After the training, and surprisingly tasty stew, the crew were split into sleeping shifts. Nuri and Heron volunteered for the first. Most everyone else settled down on their bedrolls following the conversation. Some to sleep, others to chat, or care for the weapons and armor on their persons. Iliana had even seen Lykos pull a book from his bag to read by firelight before she curled up beneath the fabric of her own roll.

Sleep was the last thing on her mind, however, as she carefully curled her fingers around a charm on her anklet. With everything else going on, she'd decided that night time would be the only chance she had to try and practice pulling herself into that other realm. A task which seemed impossible, given the lack of detail in Koun's explanation of it all. Still, with no better ideas of how to go about it, she ran her thumb along the serpent charm.

That faint, unplaceable draw tugged at her once again. It seemed to come from everywhere, but nowhere at the same time, pulling her soul towards something unseen. Unlike before, she drew in a deep breath, and tried to sink into the feeling.

Nothing happened.

Seconds, minutes, then more passed as she tried her best to follow the charm into that white-washed world. Several times, she shifted her fingers to a new charm, then to the string itself, but found it no easier to follow.

At some point, the night took her. A calm, dreamless sleep carried her through the night, and she woke no closer to the other world. Her body protested each action she took, however, proving that at least some events of the previous night had been fruitful.

That day, then two more, passed in the same manner. She would run, walk, ride, whatever Lykos demanded of her. Then, when the sun began to sink beneath the horizon, they would find a good campsite. More often than not, Nuri would begin to cook something over the fire, while the others busied themselves with varying tasks. Every night, Lykos pulled Iliana and Callias aside to train.

She never whined as he worked her. At least, not aloud.

Iliana wouldn't risk Lykos changing his mind about sharing his knowledge. Her mind and body found the training easier and easier as the days passed, even Lykos seemed surprised by how, by the third night, she only needed to be shown something once, maybe twice, before she could copy it with near perfect replication.

The ease in which she learned, however, did nothing to help the way her body ached. Bruises coated her olive skin. She had new calluses on her feet, and a bandage on her brow from where she fell wrong and hit a rock. Eumelia'd offered to heal it, but after confirming the mark would cause no lasting harm to Iliana, Lykos had waved her off saying it served her right for getting cocky when they fought. Iliana'd taken the words in silence, even if the faint unspoken warning in his words rubbed her wrong.

She had gotten cocky. While they spared, she'd forgotten that her new skills were little to nothing when measured against experience, and threw herself at him in an attempt to pay back even some of the rage burning beneath her skin. First Lykos, then Callias--when she'd fought him, her bruised ego pushed her much how rage had done--had quickly set her straight. And, some part of her knew it was a lesson better learned now, in training, then one day in a critical fight.

Each night, after they finished training, then eating, she would curl up in her bed-roll and attempt to send her mind to the other world. Nothing seemed to do it, and she could almost physically feel her fraying temper begin to feed her growing dislike for the gods.

Couldn't Koun have given her clearer instructions? Or, any instructions, really, about how the anklet worked?

On the third, unremarkable evening, she cursed him under her breath. Then, shivered as a bodiless, whispered laugh seemed to grace the air. Within that same second, something nudged the part of her that was being tugged, that... nothing, but everything. 'Her soul,' she thought. Or, no. She hadn't thought that.

Had she?

No. It was a stranger, probably whispered by the owner of the bodiless laugh. And she shuddered at the realization that it didn't resemble Koun's warm, cryptic voice. Nor Inna's soft pitch. It was someone else.

Another god?

Fates, she hoped not.

Whatever, whoever it was, when they nudged her again, something seemed to snap. And the black of her closed eyelids flicked to the white nothingness without Iliana ever consciously opening her eyes. For a moment, she couldn't breathe. She couldn't think. Her entire body, soul, being stung with the change. There was no source for the all encompassing pain, and--for a moment--Iliana remembered the feeling of death.

'Relax.'

The word swept through her, easing the ache and filling her lungs with air. The moment she could form thoughts again, fear began to rear its ugly head.

"Is this how it will be?" she asked the nothing. "Every time?"

If so, perhaps the gift was more of a curse. Would she even be able to use it? A shudder racked her spine at the idea of experiencing that again.

'No,' the voice replied, distinct amusement in their tone. 'My love is just horrid at building bridges. He brought you here with your own power, before, thinking it enough. Human souls aren't meant to travel the realm of dreams and bonds so easily. You needed something... more than Fortune could provide.

'You needed a bond.'

Iliana nearly stopped breathing again.

"Aion."

'Oh! Good job! You're as bright as Koun said. This'll be fun.'

Beyond herself at this point, she calmly wondered if the knowledge that now, not only was she being watched by Koun, but also Aion, the god of emotion, bonds, and thought, was worth panicking over.

Probably.

Her hands curled into fists at her sides, an aching knot in her stomach. Iliana's breathing grew labored, but that calm voice spoke again, and suddenly the panic dispersed as if it'd never begun.

'None of that. You came here for something, didn't you?'

Right.

She needed to focus.

