An Eunsi. That was what the man had hidden under his mask, and one with black wings, of all things. Not that Eldrazi cared for Tercia and its infuriating need to classify their people, but he had been hired to spy on them for years, once upon a time. Based on their system, this man should've been a slave within their country: the lowest of the low. So what he was doing here, in Ulnter, surrounded by a profession that only the well-educated tended to know, did not give Eldrazi any sense of a good feeling.

He grit their teeth, drink clenched in their hand. "All right. You made your point. What do you want?"

"What do I want?" the man asked, cocking his head, the smaller wings forming his ears tipping down in confusion. "You're the ones who asked for help, albeit in the most unintelligible fashion I've ever seen, and I've dealt with my fair share of patients over the years." He shook his hair before pushing himself off the bed, making his way to tower over Eldrazi. "Although, if you're in a giving mood..."

He plucked the glass out of Eldrazi's hand, holding it above their head.

"Oi!" Eldrazi jumped to grab it, but it was well out of his reach. "That's my drink!"

"Correct, and if we're doing as I want, then that will be your last for tonight." So saying, he sauntered over to a bookshelf, placing it on top. "I'm not having drunks in a room where I need to work."

"Drunk?" Eldrazi repeated the word. "You think I'm drunk off three measly drinks?"

The man sent them a placid look over his shoulder before busying himself in opening up a gladstone bag to display an array of tools. "Not yet, but you're on the brink. You seem to have forgotten that in this form, you are short, skinny, weak—"

"Hey!"

"And currently have little to no food in your system. Your blood vessels are widened, your stomach is far too shrunken to process most of it, and I pity the boy's liver for what you're going to make it process later. So you, Eldrazi, are flagged."

With a scowl, Eldrazi went to open his mouth, but an arm was flung in front of his chest, blocking him. "All right," Aoife began, voice cautious, but steady. "How do you know his name?"

He raised a brow. "You said it right in front of me."

"Oh. Well," she started again. "Why'd you ask for Talus, or know that Gavin was a Dávoln?"

"Oh that." The man reached for a single jar left on the desk, filled with what looked to Eldrazi like a twitching, black ooze. "Yes, I suppose I can spare that much."

He turned, and Eldrazi noticed that his eyes had shot from silver to a harsh blue, scanning over Talus, then Aoife. "Well, it shouldn't come as all that much of a surprise, but it's magik. I simply ask the All-Mother to see the present. Far more useful than all the other Eunsis borrowing Eór's Will to play with the wind. As an apothecary, I choose to work with things that are actually tangible."

"So... what does that mean then?" Talus asked, pulling a chair from the corner in the room. But, even as he sat backwards on it, he still stuck out rather awkwardly, his entire body fidgeting.

The man didn't seem to care though as he brightened at Talus' voice. "It means that all of your illusions and disguises do very little for me, so you may as well drop them. I'm far more interested in what you really are anyway. But first—" He motioned for Aoife to sit on the bed while he scraped over the desk's wooden chair.

She obliged, and the man wasted no time in rolling up her pant leg. Talus gasped sharply at the sight of it, and honestly, Eldrazi wasn't far behind. Her dark flesh had been completely torn open by the hammer's spiked end– that much Eldrazi had known– but it was deep, the inside showing a shattered white all amongst a pool of irritated pinks and bloated yellows. It puffed out the area unnaturally, turning even the surrounding area a muted, almost greenish tone.

The man clicked his tongue at it, and it seemed to Eldrazi that it was in the same, irregular beat he'd tapped out on the table before as the man continued to examine the wound. "That definitely requires surgery. Why were you even walking on it?"

Aoife only shrugged. "I had to."

He raised his brows. "It's infected. If you kept that up much longer you could have died."

She shrugged again.

"Well, no matter. It's mentalities like that that keep me in business." He took hold of his gloves, yanking the brown leather over the talons of his fingers. Next he reached for a silver scalpel, using his other hand to prop her leg up in preparation to make a cut.

"Wait!" she screamed out, and they all flinched. "Um..." A sheepish grin stretched across her face. "So... you're a wandering apothecary, huh? What's your name?"

The man gave her a ticked off look. "Do you want to die from a Dust infection? You're delaying being helped."

