"Delta Rune take me..."

Cter retreated her eyes from scouring the street vendors selling their various items with hollers and waving. As Sir Gerson had argued, there were desert roses a plenty among the florists surrounded with colors. If anything it was Golden Flowers that fetched a premium with how they were placed in the more decorated urns and off to the more secluded side of the mercantile tents.

Not secluded enough to be out of view, but secluded enough to not be easily stolen. Their golden sheen drew eyes well and good even without being stood out in the direct sun.

"These days..."

With a flick of her hand on the closest windows, and with stasis magic on the window on the opposite side of the carriage, Cter closed the curtains, bathing the carriage in a heavy purple from the curtain fabric. She could feel here eyes relax from the shade the curtains cast. It was a strange feeling to her, having something relax on her person.

"At least we managed better than if we hadn't shown up," continued Sir Gerson under his breath as he sat leaning on his balled fists supported by his elbows on his knees. Each time the carriage wheels entered and exited a groove in the cobblestone road his entire slouched being shifted from side to side, but always returned to where it began. "Silver lining, I suppose." His deep sigh into his balled fists almost made a whistle. "Would have been better had it been more than just the lining. Might be too much to ask though when it comes to humans."

The green fingers danced without rhythm as Sir Gerson turned his troubled head towards the curtain away from Cter. It was the window that faced the castle where the last three days were nothing less than history worthy. Ever since the Court Speaker opened the floor there had been no rest for none in the castle. Neither human, nor monster.

Maybe for one Monster Mage though.

"You did good, Cter," said Sir Gerson as he noticed that she shared his troubled look. "Try and keep that in mind."

She turned to the turtle monster with a wry smile. "Should try and act what you teach, if you can."

A strained chuckle escaped through Sir Gerson's nostrils, shaking his body more than the uneven surface the carriage rode through. "I should, shouldn't I?" He shook his head, perhaps to what he just said. "Truth is though that it is going to be quite difficult for me to act what I teach because what I want to act is not what it is I want to teach."

Cter saw the thoughts Sir Gerson had behind his eyes. A vortex of chaos, debating more fiercely than the three previous days combined. Like with the Field General, Sir Gerson was scared of the future. Not because he lost, but because he did not win.

The jubilation when the census of a draw came to close the trial was without equal, but even through all the celebration that there had been found a sense of understanding starting from when Kry embraced the Field General after reading him like an open book, the celebrations were only that the trial was over, and not that things had been solved when it came to the fusion.

If anything it had all become worse due to the Field General presenting the lie of the Cooperative Connection. He was correct, but he was wrong in how it was. Yes, Terri Fyed's magic was not based on any cooperative emotions, and the Field General was correct in his deduction how it came to be.

What he was wrong in was that it was not Terri finding out the truth to the Cooperative Connection, but that he did something akin to how Cter did when she was a self-employed mage in Jarasevo. It was a different take on the Cooperative Connection, and not a subversion of it.

Still though, the Field General had been close enough to the truth that it didn't matter if the specifics that only the Monster Mages and Priestess Frioke could tell were wrong and different from the case he presented.

To refute it they would have to present the actual lie of the Cooperative Connection, which, for several reasons, they obviously could not. What the Field General had done was to plant doubt and draw a parallel with the fusion just a day after he knew what it was exactly.

It had been too easy for him. Too obvious that such was the case.

The echo of the town crier bells hadn't settled into quiet from them revealing what the fusion was before they rang out again shouting about how the fusion had brought to light a lie that all monsters were in on.

Which meant that the delegation from Monster Country had to hurry homewards as quickly as possible lest their safety came into question.

"But what about the safety of the monsters living here in Noitaidarr and Xoff?" had Sir Gerson asked in return with a defiant ignorance to the Royal Mage of Noitaidarr Castle ash she escorted the monster delegation to their carriages. "Are their security about to come into question too? Will you be able to protect them from the stirred emotions this trial have set in motion?"

Cter remembered with a cold shiver how Rasliela's large, green hat did not move in the slightest as she gave her answer.

