Magrum's voice could be heard from the shores edge, and Katerin could picture his angry expression, as he started towards them from the ship.

She sighed, and stood to meet him. Magrum was suspicious of nearly every soul, and she had expected his temper. He had plenty of reasons to be the way he was, she supposed.

"Who did you bring into my camp?" he said, anger loud in his tone as he reached her.

"Our camp, Magrum. He isn't a threat. His name is Hu—"

"Maybe he's not dangerous, but what about his friends? Do you know anything about this Isle? What was done here?"

"He doesn't have any friends. Will you let me explain?" she asked, as she straightened her shoulders. When he was silent, she continued. "He was left here. Locked in a cage. Does he really look like he means us harm?"

Magrum sighed, and glanced at the elf. "Why'd you have to bring him back here?"

"Because I'm not the type to leave someone to starve in a cage, and I would hope that you aren't, either."

Magrum's brow pinched, and he looked up at her, the anger fading from his eyes. "We're low on supplies already, girl."

"I'm going hunting, in the morning," Fykes said. "You won't need to worry over food and water."

"And where will he sleep?" Magrum asked, no longer angry but still cautious.

"Jon isn't using the other cabin, and I don't think he will for quite awhile," Arjiah said, as she approached.

Magrum was quiet, and his feet shuffled.

"Magrum," Katerin began. "He's with me. I remember the deal we made on the docks. I'm responsible for whoever I bring on your ship, and I will be responsible for him. Wouldn't you rather know he was on the ship then have him sneak aboard?"

"I don't trust him."

"I'm not asking you to. I'm asking you to trust me. I brought him, and I will be responsible for any consequences."

"And if he kills one of my men?"

"Then you can handle it however you like. But until then, I would ask you to show a little more kindness."

Magrum's eyes narrowed. "Anyone ever tell you you're too kind to people you don't know?"

"Everyone, except those that my kindness helped," Katerin said, with a small smile.

"He can have the cabin. But someone will be... with him, at all hours."

"Thank you," Katerin said as she patted the dwarves shoulder. Magrum turned away and stalked back towards the ship, all traces of anger gone. Katerin sighed and returned to the fire.

Huen looked at her with a worried gaze.

"It's alright. Though, it seems you'll have permanent company."

He nodded, and let out a breath. "That, I can easily manage."

Katerin squeezed Arjiah's shoulder as she sat back down. "Any change in Jon?"

"He's still asleep. Fever is lessening, though."

"We've got land, now," Fykes said, one side of his face scrunched in distaste. "Can we get that mark off him?"

"What're you all babbling about?" Roahn asked, as she returned once again from the mead barrel, still holding two mugs and looking as if she had no intention of sharing.

"Jon's sick," Arjiah explained. "A demon... marked him."

"Eh. That's never fun," Roahn said. She drained the contents of one mug in one long drink, and then sipped from the other, with a grin.

Huen's eyes widened and he watched her with a mixture of fear and respect.

"You said something about those ruins earlier. Do you know anymore about them?" Katerin turned to Huen as she spoke.

"The men who left me spoke of it. They hoped to find riches, but found only bones." Huen shrugged. "The scholarly one seemed intrigued though. Believed it to have belonged to some cult."

Katerin chewed on her lower lip. "You said something about the magic there?"

Huen nodded. "Mhm. He said all the magic used there was dark. And that it had left certain imprints on the place. Or 'thinned the veil' if you'd have his words."

"What kinds of magic?"

"Prayer and sacrifice to demons, I believe," Huen said, an unsettled look on his face.

Katerin turned to Arjiah. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't that make summoning a demon easier?"

"I don't know," Arjiah said. "I don't think it could hurt."

"You... want to summon a demon?" Huen asked, as if wondering if he had been duped.

Roahn grinned. "Can't kill something if it isn't... near by."

"Will... will you be expecting my help?" Huen asked, his expression still calm though his voice betrayed a slight tinge of fear.

A laugh escaped Fykes and Roahn.

"No," Katerin assured. "We can handle it ourselves."

"You are very sure of your plans," Huen said.

"Quite the opposite," Katerin said.

Huen yawned, and stretched his arms, as three dwarves approached. One of them came further forward. "The cabin is ready for you, when you'd like a rest."

"Actually, that sounds wonderful," Huen said. He exchanged a few more words with the dwarves, thanked Katerin again, and left with a trio walking silently behind him.

Katerin sighed and shook her head as he left.

"You can handle the spell for this?" Arjiah asked, holding up one of Katerin's books to a rather unpleasant spell. It showed the runes and words necessary to pull a creature from its home plane, to wherever the circle was drawn.

Katerin sucked in a heavy breath. "The spell isn't what worries me most. I could summon the demon and an army, or if I mess up the name, it won't even be the one we need. And we don't know how powerful this particular demon is. There's a hundred things that could go wrong."

