This hurts me more than it hurts you. [M] [Aeyt!]

[Rhindeer]

Briar may not have been able to understand a word Dirk was saying, but she could see the change in body language of all involved, hear the friendliness--respect, even--in his tone. He knew these creatures. Obviously he knew them, considering the one had called him by name!

She ran the gamut of emotions in that time. Fear quickly turned to confused bewilderment, to relief, to fresh horror of a new kind as the situation fully dawned on her--and that horror only grew when Dirk switched back to her language and introduced them. Introduced her to the female peryton--Axieva. Introduced them like she wasn't kneeling there, naked, covered in sweat and leaking semen.

And, of course, as if things couldn't get any worse, she was still frozen in place, reeling, when the universe decided to deliver another crushing blow.

The other peryton shifted, no longer a peryton at all but was instead the man that had given them the book, given her the letter, taken away her curse. Briar couldn't breathe, her throat and chest impossibly tight, her eyes wide as a rabbit cornered by a cat.

“Hello, Sima. Sorry for the intrusion.”

With an incoherent cry that was half curse, half yelp, Briar grabbed the blankets and threw them over her head and prayed for the ground to swallow her. Was she crazy? Was she going batshit insane? Dirk was just standing there, naked as a jaybird and equally debauched, carrying on conversation like it was nothing! And so were they! Was she the crazy one here?!

"Kill me," she said from beneath the covers. "Just fuckin' kill me. Your sword. My heart. Slit my throat for good measure. It'll be a fuckin' mercy killing, Dirk, just end me."

Axieva blinked slowly, completely at a loss. She looked over at Dirk, then at Rit, and shrugged. "Shall I?"

[Aeytrious]

        It was Rit that stepped in. Laughed, and placed a hand on Axieva. “No my mate,” he told Axieva, returning the conversation to the peryton’s native tongue once more. “She does not speak literally. Human culture is complex, and Dirk is not learned in its ways. This is an extremely embarrassing moment for young Briar. She’d compare its embarrassment to the shame you felt when you were slipping and sliding on the hard rock surface when we first met. Though I think she’d rate this as much worse.” Rit laughed again, “You know how humans are weird about nudity and privacy. Dirk is an exception since he was raised by me and those things matter not at all to me. If she could understand the words I was saying she’d be even further embarrassed, my laughing surely did not help. I’ll give her a gift that will hopefully make amends.”
        Dirk’s growing understanding at the horror of the situation and how it made Briar feel, slowly spread across his face as Rit spoke. He turned to move to Briar, only to pause as he realized he was now wearing clothes. A loose fitting and billowy pair of grey pants and a cream colored tunic both made of a loosely woven fine wool thread. He could also feel that he was totally clean and felt entirely well rested. He looked to his master, fully aware of the miracles that the god-like entity could create, then turned to Briar under her blanket barrier. He reached for the blanket and pulled it back to find a cleaned and dressed woman beneath. Hair braided, the ends dyed a bright red and streaks of red throughout. Kohl lined her eyes, her lips were painted a lovely shade of red, and all her piercings had been replaced with platinum and rubies. The blood red tunic she wore was close fitting but a flexible material, good for movement, the pants the same material, but a very dark grey. A dark cloak, just like Dirk’s hung around her shoulders, the hood down, magic dormant. And where her boots had sat next to her, waiting to be replaced by the ones that Dirk had promised to make her, was a pair that looked to match Dirk’s as well.
        “You’ll find a new sword in your bag for her as well,” Rit told Dirk, speaking plainly for all to understand. “The memories inside it will serve her well, and the blade will not break or dull.”

[Rhindeer]

"A shame," Axieva sighed, ears drooping as she realized that she would be getting no human liver today. Humans and their strange ways of speaking. She should not ask for death when she didn't really want it! She looked over at Dirk, and then back to Rit. "But I suppose it would be rude to kill his doe. I don't see what is embarrassing. They were only mating."

She looked over at Dirk then, lips quirking in a small smile. She nodded at him, still speaking to him in her native tongue. "You have grown. Have you any fawns yet?"

