I turn to see Numen, her armour a little darkened at the edge. “I thought you went scouting.” I said. “It looks more like you had a close encounter.” I arched an eyebrow. “Though you look less rattled than I’d have expected.” When I’d been with Maria and Qen I couldn’t imagine them shrugging off the effects long enough to only be lightly scorched…

“It gets easier…” She said with a grimace. “I was a lot more cautious the first few times.” I folded my arms, leaning back to stare at her incredulously. “… What?” She asked, looking at me confused. I made a gesture with my arm.

“Who was it that was on my case about taking dangerous jobs alone?” I asked, arching an unseen eyebrow. She frowned. “Pot meet kettle I know.” I said sarcastically. “But still, why lecture me about it if you’re willing to do it yourself?” I said, unfolding my arms and giving a shrug.

She stared at me for a bit, frowning. “You… Ugh.” She rolled her eyes at me. “Who else could I possibly bring with me to scout? Frejr and Qent? Azarint?” I cocked my head, waiting for the last name. “… Alright, I could probably have brought Rince with me, and I did… the first two times.” She said. “Then he had to go deal with an ettin and we never caught each other again when we came back.”

“And that’s not safe at all is it?” I ask, then chuckle a little. “Haa, come back after so long and the first thing I do is bicker with you. Somehow refreshing, but I don’t think we’ve ever done this.” She shakes her head, still frowning. “Well then, what did you want to do? Or would you rather I tell you what I’ve been up to?” I said, straightening and grinning under the helm.

She shrugged, walking over to the board. “That’s the last of the scouting requests then Kia?” She asked. The girl nodded. “Well we could take this one…” She said, reaching over to tap on one of the requests. “Looks like a possible mother slime.” She said. “Not that we need two people for it.”

I laughed. “Why not? Are all the ettins and wyverns under control then?” I asked, walking over to take a look. “Huh, so they are, that’s good, nice to see we’re starting to get on top of things.”

“Most beasts just go to sleep or disappear for the winter, this mother slime is actually one Abyss of an exception… With Azarint offering weekly training the new ones are starting to get the hang of things, so the older ones can just take the serious jobs without worrying.” Numen said. “I’m also training some of the others in tracking and the like sometime this week…” She said. “Want to sit in? You could learn a thing or two.” She said with a laugh, taking the job off the board.

“Maybe I will.” I said with a chuckle, following her over to the counter. “So what else changed since I left?” I asked, leaning my back against the counter. “Cartography section, scouting jobs, training sessions…” I counted on my fingers. “You’ve all been busy…” I hold back a sigh. I understand why I feel like this, but… it’s not fair for anyone involved, my choices. Camaraderie huh? I thought to myself, thinking back to Alida and Loran. I guess I’ll leave a little of myself every time I leave.

We left for the wild, taking one of the exits south. “How did it go?” She asked me, once we were fully on the trail. She didn’t look back at me as she asked this, focusing on the trail ahead. I thought for a moment, wondering what exactly to say. Actually, there’s nothing that needs to be held back. I realize. Not like there’s anything that needs to be kept from her.

“I don’t really know, but from what I can tell, Cale has a handle on the situation. I had to leave before I could really see the results.” I said. “Apparently I was mistaken for an Edratchi.” I say, smirking. “So they dropped a weapon on me that was designed for Edratchi by the Aerathi, I survived, but the Aen is broken.” I continued.

“Your aether dagger?” Numen asked. “How does the Republic have access to an Aerathi weapon?” She asked, confused, turning to look at me. “You’re… not joking with me are you?” She asked, trying to search my face, though with the helm on… that wasn’t exactly effective.

“I’m not.” I say. “It seems to have been some kind of prototype for them. I don’t think they ever managed to get it portable though.” I explained. “I think we would’ve heard of it, if only in myth, if they had used it. Still, by that point it was clear I’d overstayed my welcome, so I came back here.”

“That’s one way of putting it…” Numen said. “You don’t think they’re going to send people after you do you?” She asked, worried. “If they hunt you like they did Cale…”

“No.” I said, shaking my head. “They only saw me without the armour, and never did I out myself as the Masked, not even to Cale’s friends.” I explained. “Thanks to that I think we’re pretty safe unless the Sensitive that mistook me for an Edratchi comes out personally to find me, and the chances of that are… slim.” I said. If anything I’d expect her to be afraid of me…

[Considering the circumstances, that’s not unreasonable.] Page noted. [Though something should also be said as to the sheer expanse she’d have to cover to find you, the Republic would likely never sponsor such a thing, you’re not a big enough threat weighed against her value.]

