At first, he thought that he shouldn’t—no, couldn’t—trust them. But… they grew on him. They gave a kind of understanding that he was barely able to give himself, and in their presence, he no longer felt tied to the illusions. Eme had told him many times before that he should only stay with people who made him feel safe. He hadn’t really thought that was possible, when she’d told him; she was the only one he felt safe around, the only one he knew would always be there for him. He didn’t think anyone who wasn’t his mother could do something like that for him.

  And he certainly was pleasantly surprised.

  After a gentle knock on the door, Astyu was immediately opening it. Loraena stood on the other side holding a small bag, but the rest of them weren’t here.

  “I brought some snacks,” she explained with a warm smile. “Ms. Kadnekh really wants you to visit, but she understands if you’re not ready to be in an unfamiliar place for so long. So she made sure I brought some of these for you instead!”

  He smiled, too. It was hard not to, being in her presence. “Maybe… I can try. She sounds nice…”

  She seemed surprised at first, but then she enthusiastically nodded. “That sounds great! I’ll be sure to tell her and we can find a time for you to meet her.”

  “But I… had something else I wanted to ask, too.”

  “Oh? Did I interrupt you..?”

  “N-no. I just… I was wondering… Where’s the others?”

  She let out a bit of nervous laughter. “They’re all a little busy. Do you remember what I told you last time? Regind’s got this big alchemy event thing she’s working really hard on, and Lynette’s helping her with that, so neither of them could come. And Ragnis is always busy with something, but it’s about time for another festival, so he’s setting up some of that stuff.”

  Slowly, he stepped aside to let her in. Then he answered the question he knew that she was about to ask. “I wanted to talk to you. All of you.”

  “I know that it’s not really a substitute, but I’m always here if you don’t mind having to repeat it for the others. Or if it’s really important, I’m sure we’ll be able to ask them all to meet somewhere.”

  A sudden fear of everything that might happen came to mind. “I-it doesn’t matter that much.”

  She placed a hand on his shoulder, and made sure that they were making eye contact. “You don’t need to hide it from me if you have something you want to say. I’m here to help. No matter what it is, I’ll listen.”

  “I… think I’m ready. I want to know. I’m done not understanding everything, and only having a couple of unreliable memories to make sense of it. I want—no, need—to understand what happened.”

  “Really?” It was hard to tell if she was excited or a little bit concerned. “You really think you’re ready? There’s no rush if you aren’t…”

  He shook his head. “I thought about it, and I’m sure. I’m ready to learn what happened to her—what really happened. I don’t want to just make guesses based on what little I know anymore.”

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “Alright. Let’s sit down and talk about it. This is a big step for you, and the others can be… overwhelming sometimes. You’ll probably feel a bit more confident and ready to talk to them—and I’ll be able to help you more, if you want it—if you’ve got a plan for it.”

  “I have… something. I don’t really know if it’s a good idea, though…”

  Astyu motioned for her to sit down before he did. That’s what his mother would’ve wanted, after all—for him to be polite. And he was sure that his mother would like him doing this, too, even if he still had his fears.

  Loraena took one of the treats out of the bag, handed it to Astyu, and then got one for herself. After taking a bite—and mumbling how much she liked it, in a way he found rather endearing—she kindly pointed out, “It’s easier to start from somewhere. Most ideas aren’t bad ideas, after all, and I’m sure you’ve got a good one!”

  He ate a bit of what she’d given him, even if he wasn’t really hungry, before slowly telling her more. It was his way of testing the waters, carefully deciding if the full thing was worth telling her. “Do you remember the friends that Mother had that I told you about..? The ones that left around the same time she… she died?”

  “Those three that she always spent time with, right? I’m pretty sure Ragnis mentioned remembering them. I don’t think I ever saw them, though, or at least can’t remember us interacting…” She shook her head. “But that’s not the point right now. Do you think they could help?”

  “No one in Yllvamel really knows what happens. Most of them probably don’t even realize that anything happened at all. But… Mother’s friends had been with her throughout all of it. If anyone has answers, it’s them—and I know that they do. As long as they’re still…”

  He remembered the things they did, the conversations they had when they didn’t think he was listening. Eme wasn’t the only one that was suffering from it. And whatever had led to her death… it wasn’t unlikely that it had happened to the others.

  “Hey. Stay in the moment, alright?” Loraena’s calm voice dragged him out of the memories, and he nodded. He saw a glance of an illusion right behind her before it disappeared. Just another sign that he had a long way to go… “Do you know where her friends were? I thought you mentioned before that you haven’t been in contact with them since Eme left.”

  “I… haven’t. Really, I hadn’t talked to them for a little bit before then—all of them had a fight or something, and what Mother did was completely on her own. I don’t really know where they went after they left Yllvamel, only that they did, and they haven’t made any signs of wanting to come back…”

  “Then what’s your plan? We can’t look for someone we don’t know even a bit about where they are. I mean, there’s a couple of things we can try, but not a lot of people know about them, and certainly wouldn’t still be in touch…”

  “I know. And I have a way to get past that. Maybe.” He used a bit of his magic for something useful, intentional—creating a small cabin, recreating the one that he was thinking about to the best of his memory. “Two of them—Jasmin and Kiara—lived in a cabin a little bit outside of town. I know they’re not there anymore, but… there’s a chance they might’ve left something there, or the owner can talk to us. It’s the only thing I can think of that might help.”

  “I’m assuming you still know how to get there?”

  “I remember. I’ve only been there once, but it’s not that hard of a place to find. I was kind of hoping that we’d be able to go today…”

  Loraena tilted her head. “Right now?”

  “I—I mean, we don’t have to, but it would make me feel better… It’s the only lead I have. If it turns out not to lead to anything, then that’s the end of that. But I want to make sure that it’s something that we could turn to.”

  “So… I’m guessing you’re alright with leaving the others away for now? We can talk to them if we know that there’s something worth talking about them. That way, we don’t have to interrupt them—not that they wouldn’t mind helping, of course—if there turns out not to be anything.”

  Astyu nodded. “I think that would be better. I don’t want to bother them…”

  “Alright! Let’s just stay here for a little bit longer, and relax a bit. We can work out a bit of a plan in case there ends up being something there. Does that sound good to you?”

  “Mhm.”