Existential crises could come later. For now, she should follow a charm. Nodding to the empty air, she turned her attention to the red threads.

Instinctively, she recognized that the one in front of her led to Lykos. Given that he was only ten feet away from where her body laid, his thread offered her no real usefulness at the moment. So, she turned to follow the one to her right. There was a strange feeling as the anklet shifted against her skin so she could walk without being tangled in the other threads. Once again, there was an edge of timelessness as she approached the silhouette in the distance. Eventually, she drew close enough to study it, searching for some familiarity.

It was slight, but muscled. The shadowed head, she decided, had shaggy hair, perhaps chin or ear length. And while the figure towered above her, if the size of Lykos' was used as a basis, she had the faint idea that whomever it was would be near her height.

Like before, a symbol matching one of her charms glowed at the center of the silhouetted chest. This one featured the serpents encircling the gem. And, unlike when she'd studied the charms last, she could remember why it was familiar.

Kain had a similar mark on the hilt of his blade.

Are Kain and I linked by fate?

That tense knot in her stomach seemed to cinch tighter at the thought. Out of everything that'd happened to her in her life, she'd thought that the Airlea, at least, had been a result of her choices. That, even if it'd initially started as a punishment for stowing away, her place among the crew had been something she earned.

And now she was left to wonder. If she'd failed to impress Artemios with her work... would fate have found some other way to keep her on that ship?

Had her decision to sneak aboard the Airlea been random, as she thought, or preordained, like the kidnapping?

Unable to untangle her complicated feelings on the matter, Iliana thrust her hand against the glow, and the world snapped into reality. Unlike with Lykos, there was no feeling of suffocation. Simply a shift between one second and the next.

The scene was a campfire, with four bedrolls laid around it. The country-side looked vaguely familiar, but then again, there wasn't much difference between one Eolian farm and another. She'd seen dozens since they left Nokos and had no hope of figuring exactly where the group was camped. One of the bedrolls was empty, another held a body curled beneath the cover, their head covered too much for Iliana to try and recognize them.

Melitta and Rhode were sitting on the last two rolls. Some of that knot eased at the realization that Rhode was a part of the rescue efforts. Or, at least, Iliana assumed that's what her presence meant. Who knew. With Iliana's luck it could've just been that she'd felt uncomfortable letting Melitta travel with Kain alone.

"--about this, Melitta?" Rhode was asking in a quiet tone.

Melitta tugged her knees against her chest, chin resting atop the fabric of her dusty traveling dress. There was something... sad, about the way she studied the fire. It was in the tenseness of her shoulders, and the wistful edge to her wry smile.

"Did she ask that you talk to me?"

Rhode shook her head. Her eyes seemed to be taking in every detail about Melitta, her hands curled lightly over the knees of her crossed legs.

"No. I do this of my own accord."

Melitta seemed to consider that for a moment, before she gave a soft sigh. "I am as sure as I will ever be, I think. No one... can ever be ready for that future."

"... you've a choice. She's been very clear about that," Rhode murmured.

"Do I?" Melitta asked, voice dropping to a near whisper. Bitterness crept into her tone as she continued, something hard touching her smile. "If I walk away, what will my life have meant?"

"That's..." Rhode began, before trailing off.

Melitta filled the silence with a humorless laugh.

"Even you struggle to see it. If I walk away from this, everything that's ever happened to me, to him, would be pointless. Every whipping, every hoarse agreement, every close-eyed touch, would be... for pain, and pain alone. And not only that, but... those pointless things... they'll continue to happen. For as long as our world lives."

Rhode was quiet for a moment longer, teeth worrying her lip, before she gave a heavy sigh. "You can't explain everything in life, Melitta. You can't attach a meaning to every suffering. People are cruel, for cruelty's sake. And... for the rest... you can't save everyone."

"But I can try. Or, die trying, at least."

Rhode flinched, eyes shifting to the fire. "... yes. I... suppose you can."

Iliana was missing something. There was a vital piece of this conversation, something that would make the fatalistic words make sense, that had been spoken before she joined them. As silence encompassed the camp, she walked closer, mulling over what she did know. Something was going to happen, something bad, and Rhode was urging Melitta to avoid it.

But, for some reason, Melitta thought it important that she didn't.

"What about him?" Rhode asked. "You're fond of him, aren't you? Have you considered what doing this will mean in regards to... all of that?"

Rhode's attention had shifted once again, this time to the person curled up in their bedroll. Kain, Iliana realized.

It was hard to see with firelight alone, but Iliana had the distinct feeling that Rhode's words had drawn heat into Melitta's cheeks. Her eyes flicked to the bedroll as well, before dropping to the earth, fingers twining together around her knees.

"I..."

"You like him, right?"

"Wait, what?" Iliana asked.

Neither woman reacted to the question. Which made sense. It wasn't as if she were really there, right?

"That's... I..." Melitta mumbled.

The world snapped.

Iliana blinked open her weary eyes, taking the darkness of her own campsite, and the familiar bundles of Lykos' sleeping crew.

Well, damn.

She'd really wanted to hear Melitta's answer.