I agreed. In this world, in this time, it would be terribly easy to run away and assume a new identity in some other city, village or farm. Honestly this worked out pretty well for me, since I didn’t have form of identification whatsoever. Imagine if we didn’t have any of that in our world, nothing to prove where we’d come from or even that we were born. We’d basically be illegal immigrants, and in a way that was I was to even this world.

“If you say so.” Numen said, she didn’t sound fully convinced. “So what was the city like?” She asked. “You’re probably one of the few irregulars that actually went to the Republic. In recent memory anyway.” She said, as we continued.

“Well they sure didn’t seem to like us that much.” I said, telling her about the soldiers I met at the start. The threats they had made to me, and how the civilians avoided me. “Seems like deep rooted propaganda, though they would need to have been planning for a very… very… long time…” I thought aloud. “Otherwise… why expend the effort?”

“If you’re right, doesn’t that mean that they’ve had this plan for a very long time already?” She mused. “I’d expect it to take at least a generation. Guess they really were aiming for the long haul.”

At night the fire crackled, melting the snow around us. Numen had laid out a rolled piece of leather for us to sit on, keeping the melted slush from slipping in between her armour. “It’s really been a year already since the demons came…” She said, sighing. “Crazy isn’t it?” She said, pausing for a moment before following it up with a laugh. “Suddenly myths become true, we’re brushing shoulders with old tales.” She said, a wry smile in my direction. Her breath mists in the air.

“I guess so.” I said noncommittally. “I never expected to be meeting with dragons and fighting demons…” I said. “Though if the angels would hurry up and help end the war that would be nice…” I mumbled, leaning back onto the leather. She snorted, lying down.

“Well you’re one of those myths too aren’t you?” She said, a mischievous smirk on her face and a teasing tone to her voice. I sighed, rolling my eyes. “Come on, there’s no way you can say you’re normal.” I shrugged, fixing her with a tired smile.

“Fair enough I guess.” I said. “Though I’m still not whatever Seraph people keep calling me.” I remark.

“It’s not too bad.” She said. “The army’s doing pretty well. At least the demons can’t ignore the cold, the war is entering another lull, which is good news.” She turned onto her side. “Cale’s group is doing good, they’re coming across more and more groups thanks to the dragon, and the maps they’re making for us are pretty useful.” She said, smiling.

“That’s good. I’ll take first watch.” I said, rolling my shoulders and standing from the leather. “You should probably get some rest.” I heard a sigh. “Did you want it instead?” I asked, slightly confused, turning to face her. I supposed that they’d be more rested if they took first watch and only needed to wake up again when we needed to go…

“No, it’s fine.” She said, shifting herself so that she lay next to the fire. “Night.” She said.

The night passed quickly enough, The clouds kept me from keeping any kind of time at all, so I counted on myself, waiting for my eyes to start tiring before I went to wake her. I gently tapped her shoulder, rocking her awake. “Can’t really tell the time.” I said. “But I think it’s about right.”

She groaned a little, pulling herself upright. “Right.” She said, stringing up her bow and taking to the perimeter. I scraped the snow off the wood I was going to use as kindling, feeding it carefully to the fire. It flickered, and I fanned it, keeping it from going out. I shivered a little, looking to where Numen had passed into the forest. She wore a cloak and even had layers over the armour, but the cold was still biting, and I worried a little.

When we arrived, Numen walked over to the farmer. “We’re here about the slime mother.” She said, her posture slightly stiff, but more… warm, than before. “Has it attacked anyone on the farm?” She asked, and the farmer nodded, gesturing to one of the buildings. He said something I didn’t quite catch, but Numen nodded, saying something softly back.

When I caught up Numen told me that the slime was one of a hardier breed, using ice as a cover and as a weapon… “You seem to be a lot less stiff around other people now.” I remarked, as we moved into the forest. “What happened?”

“Err, Rince pointed it out to me…” Numen said. “Told me that I couldn’t exactly be taking these jobs if I couldn’t even talk to them. So… he gave me tips and advice. He… knew I cared, just wanted me to be able to show it to people.” She said.

I nodded, before realizing she wasn’t looking at me. “I see.” I said, following her deeper into the forest. Some of the trees had already lost their leaves, while a few evergreens towered above, shading us from the sun. “It’s… good.” I said, not sure how to respond to that.

She held up a hand, putting it against my chest and holding me back. “There, up ahead.” She said. The mother slime lay ahead. Ice crunched and shifted on its surface, refracting the cold white snow into fractured blue. Numen nocked an arrow, slotting a tube into a hole on the arrowhead. I watched, curious, as she loosed.

It slammed into the slime, and even at this distance, I heard the distinctive crunch of glass shattering. The slime shuddered, rolling in our direction. Numen grabbed my hand and pulled me away, as we began to lead it in circles throughout the forest. Occasionally ice shards were flung in our direction, but eventually the slime stilled, and collapsed on itself.