Johanna let out a chuckle without mirth. “Oh really.”

Think. How to get everyone out of this safely? Turn back time and warn Shark? No, that wouldn’t stop the Ghurians from coming to the village in the first place. It was evident that both sides in the war had become desperate enough to try hunting down Juncture magic. One option, then, was to convince this Ghurian that the best move was to leave quietly without conflict.

“Why don’t we settle down and have some tea, first of all?” Dorothea asked, trying to stall for time.

“No games,” Johanna snapped. “You come with me or you die.” She grinned again. “I know what I’d choose.”

Now. She was so confident, so Dorothea would try to knock her off her game immediately. “There are Sacerian soldiers on their way to this very location right now,” Dorothea stated, and Johanna jumped and hesitated, flustered. Now to try and wear her down just a little more. If only she wouldn’t call the lie, please, please…

“Come again?” Johanna’s head tilted in a jerk.

“I travelled back in time and asked them to come at this very moment. They’ll be here quite soon.” Dorothea folded her hands and forced herself not to tremble with fear.

Johanna bent over her, and Dorothea shivered involuntarily from her looming presence. “Hm. Lying.”

“Testing me?” Dorothea could barely breathe, but she glared upwards. “I could always use my power to do more damage than that. Like perhaps preventing your birth? You never know with us types.” A feat like that would be impossible for her, but this intruder didn’t know that.

“Hmmm. Ahaha… I see now.” Johanna straightened back to her cowing full height. “Wow. I hate you so much.”

“So your feelings towards me haven’t changed at all since this conversation started.”

Johanna clicked her tongue. “I’m an experienced soldier. Seriously, what’s to stop me from slaughtering you here and now? It would be as simple as wiggling my toe.”

Now she was the one bluffing. There was no way Johanna could say that and mean it with both Shark and Cerid there. “And it’s worth the risk to you? The second I see you move anywhere but straight back where you came from, I do damage you won’t be able to prevent. It’s your choice,” Dorothea said quietly. “Please. Leave. I don’t want to have to hurt anyone.”

“Ahaha…” The laugh had changed. Rather than scaling up in pitch with terrifying glee as it progressed, it now fell downwards in defeat. “Hm… Okay. So, today, I’ll go. But whatever you do, no matter what you reverse or where you go or whatever, more soldiers will come. You’re just one person. You won’t be able to stop everything on your own every single time.”

Dorothea pursed her lips and chose to say nothing. It was a painfully true statement, but retorting now wouldn’t be the best idea.

Johanna took a few steps backward and, in clear petty revenge, planted a sharp kick to Dorothea’s knee, sending her sprawling onto the snow. With that, she made her retreat.

“Just let her go!” she ordered as Shark moved to pursue. “We’ve got more important things to worry about now.” She counted herself lucky to have escaped with only this much.

“You have to be more careful!” Shark exclaimed as they put an arm around her for support. “You can’t heal yourself like you can others!”

“I’m sorry. But we’re all alright. That’s what matters.”

Shark let out a heavy exhale and let her extricate herself. “Sorry. I’m on edge.” They smiled back when Dorothea offered an understanding smile of her own.

“You cannot heal yourself?” Cerid asked, looking between them with confusion.

“Again, it’s not important. We should hurry. We need to get to Sacer and get aid right now.” Dorothea paused. “Hey, Shark? The Ghurians that you’ve met before, what were they like?”

“Dead.”

“Ah.” She looked to Cerid, and he nodded in vague agreement. It shouldn’t have surprised her, but the calm way they confirmed the reality was chilling.

To reach Sacer, they would have to go all the way down the mountain path and travel eastward; Ghuria would be found to the west. For Cerid’s fallen comrades to be revived, they would have to take a westward detour and get precariously close to the border between Sacer and Ghuria. That, however, would wait until contact was established in Sacer.

It would take mere hours to reach their destination in Sacer. For ease of trading and so as not to deter incoming refugees, the village of Equin had been constructed very close to the border between Sacer and Sirpo. Greater distance from Ghuria was due to their lack of offerings in terms of trade, though a path had also been constructed to help guide Ghurians from their territory to the neutral village. Here and now, Dorothea was thankful for the thinking of those early builders. The faster she could ingratiate herself enough to secure an alliance with the Sacerians, the better it would be for the people of Sirpo. She still wasn’t keen on owing another sect any favors, but the Ghurians’ threats hadn’t offered much of a choice.

After less than one hour of walking through Sacerian lands, Dorothea was a complete mess. Sweat beaded profusely on her upper lip; her thighs felt seared from rubbing together, and her shirt stuck, slicked, to her back and armpits. She tied her jacket around her waist, and Shark snickered at the dampness of sweat forming ink blot shapes on her back.

“Good old Sacerian summers,” they said gleefully.

“You act as if you look any better than I do,” Dorothea muttered.

“Not once did I claim not to be suffering right now.”

“I have always thought it easier to deal with cold than heat,” Cerid supplied. “You may layer against the cold but are permitted only to strip down so far against the heat.”

“I take that as a challenge,” Shark declared.

“Don’t you dare!” Dorothea chided.

After another two hours and some, a structure came into sight. “Welcome to Springen,” Cerid said, speaking in a formal tone. “The largest settlement in Sacer and home to several of its elite family lines.”

“My former home,” Shark murmured.

“Elite, huh?” Dorothea echoed, nervous now that they were so close. She stopped and gave Cerid a questioning glance when he held up a finger, signalling them to wait. That was when she heard voices, two distinct ones saying…well, strange words.

“And whaddya think about that, huh?!” A woman’s voice, presumably, triumphant and chipper.

“About what, exactly? You lost me roughly ten minutes ago.” A male voice, tired.

“What? Why didn’t you tell me you weren’t listening?!”

“I tried. You told me not to interrupt you.”

“Did I?”

“You don’t even remember. I see…” The tired voice had an air of friendly teasing now.

“Come on, don’t be like that. I genuinely want your opinion.”

“You dragged me out here for what you said was a necessary private conversation, monologued about what kind of underwear you might want to buy, I think, unless this whole day has been nothing more than a hallucination, which I kind of hope it has been, and now you want my opinion? It’s hardly my business.”

“It could be your business again.” The words were filled with laughter but still seemed serious at their core.

“That was one time and one time only.” Here, there was a faint edge of mixed anger and embarrassment.

“Excuse me!” Cerid burst from the trees. The woman screeched, and a sphere of flame bloomed in her palm before she hurled it at his head. The male that she had apparently been quizzing on the topic of undergarments lifted his hand, and the flame was enveloped and quashed by water. A sphere of it appeared from the air and ate the fire before it dropped to the earth and soaked in with a little plip. “G-Good day, Commander Nobelis, Captain Tamlin…” Cerid wheezed as he pressed a hand to his heart.

Dorothea and Shark glanced at one another and silently agreed to stay hidden in the treeline to see how this played out.