Briar was quite happy beneath the blanket, happy to pretend that if she couldn't see them, they didn't exist! But she felt a tug at the blanket and it was peeled back before she could get a good hold on it. "Dirk!" she yelped, lunging for it, but it was too late, she was exposed and--

...Clothed?

And clean?

She sat back on her heels and looked down at herself, plucking at her tunic, at the cloak, staring down at her pants. She felt at her hair, feeling the braids, and the bedding beneath her was dry, her own body clean beneath the clothes. She looked over at Rit--how he did it, she had no clue, but if he could remove her curse, then why not magic on some clothes, too? And then she looked at Dirk, slowly reached back to feel for her hood--and promptly pulled it over her head and down over her face as low as it would go, folding her arms over her chest and hunkering down. Just because she was clothed didn't mean she wanted to show her face just yet. They had still seen her butt-ass naked and post-fuck! They had seen parts of her she was only okay with Dirk seeing!

And worse, but Rit had been laughing! Laughing! She couldn't understand what he was saying, but she could only imagine!

"A sword. Nice. Uh. Yeah." She curled her knees up against her chest. Boy, this was awkward as fuck; she couldn't stop squirming, like her soul wanted to leave her body. "And, uh, hey. Powerful guy. Don't call me that. That name. Also--what the hell's going on?"

[Aeytrious]

"I'm so sorry," Dirk said to Briar. "Rit is correct in saying I don't understand, but I do know how to feel bad for your embarrassment and causing it." Briar didn't know the command to activate the cloak, so the shadows didn't thicken around her. She looked adorably foolish with the hood pulled down to cover her face though. Rit couldn't help but smile at it, but Dirk's distress wasn't lessened. Distress was a feeling he wasn't very familiar with, though there had been a few times he'd felt it. He only knew he didn't like it, and that it was a kind of fear. Fear linked to Briar's mood in this case and that making her feel bad could damage their relationship.
        "I'm so so sorry. Axieva does not care, her people rarely wear clothes and they all live in communal space to keep warm so they have no concept of privacy. You have to mate right in the same room as everyone else. And Rit's just Rit. Gods don't have shame, not like us. Please don't be upset. Axieva is very important to me. Come meet her. I promise she won't try to eat you."
        Dirk stepped away from Briar, giving her time to collect herself as he moved to interact with their new guests. "I do not have children," he told Axieva, using the peryton language out of respect. "Human babies take a few months longer than peryton babies to be born and my first time mating only just happened."

[Rhindeer]

"Maybe you will have young soon then? Though your mate should be laying down now to increase your luck. Your seed will just come out otherwise." Axieva said, clapping him on the shoulder like an elder dispensing important life advice. "I promise my children will not hunt yours. I influenced your fate. I take some responsibility for you, then. Perhaps ours can play together one day."

She frowned as she said it, brow creasing. Why was she so interested in--and even excited about--the idea of fawns suddenly? It wasn't something she talked about, not since she had lost her unborn young so many years ago.

Meanwhile, Briar just wanted to curl up and disappear. She didn't care that Rit and Axieva were shameless and unbothered, or that it was even normal to them--it was still embarrassing as fuck! How could she look these people in the eyes?

Dirk was trying so hard to play damage control, and she wasn't upset with him. How could he have known? He thought they were being attacked. And he sounded miserable now--kind of pathetic, to be honest. Briar grit her teeth, wanting to just stay where she was and wallow in her shame until they were gone, but goddamn it...he sounded downright pitiful.

She huffed out a breath, tensing her jaw. He walked away to go talk with the peryton, and she hunkered down. For a time.

For a few moments more.

He sounded pretty distressed...

He realized it wasn't his fault, right? That she was bothered by the situation, and not by him, right? Not that it really mattered, the naive fool.

She wasn't worried. Wasn't like it mattered.

...Fucking fuck.

"Ugh, fiiiiiiine. If it'll make ya stop actin' like someone just murdered your dog and fed ya the meat," she grumbled under her breath, more to herself than to anyone, and flipped her hood back. She rose to her feet and folded her arms over her breasts as she shuffled to where Dirk stood with the peryton creature and Rit where they conversed in that strange foreign language.

