Haemon could hear Cayden and Ryker arguing from his vantage point at the top of one of the high buildings he was sitting atop. After prowling around the area, careful to keep himself near enough to be able to find his way back, he had climbed up one of the higher buildings that was nearly as tall as the foundation their new home was sitting. He had been surveying the area from him, able to distinguish old pathways through the rubble. Faintly, he could hear the rise of an argument from his two friends from where he suspected they were on the foundation. The days had passed slowly. Rania had contented herself with resting as any time she attempted to help either in shifting things around or preparing food, she was quickly reprimanded. Haemon could tell that she was getting annoyed by constantly being told to sit down.

“You should just rest,” Ryker had told her gently only the previous night. “I can take care of this.” He gestured towards the carrots he had been cutting up. Haemon glanced quickly at Rania, having felt her ire only earlier that day when the two of them had gotten into a dispute over cleaning the fire pit.

“It is just carrots,” she said, holding one. “It is not as though cutting carrots will exhaust me.”

“I think I should just do it...”

“I am quite sure I can handle it.”

“I’m sure you can, but I’d really prefer you to be resting.”

This perhaps had been too much for Rania because she abruptly snapped, “Why do I need rest from cutting a carrot?” Ryker winced. He had yet to experience the full force of her attitude, as he had mostly been avoiding getting into possible quarrels with her. “Just hand me the knife and let me do something for once.” She thrust her hand out insistently, her eyes narrowing into a glare.

Clasping the knife a bit more tightly, he shook his head. “No, I’m sorry, but you might hurt your arm.”

“By all the gods! How could using a knife hurt my arm?” The explosion was sudden and she was suddenly brandishing the carrot in her good hand as though it were a weapon. Cayden, who had just made to move into the room, heard the exclamation and immediately turned away back into the main hall. Ryker seemed to steel himself against the onslaught of her temper, although Haemon could see the unease in his eyes. “Hand it over.”

“No,” Ryker said quite simply.

“I will not repeat myself. Let me help.”

“You can help by staying out of the way.”

Haemon closed his eyes in a grimace and the silence that fell over the room seemed to spell doom. For a long moment, neither of them said anything and Haemon forced himself to look up from the spices he had been determinedly grinding. Rania was standing above Ryker, grasping the carrot a bit too tightly he noticed, staring at him with a flat expression. Ryker was looking back at her, but he seemed to be wavering the longer their gazes were locked. Without warning, Rania threw the carrot on the wooden table he was working on, sending bits of carrots flying. Ryker flinched and his reaction seemed to give her a grim sort of amusement as a brief smile flickered across her lips. She swung away and left the room in silence. After she had gone, Ryker had released a long sigh, relaxing somewhat in his seat.

Haemon felt himself smile at the memory as he returned to the present. Rania was unaccustomed to allowing people to do the work around her. It was clear that her lack of control was being chiseled at the longer she was forced to rest. He certainly felt frustrated and more than a little irritated whenever she deemed it time to start such an argument with him (and he tended to be her favorite target), but when he reflected on it, he found it more amusing than anything. Rania was usually quite good at mastering her emotions, giving her the sense of being devoid of them at times. This new situation had made her appear more human and less able to control her frustrations outside of combat. Haemon was well able to sympathize with her, forced to stay underground in the city while Cayden and Ryker went above ground. Even a moment of time above the city would have been welcome, just enough to give him a sense that he was not trapped in this place. In spite of the wide open space, he was beginning to feel claustrophobic.

He heard the sounds of his friends’ voices die down and it was quiet once again. Haemon sat for some time longer after the silence had settled over him, musing over whether he should not do some exploring in the area some time soon. If not for his fear of being unable to find his way back, he would have done so sooner.

“There you are.” Haemon glanced down to see Rania standing below him and could not help a wry smile, suspecting that she was the reason the other two had been arguing. She had her injured arm hanging in a makeshift sling to prevent damaging it further. “Have you found anything interesting yet?” She had to call up to him so that he could even hear her.

