Part 3: A reckoning rides from the west

Katrin nods, then walks into the barn. She stops a few paces from the bound man, leaning against a support post, watching him. What game are you playing, Gesrik? And why? Why now? But right now, she knew there was a more pressing conversation to be had. Her captive would still be there at the end of all of this.

Ascian nods numbly, watching them filter closer until it’s impossible to do so. Slowly he forces himself to stand and drift across the rooftop, climbing down the ladder that had put him briefly above it all before joining the others in the barn behind Marianne. His attention focuses immediately on Ember, whether for comfort or distraction he doesn’t know. 

Approaching the barn, Thezra's eyes quickly focus on the boy, sat carefreely on the roof above. She steals a glance over at the wizard, watching the man wave him down. Her jaw sets, and she can't help but shake her head ever so slightly. She turns her head over towards Akiran. A couple days earlier and she'd have never imagined he was the one she most could rely on here, yet strange times made for strange bedfellows. Locking eyes briefly with Marianne as she entered, she forced herself to let a breath out. Regardless of what happened here today, there was only one certainty in her mind: either the group gets the truth of what happened the previous night, or there was no group at all.

"You never called me back," Thrandimir tells Marianne, the smirk on his face betraying the joviality in the faux reproach that colours his tone of voice.

Marianne raises an eyebrow. "This is me calling you back," she says.

Stifling a roll of her eyes at the wizard's, Thezra leverages a hardened stare at Marianne instead. "Let's get to it then. Those of us who didn't cause whatever this is have been strung along waiting long enough."

"Strong words for someone who can't even remember the city that we're here to discuss," Thrandimir quips back with a good-natured twinkle in his eyes.

"Strong words for someone that only just remembered last night," Na'arik says from the other side of the room. "Both of you, shut it," Marianne says, her face fading from stern to weary. "Ascian, perhaps you'd like to begin by summarizing your activities last night?"

Ascian's attention is pointedly on the straw littering the stable floor as Marianne speaks before silver fur eclipses it, the smiling, excited face of Ember filling his view. He's not even touched the wolf before he already feels tension in his shoulders loosening, the vice on his ribs beginning to grant reprieve. Marianne's speaking to him and dimly, he knows that; processes the words in a part of his brain that ultimately doesn't matter as he drops to one knee and scans through grey eyes, methodically stroking thick, familiar fur. Ember, the only one here who had seen it all with him; the crystal, Casimir, Faerus. Shadowfell.  What does Daerheim mean to you? The quiet is uncomfortable by the time he breaks it, forcing words to come to lips that don't want to move. The others likely hated him, and he knew that. Perhaps even rightfully so. He didn't know that anything he said could fix that; not now, not with the damage that had been done. It's Casimir's voice that ultimately connects the dots between the parts of him focused on Ember and the sorceress, a bridge he forces himself to walk upon with dreaded, heavy steps.  Everyone needs friends.   "I didn't know it would be there. At the manor,"  he says stiffly at last, fingers unceasing in their path down Ember's side as he intently focuses on it.  "When I got there I could...feel something. It wasn't a pull, but...something close. I knew it was calling me downstairs, but I didn't know why. Or what it was. But I went, and Thrandimir came too, and there was a wall. They were hiding it. The king, and the others. And once we got past that, there was a crystal. It wanted..."  He falters and so does his hand, not quite knowing how to describe what the crystal wanted, or how he knew. Not without mentioning Faerus, and that was a different explanation entirely.  "I knew I needed to break it. So I did." His palm moves again, faster now and urgent as he watches silver strands bend beneath his touch.  "But I didn't know what would happen. I didn't know there were crystals. Or anything about Daer...the city. Not really."

