Iolas just had reached her, he had made sure that no monster was around Julius and was on his way back. He leaned against another tree, 'Oh boy, she did find the treasure tree… hmm, does she know that species? At least it's not dangerous, but that she truly would pass by it with so many routes to go...' He shook his head, 'Ah, she's smart she'll figure it out. On to the next one.'
"AHHHH!" Michael was running from a horde of monkeys, he had found the berry bush alright. But also, a monkey collective who weren't much interested in the berries, yet a trespasser on their turf, was a no-go. Michael shot with his crossbow, "Leave me alone! I'm sorry, okay!" He was no match for their speed in this undergrowth and got bombarded by them. Another fruit hit him. And another rotten egg smell rose from the broken parts as he brushed them off his paladin training suit. "Oh, come on!" He had to gag slightly. "How can it smell so bad in this rain!? I'll have to burn the uniform once I'm back and pay the school for a new one, damn you, monkeys! Do you know how much that costs?!" He complained, but only earned a stink fruit to his head from behind.
Iolas sighed deeply, 'And that's why you use tag teams… One can distract or protect, and the other can gather. Among other things, he won't collect any berries.' Iolas was ready to move on, yet he observed Michael's gagging. 'Voice of nature. Great, more predators are around here. He's in no condition to fight.' He focused, 'Leave!' He commanded the monkeys but they weren't quite so forgiving, 'I said leave, he won't come back, promise.' He had to try again. They slowed down and screeched and screamed as Michael got away. Iolas stayed close.
"Fuck those berries," Michael stopped out of breath. "Fuck this island…" He had wasted so much of his energy for nothing. Fed up he very slowly made his way back to camp through the pouring rain.
Mercury was still stuck in that stupid swamp frog trap he had blindly run into. 'A bush in a muddy creator. How could I not see this coming?!' He pressed against the frog's mouth he was stuck in. He already could see the muscles convulsing. "Oh no, not again…"
The Toad blew up his throat sack and spit Mercury out. Metal didn't taste so well after all. While those beasts were smart enough to use the food sources of their favourite flies, who loved the nectar of the berry bush, to catch them. They were as dumb as an insect when it came to distinguishing flies from anyone else.
Mercury rolled off the muddy ground and tried to get up in time, but again another frog's tongue had wrapped around him and he got pulled back and gobbled up before he could scale the ditch walls. 'For crying out loud!' He kicked around inside the next toad's mouth, that tongue was so powerful he hadn't managed to get his phanto-axes out. Well besides one, but he was covered in so much slimy spit by now he couldn't even hold the damn thing. It was outside lying somewhere in the mud. He noticed the convulsion and got spit out again. He tried to land on his feet yet slipped it was so muddy it was like skating on ice without the skates.
The third toad croaked exited as it spotted something to eat in the ditch with a click of its tongue it wrapped around him and Mercury got dragged inside its mouth.
"No, no, no! You already ate me, stupid toa-" Mercury's cursing got muffled yet again.
Blade had no idea how to free herself from that tree, by now she was actually off the ground. It had picked her up to inspect her intrigued but nothing was as fascinating as her blond hair. The tree didn't mean any harm and Blade didn't want to cut herself free, since she didn't know what would happen then. But she was stuck, she couldn't leave. "Oh please, let me go…" She was at her wit's end. "Call Nebula," Blade used her bracelet, she would have checked herself but her hands were entangled and she couldn't see the projected screen. She hated to call, it felt like cheating, but she couldn't use the flare, since she wasn't in a life-threatening situation and the boys were not in their best condition to put it mildly.
"Blade?" Nebula whispered, she was in the middle of class after all.
"Nebula, we have nature class today, right? Got your book with you?" Blade asked a bit annoyed.
"Dude, we are in nature class…" Nebula hid her cell phone under the table. In the background, one could hear Palladium talk.
"Great, can you check a plant for me? I'm stuck…" Blade still tried to get free but the plant was just too enthusiastic to listen even with voice of nature in use.
"Why don't you ask that guard?" Nebula was a bit perplexed.
