Blind Devotion

by dnd4evr

While on the run from a haunting past, a half-orc warlock finds himself the chance companion of a blind elf doctor. Despite her quirks, he finds great comfort in her company, and the two make fast friends...even if their enemies are never far behind. All original characters that are HIGHLY INSPIRED by the cast of Critical Role.

20. The Treasure of Whitestone

The next morning was a cheery one, despite the haze of the Parchwood. Dull sunlight fought its way through the boughs of the creaking pines, but what fell upon the hallowed ground of Melora was both bright and strong, illuminating the various mid-autumn blooms Caidove had selected to adorn her grounds. Dianthus and sweet alyssum, one laced in white and the other a soft pink, stood out from the dark greens and purple grasses that were further accented with bright red-orange helenium in the repurposed fountain. Butterflies seemed to adore the display, and a hundred colors were already fluttering about the small gardens as they sipped upon both nectar and dew.

Despite the joy of the morning that followed a peaceful night's sleep, Jayce was quite insistent that they all return to the road as quickly as possible. Part of the reason was due to embarrassment on his part, once the true sum of the gifted money had hit him, but the more vocal reason was simply that he did not wish to stay within the haunted forest any longer than was necessary. While the Sword of Vines was, indeed, a sanctuary among the shadows, it was only a stop in their travels, and the journey ahead of them promised to be long.

To their surprise and delight, Cad asked to journey with them, mostly because his own traveling group had likely assumed him lost and went on without him. Bera commented on that behavior, but Cad shrugged it off.

"Honesetly, I don't blame them. It's been at least a few weeks, based on the number of times that hag fed me those weird berries, and that's a long time to look or wait for anyone. And before you say anything!" he quickly added, his hand up to stop Al from jumping in with his own comment, "there were only the three of us. There are seven of you, and you all walked away bloody and barely standing. I don't blame them for leaving, even if they had noticed I had been snatched away by a witch in the woods."

"Didn't they at least leave you some sort of way to contact them?" Bera asked, perched on a barrel by the stables. Dahlia had stepped inside with Audria to apply more magic to Kake, now that the ettercap poison had been purged from his system, so he would be in top shape to pull the cart. To everyone's relief, Kake was found earlier to be in great health, although also in a sour mood. Even so, his temperament had been mitigated by his sister. Somehow, Eple had managed to make her way into his stall during the night, and the two had slept side by side.

Cad smiled at Bera and nodded. "They left a note with Caidove. They said they'd be staying in Whitestone for a month, as was the original plan. If we head out today, I should be able to catch them before they head out, provided they were actually patient enough to stay put."

"So they abandoned you in the woods, at the mercy of a witch, and just hoped you'd be able to follow?" Al said with a growl, his arms crossed and tense. He clearly saw the actions of Cad's companions as a lack of loyalty.

Cad shrugged. "As far as I know. I have no idea what they've been doing in Whitestone; Maybe they've been trying to find help to save me, or campaigning to get a bounty on the witch. Whatever happened, I doubt they'd just sit around twiddling their thumbs."

"I hope you're right," Al mumbled. He glanced over at Gauth, who was packing the cart with purchased supplies for the road, and whistled. "Hey! Gauth, is the cart ready yet?"

Gauth looked over with a smile. "Yes. Just the barrel of water and it is packed."

"Good," Al huffed. He looked around the tastefully overgrown front courtyard of the Sword of Vines. "Now where is everybody else? Jon and Zoe ran off as soon as we got outside, and I have no idea where Jayce disappeared to."

Bera giggled. "Wow, Al. I'd hope a 'rogue' would have better eyesight. Jon and Zoe are over by the well refilling our canteens, and Jayce is right over there, avoiding Caidove."

She pointed to help direct their attention, and sure enough, Jayce was barely seen as he ducked behind a flowering bush when Caidove poked her head out of one of the many front windows of the tavern. With a disappointed sigh, she retreated back inside, and Jayce stood back up and immediately noticed he had been watched.

"Avoiding the landlady?" Bera called out, clearly teasing.

Jayce coughed awkwardly and hastily snatched a flower from the bush. "Nah. Just thinkin' these flowers smell nice, and Dahlia might-"

Caidove reappeared at the window, called by Jayce's raised voice, which he had needed to be heard across the courtyard. "There you are!" she said brightly, but with such sudden introduction that Jayce nearly jumped a foot out of his skin. Bera, Al, and Cad couldn't help but laugh at Jayce's expense when he fumbled to recover from his embarrassment.

"Oh I'll never tire of that," Cad wheezed, rubbing a solitary tear of joy from his eye. "Your friend's surprisingly entertaining to goose."

"To what?" Al asked.

"Startle, dummy," Bera chided him. She quickly returned the conversation to Cad. "Clearly you've done that before if you'll 'never tire' of it."

Cad nodded. "When we met, your friend made it pretty obvious that he had never seen a dragonblood before. I caught him staring, and so said, 'boo' right in his face. He almost jumped as high as he did just now," Cad laughed, thumbing over his shoulder at the flustered half-orc. "Ah, good times."

"Good times? That must've been in that…oh fuck what was it…?" Al said, his voice petering out as he lost his focus. "The ghost world…?"

"Ethereal plane," Cad said with a smile. "But yes, I'm notoriously flippant in serious situations. Just ask Nye and Shimmer!"

"Oh! Are those your friends?" Bera asked, her eyes wide and bright with curiosity. Al, also curious, almost snapped to attention when he realized the mysterious dragonblood knight might divulge some of his past.

Cad nodded with pride. "Yep. My traveling companions. Shimmer's an earth genasi, with enough quartz in her skin to literally glitter in sunlight. Even though I have no idea how she pulls it off, as she seems to attract dirt more easily than honey entices flies!" he laughed. "I swear, we'd drench her in soap and leave her in a downpour and she'd walk out muddy rather than clean."

"You do realize that, being part earth elemental, she's probably excreting it or something?" Bera giggled.

Cad shrugged. "Eh, probably. Nye's the other one, and he's an artificer of sorts. We were originally heading to Whitestone to meet his brother, who had been invited to be part of some college that's being established there. Some professor, or doctor of…something or other. I can't remember. What I'm excited for is seeing Nye's niece and nephew! Cynthia and Ashley are my godkids! Gods above, they must be so big now!"

Cad spoke with such excitement and pride that it was nearly infectious, and all bragging immediately turned to the god-children who had recently moved to Whitestone. By the time Jonathan and Zoe returned to the cart, Puffpaw perched on Jonathan's shoulders as per her usual, Cad was nearly in tears from laughing as he recounted the time Ashley had mistakenly realized that he didn't have a brain.

"How old was this kid?" Al giggled, his own voice choked from laughter.

"Just two at the time," Cad wheezed. "Ooh gods have mercy on me. Those two are so fun, every time we visit. Oh! And I did explain that, just like his sister, he did have a brain, it was just something he couldn't see or touch."

"How'd he even come up with that?" Zoe said, having only caught the end of the joke. "I thought it was obvious that everyone had a brain."

"You'd be surprised what you've forgotten isn't obvious," Cad grinned. "Cyn was talking without thinking and said something really rude, so I, admittedly, lost my patience and yelled at her to 'use her brain'. Ash looked right down at his hands and burst out sobbing as he lamented his lack of grey matter. As soon as he said it, gods-damn my twisted soul, I nearly died trying not to laugh out loud!"

"These kids sound really sweet," Jonathan said with a smile, and Puffpaw chirruped her agreement. "So…who are they again?"

Again, Cad couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of it all, but he did repeat himself to share more about his beloved godchildren. Even though he had to repeat himself yet again when Gauth, Dahlia and, eventually, Jayce joined them, he had plenty of other stories about the children to share, and so their journey began with the sound of laughter among the trees.

xXxXx

Three days passed in anxious silence. The fog was no longer so thick as to impede their progress, but the chill continued to deepen around them, and the ambush by shambling corpses their first night on the road reminded them all of the dangers of the cursed Parchwood Timberlands. With the fall of dusk every evening, hushed conversations would inevitably turn to strategies to prevent further unwanted intrusions upon their campsite. Thankfully, Gauth's insistence on crushing skulls beneath his heel proved warranted, as no undead creature deigned to rise again after suffering such a blow.

Even so, hope was in their hearts, as Cad confirmed their assumption that Whitestone was only another day from their current campsite. The thought of strong walls to shield them from the Parchwood and warm beds to rest their weary bones was pervasive, and even the gloom of the cursed woods seemed unable to stifle it.

"Are…you going to look for your god-children as soon as you get to Whitestone? Or would you look for your friends first?" Dahlia asked. Her voice was quiet and small, nearly as soft as the clicking of the magical fire disk, but it still seemed to carry dangerously far across their campsite in the silence among the pine trees.

Cad smirked. "They're probably in the same place, knowing Nye. He's blown our savings on tools and supplies more than once, so he's otherwise thrifty by nature. He's probably convinced his brother to let him and Shimmer sleep in a common room at their home or something."

"He must be a really impressive professor if he's got a house big enough for that," Jonathan mumbled, more in absent thought than to elicit a response. "I wonder what he studies."

Cad shrugged. "Can't remember. Like I said, I'm more interested in the godkids." At the thought of Ashley and Cynthia, Cad's face broke into a bright grin as another thought came to him. "Anyone want to hear another kid story? I've got so many."

"Yes, but not too loud. We must listen for more walking dead," Gauth warned. Cad took the warning to heart with a nod and launched into an animated, but quiet, tale of Cynthia as a baby.

Apparently, the child had first met Cad when she was barely a year old, and as she had only just begun to speak, her pronunciation was far from perfect. Even so, learning to call him "Uncle Cad" was frowned upon, mostly as it made her sound as if she was repeating an insult she had heard behind his back. Instead, she was tasked with repeating the incredibly difficult moniker of "dragon-man", which is how Cad had assumed his adopted name.

"And thus, I am dwaggin-nan!" Cad giggled. "And yes, they still call me that to this day."

Zoe hid her face in her arm to keep her laughter from sputtering out too loudly as Jonathan politely hid a laugh in his fist, along with the equally quiet giggles of the others. Jayce had to turn away for a moment to clear his throat and compose himself before he could ask anything with a straight face.

"How old are the tykes?" he asked, his voice barely even as another laugh tickled the back of his throat.

Cad shrugged. "Not sure. It's been a few years. Ash's probably five now, and that would make Cyn…eight? Nine? Bah, I can never remember the age gap."

"I'm surprised you remembered the younger's age first," Dahlia said. "I'd imagine it would be easier to remember the eldest's age."

Cad smirked at Dahlia, as he had once again forgotten she was blind. "Ashley was born in Brussendar, 860. So, being as it's after Brussendar, he's five. He's easier to do the math," Cad snickered.

"Oh! Right. Sorry," Dahlia mumbled, embarrassed. "I…suppose that would be easier. Sorry."

Jayce, seated next to her, glanced over at Dahlia and thought back to the Sword of Vines. Somehow, the memory of Audria rubbing Caidove's back in her moment of anguish came to him, and without any hesitation, he rested his hand on Dahlia's back. Her shoulders immediately tensed, but she relaxed as soon as Jayce whispered a soft encouragement and she recognized his voice.

It was then that the silence around the campfire suddenly hit him, and he immediately looked up to notice every single other person seated around the fire was staring at him. Jayce could feel his face turn red, especially when Bera cocked an eyebrow, so he cleared his throat and sat up straight, almost as if to distance himself from the intimacy of the act of comfort.

"Unrequited lover?" Cad whispered to Bera, who he correctly assumed was the most emotionally savvy of the group.

Bera shook her head. "Dahlia's been really hurt by the world, and the poor thing's terrified of anything she can't sense coming. The only one who seems to be allowed in her personal space is Jayce, so he's…sort of in charge of keeping her stable. It's a curse thing."

Cad's eyes went wide as he suddenly grasped a thought that had long eluded him. Forgetting the danger of the woods around them, Cad suddenly sat up straight and clapped his hands. "That's it!"

"Ah! Dammit!" Zoe spat. She had practically jumped to her feet at the sudden noise. "What the hell, Cad?!"

"I remembered what Doctor Nye studies!" Cad beamed.

Dahlia could hear her heart drop to her stomach as Cad announced the topic with gusto.

"Curses!"

xXxXx

The next day, while the edge of the Parchwood Timberlands was finally behind them and they were surrounded by hillside meadows dotted with trees and distant shepherds' homes, Dahlia had found herself gripped by incredible anxiety. Further adding to her pain was her inability to take in the majestic mountains that framed the landscape, the beautiful blue sky that had eluded them for so long, and the specks of white, brown, and black sheep that dotted the hills between squat fences made of stone. The gentle breeze and exalted birdsong did nothing to save her from the reeling thoughts that held her nearly in paralysis from the evening before.

Dr. Nye, Cad's friend's brother, researched magical curses, and Gauth had immediately interrogated the dragonblood as if he was the doctor in question. Gauth, of course, became a victim of his own short temper when it became obvious that Cad knew little to nothing of Dr. Nye's area of expertise, and the giantkin had to take out his frustration on a rotting tree to calm himself. That didn't stop the others from speculating, as nearly all of them believed Dahlia could find relief from her "curse" in the coming days, and they all wished for her wellness and health.

The only one among them who kept his tongue was Jayce, and they both knew why. Dahlia's illness was not a curse, and if that came to light, who would they blame? Her? Jayce? While he had introduced her illness as a curse, she had never corrected him. She had gone out of her way to avoid that.

And on top of all of that, a glimpse of her past had been revealed to her companions. Jonathan and Zoe had heard the most, and she had actively avoided the subject as much as possible ever since the Sword of Vines. Thankfully, they were both easy to distract; Jonathan spoke with enthusiasm as soon as they began to debate the facets and nuances of magic, and Zoe willingly traded hand and foot massages for blessed silence. Considering the calluses Dahlia had discovered on both types of limb, she wondered how often Zoe had struck training dummies or enemies without any sort of armor or protection; Both her hands and feet were quite rough, and the calluses were thick and sturdy.

Unfortunately, her demeanor did not go unnoticed, either. The closer they rode to Whitestone, the farther she withdrew, to the point that even Al, who generally did not care for her mood swings, noticed she had become little more than a curled up lump in a corner of the cart. Her voice was generally strained, as if on the edge of tears, and when the others asked after her, Jayce quickly came to her defense; He vocally assumed the curse gripped Dahlia more tightly the more hope she had in her heart, and it sounded diabolical enough that the others accepted it without question.

The walls of Whitestone, tall and proud, rose in the distance, filled with rooftops and the blazing orange brush of an incredibly massive tree. So large was this tree that the Castle Whitestone, a gothic work of art perched upon the northern hills of the city and made from the white stones of the Alabaster Sierras that surrounded the valley, was barely seen from their vantage point of the road. The darkness and fog of the Parchwood Timberlands seemed almost physically held at bay by an aura of peace and calm, and instinctually, those traveling in the cart seemed to know the tree was to blame.

"Hey, what's that?" Bera called out, as she pointed past the cart into the fields. A bright, white obelisk stretched into the sky, nearly fifty feet tall, deep into the fields to their left. Instantly, those around her turned to peer curiously at the object, despite its clear wear and tear from age and abuse. Vines and clinging plants climbed its pale facade as if remaining near the ground was toxic, and rude phrases in red paint were clearly readable on what was visible of its base.

Zoe immediately perked up. "Those are the famous anti-dragon measures that the one well-known de Rolo guy put up when the Chroma Conclave attacked all those decades ago. There's five of them around Whitestone, and if all of them are activated at once, all of Whitestone just disappears, like it never existed. Can't even find it with magic!"

"No shit…!" Jayce said with awe. "Just…poof, gone?"

"Eh, maybe?" Zoe said with a shrug. "I'm not sure it's like Syngorn. That place literally buggered off to the Feywild when everything went down, but I think Whitestone would still be physically there, just damn hard to find."

"It is one of the few major cities of-" Jonathan began, but then stopped nearly mid-word as something came to him. "Uh, Dahlia, how old are you?"

"Hey now, 's rude to ask a lady her age," Jayce chided.

"And major cities of what? Come on!" Al griped. "To survive? To last? What is it?"

