“So?” Pavel asked.

The door was pulled shut behind them as they walked out, a distinct click sounding immediately after. So dark had the house been that it took Serena a few blinks for her eyes to adjust, but when they did, she was surprised to see that Cruck’aa still wasn’t with Doriyah and Pavel. A quick, upwards glance confirmed her suspicions, his form small as it hung against the sky.

“Has he come down at all?” Serena signed, as Jo ushered them to where Doriyah and Pavel stood, a few paces from the front door.

“Nope,” Doriyah shrugged. “prefer it that way too.”

“Right but…it odd for him.”

“Probably still pissed. Let him stew.”

“So?!” Pavel yelled.

Serena flinched, his voice echoing off the walls behind her, its intensity matched only by the anticipation that lit his eyes like a flame. Beside her, Werond cringed back, clutching the stack of parchment to her chest, while Jo, sighing loudly, moved to stand on the other side of Serena.

“You first.” She said, gesturing at her. “Soil himself otherwise.”

She ignored the look that Serena threw her way, as did Pavel when she glanced back at him. Bahamut’s Teeth, why were his eyes so wide?

“Well…” She signed. “I…helped as best I could. They had some family upstairs, and they were hurt from some fight. I closed all their wounds but…”

Her fingers twitched, signs beginning to form, only to be lost as she let them trail off under the weight of Pavel’s stare.

“There’s something off about them.” She continued, heart thudding. “They’re…really tired and groggy. One of them mumbled something about barbarians and…I think they’re poisoned. Maybe the weapons were coated in something, but I don’t know…I couldn’t get an answer out of anyone, and…can’t do much about that. I think they’ll be okay if they rest, it didn’t seem like the poison, or whatever it was, hurt them, but –”

“You left them like that?!” Pavel blurted out, leaning towards her.

“Pavel, I had to, I-I don’t know how to help with something like that…I don’t even know what’s wrong with them, I’m just guessing. I just…” She grimanced. “I did all I could.”

And yet, despite the truth of her words, Pavel’s eyes bore a hole into her chest. Gods, maybe there was a way she could have helped, but even so, Serena couldn’t see it. She just didn’t know how to cure something like that, and that wasn’t her fault but…gods, why did he stare at her like that?

“I just…” Pavel said. “I don’t understand. Why can’t you just cure the poison?”

“Because it’s a different spell Pavel.” Serena signed. “The…words and feelings are different, and I never learned them. I couldn’t do it even if I tried.”

“But how…that doesn’t make any sense! If you heal something, you heal something! Did you even try?”

“What – yes I tried!” Serena sputtered. “Pavel, magic doesn’t work like that! It –”

“Why not?”

“It just – it doesn’t, I don’t know why, but the –”

“How do you not know? You use it every day!”

“Because it’s in me!” Serena shouted, tapping at her chest. “The magic is in me! I can draw it out and make it do certain things, but I don’t know how or why or any of that! I’m not a damned wizard Pavel! I just don’t know!”

“Serena,” His eyes narrowed as he stared at her as though she’d grown a second head. “you have to understand something like that to use it. None of that –”

“Pavel I don’t know! I don’t know!” The hole grew, plunging her body in ice. “Please just believe me! I – I swear to the Seven Canaries, I did everything I could, please just believe me! Please!”

“Serena –”

Gods damnit, what more do you want from me?!”

Pavel stepped back, hands up as he regarded her with a surprised expression, a look that only served to burn away the cold embarrassment under a frustration so hot she wanted to scream. A hand gripped her arm just as the signs began to form, however, sending Serena’s heart into her throat as she swung her head to the side –

To meet Werond’s gaze, pools of amber shimmering with worry. Her lips formed a single word, one that Serena read easily enough:

Stop.

The guilt and frustration drained away, a different kind of embarrassment taking their place, her skin prickling under its heat.

“Pavel,” Jo sighed, utterly exasperated. “believe her. Can’t do it, she can’t do it. Getting her worked up over nothing.”

“But –” Pavel said.

“But nothing, drop it.”

Pavel sighed but nodded all the same. “Right, sorry Serena.”

“It’s fine…” Serena said, rubbing her face as Werond released her, sweat forming on her lower back.