"Well, you're going too fast! I don't like being helped by people before I know their name," she huffed. "Why are you so eager to slice me open anyway, hm?"

"... Because the second you all walked into the tavern, I was able to see a bunch of people hiding that they're heathens, and that the Human with magik might need to get her leg amputated if she didn't learn to sit down and get attention immediately. So to answer both your questions—" He grabbed a rag no doubt in case the incision leaked blood. "You may call me Weiss, and I find you all... interesting."

Eldrazi crossed his arms, stepping towards them. "Weiss? That doesn't sound like a real name."

He raised the scalpel again, not bothering to look up. "It isn't."

"What?" Talus asked, sounding hurt. "But you know ours."

"That sounds like a folly on your part. May I continue now?"

Aoife sighed. "Fine."

"Thank you," Weiss replied curtly. He then pressed the scalpel along the bloated edge of the wound, where a rather large mass leaked puss.

Instantly, she hissed in pain, jerking her leg to the side. "Ow! I take that back. No, it is not fine."

Weiss' talon returned to tapping against his leg. "So you're not going to sit still then?"

"I'm trying, but you're just making the cut bigger," she sang through grit teeth. "It hurts."

The doctor stared at her moment longer. "Very well." He turned around in his seat, now facing Talus. "And that is why I called you up with us. Talus was it?"

"Yes?" He snapped to attention, and Eldrazi noticed he had dropped the illusion, just as the man had asked. "You need my help?"

"Something like that. You're a Shar Drak'na, right?" He frowned, but it was a curious frown as he eyed the boy up and down.

The toe of his boot worked itself into the floor. "Um, well my father was one, and my mother was Human. It was a bit of a strange circumstance, but they happened to meet in—"

"Wonderful!" The man flashed him a quick smile before reaching over to unscrew the same jar of black, writhing ooze Eldrazi had spotted before. He eased one out, holding it over Talus' claws. "Mind holding Camile for me?"

"Camile? Uh sure?" He nodded until the blob landed directly on his arm... and promptly dug in. The boy yelped in pain, frantically trying to get it off. "Ow! What is that? It's eating me!"

"A leech." Weiss plucked it off the dark patch of Talus' skin, watching the way it leaked black after with intrigue. "Which proves you do bleed."

"Yes I bleed!" Talus cried, clutching his arm. "I could've told you that!"

"I don't want to be told. I want results, and if you care at all for the girl's safety, then so do you." Weiss swiped at the bite mark with the finger of his glove, pooling up the drop of blood. He raised it to eye level, inspecting it. "What a fascinating specimen you are."

"'E's not a specimen, Eunsi." Eldrazi spat out the last word, arms still crossed even though his fingers itched for his knives. "Do I need to prove that you bleed just as well?"

Weiss shook his head, eventually dotting off the drop of blood on a piece of parchment on his desk and scribbling a small note beneath it. "No. I just wanted to see something before I actually ask Talus here for help."

"And what do you want 'im to do?" Eldrazi pressed, eyes narrowed.

"Quite simply-" He placed the leech on his shoulder like a parrot, waiting for her to fully climb on before waving his hand in Aoife's direction. "I need him to scratch the girl."

She shot up straight in her seat, completely rattled as the colour drained from her face.

"What?" Talus shouted. "But-but that will poison her!"

"Correct." He cocked his head at Talus. "Shar Drak'na blood is filled with a numbing agent. Surely you're aware of this?" He continued to look between the two. "I'm not going to leave it in there, if that's what you're wondering. I only want it applied to the area, I clean it while she's still, and then I remove the poison and stitch it shut. Does that make sense?"

Talus dropped his head, the room falling into a stiff silence.

Weiss continued to stand there. "Again, I'm not looking to harm you all. If you were worried about me having anything against you for your individual crimes, I would've turned you all in the second you walked through the door. Although it would be rather ironic if I did." He lifted one of his own dark wings in a half-hearted explanation. "Needless to say, I don't think people deserve to be enslaved based on their birthright, so understand that I'm asking you to poison the girl for her benefit alone."

"No, I get that but..." Talus' claws fumbled against each other all while Aoife's head turned to look at anything but him. His voice shook. "I-I can't do it."

Eldrazi glanced between the two of them, confused.

"A Shar Drak'na? What, are you scared of them or something?"

