Reela, Corb and Todo walk for another day, making occasional stops when Corb struggles to keep up with their pace. Their stops have been getting more and more frequent, going from every couple of hours to now what feels like once every hour.
The last time they stopped, Reela insisted on checking if he has a fever but he irritably swatted her hand away and told her he was fine. That's the other thing, he's been slowly getting more agitated but that could just be a side effect of the fever he obviously has.
She can't blame him considering the fact that he almost died and is still recovering and she can tell that Todo sympathizes too. They've both been trying to give Corb an easier time and humor him a bit with his needy complaints.
Todo himself has slowly been getting more distant, which only raises Reela's concern. She's confused, has she done something to piss him off? She's never seen him get like this. This whole trip of theirs has been weighing on all of them in some way, so maybe something that's happened recently is still bothering him.
As they're walking, she figures now's as good a time as any to ask. They just started moving again after their last break, so Corb is powering forward ahead of Reela and Todo to prove just how 'fine' he is.
Reela walks with her head down, but curiously glances back at Todo to see that he's keeping his eyes forward. Not on the road, but on his brother. She slows her pace just a bit to walk beside him and grab her backpack straps on her shoulders, fidgeting with the metal buckles.
"Everything okay?" she asks in a slightly hushed voice. Sometimes Todo is more inclined to open up if Corb can't hear whatever he's saying, especially if the concern might revolve around him. "I mean, aside from everything that's obviously not okay, but... You know. What's up?" she clears her throat.
Todo doesn't even look down at her, but his face slightly hardens and he sighs. "It's..." he shakes his head. "Probably... It's nothing, Re. Don't worry about it," he says, also keeping his voice down.
Reela huffs a breath of frost and shrugs. "Nah, too late. You're acting weird. Why?"
He stays quiet and just keeps walking with pursed lips. She watches the gears turn by the simple movements of his brows. They arch in what looks like concern. Furrow in bitter questioning. She thinks she catches a hint of anger, too. But that's just in his eyes when he finally does look down at her.
"What happened to you before?" he asks suddenly, stopping Reela's assessing of his facial expressions so she can respond.
"You mean... With the shard?" she prudently asks. She's been meaning to explain things to him anyway, but she still would prefer to test the waters first on how he's feeling regarding everything that happened with Avinalyn and Corb. So she opts to play it coy until she gets a general sense of where his heart's at.
Todo lets out a forced sigh and nods once. "Yes. That. But more specifically before that," he starts. "Jules said that the shard took you from somewhere to the forest, but you weren't in your room and the fact that Desdemona didn't know much of anything about the shard tells me that it didn't come from her house. You were already out in the forest, weren't you? You went somewhere and got that shard, which brought you back when we found you," he poses his question like he's somehow playing both good cop and bad cop at the same time, which is as infuriating as it is impressive.
Reela shrugs and lets out a deflated huff. "I mean, yeah. I needed some air after talking to Desdemona," she admits, figuring it's best to keep her little breakdown out of the conversation. She just had a breakdown in front of him the night prior to her talk with Desdemona. No need to make him book her a therapy appointment when they get home.
Todo nods deliberately and she can see the gears turning again. "And...? When you 'stepped out,' were they out there?"
"'They'?" Reela questions, deciding that now's the time she should start playing coy now that Avinalyn is getting brought up, and she gets a cheap scoff from Todo.
"Reela, we've known each other for ten years now, so you know that 'cagey' ploy doesn't work on me," he states. "Which tells me that they were there and you're trying to hide it. What happened?" he presses which only reminds Reela of why she hates the fact that he's the smart one here.
She narrows her eyes at him as her own gears start cranking away at her poor brain that's really been going through the ringer since arriving here. Why is Todo getting so touchy with her all of the sudden? She thought he was concerned because of what Avinalyn did to Corb, but instead he seems almost indicting.
Should she just tell him that Avinalyn took her to their house? Something tells her he won't drop it until she tells him the truth. This was supposed to be about him. Why did this, once again, turn right back around on her?
She sighs with another coy shrug. Force of habit. "They... brought me to their house and—"
"What?!" Todo gasps a bit too loudly and Reela tilts her head to think to herself.
"Well, actually it was more of a castle. In Aramora, which was... a shock as you could probably imagine. But hey, weird teleport glass came out of it, so I guess—"
Todo grabs her arm and stops walking, forcing her to stop as well and face him. "What the fuck happened?" he growls and she notices his eyes continuously glance from her eyes to the burn on her chin.