“Hold on,” he called back and made his way carefully down the length of the building. She stood patiently, watching him climb his way down the massive structure. He jumped down to a smaller building beside it and then slid off it to land between the two. He came to stand beside her, sighing, “Not much of anything that I’ve found interesting. I’d like to do some exploring, but I’m afraid I’d get lost. Dying in the middle of an ancient ruin isn’t my idea of a proper death.”

“I suppose dying in battle would be your idea of a proper death?”

“Or stealing from a lord,” he said with a smile. She chuckled at his comment, shaking her head slightly. “I think it has a pretty good feel to it – dying from something that I’ve done all my life.”

“In that sense, it would be more shameful than proper,” she pointed out.

“Ah, good point,” he said with a nod. “I’ll be satisfied with dying in battle, then. But, let’s move on, yeah? What are you doing wandering around out here?”

“I offered to come find you. Something interesting has happened.”

Haemon raised his eyebrows. “What is that?”

She smiled. “Come back up and you will see.”

He obliged her by following her back home. The fact that Cayden and Ryker had allowed her to get him was indicative as to the enormity of whatever interesting event had occurred. As they walked, he glanced around thoughtfully. Not for the first time, he noticed that the city seemed to light itself in spite of the darkness. It was nothing apparent, really, but as though something was glowing in the stones, keeping it at just the right amount of light to allow one to see things. The areas further away seemed darker, but he was sure that he would be able to see just as well if he went there. It was unnerving and part of him wondered if the light followed their lifeblood. If that were so, he wondered what the cities would have looked like when they were fully occupied. He dismissed this thought as they walked up the stairs of the foundation, unwilling to consider it too deeply.

“Oh, you found him,” Ryker remarked. He and Cayden were standing a few buildings down from the staircase. Cayden’s eyebrows were bunched together in confusion and he barely glanced at them as they met up with the other two.

“What’s going on?”

“We’ve got another visitor in our home. It’s just...a little odd.” Haemon’s face must have exposed the spark of alarm that he felt. “It’s not an actual person or anything bad, it...well, just look for yourself.” He turned and pointed to the top of the building. At first, Haemon had no conception of what Ryker was pointing at, staring at the façade in confusion. Then, upon noticing green foliage spilling out over the top of the building, he looked more closely. He gaped at the massive tree that had seemed to miraculously grow within a moment. It was clear that it had shot straight through the hole in the building and had grown over the stone, looking lush and serene.

“You should see the inside,” Rania spoke up next to him. “It’s really magnificent.”

Haemon glanced at her, realizing that she seemed rather pleased with the manifestation. He hesitated a moment and then moved towards the building, walking a bit fast in his anxiety to see what it was that it looked like inside. When he stepped in, he felt as though he had walked into an entirely different building. It was clear then why the building had been constructed with an empty middle. The tree filled the entire middle of the building, vines crept up along the walls and roots struck up in the bottom-most floor. Somehow, a pool of water had filled up to just where the small set of stairs began. Haemon tipped his head back to stare up the length of the tree. Branches jutted out and seemed to support the stone floors, the green spreading out over the length of the building. It smelled fresh inside the building, rather than musty as it had when they first arrived. There was a peaceful, relaxing feel that seemed to permeate the air and sink into the occupant’s very bones.

At last, Haemon turned away from it to look at the other three. Rania seemed entirely unbothered by the sudden arrival of their piece of nature, but Ryker and Cayden both looked uncomfortable. “Well,” Haemon cleared his throat, “it’s really something.”

“But what the hell is it doing here?” Cayden demanded, gesturing towards the tree, eyeing it suspiciously. “Trees don’t just pop out of nowhere.”

“They obviously planned for it, though,” Haemon told him, skimming the interior with another glance. “We don’t understand the type of magic they used down here, either...but it makes you wonder...” He turned his gaze back to Rania. “Do you think it could have reacted to people being here?”

“It would make the most sense, would it not?” she said after a moment’s consideration. “You can tell that the city has some sort of built-in magical mechanisms that allow certain things to flourish. It never goes pitch black and now there is this tree.”

“But that was never the case with the thieves,” Cayden said, pursing his lips. “We always had to carry torches and we never had trees springing up.”