"Not really. I think I'd be a bit hypocritical if I was. No, they're just so unpredictable. It's a bit nerve-wracking, don't you think?"

Eldrazi frowned, thinking. Somethin' definitely 'appened between them. What that was though, he had no clue, and he definitely didn't want to ask in front of a man that it was impossible to hide things from.

Weiss began to rap his foot against the floor. "You all are making this quite difficult. Expect a surcharge for my mental stability after this." His lips pressed tighter, and he wheeled around to the desk again, this time picking up a strange instrument with belts attached to a straight metal rod, the other hand grabbing for a short, sharp saw. "Anyways, amputation it is!"

"What?" Aoife shouted, furiously shaking her head. "No, no, no, no. Can't you just heal it? You're an Eunsi! Please just use magik I can't lose my leg please." The least sentence streamed out as fluidly as the tears streaking down her cheeks.

Weiss took a deep breath, setting the machine down. "I cannot heal you until I get all of the contaminated parts out. Otherwise, your Demon friend could have very well done it without my help. So, for the last time, I'm asking you to trust me, or I can return downstairs and get myself tea while your insides rot. Is that clear?"

She trembled. "A-all right."

"Good!" Weiss exclaimed, taking a seat on the chair again. Another belt was pulled out, which he fastened around Aoife's thigh until the flesh bulged purple. "Talus, would you do the honours?"

The boy's face was dark as he walked over, claws shaking as he hovered over Aoife's leg. His chin trembled, and he turned away so as not to look.

"I'm sorry."

Eldrazi barely heard the whisper, but once he did, the boy raked the tip of his finger through her skin, trying to ignore her wince.

The same, black liquid that made up Talus' blood leaked into the wound, and Weiss used a finger to coat it along the entire area. The scalpel was back in his hand, and he worked it under the white of her kneecap, circling it to isolate a small, bloody portion tainted grey from Dust. He glanced up to peek at her face, and Eldrazi was surprised to find concern behind his eyes. "Is that better?"

"Yes," Aoife mumbled. "Thank you."

"Of course." Weiss answered softly. He reached for a pair of tweezers, and a twitch ignited in Eldrazi chest from Gavin's own disgust at the apothecary teasing out a sinewy string from beneath the bone.

An awkward silence fell over the room as Weiss continued to work.

"So..." Aoife began, breaking it. "That's it then? You're just helping us because you think we're weird and will pay you?"

"Mostly." He hummed. "I can't say I'm not interested in seeing the different nuisances between all of you– especially you." His eyes flicked to Talus again. "But I also can't say I'm not curious as to why he has a sword handle in his back pocket that contains more magik than anything I've ever seen before."

"What?" Talus yelped, instantly clasping his hands over his arse. "It's noth—"

Weiss gave him an unamused look.

Aoife rubbed her temples, letting out a deep sigh as she tipped her neck over the backing of the chair to stare at the yellow ceiling. "It's one of Akasha's Relics."

The doctor's hand jumped in shock, but he quickly retracted the knife before a mistake was made. He stared at it for a moment, eyes wide and tongue clicking once more before he seemed to push aside the thought of how badly that could've gone, focusing back on Aoife. "Excuse me?"

"Aoife!" Gavin suddenly yelled, Eldrazi forced to wrench their body towards her as Gavin continued to panic. "Why would you tell him that?"

"Because he's just going to use his fancy magik to find out anyway," she argued. "He already knows about the rest of us, so what's one more thing?"

"What's one more thing?" Eldrazi felt their hands move, but not of his own accord as Gavin tugged at their bangs, their body rocking until Eldrazi found himself pacing circles as Gavin continued to rant. "You can't keep trusting random strangers, especially with knowledge like that! If it ends up in the wrong hands, everything will, the whole plan..."

"It'll fall apart."

"Ah. So the child can speak." Weiss set the knife down, most of his work seemingly done save for the wound being open. But he left it for the moment, fixing his glowing blue eyes on them both once more. "And what, pray tell, does he think I plan to do with this knowledge?"

Gavin scowled. "I don't know."

"And that's the problem."

"Well–" Weiss's hands spread. "I can tell you one thing, and that is that I don't plan on taking the Relic that you have, but I will ask this. Are you planning on collecting the others?"

Gavin refused to let them answer, but eventually Aoife nodded.

