"Guy!"

There was something comforting about that greeting. Maybe it was how long it'd been since he'd last heard it. Thomas came around the compound at times, but he was mainly either at the church or helping Zolyra with Silora if the Fate needed her contract holder for motivation. Apparently the shavi was slowly returning to her wheedling ways. Rait, somehow still her assistant, believed she'd been faking at least part of her trauma to get better treatment.

Daniel's half-handshake, half-hug upon seeing the Cleric in the lobby of his church was painted by his abject refusal to let him know about his plans for tonight. He was a friend, one who was trying to rein in his bad habits, but a gossip all the same. In the worst case scenario where Shuni dumped him tonight he did not need Thomas giving everyone the wrong story.

"Doing well?"

"As much as I can with, you know, the thing being soon. And that, that bastard, coming here." Thomas took a deep breath, but it didn't fully clear the anger he was feeling. He took Daniel aside to talk privately, the Artificer obliging by activating his muffle sound enchantment for a second time that day. With Pinion Point's lower population the front of the large church wasn't crowded anyway.

"You have a plan to take out Ashier after all of this is over, right?" Thomas asked with hard eyes. "Zolyra's level 6, she can blast them and that dragon to ash once we take care of Soraso."

Daniel bit his lip. This wasn't why he'd come here, but it was something good to talk with Thomas about. The Cleric was understandably infuriated after Rorshawd killed his family, but they were in the 'enemy of my enemy' kind of war. "Thomas, every region counts. Say what you want, but Ashier's not on the side turning everyone to monsters."

Some of the familiarity was lost in Thomas' voice as he realized Daniel didn't agree with him. "Yeah, they just use one to kill people. That's not even counting what they did in the Thormundz!"

"So let them die here holding the line to make up for it," Daniel replied, trying to be reasonable. "I don't have the right to ask you not to be angry, but aren't you risking a vengeance bond by keeping it all in you? I saw someone die from one and it wasn't a good death."

Thomas took another breath and shook his head. "I didn't get to say goodbye. Sure, my father was an average Aughal cutthroat and my brother would've ruined us in a decade, but they were the people I grew up with. I had to hear it from a woman on the street that they died! I shouldn't have to worry about a vengeance bond because my friends would support me ending that Tyrant, but here we are."

"They're too dangerous," Daniel eventually said after Thomas ran out of fumes. "Thomas, it's already insanity to take on Soraso when he's backed up by Zozar and however many gestalt they've converted into monsters. What about your god? We have to save them at the end of this. Like hell we're taking Ashier with us, but we can't afford to lose people taking them down either."

Thomas' silence ran out the clock enough for Quala to appear from one of the clinic rooms. Daniel didn't want to leave things like that, but he figured she was talking to him about it too and doing a far better job of it.

"Daniel," Quala greeted, glancing at the bag he'd put the muffle sound amulet in to show that hadn't slipped her notice. "It is good to see you again. Are you here for the patient you put into my care?"

"Yeah. It's getting close to go time and I need to know my options."

"I see. Follow me. Thomas, you're free to join us as well." She looked at the junior Cleric, who was technically her level now if with months to years of level disparity to correct. He was clearly still bitter about Daniel's answer but nodded and joined them after a moment's thought.

Quala led them through several hallways over the course of a few minutes. It went on for long enough that Daniel was left confused. The church wasn't that big and they hadn't gone to a different floor. If he didn't know better he'd suspect Quala of dragging out the walk.

"How is she doing?" Daniel asked when they hit a stretch of empty hallway with no obvious patient room in sight. "I heard from Padri that she was improving, but he didn't go into specifics."

The green feathers of the Cleric rustled as she smoothed down those perked up along the back of her head. "The patient's class is unrecoverable, as far as our best efforts are concerned. The Commander judged this herself. Zolyra, not Murdon," Quala added superfluously.

"Still think of him like that sometimes," Thomas admitted. "Hard not to with all he did for us. All he's going to do too."

