They drank coffee.

As if their current dilemmas and exhaustion wasn't enough, they weren't even offered tea as they sat down in a modest room that barely qualified as a dining hall. Instead they were offered bitter, black coffee.

Not even Frey could pretend to support his family's home country at the time. He sat completely still as if it would make people forget he was there and not offer him anything.

Lucius didn't mind it though. He'd spent many years eating things few would even consider smelling, and newly brewed coffee wasn't bad, just not what he was used to.

The rest of the group seemed to have mixed feelings about the beverage, with Tom politely sipping it while Eliza and Richard paid more attention to the differently shaped cookies presented before them.

"Do they symbolise something?" Lucius picked up a larger, diamond shaped cookie to inspect it. "Like religiously?"

Frey rejected the tray of baked goods in front of him with a glance, but nodded at the question.

"Five different shapes, for the four archons and The Unity I would guess." His voice lowered into gossip mode. "It is customary in Hrimrike to present guests with seven different kinds though, but it seems people here place more value in faith than tradition."

"Well it is a monastery." Lucius shrugged before directing his attention to Aldrik, who'd sat down next to Tom on a couch. "On the topic of that, perhaps we should begin the questioning."

"What exactly do you want me to ask?" Frey addressed Tom rather than Lucius. "Why a man of supposedly great status looks like a worn down horse brush?"

"Tell him..." Tom chewed on his lip in thought before reaching into his pocket for a piece of paper. "... That we saw this article about him, and that Lucius here struggles with some similar, evil presence."

"The blood and werewolf incident too?" Frey raised an eyebrow. "Or are we limiting his knowledge?"

Tom hesitated.

"Well, maybe don't tell him right away."

Frey nodded, eyebrows wrinkling while adjusting what he was about to say in his head. Then he began his melodious description of their situation to Aldrik, whose face slowly went from curiosity to grave concern, proceeding to hold a hand up in Richard's direction, which made Frey's frown deepen but he dutifully looked at Richard as well.

"He's asking if you're sure you don't want coffee."

"I mean..." Richard stared at the empty cup in front of him. "... I don't even know if I can drink it."

"Then let him pour it out of politeness," Eliza urged him. "We don't want to be rude."

So Richard forced a smile before holding his cup forward and Aldrik reached over to pour the drink, but just as he was about to pull away his arm faltered, causing the kettle spout to bump against Richard's cup and knock it out of his hand.

And into Frey's lap.

As Frey gasped in soul-evicting terror, Lucius tried to convince himself that the laugh escaping his own lips was out of shock rather than malevolence, but he received reproachful glances from the others anyway.

Aldrik looked equally aghast as Frey, which was impressive to say the least, and he hurriedly said a string of words that had to be an elaborate apology before pulling Frey up from his seat to wipe the stain with a napkin. Everyone knew it would not be that easy however, and Aldrik soon took hold of Frey's arm while pointing towards the corridor they'd entered from. Then he beckoned for Lucius to follow as well, and it dawned on him what was actually going on.

"Tom, you should come." Lucius tugged the man's arm, and while Tom looked like he rather wanted the opposite, he obediently came along.

"I'll come too," Richard said as soon as he realised Tom was leaving, but the latter held a hand forward to stop him.

"No, sit."

"I..." Richard hesitated, not fond of the phrasing at all, but he slowly sat down again.

"And stay." Tom nodded in approval before hurrying after the others.

Lucius could hear Eliza utter an 'ouch' before they were separated by the corridor wall, and though he agreed it was best for some of them to stay, he did find Tom's way of wording things unnecessary.

They followed Aldrik into a room close to his own where he pulled out a drawer to pick out a set of clothes, while Frey looked like he was ready to run away.

"He can't make me wear that," he whispered, but Lucius abandoned sympathy with a click of his tongue.

"No, but your clothes are wet and stained, and I'm surprised it's not burning you."

"Of course it's burning me." Frey clenched his teeth. "But what good would it do to whine about it?"

Aldrik uttered an 'a-ha' before pulling a pale green rhenelis similar to his own out of the drawer. Frey didn't show any emotion upon the sight, but Lucius could imagine the inner turmoil going on at the idea of wearing someone else's subpar rhenelis that was no doubt too big for him.

Still, as Lucius had said, it was better than wet, dirty clothes, so he quietly accepted them with a blank expression and a word of gratitude.

"Ask him why he wants to talk to us in private," Lucius said as Frey went behind a screen further away to change. "Someone wrote an entire article about him so it can't be that much of a secret."

Frey said something, hopefully what Lucius asked him to, and Aldrik looked sheepish before replying.

"He says they don't want to call attention to it, since it was a possession and something everyone here would rather forget," Frey translated. "The very reason he's here is because they want to keep whatever that thing was at bay, on holy grounds that is."

"That 'thing' is still around?" Lucius furrowed his brow, exchanging a look with Tom. "But he got rid of it. Like he says, we're on holy ground."

Frey relayed the confusion, and Aldrik reached inside the collar of his rhenelis to hold up a necklace. It resembled the harmonia of unity much like the ones Lucius had seen countless people wear, but he'd never seen the kind of black stones adorning it before.

"Obsidian," Frey said, voice sceptical as Aldrik kept explaining. "Apparently it's used to keep unhallowed spirits away. If I was him I would have thought twice before choosing the green rhenelis though, if he's going to wear black accessories."

"So it's..." Lucius trailed off, waiting for Aldrik to keep going.

"It's sealed inside," Frey continued along with the man in question. "But since he was possessed once he's afraid of leaving this place in case it would happen again."