"I see. And another thing: Are you in need of any help?"

"W-wait," Talus sputtered. "You want to help us?"

He shrugged, glancing around until his eyes landed on the small needle he'd set out earlier, ignoring the shiver it elicited from Aoife. "That entirely depends on what you plan to use them for, and how much coin you have to compensate me for my efforts."

So it was about money after all. Then again, it always was with people like him. Eldrazi grit his teeth. "I think we got plenty o' 'elp as it is, Weiss."

"Really?" His brows shot up, although the shock behind them was certainly fake. "So you– despite clearly stealing from the Goddess– are in her favour enough to use the same magik I borrow myself? You have the ability to see exactly where this Relic of legend is hidden, and what would be the path of least resistance to acquire it?"

When no one answered, he stood with that same, thin smile, making his way to the front of the room. "I'll take that as a no. Well then, I'll give you all plenty of time to consider it, and in the meantime, everyone out!" His hands placed themselves on Talus' and Eldrazi's backs, inching them towards the door.

"What?" Eldrazi asked, digging the heels of his boots into the floor to slow Weiss' persistent shoving. "I'm not leavin'."

"Since I'm going to be sewing up the wound, I want the area as clean as possible, and I hate to break it to you, but this-" Eldrazi felt the back of his ponytail being lifted, disdain clear in Weiss' voice before he wiped his hand off on his pants. "-is anything but clean."

With a growl, Eldrazi turned to slap the man's hand away, but by then he was already past the door frame, the man slowly shutting it behind them.

"Wait!" Aoife called. "Can't I have someone in here? Talus? Selatan? Please let me at least have my boyfriend."

"You have the entire rest of your life to enjoy your boyfriend." Weiss rolled his eyes. "Tonight, I want you to rest here. Now—"

The rest of his words were cut off by the closing of the door.

Eldrazi glowered at it, and all that it stood for. He wasn't meant to be out here, standing still while Aoife was in there alone with a stranger. Of course, he knew the girl could handle herself fine if worse came to worst, but the fact that he could do nothing now if something happened... Something about the idea made his heart twist. It wasn't the role he was supposed to be playing.

"Sheesh. What a stubborn guy." A flash of blue shimmered at Eldrazi's side, and Talus was back to having the eyepatch across his face. Human hands tucked back before his head as he lazily walked towards the stairs with little else to do. "So... what do you think? Should we let him join the party?"

"No?" Eldrazi answered in Gavin's stead, although he more than agreed. "'E doesn't care about us, or what we're doing. 'E just wants to take our money." Not that Eldrazi cared much about being rich. Even when he'd had a body, the only reason he'd kept the few coins he'd had was simply because they shone in the sunlight and made a nice noise when one clinked them together. Little else. Besides, he found that much more care than that often led to greed, vengeance, war... All very interesting things to watch, surely, but not his to partake in. That too, was not his job.

"Maybe, maybe not." Talus shrugged, and Eldrazi followed him down the stairs until they were back to the first floor of the tavern. "He said he doesn't think people should be enslaved just because of how they're born and deep down, I think he might be a good person."

Eldrazi gave him a deadened look as Selatan finally caught sight of them, pushing out of his seat to make his way over. "'E 'anded you a leech and borrowed your blood for notes."

He laughed. "Yeah, but it's not everyday a tall, handsome gentleman calls you a 'fine specimen'. I'll live."

"What's this about you being a specimen?" Selatan asked, walking up as he glanced between the two of them. "Where's Aoife?"

"Gettin' stitched back together," Eldrazi told him, jutting a thumb back up the stairs.

"What? Already?" Immediately, he was trying to push past them, concern plain on his face as he quickened his step. "Why did no one tell me? How is she?"

"She'll be fine," Talus explained, quickly stepping in front of him. "Weiss just wants her to rest there tonight."

The Demon ran a hand through his already slicked up hair. "Weiss? Is that the doctor?"

"Yes, and on top of that, he wants to supposedly help us," Gavin whispered, motioning to the keys in Selatan's hand, waving him to follow them somewhere more quiet. Normally, Eldrazi couldn't care less about privacy. If someone heard them, he was more than confident that he could handle whatever fun mess of a situation would come to follow, but for now he let it be as Gavin continued to lead them elsewhere. After all, there had been enough slipups tonight.