"To escape unscathed from the Chroma Conclave," Jonathan huffed. "And it's not rude! It's pertinent to the conversation!"

"Oh really? How?" Jayce said through gritted teeth, his disposition cearly slipping into aggression.

"She could've been around when-!"

"One hundred eighty-four."

Bera paused, her hand on her lyre in case she needed to cast another spell to calm everyone's nerves, and glanced at Dahlia, whose quiet voice had somehow stilled both irritated men. She was curled up in the far corner of the cart, as was her norm since the night before, with her knees pulled to her chin.

"Based on the most universal Exandrian calendar, I'm one hundred and eighty-four years old. I was alive for the destruction of the Chroma Conclave, the rise of the Whispered One, the fall of Draconia…I was born the year Zan Tal'Dorei, the first Sovereign, finally died of old age. And yet, I know none of it. I was kept hidden from the world, raised under a rock if you will, until…" Dahlia winced and covered her head with her arms. "I know nothing more than you do of any history beyond the last thirty years, so please, don't ask me."

"Holy fuck you're almost as old as Tal'Dorei…!" Zoe whistled. "Man, if only you had seen it all, the stories you could tell."

Dahlia whimpered and turned away, almost as if to force herself farther into isolation.

"Gods-damn we can't get that curse out of her fast enough," Al grumbled, his arms crossed and tense as he inwardly wished the same hell upon whoever had placed the darkness upon her.

Gauth nodded, his resolve clear when he snapped the reins to urge the horses from a trot to a cantor. Cad, in an attempt to help, mentioned how Dr. Nye would likely be more than willing to give Dahlia an assessment for free. After all, Cad was a great friend of the family, and they would be incredibly thankful to see him safe from harm.

Unfortunately, his words had the opposite effect; while the others brightened at the thought, Dahlia burst into tears, and Jayce managed to grab her wrist and pull it from sight before she could draw her blade on herself.

xXxXx

As anxious as Cad was to see his friends and godchildren, he could not fault the others for wanting to take a little detour. After all, this was also his first time in Whitestone, and Benjamin Nye, his artificer friend, was the one who had the address; All Cad knew about the new home was that it was near a famous bakery, much to the children's delight. Upon entering the southern gate of Whitestone, the Paleguard, the local peacekeeping force of the city, offered one of their men to take them on a short tour while they looked about, and promised to include any bakeries he was familiar with.

First and foremost, upon recognizing the glimmering bronze tree upon the guard's heraldry as the same tree whose boughs they had seen from afar, Jayce asked about the symbol. Without hesitation, the Paleguard, who introduced himself as Keil, waxed poetic about the power and purity of the Sun Tree, a gift from the Dawnfather himself. As soon as Keil mentioned that the grounds around the tree were open to the public, and included an altar that rested nearly a quarter up the side of the massive trunk, it was collectively decided that a small detour for Dahlia's sake would not be amiss.

The street was cobblestone, similar to Westruun, but definite care was taken to the laying of the stones, so the surface itself was remarkably smooth. Even the buildings, shops and houses along the street seemed almost unblemished by time and weather as they passed. Trees and bushes, all comparatively young to the trees of the Parchwood Timberland nearby, framed walkways and small open groves between the streets.

"As you can probably see, a lot of the city is new," Keil said brightly, perched upon his grey horse that kept pace with the cart. "During the attack of the Chroma Conclave, fifty years prior, the city was nearly flooded with refugees from as far as Westruun. Of course, the city was in a malleable state, due to being under repair after the Briarwood siege just months beforehand, so the Parchwoods were already being cleared for new timber, which made the space they needed to move in."

"Wow. Sounds like Whitestone's had a rough history," Al said absentmindedly.

"It has been since the beginning," Keil said with a shrug. "Long ago, the land was founded by the de Rolo family, but that was after their expedition from the Dwendalian Empire crashed upon the shores several miles from here. Nearly half of the company was wiped out, but those who lived found the Sun Tree and considered it a sign to stay. This place has always been a home for survivors."

"Speaking of the city, it's not exactly common that guards give tours to newcomers," Jonathan said, his voice raised to grab Keil's attention. "Is that unique to Whitestone?"

Keil shrugged. "Not sure, but it's the norm here. Lord and Lady de Rolo have been working hard to abolish poverty and homelessness, and that's really cut down on crime. As such…well, being a Paleguard can get really boring, so I actually had to beat out five other guys to be your tour guide when we saw you coming. And that's not even talking about our commanders!" he laughed. "Both jumped at the chance to pull rank, but thankfully my buddy managed to distract them at the last minute."

"Wow. Didn't realize bein' a tour guide could get so competitive," Jayce snickered.

"It has its perks," Keil beamed.

At that moment, they had reached the inner walls that separated the Southern Ward from the Common Ward, and found themselves before a large, wooden gate adorned with the symbol of Whitestone emblazoned upon it. The Sun Tree, with a blazing orb above and seven stars below, was embossed with polished brass to make it shine in the bright daylight. As they approached, the doors began to swing open, as if on their own power, and their eyes were immediately drawn to the center of Whitestone, Dawnfather Square. Despite nearly half a mile of distance between them and the tree, the Sun Tree loomed over all they could see, its blazing branches spread nearly impossibly far across the square from its place at its center.

"Ho-ly shit…!" Jayce breathed. His sentiment was shared among them all, save for Dahlia, who had not raised her head.

"Like that," Keil said with a proud smile.

"That tree's fuckin' huge!" Jayce hopped up to his feet in the cart to more easily see around Gauth, despite the action being absolutely unnecessary. "How the hell is anything that big?"

"Legend has it the Sun Tree was planted by the Dawnfather himself, watered with his own tears," Keil explained. "It immediately burst forth as the Sun Tree, which has been blessing and protecting this land ever since."

"Watered with his tears? That's a little intense," Zoe said as she also stood up to join Jayce just behind Gauth at the driver's bench. "Somebody die?"

"Almost."

Her voice was nearly monotone, but clearly tired when Dahlia spoke. More from curiosity than concern, the others looked toward her as she continued.

"Iuon nearly died when she battled the Chained Oblivion in this valley. Pelor came to her defense, and although she survived, she was a shadow of herself. The seed was in honor of her sacrifice, and the tears were in mourning of all that was lost."

There was a short beat of silence before Keil clicked his tongue to encourage his horse to start moving, which in turn spurred on Eple and Kake through the gate. "That…I actually forgot that part. Thank you. Are you a follower of Pelor?"

Dahlia did not respond, so Bera spoke for her. "Yep! She's a cleric, actually. She's been pretty excited to see the Sun Tree, but she's not feeling well today."

"That's putting it mildly," Al mumbled.

"So the plan was to take her to the Sun Tree, hopefully for a blessing," Jonathan added quickly. He hoped it was fast enough to prevent Al from being heard, but based on Jayce's glare at the half-elf, Jonathan's effort seemed to have been in vain.

"Ah. Well, in that case, we'll head straight there, and then to the Slayer's Cake," Keil said with a smile. "It's the best bakery in Whitestone, and has even been filling orders for Nicodranus lately! Rumor has it, they actually teleport their pastries, rather than deliver them by skyship."

"Wait, what?!" both Jayce and Jonathan said in unison, prompting Zoe to sputter out a laugh.

"What was that?" Keil laughed.

Jayce and Jonathan shot each other a glare and then simultaneously asked, with different phrasing, if skyships really visited Whitestone. What was heard was such a garbled mess that, beyond the word "skyship", hardly any of it was discernible from noise.

As the two men shot each other even more intense glares and mimicked maiming the other, the group couldn't hold back any longer. Even Cad, anxious as he was, joined the laughter, and Dahlia's lips twitched in a small, tired smile.

Keil fumbled out a pocket watch from a vest pocket, his fingers clumsy as he fought off further giggles. It popped open with the press of a button and he quickly studied its surface. "Ah, well, you have time. It's still the weekend, so the Skyport's closed, but if you visit on Grissen, I think at least two skyships are arriving then. Civilization's Dawn is on Whelsen, after all, and there are always dignitaries and tourists who like to visit on the holidays."

Zoe nudged Bera and giggled. "Now the question is, which one of them is gonna run over the other to get there first?"

Bera shook her head but giggled all the same. "They're both excited, that much is obvious. Is Jonathan a fan of skyships?"

Zoe nodded with a broad smile. "We saw one once, as little kids, when someone from the Tal'Dorei Council was visiting the Margrave. It wasn't huge, but man that thing zipped through the clouds like a hare just booking it across a field! It was insane!"

"It'll definitely be interesting to see then," Bera said with a smile of her own.

By that time, the cart had made its way down the street to the edge of the Dawnfather Square, and the majesty of the Sun Tree stretched almost unfathomably high above them. The orange leaves glittered in the hues of a brilliant sunrise, the ground around it dappled in golden beams that danced among marble pillars and wooden benches.

The park around the Sun Tree was mostly cobblestone, save for a marble circle upon the pillars that framed the reach of the Sun Tree's massive, tangled roots. The circle was interrupted to make way for those same roots, but within it was a single set of white stairs that led directly to the trunk of the great tree, where the companions could see a person leaning their head against the bark while in prayer.

Jayce patted Gauth on the shoulder and nodded toward the stairs, to which the giantkin nodded in understanding and spurred on the horses. Despite the clumsy lurch of the cart as it turned, Jayce's footing was sure as he kneeled down to Dahlia, still curled up in her corner.

"Hey, Dahlia, ya lucid?" he asked quietly. After several seconds of silence, it was clear she either did not hear him or ignored him, once again in one of her numb moods. Hoping for a miracle, he ducked a hand in his coat to produce a rough stick of cinnamon, but even after he scratched the bark and waved it under her nose, she only flinched away.

"I thought that was supposed to work," Bera said softly, her voice tinted with sadness. Jayce clenched his jaw in frustration as Bera's comment had confirmed everyone was watching.

He knew Dahlia wouldn't want that. He still needed a moment alone with her to ask about what had happened while he was in the ethereal plane, but privacy was hard to find on the road.

"She's gotta be in deep if it's this bad," Jayce grumbled. The cart rattled and pitched as the horses came to a stop, and he had to brace his hand on the cart wall to keep from accidentally tipping over. Doing so brought his face closer to Dahlia's, as her head had been hanging from exhaustion and tenacious depression.

What he saw were dark circles under her eyes as they lazily drifted, the pupils traveling in eerily smooth lines as they refused to latch onto anything. Vague paths of moisture and salt streaked her cheeks, and her lips were chapped and red from where she had been chewing on them. Even the beautiful, almost magical green of her eyes seemed somehow dull in that moment, more akin to grey than the color of a lush forest.

Jayce glanced at the others, and without exception, they all glanced away, as if to avoid his gaze. He knew they had been watching. Everyone loved drama, even if they claimed not to. He grunted in annoyance and gently took Dahlia under the arm, and numb and cold, she followed his lead without question.

"We're gonna take a minute by the tree," Jayce said with authority as he looked over at the others. "Y'all head to that bakery and start lookin' for Cad's friends. We ain't gonna be long."

"Is there any way I can help?" Jonathan asked with clear hope in his voice, despite an obvious hesitation.

Jayce shook his head. "She's gonna need space 'n time, and that'll be hard enough to get with me around. Worst case, I still got some pastries Caidove shoved at me, and I'll see if those perk her up a bit."

"Ew. Those have gotta be stale by now," Zoe huffed, her nose crinkled in disgust.

Jayce shrugged. "Better'n nothin'. Damn good eats though."

"No arguments there," Al mumbled.

Gauth, eager to stretch his legs, hopped down from the driver's seat to help lift Dahlia from the cart, and even though she shuddered when he helped her down, she did not flinch or scream. Somehow, the lack of reaction seemed unnerving instead of hopeful, and as Jayce asked Keil for directions to the nearest bakery, Gauth couldn't help but glance at the cinnamon stick on the leather wristband he wore.

Some curses truly were evil, but he knew there would be a solution soon. No other option would be allowed.

Gauth walked the cart down the street, Keil leading atop his own horse, as Jayce watched them go. Bera made sure to wave, but also flashed him a thumbs up and a wink, as if wishing him luck. Jayce smiled back with a small wave of his own, but in truth, he was only going through the motions; Dahlia was deep in one of her black moods, and he wondered if she could ever truly resurface.

Once Jayce was sure there was enough distance between them and the cart, he gently tried to take Dahlia's bag from her. Again, her movements were heavy and sluggish, her head bowed and eyes low, almost as if she was ready to be reprimanded for some egregious wrong. Jayce shouldered the bag, checked to make sure Dahlia's special dagger was still inside it, and then pulled the normal dagger from the small sheath on her belt.

"I-I'm…sorry…" she wheezed, her voice immediately tight as another sob threatened to break forth. Jayce swallowed hard and put the dagger in her medicine bag before he turned to her and smiled.

"Hey, it's okay," he said gently as he caressed her cheek with a feather-light touch. Once again, tears had begun to well in her eyes, and he quickly brushed away an errant tear that had escaped. "You'll be okay. You'll beat this, and I'm here for you. As long as you need."

As if unable to say anything else, Dahlia mumbled, "I'm sorry," one last time before yet more tears began to flow. She gripped herself around her stomach and tightened like a coiled spring, her knees and shoulders twisting inward as she almost seemed to shrink before his eyes.

Jayce risked a quick look over at the Sun Tree and immediately locked eyes with the man who had been in prayer just moments before. As he was in no mood to suffer fools, Jayce glared at the man and motioned for him to mind his own business, to which the man immediately obliged and retreated with an animated step. Now finally alone, or at least left alone by the late afternoon crowds, Jayce took Dahlia's hand and elbow and cautiously led her forward, toward the marble staircase in front of them.

The steps seemed to take an eternity, with Jayce constantly looking between the ever apologetic Dahlia and the ground to avoid accidentally tripping her, but despite their slow progress, they reached the top without incident. Relieved, Jayce guided Dahlia toward the Sun Tree, and did not stop until her hand was upon the bark.

He watched with interest, wondering if her hand would begin to glow, or if there would be some sort of sign. He glanced at Dahlia's face, concern upon his own as yet more silent tears rolled down her cheeks.

Nothing happened.

Jayce looked at the Sun Tree, but he was unsure where to look to gesture his own frustrations. Why wasn't anything happening? Something had to happen! Pelor was the literal God of the Dawn, and Dahlia was clearly deep in the shadows of her own soul. Surely this would be within the realm of Pelor's power to bring light to her darkness.

"Come on you asshole. I saw you bend fuckin' sunlight for her," Jayce hissed, as quietly as he could to avoid Dahlia overhearing him. He winced as soon as he realized why he had been quiet; he was mostly sure there was no possible way to whisper softly enough for Dahlia to actually miss hearing him. As he had already insulted her god within her earshot, he decided instead to double down, rather than attempt to save face. "Help her, or so help me, I will find you beyond that fuckin' Divine Gate and beat some goddamn sense into you!"

A breeze, gentle but cold, breathed by them and flowed through the branches high above. The sheer multitude of leaves brushed each other, whispering an ethereal sigh as the boughs swayed with grace. Jayce's gaze was pulled upward, almost by an alien will, as he watched the sun dance between gaps in the leaves.

Jayce felt a chill rattle down his spine and he gulped, a sense of dread crawling over his skin. "Uh, sir, I ain't serious," he croaked, his throat suddenly dry for some reason. "Just, ya know, worried. About Dahlia. No offense meant."

"If you believe in him enough to threaten him, you might do better as a follower," Dahlia wheezed.

Jayce whipped his head over to Dahlia, who had moved to leaning heavily against the tree. She looked exhausted and pale, but her face held the barest of smiles. Jayce chuckled nervously and cleared his throat, and then opened his mouth to speak, but her knees buckled under her at that moment. Jayce dove to catch her, and only just managed to hook his arms under hers before she could fall.

"You back?" he asked, his voice tense from trepidation. Even the cinnamon had failed earlier, and that had worked consistently until that day. How deep had her shadow been?

"Yes…" she groaned, her breath shuddering as another sob tried to shove its way out of her throat. "I…I'm so sorry, Jayce. I…!"

The sob won out, and she wept into his chest, her shoulders around her ears as she clenched her fists against him. Jayce felt his heart ache for her, wanting nothing more than to comfort her in that moment, so he pulled her closer, her arms shifting to be around his shoulders, and he cradled her head in the crook of his neck.

