Krysta blinked at him. "Yeessss," she said slowly, as though humoring a child, "and sometimes the river floods. A hurricane blows in off the ocean. Nature is destructive, but not out of malice. We also need it."

She frowned and shook her head. "Magic isn't some--some parasitic force against nature, it is nature." She thought furiously, trying to come up with a more concrete example. But the very idea of what he was saying was just...antithetical to her existence! It felt so obvious to her--she'd never had to defend it before.

"Oh!" She straightened up, fluttering her wings again with a smile. "Where does the new magic come from then? If it was really draining away at the world, we would see it, wouldn't we? Either the magic would start to dry up, or the world would. But it doesn't."

Kiara sighed and shook her head. "Honestly? I don't know—I've only ever dealt with mercs from the perspective of another blade for hire, never the employer. Something tells me the tenuous wouldn't exactly translate." She frowned and glanced back at him. "How did you two convince them to back off, anyway?"

---

Kiara shook her head slowly. "No, I'm not thinking we should try to drag her back into this—but she's the only other unaffiliated mage in the area we know. She might have an idea about this rebel group, right? Where we could find them?"

"Ack!" Lanaya started, nearly toppling sideways off the branch before she steadied herself and twisted to face her apprentice. One hand to her chest, she chuckled and shook her head. "Sorry—I didn't even realize how long I'd been out here."

She closed the grimoir and tucked it under her arm before climbing back inside, giving Grimr an approving nod.

"Dinner smells good."

"Suuuuuure you are." Hana rolled her eyes fondly, then reached over to loop her arm through his. "C'mon, let's go find out."

Her expression softened a bit and she added, "I do sorta feel like we owe her one. Not many captains would have taken us on just on the promise of work."

Nodding, Nani pushed herself to her feet. She was still a bit stiff, but she was rather hoping some actual movement would help with that. "I'll manage," she assured quietly. "Besides, we don't have many hours left until sundown—we should try to make up whatever ground we just lost waiting out the storm."

Krysta gaped at him.

Her education as the heir to her realm had been extensive, but did not focus overmuch on affairs outside of their forest. She knew mortal folk had almost as many varied opinions on magic as there were types of mortals. She even knew that some of them forsook it entirely, for one reason or another—but none of those reasons had ever been explained to her. And that was just...

"But that's idiotic," she blurted without thinking.

So much for all those lessons in decorum and diplomacy. Somewhere, she was sure her mother's eye had just twitched.

"I-I mean, that—but it..." She floundered, then trailed off, unable to come up with something remotely kind to say to that particular ideology. She shook her her in complete bafflement. "Do you also believe the seas will dry because we must drink water?" she found herself asking with an incredulous laugh.

"Yes. Of course." Kiara pulled back from her dragon quickly and nodded at him. "Let's get moving—here." She swung up onto Kit's back and held a hand down to Dan. "Flying is always fastest."

---

"Right. The rebels." Kiara glanced at Grav, her expression caught somewhere between concerned and hopeful. "I mean I guess we could... We know some names? Maybe that necromancer could help us, if we find her?"

"Thanks, Perce." Hana gave him a quick smile and waved him off.

The smile dropped a bit as she leaned against Thrax a little more heavily. "Well...seems like a fifty-fifty chance this is a fond farewell or a chewing out. What are you putting coin on?"

Nani half-laughed, half-sighed and reached over to scratch behind the strange hound's ear. "Well...I guess all we have is the truth," she mused quietly. "Insane as it sounds..."

Krysta frowned slightly as she folded her legs around in front of her body. Her wings fluttered a bit, though not with the same energy as when she had been using them to hover around him.

"That...what do you mean, exactly?" she asked slowly, confusion clear in both her expression and tone. "I'm assuming you didn't have magic before...well, this, but surely you could find someone to teach you?"

It didn't take long for Kit to find them, and once he had he immediately curved his neck around Kiara and tugged her into his chest with a low, thrumming croon.

"Easy," Kiara chuckled softly, though she was clearly just as happy to see him.

---

"Well, you could...ahh..." Kiara pressed a hand to her temple, brow furrowed. "There was--in the other world, there's this artifact. The other me was hired to, ah, acquire it so that this rebel group could help you all..." She sighed, shoulders slumping and shaking her head slightly. "But I never got the message. So maybe Vanier's stranglehold on the region is too strong in our world...shit, I'm sorry, it's all I can think of."