"Our duty is never ending." Few could say that conversationally and come off genuine, Thomas couldn't, but Quala was alike to Murdon in that way. "Regardless, this loss has extended to her powers, as well as most of her memories. She still has an active mana flow, but the scars of corruption remain."

"Gotcha." They turned a corner and Daniel was met with another long, nearly featureless hallway. "Uh, Quala, are we close to her room yet?"

"Oh." She smiled self-consciously. "I forgot to mention this as I thought you'd visited before. Bekali is currently housed in the church of Cloak as a protective measure, should the Regent's Fate's detect her in some way. I've worked with them to create a Hidden Passage between the two churches to not raise suspicion whenever we need to tend to her."

"Isn't Hammer's church and the gap between the two of you? We'd be going almost halfway around the square."

"Yes?" Quala asked with an eyefeather raised. "It is a walk, but we have trusted attendants at her side for urgent needs."

"Ok, but where are we physically?" Daniel gestured around them. Then he registered the word Cloak. "We're underground, aren't we? Did they do some illusion work to hide that we were going down?"

"No." Now Quala was teasing him with her tone, but she didn't draw it out either. "It's a Hidden Passage."

"Right, you said…" Daniel's voice faltered as he finally heard the capitalization she was putting on her words. "What?"

"We're not technically anywhere, Guy," Thomas said, bailing him out. "Creepy to think about. They picked two points in either church and created this bridge between them. Still have to walk the distance, but we can do it without anyone seeing."

"I forget how little experience you have with Clerics." One of Quala's hands trailed along the wall, which to all appearances was normal stone. "Together, we can do more than any could alone. Rituals, grand works, so long as one has the right power. It is part of what makes our class special." There was a wistfulness in her words that made Daniel put aside his comment on wormholes.

"We're going to save them," he said resolutely. "You were right, Quala. Most of them are good. Hammer, all I'll say is he's on our side. Torch, well, that's another thing. But the others were decent. I made up with Cloak before his Proxy died, and Star is awesome."

He realized too late that he was saying too much. Thomas was looking at him with wide eyes, listening intently, while Quala had a distant, troubled look. They'd clashed when he'd first talked about his experiences in the Divine Pavilion. While no argument was forthcoming, it had to be hard to hear someone talk so casually about deities you'd spent your entire life worshipping. It'd be like someone telling his mom about the time they ran into god while out shopping.

Oh, and there was the whole thing about Hourglass being his father and betraying the rest of the world. A reminder of that could upset most people, himself included. "What… what was the Hand like?" Thomas asked reverently, any trace of his earlier anger gone. Quala looked like she would ask him not to answer for a moment, then relented.

Daniel had to take a moment to compose his answer. "I didn't spend too much time with her, but she was kind. I asked her to revive Hunter and she was initially willing until it came out he was a monster. Even then she wasn't," Daniel searched for the word, "hateful, like Torch was. She did vote to kill me, but they all did. I kinda don't blame them for that either now that I know what I do."

"We are close," Quala said abruptly. Daniel was surprised by the terseness until he saw the single tear the Cleric wasn't quick enough to wipe away. That made him feel like a jackass. Quala's god was trapped away from her body, and she couldn't do anything about it. That didn't touch that she now knew the current Hand wasn't the original. They could die.

The three came out into a hallway far more decorative than the Hand's church. Paintings, tapestries as big as Khiat's, and windows to places that definitely weren't right outside. He'd given Cloak a lot of justifiable grief, but it could also be said that his church provided a lot of entertainment and art to society. He'd just been too wrapped up dire events to take notice.

A pair of Clerics, one Cloak and one Hand, nodded to Quala as they approached a blank wall. Without a word the illusionist touched the wall between them and a doorway fifteen paces past them appeared to their silent, charming jester's smile.

Would Cloak have been like that if he hadn't had the entire world on his shoulders? The god had snuck his true body into the pavilion to prank the others.