Thezra watches Ash closely throughout his recounting, her jaw clenching at the confirmation of the wizard’s involvement. She glares at him as the story finishes, the feeling of vindication paling in comparison to the mounting anger bubbling forth from her fingers up into her throat.  “What’d I say last night? Full. Of. Shit.”  She spits on the ground at his feet.  “Kru’taking lying bastard.” With a groan, she starts to pace about the barn, running the story through her mind again. The kid had found a crystal that they decided to just… break? Why. Why couldn’t the man just say as much last night. Why the arguing and posturing?  But at the heart of it was the kid. And she could feel those deadened eyes watching each of them.  “Ascian,”  she sighs, her voice softening,  “I know you don’t… get what you do. But what do you mean it  wanted  you to break it. Why would you break something you didn’t understand? Actually, no, forget that,”  she narrows her gaze back on  him.   “You act like you’re smart, Thrandimir. The kid doesn’t understand what he’s doing. Blaming him for this would be like a mother yelling at her babe for throwing its toy into her face. But you. Did you even stop to  think ?”

Thrandimir glances back at Thezra with disdain, before casually prestidigitating her saliva away. "As I said, it's Ascian's story to tell. Not mine. I don't owe you anything , Thezra - least of all the truth - and I certainly don't answer to you."

Thezra ran her hands up through her hand before clenching at the back of her neck, gripping the skin til it hurt. "No, of course not. Why would you owe anyone the truth ever?" She raises a finger towards him, but clenches it into a fist and shakes her head. Letting the breath in her chest out through gritted teeth, she starts over.  "You don't need  to 'answer' to me. I don't want  you to 'answer' to me. None of us are supposed to answer  to any other one of us. That's what you  all got upset at me  about just a few days ago. I just want you to tell us  shit like "we broke a world-threatening crystal." But there is no us  if you hide that and lie to our faces. How is this so difficult for you?"

"Enough!" Akiran bellows as a blast of frosty air billows from his snout, flakes of snow shrouding his face. Turning to Thrand, his voice cold and formal  "you risked our fucking lives. If not for fortune's grace, and the kings kindness. We'd be dead or rotting in a dungeon. Hell Katrin would still be there if it wasn't for Marianne. Da Pale One can't control himself, but you owe us more than answers" " Pointing an armored talon at Ash   and shifting his gaze to Marianne "why isn't he in chains? Ya lot going to wait until he actually kills one of us or fucks da world before ya realizes he's dangerous"

"Ascian was going with or without me," Thrandimir states impassively. "My assistance changed nothing about that risk." The wizard's gaze falls upon Ash, sympathy etched upon wrinkled features. "You've been left alone with these trials enough. I won't turn my back on you."

Marianne meets Akiran's eyes. "Ascian is not the first to fall into this web of lies. Any one of you would be susceptible to it." At this, she looks around the room, focusing on Liliana for just a moment.  "I see a new face, but where is Kaed?"

“There’s a difference between helping and enabling,”  she shakes her head. “You could have talked him out of it. You just went along.”

She wants to scream. Break something. Kill something. She keeps her eyes fixed on the bound man as the voices around her rise in frustration, fury, and anger around her. Adding her own anger would accomplish nothing. It would solve nothing. But neither could she keep silent. She knew, deep down, that she would help Ascian, protect him, no matter the cost to her own life. But she also knew that voicing that conviction aloud would only further cement the growing divide amongst them.  But what about Rose? You made a promise to her, too. Would you really sacrifice your own life for a boy you've known for a month, than a woman you've known for years? A woman who loves you?  At Marianne's question, Katrin turns.  "He had to leave. A lead he said he needed to pursue." 

"He's cured then?"  Akiran pauses for a moment " And who was pulling his strings?" 

“This is Lilliana,”  Thezra thumbs towards the girl for Marianne, the second time in as many days she’s introduced the young woman. Akiran’s question catches Thezra by surprise though as she speaks. She was so caught up trying to reach even a shred of feeling and reason in the old man she hadn’t considered the implications of what Marianne said.  “Na’arik said the fate of the world is at stake because of their fuck-up. Is the one pulling Ascian’s strings why?”

