Trace was different than she expected. After showing everyone where the baths were, he simply left. There was more than enough to have everyone in their own, with some people opting to share. Raine and Richard went into the same bathhouse, as well as the Basitin called Keith, and one of the forest wolves who called herself Natani. A strange mixed Keidran named Kathrine had offered to take Haelith's bags, and to clean off all the muck and blood. She was hesitant, but eventually she gave over most of her belongings, keeping the green silk dress Aidu had given her. She hadn't worn it yet, afraid it would get damaged on the journey, but now she didn't have to worry about it getting caught on a tree. She was secretly very happy to have a roof over her head. It reminded her of Brundt's manor, but his wasn't anywhere close to this large and fancy. After sufficiently washing off, she felt a bit bad, as the water that was once clear had become stained with mud, dirt, bits of stone and wood, and blood. Lots of blood. She hadn't realized just how much blood had actually stuck to her over the course of the day.

Dried off, she waited for someone, anyone else to be done. She felt like she had stepped into a different world suddenly, she didn't know anything about this place. But she didn't expect… him. And he clearly wasn't expecting her. "Wow, you- that's- uh…" Barret managed to say, blushing. His face had changed from black and silver to bright red, and he turned away, embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I- I've never seen…" He sighed. "You look… wonderful."

Haelith was likewise bashful. He had cleaned off all the dirt and smoke from his scales, and they gleamed in the light. He no longer wore his ranger's gear, but was dressed in a fine white shirt and black pants. "You look good too." They stood in silence for a moment, neither one really sure what to say next. Keith and Natani opened the door and walked out before either could say another word.

"You look weird." Natani said, smiling. "You haven't worn any of your nice shirts since the… well, it's been a while. Looks good on you."

"Thanks." He managed to squeak out. Keith and Natani glanced at each other and smirked.

"Come on, Kat made coffee. We should catch everyone up." Keith said, pulling Natani along, who had fallen into a fit of giggles. The four of them walked through the house, where they found Trace, Flora, and Kathrine waiting in the living room.

"Barret! You got dressed up." Flora said, smiling. "Oh my goodness, I love that dress!" She stood up and bounced over to Haelith excitedly. Trace stood up and walked over to Haelith as well, who took a step back.

"I don't know you. You clearly know who I am though. And… I'm sorry. I have no memory of anything before last summer. Whatever I've done to you, I hope you can forgive me."

"I will not forgive you yet. Whether you have truly changed has yet to be seen." With that, she strode past him, and sat down as far away as she could. Trace frowned, but accepted this, also returning to his seat. Slowly, guests arrived. Eric was the last to show up, and told them Mike and Evals were already asleep, but they had also been working all day to patch the last few holes in the Oasis room.

"It's been a while since we were all here." Richard started. "I can see you've been busy." he eyed Barret.

"Yeah, and last I knew you were expecting Flora, where's the little one?" Sythe asked, glancing around.

"It's a long story…" Trace told them. He started slow, with them traveling east, seeing the front lines of combat start forming, meeting Barret, arriving, being ambushed, and fleeing Lyn'Knoll, the journey over the mountains, the blizzard, the loss of the child, the execution of Barret's parents, the trip back west, Mount Tanji and the Sentinel. Where his memory failed, someone else would remember. It was hard to talk about some parts, and they left out most of the small details, but they didn't need to know everything that happened. The eight listened in anticipation, even Haelith was interested. As she listened, she slowly realized that he had really changed. Trace was not the man she knew. "…and this morning we woke up to Edinmire burning. We had to do something. So we did, and you know the rest." Trace finally finished. They had listened with baited breath, hanging on every word that was said. Barret didn't speak much, he seemed too uncomfortable with so many people listening to him, and he tried to not look at Haelith, who listened most closely when he spoke.

"Wow, so you've really not had any chance to slow down for three months." Raine said, leaning on Richard. "I thought we had it rough."

"About that… Your turn. Where did you go? What did you do, why are you back, and how did you meet…" Trace looked over and everyone could see him racking his memory. "…nope. Not even sure if you've told me your name yet."

Raine smiled. "This is Haelith. Like you said, it's a long story." Just as Trace had done, she began, and where her memory failed, someone else would pick up. When they got to the more… sensitive things, they glanced at Lynn, who would only tell so much, and they left out everything about Aruhn. Leaving the estate, traveling west, the blockades and patrols, their first look at the factories, the Westward Gate, Aidu, meeting Haelith, them learning about the Master Spy, and the trip back. It was much shorter, as they left out many things that Lynn had told them to not tell anyone about. Haelith was likewise curious, as she hadn't heard about some of the things they did before she showed up. "…compared to what you all went through, our trip was a breeze. At least we weren't constantly at risk of dying to assassins."

"That we know of!" Karen said, way too cheerfully. Maren had been silent, and glared at Trace almost the whole time. He knew he would have to deal with that, sooner rather than later. Beside her, Haelith listened, speaking only a few times close to the end. She seemed to know the group pretty well, despite only meeting them a few weeks prior.

"Yeah, but you've still dealt with a lot." Flora said, frowning.

"Still dealing with a lot." Red said. "I though we had left the war behind, but then it followed us here. Or we followed it?"

"Either way, you showed up in the nick of time. If it hadn't been for you and Maddie, we would have been overwhelmed." Keith said. "I was getting worn down. Heck, I'm still sore. Not bleeding anymore, I think, but I am very sore. I don't think I could have withstood much more." He leaned on Natani. Both had bandages on their arms and chest, stained with old blood.

"And you have done well." Lynn said. "The King would be proud of you." Keith smiled. Coming from Lynn, that was a very high compliment indeed. "It is after midnight, however. It has been a pleasure to chat, but I have quite a bit of paperwork to finish by morning, so I bid you all good night."

"Bed actually sounds like a wonderful idea." Flora said, yawning.

Eric looked down at Kathrine, who had fallen asleep on his lap almost an hour ago. "Poor Kat, she's been so worried all day, and she's always the first one up. We should all get some sleep, though I suspect bed is not an option for me tonight."