"She is coherent," Quala said softly before the door. "But remain alert. Class or not she outlevels us, and if you are going to ask her to make more weapons she could act unpredictably. I have never treated a patient for astral corruption before."

"Let's hope Bekali is the last one too." Daniel watched as Quala first knocked on the door, then opened it five seconds later without waiting for an answer. Soft sounds filtered through, and as Daniel stepped inside he saw more than one benefit of partnering with Cloak's church for Bekali's care.

The room had only a single door, bed, desk, and washbasin, conditions that would have driven Daniel mad if kept here for a long time, save for the magic. In the outer hallway illusions had created windows in the wall, but here they covered it entirely.

The ceiling was an accurate representation of the sky, the clouds moving to show it was an active projection. Along the sides was a view of a banister than ringed the whole way around, meeting with the back wall. Taken together the effect made it seem like they were in a terrace rather than the bowels of a church.

The avianoid with orange and yellow feathers looked up from what she had been reading, intelligence shining in her eyes. It'd been there in the ruins too, but in a dull sense, as if she'd been sleepwalking. "Oh, hello. You're early today." She spoke clearly and in a friendly way, giving no indication that she'd either lost all of her memories or had been in mortal combat with Daniel about a month ago.

"Bekali. I apologize for the interruption. I have someone who wanted to meet you."

"Not another descendant," she moaned. "You don't need to remind me of how old I am, Quala. I remember that much." Daniel blinked, and she must have read his surprise at being the subject of her question. "What? Eight generations is more than enough time for someone in the family to fancy a human."

Five seconds of talking to Bekali and she'd already endeared herself to him, though she wouldn't know why. "You, uh, don't know who I am at all?" he asked carefully, Quala's warning fresh in his mind.

"Oh Crest, I was only joking. You aren't… no, you aren't." She looked more closely at his face. "But you wouldn't be someone I would've known from before either. You're level 2. You could be that old, but you wouldn't look that young unless you were a Bard."

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"How do you know that?" In answer, Bekali waved at Quala.

"Episodic versus semantic memory," the Cleric explained, using terms his mother probably would too. "Bekali has lost all episodic memory, or knowledge of herself, to the corruption. Matters such as walking, eating, reading, etc have been unaffected, but she has to recall that she can do these things. It's for this reason I'm hopeful she'll be able to assist you."

"The 'she' in that equation would appreciate some of the variables being explained. Starting with who this Artificer…" Bekali trailed off with that word, her generally charismatic voice growing slightly sullen. "Oh. Whatever it is, I can't help you. We've tried. It's gone."

Bekali reminded Daniel of Padri in that moment as she bit off each sentence. "That may not be entirely true."

"What would you know?" Bekali spat at Daniel, a sore point clearly poked.

"I've talked with Star. Via Proxy, but it was him." Bekali's beak parted slightly as she looked for any sign of deceit. She found none. "It's a long story, more than you need to know while you're recovering, but Artificers have access to his domain. The specific way he manipulates magic. It's hidden in Arcane Creator, like a…" he struggled for a metaphor suitable for an amnesiac, "secret code written in unassuming text. I learned part of it without knowing and you have to have had more experience than me."

"But my magic is gone," Bekali protested.

"Your mana isn't." Or at least, that's what Zolyra had told him when asked. "Domain manipulation goes beyond powers. It's the foundation of our magic. I accidentally taught someone I'm bonded to how to start the process and he's a Druid." An old lie, but Bekali did not need all the details right now. "He can't do anything with it because he only knows the beginning, but you've had a long time to figure it out. You just don't remember."