“You never mentioned that since we’ve been here,” Haemon said, raising an eyebrow.

“There was no point to it. I assumed that since we were in a different area, it might have been lit up or our eyes had adjusted.”

They fell silent, lost in their respective thoughts. Haemon turned his gaze towards Rania, who was frowning thoughtfully as she eyed the tree up and down. He caught a flash of her jewel in her gauntlet and a thought passed through his mind briefly. He caught hold of it before it moved too quickly and then snapped his fingers, catching everyone’s attention. “The magic,” he said, pointing at Rania. She cast him a wary look and he saw her move her wrist so that her jewel was hidden. Puzzled by the movement, he continued, “None of the thieves possessed any magic abilities, right? Then it must be that. The ancient elves were sure to have possessed magic when they lived here.”

“I suppose,” Cayden grunted, casting a sidelong glance towards Rania. “It would make sense.”

“Hopefully nothing else is triggered by it,” she said. She flashed a small smile and then turned away from them, walking away from the scene. Haemon raised an eyebrow in surprise at her sudden dismissal of the conversation. Rather than pursuing her, however, he allowed her to leave and turned back to look at the tree.

What other kind of things were they capable of, I wonder? he mused.

Later, Haemon had wandered around the buildings some more and when he went back inside their home, it was suspiciously quiet. When he entered where Ryker and Cayden were cooking, he saw that their female companion was missing. Before he was even able to ask, Ryker nodded up to the ceiling. “I saw her go walking to the next floor. I’m not sure what she’s doing.”

“Something that will hurt her arm, I’m sure,” Haemon grumbled. “I’ll go get her.” It was clear that neither Cayden nor Ryker had the energy to try to fight with her that night after the incident with the tree. He left the warm interior of the room and picked his way carefully to the stairs, keeping his eye on the tree. He knew it was ridiculous to think that the tree could do anything to him, but that did not seem to ease his mind any. He made his way up the stairs to the second floor and peered around, frowning. It was still dark inside the building in the uninhabited areas. He could not fathom why Rania would feel the need to come up here.

He continued around the second floor, calling into rooms and staring into them to catch any sign of movement. The tree was spanning over the second floor in parts, forcing him to wriggle his way through branches. He would have liked to think that Rania would have enough common sense to not go this far, but he was unsure of her reasons for being on this floor in the first place. After he had gone around the entire second floor, he was convinced she was not there and made his way back to the staircase. He paused as he was about to go down the staircase, spotting some movement on a branch. Frowning, he moved back and saw that Rania was perched on a branch, cradling her bad arm against her chest. Haemon glanced around and then went to one of the overhanging branches and stepped on it, testing the strength, and then balanced upon it, moving to the center of the tree. “Rania?” he called softly, stepping nimbly onto another branch, crouching on it and squinting.

“I am here,” she responded in such a subdued tone that a hint of alarm struck through him. He made his way to her branch and she smiled slightly when he came upon the branch beside hers.

“Are you okay?”

“I hurt my arm a bit.”

“I’m not surprised,” he petulantly stated, bracing a foot on her thick, sturdy branch and then pushing himself onto it, steadying his balance before kneeling beside her. “What did you do?”

“I used it to grab at a branch on accident. The muscles do not seem to be quite ready for that yet.” Haemon frowned. She seemed paler in the dark and her voice was quieter. He was worried that she had hurt herself worse than she thought. He would likely be able to get them back to the second floor if he carried her, but he was a little worried about losing his balance on accident and sending them both falling to the ground. “No need to look so concerned, Haemon, I am fine. I just needed to rest.”

“What made you want to come up here anyway?” he demanded brusquely. He winced at his own tone; Rania merely stared at him interestedly.

“It felt less like being stuck underground and more like being outside in a forest.” She sighed. “I wear of being here. I know that it is necessary, but I need some fresh air. I feel suffocated down here.”