"Breathe, Dahlia. It's me. I'm here, and I won't leave. Take your time."

"B-but they…but they might!" Dahlia hiccuped through her tears. "Once they find out we lied, that we-"

"No. Don't even go there," Jayce said, intentionally quiet as his lips were close to her ear and he didn't want to hurt her hearing. "I'm the asshole who lied, Dahlia. If they're gonna get mad, it's gonna be at me."

"But I never corrected you!" Dahlia nearly yelled into his neck, her fear racking her body with enough tension to make her shudder against him. "I let you lie!"

"Don't matter. 'Sides, we can fix this," Jayce mumbled, his thoughts already racing. "We just gotta think. Who…Come on, think!" He gripped her tighter, his cheek resting against her black hair as he tried to come up with some sort of answer. "Fall back on the tricks. Hide a lie in a mountain of truths. So…This demon, any idea where it came from?"

Dahlia was quiet for a long moment before she spoke, and her breath quivered as she shuddered through repressed tears. "If I had to guess…my mo-father. Probably my father."

"Okay, so, what's he like?" Jayce asked, his mind already spinning a thousand possible tales. He was so distracted by his own thoughts that he completely missed Dahlia's slip of the tongue.

Dahlia shrugged in his arms. "I actually don't know. He was… He fulfilled his purpose, and then disappeared."

"The fuck?" Jayce asked under his breath. "Uh, so, you ain't sure who he is?"

"Or was," Dahlia said, her voice again heavy and weak.

"Then he's now the fucker who cursed you," Jayce said with a nod. "If that curse expert can't find anythin', we'll say it's in yer blood. Like a disease."

"But you said it was by someone I healed!" Dahlia whined, the fear once again creeping into her voice. Jayce could feel her shoulders rise back up toward her ears, so he thought quickly.

"Easy enough. You did. You don't remember much, bein' young, but you started your career in medicine helpin' out dear ol' dad."

Dahlia shook her head against his shoulder, but her own had relaxed. "I don't like it, but I don't think we have much of a choice," she said with a heavy sigh. "It's…more plausible though. It might work."

"See? We've got it handled. You n' me against the world," Jayce said with a smile. Inspired to further comfort her, Jayce reached up a hand he could spare, and caressed her cheek as she glanced up at his voice.

This time, the hand was his right.

As his thumb brushed across her left cheekbone, it fell into a divet significant enough that he almost felt it had caught on an artificial edge. As quickly as he could twitch in shock, Dahlia shoved with all her strength to push him away, both hands against his shoulders in almost an instant. Her desperation won out over his raw strength in his surprise, and she broke away from his grip and buried her face in her hands before he could speak, her back turned to him.

"Dahlia…what…?" Jayce gasped, the realization almost too impossible to believe. Her skin was so smooth! It always has been! What happened? "Was that…a scar?"

She gulped and shuddered, her limbs once again frozen in fear. She so badly wanted to run, but she also desperately wanted his affection. His comfort. His touch. Should she tell him about the scar? Would it push him away, like the others? Would it change how he treated her, how he thought of her?

Perhaps just part of the truth would be fine. Something tragic, but not bogged down by history or connotation. Something disconnected, but related to the truth.

"I…am wearing a glamour, Jayce. It's…what I bought at Kameros' shop." Dahlia paused, but the tears forced their way forward. She was so tired of crying. It had begun to hurt some time ago, but she was helpless to stop it. She almost had to laugh at how pathetic she felt. "I've…even gone so far to wear the ring on my tongue, just to avoid being seen without it. Because…I'm too easy to recognize with it off. I have my own scars, Jayce, and none of them have funny stories attached to them. What you felt…was left behind from an axe, that was once embedded in my face. I…don't know how I survived, but I did."

The breeze again breathed by them in the silence, the small platform shrine blessedly private as those at the base of the stairs waited their turn. This time, the breeze felt warm and comforting as the tree above them again whispered through the movement of a thousand leaves.

"You…have been through so much," Jayce whispered, his own breath catching as he nearly shed tears at the thought of her past. He reached a hand forward, intentionally his right, and brushed the same cheek where he had noticed the scar.

Again, she tried to flinch away, but she did not lash out as she had before. He cradled her jaw in his other hand as he traced the scar, unseen but obviously there, from the outer edge of her left eye to just above her lip. It was so deep and long. How much pain it must have caused the day she gained it.

"I-I guess I was lucky," she stammered, desperate to fill the silence before the memories returned. "He struck the cheekbone, the thickest part of the skull, almost directly parallel to it, so the blade stopped before it could damage anything inside my head. Well, anything else. My optic nerves were already shot by then, so if they got damaged, I couldn't really tell-"

"May I kiss you?"

Dahlia lurched out of his hands and almost stumbled backward, her eyes wide in shock even though she couldn't see him. "No! Why would you want to?! We've barely known each other for a month-!"

"No! Wait! That's not-!" Jayce slapped a hand on his face and groaned. "I didn't mean on the lips, Dahlia. I should've said on the cheek like I meant." He sighed and dragged the hand down his face. He was such an idiot. Of course she'd react like that. Touching her literally caused her pain just from the fear of it. "Fuckin' hell, I was tryin' to be all suave and shit and I screwed it up."

Dahlia seemed stunned to silence, unable to speak as her nearly-clenched hands hovered defensively by her face. "But…why? Why would you want to?"

"Because…" Jayce huffed and took a deep breath to steady himself. He had to say it. Regardless of the fear in his heart, how terrified he was that he could, and likely would, hurt her, she had to know. "You're beautiful, Dahlia. Scars n' all, in and out. Even just a month's enough for me to see that. And…I ain't got a clue how you'd believe me beyond showin' you."

There was another moment of hesitation between them as Dahlia gave his words the deep thought they deserved. He could almost see her face twitch as she wrestled with her own mind, but in the end, she tilted her gaze toward him and softly smiled, seemingly the victor.

"Then…you may. Thank you."

As gently as he could, he again cradled her face in his hands and bent down to kiss her, a soft peck on the cheek, directly on her scar. She twitched slightly, but relaxed as he lingered, his breath caressing her skin in ways he only wished he could with his touch. As soon as that thought crossed his mind, his face grew hot enough to even tingle his ears, and he immediately felt awkward and embarrassed as he blushed.

"And now I'm worried Pelor's the jealous type," Jayce muttered without thinking, but thankfully Dahlia responded by sputtering a restrained laugh and dropping her head into his collar. She even stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him to hold him close, her smile obvious in her voice when she spoke.

"I'm pretty sure he's not concerned with that kind of relationship, Jayce, but if he is, I'll vouch for you," she giggled.

Jayce returned the hug and allowed himself to finally relax, content in the autumn breeze beneath the majestic branches of the Sun Tree. He had never truly given his faith to any god, but he had seen many acts of magic based on such faith in his travels. He knew there was power in the Divine, even if they were barred from the mortal realm beyond the Divine Gate.

Yet, despite all he had seen, it was only that day, when Dahlia smiled, that he believed he had truly seen a miracle.

Unbeknownst to them both, another had seen the miracle. A pair of blue eyes watched with interest at the bottom of the marble stairs, and when it was clear Jayce and Dahlia were about to leave, it ducked into the passing crowds. Its small frame allowed it to slip between the many feet like water, and it was unseen by all.

xXxXx

Warm, dark, and velvety smooth, Bera almost cuddled the small dark chocolate cake in her hands that lightly steamed in the chilly air. Whipped cream, pure white and dotted with black seeds from a fermented pod called "vanilla", slowly melted over the cake that had been baked in a paper cup that was both its vessel and its presentation. Inside, the baker promised, was a dark syrup of chocolate and cream that would flow over the rest of the confection as soon as she broke into it, which had prompted the cake's name.

Volcano cake.

She licked her lips in glee before she dipped a finger into the whipped cream dollop and brushed the meager bit across her tongue. For a moment, she let it melt in her mouth before she swallowed, internally noting the flavors and textures of the silky foam. Instantly, she identified the forward notes of the vanilla, the way the flavor bloomed when warmed, partially floral but beautifully complimentary to the sweetness of the cream. She immediately sat on the ground and balanced the volcano cake on her knee to free her hands for her notebook, deep within her special bag. In the work of seconds, Bera was writing furiously about the attributes of vanilla, and the plethora of recipes that could benefit from such a beautiful addition.

"I can't believe you spent five silver on a cupcake," Zoe huffed. She sat next to Bera with a heavy thud, more from annoyance than clumsiness. "I mean, holy crap even their cookies were a silver each! They're cookies!"

"Your thriftiness will be your downfall," Bera giggled. "I haven't even tasted the cake part but oh my goddess bloom that cream will astound you! Worth every. Single. Gippy."

Zoe gave Bera a suspicious look as the halfling continued to gleefully transcribe her thoughts to the journal in her lap. "...I'mma steal that cupcake," Zoe said curtly.

"You do, and you'll never get another drop of my mead," Bera said just as flatly.

"Ooo that's mean," Zoe grumbled. "How much did you bring, anyway? You've shared it a few times now, and Dahlia's even started using that honeyjack stuff for her medicine… That bag ain't that big, as Jayce would say."

Bera's eyes went wide as she immediately realized what she would have to explain. She instead latched on to a single word of Zoe's comment to change the subject. "Speaking of Jayce, do you think they're following yet? Dahlia was in really rough shape, and I'd even pitch in for her to have a cake like this if she wants one. It would make anyone happy."

"Not my brother. He hates chocolate." Zoe snickered. She sat up straight and tried to glance down the road, her head ducking and weaving slightly to try and see around the carts and people on the street. "Uh, I think…they might be on their way? Hard to tell at this distance."

"Well, I hope it's soon. I'm worried about her," Bera said with a sigh. She pulled her personal mess kit out of her bag and selected a wooden spoon, and with the appropriate tool in hand, dug into the volcano cake in such a way to grab cream, cake, and syrup in a single swoop. She was well rewarded for her effort, as the syrup inside was a glossy ganache, smooth as silk as it flowed over the spoon and glistened in the afternoon light.

Unable to resist any longer, she placed the morsel in her mouth and moaned with ecstasy, the chocolate enveloping both her sense of taste and smell in that moment.

"Oh mother have mercy, I will marry the tallin who makes this," Bera moaned. Without a second to waste, Bera immediately began scribbling her initial thoughts in her journal as Zoe snickered.

"Fine! You win!" Zoe said with a smile. She hopped back up to her feet. "If it's not actually worth the five silver, you're gonna pay me back!"

Bera just waved her away as she continued to take notes in her journal. Zoe rolled her eyes and turned on her heel to reenter the bakery, when a small voice startled her.

"Uncle Dragonman!"

A young girl, younger than ten years but still tall and lanky for her age, barreled past Zoe and into the store, her blond hair ripping free of her hat as it had been accidentally brushed off her head by Zoe's elbow. Cad, still standing undecided at the counter, immediately whipped around as the little girl collided with his hip and gave him a full body hug.

"You're back! You're back!" the little girl squealed, and Cad immediately recognized her.

"Cindy!" he shouted, both from excitement and shock. "Holy- You've grown so much! Gods above, look at you!"

He easily lifted the little girl as she squealed and twirled her around, holding her close in a strong hug that would have crushed her if he had not mitigated his strength. Cad attempted to talk several times, but each time another thought tried to find precedence, and instead he simply started many different comments that were doomed to never finish.

Unaffected, Cindy pointed out the door and grinned with a broad, charming smile. "Everybody's here! Ash and I were racing and I got here first! Even Uncle Ben and Aunt Shimmer are here!"

Immediately, with Cindy cradled against his body like his own precious child, Cad bolted outside and practically skid to a stop on his heel, where a young man and a strangely brown woman were comforting a small boy who had burst out crying. Whatever woes had been caused by Cindy cheating at the aforementioned race was immediately erased when they all looked up at the commotion and realized who stood before them.

"Cadwgawn!" the man yelled, but he was slower to react due to trying to wrestle with the brake on his wheelchair. Instead, the woman with glittering skin scooped up the boy and nearly tackled the dragonblood man to pull them all into a hug.

"Unka dwaggin-nan!" the boy cried, completely unphased by being almost tossed at the silverscaled man. The boy squealed with happiness in the center of the large hug, which was quickly joined by the other man in the wheelchair. Partway through bending down to include the man in the wheelchair, Cad's legs failed him and he dropped to his knees, weeping as he clutched both children to his chest.

"You're real… You're both real… You're not a dream…" Cad gasped through his tears, his hands stroking the children's hair and faces as if he couldn't believe the reality before him. "You're really here…!"

"It's okay, Uncle Dragon," Cindy said, her own voice strained through empathetic tears. She brushed some of the moisture from Cad's face as her own started to twist from the attempt to avoid crying herself. "You're home now. You're okay."

"I love you, unkle!" the little boy, Ashley, said emphatically as he hugged Cad again. "I missed you lots! A hundred mill-we-on lots!"

"I missed you both so much," Cad gasped through tears as he pulled them both into another strong hug. "Gods bless you both, I missed you so, so much."

The woman, Shimmer, kneeled next to them and once again wrapped them all in a hug, while the man, Benjamin Nye, wheeled himself as close as he could to put a hand on Cad's back. There was no thought of decorum as the five of them huddled together on the street just outside the Slayer's Cake, just thankful for a true blessing to have found them.

After a few moments, when the rest of the Ceylon Seven had made it out of the bakery to awkwardly stand by, Shimmer finally pulled back and looked at Cad with a mix of disbelief and visible relief. "Cad, how… How in the hell did you survive?! Ever-"

"Aunt Shimmer!" Cindy cut in. "Mommy's gonna make you pay a gippy to the bad word jar!"

"I'll pay it! I'll pay it gladly!" Shimmer announced to anyone listening. She turned back to Cad. "As I was saying, everyone we begged for help said you were long gone and to give it up! We nearly did! What happened?"

"They did," Cad said, finally letting go of one of the children long enough to gesture to the group of adventurers by the bakery. "They stumbled upon the witch who took me and pulled me out of there."

"Thank you all, from the bottom of our hearts, for bringing our friend back," Benjamin said, his own voice full of emotion. "What should we call you?"

They all exchanged awkward glances, as no one was immediately willing to step up to speak for them in Jayce's absence. The first to move, Bera stood up and quickly wiped her face clean of chocolate before she spoke.

"We are the Ceylon Seven, traveling mercenaries and protectors of all that is good and bright in this world," she said with pride, her chest puffed out as she posed. "It was an absolute pleasure to have Cad with us on the road."

"You're shorter than me!" Cindy suddenly yelped, pointing at Bera before Shimmer could slap her hand down for being rude.

"Well, yes, dal'n. I'm a halfling," Bera said with a somewhat strained smile. "We're little people."

Upon realizing there were unknown people amongst them, Ashley ducked behind Cad and firmly stayed in place, only peeking when his curiosity got the better of him. Sensing an opportunity, Bera pulled out her chanter and squawked through it, perfectly imitating the call of a duck. Immediately, the sound grabbed both children's attention, and continued to do so when she began to compose a silly song of quacking. The children were nearly in giggles when Jonathan noticed Puffpaw had returned, and he bade her to join in the song by conjuring ethereal butterflies with a simple cast of Prestidigitation. Immediately enraptured, Puffpaw launched herself at the butterflies, swinging and pawing at the sparks with gusto as the children burst into bouts of pure, unmitigated joy.

As quickly as they came, the butterflies disappeared, leaving Puffpaw confused and cross eyed, her legs splayed out in preparation for a leap in any direction. The children continued to laugh at Puffpaw's goofy expression as Jonathan jogged over to Jayce and Dahlia, who had finally arrived.

"How are you feeling?" Jonathan immediately asked of Dahlia, after he very briefly nodded to Jayce to acknowledge his existence. Jayce grimaced in annoyance, but it was unseen as Jonathan had already turned his attention to Dahlia.

"I'm feeling…better. Just tired," Dahlia replied, although her expression was exhausted enough to make her second comment unnecessary. "It felt good to pray at the Sun Tree. It was almost as if I could feel Pelor hold me in the moment I needed his light."