Selatan nodded, following silently until he was unlocking a room for them both. The other he handed to a very reluctant Talus, who he quietly asked to go to bed.

"But I want to be included in the decision-making," he argued. "I think this guy could actually help us!"

"No decisions are being made until Aoife is better. Period," Selatan clarified, and Eldrazi could tell he was trying not to sound too annoyed. "All Gavin is going to do is explain the situation to me. Now go to sleep."

In response, Talus ducked into the room, glancing down the hallway. Once he was sure there was no one to be seen, he dropped the illusion, dark ears pricking down as he stuck out a long, black tongue. Then he slammed the door, and that was that.

Selatan pinched the bridge of his nose. "So immature. Anyways—" He focused back on Eldrazi, following Gavin's instructions to enter what would be their own room for the night, sitting down on one of two beds.

It was similar to the room Weiss had, save that this one was far more clean, or perhaps he should say sparse. The desk held no papers, the chair aligned exactly in place, each bed neatly made with light blue sheets that smelt of lavender. It was... perfect, in a harrowing, uncomfortable way that made Eldrazi's chest itch, and he put their boots on top of the blankets, mussing them up and coating them in dirt.

Selatan gave him a long, slow blink, hands gesturing and mouth opening to reprimand, only for him to drop it with a shake of his head, locking the door instead. "Well? Didn't you have something you wanted to tell me?"

Eldrazi was moved into a sitting position as Gavin met Selatan's amber eyes, nodding at him. "The doctor. He's an Eunsi, and borrows Akasha's Mothering Will to see the present." The boy moved their tongue to lick their lips, mulling over his next words. "He knows about us. All of us."

Selatan's tail twitched behind him as he sat on the other bed, frowning. "That's not good. But you said he wants to help us?"

"Supposedly," Eldrazi answered. "Though we're not sure if 'e's more interested in the cause, or the pay. Man's got black wings, and I doubt 'is past was anythin' much more than being a slave given Tercia's laws but..."

"It just seems like an unnecessary risk," Gavin finished for him.

Selatan folded his hands together, mulling it over. "Yes, but it also might be a risk not to take him. If he knows about us, he could spread rumours in retaliation, or directly tell the Cearte, or even attack us." He scrubbed at his face, voice weary. "This is a mess."

"Yeah," Eldrazi agreed, reclining back on the bed. "And not even the fun kind. Man's annoying, and worst of all, I think 'e 'ates fun. Like you, but worse."

Selatan opened his mouth to shoot something back, but he seemed to think better of it, instead lying down. "I... I guess I'll talk to him in the morning, when he's done helping Aoife, and see if we can't work something out." As if on cue, his head rolled to worriedly glance at the door. "A black-winged Eunsi, huh? Seems like we can't stop collecting outcasts."

"Seems like it," Eldrazi agreed before he was hit with a sudden reminder. "So what was all that earlier about you being a traitorous guard? For you being the most normal outta all o' us, seems like you're quite 'ated 'round these parts."

"And does it have something to do with my brother?" Gavin added, voice desperate. "He clearly knew you when he talked to you in Lorne. I haven't forgotten about that."

Selatan didn't answer for a while, and when he did, his voice was heavy. "It does, yes."

There was a creak as he rolled onto his side, looking not at Eldrazi, but somewhere through the both of them. "It was a while ago. I was an Ulnter prison guard, one of the youngest there, but they liked the way I was able to handle my magik, so I was entrusted to a lot more high-class security missions than most."

Another pause. "And as I stood there for hours underground, well, I got bored. So I talked to the inmates. One of the ones I talked to the most often... was Cynwrig."

Eldrazi felt his breath catch in their throat as Gavin gasped. "So they caught him."

"About three years ago, when he tore through one of the coastside villages, yes." He sighed, his head hanging as he bread his elbows on his knees. "But for some reason, I couldn't help but feel bad for him. I'd never met a Dávoln before, but your brother was so strong, despite everything. He was always reminiscing about his family, and even when Tachir' was there, I guess he just explained things in a way that made sense. That he was just trying to find the Snake Demon that was going to bring the world to an end."