“You’re not the only one.” He hesitated and then sat next to her. He held his hand out and she glanced at him before holding out her bad arm. He unclasped her gauntlet and set it between them, pushing her sleeve up. Her arm looked in much better condition than it had lately, but he was certain that the muscle was still healing beneath the surface. Very carefully, he ran his fingertips over her arm and as he applied pressure, he heard her in take a sharp breath of pain. “You need to be more mindful otherwise this won’t heal well,” he told her, frowning as he gently massaged a spot on her arm.

“If you three would let me do something besides sit around, I might not take these kinds of risks,” she retorted.

“Like cut carrots?” he suggested dryly, looking up at her from beneath his reddish fringe. Her eyes narrowed irritably on him. He chuckled and dropped his gaze back to her arm. Her skin was smooth and pale in spite of being a warrior. Unlike him, she did not seem to be riddled with scars. “It’s for your own good. You know that.” She was silent for such a long time that he flicked a look up to her. There was an unreadable expression upon her face. When their gazes locked, her mouth twisted and she looked away.

“I am not accustomed to being taken care of.”

Haemon surveyed her profile and a corner of his mouth edged upward. He rolled her sleeve back down and leaned away from her, heaving a sigh. “Yeah, I know. Trust me. But do me a favor, would you? Just deal with it for a while, yeah? You can depend on us, even if it’s just for this small amount of time.” He could see her grimace and then looked to him dubiously.

“And you will depend on me?” she asked cautiously. His eyebrows rose slightly.

“We already are, aren’t we?” Before she could respond, he raised a hand, palm outward to halt any words she might say. “Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate your help, but I think the guys would like for you to be willing to ask for help more. It makes you seem a little less remote, a little more feminine.”

“And you?”

“What of me?”

“What is your opinion on that? Would you like that of me, too?”

“I really don’t care either way.” He shrugged. “I’m used to you by now, especially with you picking fights with me every day.”

“I have done no such thing,” she stated in a mocking tone. “I have simply been honest.”

“Honest,” he snorted. “That’s one word for it! Demanding you get to clean a fire pit or go out hunting for supplies is not being honest, it’s being difficult.” Rania scowled at the description, but fell silent, unable to deny the truth of his words. They were silent for some time and then Haemon sighed, rubbing his neck as he glanced behind him at the branches. “Come on, I’ll carry you back to the floor.” Rania raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Don’t look that way. Come on, get on my back. I’ll hold you up.”

“I am not so sure...” She looked at the branches. It wasn’t really that far from here to the second floor landing, but her entirely expression revealed that she did not entirely trust Haemon’s ability to cart her while balancing.

Laughing at her, he got to his feet and then crouched, facing his back to her. “I promise you I am more than able to get us there safely as long as I’m careful.” He met her gaze over his shoulder and waved impatiently. She released a small breath and after clasping her gauntlet over her healing arm, she obliged. He stood up, holding her legs on either side of his back. He felt her one good hand on his shoulder, bracing herself. She was light and when he stepped from branch to branch, he knew he would not drop her. Admittedly, it was a little awkward having her warm body pressed against his. He could feel her soft hair on his neck, spilling over onto his hand. When he landed on the second floor, he was glad to allow her to slip away from him, although his back felt strangely cool. He turned, keeping a hand on her elbow. “Are you okay to walk?”

“I should be fine,” she assured him, smiling. “Thank you.”

Haemon silently followed her as she led the way to the staircase, unnerved by his own preoccupation with her earlier body warmth.

Rania stepped into the cool pond of water, ignoring the shiver that ran up to her spine. Once she was submerged to her waist, she knew that this was as deep as the water would be. She continued moving forward, her hands brushing against the water. She came to the tree and laid a hand on it, closing her eyes and releasing a soft sigh, smiling to herself. She had known as soon as the tree had arrived that it had been due to her presence rather than anything to do with the presence of humans. Cayden was far too sharp or suspicious to accept that explanation. She could feel the thrum of ancient magic and she could feel the lifeblood of the tree call to her own. Whatever arts her people had used to develop some of the natural elements in this underground city were unknown to her. When she had seen the decrepit city, she had known that there was something else that had contributed to the ruins.