"You should leave Xoff's concern to Xoff lest you become a suspect of meddling outside the borders where your title and position as the Leader of the Royal Guard of Jarasevo hold rank, Sir Gerson. There is still much to be done in this country in the aftermath of the plague that has ravaged our country and people. Any aid you can spare when it comes to food and tools will be heartily accepted, regardless of what transpired in the court room. That is only something you can begin to organize once back home in Jarasevo, so again I have to insist that you depart back to Monster Country at your most earliest convenience."

It only moved when she looked to Cter.

"You are also two Monster Mages out of three. How it stands today is that the fusion has killed half of the Monster Mages. It would be wise should you want to calm the fear it has brought to this world to bring back the one Monster Mage you can bring back. One Monster Mage is a tragedy, but two is a threat. If it takes one Monster Mage to explain the death of another then who is to say that next time it will not take the two that are left?"

And to Kry once he took a hard step forwards.

"The most powerful mages in the world need to be unfazed by the fusion and this trial in order to not rouse any more suspicion than has already been shaken loose akin to an earthquake. It can't be burning anymore souls, if you'll excuse my language. Go home, and prepare an explanation for why the humans' trust have been broken. It does not matter why you did it, for there are no human who were alive when you reasoned that you had to lie."

Lastly, Rasliela faced Kurant.

"Fallen down can't speak in your favor despite the many trees that have grown from them. What only matters are the branches from those trees that are about to be told that there is rot within them stemming from the monsters. It is easy to predict the reaction that will follow."

Rasliela then turned to walk away, leaving the monster delegation with one last sentence to bring with them.

"We are all only humans, after all."

That they all were, the florists selling the desert roses in bundles only possible due to human magic as made possible by the Cooperative Connection. That they all were, stopping in their desert rose sales to glare towards the monster delegation rolling through the main road of Noitaidarr. None of them actually understood that once there was a time when desert roses were that of legend. How could they when they could so easily buy a bundle of them and bring with them?

"If only it were the same with the Golden Flowers..."

Sir Gerson perked up at Cter speaking in a sigh the same that he had been. He looked to her as she looked through the purple-colored curtain to the long, continuous market of stalls that seemed to span the entirety of the main road in Noitaidarr. Through the purple fabric of the carriage curtains the striped marquises looked the same.

"If only they could understand," she said while her eyes drifted down to her left arm. "I showed them the fusion to the point where it almost took me over again, so why can't they understand?"

"Because hearsay weighs more for humans than the truth. It is what they want to believe that they will most likely believe. More often than not it's not what is being said, but who it is that is saying it." Sir Gerson looked to his own arm.

"Had there been tanned skin on me rather than scales they'd listened harder right after I explain why I'm so short compared to them. Wa ha ha!" Cter could tell that it felt good for Sir Gerson managing to make himself laugh. "I think a nice tan color would suit me. I've always been fond of the way caramel has that subtle brown to it."

Sir Gerson smiled out the curtained window.

"They make caramel with sun-dried honey and milk here in Xoff. It gives it an interesting texture, I've found." His dry lips smacked with anticipation. "Bit smoother since they don't salt it too compared to how we do in Monster Country, as well as the more powdery base of the sun-dried honey. Gets more stuck on the roof of your mouth too."

"Found that you're not fond of that?" offered Cter with a cheeky giggle.

Sir Gerson joined in the giggle. "Guess so, Monster Mage. Weh heh heh." He breathed his giggle in, suppressing it. "Plan was for me to get some of the Noitaidarr caramel to chew on while we rode home, but the one shop that makes it exactly how I want it was closed down when the family succumbed to the plague, I heard."

It was hard to tell if his sympathies were with him or the family.

"Even if it still was open though I don't think I'd be able to buy myself the large cube I wanted from them after having decried the Hero of Xoff with all of my soul. I understand why," he explained to no one but himself with an accompanying shrug.

"I would have cast some rather-deadly glares had someone decried and criticized King Asgore and Queen Toriel in the Royal Garden and caused the luscious greenery to wilt with their harsh words to then whistle down the hill road with their non-troubled hands in their pockets eager to order some frozen treats to enjoy while taking in the view of Jarasevo in the sunset."