"Fuck that guard, he's a jerk, for all I know he might be a traitor!" Blade hissed.
"A TRAITOR!?" Nebula exclaimed and hammered her hand against the table. "Ouch!" She dropped the phone.
Professor Palladium turned around from the blackboard, "Traitor?" and spotted the phone.
Nebula scrambled to get it, 'Shit!'
With a quick wave of his hand, it floated towards Palladium before Nebula could get it, "Cell phones are not allowed during lessons. You can chat later." He scolded her harshly. 'Wait, traitors? Are they searching for traitors on their own time?!' He didn't like the implications at all. "We strictly forbade you all to go on a traitor hunt. That is too dangerous."
Blade heard her Professor's voice, 'Oh, shit! Eh, eh, what to do… eh…' She more or less shouted out loud to be heard on the other end of the line, since the volume had to be dialled down after all, "I said gator! Nebula there can't be traitors in the jungle! I ran from an alligator and ended up in some tree… It won't let me go! And I can't search all tangled up on my bracelet. I just need to borrow your book."
"Blade?" Now it was the Professor who was confused. "Why don't you ask your Council Guard? Where is your team?" He put her on speaker. "Stop screaming we can hear you."
"Professor?" She played dumb, "…Teams busy. Can I please get Nebula back on the phone I was explaining the characteristics?"
"I'm faster than any book, so give me a pitch, you already interrupted class," Professor Palladium shook his head, he was a bit displeased but of course he would help out. 'At least she asks for help…'
"Willow-like tree, really colourful leaves with golden spots… I'd say about twenty meters tall. Maybe? It's not trying to eat me, so I have not attacked so far, it's just… it talks about beautiful a lot, it likes my hair, I think," Blade explained shortly.
The class was already trying to look that tree up. Palladium chuckled, "Oh, Blade, that's a Treasure Tree. Laciport has a few of those. They collect anything they can find. You should check the tree crown out if you have the time…once…"
"HOW DO I GET FREE?" Blade repeated her question annoyed and louder as Palladium rambled off a bit.
"Breath out. Stay calm," He tried to pacify her. "Well, it collects treasure. It likes your hair. Seems easy to me," Palladium smirked. The girls were reading up on the tree in their books. 'She's on edge, alone…they are already failing the exercise big time. Well, it's built to fail. I thought they would last longer though…'
"Great… Thanks." Blade was ready to cancel the call.
"Blade, stay smart, don't rush things. Be careful," Palladium tried to caution her and give her some hidden indications.
"Tell, that to the guys…" Blade growled and hang up.
'That bad, huh?' Palladium shook his head, "Well, where were we?" He refocused on the class.
Julius was on his way back when he felt slightly dizzy. "Woah... I ate at least a few berries... Am I that low on magic?" He stumbled a bit further as his sight went dark and he collapsed on the ground. Around him, a protective rune field activated. It was one of Iolas's spells he had put on their armours beforehand to ensure everyone's safety.
'And he's out...' Iolas had finished off a beast near Michael and checked once more if the way back was clear for Michael as he noticed that his spell got activated. 'Well then, back to the leader.'
Mercury rushed forward using a good portion of his magic to enhance his speed or at least he tried. Blade had explained to him the basics for dashes. "Ahhhhhhhh!" He used the boost to get away from the tongue chasing him. He ducked away and slid across the muddy floor and managed to pick up his axe. "Come on, come on!" Mercury scaled the ditch walls and just barely escaped the second frog. 'I hate those things...' Mercury flicked his arm he was still covered in tones of slimy spit a good ten minutes they had gobbled him up just to spit him out again. "Great... Have to go back already... or I'll be late, damn it."
Kai was already back and laid out the berries on a piece of ripped tarpaulin. "Ha, first one back, take that Dean." Satisfied he sat down to rest and meditate.
"Oh, hey Kai!" Keith came a few minutes later. "Where are the others? I thought I would see Michael on the way back but nope." He added his berries as well.
"Well, they were complaining so much of me being, oooh, so slow and what now? Pfff, hypocrites..." Kai closed his eyes again to use the time to meditate while the rain brushed against the tree branches and leaves.
