Heirot

Ren's expression went even paler at the mention of Laurius being beaten. He looked at Tenara, struggling to breathe around the argument clogging his throat. "Maybe after all, I really should..."

Tenara lifted a hand gently from where she snuggled into the corner of the sofa. “Havi said he wouldn’t. Maybe a good black eye, but not a beating.”

“Well, that’s a relief,” Laurius said, leaning his head back and closing his eyes.

“We can’t leave without the blades,” Tenara added. “So we have to find them, and… souls.” She didn’t like the idea of killing anyone to get home. It was different. Before Arken soldiers had been slaughtered, and that was easier to stomach. “Is there a prison? Are their criminals here?”

Ren chewed on the end of his pen reed. "I don't know this complex well, but prisoners are typically kept near or under the servant's quarters.". He felt queasy as he realized there would almost certainly be no males held in such a way.

He looked to Laurius. "What about... The souls on the blades? Thvoros said you were able to remove and replace some of his. Could we give up some of them?"

Laurius hesitated. “Theoretically. We’d have to repla—“

“No,” Tenara said, sitting straighter. “You can’t. It will hurt him.”

“It would get us home. It is going to be incredibly hard to get the blades and the souls and perform the ritual. If we could eliminate one of those tasks…”

“You can’t hurt him,” she said. “Please.”

Laurius frowned. “It’s his blade, his body. Let him decided.” But Laurius knew what choice Havitharon would make to return Tenara home.

“So we can take some of Ren’s, then,” she said. “Since it was his idea.”

Laurius opened his mouth to argue and she gave him a pointed glare.

Ren listened on. "Why not mine?"

His lungs grew tight as he spoke. He had come to this world with the full expectation of ending his days here. But now that there seemed to be the shred of a chance, he realized that he'd begun hoping more and more to return with them.

"The stones you removed from Thvoros were damaged, but they must have had some function left, right?Perhaps if we used mine to get back, and then if you inserted the damaged stones...."

Laurius shook his head. “If we must use stones, we will share the burden between you both, and I will get you new stones…” Only, he was quite poor now. His fortune had been burned away, melted down, and what was left given to the sorcerer who had given him stones to repair Havitharon’s sword. “Havitharon’s stones were scorched beyond use. He was dying. They would not be sufficient for supporting either of you.”

Tenara’s heart ached at the idea of Havitharon’s blade so ruined by the fire.

Ren's gaze sank back to his notes, his head pounding again. Thvoros had been dying. That was how truly their lives were tethered to those weapons. He wasn't foolish enough to think he could withstand what Thvoros couldn't. "Then, after the fight, when Cera meets you to surrender," he said, meeting Tenara's eyes, "When your sword has been returned, please do what you did on the ship.

Tenara wasn’t certain Ren was asking what she thought he was asking for. If she did what she did on the ship, it could bring the mountain down on all of them. It could kill a lot more people than six…

She would have to be in absolute control.

Tenara hesitated a moment and then gave a gentle nod. It was strange to hear Ren speak of violence like the kind her magic wrought, because he seemed to always shy away from it—even when there were people deserving of it. “I can do that,” she said.

Laurius clapped his hands together. “Wonderful. We have a plan. Now we just… wait for tomorrow.” He drummed his fingers along the back of the couch again, looking around like he was hunting for something to occupy his time. “It drives me crazy that I cannot tell the time of day in this place.”

“Well,” Tenara said, slipping down into the couch. “I’m going to rest, if I’m bringing down a mountain tomorrow.”

“That’s a good idea,” Laurius said, watching her settle into the couch. His hand feigned to pat her thigh, but he stopped himself and returned his hand to the couch. He cleared his throat and scratched at the singed red hair near the back of his neck.

Ren watched the interaction between his "Yurivis" and his "Master" dully. He could sense the man's hesitation and disappointment that his comfort was unwelcome by the princess, which should have filled him with sympathy, but watching his master hesitate to touch her just made him numb for some reason. He should have also been terrified of what he just asked Tenara to do, and somewhere inside he had to be. The pounding in his head just cast a monochrome glaze over his emotions. It was hard to find his own thoughts and opinions amidst the barrage of information available to him.

He stood, took the page he'd just scribbled, and fed it to the furnace in the corner of the room. "It is very early morning. Those acclimated to this world can tell by the glow of the moss. You both should rest. I will rehearse the sigils a few more times to ensure I can set them up swiftly."

He was about to sit again, but paused and looked back at Laurius. "Right. I almost forgot. He took the quill and pressed it into his fingertip until a drop of blood appeared. "Master, come here, please?"

Laurius opened his eyes and looked to Ren curiously before he lurched up from the couch and walked over. “You hurt yourself,” he murmured, reaching no to take Ren’s hand.

Artisuren met Laurius's hand with his unpricked one, clasping it lightly. "Your translation enchantment is incomplete. May I finish it?"

Laurius met Ren’s eyes and flashed him a smile. “Well,” he said. “Finishing it could get us all killed, given I have a habit of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, but why not?” He had the urge to press his head to Ren’s but settled on brushing the man’s wrist with his thumb.

Ren shivered, so many memories triggered by the sensation of Laurius's skin. He touched his dribbling finger to the man's forearm and smeared a sigil onto his skin, murmuring alien words under his breath as he concentrated. The spell didn't add to the throbbing in his skull, adding confidence to his theory that side effects of the spell he used on Tenara resulted from his crude understanding of the ancient text. This time, he didn't merely imitate the words and sigils. He actually remembered his study of the language and its writing as if his textbook were right in front of him.

A whoosh of strange energy flashed through him. "There... The enchantment should be repaired.". He looked down into Laurius's eyes.

Laurius registered a feeling of oddness but no pain. He shifted his hand over Ren’s wrist to hold onto his hand. “How are you? Your head? Do you want to rest? You and Tenara could share the couch.”

It was larger than a couch back on his world, made for three people of Ren’s kind. Tenara took up a small corner of it, offering space to anyone else.

Ren looked over at the furniture like he was seeing it for the first time. "It is less intense than before," he answered, thumbing his temples absently. "I... Prefer to rest where you rest.". The words were presumptuous, but his judgement didn't feel quite right.

"If you do not feel at ease on the couch, then you can use my lap," he said, failing in his effort to sound casual.