"So." Briar cleared her throat and elbowed Dirk in the side, just enough to get his attention. "Wanna start over?"

[Aeytrious]

        Dirk smiled at Briar, understanding her meaning for once. "Axieva this is Briar. Briar, Axieva is the second most important entity to my existence. Without her I would still be a feeble child on the streets of Zantaric with not much time left to live." He bowed his head to the Peryton, "I will always be grateful for your interference." He then gestures to Rit. "You met my master earlier, but have you met her yet," he shifted the question to the timeless man behind the peryton.
        "I haven't met this Briar yet," he told Dirk then turned to Briar. "I hope future me wasn't too rough with you. I can be unpredictable at times. You're one of the best Briar's I've met though. You didn't kill Dirk, and that's always a plus in my experience. I hope you two have the best possible future in this timeline. You'll both be so happy, even if right now the idea of staying with him forever is terrifying." Then Rit spoke right into her mind so only she could here. He will never lie to you or betray you. No matter how hard you push him. Once he realizes what love is, he will give you all of his. A knowing wink was all he gave her after that.
        "So," Rit said, turning back to Dirk, "Would you care to eat? I can make us a feast and you can tell us about you trip through the desert and your time in Hyoite before you came back and met Briar." Dirk beamed, knowing the great food Rit could create for them.

[Rhindeer]

"Uh, hey," Briar said, giving an awkward wave, staring at the Peryton. It was becoming rapidly clear that there was a lot she had to learn about Dirk, considering she currently had no idea what the hell was going on and felt rather like she had entered some bizarre alternate world.

Axieva nodded to Briar, easily putting behind the fact that she had offered to kill her and meant it. "I did not do much. I just yelled at his worthless mother. It was frustrating," she said with a shrug. "But I am pleased he's doing well, and that he has grown into a strong young buck."

What could she say? He had grown on her. He showed her proper respect and everything!

And then there was Rit.

Briar's eyebrows climbed with each word he spoke. One of the best Briars? He wasn't the same Rit? Something about her killing Dirk? Staying with Dirk forever? Uhhhh what??

His voice in her mind made her jump, and his words and wink brought fresh heat to her face.

What the everloving fuck was he talking about?!

It took every bit of willpower not to violently react, to keep her expression blank, and she was probably failing miserably with the panic shining through her eyes. There were two Rits. And one of them had given her information no one should know, had used a name dead to her, broke her curse for a time, given her the ability to read fluently! And now this one was speaking crazy! And Dirk called him a god!

Breathe. Breathe!

"I need to sit down," was all she said before she headed back to her cot and flopped down onto it, needing a space to quietly freak out in.

[Aeytrious]

Dirk turned to chase Briar, and Rit put a hand on his arm. “Give her a moment,” Rit told him. “You had decades of living and training with me. I terrified Axieva when we met by coming back to life after she ate me. Briar has no experience with this madness. We’re lucky her mind hasn’t broken from all the trauma we’re putting her through.” Dirk looked a bit downtrodden, but didn’t pursue his new lover. Instead he turned back to Rit, who with a thought, rearranged the entire camp into something more. The trees within the encampment all vanished, save for the largest one which grew taller and thicker and moved to the perfect center of the ring. The tree’s center became hollow for a chimney and its base opened into a large fire pit. The branches of all the surrounding trees wove together and spread above into a canopy roof. Most of Dirk’s things packed themselves up into his magic sack, while the skins he was drying moved to a spot to the side. A medium table, large enough to easily seat the four of them, sprang into existence and four sturdy but comfortably padded chairs along with it. A proper kitchen set up sprang up around the large central tree and it’s fire pit, including a bread oven, a rotisserie, and a four burner wood burning stove. Briar and her cot were moved to the back of the ring to a now curtained off area. The cot and blankets though, vanished and were replaced with a large bed fit for a king sized, covered in the softest warmest blankets and an abundance of pillows. Alba was moved to her own curtained area, and given a much smaller bed, no less comfortable and covered in pillows. The change did not disturb her in her magical sleep. Though there were not proper walls around the camp, a lattice with beautiful flowering vines surrounded them. The floor beneath their feet was a smooth solid piece of marble with strategically placed plush rugs. Close examination of the floor would reveal that around the outside edge was intricately carved runes that gave the space many powerful magic protections. On the table were all of Dirk’s favorites, Briar’s favorites, and most of Axieva’s. There would be no dining on humans today.
        “When you’re ready to join us,” Rit called to Briar, “there’s chicken pot pie with potatoes and black berry pie for dessert.”