"I'm glad you're better," Jonathan said with a smile. "We were really worried about you."

Dahlia's face fell, but Jayce cut in before she could apologize for something beyond her control again and tapped her hand on his arm. "Nothin' to it; she's strong, so it'll take more'n that to take her down. 'Sides, what's goin' on here? We could hear those kids laughin' clear on down the street."

"Oh! Those are Cindy and Ashley, Cad's godkids," Jonathan said as he glanced over his shoulder to check. "And…I think Shimmer and Nye, but not the doctor. We haven't had formal introductions yet. Cad got very emotional when he saw the kids and then Bera started playing a tune when she noticed one of the kids hide from Gauth."

"Well, he's pretty damn big," Jayce snickered. "That, and that face tattoo ain't exactly inviting."

"Is Cad okay?" Dahlia asked. "You said he got emotional."

Jonathan peeked over his shoulder at the group, where Cad had swapped Cindy on his hip for Ashley, who had cuddled against his chest while Cindy animatedly recounted some sort of adventure to anyone who would listen. "Well, he was a blubbering mess earlier, but he seems to have recovered. He made a big deal about how Cindy and Ashley were real, though. That seemed odd."

Jayce nodded, a grave acknowledgement on his face. "When the witch had her spider bitches grab me, I dropped into some sort of nightmare. It was all about seein' familiar faces betray and abuse you. Cad pulled me out of it before it got too bad, but it was fuckin' horrible all the same. You saw it yerself; we were the only livin' souls in that hellhole, so with noone to wake 'im up, he likely suffered far longer than me."

Jonathan grimaced as he came to understand the gravity of it. "Gods have mercy. That must've been awful."

"And now it's over, and I'm glad he's home," Dahlia said with a soft smile. "Now, he can heal."

"And there they are!" Bera called out, motioning toward the three of them to the side. "Our last two members have returned."

"It seems we should thank you as well," Benjamin said with a smile. Cindy bounced and looked between the small group and her uncle, and as soon as Ben noticed, he nodded with a laugh and she took off running.

Before anyone could stop her, Cindy crashed into Dahlia and wrapped her arms around Dahlia's hips, squealing, "Thank you very very much!" as she squeezed. Both Jonathan and Jayce nearly dove at Cindy to pry her away, but to their shock, Dahlia returned the hug as much as she was able.

"You're very welcome, little one. Can I have your name?" Dahlia asked as Jayce and Jonathan shared a shocked look of disbelief.

"I'm Cindy! Uncle Dragon is my godfather and you saved him so thank you very much! We missed him a lot and Daddy said we should pray for him so I prayed really hard!" Cindy said, her prattle so quick Dahlia almost laughed when she wondered if the little girl even took a breath in all that.

After giving Cindy just enough of a push that Dahlia could kneel down, she smiled warmly and offered a more child-height attempt at the hug. "You did a very good job, Cindy. We found him just in time, and he even saved us when we needed his help."

"Yay!" Cindy yelled with glee as she, once again, hugged Dahlia. Jayce and Jonathan's looks of confusion began to wander toward the rest of the Ceylon Seven, and their expressions were mirrored among them all. Were children exempt from Dahlia's fear of touch?

Bera nodded to herself as she watched. If children were exempt, it made sense. Dahlia was the kind of person to have a mothering side to her, and such people always had a place in their heart for children.

"I wish we could repay you, but we're a little short on coin at the moment," Shimmer cut in, her hand out and hovering near Cindy's shoulder as if she worried for the girl's safety among the strangers. "We could offer a favor, but anything more is beyond us. I'm sorry."

"Oh don't worry about it," Benjamin said brightly. "We all have skills; I'm sure we can come up with something. I built a pair of gods-damned magic legs, for crying out loud!" he laughed.

"Uncle Ben! Gippy jar!" Cindy chirped, to which Al and Zoe giggled perhaps a little too loudly as Benjamin rolled his eyes and laughed.

"Actually," Jonathan interrupted as politely as he could, "we had heard your…brother, I believe, had a doctorate in magical theory?"

Benjamin brightened up immediately and spoke with familial pride. "Oh! Yes! Prestigious Masters of Magical Theory and Application, with a particular focus in malicious magic. Why do you ask?"

Jonathan motioned toward Dahlia and looked between her and Benjamin to more clearly point out his intention. "One of us is cursed, and the magic involved is the definition of malicious. She suffers from bouts of insanity that make her beg for death, or lose all emotion as if a living corpse. It plagues her with sadness, even in her brightest moments. If your brother could remove the curse, or at least give us direction for its cure…" Jonathan looked over all the others, begging them for an unspoken agreement for his request. One by one, they nodded to him, each with their own opinion clear on their face; Gauth nodded with conviction, sure in Jonathan's choice, while Al hesitated, but eventually gave in. Bera and Zoe both gave their consent with deep hope in their eyes, but Jayce…

Jayce looked away.

Dahlia, unable to glean what was happening between them, tilted her head to listen and looked confused. Jonathan felt a pain in his heart, knowing there was every chance the hope could be false, but he had to risk it. Especially for her.

Even if her so-called guardian clearly thought otherwise.

"-We'd consider the debt paid," Jonathan quickly finished.

Benjamin punched the arm of his wheelchair and beamed the broadest smile his face could make. "As sure as Erathis is the matron of invention and civilized society, it will be done!" he declared. "We'll take you there now."

"But I wan' something sweet…!" Ashley whined.

"Oh, buddy, we'll get it together," Shimmer said sweetly. She reached out for him from Cad's arms, but Cad turned away, holding Ashley close.

"Uh, Shimmer, if, if it's alright," Cad stammered, "can I take the kids? Please? I still have my savings. I'll get them whatever they want. I just… I need time with them, please."

Cindy tore away from Dahlia and ran right over to Cad, but to everyone's surprise, she did not beg for sweets. "Uncle Dragon! I got my allowance! I was gonna buy cookies! I can buy them!"

"Oh my goodness, you have an allowance?! Stop getting so big when I'm not around!" Cad said with a big, friendly grin as he kneeled down to scoop Cindy onto his other hip. "You're getting so big so fast! You'll be a mommy the next time I see you!"

"Yep! I'll be the best mommy ever! Just like my mommy!" Cindy said with pride.

Shimmer put a hand on her heart and her face was adorned with a restrained smile, her resolve melting in the face of such a precious child. "Alright. I'll leave the kids with you. Don't spoil them too much, Cad."

"But that's my favorite part!" Cad whined, his tone teasing as Shimmer rolled her eyes and giggled. Benjamin shared the sentiment and then turned to the Ceylon Seven.

"Well, if you're ready, so are we. Cad, the house is the green one across the street. We'll see you there soon, yeah?"

Cad nodded. "As soon as we figure out how many cookies we're getting," he said with a smile.

"We're gonna get so many!" Cindy cheered.

As Cad and the children headed back inside the Slayer's Cake, Benjamin and Shimmer started down the road, Shimmer taking the handles behind the wheelchair so Benjamin could concentrate on speaking to the newcomers. Benjamin took the opportunity to turn to them all with a broad smile, extolling their virtues as great men and women when all others he and Shimmer had turned to had let them down in the past weeks. They had nearly given up hope, and in fact had taken the children to the bakery as a distraction while Benjamin's brother and sister-in-law planned Cad's memorial service, under the impression he was very likely dead.

"I'm so glad we were wrong," Ben said with relief. "You have to understand, the last we saw of him, he literally disappeared into darkness, as if he was swallowed whole by the fog. The second we turned to try and chase him down, we were beset by white and blue spiders, bigger than a horse, that nearly tore us apart as they slipped in and out of reality. It was a nightmare."

"Oh I am well aware," Al huffed, the memory of those strange spiders flashing to the forefront of his mind. "They were terrifying."

"With the advantage of hindsight, we learned they were phase spiders, creatures that actually nest and breed on the ethereal plane, but hunt on ours," Shimmer said, her voice tense with regret as she gripped the wheelchair handles hard enough to make them squeak. "If I had only known, I could've-!"

"Done nothing," Benjamin cut in harshly, his tone loud enough to snap her attention to him. "Neither of us can travel to the ethereal plane on a whim, and every option we looked at was impossible to reach. Besides, it took us nearly four days to get to Whitestone, after we learned that that inn on the road had no idea what happened to him. With all the time that passed, I'm not surprised no one would help us and kept telling us he was dead, but I am so damn glad I can prance him around and prove them wrong."

Shimmer sputtered a laugh and took on a mischievous grin. "Oh, that will be fun indeed."

Thankfully, the walk was short, and upon arriving and Benjamin loudly announcing Cad's return, Doctor Nye and his wife were overjoyed and elated, to the point of nearly dashing across the street to see the man for themselves. In fact, they were nearly at the door when Benjamin managed to catch his brother's attention and delay him long enough to explain the Ceylon Seven's trade.

"Well, that would be simplicity itself," Doctor Nye said with a kind smile. He nodded to his wife, who thanked him and rushed out to see Cad and the children, clearly excited to see a nearly-lost friend. "And call me William. I can likely perform the assessment and have the details finished before everyone gets back from the Slayer's Cake."

"Damn, that's quick!" Zoe beamed. "Man, that'll be such a big help. Her curse is awful, and we all want to see it gone."

"That's assuming I won't have to use magic, of course," William said quickly. "If I need to cast a spell to learn the exact details of the curse, the ritual will take an hour."

"We've got time," Jonathan said with a smile. "Should it come to that, Dahlia and I can stay while the others find a place to rest for the night-"

"Hang on, since when are you stayin'?" Jayce said, his tone already tense and defensive. "Only thing you've done is make her uncomfortable, 'sides scarin' the fuckin' shit out of her in the middle of the goddamn street."

"Jayce!" Dahlia yelped in shock, her head back as she looked at him as if she wanted to recoil from him. "He's trying to help, and he has an education in magic; should anything happen during the ritual that is hard to explain, Jonathan may be able to offer insight. You also have the team funds, and room and board come out of that. He has a point."

Jayce almost growled, a glare nearly crackling the air between him and Jonathan. "Fine. Soon as we got the rooms, I'm comin' straight back. You hear me?"

"Of course," Jonathan huffed, his arms crossed. Puffpaw, at his feet, glared at Jayce and nearly growled, but she had to act like a lady; After all, she had seen the kiss shared between the two of them at the Sun Tree, and she knew all too well how her wizard would react to the news. It would be better to bring up such information in private, once they were ready to sleep for the night, than to bring it up while tensions were already high.

"If…that's settled," William said, hesitating mostly because the rivalry between Jayce and Jonathan was practically palpable at that moment, "I'd like to get started. Ma'am, if you would follow me into my office, we can begin."

Dahlia squeaked and grimaced, her face the picture of nervousness as she gripped Jayce's arm. "Um, I'm sorry, but I'm blind. Could someone come with me, to lead me around? I'm not familiar with your home, and I don't want to break anything trying to find my way."

"Oh! I didn't even notice. Of course," William said with a smile. "Whatever makes you comfortable. Who would you like to take with you? I'm assuming your wizard friend would be the obvious choice, from your conversation."

Dahlia desperately wanted to take Jayce with her, but her previous reasoning of the coin purse and Jonathan's knowledge had already been said. She couldn't go back on her decision. "Yes, Jonathan, please. I'll take your arm."

Jonathan couldn't resist a smirk at Jayce as he took Dahlia's hand and rested it on the crook of his arm, just beside the elbow. Jayce nearly growled at him, his face twisted in a scowl that showed the pointed back teeth that were typical of the orcs. Without another word, Jonathan turned and led Dahlia into William's office, and he was instantly distracted by a thousand mental reminders to treat Dahlia like a precious, fragile doll, to accommodate her disability as politely as possible.

William closed the door behind them and motioned for them to sit in the simple chairs opposite his desk, a large, solid oak piece that looked refined and sturdy. Upon it were neatly organized books and papers, as well as several intricate drawings of runic circles, all bearing marks of the School of Divination. Jonathan nodded in acknowledgement before he looked over at Doctor Nye, who pulled out his own chair behind the desk.

"Now, to begin, do you remember anything about the curse, and are you allowed to speak of it?" William said frankly, his hands moving with clear routine as he pulled papers and a special pen from a drawer. With a snap of his hand and a whispered command word, the pen stood at attention and waited, its inked tip hovering a scant hair's breadth above the page.

"I do not know," Dahlia sighed, her shoulders slumped as she deflated in her chair. "I can't remember a day without this darkness, despite my long life." She suddenly paused and sat up straight. "Actually, I can say that I seemed to notice something was wrong when I was in my early twenties, when I would cry for seemingly no reason, and-"

Dahlia suddenly bit her lip and turned away, her expression ashamed and embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't talk of such things to a stranger. Forget I said anything."

Jonathan could say nothing as he watched the pen. Every word Dahlia said was perfectly transcribed to the page in flowing, easily readable script. He was instantly jealous of the device and wished he had something similar in his own pockets, as he refused to touch the one from his father. He briefly wondered if they still had his father's magical pen, but no answer came from his memory.

"It's no trouble at all," William said kindly. "It's actually quite common for long-duration curses to come with conditions that prevent the victim from remembering or speaking of it. And please, make no mistake; you are a victim here, and even though we just met, I know you do not deserve what was done to you. I hope to determine the nature of it during this interview, but failing that, I have specifically designed spells to find the exact aspects of the curse, and from there I can help you find a cure. You do not have to live with this darkness, I promise you."

Dahlia nodded, her fingers twisting around each other in her lap. Jonathan almost couldn't tear his eyes away from the magical pen, but when Dahlia winced, he glanced at her and noticed she had scratched her wrist nearly red before again twisting the tips of her fingers. Instinctively, he reached out to comfort her, but Bera's lesson with the magical face of horror returned to his mind and he placed his hand back in his lap. It would be better if he stayed silent.

However, he did have a secret weapon. With a magical nudge from her master, Puffpaw mewed sweetly and rubbed her body against Dahlia's shin. Just as Jonathan expected, she scooped up the familiar and rubbed her face in Puffpaw's fur, her body visibly relaxing in that moment.

Pleased, Jonathan turned his attention back to the conversation, where William continued to ask Dahlia question after question, asking her about her family, possible enemies, even her location on specific days of the year. After ten minutes of speaking, most of Dahlia's answers had been inconclusive or vague, leading William to sigh in exhaustion. Jonathan had to watch her in fascination, because many of her answers reminded him of what Desdemona had forced her to say in the hovel, but it was so incredibly indistinct that it was almost impossible to match what she had previously said.

Did Desdemona force her to speak a lie to torment her, and make her seem worse to himself and his sister? He wouldn't put it past that witch, but as cagey as Dahlia was, it was also possible that she was simply a master at speaking truthfully without actually giving anything away. After all, in the hovel, she had mentioned processing the bodies of corpses, but in William's home, the most she revealed was performing medically necessary functions for her family. Even then, her answers were nebulous, as she referred to her various siblings and parents as bare titles of simply "mother" or "sister" before moving on.

"Well, it looks like I'll have to use the ritual. I can't quite figure it out from your answers, but I have a few ideas," William said. Although he sounded tired, his voice was not without hope, and Jonathan felt his own heart lighten at the thought of a possible cure being so close. "One final question; do you have anything on your person that would interfere with divination magic?"

Dahlia's eyes went wide with surprise, although her gaze continued to drift past the man in front of her. "I…don't think I do. I only have a few magical things on me, but they are a pair of enchanted rings for my hygiene and upkeep, and there is also my holy symbol. I think that's it. Oh! And my bag is full of alchemical ingredients and medicines. Some of them have magical quintessence, but nothing so powerful or refined as to block divination."

William nodded. "Then we have a choice. We can play it safe and remove all your magical items before we begin, or if you're convinced they won't interfere, you can keep them on you. I only ask because I'm aware some people like their privacy, but anything that would prevent a third party from scrying on you will also interfere with the ritual."

Dahlia nodded. "I understand. I don't think anything I have is that powerful, but I'll take off my holy symbol, just in case."

William nodded and snapped his fingers again, where the pen dropped to the desk with a hollow clatter. What remained were four pages of transcript, all of Dahlia's speech, which William moved to a neat pile on the right end of his desk. He then stood and motioned to a carpet next just in front of the door, which they had crossed over to sit. "The circle is under the carpet there. Sir, could you help me roll it up so I can get started?"

