Even walking through the bed chamber was becoming an event. The gifts from the hallway were piled past the top of the window. Opal examined the small stack that had been put on her own bed.

Where did all of this come from? She couldn't imagine Corax had all of this stored away somewhere, especially not the clothing which although not perfectly tailored was clearly made for them. Even if the assistance were nearly her and Kait's height she had yet to see any of them near Proga's size. She watched him examine his own gifts with a slight frown. All of them were very muted in tone.

"Is it normal for this kind of send-off or is it a prince thing?"

"This amount is for sure a prince thing- more of a bribe than a gift, however its normal for hosts to see guests off with tokens. Guests usually bring something at the beginning of the stay. Obviously we broke that tradition."

"Great. What are we going to do with all this crap?" Spark shook his head, he pushed a box out of the way with his foot. "If we really are chasing that group its gonna be in the way."

"Definitely will make it hard to be inconspicuous."

"Means we won't be hidden well." Opal lowered her voice when she saw Spark's jaw set. He gave her a glance and then returned to picking through the clothes.

"We won't take it all. It might help get us more information or places to stay though. Some of these oils are pretty rare."

Opal examined the trays of bottles. Some of them were very small, like the ones in the baths, but there were also tall ones and some that looked heavy. She thought she recognized a blue bottle and opened it to see if it was the flowery scent she'd combed into her hair the night before.

"Don't-!"

Proga's warning came too late as she inhaled the scent. Immediately she felt herself falling backward, although it wasn't unpleasant. He managed to catch her and the bottle before she dropped it.

"Some of these gifts are more for wicked fun I think."

Opal laughed and ran her fingers over the material of his shirt. Her eyes went wide. "Sooo soft."

She heard Spark's laughter from far away and started to laugh with him.

Kait took the bottle. She had the sense not to put her whole nose in it. "Its Cloud. Good thing you didn't let the vial break, Proga, or we all would be floating away with her. I think she only got a little bit."

"A little bit?" Proga was trying to hold both of her hands away as she tried to pet his face.

"She won't be like that long." Kait chuckled.

"Why? I like being this way." Opal felt herself being lifted and placed into her own bed. Proga stuffed a pillow into her arms. It was the most wonderful thing to squeeze.

"What else we got?" Spark picked up the bottle nearest to him and squinted at it.

"You just saw what happened to Opal!" Kait protested.

"Hey, if we are rushing to our deaths soon, might as well enjoy ourselves first. Like you said, we can't take most of this with this anyway."

"We aren't going to die, stop talking like that."

Spark chose a clear bottle with an alternating red and purple liquid. He slid down the wall to sit, opened it and took a swig. Opal slithered out of her bed.

"Want some?"

She nodded. He pushed her out of his lap as she tried to crawl across him to get to it and helped her take a small sip. It tasted bitter, but not unpleasant and reminded her of the smell of the dirt before rain. It left a burn on her tongue. She licked her lower lip.

"Spark!"

"What? She wanted some."

"You don't even know what it is!"

"Yeah I do." He swirled the bottle and Opal watched with amazement as the colors winked red to purple and back. She reached for it again. He held his forearm to her throat keep her at bay and took another gulp.

Proga dropped down next to her. "What is it then?"

"Dunno what you call it."

"Proga, really?" Kait stood in front of them, hands on her hips as the other boy took a cautious sip.

The colors of her dress were getting brighter, or was the room?

"I can smell everything." Opal laughed alternatively wrinkling her nose and sniffing more depending on what wafted past. Proga laughed as she sniffed his sleeve and smiled peacefully.

"Great. This is great- we are supposed to be preparing for tomorrow."

"Come'on Kait. Fun won't hurt."

The look she gave him suggested it might.

"Here." Spark tossed Opal part of one of the long spiky dried fruits that had been stuffed into a basket and handed Proga the bottle again.