[Rhindeer]

Axieva was quite used to this madness by now, though every now and then Rit could still surprise her—but not shock her. So she watched with passive curiosity as the camp rearranged itself in a blink, nothing she hadn't seen him do before but no less amazing. Especially when the end result was extra comfort and copious amounts of food.

Even if that food lacked human livers, she noted with a soft snort. Though she could see why that would be offensive. It would be the same as if they decided to serve venison with her present. Oh well. She would enjoy the cow instead, nice and bloody.

With a fluff of her wings, she settled down at the table to wait for the others, one leg crossed over the other at the ankle. It was rude to eat before the one who had provided the spoils from the hunt. Even if this wasn't a literal hunt.

For Briar, it was one surprise after another, and the next was when her cot decided to transform right beneath her. She gasped in alarm and leaped off her new bed, having been caught off guard, and then she just stared at the new, luxurious bed like it was a snake and she wasn't sure whether it was venomous or not. She was still staring at it, and poking at the pillows, when Rit called for her and she saw that it wasn't just her bed that was different, but the entire camp that had changed.

This had to be a dream.

She rubbed at her face, taking another deep breath. This was so crazy. But her belly also chose that moment to betray her with a grumble; they had been fucking for who knew how long, and that worked up quite the appetite. And...she fucking loved that shit. And hadn't had it in ages. Ugh...

Fiiiine.

Just. Breathe.

She crept back into the thick of the camp, walking like one in a dream, until she found Dirk and slipped in close beside him, a hand on his arm like he was the one real thing in this bastion of madness. "...Didja say blackberry pie?"

[Aeytrious]

        "I definitely said blackberry pie," Rit responded. "I will also be conjuring up frozen treats once everyone has eaten. Otherwise they will just melt, and nobody would want that." He began to pile all kinds of strange looking food into a plate in front of him. Nothing gross though, he didn't want to ruin anyone's appetite with terrifying alien cuisine. Dirk was filling his plate with alien cuisine, though it mostly consisted of oddly colored foods, like bright yellow sausages, purple eggs, and a very pink potato-like mash.
        Dirk let out a contented sigh as he took his first bite. "Space breakfast is the best meal of the day."

[Rhindeer]

"Space...breakfast...?" Briar repeated as she watched Dirk and Rit fill their plates with strange, unnaturally colored foods. She made a face, and instead looked over toward what looked like the chicken pot pie.

"Does that have, like, real chicken in it? Or is it gonna be like...?" She motioned toward the bizarre shit he was eating. "What is that? It looks like something faeries and unicorns barfed up."

[Aeytrious]

        "Food from other worlds," Dirk and Rit said simultaneously. Followed by, "Jinx you owe me a coke." Then they locked eyes across the table and laughed. Moving on as if the exchange never happened Rit said, "It's real chicken. I wouldn't try to traumatize you further with anything that you were unfamiliar with eating. But feel free to try anything on the table. Axieva only eats food from this world, but she prefers things raw or close to it, so I recommend things Dirk eats, like those Ameglian Major beef sausages and Pikka Bird eggs with boiled Joopleberry mash. They taste very similar to common earth varieties with a bit more flavor and slightly different textures."

[Rhindeer]

Both Briar and Axieva gave the two men a strange look, but then Axieva shrugged, picked up a slab of red meat with her fingers, and took a large bite, juices running down her chin. Suppressing the urge to gag, Briar pulled the pot pie closer and sliced it open with a knife.

"I'll just stick to the normal shit," she said, giving Dirk's plate a glance.  "Still looks like faerie barf."