Ascian gives a long stare and tight nod to Thrandimir in response before Akiran is spitting he should be in chains and his hand stills in Ember's fur. It's several breaths for others before the stroking resumes again, harder and faster. Chains. Cured. Strings.  Kaed . All of it above him, all of it without him. None of it his choice.  "He wouldn't have talked me out of it,"  he says dully. "I didn't know what it did. But it felt wrong that it wasn't broken. It's not...strings. It just wasn't right."

"Ah," she says, pursing her lips. "Very well. It is time all of you knew what we are dealing with." Marianne begins her story. Shortly after she and Na'arik arrived in Estros, a great evil arose in the west, in a city called Daerheim. The city was wiped out by a magical experiment conducted by a elven wizard by the name of Faerus Vance. He became an undead creature of great power. The armies of the world rose up against him and fought the armies that he himself raised. Eventually, they slew him. But he always returned. Over and over and over again. It became clear to the world that no power could defeat him. The world lived in fear. So the kingdoms brought their best arcane minds together to find a solution. The solution they came up with, as all things, was rooted in history. Belief and knowledge are the most powerful forces in this world, and Vance -- now calling himself Vecna -- had rooted himself in the minds of all in the world. With this in mind, the plan was to make the world forget about Vecna, and thus diminishing his power. It worked for a time. 20 years ago, one of these crystals was shattered. The enchantment weakened, and Vecna was able to reach out and touch the most vulnerable minds. "That must be how he was able to get to you, Ascian," Marianne says. "You were a baby, your mind easily touched."

Ascian listens to the recount with obvious discomfort, the reiteration of what he'd been told last night – and untold, later, by Faerus – resonating in a way he doesn't know what to do with, but knows he doesn't like.  "He didn't kill Casimir,"  he insists unprompted.  "Casimir helped me. I died first. None of it was meant to happen."

"I told you that it had to be necromancy," Thrandimir notes to those who had been there for their discussion with Na'arik. "The clues were too consistent to be a coincidence. Especially the recurring hues of green." Now might be a good time to mention that green crystal , he thinks to Ascian, catching the boy's eye meaningfully.

You're not old enough to remember, when he killed that city. The King's words echo through her mind. So this was the terrible secret he was hiding. That the world was hiding, Darian had said. And Vecna had somehow gotten to Ash. None of it was his fault. It was all on this Vecna. The rage she was hiding flares in her chest, and she clenches her fists to stifle it, but Ash's statement distracts her before she can herself. "Your brother," she says. "How do you know? That none of it was meant to happen?" 

Thezra shakes the odd feeling from her head as the story is recounted, and the true nature of what the pair had wittingly almost unleashed dawned on her. Still, the city they all spoke of remained alien to her ears. It was clear it must exist — the others attested to it and Na'arik and Marianne had an air about them that resonated brutal honesty, as if the matters they discussed were too normal to them to be outlandish at all — but she could not see it. She clutched at her head, trying desperately to remember, but it was like attempting to picture what lay beyond the infinite abyss; pulling for a curtain that always stayed just out of reach. On top of that, the story itself was... a lot. Worse than she'd even imagined. They were talking about power at a scale that didn't make any sense. Could magic truly do that? Grant a mortal the immortality of a god? And at the root of it all remained the lies. The deception that seemed more and more the stock and trade of those who would castigate her as dangerous and untrustable for attempting to  reject  the influence of those who worked in such shadow. Her hands ball tighly inwards, her nails drilling into her palms. Part of her screamed in a voice that belonged to Rata, of islands and bridges and connection.  But that part seemed distant — adrift on a sea of lies — and return was growing ever more unlikely.

