Arlo watched the sun vanish behind the horizon over the frozen lake as his friends hung out, sipping tea as he listened to them laugh with one another around the fire.
They had spent the rest of the day training and honing their skills with weapons.
A thought suddenly struck Arlo.
It makes sense now.
The reason why Keith had cried when...
I told him that I was lucky to still have him.
Arlo looked down into the mug he was holding.
"Hey, guys? I have something to ask," he muttered.
"Yeah, what is it?" Sara asked.
"About Keith..." he looked up to find that the mood had gotten... sad.
"Keith made his own decisions, and he chose Vaequiles over his own friends." Pierce quickly replied, leaning away from the fire.
"No, that's not it. About a week before you guys came back with Claire and Pierce from the attack at Tranquis..." Arlo paused. "After Gale told me that you guys were likely to have died... he told me he was sorry when I told him that I was lucky to still have him with me."
"He must have had a hard time with this, right?" Troy asked.
"Even if he's a traitor... he is still our friend," Claire said.
"He's never directly harmed us, right?"
Pierce sighed as he buried his face in his hands.
"What? Is there something you need to say?" Claire asked.
"He was the one that attacked you, Arlo, with magic back at Tranquis. He is the one who possessed all those villagers. I remember him telling me that he had gotten close to striking you down, only for his magic to be struck down by another spell." Pierce poured out his cup of water over the fire.
Right, the fire spell that Sara had blocked for me.
The fire died down.
"Hopefully we'll run into him tomorrow, maybe give him one last chance." Pierce muttered.
"Hey, Arlo?" Troy called after a moment of silence.
"Yeah?"
"About you and the Aerys's blessing, can you control it?"
"I don't think so. It happens when I'm in serious danger, I think."
"I see."