But it wasn’t, but she wasn’t about to say that. Why in the Nine Hells couldn’t Pavel believe her? Taking her word had never been an issue in the past, so why now did he doubt her? Gods, the way he looked at her – never had she seen such intensity pour off of him, where –

No…she had seen that before, back in –

“Regardless, found out a bit while they were upstairs,” Jo said, crossing her arms. “about what’s going on.”

“Oh?” Pavel asked, hands on his hips.

“Yup. Not pretty either.” Jo said. “Said that giants came in, fire giants, from how he described it, and ripped the place apart before they realized what’d happened. Started excavating in the middle,” She gestured at the hollowed-out hill, further back. “and ripped something out. Big and metal, all he said. Dragged it through the walls and never came back. Same can’t be said for bandits though.”

“The barbarians?” Pavel asked.

“Believe so. Couple days later, they swept through, rounded up survivors and whisked them into the woods. Got paid off by the few who still had something, but when the gold and food ran out…” She shook her head.

“But not them?” Doriyah asked, jerking his head at the house.

“Had enough to keep them away for a while. Didn’t elaborate on that. Won’t last though, from what he said. Coming back soon. Wants to leave but their sick are tying them down.”

“Shame.” Doriyah rubbed his chin; Pavel’s face fell, mouth hanging agape. “The hell fire giants doing though?”

“Haven’t a clue. Asked him about news further down the coast, but he didn’t have any. Still blind.”

“Bet it’s worth a lot, whatever they pulled out.”

“Imagine so.” Jo sucked in a breath. “Right, Serena, could you tell Cruck’aa we’re moving? Doubt he’d hear –”

“Wait, hold up,” Pavel interrupted. “moving? We’re leaving?”

“Yes, Pavel. Need to –”

“We can’t leave! Jo, we have to help these people!” Pavel pointed over her head with his entire hand. “If what they said is true, then we need to stay! They’re defenseless, they’ll die if we don’t!”

Serena’s heart leapt into her throat as the intensity returned to Pavel’s voice. Jo, however, simply stared at him, her mouth working around words she seemed unwilling to say.

“Knew you’d say that.” She muttered.

“Of course I would!” Pavel continued to shout, stepping towards her. “If these people are in danger, we need to help! They’ve got sick in there, for gods sake! And you saw Hugo, he’d barely be able to defend himself, let alone his family! What would that make us if we just left them to die like that?”

The words seemed to bounce off Jo as she squeezed her eyes shut, jaw working to the side. It was all the motivation Pavel needed to move closer, palms towards her as though he were pleading.

“You know as well as I do that we can’t just leave them like this.” He said. “We have an obligation. We –”

“Aren’t heroes!” Jo spat, eyes flying open; Serena jumped as Werond flinched back. “What fucking obligation do we have?! Because we can fight?! Nine Hells, we need to look out for ourselves first! And fighting for people we just met flies in the face of that!”

“So you’d leave them to die?!”

“We’re not responsible for that! For gods’ sake Pavel, we don’t even know what’s going on!” She jerked her hand over Pavel’s head. “We’ve been kidnapped, beaten, and flung into a shitstorm of corpses and marauding fire giants, and still know next to nothing! We can’t stay here! We need to get to Silverymoon –”

“Why?!” Pavel shot back. “How does that magically fix any of this?!”

“It gets us answers! Answers we can use to make informed decisions, ones not born from how bad we feel for survivors! Gods, what would you have us even do?! Fight with what little we have?! Help everyone we come across?! Haven’t a clue how wide this is, if it’s happening everywhere or if it’s contained, and the longer we stay in one place, the worse everything gets! We need answers! And Silverymoon might have them!”

“Or it’ll be a dead end, with nothing to show for our efforts but the bodies we left behind!”

“You’re not listening to me Pavel –”

A whistling overhead.

Serena grabbed Werond and hauled her back, moving her behind herself, as Jo and Pavel leapt away, heads craned up, hands on their weapons –

Only for Cruck’aa to land with a dull thud, kicking up dust as he straightened and tucked his wings behind his back. He shot them all a glare as he looked around, ending with Doriyah, who hadn’t moved at all, a sneer etched across his face.

“I leave you all for an hour,” Cruck’aa growled. “and you all descend into chaos.”

“You were going to land on us!” Pavel yelled.