Before she could say anything, Daniel reached into his bag of holding and fought through the pain as he pulled something out. The magical senses of the former Artificer locked onto it. "This, what is…"

Quala tensed behind him as Bekali fully stopped to stare at the spear Daniel was holding. It was the one that had pierced his heart, one of two weapons he'd taken from her during the second encounter. As things stood he only had enough to access the Arcadian once. Enough to give hope that they'd find a weapon to use against Zozar there, but Daniel had bigger goals than that. Also, a source of level 4 weapons of demand would be great for those who could use them. If Bekali could enchant arrows, Khiat's stopping power would be massively improved.

Prepared to leap back and block with his Focus Shield at any moment, Daniel handed the spear over to Bekali. "Do you remember any-" he began, and just stopped himself from audibly cursing as it disappeared into dust. A sign of a failed enchantment. Fucking hell, we needed that.

"Sorry! I'm sorry," Bekali repeated as she looked at the rapidly fading specks. "But I felt… that was just made from mana, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," Daniel complained, and then put together a more measured tone. It ultimately wasn't her fault, but they now really needed Bekali to make something. "I think it's easier that way but I've never managed it myself. Do you think you could make that again?"

"Maybe?" Bekali had gotten off balance when exposed to the weapon, but Quala relaxed as she drifted to a curious temperament. "Some of my mana was reserved, as if I had heightened a feature. I think it was stored in that."

"What?" This was news to Daniel, but not Quala.

"When we examined you, we did note your mana pool was limited to 99%," the Cleric observed. "We simply had no way of knowing why, until now it seems."

Meanwhile, Daniel was trying to process that. Was it because of how she had to enchant without any material, or does using any kind of domain manipulation limit the maximum mana of a god? Or is it just a limit for mortals? It was potentially a weakness of Hourglass if they could figure out how it worked, but without a full god present there'd be no way to know for sure. It did mean there was a limit on what Bekali could produce.

"I could feel something in it," the former Artificer continued, turning from the conversation to grab at a scrap piece of paper and quill. "Blasted mind, it's like working on instinct when I should be… underlying structure couldn't completely be… doesn't feel similar to other enchanted items, though…"

Daniel waited for a minute while picking up what he could from Bekali's distracted muttering, eventually clearing his throat before she fell too far into the 'reclusive genius' stereotype. "Bekali?"

"Oh? Ah, apologies. I was in my head again." She gave him an embarrassed tilt of the beak. "I was like that for days after Padri brought by his notes. Clever boy, might be able to surpass me one day if he can solve the issue of scale. It's not like I'll be working on any new designs," she darkly mused. "Except, there is something here. Do you have more of those?"

"Only one," Daniel replied, backing away defensively. "But we really need it. Actually we need two if you can manage it."

"I see." Bekali narrowed her eyes, and the air shimmered in front of her for a second before she let out a gasp.

Quala was next to her instantly. "Are you alright?"

"Mmmph, that definitely feels familiar," she groused. "Like… triple level disparity with materials. Lusterime?"

"That's a level 1 material," Daniel confirmed, regaining some hope that he hadn't just squandered his chance to get back into the Arcadian. "So difficult, but not impossible?"

"Not impossible," Bekali confirmed, a gleam now in her eye. "Thank you. I'd thought I'd come back just to… what is your name?"

"Daniel, Daniel Brant."

"Of course." Bekali shook her head. "Padri mentioned you. I should have put that together. I'll work on this, as long as it's healthy," she added after a sideward glance from Quala. "That is mentally taxing and… and I should take it slow." She bridged one hand over her eyes, closing them. Daniel quickly said goodbye as Quala ushered him out of the room, finding Thomas still outside.

"She's better than I thought she'd be," Daniel said when the door was closed and warded again. "Quala, I do need another spear. If she can make one-"

"I'll see what I can do, but for her health's sake I won't push her. Her mind is more fragile than it appears." For some reason she looked at Thomas, but the Cleric remained silent. "I'll let you know if any progress is made."

"Thanks. If she's able to figure it out I'd take any tips she could give me either. I'll have to check in later." Assuming there is a later now that I'm down a mana weapon. Daniel let out a breath as they began walking to the Hidden Passage, and then said quietly, "Hey, I did want to talk to you about something else too. Can we do it on the way back? It's private."