She picked at her food, even though it tasted amazing, shoulders hunched. She was trying, but it was very, very difficult to act normal and natural around two relative strangers who had seen her like that, and she was very pointedly avoiding eye contact.

"So, uh. You're not the same guy we saw before?" she asked at last, stabbing a piece of chicken that she had already stabbed twice before.

[Aeytrious]

        “That most definitely was me, which there is only one of.” Rit smiled knowing his response would be a bit confusing. He held up a finger in pause as he finished chewing and swallowed the very grey colored noodles covered in dark green, almost black sauce. “There is a being more powerful than anything this world could imagine. It created this world. It created all the worlds in this reality, or at least authorized their creation.” He realized he was probably getting too complicated and waved his hand in the air as if to erase the line of thought. “Let me start over. You don’t need all that information.” Rit reached into the air grabbing a canned drink from nowhere. He cracked it open, took a big swig from it, and set the can down on the table. It was brightly decorated with words that said ‘Libra Station Cream Soda the Galaxies Finest.’ “An easier thing to understand is that I can travel to any point in time. There is only one of me but since I can decide to go to yesterday there can be more of me around at one time even though it’s the same me. Also I’m immortal so I can live through every experience in this world in any order. For example, you lost a really cool set of loaded dice a few months ago, but you didn’t actually lose them. I just now, during this explanation traveled to when you thought you lost them and stole them from you.” He tossed them on the table and they rolled around all the dishes to settle right in front of Briar. “There is nothing I can’t do. Making  a new world for myself is a possibility if I wanted, though that doesn’t excite me. I could even delete the Spirits of the Earth RP forum, but that would have serious consequences that my creator would not enjoy. It would anger the Goddess, creator of this world, as well as the lesser gods. Plus what’s the fun in that?”

[Rhindeer]

Briar stared at Rit with a blank, slow-blinking expression as he prattled on about things that went far, far above her understanding. He spoke of gods and creation and such, and spoke of it so frankly, while she did her best to push down a rising sense of...dread? Unease? She simply no longer knew what she believed, and didn't much care to explore that avenue, anyway. She believed in something, she thought. Maybe. There probably had to be more than this. But she had no idea what, or what was real, and wasn't sure she wanted answers—and she certainly didn't feel she had any reason to believe this extraordinarily powerful man, much less anyone else in a position of spiritual leadership.

Once upon a time, she had been called a deity made flesh.

What a load of bullshit.

This guy was probably peddling  bullshit, too, just like the rest of them, she thought as she stared at the dice. Somehow. She had no fucking explanation for that, or how he would know about her lost dice, unless he had been watching her for quite some time—which was a creepy ass thought, to say the least.

Hair rising along the back of her neck, she snatched the dice up and snarled out, "How long have ya been fucking watching me?"

[Aeytrious]

        "You specifically? Or every you that has and will exist everywhere and everywhen?" Rit took a bite of something battered and fried, and then grabbed his canned beverage. The can had now changed. It's color and the words on it were different. 'Aedolis Orange! The only orange soda you need!' "There's no need to worry Briar, I'm not spying on you. I can read your mind though, and while I won't look deep without your permission, I can tell from just your surface thoughts that you're taking this in a far different direction than I'm trying to." He popped something into his mouth that looked like fish on top of rice. Rice was expensive here in Adela, but with the power of creation at your fingertips there was little you couldn't do. "I'm not trying to sway your beliefs. They don't really matter to me. Believe in whatever gods you want. They all exist after all, and there are so many more that you don't even know about, plus the beings that created those gods as well. I'm just telling you that I am always me, I just don't always happen in order. My timeline isn't straight."
        Dirk had been pretty much just stuffing his face with all the great space food while this conversation was going on. In sensing Briar's growing agitation he paused and reached out to lay a hand on hers. "It's okay," he said, catching her eye with his. He was showing a surprising amount of empathy for someone usually so emotionally clueless. "Rit can be very confusing, but he always has the balance of the Universe in mind. He's not looking to mess with your head."