Reela looks down at his hand gripping her arm and frowns before glaring back up at him. With a sigh, he begrudgingly lets go and she resumes walking. Todo follows with his full focus on Reela all while Corb is apparently either too deaf or too out of it to have noticed Todo shout a second ago.
So that confirms it for Reela. Todo is definitely still pissed about the Avinalyn incident. She is too whenever she thinks about it, which she welcomes as a generous reminder of exactly how much she hates Avinalyn.
But she's not looking to charge at them in a blind rage like it seems Todo is ready to do, so even though he can see through her coyness, she decides to just blatantly withhold the details of the fact that Avinalyn poisoned her food and tried to kidnap her again.
"What do you want me to say? I went to their castle, got the shard, and used it to come back."
Todo shakes his head and takes a moment to breathe to tame some of that anger in his eyes. Is he really that upset that she's not telling him? If anything, she should be mad at him for avoiding the question when she asked him what was wrong.
"Did they fight you?" he asks, and Reela answers honestly.
"No," she says and cocks a brow when his eyes narrow in on her chin again.
"Then explain the burn," he states. Reela reaches up to rub her thumb over the red spot along her jaw. How does she keep forgetting it's there? "It's clearly from them, considering their whole 'fire' thing. If they didn't fight you, then why was their hand on your face?"
Reela snorts with another shrug. "I don't fucking know. I keep asking them what it is with all the face-touching but they're a coy little shit."
Todo huffs and just slowly nods again. "Huh. Sounds familiar," he side-eyes her with a glare.
"What, do you want me to touch your face?" Reela teases and starts reaching up to poke his cheek, but he catches her wrist and looks down at her with a stern glare. Since when is Todo this fucking serious? He stops walking again, which again stops her too.
The stop was so sudden that her boots scraped across the icy cobblestone road, which somehow manages to catch Corb's ear and get him to look back and see Todo holding Reela's wrist and glaring at her.
"Woah, what's going on? You guys... good?" he asks and stops as well to turn around.
Todo ignores him and shakes his head at Reela. "Reela... I get that your personal affairs are none of my business, but that prick literally almost killed my brother," he snaps and Reela can still see his mind working hard to find the right way to say all of this without letting too much anger slip.
She chuckles quizzically and tilts her head. "'Personal affairs'? What the fuck are you talking about?" she asks as she finds herself in need of a genuine explanation, but Todo apparently doesn't get the hint.
"Again, that coy stuff doesn't work on me," he states and takes a deep breath that shakes as he breathes out. "Look, if you're seriously sleeping with Avinalyn, then I'm sorry but I can't let you keep—"
"I'm sorry, what?!" Reela balks and just stands staring up at him with wide eyes and her mouth agape. Of all the directions she could have expected this conversation to go, that's the one she didn't expect. That's the direction you get from a broken GPS that tells you to turn right in the middle of a one-way bridge and say "you've reached your destination" at the bottom of a fucking river.
Corb whistles with a small laugh. "Holy shit, Reela? You're getting it with the hot fire-fucker?"
She yanks her wrist free from Todo's grip and steps back. "No! I don't know where the fuck you got the idea that I've been hogging Avinalyn's bed, but you need to get that out of your mind right fucking now!" she shakes her head and crosses her arms once she feels her hands starting to tremble.
What is wrong with Todo lately? He should know better than anyone how sensitive this topic is for her.
Todo takes a step towards her, and she takes another one back. "Reela, even you have to see how it all looks—"
"Todo, you of all people should know me better than this. But you know what, fine. Assume whatever the fuck you want about my 'personal affairs.' Meanwhile, I'm going to do what I'm here for and keep working my ass off trying to find my fucking dad," she snaps before turning away and storming forward, continuing to follow the road to Greanleif in silence.
Toya pops up over her shoulder from her bag and softly yips. "That got... testy. You okay?" the fox asks and Reela takes a deep breath, hearing Corb and Todo start to follow but keep some distance.
Reela shakes her head and stares at the ground with a hardened glare. "I don't want to talk about it," she mumbles and feels Toya slip back into her bag to curl up and go back to sleep.
She just wants to get to Greanleif, see whatever Jules has to show her, and plan her next step towards finding her dad.
That's all.
At least Greanleif is a bit warmer, by Letroseli standards anyway. As they walked deeper into the forest, the snow shifted to grass and the trees became denser and taller. This forest encapsulates the elfy bullshit from books and video games that Reela, an actual elf, fucking loves. Despite Adaliaens being people of the snow. Forests and woodland prettiness are more a Half-Adaliaen thing.
