“I still don’t get the big deal.” Esther crossed her arms, looking impassively at Chrys and Kevin.

Kevin closed his eyes, taking in a slow, deep breathe before opening them again.

Chrys just screamed into her hands instead.

Sparrow sat on the ground, engaging Meditation, completely unbothered by the two-on-one verbal combat occurring close by. In fact, Theo swore he could almost see a slight smile on his face, hidden by the shadows.

There were quite a few shadows cast around them in the room. The Woods hadn’t kindly provided any light in (what was effectively) their prison, so it was still up to the small flames Sparrow had conjured, Theo’s weak light, the glow of Chrys’ clothes, and a (literally) holy glow that radiated out from Kevin after he’d muttered a prayer soon after they had started arguing.

The map from the coins had unfortunately shorted out soon after they’d been chased into the room (which was concerning, but low on the priority list of things to worry about at the current moment).

At the very least, the sound of them arguing had drowned out the creaking of moving branches and the ominous skittering of things just outside of and on top of their prison.

It had been almost an hour since then, and the scuff marks they’d worn in the roots on the floor were almost as repetitive and circular as the conversation, with Esther refusing to understand why any of this was a problem.

The way that the roots regenerated and looked like there had never been any change at all, was also representative of the progress in the conversation.

Theo was very glad that he had followed in his teacher’s example, and sat down to “work on second tier internal magic”. Which wasn’t a lie, because he wanted to grow more familiar with Rest and apply what he learned to help him learn Tome of Memories.

What would be a lie is if he said it had nothing to do with the current prelude to a brawl building an arms-length away.

In his defense, Theo had made actual progress, and thought that he could activate Tome of Memories if needed. But, right now the last thing he needed was more clarity and understanding of what they were going over, or to remember this inane and pointless conversation in more detail.

It was funny how such accomplishments seemed so pointless in the bigger picture. Maybe he could celebrate later, but for now, he wanted to remember less, and for time to pass faster.

Theo still kept his eyes closed, cycling other internal magic and shoring up various things.

What he wanted even less than remembering this conversation, was to be involved in it.

“For the fifth time, what I said was ‘We wish to examine your gifts. We will not steal from you.’ Key word there is examine. We took a chest they were hiding in a tree, how do you think they were going to react?” Kevin said, slowly.

His voice cracked, and sounded strained and tired (almost like almost-yelling for an hour takes a toll on your throat). He sent a pleading look at Chrys.

“But it is our treasure. Or at least, Theo’s. Hence, we didn’t take anything of theirs, it’s ours. So it should be fine.” Esther rolled her eyes, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world (which, given the current location of the group, was a title that probably went to her being utterly wrong).

Chrys continued screaming, and Kevin walked over, mindfully avoiding the roots that they’d grown intimately familiar with over the past hour. He reached out and patted her on the shoulder.

Theo and Sparrow stilled, as the room fell silent. Esther seemed done with the conversation, and Chrys and Kevin needed a break from metaphorically banging their heads against a wall (even if they had the urge to literally do that in order to escape…the conversation).

The sound of timber cracking and wood fibre shifting, as well as footsteps outside became a lot clearer. Something was happening, and Theo didn’t feel full of confidence that it was something good.

“I still think I made the right choice.” And with that, Chrys started screaming once again. Kevin muttered a prayer, and Chrys’ voice audibly repaired as she screamed (which was the magical equivalent of polishing a sword just before sticking it in a lava flow).

Under the backdrop of screaming, Theo angled his head very slightly towards Sparrow. “Are you enjoying this?”

The way their smile grew was all the answer he needed.

Theo sighed. “Why?”

Sparrow tutted. “I can either feel exasperated in Esther’s bull-headedness, or I see how this could be funny if it wasn’t happening to me. So, I excuse myself so it isn’t happening to me.”

It made sense. Still Theo wasn’t happy. “So you’ll just let them argue and not intervene at all?” He tried not to think about how he was doing the exact same thing (and trying to justify it by saying he was just copying/following his teacher’s example).

Sparrow shrugged. “I mean, I’d hoped they would have learned by now that there’s nothing to be gained here. Might as well save your energy. Instead, I’m finding that Chrys’ screaming is pretty musical, and wondering if it could fit in a song somewhere.”

Theo wondered in what possible context screaming could be musical.

Sparrow continued. “Plus, it’s something entertaining while we wait for someone to get us.”

Theo paused, eyebrows furrowed as he looked directly at Sparrow, no longer paying any attention to the background screaming (which was indeed starting to sound musical, even including rhythms as Chrys rocked back and forth while curled up in a ball).