It seemed like he managed to explain it to himself properly enough though as he nodded in agreement enough to crack another smile and single laugh out his nostrils. "Those magically frozen treats are only for the ones that egress out Jarasevo Castle with their shadows as long as them and not trailing behind them farther than they can know themselves! Wa ha ha!"

The soft cushioning of Sir Gerson's seat deformed as he shifted his sit to a more relaxed position. "Golly..." he exhaled between his strong, green fingers running down his face, stopping at the tuft of beard on his chin that he curled around one finger. "I don't remember the last time I've been this exhausted and tired." He blinked as he heard his own words. "And all other synonyms for the same word, I guess."

Cter didn't need Sir Gerson to tell her that he was tired for her to notice. His aura had crumpled like bark used as tinder for a fire as soon as he sat down in the carriage. It was the closest thing to home while in Xoff, and Sir Gerson was gonna make himself at home as much as he could.

Same as Sarbor, to an extent.

"I'll follow the delegation back to Jarasevo to ask Priestess Frioke to further teach me how to further suppress the aura the fusion forced upon me," he had explained with a tone that meant that he knew that he did not have to finish for Cter and the others to understand. "Then I'll return here to Noitaidarr Castle to be the Hero of Xoff's doctor until he's managed to get his forced aura under control. Preferably it would be Priestess Frioke's job for him too, but I think it might be better if I am the one to make right what went wrong at Clinic Hill."

That was one part to it.

"It will show human and monster cooperation in a positive light too, won't it? Perhaps not as ideal as Priestess Frioke treating General Shuuja herself, but it'll be her teachings that I will apply. If it was a human and a monster coming together in the worst light of the Cooperative Connection it'll do good to remind of the good light the Cooperative Connection can do."

And that was another part to it.

"Clinic Hill was once the beacon of it with Dr. Sallus at the helm, and I will want to rebuild that one day. For monsters it is tradition to spread the deceased one's dust upon what they loved the most in life, so once the memory of the place have healed I will work the rest of my life to make it a place where it'll be known as where he and Sund lost their lives, and not where the fusion was born."

Good enough for Sir Gerson, Kry, and Kurant.

"What about Idyll?"

But not for Cter, who asked once her colleagues had left to oversee the food and water needed for the journey home to Jarasevo.

Sans Noitaidarr caramel, apparently.

"I won't leave immediately, Cter. I know you care for her, perhaps even more than I do, but that does not mean that I will just up and abandon her. I'm pursuing the path I need for her sake, the same as I did when Dr. Sallus offered me an apprenticeship. What our parents succumbed too could have wrought the entire village too. It was a possibility, and with her beginning to find happiness again with the village taking care of her better than I ever could, I decided to help her the way I best could."

The human doctor was strong in his faith of his words.

"What took our parents did not haunt the village again, but if it did I had a cure ready. I had it ready for her, even is she was incapable of catching the illness. I've never stopped loving her as my little sister, and I have never stopped protecting her as my little sister. I've told you this before."

That he had, but that was before the trial. It was before he felt that his case fitted more with the human defendant's side rather than the monster prosecutions' side which he had been brought with to act as a primary witness to the events at Clinic Hill. Cter didn't distrust Sarbor because of that.

She just…

She just needed to hear him say again that he still was Idyll's big brother for her to not see him sharing a moment with the Field General as...traitorous.

The same she saw the Royal Mage of Ice and the Fenkeep Castle Royal Butler, unfortunately…

"It was due to the Royal Mage of Noitaidarr Castle that the Field General came to ask me and the Royal Mage of Ice," explained Huvett and Huvtvao as the monster delegation passed him by earlier in the day. "Or at least, that was what I believed when he approached me back then."

Cter didn't meet the Royal Butler in the eyes.

"Now though, after he has told of how his soul has changed, perhaps he was the one that figured it all alone. No doubt that he conversed with the Royal Mage Rasliela, but maybe it was not as much as I initially thought. He is a good man, I tell you monsters."

