How did I miss it?

Heria’s massive arms mowed down some of the thinner trees before her as she stormed through exuberant roots and shrubbery, ignorant to the cuts from their thorns and bristles.

How many signs did he give?

She felt like an idiot. A stark-raving moron. An animal that should’ve known better.

A monster. Heria sobbed as she ran through the Wilders, following the rustling of feet not far ahead of her- loud but still unseen. That is why he never told me, isn’t it? He could never love a monster… She nearly stopped. Almost slammed her feet into the ground burgeoning with life beneath her. Heria could still turn around.

But she refused. She could not relent. Not until she knew for a fact whether the man beneath Mezir’s mask was actually Ragoth. Images of the young, meek, lovely young Nomad boy with the fiercest hair she’d ever laid eyes upon flashed before her eyes as Heria tore through low hanging vines. A swarm of flying creatures large and small screamed, flew up as she ransacked their homes, unaware of how many she disturbed with each step. Unaware of anything other than his face as she ran forward. Heria’s body guided her through as her mind fought to become Helena once more. It hurt so much. Like she was being torn in two by warring factions.

There was a small clearing ahead. Figures in the distance, shadows running.

Heria felt as if her skull was going to split open. Helena, however, thought only of Ragoth.

We- I… I must find him. He is right there!

Heria wondered if this all might be set up by Lord White to test her loyalties. To toy with her mind and see just how broken she still was. How easily swayed, how readily manipulated. She thought for a second maybe, just maybe, it had been Mezir all along and he was in on the charade… but the way he’d said the word ‘Tainted’ felt… natural. Deliberate but not forced. A bit more meek than Mezir’s. So much more, like-

Ragoth!

Helena’s silken voice was as smooth as could be in her mind, a direct contrast to Heria’s harsh growl; though they were in unison when they caught sight of the red-haired man. His immaculate white armor shone greatly in the light that escaped the reach of massive wildertrees. Ragoth would have been a regal sight had he not been flailing like a corpse lost in a typhoon. A large man with skin darker than Ragoth’s had him by his chest plate- maybe his neck- she couldn’t tell. It didn’t matter.

Helena and Heria raged together in a symphony of self she’d not felt for some time. Each woman of her life held the same intense feelings for Ragoth, despite it all. Despite the fact that he may have been lying to each of them for years on end.

There has to be a reason!

Heria’s legs released the essence she’d gathered over the course of her pursuit and propelled herself into the air like an oversized cannonball draped in dreads. The pressure in her head only grew worse but Heria didn’t care. She was going to save him, no matter the cost.

And then what?

Helena had always thought too much.

***

“Ragoth!”

She barely made out the word, more a roar mixed with an ugly sob, but it was getting closer. Fast. Amberosin turned just in time to see a glowing dread covered ball of a woman slam into the ground behind Mezir and Ragoth; Ragoth who she still couldn’t stand to look at. It would be too much, especially after being inside Sile- Ta’K's- mind.

Patri, Ragoth, and Mezir who was still holding the sleeping noblewoman were on one side of Heria and the crater she embedded into the wilder’s. On the other side, behind Heria, Korrin, Amberosin with Silent One in her arms and Senf-

Senfe? Amberosin did a quick take of the scene once more. The woman was gone. She can take care of herself. She’s probably just... getting an angle! Yes. Focus. Calm. Now is not the time to lose it, Amberosin. The time for that is long past, I’d wager.

Dust and natural debris were still cascading down, disheveled by Heria’s entrance. Amberosin took in their surroundings while she had the chance. None of her interactions with the Alta woman had been pleasant and the probability of needing to make a quick escape was increasing by the moment.

Shit.

It all just looked like more forest to her. A small ledge protruded from a good five stories high behind them, but aside from that, it was just trees and darting shadows. Flowers and the insects that fed upon them. Things she couldn’t begin to fathom, so she didn’t try. She looked for what she could understand. Dangers she could recognize.

She spotted movement to her left, what she thought would be east, just a flash but at least the size of a person. Another human sized shadow dashed through the seemingly boundless forest to her right. She hoped desperately that one of those shadows was Senfe.

“Heria?” Ragoth was wobbling on his feet, adjusting his chest plate. Amberosin kept her eyes low, avoiding his face, and watched. The moving shadows still at the forefront of her mind.

The woman’s labored breathing emanated from the thicket of dust. It seemed to be enough of an answer for Ragoth. Amberosin could see Heria’s outline from behind and any doubts she may have held were vanquished. She could recognize those arms on the blackest of nights.

“I am glad you heard it. My accent.” Ragoth took a step towards Heria.

A scoffing sob escaped the thinning cloud of debris. Heria’s head snapped to the side, still only a shade to Amberosin. A defined shade.

“I could never forget it.”

Light glinted off of Heria’s fangs for a moment and Amberosin’s animal brain told her to run but she mutinied and hardened herself. Korrin stood in front of her. A complete stranger, but a stranger that had blades drawn, ready to defend an encumbered Amberosin and Ta’K who slept in her arms.