Hana was well content herself to enjoy the moment, though of course it couldn't last.

Sighing, she pushed away from the rail and turned to face Percy. "Alright, alright," she huffed. "We'll get moving. Cap'n need anything from us before we dock?"

Almost despite herself, Nani felt her lips twitch up on one side in a hint of a smirk. She reached over to give a lock of his fiery hair a single gentle tug. "Something tells me it might be this--I can't say I really know anything about gargoyles, but judging by...well the rest of you..."

She waved a hand at him to indicate the living-stone appearance to his skin, then shrugged. "I don't think I've ever seen a rock in quite that shade of red."

Krysta nodded and bobbed over to perch on a small lip of earth jutting from the wall of the den. "Alright, if you're sure."

She drew her legs up onto the lip and yawned, then shook her head briskly. "Ah--sorry. Using that much magic takes it out of me, I'm afraid," she chuckled lightly with a tiny shrug.

Morgana gritted her teeth, but things were moving too fast for her to continue arguing with the sea witch about her control over her son--not that she was even entirely sure what she was arguing, she just...this just felt wrong.

When Nik looked to her, she tightened her grip on his own hand in silent assurance. She was half-jogging to keep pace as Cora--quite literally--seemed to be dragging them along. She stumbled when they wheeled around a corner, but held onto him all the tighter.

The moment they were inside the next room and he was all but shoved into the chair, she sank down next to him on her knees and moved her hand up from his to clutch at his arm.

Dark eyes once more liquid and bright, she reached up with her other hand to cup his cheek in her palm. "Anan'mar," she murmured. "I--I will help." She leaned in to press her forehead to his. "I'll help you. Whatever this is...we'll do it together."

"Okay." Kiara blinked, shook her head, then nodded briskly. "Right. Okay. Where are we now, exactly? And where's--?"

Here.

Relief swamped her at the familiar feeling of the bond and she smiled slightly. "Kit's on his way."

---

"Pleasantries. Waiting. Right." Kiara blinked, shook her head, then nodded briskly. She pushed away from Grav a bit--though not before giving him a quick, grateful smile--and got waveringly to her feet. "I'm guessing Grav told you, well...what we know. About the lot of you being in immanent danger?"

Adri chuckled a bit herself, both amused at the memory of Idris' quick change of mind at touched anew by his trust in her.

"Good idea," she said anyway, wanting to reassure him that she trusted his instincts too--even when he might not. "And not knowing much about it just means this is a good opportunity to learn, right? I'll poke about a bit while you do the actual business thing." She scrunched her nose up in dramatic distaste, trying to get something of a rise out of him.

Maybe it was overcompensating a bit, but she'd certainly take the vaguely forced joviality over actually dwelling on any of the problems currently facing them.

They were nearing Hamond's stall by this point, and it did rather look like the young man behind it was not, in fact, Adri's childhood friend.

"I like who you are too," Hana told him with a small smile, reaching up to place her hand on his where it rested on her shoulder and squeeze gently. "And for what it's worth...look, it's not like I enjoy the tragedy of my early years. But...who I am now led me to you. And I'm grateful for that."

She looked up at him for a moment--then away again quickly, clearing her throat to cover the warmth in her cheeks. "So. Y'know. Relish the present and all that, blah blah blah."

"Good." She nodded quickly. "Because I'm with you." She paused a moment, then said slowly, "And...not because I have to be. I think I was--I was scared about that, for a while. After you told me, y'know...about your past. I was scared I was only with you because of this...pull."

She put hand over the center of her chest, frowning down at the stone floor of the cave. "And I can still feel it--I think I always will. But it's not why I'm staying, Ein. It's not. Being your Paladin...I don't think it matters as much to me as being your friend."

She continued to stare at the floor, then shook her head and cleared her throat quickly. "So. When we meet your father's people...maybe we should just try to be honest? Tell them you just...want to know more about them. About this part of you."

Both Galon and Brix shot wary looks at him for that--Galon significantly more wary than Brix, admittedly. Still, both left with quick nods toward Krysta.

The pixie left behind huffed quietly before spinning in place to face Ivan. "You're sure some fruit will be enough for now?" she asked, wringing her hands together in front of her body. "I'm afraid none of the three of us are much good at hunting, but we could...I mean, I could try to sneak you some food from...home."

Sneaking into the castle kitchens wasn't the problem--it was the idea of sneaking back out again with enough food to feed a creature Ivan's size that gave her pause. Pixie dust or no.