They waited for quite a bit, the smell hit them first. Michael parted the branches even with all the rain on his way back one could smell him against the wind. He looked exhausted.
"What happened?" Keith was baffled and held his nose.
"Did you run past the berries?" Kai smirked as he could see that his bag was empty.
"No," Michael hissed annoyed. "But Blade missed mentioning the huge rampaging monkey horde!" He was so pissed.
"What are you talking about? She searched for food, not monkeys?" Keith shook his head.
"Of course, you'd take her side… How can someone overlook that many!? She did that on purpose…" He growled.
"But Michael you know that's not how the spell works…" Keith tried to calm him down a bit.
"Right…and there is no other explanation why you two are unscathed and with berries because you took her side before. I might not be as smart as you with magic but I'm no fool," He didn't want to listen to anything else and simply sat down to meditate.
"Eeeewww, stay away, you stink man," Kai jumped to his feed and took a spot further away.
Blade connected with the tree yet again, 'Okay buddy, you like my hair, I get it. So how about I give one of my precious dreads and you let me go?' Blade started to bargain and remembered Palladium's words, '…oh, and if you want to trade… I'll give you even more. But I'll need something good in that case.'
The tree halted in its caressing as if it was thinking. Then without warning, it lifted Blade up higher and sat her down in its crown it was like a secondary room. She was standing on intertwined branches and some were trilled together upwards like an onion, creating that safe space, a treasure chamber.
"Holy electron!" Blade looked around, there even was a broken aircraft in there. Tons of coins, gems, armour, weapons and whatnot. All in the midst of a massive amount of bones of all kinds of animals. 'Eh…' She first feared the worst and now that her hands were free she immediately searched for info about the tree on her bracelet.
'Search. Take one.' She could hear through her nature connection, and while the tree could understand her astonishingly well, it wasn't the best talker.
'Ah, here… the tree collects even animals and other living beings. Those get trapped inside the crown and might die eventually if they can't manage to escape. Bigger trees are known to own a graveyard of bones. Yikes…' Blade looked around. This tree had been truly busy. "Alright…let's see, I won't make it to the berry bushes…but maybe there is something useful…"
Iolas had reached Julius. He landed right next to him and checked for his pulse, 'Hmm… should be awake in the next minute or two.' The rain was pouring down on them both. 'Well then, let's see if I have to call this off or not. If any monster or animal finds him before he comes back to consciousness this mission is officially failed. Tag teams, how could they forget the basics, even if you hate each other's guts, going alone is beyond stupidity. Not to mention eating berries before checking…'
Mercury still had a hard time getting that slime off, he wanted to be back in time. Plus, there was no way he could pick berries in his designated spot. He was exhausted and the cold rain didn't make it any better. After his magic bursts, he had next to none to infuse into his Paladin armour of his. Still, he was too tired to run back. It took him longer than expected before he reached the camp, he parted the branches, "Sorry, I'm late…huh, where are the others?!" He could only spot Keith, Kai and Michael so far. "Yuck, what is that smell?"
"Ask him…" Kai growled.
And promptly Kai got a mud ball thrown at him by Michael, "You try dealing with those damned monkeys!"
"Hey, stop it!" Keith went in between and looked to Mercury who simply sat down and let himself fall on the slightly wet ground, "Do something, Mercury! You're Co-Leader!"
"Oh, you get that back!" Kai threw his own mudball but hit Keith in the face instead.
"KAI!" Keith swiped the mud off his face. "Mercury!"
'Kindergarten,' Mercury was out of it, he couldn't move a finger. "Just stay out of it…"
"We're supposed to be a team!" Keith complained.
"Then you should have gotten the damn backpacks!" Michael hissed.
Keith glared at Michael, "You have no idea how hard magic is!"
"And you are totally useless as a mage," Michael crossed his arms.
"Not wrong there…" Kai mumbled to himself a bit too loud.
Keith balled his fist, "Says the one getting carried by the team!"