[Rhindeer]

"I don't believe in any gods!" Briar snapped, still bristling. It wasn't the truth, not exactly, but she could never admit her faith out loud. Deep down, she had to believe that there was more, that there was some explanation for the craziness and suffering in her life. She hated that she felt that way. She wished she could shake it. "It's all fake scammy bullshit. I really don't give a fuck about any of it. But I do give a fuck about you being in my head so kindly get the hell out."

She didn't know what he was on about talking about multiple hers—more crazy talk—so she focused on the concrete bits she did understand. Mind-reading was a thing some magical types could do and she never did trust those sorts. She didn't want anyone in her head. There always barely room enough for her as it was.

She was so tense and riled that Dirk's touch made her jump. She  snapped a look at him, anger blended with panic. "Well he is messing with my head and the fuck it's not okay! Who the fuck is he? Who is he really?"

And then her eyes narrowed. "For that matter, who are you?"

[Aeytrious]

        Everything just froze in place. Dirk was frozen with the look of hurt on his face. Axieva was frozen with a piece of raw meat half in her mouth, droplets of blood stopped in mid air as they fell back to her plate. Rit was not frozen, and neither was Briar. He caught the girls look of shock when she realized everything had stopped moving, and snapped his fingers at her to get her attention.
        "Look at me Sima." His voice was not gentle, he was not amused. Briar was glued to her seat by his will, her hands unable to lift from the table, but she could move her head, and her eyes. He kept her quiet with a thought and looked her dead in the face. "I am not some mage that can perform parlor tricks. I'm an entity of unfathomable power. The gods this world worships are like bugs to me that I could snuff out with barely a thought. I apologize for overwhelming you with ideas that are beyond your primitive mind, but do not take out your frustrations on that boy." His shout of that single word vibrated through reality, rippling everything around them. "He is naive to many things in the world, I didn't teach him well about emotions. That's hard for me. I have existed so long that I've seen every being I've ever cared for die over the course of their infinite possible lives. He's started to care for you, and I will bless you both with what aid I'm allowed to give. He will never betray you, and he does not deserve to be treated harshly for any reason."
        Rit stood, his clothes changed to that of the ceremonial garb of Briars old cult, and he stepped toward her. "They are coming for you. They will find you, and they will kill you rather than let you be free in the world. You can survive if you trust in Dirk. He will protect you and he will save your life. If you betray that trust he will die, and you will follow him soon after." His clothing changed to that of an Adelan tribal next, and he took a small beaded trinket from inside his vest, setting the raven shaped bauble in front of Briar.
        "This is a talisman of a tribe that can help you," Rit said, "and this is how they dress." He gestured to the long black feathered cloak he wore and a raven mask appeared on his face. "There is only one possible future in which you live a long happy life. If you want it, you treat that boy right. Now I'm going to let you speak. Take a moment first to think. I'll answer any questions you have if I can. There are rules. I can't give you all the answers and I can't help you too much. The future balance weighs too much on you and I must limit my interference." He sat back down and looked at Briar with genuine sympathy. "I do not envy all the suffering you will go through, and I know your life was hard. You know Dirk was the discarded son of a whore. His life was hard too. Miracles brought you two together in this journey. Don't waste them Briar." With a snap of his fingers Rit released the hold on Briars tongue, but he knew the rage and fear in her so kept her hands on the table and her ass in her seat. He'd keep his word to answer her questions as best he could.

[Rhindeer]

The silence fell as jarringly as a thunderclap, and the world slammed to a stop—and Briar with it. Her hands, once gesturing in fury, dropped flat onto the surface of the table and stuck there as if held by a powerful magnet. The birds stopped singing, many frozen in mid-flight, the leaves of their trees no longer rustling. Dirk was motionless as a doll, and Axieva with him.

Rit, however, was not.

Briar opened her mouth, words on the tip of her tongue, lips forming the shapes: What the FUCK? But no sound escaped. She opened her mouth again, jerking her body, but when she found she couldn’t move as well as couldn’t speak, shock quickly bloomed into panic. Shit, fuck, this wasn’t real. This couldn’t be real!

