The trip back felt as long as it was silent, nobody talking on the way, though not for lack of trying. After managing to get Thera to tell him what was wrong she’d gone quiet and by the time Verbum was up, Ben filled him in the best he could, even with the other’s ongoing fears making it hard. He was clearly picking up on Thera’s mood and had seen more than enough in the brief time he’d been conscious earlier to know that he in no way wanted to say anything and risk making things worse.

And I have no clue what I can do to help her.

His braces were always meant to be a tool to help Thera until she was able to manage her charm herself. The fact that she couldn’t do it had to be crushing her and he didn’t know what he could do to try and make things better. Sure, he could keep making more powerful braces, even now it wasn’t as if she had to go back to her old cloak, but he doubted that would improve her mood much. As happy as she’d been to first get it, she wanted to be free of her innate magic’s effects.

He was going to try talking to her again, just wanting to lift her spirits, but after what felt like such a long trip they arrived back at the gate all too soon, traveling through it to get back to the magic towers to bring Verbum home and give a final report to Killi.

“Hey, do you think you could handle the talking while I wait here?” Thera asked him, her first time speaking up in hours. “I don’t think I’m up for it right now.”

“Of course, I’ll only be a few minutes.”

Verbum had already jumped out of the cart to get away the moment they stopped but Ben went to the back to carry the souvenir they’d brought along the way. The demon Thera had killed, a proper invader that needed to be shown.

Even if they might be none too happy about me bringing it into the library. Oh well.

Its weight was unusually heavy given that it was so full of metal but Ben dealt with it as he carried it along, ignoring the shocked looks he got as he went inside and found Killi trying to leave her office, only being stopped by her student clinging to her.

“I’ll be good, I’ll do what you want but just never make me do that again! Please, I won't let go until you say I won’t have to!”

“We’ll decide that after I hear how things went,” She told him with a sigh, turning away to get the same shock the rest of the library did when she saw Ben carrying the demon's corpse in. “Which looks like it’s involved a few surprises. Ben, why don’t you join us in my office and we can discuss, well, that for one.”

“Sounds good.”

“And don’t make me work with either of them again!” Verbum yelled. “They’re horrifying!”

“Denied. You came back in one piece which is already a good enough review given how it seems things went.”

“Ah, well there were a few awkward moments along the way,” Ben admitted the moment the office door was closed behind him. “To make a long story short, me and Thera were directly involved in the first three sites we looked into with him. Sorry.”

“Uh, you don’t need to apologize, but involved how?” The library head asked him, not having expected such a statement and only growing more and more surprised as Ben explained himself. From gambling with gods to some large-scale training out in the woods, Killi had at least had her suspicions about the village they’d be looking into given various things she heard thanks to both her position at the library and the connections that came with her skill, but she hadn’t imagined that they’d be involved in that too. All that left was the final site, which by process of elimination had to have been what resulted in what he was carrying.

“Alright, well, the fact that none of those three were actually of any concern is good news so don’t worry about it. Part of the reason there's gates set up out there is specifically for training purposes anyway so you’ve done nothing wrong and the gods sound aware of the rest so it’s not my place to comment, but from here, why don’t we discuss just what you’ve brought me.”

“Yeah, so to be clear, are you aware of the difference between a demon and a proper invader?”

“I suppose since you’re even asking means you are as well. Yes, it’s just a later stage in the life cycle. Don’t tell me…”

“Yeah, this guy was in the sapient stage of it and at the far end of it too. We found a cavern with hundreds of demons gathered in it and after we dealt with it this one popped out to give us hell.”

He explained in a bit more detail from there, telling her how they’d handled the group they’d found, only to be blindsided by the power of the one they’d brought back, how desperately they’d had to fight and how after they’d decided to return with it in the hopes that Verbum could use his skill on it to get whatever useful information he could.

Killi sat and listened to the whole thing, keeping a calm look on the outside that didn’t reflect any of what she was feeling within and gave Ben a small bow at the end.

“You’ve had to put up with far more than I’d expected when I made the request. Thank you for keeping my idiot student safe. Verbum, you made sure to thank them as well, correct?”

“What? I don’t even want to be near them agai-”

His words were cut off by his teacher's sharp glare as she moved to make things exceptionally clear to him.

“Verbum, consider the guards we’d usually go out with. Do you think they would have managed?”

“I mean, I didn’t even see most of it,” He mumbled, changing his teacher's expression to one of deep exhaustion.

“Another thing to work on. Fine, let me tell you that we wouldn’t. At best a few of them would have had to toss their lives away so the two of us could run, so be grateful about how this turned out and that those you worked with have the power they did. Now thank him.”

“Ahem, thank you for protecting me,” Verbum gave in at the end, not having it in him to fight against her and getting a satisfied nod for his efforts.

