The group stopped in a small clearing within the forest by James' signal.
"Alright, let's decide what we're going to do."
"No. Before that," Krax stepped forward into the circle of people, his eyes locked onto Suna, like an eagle. "The knife."
Suna didn't move, unsure how to respond.
"Give it back to James."
Distrust. She had come to know what it felt to be distrusted, but she still hated it. She also hated the idea of giving up her one weapon when the group was sure to come across more danger. She didn't show it on her face, but she was starting to dislike this man that she had never shared words with.
"Krax. It's okay."
"Why do you think that? I saw her, what she did. She lopped that Geth's head right off, did you not see how easy it was for her? She's a killer. She had zero reaction to it. None."
The group measured the man's words, throwing various kinds of gazes her way.
"Look, Krax, isn't that a good thing? That we have another capable fighter?"
"You guys are being naive. It's not just the Geth that can hurt you. Do you really think a killer like her would hesitate, for a single second," He paused, "To leave you behind, as soon as things get rough? Really?"
The elf interjected. "Krax, she's just a girl-"
"No! No she's not, Cyra. You guys are endangering us all by bringing in a random, external factor into this." He faced James, "You're really gonna risk this?"
James was still, his expression still, unlike the thoughts most likely racing through his head.
"You're gonna risk Murr? You're gonna do that?" Krax said, pleadingly. James' face had tensed up at some point, eyebrows furrowed, yet still motionless.
Someone made a move. Suna looked down at her hand, which had been grasped, tightly.
"No. If she goes, I go."
Angie had also stepped forward, closer to Suna, as if to shield her from the eyes of the group. James was a bit stunned, with a perplexed expression.
"Angie, that's…"
"She's just a girl, Krax. I'm not abandoning a girl to the Geth."
"No, I'm telling you, she's not, Cyra-, James! Tell me I'm lying! You saw what she did, what she's capable of, you told me, how she was going to cut her hand off, did you not?" The pace of his words quickened, the worry on his face more apparent, his breathing rough.
James stood still. The group waited for his next words.
He looked up. At Suna.
"Suna. How many people have you killed?"
Suna's heart raced. A part of her didn't mind leaving the group, she didn't like being told what to do. But her resolve on one thing was resolute. She wanted to protect Angie. She wanted to spend more time with her friend, her stomach churned and thickened when she imagined her, dying in some gruesome way, choking on the ash, like the others…
She looked at Angie, who gave her a tender gaze. She felt, that if she wanted to keep this friend, she couldn't lie.
"…I lost count."
Cyra let out a gasp. Angie's hand still grasped hers, but it shook when she heard it. She looked visibly shaken.
"There. There you go." Krax relaxed his tense posture, feeling as if his point was proven, saying no more.
"…Is that true?" Cyra let out a barely audible question.
James continued looking Suna in the eyes, as if trying to peer into her, and read her thoughts. She didn't look away.
"Why have you killed so many people?"
"Self-defense."
The mood shifted.
"…What nation or land exists where you lose track of the amount of people trying to kill you?"
Suna looked down, recollecting her life up until then.
"I can't tell you exactly where I come from. But there… water was scarce. People scavenged, banded together to control the last few remaining wells. I had to steal to survive. They had to try and stop me to survive. I don't… really put it against them. We were all… just trying to survive, in one way or another."
The group was silent, barely able to believe that such a place even existed. The rustling leaves filled the silence, but she found that to be a bit ironic. That even such an insignificant sound required water to even exist.
For a long while, they all just stood there, processing what she had said. Whether she was lying or telling the truth, that was all it came down to, but of course only one person there knew without a doubt that she had fabricated nothing.
To Krax, it was just too weird of a story. Too outlandish. If someone were to try and weasel their way out of suspicion, he would expect them to at least come up with half-believable lies. Instead, Suna told of a land so bleak, it surely couldn't possibly exist. Why didn't she and those people just go somewhere else where there was water? Were they stopped by something? Was he deliberating over fictional nonsense?
Krax wondered if this was a deliberate strategy, to tell a story so unbelievable that it would actually gain a bit of trust. But that theory was just too outlandish for him, he just couldn't rationalize someone exposing themselves to such risk for no clear reason or reward.
Suna felt a squeeze on her hand. Angie gave her a look. She seemed to have made up her mind.
Cyra looked up as well, seeing the frail-looking girl in a new light.
Krax looked at Suna, perplexed. The scathing distrust that was just there, was now gone.
James stood still, his eyes not leaving the ground. Until, he couldn't ponder any longer.
"She's staying with us. We don't have much time and we need to get moving. Do we need to vote?" He looked around, no objections were brought up. "Good." Suna began to feel very relieved.
"Alright, we're here, at Arythia." He pointed to his map, which he laid out on a conveniently sized stone that everyone had gathered around. "We came from here. Any thoughts on where we should go?"
"We can't risk heading back the way we came, the Geth are likely coming from that direction." Cyra stated what everyone had on their minds.