“How are you so sure someone’s coming and we’re not going to die?” Theo asked.

Sparrow snorted. “Simple.” They looked around the room. “We’re still alive now. If they wanted to kill us, they could easily crush us, or let us suffocate, or impale us with roots, or immobilise us and let us starve. But instead, we’re sitting here, more bored than endangered.”

Theo mulled that over, as Kevin started yelling about how the chest was clearly the core of The Wood’s magic. He realised that the room wasn’t as stuffy as it should be given its size, the sheer amount of talking (screaming) that had occurred, and the number of people inside. Six people in this room should feel smothering, not like there was still fresh air coming in from somewhere.

Wait, six?

“Are you done?” All five of them whipped their heads around, as someone new had somehow popped up in the room silently, without any sound or moving wood or anything. Theo was the only one who jumped at their presence.

It was also someone that Theo recognised.

“Eva, funny meeting you here.” Sparrow got up, hand raised and full charm smile engaged as they approached the receptionist and barkeep.

Eva ignored them entirely, brushing past them to get to the chest. Sparrow froze, smile slightly fracturing and hollowing out, as they tried to surreptitiously retract their hand.

Eva sighed in relief as they inspected the chest. “Good, the chest seems intact. If everything inside is in good order, you should be free to go.”

Theo’s brain caught up to him, and he was starting to regret not activating Tome of Memories when he had the change. “Wait, how did you get in here?”

Eva ignored his question, turning around to face all of them. “As the representative of The Woods, I am here to discuss your conduct, and why you acted the way you did given your previous words.” Theo felt his chest tighten.

There was power behind those words.

“Technically-“ Esther stopped talking almost immediately, as Eva glanced at them. This had moved outside of the realm of looks that could kill. This was a look that had already killed before (quite possibly literally). It had weight behind it (almost like it was the pressure exerted by a strong, highly-magical entity like The Woods).

It was heavy enough that Esther had started sweating, staring off into the distance.

“You said, and I quote: “Oh Great Woods! We humbly ask to examine your gifts, as we are searching for our own treasure. We do not dare steal that which is yours.” After which, you examined the chest, opened it, then started to run away. Almost like you were trying to steal something.”

Eva’s lips pressed together so tightly it was like she never had lips to begin with. The looks that Kevin and Chrys were currently shooting Esther were a swirling mix of vindication and frustration. Meanwhile, Esther wasn’t processing any of that, still staring at nothing.

“That was a mistake on our part, and we gravely apologise for any insult or harm we may have caused The Woods. We’ll be sure to educate our friend here, and if you noticed, we were trying to convince her that what she had done was wrong.” Sparrow smiled weakly, as they patted Esther’s shoulder.

She didn’t respond, more statue than person at this point. Sparrow slowly removed their hand, and returned to smiling at Eva, forcing an innocence that did not work with their face (or their behaviour, or their reputation).

Eva looked at the ceiling and sighed, close her eyes. A chair grew out of the ground beneath her, and she sat down, hands rubbing her temples.

The room started to glow as orange globes started to grow out of the walls. Theo dimly recognised them as the ones that were also in the Guild of Magic. One by one, they all turned off their light sources, saving their mana in the presence of the warm glow.

After a few minutes of silence, and contemplation for all involved, Eva shook her head.

“Fine. Okay. You clearly have some claim to the chest, as you were able to open it. You keep the paper, we keep the herbs. Deal?”

They all (bar Esther) shared a look, and nodded together. The room began to dismantle itself as the trees thinned out once more, and Eva looked relieved.

“Great. Well then, that’s sorted. You’re free to go once we make sure all the herbs are there and accounted for.” The chest floated towards them, surfing on a moving platform of vines.

“Would you mind opening the chest, Theo?”

He nodded, pressing his finger to its surface and once more it opened. As he looked at its contents, he froze, then swore. The look of relief started to fade from Eva’s face.

“Sparrow, w-would Hymn of Healing work on dried plants?” Theo asked.

And now the relief was well and truly gone, as the pressure radiating out from Eva grew strong enough that the seat she sat on disintegrated as she stood up.

The trees that had thinned out came back in force, this time wrapped in thorns. The orange globes dimmed, until the only thing they could see was Eva’s face, lit ominously from below.

“What. Happened.” Eva ground out.

“Esther must have shaken the box a little while we ran.” Theo laughed nervously.

Eva peered into the chest.

A neat sheath of paper was leaning against on side of the chest.

The rest of the chest was filled with what only could be described as a green powder.