Lilliana waited quietly through the heated discussion, fighting hard to hold her tongue when every part of her screamed to be let loose and explode again, but once more she thought back to the bar and the disaster that followed it... and that flat look Katrin had given her only but a short time ago this morning that had frosted over her rage quicker than anything else. There were no words spoken between the women, but the look had said it all to her; Katrin did not take Lilliana seriously. She was just an impetuous child, the same way Thrandimir sees her. She wanted to be seen as an equal, to be taken seriously and so... she fought every urge. She was deep in these thoughts when she hears her name spoken and turns in surprise to see that it was Thezra of all people that had introduced her to Marianne. Just as she had also done with Na'arik. She looks at Thezra and gives her a respectfully nod appreciation. She was definitely growing on Lilli... And then Marianne was explaining the situation about this alleged city that had been hidden from the minds of everyone on the planet and once again Lilliana began to wonder if--- and then suddenly it was there; the knowledge. It had always  been there, just a negligible distance from her home... no further than Baervale. Something awful and vile. She audibly gasped at the implications. She looks around the room, noticing Thezra's visible frustrations for the first time since knowing her and pauses on her. She wonders if she should say something, but no she would likely just make it worse. Even when she did  speak, no one in this group aside from Akiran took her seriously it felt like... but still... 'Say something.'   She reaches out cautiously towards Thezra. "Hey, you okay?"

In the darkening cloud around Thezra’s mind, it is Lilliana’s voice that pierces through. ‘ Are you okay’.  She frowns. It was an odd question  — not because she felt fine but because, well, no one had ever asked her that before. What did this girl care for her wellbeing? None of the rest of them did. None in Ore’agah ever had, beyond the usual level of care one shows a fellow tribesman. Even Rata, for all her kindness, had never asked her so directly. So why would this girl she knew not even a week ask? Was she okay? How could she be? Not now, in the face of more personal a betrayal than Duar’ken’s turn could ever have been. Not in the face of an evil primed to be released by those she’d thought to consider allies. Not in the face of magic so powerful her mind could scarcely comprehend its existence. “Why do… I’m — no,” she  shakes her head. “No, I’m pretty far from okay.”

'Oh shit... what do I say now?' Lilli froze at Thezra's honest response. What would she have said all those years ago? What would Barakles have wanted her to say? 'Honesty.' She looks at Thezra, straight in the eyes. "Me neither, but I think that's why we're all here... to hopefully start working on fixing all of this." She gestures towards everyone. 

Comic Sans said: You're not old enough to remember, when he killed that city. The King's words echo through her mind. So this was the terrible secret he was hiding. That the world was hiding, Darian had said. And Vecna had somehow gotten to Ash. None of it was his fault. It was all on this Vecna. The rage she was hiding flares in her chest, and she clenches her fists to stifle it, but Ash's statement distracts her before she can herself. "Your brother," she says. "How do you know? That none of it was meant to happen?"  A frown flits across Ascian's face as he processes Thrandimir's request, but it fades to a secondary topic once Katrin speaks. His hand stills again against Ember, the hard ground beginning to dig sharply into a bony knee. "He told me," he says reluctantly, not quite able to make eye contact with any of them in particular. "I died first. He did for me what I did for Ember. It had nothing to do with Faerus. Vecna."

'To hopefully start working on fixing all of this.'  Lilli's words ring hollow in Thezra's ears, and she looks to her doubtfully before Ash starts explaining. The whole thing seemed odd. They'd discussed this a bit when they arrived at the Crossroads — whether he was undead or not — and the lot of them had been very insistent he wasn't. Now he was claiming to have died. And... his dead brother told him?  "How does a dead brother tell you this?" She takes a step towards him as her mind runs back to Rata once more. She'd often done rites to contact spirits, but as far as Thezra was aware direct communication was a rather rare thing, and moreso for someone untrained in it. "How could you have contacted him?"

Ascian's shoulders roll back as Thezra steps toward him, an instinctive reaction of prey and predator he's known his whole life. "I can sleep sometimes," he admits, "Not often. And before I do I'm with him. In Shadowfell." He seems to predict a dismissal before it comes, adding quickly, "It's not a dream."

