Loran shrugged, jostling the two Iron Ants on his shoulders. “We got some more materials for you guys,” he said loudly, drawing the attention of everyone in the Workshop.

Several crafters scrambled forward to grab the insect corpses from them, taking them closer to the prototype kilns. One of the ants was quickly being disassembled by five different players, while the others were being examined off to the side.

Loran shook his head, smiling slightly at their enthusiasm, before turning back to Yang. “We also have some important information. Do you know where Soze or your sister is?”

“Nope, I kinda slept in today. I think someone said that Soze was out on a hunt, but Sis should still be in the camp.”

“Alright,” Loran sighed, “guess I’ll go looking for her.”

As he turned away, Yang called out. “So how is it out there?”

“I don’t have time, ask Alexx.” Loran left in a brisk jog, quickly disappearing from sight.

Yang turned to the brawler. “Why’s he in such a hurry?”

Alexx shrugged. “The expedition hasn’t exactly gone well for him.”

~~~~~

Loran moved at a brisk pace through the village, asking where Yin was while ignoring their own questions about why he was back from the expedition.

It took some searching, but after a few minutes he was able to find Yin. She was surprisingly speaking with Soze, who had apparently returned early from his hunt.

Loran called out to them as he approached, drawing confused looks from the two.

“What are you doing back here already?” Soze asked.

“It’s a long story, one that I need to fill you both in on.”

“Has the expedition been met with a predicament?”

“Well, I suppose that’s one way to put it.” Loran looked around for a moment. “Let’s head over to The Pit, we’ll want to sit down for this.”

A few minutes later, the three were sitting down on a clear patch in the village’s meeting area. As Loran lowered himself, he reflexively tried to do so with his impaired hand which, unable to bear his weight, gave out and he fell to the ground with a thud.

Soze’s eyes narrowed. “What’s wrong with your hand?”

“You noticed that quickly huh? You are good.” Loran said sarcastically. “To answer your question, an Iron Ant bit it clean off and I performed some quick first aid to reattach it with Wolf’s Boon.”

“You had to what?!” Yin said, much louder than she meant to.

“Let me see it.” Soze grabbed at Loran’s arm, gently as he tried to not cause any discomfort with his examination.

“My hand is completely FUBAR{1}. Limited range of motion, limited grip strength, and small pains if I move it wrong.”

“You didn’t set the bone right either.” Soze said as he applied some light pressure.

“I’m aware. I’ve been experimenting with it on the way back and while I might be able to still use it for day-to-day stuff it’s too unreliable for combat anymore.”

“Is that why you've returned?” Yin asked. “To withdraw from the expedition?”

“No. I probably can’t hunt alone anymore, but I was able to give Alexx and Zed some decent support. As long as my main job is to just draw the map I can keep going.”

“You should probably back out,” Soze said, giving Loran his arm back. “You need to rest.”

“Nope, not happening. Soze, I’m guessing you’ve already Analysed me, so you should know that I’m basically in peak condition right now, I just need to get used to my new arm.”

Yin sighed. “Honestly, between you and Yang, one of you is going to work yourselves to death at this rate.”

“Okay, that’s an over-exaggeration. I take plenty of breaks, I’m not about to drop from mental stress or anything.”

“But you should be taking the time to recover from having your arm ripped off. If only to get used to it.” Soze crossed his arms. “Let me take over your spot.”

“Not going to happen.” Loran swept his arm around them, gesturing to the entire village. “You’re one of the few people that can actually get all of these idiots to listen to you. You need to be in the village in case something goes really wrong.”

“Then what about Bates?” Yin asked. “I know you two were arguing but can probably-”

“No,” Loran said firmly. “not after the shit he pulled.”

Soze’s back straightened and his eyes narrowed again. “What do you mean.”

Loran looked around, not wanting this information to be spread by rumors. “Most of it has just been him complaining but Bates almost refused to defend the noncombatants when were attacked by Iron Ants.”

“What?!” Soze nearly shouted, drawing stares from everyone around them. “Why would he-”

“He kept going on about how he didn’t want me and the others ‘stealing the glory.’ I didn’t realize it was possible for a person to be this petty, but he honestly seems to be acting up because his achievements are being overshadowed by the rest of us.”

“...That…little…rat…” Soze whispered, his gaze losing focus as he began to stare at nothing. His voice was even, his face was relaxed, but his eyes…

Loran had always thought that he made Soze angry with his various dangerous stunts, but looking at his eyes now, Loran understood that Soze had always just been worried or disappointed.

Loran now understood that this was what Soze looked like when he was angry. It was a cold fury. It was not loud or expressive, but the glint in his eyes made Loran wonder what Soze would do if Bates were in front of him right now.

“And you left him at the camp with the others?” Yin asked.

“Zed’s there too. Nothing short of an Iron Ant swarm will be getting past him and the camp’s defenses. Besides, I left Bates with a nice distraction before we left.”

“What did you do?”

“I let him take over the mapping job.”

“Wait what?!” Soze said, shaken out of his anger. "Didn’t you guys spend a week arguing about how it was too dangerous for them?!”

“Yeah, but Bates isn’t convinced and has made it very clear that he will continue to cause trouble until he gets his way. So, I gave it to him.” He shrugged. “It’s not like we were going to make any progress today anyway, since me and Alexx are here.”

“So did you change your mind about their chances?” Soze asked.

“No, I’m still pretty sure they’ll be useless, I just don’t care anymore.”

A sudden chill filled Loran’s body as he flinched back. Soze’s eyes were angry again, and now they were staring straight at Loran.

“You can’t just put people in danger like that.”

Now it was Loran’s turn to be angry.

“What? He and his crew actively threaten me and seven other people, but letting him do something stupid instead of trying to stop him for the millionth time is too much?”

“I’m not saying it’s just as bad, but sitting back while you know they’ll be killed is still not okay.”

“But we don’t know they’ll be killed,” Loran said with a casual tone. “Bates is at least somewhat competent as a leader, it’s why he was on the expedition in the first place, and his teammates have some decent skill to them. I expect them to fail, but I’m betting that they’ll survive for long enough to realize that they can’t handle the ants and will fall back.” Loran closed his eyes as he imagined the scenario in his head. “Once they reach the camp, Zed can take the front lines and they can offer support if he needs it. When it’s all over, Bates will have no one to blame but himself and, hopefully, will stop acting out like this.”

Soze was silent for a moment, still staring at Loran as he considered his explanation.

Yin, said nothing, looking between the two with concern.

“You’re betting on them having the skill to survive. What if you’re wrong?”

Loran’s response came with no hesitation. “Then they die.”

Both Yin and Soze’s eyes widened at how easily he gave his answer.

“And you’re content with that?” Yin asked.

“Normally? Not really. If it was just Bates trying to do something stupid and dangerous I’d try to talk him out of it, you know like I did for the entire week leading up to the expedition? If I couldn’t stop them, I might try to help to increase their chances of survival.” Loran took a deep breath. “But he doesn’t want my help, and he is willing to endanger everyone else on the expedition team to make it happen. My ability to give a shit has officially tapped out.” Loran locked eyes with Soze. “Whether he learns his lesson and survives or stays stubborn and dies isn’t my concern, either way, it resolves the problem.”