"Absolutely," Jonathan said with a smile. "And at some point, I'd love to talk to you about your work and some of your tools. I'm a wizard myself, although I have yet to earn my degree."

"Oh! Which college?" William said brightly.

The two began a bright conversation about their shared field of expertise, and Dahlia fidgeted in her chair, nervous about what was about to happen. Should she interrupt the ritual? What if they learned she was not cursed at all, and Jayce's explanation of a curse that was a "disease in the blood" wasn't enough to satisfy them? What if Dr. Nye became angry when he realized they had completely wasted his time, especially when he could have been spending the day with a long lost friend?

Dahlia winced and caught her breath when her wrist flared in pain. She had to stop scratching at it. To have anything else to do, she twisted and pulled at her fingers, almost begging her knuckles to pop as she wrung them over and over again in her lap around Puffpaw. She needed to do something, anything, to keep her mind from thinking about the possibilities that could result from the ritual.

She really missed her gloves.

xXxXx

Finally, with their rooms established, Jayce led the way back to Dr. Nye's house, with Al almost jogging beside him. Zoe and Gauth followed at a more leisurely pace, chatting about the cupcakes they had purchased at the Slayer's Cake, while Bera rode on Gauth's shoulder, after she had once again convinced him that her legs were too short to keep up.

"For the last time, Jayce!" Al barked, grabbing Jayce's arm just enough to force him to stop. Jayce skidded and turned on his heel, his eyes flashing with anger as he matched Al's immediately regretful gaze.

"What?!" Jayce snapped, his hand slapping away Al's the second their eyes met.

Al winced, but grimaced in determination and continued. "You are within an inch of catching fire, asshole. The last thing we need is you bursting into flame in public because you got pissed off! What the hell's got you so bent out of shape anyway?"

Jayce growled and aggressively rubbed his face. What immediately came to mind was Jonathan whisking Dahlia away, after all the times he caught the man leering at her. There was no way she was safe, and he had promised to protect her. Besides, something about Jonathan was somehow off-putting to Jayce, but normally it was something he could ignore as Dahlia stayed at his side. Today, however, she had chosen Jonathan, and the memory of the wizard's drunken proclamation in Turst Fields was fresh enough to boil his blood.

Despite the rage in his veins, or perhaps because of it, Jayce could feel his mouth salivating. Beyond the desire to rip and rend Jonathan's flesh from his bones, there was also the craving to consume him, to leave nothing behind for buzzards or beasts. Jayce swallowed hard, his mouth tasting like dry ash, as he turned away and crossed his arms.

"None of yer fuckin' business, Al. Let's just get back to that doctor's house and check in."

Al crossed his arms in response. "It's Dahlia, isn't it?"

"I said, it's none of yer fuckin' business, Al," Jayce snapped. "Let's go!"

Al nodded to Gauth, who had caught up in the pause. He dropped a heavy hand on Jayce's shoulder and gripped it hard, which nearly had Jayce yelp in pain. As Jayce failed to twist out of Gauth's grip, it was clear to everyone that Jayce wasn't going anywhere.

"Uh, what's going on?" Zoe asked, her face a mixture of surprise and worry.

"We're clearing the air," Al said gruffly, his knuckles straining his gloves as he gripped his arms. If he was going to lay the groundwork of being Jayce's savior, he had to establish himself as someone Jayce could lean on whenever Dahlia wasn't around. He turned back to Jayce and braced himself as he locked eyes with the enraged, but pinned, man. "Look, I'm not going to lie; I overheard something that has me worried about you. In the interest of your privacy, I'm not going to say more than that, but I will say what you and Cad talked about was worrying, and I want to help."

"No goddamn privacy," Jayce hissed under his breath. "Fine, ya want to help. How? I got nothin' to work on, and I'm the fucker who's gotta deal with it, so what's yer fuckin' plan?"

"The plan is to keep each other informed," Al said emphatically, motioning between them. "Just like how Dahlia needs to tell us when her curse is getting worse, you need to talk to us too. So, are you going to talk, or are you going to leave us in the dark?"

"Should we be worried about this?" Bera said nervously. She had gone from grateful for the perch to feeling somewhat trapped in the middle of the confrontation due to her position on Gauth's shoulder.

"If he speaks, you won't worry," Gauth said simply.

"First 'n foremost," Jayce hissed, his voice low and his eyes dark as anger welled behind them, "you eavesdrop on my conversations again and I'm rippin' out your fuckin' throat, you got me?"

Al gulped but stood his ground, his arms still crossed. "I have no doubt that you could."

"Second, you want the big gods-damned reveal? You got it. I'm possessed," Jayce spat. If Gauth had not been holding his shoulder, Jayce would have advanced on Al, but as it was, he was forced to stand in place. Perhaps it was for the better, because unbeknownst to him, his hands began to crackle with blue-black flame, and the iris of his eyes had begun to dimly glow with yellow fire. "I got some piece of shit jobbernowl embedded in my back, eatin' my dreams and poisonin' my mind with nightmares and rage. It gives me a taste for fuckin' flesh, makes me wanna tear shitheads apart with my bare gods-damned hands. You wanna know why I'm on edge? You wanna know why I'm this fuckin' close-" Jayce gestured the merest of inches between his fingers as he tried to advance on Al, but failed because of Gauth, "-to guttin' ya like a nether-rotten fish struck on a rack?"

There was a tense hesitation while the others tried to swallow what was said. Convinced he had the others' attention, he didn't even bother checking for their eyes as he continued to glare at Al.

"Because Dahlia, the only fuckin' person on the whole of Exandria who can keep this shit at bay, is cavortin' with a man who we all know is fuckin' obsessed with her. The last time I left her alone, she got fuckin' abducted by a man obssessed with her, and y'all are shovin' me around like this ain't a problem."

"Holy shit…" Zoe breathed, her voice stolen by her shock. The only rage she had ever known was the cold ire of her adopted father, so such heated vitriol from someone she had normally considered to be calm was jarring.

"Now let me fuckin' go so we can get back an' make sure she's safe," Jayce snapped, wrenching himself in Gauth's grip to twist out of it, but Gauth had grabbed a handful of his coat at this point and he had no luck. Even so, his words had made their mark, and Gauth let go and stepped back to allow Jayce to resettle his coat.

"I'm assuming you aren't willingly possessed?" Bera asked quietly, her words trembling with fear.

"Okay hang on," Zoe cut in, "can we go back to the part where Jayce pretty much accused my brother of being a pervert? Are you comparing him to that piece of shit Margrave?"

"I wouldn't put it past him," Jayce growled.

"Hold the fucking line, what the hell?!" Zoe yelled at him. She advanced on Jayce and got right up into his face, a feat that was quite easy as Jayce was an inch shorter than her. "Jonathan would never hurt her, not in a million years!"

"And if Dahlia told ya otherwise?"

The comment was so curt, so cold, that despite its lack of volume, no one present missed it. The mental conundrum immediately wretched at Zoe's heart, as it was common knowledge that Dahlia did not, could not, lie. On the one hand, Zoe couldn't believe her brother had the ability to hurt someone he clearly loved, but on the other…

If that came to pass, who would she believe?

The silence weighed heavily on them all, especially on Al, who felt as if his whole ploy to endear himself to Jayce had backfired. He was just about to speak when Jayce leaned forward just enough to whisper in Zoe's ear, then breathed a comment that Al failed to catch.

Zoe whirled on Jayce, her fist flashing at his jaw when his arm came up to block. She was just faster than him, and managed to clip his chin as her punch barely connected with his face. He shifted his foot to catch his balance, then calmly looked directly in Zoe's eyes, his own still flashing with that eerie golden glow.

"I ain't keepin' you here. Remember that," he growled, and then he turned and marched down the street toward Dr. Nye's home. The others, still in shock as Zoe seethed, simply let him walk away as Gauth turned to Al.

"That did not go the way you said it would," Gauth said quietly, his expression one of concern.

"No, but I've still got an idea or two," Al grumbled. "Zoe, what'd he say-?"

"Don't you even dare!" Bera barked at Al. "She's likely to punch you out too if you ask!"

"Asshole!" Zoe yelled after Jayce. After a quiet second where it was clear he would not react to her comment, she kicked at the ground and wordlessly fumed as she stomped out her aggression nearby.

Bera did her best to whirl on Al from Gauth's shoulder. "Now you two, explain! What in the world did you do that for?!"

"Do what?" Al said flatly, annoyance plastered all over his face. Gauth tried to lightly backhand Al's shoulder, but the giantkin's raw strength nearly sent Al into a spin from the force.

"Thank you, Gauth," Bera said with a nod of respect. "Now, either of you, talk! That completely spiraled out of control! What were you thinking?"

Gauth sighed. Al clearly didn't want to talk, so he took over, even though he worried he wouldn't have the right words to explain. "Al heard Jayce is taken-ah, no, possess, and wants to help. I want to help as well. But-"

"But Al was a rude little shit about it," Bera sighed, her head dropped into her hand.

"And what would you have done?!" Al snapped.

"Mentioned he looked really upset and offered to listen to him talk about it in private," Bera said without hesitation. "What you did was back him into a corner and so he lashed out blindly at anyone nearby, including Zoe, who did not deserve an ounce of what was served to her!"

"I don't have time for this," Al said curtly as he brushed past Gauth and Bera.

Bera sighed heavily and looked at Gauth, then at Zoe beyond them. "Zoe? Are you okay?"

"Do I look okay?!" Zoe roared back. To her surprise, Bera was not frightened, but instead seemed to pity her, which quickly transformed Zoe's rage to embarrassment. Covering her head in her arms, Zoe squatted down on the sidewalk, a tense ball of coiled muscle perched on her toes.

By Bera's request, Gauth set her down so she could talk to Zoe on her level. As soon as the halfling began quietly talking to Zoe, Gauth turned and followed Al down the street. No need to make the same mistake twice.

xXxXx

Just like in Westruun, a short walk was all it took for Jayce to calm down and regret his actions, and by the time he stood in front of Dr. Nye's door, he had come up with several plans for apologizing to Zoe. He already knew trying to directly speak to her about his comment would likely get him clocked in the face again, but he had to try. He wasn't the kind of person to let bad blood boil between him and a friend. Even just a friend of convenience.

Rather than knock right away, he pressed his hands into his face and mentally berated himself for losing his temper. Again. Of course, it was easy to blame Al for everything that had happened, but it couldn't be all the half-elf's fault. After all, it was Jayce that had spoken out of turn and intentionally tried to horrify them with his nightmares. He looked at the skin visible around his gloves, and grimaced at the hue. He had lied, of course; He knew his worst tendencies had been part of his personality long before he ever had a demon to worry about, but if he blamed the demon emphatically enough, they might be more willing to believe and forgive him.

With a sigh, Jayce knocked at the door, and what responded was a frantic pitter patter of small feet racing to the threshold at what seemed to be a breakneck speed. Jayce had to bite back a smile as two little voices simultaneously challenged each other to a race and then immediately yelled that they had won, and then began squabbling about who really arrived first at the door.

Then a female voice, likely their mother as it did not seem to belong to Shimmer, called for them to open the door, and after the doorknob rattled at the whims of tiny hands, two little blond children stood before him.

"Hi sir!" Cindy said with her bright and charming smile. Ashley, upon learning it was not someone he was comfortable with, dashed away from the door and ran straight to his mom in the next room.

"Hi yourself," Jayce said with a practiced smile. It was a mask, but he'd be damned before he burdened a child with his troubles. He kneeled down to her height and leaned on his knee to look her in the eye while they spoke. "Do ya know if Lady Dahlia is done with yer dad yet?"

Cindy shook her head. "Nuh-uh. Daddy's using the curse spell. It takes forever."

Jayce gave a disappointed nod. "No kiddin'. A whole-" He nearly bit his tongue when he suddenly remembered not to swear in front of a child. "-long hour, huh?"

Cindy deflated and gave a little pout of her own disappointment. "I wanna play with Daddy now, but he's busy."

"Cindy! Who's at the door?" their mother called from inside the house.

"It's the green person!" Cindy called back.

Jayce winced and slapped a hand on his face. From the mouths of babes indeed.

"He has a name, sweetheart!"

"But I forgot!"

"Then ask him!"

Cindy turned back to Jayce. "Um, what's your name?"

"I'm Jayce, kiddo," Jayce said with an amused smile.

"It's Jayce! Can he come in?" Cindy yelled into the house.

Thankfully, at that point, Cindy's mother had arrived with Ashley on her hip. "Yes, he can come in, and please don't yell across the house," she said, her face a mixture of amusement and embarrassment. She gave a look of apology to Jayce as he stood. "And I'm so sorry. I'll talk to her about her comments and why they were rude."

"Ain't a problem, ma'am. She's young," Jayce said with a friendly smile. "'Sides, I am green."

A muffled whump blew by them as the doors to the study, just to the right of the front door, rattled with a meger force. Mrs. Nye set her son down and raced over to the door, where she knocked frantically.

"Honey! Are you okay?" she called. Just beyond, raised voices could be heard, but they seemed to be speaking in surprise rather than anger.

"We're fine!" Dr. Nye's voice responded. The lock rattled and clicked, then both doors opened as the doctor, coated in glittering powder, stepped beyond. Behind him, Jonathan and Dahlia could be heard coughing as whatever had blasted him still clearly had to settle within the room. His wife's eyes were wide as she looked him over and brushed off his clothes.

"What in the world happened in there?" she asked. Cindy ran over and announced her father was sparkly, to which Ashley wanted to see and raced over as well. However, Ashley did not stop and literally thumped into Dr. Nye's leg, which sent a small cloud of sparkles drifting through the air. Infinitely amused, both children then began bodily bumping their father to remove the sparkle dust from him, all while giggling.

Mrs. Nye grabbed both kids and pulled them away from their father. "And please don't do that! We don't know if that can hurt you!"

"'S sparkly!" Ashley cheered.

"It's fine," Dr. Nye said as he brushed off his arms. "It's powdered risiduum. At most, they'll glow a bit at bedtime tonight. As for what happened, something…violently interfered with the identification spell. I've never seen a reaction so strong, and I've literally studied the methods used to impede scrying."

"Was she hiding an object?" his wife asked, the children more or less ignored as she had resigned her husband to the fate of being repeatedly bounced upon by his children.

Dr. Nye shook his head. "Not that I can tell, and I used the spyglass." At that point, he glanced up and noticed Jayce. "Ah! Sir, do you know if there is anything on her person that would prevent identification or scrying?"

Jayce blinked several times before he shook his head. "Sorry, but no. I ain't that familiar with 'er tools, but far as I'm aware, she ain't carryin' anything like that."

Dr. Nye sighed and rubbed his chin in thought. "One thing I can immediately say is her reaction to the spell was entirely unlike anything I have heard or seen before. I'm not even sure where to start with a diagnosis."

"And that ain't bad, right?" Jayce asked quickly, his voice thick with worry. "Just, ya know, not normal?"

Dr. Nye shrugged and caught both his son and daughter by the shoulder before they could, for the umpteeth time, bounce off of him to giggle in another cloud of powdered residuum. "It would be impossible to say without further understanding of her curse. However, we do have options; as she is cut from a holy cloth, I believe Professor Durtlen may have insight that would help here."

"And who is that?" Jonathan asked, his voice raw from coughing as he helped Dahlia exit the study. Unsurprisingly, both of them glittered from a liberal coating of the powdered magical mineral, which somehow made Dahlia look radiant while making Jonathan look artificial.

Jayce winced while everyone was looking at Jonathan. The residuum was probably reacting to her glamor. His mind immediately remembered the scar he had felt, and he wondered how many scars she had been forced to hide. He subtly shook his head and forced himself to return to the conversation, even if only to distract himself from his thoughts.

"My mentor at the Academy," Dr. Nye said brightly. "While his focus is Metaphysical Religious Bodies, he also specializes in curses, as I do, but his background of study allows him better insight to the curses and malicious magic of the Divine and Betrayers, and even those in between. My hope is that, because of Lady Dahlia's clear connection with Pelor, he can use that connection to appeal to the Divines and gain an answer. After all, my more direct attempt at divination…" Dr. Nye trailed off and glanced at the mess that was the study behind him. "-obviously did not go well."