“No problem, we did make things worse by deciding to deal with the demons so how about we call things square and enjoy a much chiller time the next time we meet by talking in the library instead, huh?”

He held out his hand and gave the man his most winning smile, still wanting the connection and feeling like he got it as Verbum was pressured into shaking it, ending that minor part on a high note at least.

With that done, Killi asked him one last thing, a touch of concern in her eyes as she did.

“And Thera? Should I take the fact that she’s not with you to mean her wounds were severe? If so, I can have the city healers-”

“She’s not hurt, at least not anymore,” Ben told her, cutting her off but not wanting to dive too deeply in the topic. “A personal issue came up so she couldn’t come in, sorry about that.”

“It’s fine as long as everyone’s safe. In that case, give her my regards. The next time you’re both in the city, make sure you stop in to say hello.”

“Will do.”

Report given, he left after that, back to trying to figure out just what he could do to help Thera in any way he could.

By the time they got back to Stonewall, it was the late evening and the ride had ended up as quiet as the last, Thera not having it in her to talk as she grappled with her feelings about what happened.

The silence had left him with time to try and think of solutions, not that it helped. He had a few ideas, but he doubted she’d want to hear that she might just need another level or two when she was so down so he kept his thoughts to himself until anything more surefire made itself known, and it was like that they went home.

There were still lights on in the living room, telling them that Sonya was still up as she lounged on a chair, reading a book to pass the time and giving them a slightly complicated smile when she saw them.

“Welcome back you two, how did things go?”

It was meant to be a casual question but it wasn’t long till she registered the bleak look on her niece's face, making her get up and walk over.

“What happened, is everything alright?”

She reached out to Thera, trying to take her face in her hands but being avoided as she stepped back.

“Things are fine aunty, a lot happened but do you mind if we talk about it later?”

“Well, as long as it’s nothing major…”

“It’s not. It’s been a long day so I think we need to get to sleep so I’ll talk tomorrow.”

Without waiting for a reply, she grabbed Ben’s hand, dragging him with her to her room before pulling him to the bed.

A part of him wanted to make a joke about it to try and lighten the mood, that her hesitation to bring up the topic of them rooming together with Sonya had been pretty successfully bypassed, but stopped himself in the end. There were times that her mood could be improved with his poor attempts at humour but that wasn’t one of them.

Instead, he tried one last time to get her to open up as they laid there, feeling her face pressed into his chest while she held him tight.

“Thera, please talk to me.”

She didn’t answer at first, making him think that she wasn’t going to as he contented himself to rub her head to try and give the comfort he could, but eventually she did speak up.

“It’s just, this sucks so much.”

“I know.”

“Things have been going pretty well for me recently, I never even thought something like this might happen. I never guessed that my garbage control would even extend to stuff like this.”

She gave a small laugh that lacked any hint of joy as she said it, squeezing him all the tighter as he tried to provide the little comfort he could.

“I really like the life I have now,” She muttered. “I don’t want to lose it.”

“You’re not going to lose anything, Thera.”

“You don’t know that. All it’ll take is for my charm to keep growing and it’s going to happen. Without the brace, it would be happening. That last level should have put me above mom and aunty’s natural resistances so I have to be sure I’m wearing it around them now and who knows what will happen if it ever awakens without me gaining control of it? For all I know, the braces and cloaks might end up being worthless to me. I’ve, I’ve liked being able to make and have friends… and I like having you.”

“Thera, even if anything like that happens, I’m not going anywhere, you’ve got a guy with some of the best resistances around and an absolutely unbreaking mind, nothing you do will ever affect me.”

“You don’t know that for sure. There’s probably going to be more situations in the next year or two where I’m going to have to use it or my dark magic again which means I’m probably going to get more levels and we don’t know what will happen if it tips over the edge but even if I barely use it, it raises so easily and I just, I don’t want to lose anyone, but I really don’t want to lose you.”

His shirt felt damp and he held her tight, but he insisted on being unwavering in his confidence.

“Well, if that happens I’ll just have to get my resistance enhancement to the second tier. Hell, if that isn’t enough either then I’ll get my unnatural mind to the third. And if that still doesn’t manage it I’ll find some god who can stick a dark resistance enhancement to my soul and make it happen and from there get it to the second tier too.”

“...You know how ridiculous that sounds.”

“Hey now, you’re talking to a guy that already has seven awakened skills. When I say I’ll make it happen I mean it. Hell, I can already think of ways to start raising my resistance enhancement and the moment I’m done with my current job I’ll switch to taking nothing but mind options till I either run out or make it to the third tier. As long as I’m around, I’m never going to let you feel that alone, Thera.”

When he was the one saying it it really felt like he’d succeed, giving her just a little bit of comfort in a sea of despair and letting her get to sleep.