"Carried!? I brought back the most berries of all of you!" Kai jumped the huge tree root he had used as cover and was all up in Keith's face.
"And that's the first meaningful contribution from you…" Michael rolled his eyes.
"At least I brought some, Mister empty handed!" Kai had enough.
"Can you all just shut up!" Mercury set up, he had no energy or patience to deal with any of them.
"Sure, great leader, where have you been anyway? You took that long and still have nothing to show for it," Keith growled unimpressed.
"I'm not last at least…besides my spot was a monster trap. If you're so eager go and pick some yourself there, Keith," Mercury wouldn't have it.
Michael lost it and threw his hands into the air, "Great, another monster den, what the heck is Blade doing, sending us to senseless locations? We wasted so much energy for NOTHING! That Elf is right, she's-"
"HEY, don't you DARE talk about her like that!" Mercury managed to muster some strength and pulled Michael by his cloak.
"Uuuh, lover boy gets angry. If you have time to defend her you'd better open your damn mouth next time she rambles off in front of that guard before she gets us all expelled. Or is your unrequited love more important than your team!?" Kai butted in.
"I'm not in love, and certainly not her lover, YOU!" Mercury pushed Michael backwards turning towards Kai. Somehow this riled him up more than he would have expected.
Keith held him back, "Sure… tell yourself that… but that's beside the point Mercury, you're supposed to quench arguments, not start them!"
"Oh, shut it, Keith, you barely know magic, and pretend to know everything. Stop playing leader!" Michael hissed at him. "Self-righteous…"
Blade checked the time, "Shit… I have to hurry…" There was so much stuff here. But she couldn't find anything useful for the mission. "Aahhh… I wasted my time here…." She had only spotted another ripped tent or pots, but they had their own. And gold or gems weren't going to help them here. There was no shop.
'Choose…beautiful…' The tree had started to caress her hair again as she rummaged through the stuff.
'Yes, yes…I know, I got to hurry back…' Blade breathed out. "Calm down…focus. Maybe I can find something magical… at least that might cheer the boys up." Blade closed her eyes and simply let the surroundings fade out until she only sensed the magic presence. The tree on closer inspection had a bigger one. 'Wow, how did I even overlook this tree… am I that exhausted?' Then she picked up another presence she knew from her Uncles company. She stepped onwards to get closer to the source and pushed away a lot of coins and bones. "Woah, no way…" She had found a crate with a bunch of Star Crystals. It was near that airship wreckage. It wasn't something helpful for the island but those crystals were used as energy sources. She had a small splinter in her bracelet to power it and they were super expensive. Plus, these were presumably higher grades and big. Her eyes sparkled, 'Can I have those?'
'One for seven…' The tree answered in her mind.
"Seven?!…fine," Blade sighed seven was a lot, but nothing that couldn't be fixed later. She pulled out a Phanto-knife to cut some dreads off.
Julius rose from his nap, "What the heck happened? Shit, don't tell me I ate the wrong berries. But, but… they clearly were the right ones! I am sure…" He was so confused and checked the time. "OH, SHIT!" He still was a bit wobbly yet rushed to the camp.
Iolas chuckled, 'Fool, one bush was the right kind the rest were the poisonous ones… that's why you always check collected food before you stuff it in your mouth…they are so tired they are throwing half their training out of the window…aaaah, trainees, always such fun to watch, the difference between knowledge and wisdom is how to apply it…and they aren't even the worst group I have seen. Ha!' He shook his head. He concentrated on his tracking spells. 'Dean's nearly back at camp…Blade is still in the tree? I know she is from Zenith but her connection to nature is at least decent if not above average for a student, she uses voice of nature so often, hm, better I go check…' He made sure Julius had a clear way home and then rushed off to Blade's position.
Dean already could hear the shouting, 'Great… all I want is some peace and quiet.' He pushed away the branches and entered their hideout. "Uuugh that smell…." He simply walked straight through the squabbling teammates and added the few berries he had managed to get despite being stuck for so long to the haul.
"What the heck, Dean!?" Keith watched irritated as Dean added more of a berry soup to the haul it even splashed a bit.