Cruck’aa’s beak twisted as he rolled his eyes.

“And yet, you all remain fine.

Jo sighed and rubbed her face, frustration pouring off her in waves, and for a moment, Serena swore she could feel it. Or perhaps that was that her own irritation at the bird, though why she continued to let herself become this angry at him, she didn’t know.

A tap on her shoulder – Serena glanced at Werond as she stepped beside her again, face somewhat flushed, and signed a quick thank you. She smiled, but as she raised her hands to reply, Cruck’aa’s shrill voice pulled her away.

“None of you have noticed, evidently,” He said. “that our path is blocked.”

Jo straightened, eyes going wide. “What?”

“The tribe lays on the fringes of the woods. Can barely see them when I flew up, but they’re there. Thought I could keep an eye on them, but I suppose you all can’t suffer to be without –”

“The tribe?”

“Were you even listening?”

“What tribe Cruck’aa!?” Jo yelled, causing the Aarakocra to rear back with a sneer.

“The one I discussed before that you seem to have forgotten.” He gestured behind himself. “The same one that’s been committing those awful murders we passed on the way in here.”

“You’re sure?” Pavel asked.

“Of course I’m sure,” Cruck’aa shot him a glare. “else I wouldn’t spend that much time up there.”

“Is there…” Jo said. “Any way around them?”

“Yes.” Cruck’aa said. “If you enjoy adding miles upon miles to our journey.”

His words smashed into Jo like a hammer, pulling her shoulders down as she rolled her head. Despite her frustration, it took Pavel less than a second to step forward again, hands out once more as he began to speak.

“If that’s the case, I think it’s obvious then,” He glanced around at them all. “that we’re in no shape to fight them, not with what little we have…and we’re not going around, no time for that. Right? So, our options are limited. Trying to go through them would be suicide, but…if we stay here and wait, we could hit them on our own terms, right? Set up and prepare and take them out. We remove the problem, and we help these people. It’s a win-win, right?” Pavel shrugged. “And unless someone else has a better idea…”

He continued to look about, meeting each of their gazes, but finding no resistance in any of them. Serena couldn’t argue with his words even if she wanted to, they made too much sense. Yes, perhaps it was a good excuse to stay and help – something she wasn’t strictly opposed to – but Pavel was right, what other option did they have?

And yet…barely a heartbeat had gone by before Pavel leapt on the situation; there was no thought, no consideration, he’d already made his decision, and only the gods could sway him from his path…

Just as with the coliseum.

“Gods damnit.” Jo muttered, rubbing her face, somehow looking even more exhausted.

“You know I’m speaking the truth.” Pavel said.

“Hate it too.” She glared at him. “Right though, can’t go out and fight them. Suicide, that. Considering what they’ve been doing though, I imagine we’ll have to, and if that’s the case…

She sighed and looked over her shoulder.

“Hugo mentioned something about if we needed a place to stay. May as well take him up –”

But Pavel had already leapt at her words, rushing past her towards the house. Serena watched as he almost collided into the door, before composing himself and knocking loud enough for them to hear from where they stood.

“Why did I have to make the decision?”

Serena glanced back at Jo, looking as though she could fall asleep standing up.

“Well…you are the oldest.” Serena signed. “And you’ve done the most…I trust you from that alone. I’m sure everyone else does too.”

Werond nodded as Doriyah grunted, though Cruck’aa paid them no heed, beady eyes glued to Pavel, now launched into an animated explanation to a surprised Hugo, hiding behind his cracked door.

“That why you all didn’t say anything?” Jo asked.

“I didn’t have anything to add…I agreed with both of you, but…I think you made the right choice, if it makes you feel any better.”

“Doesn’t.” She narrowed her eyes at Werond, then pointed towards the parchment clutched to her chest. “Where’d you’d get that?”

“Oh, they had some parchment laying around and I snagged it for her.” She signed. “Figured it would be easier to communicate without the signs…that only I understand.”

“So you got that in return for your help?”

Serena nodded, somehow causing Jo’s shoulders to slump even further.

“Can’t ask for more favors then, I suppose.” She shook her head as Serena offered her a small smile, gesturing behind her. “Forget it. Let’s go make sure Pavel doesn’t talk him to death.”