He paused to stare into the both of them. "I know you won't, obviously. I know that..." Selatan frowned, continuing to think. "I know I haven't been the nicest to you since you arrived, and maybe Aoife was right. I was too harsh. You were really just like him: scared, feeling trapped, and back when we were getting the Relic, you really pulled through. So... I trust you. Both of you."

A flicker of warmth hit Eldrazi, and he let Gavin sense it, to truly feel what it was like to be trusted as Selatan went on. "But I didn't know that then, and I guess I sympathised with him, despite everything he'd done."

"And then, one day, they carted this girl in. She was headstrong, violent, and she managed to break one of the guard's noses while he was trying to lock her up." He laughed, face softening into something friendlier. Younger. "But eventually, I was in charge of watching her too, and... well, we started talking."

Gavin hummed. "And that was Aoife?"

A nod. "Between her, and Cynwrig, I started to get the idea that maybe- maybe the gods' system was wrong, or at least, the Cearte were interpreting it wrong, because there was no way two of the sweetest people I knew were evil. So... we started to plan an escape."

"Ah," was all Gavin said as he turned them on their side, and Eldrazi reached to pull the blankets over their body. "So that's how you ended up in the Eirímach."

"Yeah." The room went dark as Selatan leaned over and blew out the candle on the nightstand. "But I made my choices, and I continue to stand by them. Tachir'... letting him out was a mistake, and I pray that one day, someone puts an end to him for what he's done, but without the sympathy I learned from him, I'd still be stuck in that old, backwards mindset, and I wouldn't have Aoife."

Sleep began to tug at Eldrazi's eyes as the room closed in, but right before it did, the teen spoke again.

"You'd think, for the magik I use, that I'd always have the right answer. But the thing is, I don't. I just know that whatever choice I make, I have to carry it out, and sometimes, that's the best you can do." There was one final shuffle as he flipped to face the wall. "As for the new guy, I'll figure it out tomorrow. For now, good night."

"Good night."

☽◯☾

Eldrazi awoke with a start.

He wasn't sure what had tugged him out of the dream he'd been in, only that something was bothering him, itching at his senses in a way that refused to let him return to sleep.

He lay there, trying to put his finger on the feeling. It weighed on him, heavy, gnawing, and yet familiar in its old discomfort. It yanked him out of bed, making him check to see that Selatan was asleep all while urging him to do something... but what?

Their foot tapped, mind growing restless. Normally, whenever the notion struck him, he'd do something simple and fun, like coat the walls in mud or make Gavin spit several times in the night, and eventually, it would go away. But this was stronger than usual, a tight, shaking feeling pushing against their arms, their chest, their hands twitching at their side with an insatiable urge.

It was that that led him out into the noiseless halls, glancing up and down. In one of them was Talus. Another, Aoife.

"No one is allowed to touch my hair."

Much like before, the sudden reminder of what he was not to do made him want to go forth and do just that. And then he was in front of Weiss' room, fingers sneakily testing the handle. He wasn't sure how, or when he'd gotten there, but that didn't matter. No, the important thing was that the door was locked... but it wouldn't be the first time he'd had to get around something as small as that. Slowly, thoughtlessly, he reached for his magik, extending his energy towards the door. There was no Will to connect it to, just a mechanism of latches and bolts, but he could urge it to stop working. To be wrong, to just so happen to fail as he turned the knob a second time, easing the door open.

Sure enough, there was Aoife, laid out on the only bed in the room with a blanket over her shoulders while Weiss himself had taken the chair, lanky body and wings sprawled out across the desk.

Eldrazi ignored him, instead creeping over to Aoife. He reached out, poking the three, wayward strands of hair that stuck off the top of her head like the crown of a bird. It was soft, but for some reason, the fact that he'd done it didn't make the twitching feeling go away.

So then what would?

He ran their fingers through her brown locks, careful not to wake her. They were so long, and he could tell that she clearly cared for it with how well maintained it was. Glancing around the room, Eldrazi's foot tapped again as he surveyed his surroundings. Moonlight streamed in through the window, alighting an array of silver tools at Weiss' side.

He walked over, running a finger along the cold, metallic edges. At the very end of the line was a pair of surgical scissors, already cleaned and quite sharp.

A small smile spread across his face, although it soon grew to a sly grin as he picked them up, the itch dying down slightly as it was replaced with the idea filling his mind.

"That'll do."