Lilliana frowns. "When did you die?"

His attention flits toward Lilliana, his voice as dull as his eyes. "When I was born." 

The Shadowfell.  Thezra’s eyes widen, and she folds her arms across her chest. Everything they all say only asks more questions,  she sighs.  “Why would your brother be in the Shadowfell? It’s a dead world. Not a world for  the dead ー a Dead. World.” She grinds her jaw, ruminating on all the information they’d been given so far. This figure was undead. He was made to be forgotten. But he reached out from beyond the shadow of memory to steal away followers? ”You say your brother wasn’t killed by this Faerus or Vecna or whatever,” she narrows her eyes as she watches the boy. “Did he kill you.”

Katrin tenses slightly as Ascian flinches back from Thezra. After a moment, she loosens her fingers from where they'd gripped her axe once it's apparent that no harm is going to come to the boy.  "I believe you, Ascian," she says quietly. "Your brother saved you like you saved Ember." 

"No one is questioning whether or not we believe Ascian, Katrin, but someone has been manipulating him... this Vecna clearly. How do we even know if this person is even Ascian's brother. We need to question everything we think we know about this."  She looks back to Ascian. "How old was your brother when he saved you? I... I don't even know how you saved Ember, but... I fear someone is lying to you to get you to do things like Vecna did at the castle with the crystal."

"No," he says defensively to Thezra. "I stopped breathing. It happens to babies." His eyes are already cold from the accusation but only grow colder as they look toward Lilliana, the assumption about Casimir chilling him as his hand drops from Ember's fur and he finally stands.  "It's him. I've met him. I've talked to him. He's  my  brother. He's my  twin. "  There's something awful rising in him again, something not unlike what had burst out of him in the temple when he'd been on the receiving end of Akiran's fury. But this time it's not at the stimulation of an outside force; it's from him – a cold, primal fury he hasn't felt before and doesn't know what to do with. It's halfway up his throat before Katrin's words break through to him and one by one he forces his fingers to uncurl. She, at least, understood. She'd proven it enough; he never should have doubted her. "It has nothing to do with Faerus," he says flatly.  "He's real."

"So was it you or Vecna who attacked Akiran then."  Thezra stares at him, her eyes prodding, seeking some measure of understanding from the boy. But he was recoiling as always, a constant nerve being pressed by the world around him. She leans back, sighing as again her fingers pinch the bridge of her nose, something that was becoming a habit of late.  "Ascian. I told you then. We will find a way to help you. But,"  she turns towards the others,  "If 'Vecna' has a hold on him, that can't be ignored. Not if it's helping free something Marianne just described as unkillable, as bringing the kru'taking world its knees."  Her eyes flit to the side, glaring at Thrandimir.  "And not if some here would rather help him do that than stop him." 

Lilliana shrugs. "Well, that's good. Like I said, Ascian, I just don't know much about this, but we are all involved in this now. We just need to know what is happening."  She turns to share a look with Akiran. There was a very clear line being drawn in this group and she did not like that one bit. They were all a part of this now, whether they wanted to be or not. 'Secrets... and here I am talking like I'm not hiding something too. I want to tell them, but... no, not with all of this.'

We just need to know what is happening. Katrin turns her gaze over to Lilliana briefly. But it wasn't the knowing that bothered Katrin. It was what would happen once everyone knew everything. Would they be so inclined to treat Ash any differently than they had? Would they think better of him? Or worse? Knowledge was a terrible thing. And suddenly Katrin understood why the King of the Heartlands wanted to keep Daerheim a secret.

Once more, almost habitually at this point, Thrandimir rolls his eyes when he hears the remark that Thezra throws in his direction. "By all that you hold holy, Thezra, shut that tusked face of yours before I shatter every last one of those crystals myself. Obviously, Marianne has a plan. We should hear it, once all the cards are on the table." Now is the time to get things out in the open, the wizard thinks at Ascian, if only for Katrin's sake. The others will only be angrier later if they find out that you held something back.