Lucius eyed the other accessories Aldrik was wearing. There were obsidian stones on three rings as well as one bracelet.

"Must be real frightened," he agreed. "Guess it got him in some trouble."

"So he must be able to help, right?" Tom suddenly looked excited, not by normal people standards but by Tom standards, and he fished out a book from his satchel. "We can seal away whatever is inside Lucius as well. He's done it once after all."

He turned to the page with a sketch of human bones that Lucius had glimpsed over his shoulder before.

"That's what that is?" Lucius had a sinking feeling in his stomach. Not just because he dreaded the idea of where they were supposed to find said bones, and why, but also because he had doubts. The exorcism had attempted to fend off the Scourge with catastrophic results so why would a seal work? The only reason he held out hope was the chance that they could at least get rid of the veins.

Aldrik leaned forward to look at the book with piqued interest, reading something out loud from it in yet another language Lucius didn't understand.

Tom, however, brightened up even more as he too began speaking said language.

"Oh for Dyris' sake," Lucius muttered as the two of them began communicating with each other in Traquian. "We could have left Frey at home this whole time?"

"No one's as disappointed as I am." Frey gave them all a look of disapproval as he joined them again, and Lucius scoffed as he gave his poorly fitting attire a look.

"Don't know how to put on a rhenelis?"

"My father always helps me." Frey averted his gaze for a change, pulling a sleeve up over his shoulder before it could slide down. "It's not like I wear one often."

"Well you can't look like that." Lucius stood up to adjust the garment, beginning with restarting the attachment of the semi-transparent fabric completely, and though Frey looked like he wanted to slap him he remained still for the duration. "Why don't either of you ask about the whole sealing thing? How it works and all, and how we get that cursed, incestuos family tree out of my chest without killing me."

Tom was the one who relayed the questions that time, and Aldrik tilted his head to the side before waving for Lucius to come closer.

"He's asking to see it," Tom said as Lucius let go of Frey's attire. "I don't think he had the same condition as you do."

Lucius removed his cravat and unbuttoned the top of his waistcoat to uncover the largest cluster, and Aldrik's eyebrows shot up.

"He's never seen something like this," Tom translated, and Lucius' chest ached. Perhaps it was too much, even for someone who'd expelled evil before. "But he's still willing to try, though he too has concerns about your wellbeing."

"Splendid," Lucius mumbled while covering up again. "Not that we've got any other options, but sure would have been nice to live through it all."

"Apparently he's got an idea," Tom hurriedly said in relief as Aldrik continued. "A form of protection against harm, he says."

"Like the Larkspur elixir?" Lucius suggested, and Tom's eyes immediately darkened at the mention.

"I doubt it."

Aldrik had continued beyond what Tom had passed on in the meantime, and the latter hurried to catch up.

"Anyway, he's saying he's got some friends he trusts with things like this. They were with him during his own sealing ritual, so he'll speak to them and begin preparations while we gather what's needed."

"Like human bones?" Lucius glared, and Tom pursed his lips.

"Well... Yes, among other things."

"And the protection?"

Tom inquired further on the subject, and Aldrik gestured towards the window while explaining.

"So, uh..." Tom grimaced while attempting to translate it. "It seems you'll need the help of some... Forest spirit?"

"A forest spirit?" Lucius wanted to laugh in his face, but he couldn't even find the notion funny. "Are we going on a fairy hunt?"

"I think it's more of a..." Tom scrunched up his nose, rethinking Aldrik's words. "... Guardian? But maybe spirit? I don't know..."

"A rå?" Frey looked equally as sceptical as Lucius while trying to adjust his rhenelis further, which Lucius quietly noted made it worse. "Why would a rå get involved with the holy and unholy?"

Lucius scoffed.

"What's a 'raw'? Some sentient, uncooked meat pile?"

"You're an idiot who can't pronounce things." Frey shook his head, not even bothering to mask his insults anymore. "And I'd be careful with that attitude around an actual rå. They're supposedly very easily offended."

"So we're just gonna go into the forest to look for a guardian spirit?" Lucius was still not convinced. "Do we even know they exist?"

Frey stared at him with a blank expression.

"So all this about unholy forces and disturbing body deformations can be real, but a forest spirit can't?"

"Well... I suppose that's true," Lucius muttered. "So we're all headed into the forest then?"

Frey smiled, not condescendingly but rather of a pitying kind.

"I wouldn't seek out a rå at the worst of times, but you're free to go ahead."

"I think the less people in danger, the better," Tom agreed, and Lucius looked aghast at their casual abandoning of him.

"So I'm going in there alone? In my condition?"

"Well there's one person in our group a rå could listen to." Frey shrugged, and both Lucius and Tom blinked in confusion. "A rå is most commonly found in the Wexian faith, and we do have another Wexian creature available, don't we?"

Tom's mouth immediately opened to protest, and Lucius was close behind him.

"Absolutely not."

"Ethan can't be in the sun, and I would not venture into a rå's domain during nighttime if I were you," Frey reasoned. "Miss Garlic is mortal and about as much in danger as Mr. Reed and I would be."

"You know what happened on the ship." Lucius glared. "But you want to send me into an already dangerous place with the very same werewolf?"

Frey shrugged again, forehead wrinkling.

"Just don't start bleeding."

Had it been aimed towards any other person the request would perhaps have been reasonable, and not at all a cause for laughing.

But Lucius laughed.

"Do you know who the fuck you're talking to?"

***

Author's note:

And we're all set for the next couple of threatening chapters (most of them, tbh)! As always please let me know what you all think!