Fykes squeezed her hand. "We'll be right there with you," he said. "And we have very capable friends."

Roahn nodded. "Been awhile since I've fought a demon. Too long, I think."

Katerin held in her sigh. There were so many ways this could go wrong. "And, I'll need Jon there."

Arjiah grimaced. "He can't just stay here?"

"No, I need him to get the demons name, and as a... link, to call the demon forth."

"Well, we'll make sure to keep the attention away from him," Fykes said.

Katerin smiled and stretched out on the sand. "I really didn't think I could miss the ground this much."

Roahn shrugged. "A beds a bed."

Katerin closed her eyes and let her breathing deepen, enjoying the smell of plants, dirt and sand. After awhile of listening to Fykes and Roahn banter, she sat back up and fumbled around in her bag. She pulled the crystal orb free and Fykes gave her a curious look. "Checking on home," she said with a shy smile.

She had been watching Lugaria, and Graiden, and even Aughk'tor. She closed her eyes and focused, still not used to the magic of the orb as she was pulled from her body and out across the water, left her floating without a body.

In a flash of almost sickening movement, she came to look upon a bloody and trampled field, with large metal machinery left where it had stopped. Her stomach twisted at the scene. There were many bodies heaped upon one another, and flies and crows were in no short supply.

The noise they made twisting a pit of horror open inside her. Uhma'zarhin's walked with dwarves and members of Sahn-Raidar as they sorted their dead. She could almost smell the stench, as she looked over the scene, floating as a spirit might. She looked for any sign of Graiden, or someone she knew, but found none. As she turned to gaze toward Aughk'tor, with its still standing thick walls and thick shapes patrolling them, she saw a severed hand in the field, with a small amulet clutched in it as though it was the only thing that had mattered.

Her focus was lost as her stomach twisted again, and the spell was gone before she could recover it. She huffed out a breath as her eyes opened to the people around her. Fykes was watching her with tense shoulders, and even Roahn looked serious.

"You don't look so good," Fykes said.

Katerin shook her head. "A lot of blood."

"Aughk'tor?"

"The walls are still holding."

Fykes let out a relieved sigh. "They know what they're doing. They don't need us to worry."

"There's still a lot of bodies..." Katerin never voiced the rest of her sentence. I should be there, she thought, shaking herself. It was strange. Playing at being a lady throughout the winter had affected her more than she had thought it would. She had really gotten to know the people, and come to care for all of them. She thought of Itrea as something of a responsibility.

And here she was, chasing a myth while Itrea needed her. She had gained their trust, and left them when they needed to rely on her. She knew that Zino could easily handle any logistic work or lordly tasks Graiden might need. But it should be her, not Zino. He was supposed to be her helping hand and instead she left him to every possible chore without any forethought. Instead of handling the responsibility Graiden had given here, she was out here on an island hiding from the war. Not hiding, she chided herself. I didn't know.

She still felt as torn as she had when she had revealed the news of the war to her companions. She could go back right now. Fight beside them, be in council with them. But she had fought so hard to find this path and follow it. And the thought of repeating the process made her head spin. She had already chosen this course, and there was no point in fretting about it now. After all, she had sought this out in hopes to strengthen herself. So that maybe next time she could stand in front of her home, and keep those threats at bay.

Graiden had a grand idea for Itrea. And when he had named her lady, he had given her a piece of that idea. Asked her to nurture it, create it and watch over it. She would not forsake it. Itrea was her home. Her manor, and her role in O'siaris was her place in the world.

The realization chilled her. No longer did she think longingly of the Tower, or Hearth-Home. Instead she thought of the Inn, and Ky'lei'mei, and a strange multicolored tower full of books and the occasional explosion.

She looked at the crystal in her hand and sighed. She would look every day. Be there with them to at least watch the goings on. She could not turn a blind eye to it. If it made her ill, angry, sad, or even horrified her, she would watch. Her thoughts drifted, and a thousand 'what if's' came to mind. But after the fear they inspired passed, she smiled to herself.

What ifs are like elves—Imeiza had told her—ancient and never gone from the world. And worries are like dwarves, stubborn as stone and present in all places.

There was a fleeting moment of sadness, in her, as she thought of Itrea. No longer did her choices only affect her. She would never be as free as Juen'tal with his reckless abandon for everything. She had to watch many lives, council many more, and care for them all. She wondered how the war might be going if she had not left. Wondered how to handle further decisions, when she realized that they held much larger consequences than she had ever dreamed. She had always wanted to be the girl who had no worries—the girl who read books on rooftops and was always smarter than her peers. But this was her. The girl who worried over a tiny nation, a mercenary army, and her strange companions.

She had always been sure of who she was. But now, she realized that there were illusions to those ideals. There was the person you truly were, the one you wanted to be, and the illusion of the idea that you would be exactly as you thought.