"I'm so, so sorry," Dahlia said, her voice weak and hoarse as she forced out the words before she coughed again. Once she had cleared her lungs of the powdered glass, again, Dr. Nye shook his head and took on a large smile.

"Think nothing of it. You have done the supposedly impossible when you returned Cadwgawn, and being stumped only means I'm on the verge of learning something new. We'll clean up a bit and then head over; there's enough of the day left that he should still be in his office."

"Honey, it's the weekend," his wife gently chided him. "I'm sure Professor Durtlen has better things to do than sit around in his office doing nothing."

"Yes, but it's also the weekend before a holiday," Dr. Nye responded. "All the students are rushing to finish projects and papers before the deadline at the end of the week, and the better ones are getting it done before the Civilization's Dawn festival. I know for a fact that he's in his office today, and he should have time to talk to us." Dr. Nye glanced at Dahlia and nodded, although it seemed to be to himself. "Especially when we mention what happened in the study."

"I'm really sorry for the mess," Dahlia mumbled, her face red from embarrassment.

Jayce felt his temper flare as Jonathan patted Dahlia's hand on his arm. Again, Jonathan's drunken proclamation flashed through his mind, and again, his mind jumped to the moment in the dark basement of the Margrave's Keep, where Dahlia lay diseased and dying in his arms. Before anyone could notice his anger, Jayce plastered on his winning smile and made his way over to Dahlia and Jonathan.

"Seems we're headin' to the academy," Jayce said deliberately as he approached. As soon as Dahlia seemed to perk up at his voice, he tapped her on the arm and almost smirked when she immediately switched to hold his arm instead of Jonathan's. Jonathan was far less subtle in his ire as Jayce pointedly ignored him.

"Indeed," Dr. Nye said, noticeably excited at the prospect of collaborative discovery. "Allow me some time to check in with Cad, and I'll take you there. It won't take long."

No one could fault him for wanting to spend a minute with his friend, and Jayce took Dahlia outside for some sunshine and space to brush off the residuum. Jonathan was clearly peeved, but he decided to hang back a moment and picked up his familiar.

After all, he had a few questions for Puffpaw, and his curiosity was stronger than her hesitation.

xXxXx

Despite the odd name, the Trinket Academy of Arcana and Innovation was not named after the various small inventions created by its students, but by the former resident of the park in which it sat. Lord Trinket, a grizzly bear immortalized at the entrance to the park as an armored statue, was the inspiration of Lord Trinket's Public Park, a massive public nature reserve and garden that sat on the western edge of Whitestone. The grounds had once been cleared for housing during the refugee crisis of the Chroma Enclave's attack, but due to the expediency with which the adventuring party, Vox Machina, had resolved the conflict, the grounds had been left to fallow, unused and unneeded.

When the surviving son and daughter of the de Rolo family returned to their rightful place, the heir brought with him a wife, who in turn brought a bear. According to the plaque at the park entrance, it was her idea to donate the grounds to the city, on the condition it be kept in its natural state so that her beast companion could retire in comfort.

"Apparently, Lord Trinket the Bear was quite the sweetheart, and was a favorite of children visitors," Jonathan said with a smile. He was nattering on more for his own distraction than for any interest of local history, but Dahlia seemed to be thoroughly curious, which helped spur him on.

"Was that also on the plaque?" Dahlia asked.

Jonathan nodded. "It also says he died thirty years ago of old age, but he passed in comfort and peace. The grounds now belong to the academy, and were named in his honor."

"Namin' a school after a bear. That's new," Jayce mumbled. He made sure to pat Dahlia's hand on his arm to confirm it was there as he glanced at Jonathan. The wizard had been exceptionally chatty since leaving Dr. Nye's house, and his skin prickled whenever he thought of it. Something about Jonathan's demeanor seemed tense, and it unnerved him.

Dr. Nye smiled at the comments. "The grounds now technically belong to the younger bear, Charlie, but he's just as gentle as his predecessor. We often bring the kids to see him."

"Somethin' about kids tusslin' with a bear just seems wrong to me," Jayce mumbled.

"Probably because they're usually predators," Dahlia said with a smile.

Jayce rolled his eyes and grunted, but only because Jonathan found the comment funny. Even so, there were more pressing matters at hand, as they had arrived. The high arch of the campus gates were emblazoned with the name of the academy, silver metal upon rich red brick, with a programmed illusion that made the symbol of a bear's head in profile occasionally glance at whoever passed below and wink. Already in the habit, Jayce launched into a description of the archway and hologram, to which Dahlia immediately brightened and prattled off several questions. Of course, Jayce's arcane knowledge was severely lacking in comparison to Jonathan, so it was Jonathan who answered the multitude of queries.

To draw Dahlia's attention away from him, Jayce then began describing everything he could see. His efforts were appreciated, but literally exhaustive, as he was nearly out of breath by the time they reached Professor Durtlen's office in the main building. Jonathan simply rolled his eyes at the effort, and he was generally ignored by Dr. Nye, who was preoccupied with his own theories.

Dr. Nye knocked on the open door, peeking in to spot the professor among the bookshelves framed by tall windows. Sure enough, a grey-haired man with thin spectacles and a smart suit stood at a desk by the far left wall, where he conversed quietly with a human woman in her twenties, clearly a student. Even from their distance, they could hear several questions about the Divergence, and the formation of the Divine Gate, as well as several inquiries about formatting for a term paper.

"Professor Durtlen?" Dr. Nye asked, to which a white and dark grey lump in a wicker basket coughed and harrumphed with indignance. Not even skipping a beat, Dr. Nye bent down and scratched the basset hound behind the ears, to which the geriatric dog lifted its head with a tired, but happy pant to lean into the affection.

Jayce found himself momentarily speechless as he looked at the remarkably floppy-looking dog. Due to his limited exposure on the seas, he had been of the opinion that all dogs were incredible predators of muscle and sinew, ones that could become loyal beyond reason to the person they loved. The mere fact that what remained before him was practically an old man in a skin suit five sizes too big seemed more unbelievable than a ship that could sail underwater, but he took it in stride. He also bent down to scratch the dog behind the ears, because it was definitely a good dog for watching the door for its master, even when it was so old.

"And I see we have guests," Professor Durtlen said with a smile. "Rorae, are you ready to review your draft on your own?"

The woman nodded and gathered her papers. "Yes, professor," she smiled. "See you in class, and a merry Civilization's Dawn to you!"

The woman left posthaste, clearly excited to begin her work as Professor Durtlen moved behind his desk to replace some of his own supplies, and Dr. Nye motioned for those following him to enter the office.

"Good afternoon, professor," Dr. Nye said brightly. "I have a nearly impossible query for you."

Professor Durtlen snorted and placed a stack of papers off to the side. "I highly doubt that, my boy. What have you found?"

"There's a reason I said, 'nearly'," Dr. Nye said, a teasing tone in his voice. "Allow me to introduce Jonathan Riddle, Jayce, and Lady Dahlia of the Ceylon Seven."

Professor Durtlen's eyebrows raised in surprise. "It's not often I find adventurers calling upon me in my place of work. I can only assume this pertains to the 'nearly impossible query'."

Jayce made sure to wave as soon as Professor Durtlen made eye contact with him, but the move was ill advised; the moment he paused scratching the dog's ears, it grumbled and huffed again, displeased with the turn of events. Jayce whispered an apology to the dog and went back to scratching behind its ears.

"Oh lord," Professor Durtlen snickered. "Now you're stuck, lad."

"Not a bad way t' go, all things considered," Jayce joked. "Especially when the dog involved's a good boy, eh?"

Professor Durtlen smiled wide and nodded. "Indeed! That there is my grand companion, Pelor Solson the First, now in his winter years. He's been with me since I was a boy myself."

"You…named the dog after the Dawnfather?" Dahlia asked, her tone rife with disbelief.

Professor Durtlen continued his broad smile, even into his voice. "I had just begun my tenure at the newly founded Academy when I was gifted a puppy to help settle myself in, and Pelly's been by my side ever since. Isn't that right, Pelly?"

Pelly lifted his shaking head and ha-woofed, his baritone voice strong despite the arthritic nature of his movements. Jayce made sure to reward the dog for speaking on command with yet more ear scratches.

"So! Introductions aside, what is this nearly impossible query?" Professor Durtlen asked.

Doctor Nye smiled and motioned to Dahlia, who was currently standing on her own in the doorway, although Jonathan and Jayce were both close to her. "The Lady Dahlia is completely impervious to Divination, to wit her mere presence caused a surprisingly violent disharmonic reaction during an identification spell in my office. And before you say anything!" Dr. Nye said quickly, his hand up to stop the professor before a single word could be uttered, "I had already checked her person for any sort of interfering enchantment. The most I found was a very minor enchantment of the Illusion school, placed upon a ring she had refused to remove."

"I-I don't-!" Dahlia stammered, flustered and afraid.

"Ah! No need to fret; a woman is allowed her glamours," Dr. Nye said kindly. "Now, Professor Durtlen, being as she is a cleric of Pelor-"

"It stands to reason that the source of her magic may be the cause of the disturbance," Professor Durtlen said quietly, his hand stroking the smartly groomed beard on his chin as a smile of discovery crossed his lips. "And, of course, you thought of your mentor as the Divine is within my purview."

"Exactly," Dr. Nye said, excitement as audible in his voice as it was obvious in his movements. "Imagine what this might mean for the philosophy department's debate on free will pertaining to the will of the Divine!"

"Ah, one step at a time," the professor laughed. "Come, all of you, make yourselves comfortable while I look through my spell books. I should have the necessary materials somewhere…"

Jonathan led Dahlia to one of the chairs by the desk while Jayce continued to scratch Pelly's ears, resigned to his fate as attendant to the old hound. Dr. Nye, however, zipped around the office, clearly familiar to its layout as Professor Durtlen requested several arcane components from the shelves on the opposite end of the room. Unfortunately, they quickly hit a snag in the preparations.

"And…top shelf, there should be diamond dust…?" Professor Durtlen trailed off, his own attention focused on a heavy tome on his desk, rather than on his mentee.

Dr. Nye pulled over a step stool and climbed high enough to reach a locked box at the top of the shelf, and with a spoken command undid the arcane lock preventing errant entry. The box flipped open in his hands and his face immediately soured.

"There's nothing," Dr. Nye sighed.

Professor Durtlen waved it off as he scanned a page. "Eh, it's fine. We can replace the amount with a comparable dose of residuum. Should be in the same box."

"I literally mean what I said. There's nothing," Dr. Nye said with more emphasis. He twisted the box to show the contents to everyone seated by the desk, and his statement was confirmed by the empty velvet-lined interior that was void of even the pouches to separate components. "Not even scraps of dust on the walls."

"Blast!" the professor snapped as he slapped his hand to the desk. "And it's only the 19th!"

"Unfortunately, I'm in the same predicament," Dr. Nye said sadly. "I had used the last of my residuum allotment for the botched spell, and it was consumed in the process. And liberally sprinkled upon all present."

"I don't suppose you dragged in six-hundred gold worth of powder upon your clothes?" Professor Durtlen whined into his hands.

Dr. Nye shook his head. "We would have carried less than fifty gold at most, and what was upon me was graciously removed by the efforts of my children."

"Ah. Well, bedtime will be an adventure tonight," Professor Durtlen sighed.

"One I am quite looking forward to," Dr. Nye said with a smile. "Even so, do you know of anyone who still has their research allotment for the month?"

Professor Durtlen sat heavily in his chair and rubbed his chin in thought. "...There is always the de Rolo lab. If anyone has spare residuum lying around, it would be them."

Dr. Nye replaced the box and stepped down from the stepstool. "That may be so, but we can't have been the only ones to ask. Don't forget that there were recent budget cuts pertaining to arcane research."

"Then we need to be charming, moreso than typical," the professor sighed. He dragged a hand down his face at the thought and groaned. "Will, I don't suppose you even remember the man's name?"

"I…remember it was almost comically similar to his mother's," Dr. Nye said awkwardly.

"If I may," Dahlia interrupted as politely as possible, "My friend Jayce is well spoken and polite, and his status as an outsider would make his lack of knowledge of the man's name an acceptable oversight. Perhaps he could ask for you."

"That would be a godsend," the professor said, relieved. "Will you do us this favor, Jayce? Otherwise we may be left without an answer for a minimum of two weeks."

"Oh, that's right, the first Miresen of the month is the second week of Cuersaar," Dr. Nye mumbled.

"Seems like I've got the job," Jayce said jovially as he stood up. Pelly whined pitifully, but did not protest beyond that as Jayce straightened his coat. "Where's the lab?"

"Down the hall, left at the turn, first door on the right," Professor Durtlen rattled off quickly. "His assistant often visits Pelly, so we've walked in to return the visit a few times. Be warned; the last time we stopped in, Russar was dressed head to toe in safety gear. Their work may be volatile or mid-experiment when you arrive, and it has been implied that interrupting could be dangerous."

"Duly noted," Jayce said with a subtle gulp. He reset himself quickly and mimed tipping a hat to the professor. "I'll be back in a wink."

With a wish of luck, and an unseen look of relief from Jonathan, Jayce quickly made his way down the hall to the aforementioned lab. Thankfully, the door was labeled with a brass plaque that stated it was Lab No. 3, with a smaller etching below stating the famous de Rolo name. In fact, the names emblazoned upon it were V. de Rolo and S. Russar, which matched all of his incredibly limited knowledge of the situation. Confident, Jayce knocked smartly upon the door and counted to five before he called through.

Jayce cupped his hands around his mouth to hopefully direct the request through the door and not down the hall before he called out. "Excuse me, Lord de Rolo? A moment of your time, please, if you have some to spare."

Another five seconds passed, and there was no response. A passing student, a human male, paused in his step upon seeing Jayce's predicament.

"You'll have to knock louder. Lord Vax'ildan is notorious for getting lost in his work," the young man said helpfully.

"Ah. Thanks, sir," Jayce said, his voice full of genuine thanks. "May your instructors have mercy on your grade."

The student sputtered a laugh and sighed in defeat. "Oh, gods only know, I'll need it," he said as he continued along.

With renewed resolve, Jayce tried again, this time neglecting to temper his strikes upon the door. "Lord de Rolo, please, a moment of your time!" Jayce called out.

The extra effort was rewarded by the door swinging inward just a few seconds later, revealing a middle-aged, dark-haired half-elf man in his thirties dressed in a singed and battered smock, his fingers stained with splotches of black ink. His expression was far less than amused as he matched Jayce's eyes and grimaced.

"I hope this is important, because I do not appreciate being interrupted," the man growled.

Jayce slipped half a step back and bowed, a hand to his chest and his gaze upon the man's feet as he had been taught by a man he once admired. Immediately, old fears came to mind and he desperately hoped the man before him was both rich and open-minded, rather than a short-tempered racist like many others he had met before.

"It is important to me, sir," he said, tempering his accent to enunciate clearly. "My good friend is suffering from an awful curse, and it remains resistant to the usual methods to dispel it. We have come to the Academy to seek the help of a specialist, but we require residuum for the spell to identify our next step. Unfortunately-"

"You're out, and need some of my stores," the man sighed. He dragged a heavy hand down his face and immediately looked as if he hadn't slept in weeks.

Jayce noticed the pause and seized the opportunity to introduce himself. "The name's Jayce," he said, his hand extended for a shake. "I've been sent by Professor Durtlen, but it was already discussed that reachin' out may be a long shot. No hard feelin's if there's no residuum to spare, sir."

The man rolled a lip over his teeth as he thought it over, and then took Jayce's hand. "Vax'ildan Frederick de Rolo. A pleasure to meet you, Jayce. Surname?"

"None to speak of; bit of a drifter," Jayce said with a smile. "Just means my found family's near'n'dear, rather than a blood-born family, 's all."

"Sometimes, I envy men like you," Vax'ildan said with a sigh. "Come on in and I'll see if I have enough to budget for my work. Anything spare, and I'll-"

Ka-boom!