"We have a few options. We could head deeper into the forest and cross the Highland mountains. If we're quick, it should take us around 20 days to make it to New Vall." James paused and looked around, gauging their reactions and expressions.
"We can continue heading down the road the way we were heading. Without rest, it should take us 3 days to reach Blackhearth. It's much larger than this town, and if all the people there have mysteriously up and vanished like at Arythia, then there's a much bigger problem on our hands."
"We risk running into Geth, don't we?" Suna spoke up. "If they travel by steed, they'll overtake us in no time, no?"
"Oh, uh, I guess we should tell you a bit more about the Geth when we get the chance. To be quick, in order to ride a horse, you need to connect with it, respect it. They're creatures, with strong wills of their own, so if you try and force them to obey you, like the Geth do, they'll just resist you, even to their deaths. That's why the Geth can't use horses. But you're right, if we travel down the road, it's not impossible that we run into more Geth scouts."
James paused again, seeing if anyone else had anything to add. When no one did, he spoke.
"Me personally, I'd like to go down the road. We severely lack information, and lingering around when we don't know the scale of the threat we're facing is a bigger risk than a few Geth scouts. And…" He looked down, fists clenched. He turned to Suna. "I have a wife and kids… I need to know that they're safe."
Suna didn't have any words to give. She only had respect for the man's determination. She gave a deep nod, her eyes never deviating from the serious eyes of the man.
Cyra spoke up. "They're not close, but they're not far, either, James' family I mean. Seeing Geth here… really worries me."
After Cyra's clarification, James continued. "There's a few other routes we could take, but here, in the outer edges, the cities are really far apart. I'm not confident that we'll obtain valuable info from some small village like this one, so I don't think it's worth it to go out of our way to check on them."
Krax interjected. "Especially with the complete lack of carriages on the road. I'm guessing that they've blocked travel along this road, and are shoring up an offensive in Blackhearth to fight the Geth." He looked at Suna. "Geth never act on their own. There has to be a base, somewhere…"
The group was quiet in thought.
"...What if Blackhearth is their base?"
The group was shocked by Suna's words.
"That can't be. Blackhearth is a bastion, their fortifications are nothing to be scoffed at."
"Cyra's right, if they've taken Blackhearth… There's little hope for us. We'd be stranded, in enemy territory, with no other human force remotely close enough to challenge them. The Geth… they'd expand into every corner of this land, sparing no one." Krax spoke with a dark, pessimistic tone.
"...The real question, is how did these Geth get here. How has no one heard of them reaching this place? How can they move troops all the way out here with no one knowing about it?" The group considered James' question.
There was something in the back of her mind. Suna dug and dug, deeper into her psyche, trying her best to uncover what she knew lay there. I'm forgetting something… What am I forgetting!? Her survival depended on it, this was no time for her memory to be failing her.
Suna's memory was nearly eidetic. She never forgot important things, most certainly not things critical to her survival. So she was befuddled, and completely stumped. What's wrong with me? She was drowning in unease. Her mind, the tool she had relied on nearly her whole life, something she entrusted her life to on countless occasions, was somehow failing her. She was deeply unnerved, a raw fear, spreading, burrowing itself into her head.
But no matter how much she tried, she couldn't recall what she was forgetting. No matter how she twisted her mind, went over every detail of every event that had occurred since coming to this world, she was faced with an insurmountable sense of helplessness. As if her mind was fighting with itself. With herself? I'm stopping myself? Why? Why don't I want to remember? It was a terribly dissonant feeling. She was lost, grasping for answers that she withheld from herself, like some lunatic.
"Are you okay?" Angie's soft voice brought her back from her ongoing mental struggle.
"...um, yeah."
She lied. She knew now was not the time to introduce a wrench into the group's planning. She didn't want to be a burden, or a liability. She wanted to stand, side by side, by these people that she had come to respect. She wasn't going to be the reason for their downfall. Not again…
Angie squeezed her hand even harder.
"...No objections?" The group looked with resolution at James, and he looked back at them. "Alright. Let us move."
–
The group ran, at a speed a bit less than a sprint, through the gaps between the trees, evading open areas not covered by their dense canopy of leaves.
Suna moved closer to Angie, who didn't notice her approach, too focused on her footing.
"Angie."
"Ah. What is it?"
"Why doesn't Cyra cast 'Erykh, Avant' on us?"
"Huh? I haven't taught you that spell yet… Oh, did she use it that night? That's because casting magic costs us mana. You can think of it as energy. Casting it on five people at once would exhaust Cyra's mana quickly, leaving her with none to use in the case we encounter more Geth." Angie managed to fit her words between her breathing and her footfalls.
"...I see." Mana. Energy. This miraculous power had restrictions. She had wanted to ask more but refrained, seeing how focused Angie was on her movement.
Angie… How am I going to keep you safe?