She sniffed it and she could see the smell, yellow and pink in small pops of color. Her skin felt prickly like the texture of the fruit was touching more than just her hands. Taking a bite was almost too much but she still enjoyed it. While the Cloud seemed to make everything soft whatever this was made everything, more. She took another bite and had to keep her eyes closed. Only one sense at a time.

"Why are you all back there?" Yue's voice.

"I tried to stop them. Corax decided to include some Modification Waters."

Opal finished chewing and waited for the last of the color to fade. When she opened her eyes again Yue was standing over them. Spark only had one eye open and was giving him a lazy sharp-tooth grin. "Sorry if this isn't respectable enough behavior."

"We can't take it all with us." Opal was confused and thrilled to hear her own voice sounded much more pleasing than usual.

"Yeah it would be too uhh..." Spark bit his tongue and stared at her. "Inconspicuous."

"I think you mean it would be too conspicuous. We don't want to be conspicuous. We would want to be inconspicuous." Yue shook his head.

Opal started to scoot away before the explosion but instead Spark just shut eyes and leaned against the wall again. "Shit, I tried."

Yue lifted the bottle to examine. "Did you all have some?"

"Not me."

"I'll save you some then." He took two swallows, handed it to Kait and took a seat by Proga.

"A prince of the common demons, as Corax said." Proga laughed. Yue looked a little nervous but pleased with himself.

"What does it do?"

"Ya about to find out."

"It makes this taste good. Here!" Proga steadied Opal as she tried to hand Yue some.

Yue frowned.

"She accidentally inhaled some Cloud, too that's why her eyes are like that."

"What are my eyes like?"

"Your pupils are completely dilated. You look insane. And I think you're drooling."

Opal ran her hand over her chin, unbothered.

"Aw, Kait. Don't pout. Try some."

"You know I can't." She glared at Proga.

"It's not like the stuff at the bar. You'll be fine."

"This... this is very good." Yue was holding the fruit at arm's length like he'd never seen food before. "This is fun."

Proga snorted with laughter.

"See, Kait? Even your damn prince is having fun."

"Try it try it!" Opal laughed.

"Fine." Kait rolled her eyes and held out her hand. Her sip was very dainty.

"Careful, ya might have accidentlly swallowed some of it."

Her sharp eyes turned back toward Spark. "If this goes badly, you're the one that's going to regret it." She took four full gulps, wiped her mouth and sat down in front of Opal, scowling.

"Don't listen to her. She's done all sorts of crazy things." Proga reached out to pat her on the head. She tolerated this while glaring. "Oh, did I tell you about the time she knocked herself out for two days trying a new recipe for a relaxation tonic?"

Her eyes went wide. "Don't you dare."

"I would like to hear about that." Yue's mouth was full as he spoke.

Proga apparently had lots of tales about Kait's experiments going wrong which he told with aggressive enthusiasm. She was able to counter once with a story of him practicing turning into a bird as a young demon and getting trapped in a tree for most of a day. As they spoke Opal was able to see the action described in vivid detail, like she was reliving their memories, the feel of the wind against her hair and that dry bark of the tree she was clinging to as he awaited rescue. Even her head swam with the dizzying feeling of being up high. For a brief moment she felt a pang of sadness at not having her own memories to share. Especially if they were going to die on this mission, she wished she would be able to tell someone something about her life. Did it even matter if it happened if she couldn't remember? Did she even matter if no one would remember her? She'd told Bloom Ermine's story because that's all she had, other's stories.

"Opal, are you ok?" She stared into Proga's eyes gone slightly paler.

"Mmmhmm."

"You're crying."

She touched her face to realize he was right.

"I have a funny story about mistakes." Yue cleared his throat. "I broke a very important piece of art."

Kait rested her chin on her hand.