"Oh for the love of..." Marianne says, rubbing her forehead. "Thrandimir, please kindly shut your own face. When I want to speak, I will speak. The only thing you accomplish is deepening the rifts within this group." She stands, her demeanor not angry, but exasperated. She glares at both Thezra and Thrandimir.  "If you stoop down to each others levels and continue to act like children, I will treat you like children. You need each other. You all do." She focuses her glare first on Thrandimir, then on Thezra. "Is there anything left to be said, or can we move on?"

Thezra's glare lingers on Thrandimir, on the face of a man who would sooner sell her out for his own amusement than stand at her back. A man who would lecture her on trust with one side of his mouth and betray them all with the other. A man who could look someone in the eye with all the conviction of a shaman while driving a dagger into their back from behind. She twists, locking eyes with Marianne, defiance burning in her eyes.  " Call me childish again ."  She feels the pinpricks of warmth on her palms where her nails were digging through the flesh, the knuckles losing their greenish hue for a mix of white and crimson red.  "Tell me how. How  any   of us could possibly need a... a  mal karash  like him? An oathbreaker. A deceiver. A snake wearing a crooked smile. How could we even  know  all the 'cards' were on the table? Akiran, Lilliana, and I had no part in this. Yet you and Na'arik say we're childish for feeling anger at their betrayal. They won't even admit to fucking up, but you let them walk freely."

"I was not calling Liliana childish. Nor was it direct at Akiran, though he has done a bit of shouting already," Marianne says. "I was calling you-" She thrusts a finger at Thezra. "-and him-" Her finger moves to point at Thrandimir. "-childish. Oathbreakers , so you say, like him, have their place. Warriors like you have their place. His attitude leaves much to be desired, as does yours, yet you both remain necessary." She regards Thezra with a cocked eyebrow. "They made mistakes, that much is true. Whether he admits it or not, Thrandimir will need your help to rectify those mistakes. Will you continue to insult him, which only makes him retreat further into his own defenses, or will you help?"

The woman's indifference to the situation leaves Thezra nearly speechless at first. Her lip quivers as she bites down to withhold the words she truly wants to say, instead flexing her fingers out from the gashes left on her palms and taking a deep breath. "Is it childish to not trust a liar? After Duar'ken, I swore an oath not to let myself be betrayed again. Duar'ken. Gavokk. My own tribe." She frowns, folding her arms over her chest. "Three days ago I fucked up. I let my own issues with trust come before the rest and tried to take control without—" she exhales, a long heavy breath that she had barely realized she was holding in, "—without realizing what I was doing. And they let me know. Hard. I still disagree on that fiend's gold, but I agreed — foolishly, I now realize — to trust them." She's pacing about now, and stops a few feet from Katrin, hardened eyes bearing down at the woman through jutting tusks. "What was it you told me Katrin? 'We must decide together.' 'You aren't on your own anymore.'" She scoffs at the words now. Words that only days ago had been all she was able to latch onto. Words that had landed like a raft at sea. The foundations for a bridge. She snorts, scoffing as she looks back at Thrandimir, her fury cool now, tranquil yet still focused. "And while we drank and agreed to forge ahead with new bonds. This one slept."  She sighs.  "Do you know what we did the next day Marianne? We went out to get mushrooms for Ascian. To aid a ritual that would've supposedly helped him. We got waylaid in the woods. We were branded by a dragon. A vicious creature tore Lilliana's leg free from her body. And in the end, he threw our help out. Rejected it anyway. And a shaman, or deacon or... or whatever marked us for dead for aiding him. And yet when a demonic essence leapt out from the kid to lash at Akiran, I still swore to him I'd find a way to help." Returning to face Marianne, she lets out a weary sigh. Her voice is no longer harsh, but dampened.  "And so last night, while the rest of us met with the king, those two conspired in secret to go off on their own. No 'deciding together.' Just on their own — at the whim of either a misguided boy or an undead monster, take your pick — but Katrin and Lilli and Akiran I were left to deal with the fallout. So there. I swore I wouldn't let myself be betrayed again. And now I have. If that's childish then fine , but you're not my mother ."