The twinkling of shattered glass and the clattering of wooden shrapnel rang out from the inner reaches of the lab, hidden from the doorway by paper partitions strategically placed around the door and main desk of the room. Jayce, immediately concerned for the voice that had rung out in panic, nearly launched himself past the half-elf lord in front of him when he found himself stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

"Just a moment," Vax'ildan sighed. He turned and called out past the partition. "Sen! You alive?!"

Another clatter rang out as debris settled, including the echoing ring of a metal bowl rolling to a stop upon its mouth. "Yep! I'm good!" came a bright, chipper voice, despite the dark smoke drifting past the partition. "Also, completely unrelated, we may need more powder!"

Vax'ildan's eyes went wide as the comment took a moment to sink in. He raced to the partition and waved away smoke as he ducked his head beyond it.

"Wha-?! What the hell?! How'd you set off the powder?!" he shouted, more from concern for his friend's wellbeing than annoyance at losing expensive black powder.

Jayce awkwardly began to fidget with his hands as he glanced around the lab. Of what he could see, diagrams of natural horses and constructs based on its shape were practically plastered on the walls by the desk, and a workbench was partly visible, as it was covered by both the partition and an incredibly expansive array of metal parts. Jayce almost felt dizzy trying to glean any sort of information from the random facets of Vax'ildan's work that he managed to spy.

"Dammit! So pattern 12 didn't work either?" Vax'ildan almost shouted as he turned from the scene of disaster and, this time, drew both hands down his face.

Jayce cleared his throat and tried to gently interrupt, rather than annoy the man further. "Sir, it ain't my plan to be a pain, but I'm in a bit of a hurry. Did the residuum also blow up?"

Vax'ildan sighed and rested his forehead on the heel of his hand, about to respond, when a tall man in so much safety gear he was completely wrapped in leather and metal stepped from beyond the paper screen. "Yes, the residuum blew up," the man said, patting off dust from his leather apron and wool coat. "You wouldn't happen to have more, would you?"

Vax'ildan looked past the man and his eyes widened in relieved surprise. "Oh, hang on! You saved a good chunk of it! We can keep working with that much."

Vax'ildan ducked behind the partition before the well-covered man could react, and disappeared from view. Almost immediately, the man panicked and dove for him.

"Wait Vax leave it! It could still be reactive!"

A second too late.

BZZT-ka POP!

Jayce instinctively flinched as Vax'ildan screeched in pain, his face unprotected from the blast. Unlike his assistant, who wore a welder's mask, Vax'ildan's face had been bare when he stepped into the unseen portion of the lab.

"Sen! Oh god! Sen! The wash! Help me!" Vax'ildan cried out. His assistant, Sen, was already back in the smoky area of the lab, and Jayce made a split-second decision. While it was clear they both knew the procedure for such an emergency, his recent adventures with Dahlia had softened his heart, and he dashed out of the room and straight to Professor Durtlen's office.

Jayce slammed against the doorframe, both to stop himself and to alert the others to his presence. Sure enough, most of them jumped and turned toward him, with the exception of Jonathan, who sighed and acted as if Jayce was needlessly begging for attention.

"What happened?" Professor Durtlen asked before anyone else could speak first.

"Explosion at the lab," Jayce said quickly. "Dahlia, you got your tools?"

Dahlia stood up and shifted the strap across her shoulder. "Always. Let's go!"

Jayce ducked in and grabbed Dahlia's arm, easily pulling her into the hallway as Jonathan glanced between them in shock. "Wait a second-!"

"Not now, Jon!" Jayce barked as the two of them raced down the hall. Out of habit, Dahlia matched her stride to Jayce and they both raced easily the short distance down the hall, where the door to Vax'ildan's lab was still open. Just beyond it, Jayce could see Sen, still fully wrapped in safety gear, gently leading Vax'ildan to the chair by the desk. His face wet and eyes nearly blood red from irritation and harm, Vax'ildan was pale and shaking as he finally sat down.

"I need to make an assessment. What can you see?" Dahlia asked, her voice even, calm, and professional.

Jayce had to briefly pause his steps as he gave Vax'ildan a quick once-over. "Looks like he's pale, but that's all I got."

Dahlia nodded. "He's probably falling into shock," she mumbled. She stepped around Jayce and said loudly to the room, "Sir, I heard you were hurt. Do I have your permission to assess you?"

Vax'ildan, his mind clearly struggling to grasp reality amidst his adrenaline, barely formed a sentence before his assistant stepped between them and held up his hands. "Hang on. May I ask who you are first?" he asked, still through the mask.

Dahlia faced the voice, now with a clear location in her mind, and stepped forward. "I am Dahlia the Blind Surgeon, and I possess clerical magic as well as medical skills." To prove her point, she held up her hand which began to shine with a fraction of her power, golden sunlight gathering at her fingertips with a soft, warm glow.

There was a moment of hesitation between them, when Sen finally spoke again. "Can you provide credentials for your profession?"

Dahlia flinched, a movement Jayce felt through her hand on his arm. Determined to help, he immediately spoke up for her.

"I put my own life in this woman's hands," he said confidently. He was speaking the truth, after all, and there was no need to hide it. "I've seen her wrap a wound in seconds, perform field surgery on a dying man that saved his life, and I've even still got my leg after her work mended an ankheg bite that nearly took it off. I could've had a limp my whole life if not for her."

Even with the mask, Sen clearly wrestled with some mental struggle before he ultimately relented. With a sigh, he stepped to the side. "He's going into shock," he said quietly.

Jayce led Dahlia to Vax'ildan, not even surprised that she was already interviewing Sen in the space of those few steps.

"Pale, shaking, starting to slur his words?" she asked. As soon as she had a hand on Vax'ildan, she had two fingers against the side of his throat, just under his jaw, which caused him to flinch away.

"Wh-wait, who?! Didn't you sh-ay you were blind?!" he stuttered, his voice a slight slur as he tried to lurch away from the unseen woman.

Sen placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and spoke calmly and confidently in his friend's stead. "Yes. His eyes took the brunt of it, and probably his hands. I haven't checked those yet."

Dahlia nodded and pointed to the floor. "Lay him on the floor and put his feet up. Keep his head low, with minimal padding if he needs it," she rattled off quickly, her free hand already ducked into her bag for her supplies.

Sen nodded and moved to do just that, nodding his thanks to Jayce as they both moved Vax'ildan to the floor. Sen spoke softly, explaining to his friend and superior what was happening, and placed a chair cushion under Vax'ildan's legs to help boost them up from the floor.

As a slight bit of padding, Sen took off his apron and folded it into a small pillow, the clean side out, and gently placed Vax'ildan's head upon it. Unfortunately, the welder's helmet became cumbersome as he attempted to navigate the increasingly crowded proximity of his friend, and he paused to remove it.

That gave Dahlia the moment she needed to assess Vax'ildan, interrogating Jayce with rapid fire questions about the half-elf's condition and visible damage before Sen, well meaning as he was, could interfere in his attempts to help. Jayce watched in fascination as Dahlia moved with practiced accuracy, applying a special ointment directly to Vax'ildan's eyes once she had Jayce confirm they were clear.

Once she was satisfied, she gathered both injured hands in one of hers and placed her free palm over his injured eyes, and offered blessings from the Dawnfather. Golden sunlight flowed over the wounds and pooled in the nearly invisible scratches left from the slivers of crystal. What little residue remained of the residuum seemed to dissolve into the golden magic, Vax'ildan's skin restored to a healthy, youthful glow.

With a sigh of relief, Vax'ildan visibly lost tension in his body and settled on the ground, his eyes fluttering as if he was about to fall asleep. Sen, his face and hands exposed, kneeled next to his superior and friend, and breathed his own sigh of relief.

Jayce nearly jumped when he realized who kneeled beside them. With platinum white hair and dark, almost purple-black skin, Sen was revealed to be a dark elf. A drow. A subterranean creature cursed with madness and deceit, their history as black and tarnished as their hue.

Sen immediately noticed Jayce's threatened, almost angry look and countered with one of his own. "Is there a problem, sir?" Sen hissed, his weight shifted subtly for either an attack or an escape. Jayce couldn't tell which.

He couldn't risk it. Jayce shifted as well, but to put himself between Sen and Dahlia. "Surprised to see someone like you 'round here, that's all," he growled, his glare never leaving the dark, almost blood-red iris of Sen's own. Sen's eyes suddenly twitched past him, falling upon Dahlia on his other side for the briefest of moments, and Jayce instinctively held out his arm to sweep Dahlia behind him at a moment's notice.

Alarmed by the sudden shift in the room's tone and the unexpected brush of a hand against her arm, Dahlia twitched hard and nearly fell off her knees, away from Jayce. Sen's gaze hardened considerably as he noticed the movement, and he returned the cold stare from the half-orc in front of him.

"I could say the same about someone like you," Sen hissed.

"Hold on a second, what is going on?" Dahlia cut in, her voice strained with worry.

Jayce's voice was dark and threatening. "Turns out, the man's friend is a drow."

"Oh for the love of-!"

Everyone turned to Vax'ildan, who had slapped a hand to his face at Jayce's comment, despite having been nearly asleep just moments before. "Shove off, you idiot! He's from Roshana!"

"Wait, from where?" Jayce muttered in confusion.

Sen shifted to place an arm across Vax'ildan's chest, his eyes darting between Dahlia and Jayce, the latter of whom he clearly believed was a threat. "This is not a fight you will win, sir," he said menacingly.

"Knock it off, Sen," Vax'ildan whined from the floor. "I'm hurt, and my vision is still blurry."

Dahlia immediately jumped at the opportunity to change the conversation to something more neutral. "It's due to the overexposure to bright light, sir, but it's encouraging that your eyesight is already returning. Your eyes should fully recover in the next few hours, now that my magic has been applied and your cornea is restored."

Once again, Sen seemed to scrutinize the strangers that hovered over his friend, but this time, his gaze softened as he spoke directly to Dahlia. "Miss Dahlia, thank you for helping us. However, I must now ask you both to leave."

Dahlia immediately stood up and settled her bag. "Of course. If you have any spare residuum, Professor Durtel would like to use it. Please send it to his office, or send word that it isn't available."

With that, she turned on her heel and immediately left the room. Jayce, confused but unable to stop her, practically stumbled to catch up with her quickened gait into the hallway. As soon as they were beyond the door, it audibly closed and locked behind them.

"Dahlia, what just-" Jayce peeked at the closed door over his shoulder and then turned back to his friend. "You okay? That drow set ya on edge or something?"

"No, Jayce, you did!" Dahlia snapped. She whirled on him, her face screwed up in a mixture of grief and anger. "That was a man who was nothing but concerned for his friend, kind and helpful, polite and courteous, and you…you treated him like…Ugh! You were rude and disrespectful, and treated him like a monster! So what if he was a drow? He's still a person, and the mere fact that he's working in the Whitestone academy, right next to a recognized member of the de Rolo family, should be some indication of his moral standing and ability! Shame on you!"

Jayce recoiled, almost baffled, as he realized what else hid in that mixture of emotions. Disappointment. In a cut crueler than any blade, Jayce realized Dahlia was disappointed in him. He had to salvage this. Somehow. Desperate, he stammered, "B-but you gotta know the stories, right? Those tales about how all drow are fuckin' mad as-"

"Jayce!" Dahlia yelled, her hands tensed and shaking as they gestured through her frustration between them. "You're basing a person on a story! Not even a good story! A ghost story!"

Jayce could feel his own temper rising, and he was powerless to stop it. Before he could register his own thoughts, he snapped back, "Why are you even makin' a big deal outta this?! You weren't half as upset when Al made a fuckin' fool of himself in front of that innkeeper from Sword of Vines!"

"Caidove, and he wasn't coming from a place of aggression, Jayce," Dahlia hissed, her voice strained as she forced the words through her teeth. "You are."

There was a part of him, once he had realized her disappointment of his actions, that wanted to drop to his knees and beg for forgiveness, to do anything to fix whatever wrong he had done in her eyes. However, louder in his heart was the darker side of him, the one that felt justified, the one that refused to see that any wrong had been made. After all, he was aggressive for her sake, for her protection! Surely she could see that?

"I ain't gonna let some stranger snatch you away again!" Jayce nearly yelled, his own frustration boiling his blood, despite his attempts to restrain himself. "I won't risk it!"

Dahlia huffed and grunted, angry but unable to respond, and turned away to walk back to Professor Durtlen's office. Unsurprisingly, she had remembered the path well enough to walk it on her own, and arrived without difficulty as Jayce watched, dumbfounded that she would walk away without him.

The thought struck him like a brick to the face. Why would he be upset that she walked away? She was angry, and she needed space, and on top of that her movement did not rely on him so desperately that she was unable to walk herself anywhere she pleased. Disgusted with himself, Jayce trudged after her. With a heavy sigh, he realized he had managed to alienate almost everyone of the Ceylon Seven, and it wasn't even noon.

A clock tower tolled outside. Twelve strikes. With a smirk of ironic amusement, he realized he had managed to beat the clock by mere seconds. It was not an achievement he was proud of.

"And that is the bell!" Professor Durtlen said brightly as Jayce approached the door. "I doubt we'll get a response from them right away, so I say we break for lunch, right?"

Dr. Nye shrugged as Jayce leaned on the doorframe. "It may be better to simply wait until tomorrow. After all, Dahlia, you just mentioned he had been grievously hurt."

"Yes, but he was well on the mend when I left him," Dahlia said quickly. She had the strap of her bag between her hands, wrung and twisted as if she was nervous. Jayce bent over to pet the dog for a distraction against his own mind before he, once again, jumped to conclusions.

"No one is doubting your skills, Dahlia," Jonathan said kindly. He had already taken her arm like a noble gentleman. "Besides, you missed the Slayer's Cake, didn't you? We owe you a pastry."

"I can pass. I'm not that hungry," Dahlia mumbled.

As if Dahlia was unheard, Professor Durtlen continued. "Then I believe that's a vote to reconvene later. In fact, it may be best to return tomorrow. After all, you just arrived in town, didn't you?"

"We have," Jonathan said with a nod.

Professor Durtlen nodded in return. "Then where are you staying? I can send a letter or a message once I have a response."

The room fell to silence as neither Jonathan or Dahlia knew the answer. After several awkward seconds, everyone turned toward Jayce, who was petting Pelly's ears more for his own comfort than the dog's.

"Snowdrop Requiem, just off Dawnfather Square," Jayce said flatly.

Professor Durtlen clapped his hands in triumph. "Perfect! I know the place. The vegetable stew is very hearty there, and I visit often during the colder months."

"Glad to know it's got yer endorsement," Jayce said with a smile, his voice bright and cheery despite how awful he felt. "I'll have t' give it a try."

"I highly recommend it," Professor Durtlen said with genuine happiness. "As I have nothing else to say, I wish you all a good afternoon, and expect word from me before your next breakfast."

With their own well wishes, Jonathan, Dahlia, and Jayce left Professor Durtlen's office, while Dr. Nye stayed behind to ask a few questions of his own. Within minutes, they were once again on the campus of the academy, walking beneath the winking visage of a large bear in a bespoke helmet.

Due to his curiosity, Jonathan had asked about the incident in the de Rolo lab, and Dahlia was more than willing to slip back into her cold and professional voice to recount the events. Despite the plethora of technical terms, Jonathan followed well enough, and even had his own opinions about the shards of residuum possibly bolstering her own abilities in the moment.

"It was truly lucky it was not a more brittle material, as irregular particulate could have incurred greater harm than the slivers that resulted from the explosion," Dahlia said, relief creeping into her voice as she returned from the memory. "But I agree, the residuum did seem to react to my magic, as several larger slivers disappeared in my hand after I cast my healing spell. I hope it imparted greater health to him in the process."

"It probably did," Jonathan said with a thoughtful nod. "Residuum itself is said to be congealed magic, specifically divine, although it's possible the mineralization process caused it to lose its alignment to a particular facet of magic."

"Well, the magic used to form it was also what formed this valley, and the mountains that surround the area," Dahlia said, her voice picking up from excitement as she realized they were wandering into a topic she enjoyed. "With such a massive amount of reality-altering power, it may not have been focused at all, and could have been just pure arcana."

"What I wouldn't do to have my own sample to study," Jonathan said with a wistful sigh. Suddenly struck by a thought, he twisted hard enough to nearly pull Dahlia off a step, to which she squeaked in surprise as she caught her footing.