The sharp snap of fingers made her flinch, and the blood drained from her face as her eyes met Rit’s. They were as good as alone now, and she was trapped with a man that was far more dangerous than she could have predicted.

And he looked displeased.

He spoke her name, her birth name, and she flinched again as her pulse rose to a drumming in her ears. She wanted to look away, but she couldn’t. She wanted to sink further into her seat until she was nothing, but she couldn’t move. She could only sit there and listen, wincingly, as he...scolded her? Was she being scolded right now? Was that what this was? Beneath the panic, a sort of hysterical giggle rose in her chest but was trapped in her throat. What the fuck. What the fuck. She was being scolded by a guy claiming to be more powerful than gods, because she had snapped at his son, and some buried part of her was a little impressed, a little proud of his protectiveness, a little envious—as much as she was terrified. This guy loved Dirk. That was what parents were supposed to be like, right?

It was true, Dirk had been collateral in her outburst—she wasn’t mad at him, she was just thrown off balance by the situation. She really hadn’t meant to turn on him, it was just that he was safe. She stole a glance his way, saw the hurt frozen on his face, and looked away quickly—

In time to see a man in the garb of her people advancing toward her.

If she had been able to move, she would have screamed, would have fallen from her seat in her haste to scramble away. But she could do nothing but stare in unbridled fear, her breath catching in her throat and her teeth clenched so hard they hurt. It was Rit. She recognized his face as Rit. But that did little to ease her terror, because he knew, he knew her name, he knew her people—and he knew they were coming for her.

She felt dizzy as he spoke, her breathing quick and frantic as a rabbit’s. She liked to boast that she was fearless, liked to fancy herself a risk taker, but his words cut deep until they struck existential dread. They are coming for you. Fuck. Fuck. Oh fuck no. They would kill her, too. She knew the truth of his words. After what she had done, the way she had left, the things she had done in the world...fuck. She had thought she was safe, thought she was free. How the fuck did they know where she was?

How the fuck had Dirk gotten tangled in this?

How could he help her?

Treat him right and they would both live?

What the fuck?

The thoughts tumbled through her mind, her blood cold and shoulders sore from tension. It was getting harder and harder to breathe, and to her embarrassment, her vision stung and blurred. By the time Rit eased his hold on her, she felt light-headed. Take a moment to speak, he said.

Well, shit. Now that she could finally speak and ask questions of him, she wasn’t sure she could actually manage it. Her mouth was bone dry, her chest painfully tight. She sucked in a slow breath through her teeth and let it out through her nose.

“When?” she said at last, forcing the word out. She hated the tremble in her voice, and swallowed hard to try to control it as she tried again. “When are they, uh...when are they gonna...?” Her fingers twitched. She wanted to do something with her hands, needed to fidget, but they were still bound to the table. She wanted to know, and yet she didn’t. How much time did she have before they found her?

“Fuck. How the fuck is he supposed to help?” she said, jerking her chin at Dirk. “They’re fucking crazy. If they really want me dead, there’s not all that fucking much any of us can do about it.” She drew another breath, shaky, and looked at Dirk again, a brief look of pain flickering over her expression. “I should leave. I should fucking go. Let me go!”

[Aeytrious]

        Briar was clearly shaken, and she was definitely responding better than Rit anticipated. He could see all the different possibilities spread before him, but this wasn’t quite the one he expected. It wasn’t one he had lived many times before. So she cared for Dirk, a lot. Maybe even budding love. That was good. They’d both live if they trusted in that love more than anything else and stood together. “I won’t let you go without knowing that if you leave him you will die. Dirk will most likely live in that case, and he will kill the entire cult, but he will never find happiness. He will never be fulfilled. Do you want him to live the rest of his life miserable?” Rit created a bubble that had many images flickering across it quickly. Briar and Dirk were there and many of the images looked similar but some were not. “They can find you in as little as three months, but take as long as five years. Those are both extreme cases though. It’s more likely they’ll catch up to you in two or three years. Just enough time for you to learn to control your abilities and learn to fight without them. Dirk will help you learn, and the White Raven of the Wayuhina will aid you in other ways.”