Quala observed him for a moment, trying to puzzle out what he needed. "Of course. Thomas, could you go ahead of us?"

"Yeah, sure." He took a step, and then paused. "Don't head out immediately though. Could you wait for me in the lobby, might have to tend to a patient first if they're swamped." Daniel was acutely aware of how much time was left before sunset, but nodded. "Thanks Guy!"

Quala gave him half a minute before she and Daniel followed through the unobtrusive hallway that was in fact an extradimensional portal. How they'd set this up was beyond him, though it went some ways into explaining how Cloak had moved between Aurus and Pinion's Point without him knowing. The god might have given his followers the secrets to setting it up.

"Is this about your sister?" Quala asked when they were wholly within secure space. "To be honest, I haven't spoken with her in a few days. I can at least say she is doing well."

"Oh, I'm glad to hear it, but that's not it." Daniel took in a deep breath and let out his concerns with it. "I'm going to ask Shuni if she wants to be in a committed relationship. Tonight." It still sounded surreal despite this being the third or fourth time. "Things are going well, there's definitely mutual interest, I'm just, well, you know."

"Traumatized," Quala said unflinchingly. "I have seen cases like yours before. Not in so many ways, nor do they rise to the level of requiring urgent care unless their partner did something to deserve a prison cell. That being said, what would make you more comfortable to hear? That you've returned to dating earlier than average, or later?"

The Cleric was testing him, focused like a chemist over a reaction but with more humanity. Daniel recognized a question that didn't have a right answer. Or a wrong one for that matter. "Both would suck, but if it was later then that could mean I've spent more time grounding myself. It's been 4 months since I ended things with Claire, if that's how you'd call it." Daniel scratched his chin. "I don't know. I just feel ready. Back then I was afraid I would bail out on someone when things got hard, but I know now that's not going to happen with Shuni."

Quala didn't give him any signs of approval or disapproval, merely matching his pace in the magical hallway. "What reasons do you see to not pursue this relationship?"

That one had a wrong answer. It was: 'none'. "I'm still unsure about making the whole human/avianoid thing work," Daniel confessed quietly. "I spent most of my life in a world of just humans. There are aspects of the Octyrrum's culture I still don't know about, and that's not counting what Shuni may be expecting. Family, favorite foods or, god, kids of it ever comes to that. We'd meet more barriers trying to make this work. I already talked to Willow about what society could see our relationship as, but I'm more worried about the bumps we'd run into ourselves."

There were other reasons, of course. Dozens if he'd had the time to list them all, but that was the big one. Still in diagnosis mode, Quala didn't address his answer but asked another cutting question. "Do you think you both would have the same goals in this relationship?"

That hit Daniel square in the chest. Of course he didn't know, that's why he was so nervous his palms were beginning to sweat. Then again, he'd asked Quala about this to try and settle any nerves he could. Better run up against the tough questions now.

"I don't know. I'd like to think so, but I don't know." He kicked at the floor, both to express discontent and test to see what would happen. His foot bounced off. "I mean, that's the point of dating right? We'd be crazy to get married or something now. I know she likes me and I'm not worried about her being unfaithful. To me that's good enough for where we're at."

Quala's eyes kept completely forward this time, her talons clacking against the floor in the relative silence. "Do you want this?"

Daniel's stumbled on his next step. He caught himself easily thanks to Balance, but the simple question brought him more trepidation than any other. Of course he wanted to date Shuni, she was a hot ninja!

But then words he'd thought to Hunter came back to him. Worrying about what you would do to make the hunger stop. Were his feelings real, or had he talked himself into pining over the first woman to show him interest since Claire? It wouldn't even be Shuni's fault.