Dean shrugged, "Did as asked, I'll go meditated…" he simply walked around the tree stump and was out of sight.
"Hey! You can't just drop your berry poop onto mine!" Kai got upset and ran around the tree. "You're contaminating the rest!"
"Shut it, Kai, or I shut it for you, you're weaker than me and utterly useless so far, so bug off," Dean glared at him once and closed his eyes again to meditate.
"Oh you, that's it, you condescending, stupid Troll!" Kai had enough.
Julius had made his way back, but nothing could prepare him for the mess he was looking at. The boys were in a brawl or rather a shoving match, screaming and shouting. Half the berries seemed to be squashed. "BY THE GREAT DRAGON WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" He couldn't believe it he threw his berry bag to the side and pushed them away from each other. "That's enough! Mercury! How can you let this happen!? I need to be able to trust you, that you can lead when I am away, what is wrong with you!?"
"Really? Now? You took like- like forty-five minutes to get here!" Mercury hissed back. "Without any heads up no less, what the heck were YOU doing?"
"Collecting food, duh," Julius went on the defence. "Unlike you lot, just look at those squashed berries."
Kai hissed at Dean, "See! Told ya!"
Blade entered maybe a minute later, "I'm so sorry, I was stuck in a tree and it took forever to get out. I wanted to come back first, not to worry…. You…"
Iolas stepped past her. 'Oh, what the -' He could see the scuff marks. The boys were covered in mud or berry mush. They looked like plucked chickens. "Resorting to cannibalism? Disgraceful…" He commented with an amused tone.
"Guys…" Blade was super confused. "This way we'll never make it…"
"Oh, says the Fairy without any berries at least I brought some," Dean growled.
Keith glared back at him, "But none we can use!"
"Ahahaha, foolish wanna-be wizard," Iolas grinned, "She went on a little treasure hunt. Picking up a pretty stone instead of food and you take her side? Oh, what is the world coming to?"
"Oh, you…" Blade clenched her fists, 'Not those shitty half-truths again!' She tensed up, "I-"
Julius cut her off, "You can't be serious, Blade! All this and you come back empty-handed, you of all people? We can't eat STONES!"
"But-" Blade wanted to explain.
Julius somehow wanted to restore order quickly, "No, buts. We wasted so much time on this. Just check the damn berries, so we can get a move on."
"Finally, someone keeps the sabotaging Fairy in line," Iolas chuckled and jumped up the tree and laid down on a branch, "Tell me when you're planning to do something noteworthy…"
"Take that back!" Blade was about to go up there herself and drag that stupid guard down. "I'm not sabotaging any-"
"Are you talking back to me?" Iolas grinned menacingly. 'Still, so easily triggered.' Half scared and pale the boys scrambled to shut her up. They had not forgotten his threats to get them expelled.
Julius stared Blade down, "That's enough, not only did you send half the squad into danger zones, you wasted yours with useless bling. I don't want to hear another peep from you. Go check the berries, NOW." He pointed at them. 'Why would she do that? She's normally not that incomp- she isn't… shit, I thought she would be our greatest asset here, but with that guy around she's a liability. Blade, there is no point picking a fight with that guy, why can't you see that? I know he is an ass, but...' He sighed, he didn't like at all to be so harsh to her, just to please the Elf, it turned his stomach upside down.
'That fucking…he is tearing us apart. How can I? I have to…' Blade could see Julius didn't mean it at least not fully. He, in fact, all her friends were tired, restless even, hungry and low on energy and magic. This trip was bringing them to their knees. She ground her teeth and set down to check the haul, while the rest sat down apart from each other to meditate.
Iolas watched her concerned, 'She's taking the fall again…One person alone cannot keep a team together… not if they are not willing to really try… oh, Blade, hurting in silence is no good solution long term. I'll have to end this very soon… I had hoped they'd do better, they got the potential. Maybe that's why I went so hard on them… too hard…on the other hand, better in a controlled environment than out in the real world where they are all on their own…ahhh, always such a fine line…'
