Once Ives was dealt with once and for all, Tanya turned to Silas.

“Let’s find your tail,” she said, “before it gets even more chaotic.”

The other prisoners had cautiously left the vicinity, and once things got quiet, the rest of Goldburrow was bound to come visit, magic blazing.

“Thank you,” Silas said, his voice hoarse with emotion.

The two walked back into the depths of the basement, Silas leading the way. He could sense where his tail was, now that many of the spell circles in the mansion had been disrupted.

Silas stopped before a thick door further down in the basement than Tanya’s cell had been, and opened it.

A pallor washed over his face. Inside were bits and pieces of many types of fey, some kept whole, others almost unrecognizable from the work done with them. This was Ives’s workroom. Silas’s tail was all the way in the back, and he grew sicker and sicker with every new bit of horror he witnessed.

Tanya wasn’t surprised, but the revulsion she felt made her feel less monstrous. When she came across her own vials of blood and locks of hair, she burnt every bit taken from her to a clump of ashes.

Silas stood frozen towards the back of the workroom, and Tanya approached him.

“Oh no,” Tanya said, and Silas’s eyes tightened.

His tail was splayed out, a length of green and gold and blue scales shimmering softly, pinned down to a work table. Ives has not treated it with the respect it was due. A long incision marred the middle of it.

Silas gathered up his tail, a brand new pain etched into every piece of him.

As they exited the room, Tanya sent a blast of magic to ward off any nefarious visitors interested in Ives’s workroom. Even if Goldburrow had a reputation for allowing unsavory things to happen, what the Evory’s had done far exceeded sanity. Soon they would know of the evil they'd allowed to flourish in their own city.

They came back to the surface. Among the smoking ruin of the manor, Tanya noted that the hall and garden she had enchanted remained untouched. She was glad Ives had not managed to get to the safe zone.

Kuon stood over Ives’s crumpled form, the wildness from earlier more contained. But his hands were clenched as he looked at Ives. Tanya was glad she couldn’t even guess as to what he was thinking about.

“We need to leave now,” Tanya motioned for him to come towards her. Snapped out of his reverie, Kuon turned to her. Tanya waved her hand to Silas as well. Kuon hesisted, and then joined the two of them.

Tanya’s broom made room to accommodate all its passengers. Tanya flew fast, the wind forcing her plum hair back in a stream, and Silas’s tail, which he had wrapped around himself like a cloak, flapped about. Once they had left Goldburrow behind, Tanya landed in a quiet, unoccupied area.

The three stood in silence amongst the copse of trees for a moment.

Kuon spoke first this time, “Tanya,” he said, and stepped closer to her.

This action unfroze Tanya from her thoughts.

“You,” Tanya stepped closer too, until they were almost touching, “how could you have worked for that monster? Even though you came back for me, there were so many others! Look at Silas!”

“I’m sorry,” Kuon said.

Tanya hissed in a way reminiscent of Ives himself, “You coward. You absolute, maggot-filled wretch.”

“I’m sorry,” Kuon didn’t flinch away from Tanya's verbal rampage.

“I’ve lost so much time, thanks to all this. You saw my sister. You saw what I just did. That was mostly the corruption, not me. And it’s only going to get worse!”

“I’ll help you, I swore it before, and I swear again now. You did clear my debt, and you went through all that too. It’s not an excuse, but I didn’t know Ives would do that to you. He kept me captive until he’d locked you away and then said my debt was truly cleared, that he’d found a more valuable prize. I didn’t know he would do that.”

“You should’ve. If you had any inkling about what he was up to, you should have known,” Tanya said. She paused for a moment, feeling the tension between them, and then said, “I want a real Oath, not just pretty words.” There was no room for argument in her tone.

Even Silas was taken aback by what she asked for.

Kuon swallowed, “I’ll give you that Oath. You deserve it,” he glanced at Silas, “You deserved better too.”

Kuon reached for Tanya’s hand. Once their hands were clasped, Kuon opened a magical conduit between them.

“I give my Oath, worth my life and magic, to the Tear, Tanya, that I will have her best interests always at heart and work to eradicate the corruption that plagues her and all her sisters. This Oath will only end if succeed or fail in this task, or if Tanya chooses to release me of my Oath. Upon the success of this mission, I will be freed from this contract, and if I fail I will forfeit my life and magic. By my magic and Tanya’s, this Oath is made.”

Kuon moved to release Tanya’s hand, but Tanya held on.

“I give my Oath,” Tanya said, and Kuon’s eyes widened, “worth my life and magic, that if I fall to the corruption, my power will go to Kuon, but may only be used for the betterment of the world, in contribution of goodness and happiness and peace.”

Tanya released Kuon’s hand, and the magic between them ebbed away.

“If we fail, you’ll never have an excuse to let evil stand again,” Tanya said.

“Okay,” Kuon said, and even that small word was hard for him to muster.

Tanya whirled away from Kuon towards Silas.

“Is there anything we can do?” Tanya asked, and nodded towards Silas’s tail.

“I don’t know,” he said, “My magic is intact, but with this cut through my tail...I don’t think I'll be able to return to my sea form.”

“May I try to see if I can fix it?” Kuon stepped up and asked.

Silas shook his head, “This is something for my own people to help me with,” he turned to Tanya, “About what the unicorn said. I’d like to help you too. You were kind when no one else was, and I thank you for that.”

“I’ll take you up on that offer,” Tanya said, “because as things stand, I’m going to need every bit of help I can get.”

As much of a disaster as things had been over the past days, Tanya had somehow found herself the allies that the Howling Sisters had said she would need.