Like a tower after the fatal Jenga piece had been removed, his background confidence collapsed into uncertainty. "I want to want it, but I don't know for sure. I don't know if I can be sure. Could I just be trying to make something work that won't?"

Quala put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, and he felt some warmth from that. "I can't answer that for you. What I can say is you don't need my help. Your feelings are what I would expect from anyone in your position. With your past, I can see why you may think otherwise, but it is normal," she emphasized. "Let me say this. Tonight, and every time you are with Shuni, think of if you are a happier person for her. A better person. If the answer to that is yes, and you don't ever want to be apart from her, then you'll know rather than hope. It could take a week, a month, a year to reach that point. Love is something that can be neither rushed nor mandated. Still, I wish you the best of luck."

…

Thomas' ask cost Daniel twenty minutes of date prep time, an agonizing wait after talking with Quala unsettled him. He might have been a little too relaxed with it in retrospect. No plans for a gift, or what he wanted to say beyond the basics. The idea had just been to roll up and say what he'd felt, be direct, like Hunter would be.

When the Cleric did rush up to him there was a fresh bloodstain on his sleeve Thomas didn't seem bothered by. Daniel, experienced hunter that he was, wasn't either. "Sorry! Sorry! Had to help set a bone. Hand but I thought that'd just take a minute."

"It's fine," Daniel lied gracefully. "What did you want to talk about?" He was afraid the Cleric was about to launch into his third attempt to get Daniel to help kill Ashier, but there was something else on the Cleric's mind.

"I want to go with you to the ruins." Daniel stared at him. "I know, but it's not what you think. I'd be one of the ones hanging back here as a reserve healer. I'm not doing this to avoid the front lines, I'm just…" He waved his hands around fruitlessly for several seconds. "I want to help."

"Wouldn't they miss you here?" Daniel asked, a reluctant tone in his voice. Thomas had contributed to fights in the past, but the corruption in the Arcadian generated projections based on the souls of those it detected. Thomas was level 3, which meant he'd be pulling far more aggro than he'd be worth, especially since he was stuck on only having two powers.

"I mean, you said it Guy," Thomas protested. "We've got to help the Hand, and you seem pretty confident the ruins are part of that. And, well, I." His cheeks colored with embarrassment. "I miss you guys. I see some of you occasionally, but all of you were just gone for a week."

"You're the one who wanted it to be this way," Daniel reminded him, though not vindictively.

"I thought it'd be different! Less separation, you know?" Thomas looked down as he rubbed his heel into the stone. "I have Quala to talk to, and Sigron still comes by. He's actually starting to talk now, can you believe it? And a bond too. Probably came out better than if he hadn't been injured. But the rest of you I barely see, and I miss that. I don't want to lose you all as friends."

Daniel sighed, going through the list of those who were absolutely necessary for the next ruins run. He'd pitched the idea as a way to safeguard innocent people, but both he and Zolyra knew it was unlikely anyone not combat capable was going up there when the attack started. "You wouldn't stop being friends with us just for that," Daniel assured the Cleric. "Thomas, aside from Flash Reset, which may or may not help with the corruption, I don't know if there's much you can do. A regular bow and arrow isn't going to cut it. Honestly, if we did do this you'd be sticking to a safe room and keeping away from the fighting."

"That'd work! Not that I'd not want to help," he quickly added. "I just want to be somewhere I can help make a difference."

Under time pressure, Daniel thought it over as best as he could. There's no reason not to. Assuming no one shoots down the plan they couldn't complain about me picking him up, especially if he's in reserves right now. And if we end up bringing Alex and Willow… alright. But he can't be at the strategy meeting. I'm already worried about Murdon starting something.

"No promises, but I'll try and get you on the team."

"Really?" Thomas brightened, which made Daniel feel better in turn. "Thanks Guy! And hey, don't be nervous about it. It's not like the world's at stake or anything."

Daniel forced a grin. Yes. He was definitely more nervous about the upcoming attack on Aurus. What else could be on his mind?

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