Chapter 21: Knowing [1]

Two days passed.

Nathia began to come back to herself in small, careful steps. She still did not laugh. She still did not smile. When someone spoke to her the answers came short and flat, but the hollow look in her eyes had started to ease. She ate when food was offered. She stood when it was time to move. Most of all, she had decided she would keep living. Rael understood that choice better than most. After the Blackthorn gates had closed behind him he had made the same quiet promise to himself: even if no one wanted him, he would stay alive until something finally took the choice away.

At night the four of them left the cave and hunted. Rael stayed at the edges of every fight. He no longer wanted levels of his own. Every kill that could go to the others did. He only stepped in when something looked ready to overwhelm them. Suzy climbed faster than the rest. Rael guessed it had to do with her class. Priestess was not built for direct combat, so the system seemed to reward her differently. Lila and Nathia both told him they had reached Level 7. He had no way to check, so he simply took their word.

On the fourth day the cave felt smaller than ever. Four people, their gear, the smell of old smoke and dried blood—it pressed in from every side. Rael sat near the entrance and spoke to Lila while the others rested.

"We need more wood. And we need a bigger place. At the rate we’re going it’ll still take more than two weeks for everyone to hit ten."

Lila nodded. "I know. This space is already too tight."

"I’ll go look during the day," Rael said. "We can’t search properly at night. Too easy to miss something, or walk into worse trouble."

Suzy sat up at once. "I’ll come with you."

Lila’s shoulders tightened. Over the last two days Suzy had spent almost every free moment near Rael—sitting beside him while they ate, walking close when they moved, finding reasons to speak to him first. Lila had been the one staying with Nathia, the one listening to the quiet crying that still came at odd hours. She missed the earlier days when it had been only the two of them in the cave. She would never say it out loud, but the feeling sat there anyway.

"Suzy," Lila said, keeping her voice even, "I need you here. Nathia still isn’t steady. Someone has to help with the cooking and keep an eye on her."

Suzy blinked, then seemed to remember. "Ah... right. You’re right." She looked between Lila and Rael, clearly disappointed. "Then who goes with him? It’s dangerous alone."

Lila held her ground. "Yeah. Who will."

Nathia stood up. The movement was slow but deliberate. "I can go."

Both girls turned toward her. For a moment neither spoke. Rael broke the silence.

"Yeah. She can come."

Suzy’s mouth opened, then closed again. "Yes... go with her."

The decision settled. Rael and Nathia left the cave and started along the opposite face of the mountain, looking for any opening large enough to hold four people with room to spare. They found nothing that matched what they needed—shallow overhangs, cracks too narrow, one promising mouth that opened into a dead end after only a few steps. High-level beasts stayed out of sight the entire time. It was as if the Summoner had simply moved on, or lost interest in this stretch of forest.

They had been inside the First Realm for more than two weeks now. Time moved differently here. One day in the Elysian Wilds equaled two on Titan. By that measure Rael had been gone from the ordinary world for over a month. He found himself wondering what his small apartment in Bloomingdale smelled like. He had left dishes in the sink the night before the transfer. The thought pulled a quiet sigh out of him.

Nathia glanced over. "What happened?"

"Nothing important. Just remembering Titan. Wondering what kind of state my room is in by now."

She studied him for a moment. "I never thought you’d think about things like that. It’s actually a relief. You think like a normal person."

Rael raised an eyebrow. "What did you think I was?"

It was the first easy conversation they had managed since the day Luke died. Nathia’s mouth almost curved, though the expression never quite became a smile.

"I thought you were some rich boy with a hundred maids cleaning up after him."

"You’re wrong then."

They walked a little farther in silence before Rael asked, "What about you and Lila? How do you know each other?"

Nathia’s eyes softened as the older memories rose. She set Luke carefully to the side for a moment and answered.

"All the children in Bloomingdale go to the same university. I figured you wouldn’t know that."

"I didn’t."

"Lila and I met a long time ago. Kindergarten. We were neighbors before..." She paused, then finished quietly, "before her parents passed away. She moved after that. We only saw each other at university later on. Bloomingdale isn’t a big town. Everyone knows everyone to some degree when you grow up there."

Rael nodded. "Must be nice getting awakened near people you already know."

Nathia looked at him more carefully. "How come I never saw you before? Trust me, I would have remembered a face like yours if I’d seen it even once."

"I only moved there just before the awakening. Personal reasons. Sorry I can’t tell you."

"Oh. Its okay." She seemed to file the information away. "That explains it. You and Suzy were the only ones I didn’t already know."

Rael stopped walking.

The words landed with a strange weight. He turned his head toward her.

"You didn’t know Suzy? I thought she was your friend. The way she looked at ease with others when I first saw her i thought she was friends with Lila and other’s... I assumed you three had history."

Nathia shook her head. "No. I thought she was your friend. She seemed so happy the first time she saw you."

Rael stood still for several seconds. Something cold and quiet moved through the back of his mind. He had never met Suzy before the Dream Realm either. And in all the time since, through every injury and every fight, she had never once used a healing skill. Not on him. Not on anyone. A priestess who never healed.

He looked back the way they had come, toward the distant cave where Lila and Suzy waited.

"Lila," he said under his breath.

The single name hung in the afternoon air.

---