That he did, as a human

"He is a good man with a sense of justice and want to do right that few humans possess. If anything he proved that when he came to accept your embrace instead of batting it away, didn't he, Kry? For all that he said about how much he wanted things to be understood and not hostile, you telling him to cry and him accepting it is what this trial will be remembered by. A beautiful moment between–"

"A human and a human."

Huvett and Huvtvao shared a glance between his two heads as one interrupted the other.

It was correct in that it was between a human and a human, the hug Kry gave the Field General, and that was the crux of the issue. Kry wasn't a monster when he hugged the Field General. He wasn't someone from the other side of the court room extending a most tender and intimate embrace.

A sour tone among the hefty snivels and sobs for Cter and her colleagues. Had he not burned off his sleeve perhaps it would have meant more, but if he hadn't then his magic would have surely scared the Field General more. Like with Sarbor, the Field General felt uncomfortable about his forced-upon aura.

At best.

And while Kry could hide his aura, he could not to the extent that the Field General would not sense it so close and so emotional. Again, Sarbor was the same before Priestess Frioke taught him some few pointers.

Which had Cter thinking.

About Rasliela.

And why she didn't help the Field General with his forced-upon aura.

Did she not do it on the Field General's request? Did she not do it on her own request? Did she not do it to the point where the Field General had no idea that she could? Or perhaps she couldn't have done anything. Priestess Frioke had to study Cter and the magic she had after the fusion implanted itself in her soul for Frioke to be able to begin to help Sarbor.

Perhaps that was the reason for the spot of tea Cter and Rasliela shared before the trial? When Rasliela said that she knew how the most powerful mage was thinking did she actually mean that she saw a way to treat the magic the fusion gave so many humans?

God, how Cter resented that she was incapable of reading Rasliela…

"Do rest assured that I will still be on the humans' side throughout everything that might follow this, Sir Gerson. I know that for me to do the most for the monsters is for me to do even more for the humans. I have you Monster Mages to thank for this. That includes you, with or without your sleeve, Monster Mage Kry."

There was silence.

"And the Monster Mage Sund, of course. The few times I met him I found myself with a stronger heart. You all have my condolences once more for his loss. Preparations are underway to commemorate his passing back in Hjearta, I was notified of last evening. He might have become a monster in his life, but he was born in Hjearta as a human, and still loved it like it was his own."

A country that he loved that would turn against all that he had worked for throughout his life?

"You're thinking, Cter."

The rumbling of the solid carriage wheels became noticeable as Cter faded back from her thoughts to Sir Gerson holding a water pouch out for her to drink from. He had a look of slight concern on him that read Cter like an open book. He could tell that she needed some water first and foremost, but also some talking-with afterwards.

Seems like Cter was weak to green-clad heads of militaries when it came to keeping her thoughts to herself, as the last couple of days had proven.

"And you're not thinking of anything good, are you?" commented the turtle monster after Cter took a deep swig of water. It washed away her immediate disdain she had built up within her, but some still remained.

"I can't blame you, but I am going to say to you to keep your mind occupied differently on the way back home. We've books from the library at Noitaidarr Castle which we traded with some from ours. They are new stories penned by some excellent authors. I'd recommend that you lose yourself in those rather than in your own festering thoughts."

He made sure that Cter's attention was on him fully.

"In fact, I order you to lose yourself in those books rather than in your own festering thoughts, Cter. That is how concerned I am about you. Hell, the same goes for me too. For Kurant, and for Kry as well. We would all do good in shuffling the trial to the back of our minds until we can discuss it properly back home with the King and Queen and with Priestess Frioke."

A deep groove in the road had his head swiveling, yet with his eyes still squarely on Cter.

"Can you do that for me, please? It'll ease both of our minds."

From his shell he produced a book with a lavender-blue cover. It was the first thing Cter had ever seen Sir Gerson retrieve from inside his shell, and she hesitated for a second before grabbing it.

"Love within a tentacle's reach," read Cter the title after another few seconds of hesitation. "Uncensored edition?"

"Swearing."

"Ah."

Perhaps Sir Gerson was right. Maybe Cter needed something else to think about.

So she opened up the first page.