Marianne listens as Thezra recounts recent events, raising her eyebrows at the mention of the dragon and its mark, and glancing at Ascian when the orc says that the young man rejected their help. She lets Thezra finish and then sits back down, gazing levelly at the orc. "Thezra, at no point did I say that suspicion of Thrandimir and Ascian was unfounded. Nor did I say that was childish. The bickering, snide comments, and asides are what I was calling out. This conversation will prove much more fruitful if we can have a discussion  about who betrayed whom and how and when." She sits back and glances around the group. "We'll discuss the dragon mark later. One fire at a time."

RisenZed said: "Oh for the love of..." Marianne says, rubbing her forehead. "Thrandimir, please kindly shut your own face. When I want to speak, I will speak. The only thing you accomplish is deepening the rifts within this group." She stands, her demeanor not angry, but exasperated. She glares at both Thezra and Thrandimir.  "If you stoop down to each others levels and continue to act like children, I will treat you like children. You need each other. You all do." She focuses her glare first on Thrandimir, then on Thezra. "Is there anything left to be said, or can we move on?" In the face of Marianne's admonishment, Thrandimir does something that the Fireblades have never seen him do before. The wizard closes his mouth and does as he is told. His expression appears almost contrite. Thezra's remaining allegations are ignored entirely as he waits for Marianne to continue speaking, although Thrandimir does seek eye contact with Ascian wherever possible.

Akiran nearly flinches when Thezra mentions the cursed mark, turning to Marianne he bows his head "Thank ya. Da monsters mark hasn't made any of this shit any easier. I was hopin ya could help, whatever else comes..." Akiran gestures around to the craziness "know that I appreciate ya" Raising his head, he meets Lillis eyes before turning back to Marianne, his voice respectful but with an edge to it "Thezra's not being childish, they nearly got us killed and not a one of em has even fucking apologized." Pointing a talon to Katrin "not even ta her, Katrin spent a night in da dungeon due to their shit. And all she's getting is sarcasm and deadeyed stares from these two." Nodding at the Dwarf "surprised yer not tearin em a new one. You'd be spitting fire if Thezra or I pulled this shit."

Katrin looks at Akiran, her eyes measured and calm. A far cry from what she was feeling inside. "I was angry. You're right. But I had a night in a cell to deal with it." She looks at her still-raw hands, then back to the Dragonborn. "And what's the point in more shouting? It's not going to solve anything. All we've done for the past three days is shout at each other. And I'm tired," she sighs, running a hand through her hair. "If we truly want to deal with this shit, and fix our problems, then we all have to do better. We have to be better."  Katrin turns her eyes from Akiran, to Thezra, Lilli, Thrandimir, and finally Ash. "I meant what I said," she says. "I will not turn my back on you. On any of you." She adds, looking back at the rest. "Because I have to be better than what I have been. And that means fighting. For all of you. No matter my personal feelings on the matter. And...." she pauses, looking over at the bound man in the corner of the barn. "I'll need every one of you for what's ahead." She looks back, and the anger inside her begins to diminish. "But that can only happen if you all want the same thing. Otherwise....." she gestures helplessly.  "I guess this is where we part ways."

"If I may," Marianne interjects, cutting off any reprisals. "I'd like to explain a little bit about last night." She shares that she spoke at length with Lord Protector Darian after King Darius departed for the front lines of the war once more via teleportation. He shared -- in confidence -- that the invitation to meet with the Fireblades for dinner came after the king heard the report from Deacon Byer. "Apparently, the King became quite curious about Ascian's connection with Vecna after Deacon Byer informed him of it. He invited all of you...and I quote...'to see what would happen.'"