He’s getting heavier the longer we stand here. No, that’s not right. I’m exhausted. Imagining it.

“I know there is a lot of explaining that needs to be done here.” There seems to be an awful lot of explaining that needs to be done with these people. Amberosin eyed a stoic Mezir who’d handed the sleeping woman to Patri. “But for now… we need to leave Blancana, Her- Helena.” Helena? Amberosin wished she had a notebook to take down all of her damn questions.

The dust was nearly settled. Heria in full view. Her head had still been situated away from Ragoth which meant once the debris cleared she was staring at Amberosin, Korrin, and Ta’K. Heria’s eyes seemed to ask a question as they passed over Korrin and went wide when she saw Ta’K.

There was another flicker of shadow to the left, closer than before. The right was clear. Which wasn’t a good thing, necessarily. Amberosin thought that her dread about the shadows and pure exhaustion were causing Ta’K to feel heavier, to the point that she desperately wanted to drop him on his tragic ass. But she’d been wrong. Amberosin tore her eyes away from the tense scene before her for just a moment and looked at the young man in her arms. It was like someone had inflated his muscles with leaden air. His limbs seemed to be even larger than they had before he’d fallen sick, which was only days ago.

He was just seizing not even a few hours ago?! I can’t believe I was wrong about the bandages in his pack. Insanity. All of this is-

Ta’K slid out of her arms. Amberosin was relieved of his weight all at once and longed to let her arms hang like limp noodles at her sides. Instead, she too drew her blades and stood beside Korrin. The action snapped Heria out of her frozen stupor and she turned quickly towards Amberosin. Ragoth was nearly at her side.

“Helena?” He had his hand raised to Amberosin and Korrin. It begged peace.

Korrin dropped her blades almost instantly to her sides and backed up a pace to show she understood. Amberosin waited for a nod from Mezir before she relented and sheathed her blades. Heria- Helena, whatever her godforsaken name was, didn’t look like much of a threat to Amberosin at the moment anyway. Just as lost and confused as the rest of them. If not more.

Ta’K was just in front of the Alta woman now, down in her crater. Ragoth was behind her at the edge of the crater's end. Mezir moved forward to stand by Ragoth. Patri stood where he was beside Mezir’s big metal box holding the unconscious woman. Amberosin could see his eyes flicker from their group to the surrounding wilders. Nervous as ever, ole Pat?

He saw her smirk his way and immediately his stance straightened and he stared right back at her.

Focus you dumb girl. It wasn’t the first time she’d seen the look.

Right.

Amberosin walked casually to the right side of the crater, her back to the high cliff ledge, giving her eyes on the forests to the east. Korrin shot her a quizzical look before slowly mirroring her actions. They all watched in tense silence as Ta’K raised his right arm and placed the stub that was his wrist on the Alta woman’s forehead. No one moved a muscle until a gleaming blue and white light escaped Ta’K and engulfed all of them about the crater. It lasted only a second, possibly less even, but when Amberosin’s vision cleared from the bright shock, everyone else, save the sleeping woman, was in tears.

Torrents of water tore down Heria-Helena’s scarred cheeks. She was down on her knees, arms wrapped about Ta’K’s wrapped legs. Korrin had her hands over her face weeping as she walked into the crater and slammed herself into Ta’K’s side. He wrapped his left arm over her shoulder. Ragoth sobbed, snot fell freely from his face as he slammed beside Heria-Helena and laid into Ta’K’s legs. Patri barely held on to the sleeping woman as he stumbled over to the group in the crater, weeping in loud laughs and groans. He ended up behind Ta’K with his forehead pressed to the back of the bandaged man’s skull. Mezir, the big lumbering bastard, sobbed the loudest of the bunch and wrapped his arms around all of them.

“Uhm… I guess I missed something?” Amberosin has seen the flash but nothing else after. Obviously, that had not been the case for everyone else. But why? Did they see what I saw before? More?

Ta’K turned his head toward her and flicked his head back. Come here. He said.

And she did. Amberosin had no idea why, but she did. She ran with tears building in her eyes and slammed into him on his free side, accepting his arm around her as she buried her face deep into Ta’Ks chest. Mezir’s meaty arm fell around her shoulder, grasping Ta’K’s forearm. Heria-Helena’s dreaded animal arm was about her leg, squeezing gently. The woman was saying something that Amberosin couldn’t hear over the combined weeps and groans of their curious huddle. She thought she heard “I’m sorry, so sorry,” come from somewhere but she couldn’t tell who had said it. The sounds of all those about her mixed with the scents of their bodies. Ta’K smelled like nature to her. Mezir’s arm emitted a musk, strong but comforting, just like the man. Patri’s typical smell of body odor and weak scented oils mixed in nicely, gave her sense of smell some grounding. There was a sweet smell, an acrid scent, and the common scent of sweat swirling around in their group as well. The sleeping woman was likely the sweet, Ragoth the sweaty, Heria-Helena the acrid. Korrin smelled of berries, something Amberosin had noticed at the bar. And there was something else. A spice perhaps?

She sniffed hard, revealing in the closeness of it all. Then she had it.

Cinnamon.