Rania opened her eyes and tilted her head back, gazing up at the towering structure. It was clear that Nature had dominated over the stone structures and the ancient elves had created them with the trees and other components in mind. She knew too well how her people cherished Nature and their relationship to it and had found the underground cities odd and out of place in what she knew of her people. She lowered her head and leaned forward, resting her cheek against the rough bark of the tree. When she closed her eyes, she could recall the sounds of the forest around her, the feel of moss beneath her fingertips, and the sweet perfume of flowers floating in the air. Faintly, she could see hear her mother’s footsteps in her mind. Rania quickly pulled away from the tree and the image vanished from her mind as she looked around at the ancient building. There was no comfort to be found here.

Slowly, she moved away from the tree, wading through the pool of water. As she was nearing the edge, she heard footsteps and paused, looking up. Haemon had returned from his restless search around the area and she spotted a familiar male behind him. It was clear by the tension in Haemon’s shoulders that some conversation had occurred between him and his companion. Kethren, however, looked as impassive as always and merely inclined his head when he spotted Rania. “I was wondering when you were going to come check up on me,” she remarked, stepping up and out of the water. She was conscious of her dark tunic dripping on the floor and wrung out some of the water with her good hand.

“I wanted to give you enough time to heal. It seems that you have all been left undisturbed from what Haemon tells me,” Kethren said, glancing at the bandit. Rania raised her eyebrows, noticing Haemon shoot a dark look towards the elven man.

“Yes...,” she slowly said.

“If you do not mind taking a walk with me? I promised I would help you train and there are a few ideas I have in mind. I would like to check your arm, too.”

“Don’t worry,” Haemon interrupted, raising a hand, an annoyed expression crossing his features. “I’m going back out anyway. Stay here and rest.” Before Kethren was given a chance to answer, he turned and left the building with a swift pace. Rania watched him, puzzled, before turning to look at Kethren questioningly.

“He does not seem to like me very much, does he?” Kethren remarked in a wholly unbothered manner. He gestured for her to sit at one of the stone benches. She settled on one and he pulled her sleeve away after removing her gauntlet. His hand hovered over her arm and she could feel the gentle prods of his magic beneath her skin. Rania turned away from him as he worked, looking back at where Haemon had exited. She knew him to be temperamental when it came to strangers, but his attitude towards Kethren was unusually aggressive, even for him. She suspected that Kethren had said something to provoke him. Kethren did not approve of her human companions and she imagined that he would make that clear to Haemon, the leader of the trio of bandits. “You have healed very well,” Kethren said at last, drawing away and allowing her to fix her own sleeve and clasp her gauntlet upon her wrist again. “How does it feel?”

“I have not tried doing anything with it.”

Kethren nodded serenely. “I think it would be best to start using it again. It will hurt at first, but it has healed enough that it is ready. After that, we will need to start training. These weeks have been uneventful for the most part, but I can tell that Fynn is not happy that you have all vanished. It is only a matter of time before he figures out that you are being protected by something – or someone. I would rather he not suspect your involvement with Alastair quite yet.”

“I would rather not deal with that, either.” Rania carefully closed her right fist, feeling a short spasm of pain. She frowned, opening her fingers. “I would not be able to do anything for myself, let alone the others. Even if we tried to run, it would be near impossible in this place.” She could feel Kethren’s eyes on her face and then he shifted. She raised her gaze to him and saw that he was looking at the tree thoughtfully.

“There are many mechanisms that you can use in this place. Our ancestors knew that they would one day have intruders and the magic instilled in this place can be summoned by us, but even I do not know how to harness that power. I think, however, that there might be a good chance of you surviving if you were in danger. I believe Nature would sense it and aid you.” He turned back to her. “But I would not rely upon it. This magic is much too unpredictable.” His gaze hardened slightly. “It could be revealing. I am surprised that the sudden appearance of this has not put you in a suspicious light.”

“You can thank Haemon for that. He suggested that it was the presence of magic that triggered it.”

Kethren chuckled. “He is at least partially correct. It is more likely that the presence of elven magic here is encouraging the city to respond to you.”