"Sorry," Jonathan said quickly. "Just, Jayce hasn't been talking, so I wasn't sure he was still following us."

Jayce, who had been behind them by a few steps the whole time, rolled his eyes hard enough that he nearly made himself dizzy. He was not looking forward to arriving at the inn, so he had been looking literally anywhere else to distract himself.

In fact, he had been quite distracted by the sight of Sen Russar, dressed in simple citizen's garb instead of his safety gear, bolting across the grasses of the campus with a gleeful grin on his face. Considering that his friend had almost gone permanently blind just twenty minutes earlier, Jayce briefly wondered what had turned their day around so completely to possess the man with such energetic joy.

Dahlia forced a smile. "It's fine-"

"Holy shit is that a drow?!"

Dahlia winced as Jonathan finally spotted the bounding dark elf as the man reached the open gate boundary of Lord Trinket's Public Park ahead of them. Jayce, sensing an opportunity to perhaps redeem himself, immediately spoke up.

"Nailed it in one," Jayce said with a smile. "He works with Lord de Rolo, and based off my brief meeting with 'im, he's a loyal, intelligent man. Really caught me off guard, I ain't ashamed to admit."

He glanced over at Dahlia, who seemed hopeful, but still seemed to either refuse to face him, or was unable to. Jayce sighed, paused in his step, and continued.

"I am ashamed to admit I made myself out to be a damn fool talkin' to him. I mean, I get treated like this all the fuckin' time, and yet I still treated 'im like a damn beast rather than a person. Should've taken a breath, ya know?"

Dahlia, with Jonathan between her and Jayce due to the arm he had taken, finally turned toward Jayce and smiled, her face both proud and relieved. Jayce felt his own posture relax as he realized she had forgiven him. In contrast, Jonathan looked absolutely gobsmacked that such a thing was possible, but Jayce couldn't tell if it was about a well-mannered drow or his own confession.

Now if he could only get the others to forgive him as easily as Dahlia.

xXxXx

The walk to the Snowdrop Requiem was peaceful, albeit chatty as Dahlia and Jonathan continued to debate the possible attributes of residuum. Of course, all their assumptions were simply that, but both found it fun to daydream about the possibilities of raw, unfiltered magic in physical form. Jayce, unable to follow most of the conversation, dragged his feet and followed, annoyed that he wasn't the one guiding Dahlia through the streets as those two talked.

While passing the Sun Tree in Dawnfather Square, Jayce did pause briefly to scoop up several colorful leaves that had shaken themselves loose from the boughs above. Each one was large and wide, nearly bigger than his hand, with a rounded edge and a single tip, like a teardrop. While the flesh of the leaf was a bright, sunset orange, the veins had a gentle golden glow, incredibly similar to Dahlia's healing magic. He knew she wouldn't be able to see the similarity, but she would likely appreciate the gift all the same, once he had a chance to talk to her.

Besides, he wouldn't mind a new bookmark for his journal. A spare leaf would do just fine for that. He had moved the silk scrap to his story book to keep his place, and he had been getting tired of thumbing through extra pages just to find a blank one. Speaking of, he should get back to that story. Then he could look into the books Al grabbed for the road.

As they walked into the Snowdrop Requiem, Jayce had to marvel at how far away Westruun seemed to be at that moment. It almost felt like a year had passed since the chaos of that massive city had nearly destroyed them, the physical distance notwithstanding. Thinking back to the Hazel Festival, Jayce knew that Dahlia had not fully recovered from her trauma, despite putting on a brave face and dealing with her shadows. She really was stronger than she let on, and he wished she could see that.

"Oi! Dahlia! Over here! Any news?"

Zoe's voice, surprisingly bright and excited, called out over the long tables of the tavern. Silk snowdrop flowers were tied to the rafters with bundles of dried sage, and oddly enough there were several stuffed ravens in the upper corners watching over the patrons. It was a striking contrast of color, especially from the largest raven that had a bundle of snowdrops across its breast, and it hopped animatedly across the bar as it followed a dark-skinned woman with her hair tightly braided in a thousand rows. Jayce actually took a second to realize the raven was actually real, and not some stuffed creature, as it stood completely still when it noticed the newcomers.

"Nothing conclusive," Dahlia sighed. Jonathan led her over to the table where the others were seated and helped her into a chair. Jayce snickered when Jonathan's overly enthusiastic help crossed a line and she became visibly irritated with him. Once she was sat and settled, she turned to Zoe's voice and continued. "I am frustratingly immune to their attempts at divination, and there was a lack of material available to pursue other avenues of discovery."

Gauth cleared his throat and looked over to Al expectantly, but the rogue looked incredibly sour and avoided eye contact. However, Gauth's look of disappointment was unneeded, as Dahlia gasped in embarrassment and immediately corrected herself.

"Oh! Dawn's light, I'm so sorry, Gauth; It's such a habit. I mean the magic they used to find out about the curse didn't work because I'm immune, somehow, and when we tried to ask for help, the professor we talked to didn't have the materials he needed for his version of the spell. I'm sorry."

Gauth waved it away and smiled. "That is fine. I am still learning new words, just not very quickly."

"And I can tell," Dahlia said with a genuine smile. "Your pronunciation also continues to improve."

Gauth beamed with pride, but attention was wrested away by Bera when she cleared her throat. Instinctively, everyone turned to her as Jayce and Jonathan both sat at the long table.

"Dahlia, I'm sorry we were unable to help with your curse, but something happened while you were separated from the group." She took a deep breath to steady herself and hopped up to the table top, where she stood between Jayce and Al, and she turned towards the latter. "Al, I believe we talked about something before they got here that you should do before we get much farther."

"Didn't you have a whole gods-damned speech about putting people on the spot?" Al hissed.

"That was about cornering people, and this is about teaching a lesson," Bera said firmly, her arms crossed. "Now, what do you say?"

Al rolled his eyes and huffed, his own arms crossed. "I'm fucking sorry, alright?"

Jayce's eyes nearly popped out of his head in shock. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I said I'm fucking sorry!" Al snapped, his shoulders up by his ears as he turned away, his face red in embarrassment. "Fucking hells, just get off my case about it."

Jayce looked around the table, but it was clear the focus was directed at him. He blinked several times before he spoke. "I…ain't rightly sure what that's about…?"

Bera nodded. "I figured as much. Earlier today, Al cornered you and practically forced you to reveal something to half of us…?" she prompted.

"Hang on, what now?" Jonathan asked.

"Wait your turn, lad," Bera cut in.

Jayce's jaw went tight as he remembered the moment in question. "Right…fuck. Yeah, I'm still pissed about it-"

"Oh come on! You barely remembered it and I said I was sorry!" Al barked. "What else do you want from me?!"

"Calm the fuck down, asshole," Jayce snapped. "You think I'm proud of all that? I know we ain't good friends, but damn it all to hell, that fuckin' hurt!"

"I am so lost," Jonathan whispered to the air.

Zoe quickly got her brother's attention and whispered across the table, "Jayce is possessed by a demon that makes him crave human flesh."

"I knew it!" Jonathan gasped.

"Zoe!" Bera yelled. "Mother's mercy, you're all children!" Bera pinched the bridge of her nose while Zoe noncommittally shrugged, and then turned back to Al. "Al, try taking a breath and explaining why you're sorry."

"And apparently you're my fucking mother," Al grumbled.

"I will be if I need to be," Bera said defiantly, her hands now on her hips. "Try again."

"I'm sorry I called you out in the middle of the street when I should have talked to you privately," Al grunted, his voice so exasperated his entire comment sounded sarcastic. Jayce visibly tensed, angry about what he had endured, when Dahlia cleared her throat almost too quietly to hear.

"Um, Al…I know that was hard. Thank you. It means a lot to hear that from you," Dahlia said gently, as if his declaration was genuine. Amazingly, Al deflated and sighed, his expression sad rather than threatened, although he had yet to make eye contact with any of them.

"Thanks, Dahlia. And Jayce, I mean it. I'm sorry," Al said quietly.

Again, the attention shifted to Jayce, who was once again in shock, but of a subtler kind. "Apology accepted, Al. Truth be told, probably about time I came out with it anyway."

"Oh hang on, we're not done," Bera said as she stepped in front of Jayce. "Your turn."

Jayce winced as his comment to Zoe immediately came to mind. "Got a good idea what for," he mumbled.

"Then go on. You know what to do," Bera prodded. She shifted to stay between Jayce and Zoe, but to the side just enough that they could see each other. After all, both of them were known to have a temper, and she had her Calm Emotions spell prepared in case such tempers flared.

"What I said crossed a line, and that ain't fair to you and yer brother," Jayce said, his voice full of regret. "Please accept my apology, Zoe, and Jonathan, you too."

"Wait, why am I included in this?" Jonathan asked, confused.

"He said you're just like our dad," Zoe huffed as she crossed her arms.

"What?!"

Jonathan flew up from his chair, the wooden piece of furniture clattering as Jonathan whirled on Jayce in the next seat. "What the hell is wrong with you?! That man abandoned me, threw me to the streets, and tried to have me assassinated! He tried to turn Zoe against me and beat her to a pulp! What in the gods' names possessed you to say such a thing?!"

The rage that flared behind Jonathan's eyes was nearly palpable as Jayce flinched away, one hand between them just in case Jonathan cast another spell. He wasn't sure how he'd block a bolt of fire or lightning, but instinct forced him to ready himself to try.

"That fuckin' demon, that's what. You know my temper problem? Guess-fuckin'-who's responsible, huh?" Jayce said forcefully, desperately hoping he had neglected to mention his temper was something he had been dealing with since he was a child. "I, as who I am, know what I said was fuckin' shitty, and if you'll let me, I'll take it back."

Jayce stood up from his chair and extended a hand to shake, his eyes never breaking from Jonathan's. "Square one, you n' me. No more secrets, yeah?"

Jonathan's face screwed up in frustration and mitigated anger, several avenues of thought battling across his features as they warred through his mind, but eventually he slumped as he relented. With a sigh, he took Jayce's hand and shook it briskly. "Fine. No more secrets. Now tell us about that demon, so we can actually help you."

"More'n fair," Jayce said amicably. With that, he and Jonathan sat back at the table and Jayce launched into the long, but limited story of the demon that possessed his soul.

With a more level head, Jayce was able to describe the creature in his nightmares, its writhing mass and yellow eyes, and his suspicions of where it came from. He went into detail about the aspects of his magic, how it froze his limbs and scratched at his bones, but also seemed to affect him with addiction, despite his horror. Once his audience was thoroughly perturbed, he ended his explanation with how his humanity seemed to step back each time he was in thrall of the power. He gave special emphasis to how being enveloped by the dark magic seemed to steal his ability to recognize faces, or even recognize equals among those he saw.

"Literally, everythin' looks like walkin' food. I start droolin' and when I finally 'wake up', I feel fuckin' nasty," Jayce grimaced. "I ain't one to say the magic ain't handy, but gods-damn I'd drop it in a heartbeat if I could."

"Well, that explains why you burst into flame when you get upset," Jonathan huffed, his face pale from slowly growing trepidation. "It's heavily anchored to your emotion."

"No shit, John," Zoe grunted. She leaned heavily on the table, her fingers rapping at her forehead as she thought things through. "Maybe… Hey, think that curse guy could help you too? I mean, we might have to pay for it, but possession is kinda like a curse, right?"

Al blinked several times as the others mused it over. "Wow. I never thought of that, but it actually makes a lot of sense."

"I know, right?" Zoe giggled.

Gauth rubbed his face with a heavy hand. He had a massive headache trying to keep up with the language, despite Dahlia's repeated reminders for Jayce to slow down in his speech. "Wizards can help with curses, but can they help with possession?" he finally asked.

Jonathan shook his head. "I think both Dahlia's curse and Jayce's demon go beyond a simple Dispel Magic spell," he sighed. "It was a good thought, though."

Gauth grumbled into his palm and leaned heavily on the table.

"We'd need a damn unicorn at this rate," Bera mumbled. Hopefully, the other members of the Ceylon Seven did not also have soul-crushing secrets, because with her own, she was quickly hitting her limit for drama and despair.

Thankfully, that moment was interrupted by the aforementioned vegetable stew arriving at the table, and many tired minds were thankful for the distraction. Gauth was initially confused, as the broth smelled quite like meat, but he couldn't find any animal-based protein in the dish. The barman laughed and explained the whole thing was cooked in a chicken broth, and Gauth was surprised to learn that such a thing could be paired with anything other than the creature that made it.

Once the revelation was made, the food was quickly devoured, coats and gear were shed as they settled in, and they were all filled with the warmth and satiety that can only be provided by a hot meal. Of course, the meal was served with drinks, and as soon as tongues began to loosen, questions started flying. Jayce was inundated with questions about his past, including one by Zoe that asked for his real name.

Jayce scoffed. "Look, it ain't special. I ran away from the sanitorium, so I changed my name then, okay? Didn't want the fucker who knocked out my teeth to find me."

"Wait, that's it?" Jonathan asked. "You ran away from abuse? I thought you were on the run from the law or something."

Jayce shrugged. "We ain't all murderers n' theives, John. Speakin' of sordid pasts, what got ya kicked out from your family home in the first place?"

Jonathan rolled his eyes. "My headaches. Literally just my headaches. Father saw it as a weakness, and since he had already decided to focus his efforts on grooming Zoe, he kicked me to the curb."

"Asshole," Zoe spat.

"The Riddle family does not tolerate weakness!" Jonathan quoted in a mocking tone, his mug brandished high. As the others muttered pitying remarks, Jonathan glanced in the mug and frowned. "Argh. I'm out already."

"Careful," Jayce snickered. "We don't want ya declarin' yer 'undying' love' again. Poor Dahlia was mortified back in Turst."

Dahlia briefly choked and had to spit her own drink back in her mug.

"When did I do that?!" Jonathan gasped, mortified himself at that moment. Unfortunately, his sister had no plans for mercy.

"Remember the drinking game?" Zoe grinned.

Jonathan went red up to his ears as he realized what she was saying. "Uh, half of it…?"

"Well, that happened during the half you don't remember," she laughed.

"Oh gods, I'm so sorry," Jonathan said quickly, his hands grasping Dahlia's off the table out of habit. Immediately, she wrenched her hands out of his own and backhanded him across the face.

"Don't touch me!" she shrieked, her arms up to guard her face.

Jonathan recoiled, a hand against his injured cheek as Jayce pushed past him to tap Dahlia on the arm, just above the elbow. "But-! But you knew it was me! I was talking the whole time!"

"That doesn't mean I want to be touched!" Dahlia yelled.

The only thing that made Jonathan feel better in that moment was when Dahlia brushed Jayce away and stood up, stepping away from the table as she gripped her arms. He scoffed and rolled his eyes at the spectacle.

"And yet you give him, of all people, special treatment," Jonathan said out loud.

Jayce's jaw went tight as his eyes flared with anger. "Wanna try that again?" he hissed, his back still toward Jonathan.

"What? What about that offends you?" Jonathan growled, his own anger rising in that moment. "The fact that you weasled your way into her affections like some snake? Why do you get to hold her hand but I get slapped every time I try?!"

"John-!" Zoe tried to cut in, worried as she stood to leap around the table at a moment's notice.

"Because I treat her with respect, you numbskull spellspit!" Jayce yelled as he whirled on Jonathan. "I'm fuckin' tired of you claimin' you 'love her' when you all you do is treat her like some fuckin' doll!"

"Oh yeah? I bet you think you love her too!" Jonathan yelled back."You've deluded yourself into thinking you've fallen in love with her, but all you love is playing the goddamn hero, and she makes a damn convenient damsel in distress!"

Jayce exploded in blue-black flame and movement, lunging at Jonathan with a right hook as he roared in anger. The others lunged to intercept, furniture clattering as they raced to intervene.

Dahlia heard the world collapse around her. Screams of rage, splintering of wood, the sickening crack of a physical strike against flesh.

All about her. They were fighting over her. She caused this. All of this. They were going to hurt each other all because of her.

Run.

She had to get out. She had to leave. The only way to save them was to remove the problem. Her. She was the problem.

Run!

She already knew the shape of the room. There was a sound of a door opening. She chased it. The wood floor shifted to stone as the air became bitterly cold.

Run!