"That tonic that Kait perfected we used often. I gave it to Ren in every fight before my father. Once I gave him too much, so he barely screamed the whole time. The King got so angry he gave me this-" Yue tugged the sleeve of his shirt down to reveal one of the shiny raised blue-silver mark on his arm. "-when he threw me into the wall, but he was so mad his aim was off. The new portrait gifted to him was shattered into frozen pieces. the next day at committee everyone kept asking how he liked the painting." Yue grinned. "I accidentlly wore something without sleeves, so he had to look at the burn between every lie."

"Oh, was that why you got kicked out of court?" Proga raised an eyebrow.

"I guess he didn't think it was as funny as I did that he broke such an valuable peace offering. No one ever seemed to think it was odd that it was being 'cleaned' for the last ten years." He chuckled.

Opal did not know what to make of this tale because it didn't seem that funny to her. Kait also seemed a little unsure. Proga's grin was still mostly there though. She forced a laugh because Yue still seemed very pleased with himself. To her relief Proga took over the story telling after that.

------

The next morning, she was woken early by Kait. It wasn't even light out as they made their way to the garden area to complete the medicine they'd prepped ingredients for the night before. Apparently fresh air was important as many of them tended to steam and smoke.

The tonic that required blood turned out to be much less foul than one that was for avoiding infections in wounds but it still clung to her hair and clothes. It was light out by the time they returned carrying the armload of completed tonics. Yue and Proga were dressed and about to leave, apparently planning to try and trade some of the gifts for a smaller and less ridiculous cart. The current one was white and gold with delicately carved crows and letters. It screamed rob us.

"I still need a amulets- you can't go without me!"

Yue winced. "You and Opal... need to wash up. We can meet you at the stalls. Plus, he's not even ready." Yue motion towards Spark's bed as he and Proga exited.

Opal could see an arm hanging over one side of the bed. Kait was frowning. "We need to hurry then. I'm not letting Proga pick stones- he just goes for color every time."

"Gah! You smell like swamp water- get off me!" A half-awake Spark tried to fight Kait off as she attempted to tug him out of bed. She motioned for Opal to help who just shook her head.

"Get out of bed or I'll dump swamp water on you."

The territory was packed with demons this morning. Opal found it a little harder to get through the dense areas without Yue or Proga to create an opening to follow. Music played from somewhere up ahead and she could smell something sweet being roasted. Too many conversations to follow surrounded her. She felt like she could get swept away by all of the activity. A smaller demon was being carried on the shoulders of what must have been a sibling as they had the same small, feathered gray wings on their heels. As they darted through the crowd the younger one squealed in delight. Opal paused to watch and someone knocked into her. She stumbled. Kait linked an arm with her, not unlike Gray had done before.

"Do you think we'll come back here?"

"If you'd like to."

"I wouldn't."

"I wasn't talking to you, Spark."

"I think we should all come back here."

"Then we will. There are a few other places I'd want to take you first. They have a festival soon at one to the west with waterfalls on the cliffsides. You like to dance, don't you Opal?"

"Do I?" The thought of the loud music in the rec space.

"Proga said you did. In the rain after we escaped."

"I did like that."

"I only was able to watch last time, but each waterfall has music. A celebration of the rivers that molded the land there. Demons spend the entire year making songs that fit each river path. We'd have to go to each." Kait caught Spark's arm as well. "You'd have fun too. I'd make you."

He wrinkled his nose. "Make me... Are you threatening me or something?"

"Yes!"

Opal smiled. Something to look forward to. "Tell me more about where we will go."

"Well there's also one that's almost the opposite of here, completely underground- oh I've never been you'd have to ask Yue but Alegr is just outside the ice territories and they specialize in light energy there. Its supposed to be beautiful!" She continued describing Alegr until they came to the meeting spot.

Proga was waiting by the crumbled fountain. He was pacing. Opal met him first as Kait and Spark had begun an argument about whether she was exaggerating the good parts of the territory.

"He's not with you?"

"Huh?" Opal turned around. Spark and Kait were just behind her. "He's right there."

"No." Proga's eyes were pale and wide. "It's Yue. I can't find him."