The object left behind by Arrogante is bright, mysterious, and new, as well as a potential offering to Din - but it's just a thing. Briar is a person, she is your friend, and she is obviously very upset about what just happened. Much as you refused to abandon the battle against the mutant squid because it threatened Briar, you now refuse to abandon Briar in favor of some shiny nickel.

Gained Protective F-

Making a brief gesture of acknowledgement to your weary flesh, you carefully steer Briar over to the nearest rock and sit yourself down on it. You spend the next several minutes very carefully holding Briar with one hand - really just pressing lightly against her back with one finger, the closest gesture to a hug you can manage, what with her being so tiny - and murmuring reassurances while she sobs. It's the first time in your life that anybody has cried on your shoulder - so to speak - and it would terribly awkward even if the person in question wasn't a girl. You want to run for the hills, you want your Mom here to tell you what you're supposed to do, and you even want Arrogante to come back to life so you can kill it all over again.

Mostly, though, you just want Briar to stop crying. And eventually, she does.

"S-sorry," the fairy whispers in a shamed tone.

"As long as you're not hurt, it's okay." You pause. "You are not hurt, right?"

"I-I'm fine."

"Then it's okay."

You sit there like that, silent, watching the stars, for quite some time. Then Briar giggles.

"You're waiting for me to t-talk again, aren't you?"

"Only if you want to, Briar."

She wants to. Slowly, Briar explains how she went looking for magical traces of Faerie after she left you to practice Japanese with Cordelia that afternoon. While she did find magic, it was just more of the sorts of things she'd spotted earlier - shamans, nature spirits, another weak demonic presence - nothing specific to the creatures of Faerie. Then twilight fell, something went "ping" on Briar's magical radar, and she chased the signal down to the cove.

"Twilight on a shore," she says. "A time neither day nor night, a place neither land nor sea nor sky. A natural in-between, like Faerie itself. Perfect for making contact." There is a small snort. "Stupid me, forgetting that Faerie isn't the only in-between place out there."

"I take it that means our unfriendly neighborhood octopus wasn't from Faerie?"

"No. It wasn't a native being, either - though you might have guessed that from the way it turned into sparkles when you killed it."

"That was kind of a giveaway," you agree. "What was it, then?"

"Somebody's idea of a watchdog." Briar points towards the stone where you originally spotted her. "There's a summoning circle carved into the top of that thing, the sort wizards use when they're going for the big formal deals. Actually, this whole place is technically a circle - one naturally-occuring ring of earth and stone around a natural ring of water. Light some torches on top of the other rocks, and you've got two artifical circles to balance the natural ones, plus the presence of all four basic material elements. Pretty sweet deal." She sniffles. "Anyway, the magic trace I picked up was coming from the inscribed circle, so I flew over to take a look. It took me a bit to decipher the runes in the circle, but once I saw that it wasn't set up to contact Faerie, I turned to leave. That's when Suckerface popped up and took a swing at me. It missed, but got enough saltwater in my wings that I couldn't stay in flight. I f-figured that was it for me, but as soon as I fell back into the circle, ugly stopped trying to catch me. I figured its master must have trained it not to risk damage to the circle, so all I had to do to get away was wait for my wings to dry out and stop stinging, then fly straight up at top speed 'till I was out of Grabby McTentacles' reach." Briar gulps. "Th-then you showed up. H-how'd you know I was in trouble?"

"I couldn't sleep," you reply. "I decided to test out my magic, to see if the new environment had any interesting effects on it, and I was just settling into a trance when I heard you call for help."

"Must have been when ugly knocked me out of the air," Briar muses. "Y-you really heard me? All that way?"

"Yes," you respond slowly, puzzled by the fairy's tone. "I take it that's unusual?"

"...maybe," Briar says evasively. "We can talk about it some other time."

"Briar-"

"Alex," she says seriously, "you did hear me when I said that thing was somebody's watchdog, didn't you? I really don't think we want to be hanging around when that somebody notices their pet is dead and comes looking for answers."

"Fair point," you admit, standing up. "Just let me- whoa. Head rush. A-and leg cramp," you add, dropping to one knee as that leg goes painfully tight.

Briar hisses and zips away from you about a foot, giving herself enough room to see the state you're in. "You're still hurt? Alex, you dummy, why didn't you tell me before?"

"You were upset. Didn't want to make it worse."

"Oh, and finding out this way makes me feel so much better!" the fairy growls, hovering higher. "Hold still."

She begins to spiral around you, releasing a trail of sparkling rose-colored powder. As the "pixie dust" dismissed by Earth's mystical community as a mere aid to divination and transformation spells settles onto your skin, your injuries rapidly recede, until you feel fully restored. Physically restored, at least; your magic is still down to the last dregs. Interestingly, your ki aura is also replenished. That implies fairy healing affects the soul as well as the body, at least on a short-term level. You did not know that, and it makes you wonder about Link, the young boy whose various incarnations were able to match Ganondorf's seemingly overwhelming physical strength.

Well, a thought for another time. "Thanks, Briar," you say, standing up.

"Can we get out of here, now?"

"Just a second." You hurry over to the glowing object in the sand, and crouch down to retrive it.

It's a heart. More precisely, it's a large crystal carved in the stylized shape of a heart, transparent and sparkling on the exterior, with a heart-shaped core of bright red.

You know what this is. Despite its childish appearance, the item represents the core of Arrogante's essence. By claiming it as your own, you could absorb a measure of the monster' vitality, strengthening your body for future battles. With the correct rituals, you could instead steal some of the squid's abilities for your own use, or even revivify Arrogante itself as your servant. Or you could heed Briar's earlier advice and keep the crystal aside for later sacrifice to Din. Whatever your choice, you can only pick one option.

Choose wisely.