Sheela's mood did not falter at the questioning. Her words, though hampered by a lack of language skills, still expressed as much passion as they could in their presentation. It was highly evident that there was a deep chip on her shoulder against the demons, and one likely ancestrally passed in nature considering the timeline of events.

Sheela had not been alive for the events of the Fourth Darkening, Li could figure, but the amount of emotion she drew on now was real and bright. Likely, consequences from that war marred her upbringing.

"Elders said because demons made us weak," said Sheela.

"Ah, therein lies the dilemma," said Asala as she raised a pale, claw tipped finger. "Weak against what? Defeated demons? Not so. Elves. Elves drove thy people away from thy ancestral home."

Asala pointed to Vilga. "Thy people too, and that is why thou hast been a slave to the elvish arenas since youth."

"But many of my elders killed," said Sheela. "Nadir stolen from us. Not by elf, but by demon."

"Didst thou know personally of these fallen elders?" said Asala.

Sheela shook her head. "But I feel their rage. In the blood they leave behind."

"Ah, that is why the fires of passion doth stir so deeply and brightly within thee," said Asala. "The burden of blood magic. The blood that flows througheth our veins passes onto the next generation, but amongst thee, practitioners of the ancient art, that blood carries burden. Emotion. Anger. Vengeance.

Thou dost harbor grudges of a generation past. A young mind such as thee ought not deal with such burden, but tis' understandable. I shalt not say that the losses of thy people are to be trivialized. But tell me, when thou didst tell us the cause for thy adventuring, did thou not say it was for the Nadir?"

"Yes. What of it?" said Sheela. She did not understand a good chunk of the flowery language that Asala employed, but she could get the gist of it, and she honed in on the question she understood best.

"Then, once thou has the Nadir, what next?"

"I protect my people. My sister. Make sure we all free. Take fight to demons. Stop them from hurting ever again."

"If there is one thing I can guarantee," said Li. "It is that I will not allow the demons to enslave a people or reduce them to cinders. Not now, not ever. That too is part of the order I envision, and I will use my full might to ensure it. You will not need to a lift a finger for that, nor would I want generational grudges to interfere in my judgements."

"And thus, the dilemma arises, Sheela," said Asala. "Thou doth wish to protect thy people, hence thy search for the mighty Nadir, and yet, it shalt not be demons that bear down upon thee. It will be the elves as they hath done so for the past thirty years.

Thy passion is fierce. Thy will is bright. But much of it flows not to the right channels."

"I find Nadir," declared Sheela. "I do that. If demon stop me, I fight them. Kill them."

"I am not stripping you of your right to fight," said Li. "I myself will not be abstaining from killing. But killing that goes beyond order, beyond the scales of balance, I will mediate. Your right to self defense will never even come close to weighing on those scales."

Sheela purred at Li's statement. "I kill, too. Not just to defend. For vengeance."

"I will not stop you. But you will do so through your own power, for the grudges of your people are not mine," said Li.

"Don't mind. Most of my life, I fight alone anyway." Sheela turned away, moving to a corner of the Vukanovi before curling up into a tight ball to go to sleep, tired from being questioned so much. Evidently, she had never been one to be questioned so.

It did make a bit of sense. When she fought, a gold mane grew around her neck, indicating strength beyond the norm of her people, hence why she even came on this adventure in the first place. If her tribe respected strength, then likely, she had never been questioned much, and her youth would have made her complacent to it.

Whatever bitterness Li could sense in Sheela, he did not want to approach. He was not good at the intimate kind of talking and questioning that could change people's world views. No, he worked through his actions for the most part, and the power granted to him in this vessel was useful in that regard. Hopefully, she would come to terms with her ancestral grudges as time passed and the adventure continued.

"Papa," murmured Tia as she fidgeted in his lap, rousing from her sleep. She stretched her legs out, her clawed toes wriggling as her face scrunched up in exertion. Green and black scaled wings fanned out from behind her, covering over Li. "Don't like being inside all day. Want to go out."

Li pat Tia's head, and she looked back at him pleadingly. "Tia, it is dangerous outside, you know that."

"Then I can fly!" said Tia. Her wings trembled in excitement at the thought. "Can fly with papa! You can make big green shield, then we can fly up."

Li conceded that was certainly possible, but even that, he was a little against the idea. The ash was of a power he could inherently feel was foreign to Elden World magic. It did not have the same wavelength to it in much the same way that heroic powers or Tyr's alien slime did. This was mainly why he was operating with such caution, not even going out himself.

He could not know for certain if any of his Elden World barriers would work against the ash. In the brief moment of exposure, he had when it suddenly washed over his party, he could tell that it was not too harmful, only injuring Mason and Mercer whom, no offense to them, were pitifully weak compared to even the other party members, let alone Li.

Tia had been unhurt as well, but he had no idea what prolonged exposure could do.

Li felt Tia tug at his Farmer's Guild jacket collar, the brown cloth tearing slightly in her grip. "Please, papa?"

Li took another look at Tia's eyes and sighed, allowing reason to flee him for a bit. "I suppose we can go ahead and fly for a little bit. The rest of you-,"

Li was about to tell the rest to stay behind in the Vukanovi's shelter, but he saw Zagan arise from his prone position by the fire, trotting to his side. The demon clearly indicated that he wished to accompany Li.

Li nodded slightly to the demon.

"Stay behind, where it is safe," finished Li.