Only fitting that Jules would be laying low here, if blending in was her goal. A red-haired, green-eyed Half-Adaliaen would disappear in the crowd. Which you'd think would make it hard for Reela to find her. But she knows her aunt.
She checks the tavern.
The town of Greanleif is every elf child's dream who grew up playing fantasy RPGs. Canvas trees with a mix of dark green and blood red leaves holding bulbous treehouses with wooden spiral staircases leading up the trunks. Ladders leading to little nooks in the trees and secret hiding places that makes her inner child want to just climb in and pretend she's a fucking squirrel.
There are also houses on the ground, which is a relief. Though, Reela would be lying if she said she wasn't curious of watching a centaur try to climb a tree.
But the image is soured by her earlier 'talk' with Todo.
The tavern of Greanleif is built around a tree, with the base of the trunk standing as a pillar in the center of the main hall. Vines and faerie lights hang from the tree and around the room, giving the place a dim orange glow and a calming atmosphere.
Too bad Jules is here to fix that.
The second Reela, Corb and Todo stepped through the door, they watch a bottle get thrown from across the room that smashes into the head of a hooded man sitting in the corner, looking like he's on his third bottle of ale.
Looking to the bar counter, Jules is leaning back on a stool facing the man. He staggers forward and slams his hands on the table before getting up so quickly that his chair knocks over backwards, skidding across the floor. He turns to face Jules, which is when Reela catches a glimpse of his face under the hood. He's an orc.
Jules slides off the stool and starts approaching the man and he snatches a bottle of ale up from the table and throws it at her. Without stopping her stride, she catches the bottle out of the air by its neck and charges forward to smash it across his head and the second it shatters, she drops it to grab the back of his head and shove him down, slamming her knee up into his face.
Corb watches the fight and steps forward, eager to jump in, but Reela holds out her arm to block him.
The orc stumbles back when Jules releases him and he growls and lowers his stance. "Oaavh-breakaumn biavch," he snarls as he pulls a set of maces from his belt and charges at her. He steps to her side and swings the maces towards her, holding them parallel and aimed at her side.
She snaps her hand through the air with a lilac glowing trace and in an instant, she vanishes. The lilac light appears behind the orc man and Jules dives out of it to hook her arm around his neck and hold her dagger to his throat.
"Nalkramal'uk mausan broavher?" she growls over his shoulder.
The man lets out a guttural laugh and drops his maces. "Lat killun naj-ri."
Jules grits her teeth and tries to slice the blade across his throat, when they see his eyes turn black.
He grabs Jules' wrist and her arm to throw her up over his head and slam her onto the ground, flat on her back which knocks the wind out of her for a second.
The man snaps his hand out towards her and a blackened tendril lashes out at her. She rolls out of the way and jumps back onto her feet, snatching up the orc's maces as she stands to hold them defensively. The orc steps towards her and grabs her by her throat, lifting her off the ground and throwing her back at the wall.
She kicks the wall as she hits it and lands square on her feet and without pause for breath, she sprints back over to the man and leaps through the air, wrapping her legs around his midsection and using her momentum to offset his balance, slamming him onto the ground and holding the handle of one of the maces to his throat, pushing down which gets the man to begin to struggle.
"Go avo skator, ugpak," she seethes and lifts the second mace to smash it into his face four times, for good measure.
Reela stands and watches her aunt with a mixture of astonishment, terror, and general moral satisfaction. She knew Jules was cool, but holy fuck. Guess Regan really did get all of the pacifism in the family.
Jules tosses the maces to the side and kneels over the body to start rummaging through his pockets, while the barkeep clears his throat and holds up his finger to Jules.
"Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to—"
Jules holds up a finger as well without looking at him. "Shh. Gimme a sec," she recovers a purse of numis and looks up to toss it to the barkeep. "Hazard pay. Treat yourself, bud," she flashes him a wink before resuming her single-tracked mind searching of the orc man.
She pulls a slip of paper from the pocket of his jacket and stands up, scanning her eyes over whatever's written on it and glancing up at the door for just a second to see Reela, Corb and Todo. She sharply motions her head back, wordlessly signaling for them to head back outside and she follows without breaking her concentration from the paper.
Reela stands in front of the tavern with Corb and Todo as Jules starts walking over to them with her eyes still reading.
"Who was he?" Reela asks.
Jules sighs and shakes her head. "An assassin. Varagores, but you could probably guess that," she shrugs and bites her lip in thought. "Huh. Twenty-thousand numis just for little ol' me? How sweet. Perhaps I should send them a gift basket," she chuckles to herself before tucking the paper in her pocket.