“So, what are we to do after I have healed?” Rania asked him after a silence had settled between them. “Alastair seemed to have had some ideas with what he wanted to do with us...and I know that Haemon is eager to get involved in his own devices.”

“Yes, I am sure he is. I think focusing on the city would be the best plan for now. But in order to do that, you need to be trained in guarding yourself against that dark magic otherwise you will not stand a chance. What your bandits want is to go after the woman that destroyed their clan, is that right?” Rania inclined her head in acquiescence. “How do they plan on doing that, exactly?”

“I am not sure they had a plan. You were the one who said you might be able to get forces to help in it. And, as you can see, we are obliged to take whatever help you and your master can offer, Kethren.”

Ignoring her subtle jibe, he considered her a moment. “Part of my forces are the thieves here and they are spooked by the dark magic. As it is, there is not much that they can do. The others may not be so willing to help. They are skittish being connected with me or Alastair, as it is.”

“And who are they?”

“Mages,” Kethren said, looking away, “but they are of the Order, so they are deeply suspicious of others. They have already been betrayed by their own kind and by humans and are not well-liked.”

“I have never heard of the Order.” Rania frowned. “What is it?”

“It is a collection of mages that work in lighter magic. They ran and protected the temples when gods were openly worshipped. They draw their magic from the ancient symbols that were created during the Order’s establishment. There was only ever a certain number of Order mages and they were powerful enough that they rarely were killed. Even if they were, the amulets disappeared. It is not something I know very much about and because they are so reclusive now, they are unwilling to share their lore with strangers.”

“And yet they trusted you and Alastair?”

“No...not entirely,” Kethren admitted without a change in expression. “I...was forced to reveal myself. It was the only way they would agree to cooperate. They knew what I was when I came to them and disliked the fact that I was hiding my identity. They have no love for Alastair or the other sorcerers, yet they have a certain level of respect for elven magic and the elves. Why, they would not tell me.”

“And you do not think they would help you?”

“The Order has forever remained a neutral party and while they are sympathetic to our cause because it affects them as well, I am not sure they will consider the spread of dark magic in the city all that worrisome.”

“Are those in the Order allowed to have those types of vengeful feelings?” Rania queried in some surprise. Kethren smiled at the question.

“Simply because they are representatives of the gods does not mean they cannot hate. You and I were taught that Nature is a benevolent mistress, that any evil act is done from the protection of her own. We feel no sadness when a landslide occurs and a village dies – it is a means of eliminating those who are taking too much from her. The gods that the Order teaches are both kind and hateful. They act indiscriminately, causing chaos and destruction out of idleness, while other gods may try to protect their people from their fellows’ actions. It is an...energetic...religion, I suppose.”

“Clearly. So, they wish to see the city fall?”

“I think that it would not be missed to them. Frankly, I could care less what happened to the royal family and their aristocrats. It is a system of corruption that should be cleaned, anyway. Alastair does not see it that way and I envy his optimism. He thinks they can be saved.”

“Regardless of what should happen to the city, this does not solve our problem, Kethren,” Rania irritably pointed out. “We are still short of forces. If the Order will not help us, then we have a very small handful of people that can act. Even after you train me, I am not enough to combat against so many dark sorcerers.”

“As I said, they may or may not be willing to help. There have been some that have proven to be more helpful than others. If we can get even one of their mages to fight alongside you for your cause, then you could be in good hands. If your thief friend can convince the thieves down here to back you, even better. You will need all the help you can get if you truly intend to go forward with this.”

“I have no choice. They already know that I have been helping Haemon and the others. I am at risk alone or with others and Haemon is in danger out in the open.”

“Ah, yes. That little problem.” Kethren shifted slightly, as though in annoyance. “Alastair is working on something that might help that. I do not know much of the details, but I imagine it is something similar to how he kept the crystal from being tracked.”

“Let us hope he finishes it soon,” Rania said mildly. “He is driving himself crazy being stuck in one place.” She paused, glancing at him through the corner of her eye. “Be honest, Kethren. What did you say to him? I doubt he got agitated purely by your presence.”

Kethren looked at her placidly. “I merely made an observation on his character. Nothing more.”