The group continued their traversal through the forest. They elected not to travel directly on the road, but rather parallel to it. It would cost them a couple days, but Krax convinced James by bringing up the threat of encountering a group of Geth. They told her how they were lucky to only encounter a couple scouts at the town. That their real threat lies in the way they coordinate together perfectly in combat. Against even just a group of 5, assuming their composition was well-balanced and adept, they would be forced to flee. The Geth… They're dangerous. But they didn't scare Suna. She remembered how it felt to cut through that Geth's head. They're made of flesh and bone. They can die. She didn't grow complacent or overconfident, but she wasn't afraid.
"Hey, Suna. Can I see your knife?"
"...?" She tilted her head.
"I know a spell that can sharpen and strengthen weapons. It's not permanent, I won't use it right now, or anything, but it helps a lot when I have a good image of the weapon when I use it. Just in case, yeah?"
Suna was a bit reluctant to part with her knife, despite the trust she had in Angie. She would feel uncomfortable without her weapon in case something unexpected occurred, but she figured she could just run close enough to her and yank it out of her hands if it was really necessary.
She unsheathed her knife, which gave off a bright, silver reflection. She carefully handed it to Angie, holding it by the blade.
"...Whoa… I've… never seen anything like this…" Angie was in awe, almost stumbling, distracted by what was in her hands. Suna half-expected to already need to save her, who might clumsily fall onto the sharp blade. Thankfully, such a stupid scene didn't play out.
"This metal, this silver gleam… This edge… How was this made? This doesn't look like Erythium or Adamantite, those supposedly have some sort of color to the light they reflect, if I recall correctly. Where did you get this?"
Suna didn't really know how to respond. "Somewhere far away."
"Somewhere far away, huh…" She handed the knife back to Suna. "Sorry, different metals need different spells, and I don't think that's some basic steel. Sorry, Suna."
"No, it's okay." Suna shook her head. She was already confident in its sharpness.
The group steadily advanced, even through the night. Cyra, who had shortly departed from the group, had now rejoined.
"How's the road look?"
"Still empty."
"Tch." James bit his lip, the worry on his face growing.
"Angie, how are you holding up?"
Angie's breathing was rough. But she maintained her pace. "...hah, hah, I'm, doing okay…"
After a short pause in thought, James stopped. "Let's take a quick break." The group came to a stop, amid the trees. Angie plopped down on the ground, catching her breath. Cyra, James, and Krax, they seemed to be well-trained and fit, but running for roughly 8 hours straight still left them with signs of fatigue. Only Cyra kept standing, monitoring the surroundings.
Suna showed no such signs, quickly taking the time she had to lower the small, grey pack she had been wearing all this time. She took out two flat stones, with an unusual shape. The party, idle as they waited for Angie to recover her stamina, watched as Suna quickly sharpened her now unsheathed knife with the stones. With a speed developed over a long time, she brushed the edge of the knife along one of the stones, a soft noise escaping into the air as the metal glided along the strange-looking, angular stone. She occasionally raised the knife's edge to her eye, closely inspecting it, up and down the blade. Of course, she wasn't completely enveloped by this task, she continued to occasionally flit her eyes and examine her peripheral vision. She noticed the curious gazes of the three adults, how Angie would periodically try and lean closer to look but was inevitably too occupied with catching her breath, and she paid them no heed.
She didn't like having to do a rush job, but she had no choice and little time. Satisfied to a certain extent, she moved onto the second stone, working on the finer angle of the edge of the knife.
This was something that Suna did not fail to do after every time she used her knife. Ever since experiencing the terror of a blade that was unable to pierce a rough hide or a tough material when her life was at risk, she searched far and wide for the sharpest and toughest blade she could find, and suitable whetstones. This knife was her lifeline, something she entrusted her survival to on countless occasions. Maybe, maybe she didn't absolutely need to sharpen it with every cut. But it made her feel prepared, confident. Of course, her long-lasting confidence in the blade was already strangely shaken, but this didn't cause her to lose her long-standing trust. It only opened her eyes, that the sharpest metal of her world wasn't enough to guarantee her safety.
Under the eyes of the group, she finished her routine knife sharpening. She placed it in its sheath, which hung by the back of her waist. Noting that the group showed no signs of heading off, she began stretching. She knew her muscles like the back of her hand, which she knew better than most people knew the back of their hands. Ever since encountering Ei, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say she was reborn. When she moved her body, there was none of the pain that she had come to be used to. Old wounds, scars, tears of ligaments, fractures that healed poorly, all of these things were magically gone. She thanked Ei in her head, as she checked on each of her muscles and joints, ensuring they were in top condition.
No one else in the group shared in her weird movements. They could only be stunned at the weird angles her body bent at, movements they had never even thought possible. They shared looks of confusion with each other, shrugging in resignations of ignorance.
"I, I think I'm ready, James." Angie sat up, bending her arms and legs and twisting her back as she, too, checked up on the condition of her body, albeit in a far less sophisticated manner.
"You sure? There's no point pushing yourself when we might encounter danger. We might not be able to cover you." He said, in a serious tone.
Angie responded. "I'm good." Resolve in her eyes. She did not want to drag the party down.
"Alright. Let's go."
The party continued their trek through the forest.