Todo nods to her. "Why would Varagores be sending an assassin after you?" he asks and spares Reela a glance, but she completely blocks him from her mind to focus on her aunt.
Jules shrugs and crosses her arms. "Who knows. Maybe they already took Regan and now they're coming back for seconds for extra Angevell blood. But that's just a guess. I've made a lot of enemies in my travels," she explains and stretches her arms behind her head as she starts walking past them. "Anyway, now that you're here, I can show you what I told you about back in Ceelyaer. Follow me," she says.
Corb clears his throat as the three of them start to follow her through the town. "Um... Is no one gonna talk about the fact that we saw that orc guy use that 'Dark Magic' shit that Reela has? Or was I just seeing things?"
Reela nods slowly with her eyes on Jules. "Yes... I noticed that too. I thought orcs can't have magic," she says and Jules sighs again.
"Orcs can't be born with magic, like most people are. But Tene-Medeis is passed on through destroying whatever vessel it's contained in. Be it a Schism Fragment or a person who had broken one prior," she explains and Reela jogs up to walk at her side.
Todo cocks a brow and narrows his eyes on Jules curiously. "But didn't you just kill him? Shouldn't the magic have gone to you?" he questions and Reela shakes her head without looking back at him.
"Tene-Medeis can't be passed on to someone who already has inherent magic. So when the vessel is destroyed, instead of gaining the magic, it basically dissolves," she chides, jumping at the opportunity to 'well, actually' Todo, who's usually always making a point to prove he's the smart one.
Jules smiles. "Or it latches on to the nearest source of magical energy, which taints it. Ten years ago, that would have been the rifts, but now I don't know what else might catch the Dark's fancy," she chuckles and nudges Reela's side. "You've done your homework."
Reela chuckles as well and rolls her eyes. "Aside from how to control it, Regan did pretty good at teaching me the boring stuff about Tene-Medeis," she says but she loses her smile when she looks up at Jules again. "Magic aside... What was that guy saying to you? And... I didn't know you could speak orcish."
"Gremlin, I know a little bit of every language," she winks. "My N'Fel is somewhat lacking, but I've been brushing up on my orcish due to current events," she explains.
Corb clears his throat. "Right, but what was he saying? Were you two passing notes or something?"
Jules turns around and walks backwards to face him. "You know, just general profanities that only sound threatening because of the language. Nothing really new there," she brushes it aside and turns forward to keep walking. She leads them down a path that ends in a decent-sized cabin that looks old, but overall intact. It even looks kinda cozy. It looks like the set of one of those 'rainy day' ASMR videos she watches.
They all enter the cabin; a shockingly simple place for someone like Jules to be staying. But if the goal is to lay low, it would make sense. Though, Reela thinks 'laying low' generally doesn't involve a bar fight with an orc assassin. But who knows. Maybe that's a normal day for Jules. You know; wake up, go to work, take your thirty minute lunch break, cave in an orc's skull, go home and eat some cheese puffs.
The cabin has two floors, the top one is a loft with a single bed and the main floor below it has a simple fireplace with a bearskin rug and linen couches. A small kitchen-looking area. Some normal tables. It's a normal fucking cabin.
Jules leads the three to a door below the loft and nods her head as she opens it. "Word of warning, it's gonna get crammed down there if we've got two big pony boys going down, so either rock paper scissors or bust out your human legs," she says and opens the door to start walking down to what Reela assumes is going to be the basement that makes this cabin suddenly not normal.
Corb turns to Todo and raises his fist in his hand, ready for rock paper scissors but Todo sighs and shakes his head. "You guys go ahead. Just fill me in when you're done," he says and makes his way over to sit by the fire.
Corb lowers his hands with a frown but doesn't get a chance to say anything before Reela just starts following Jules. With a glance back at his brother, Corb sighs and follows as well.
They enter the basement with Jules and, what a surprise, it's a normal basement. Something feels off. Where's the secret passage in the wall or the plot-twist rift that leads to a mysterious fourth continent? Nope. Just a basement. Smells kinda musty, but that's it.
Jules takes a deep breath. "I... didn't know what else to do. I'm hoping that maybe you'll have better insight, since you were around him more," she says and looks away.
Reela cocks a brow. "Around who? Regan?"
Jules purses her lips contemplatively. "Not... exactly," she clears her throat and steps aside to let Reela and Corb fully enter the dimly-lit basement with a table in the middle of the room. Reela's eyes widen when she sees what Jules is talking about.
Laying motionless on the table is the fat orange cat Reela recognizes as Romeow.