"Yeah, I guess so…" Nich hummed weakly and ran his fingers through his hair as well as he could with it tied up. "I just can't help but worry. I don't want anything to happen to them. Are we almost there?" He asked to change the subject.
"Yeah, no, I get that! Understand that completely. I swear it's totally safe, but if you don't want to do it, I get that too. It's totally up to you." Finn assured Castor.
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"Yeah, I think we're not so far out," Aesir replied.
They gazed ahead a bit. It was mostly foliage, but they were pretty sure the group had traveled about the right distance to get them to the next town.
Castor tilted his head, baffled by Finn's understanding.
"Well, I think I'm a lot more inclined to trust you, since you're actually giving me a choice," he said, "I think maybe we could give it a try."
Nich nodded, scratching behind his ears with a yawn. He was normally decent at directions and such, but he was distracted by the conversation. Delta was quietly perusing a map as they went along to make sure that they didn't get lost, so the odds of them going the wrong way were pretty slim.
"Well, yeah, of course! It's your life; I don't want to do anything you're not comfortable with. Even if it's something small, you've got the right to decide whether or not you want to try it." He shrugged. "I'm glad to give it a try if that's what you want, though."
Aesir cast a glance back over their shoulder to make sure everyone else was still keeping up. They pointed through the woods.
"It's that way. All there is is to keep following this path."
Castor nodded slowly.
"I think maybe it's worth a shot," he replied.
He crossed his arms slightly, still following the others in front.
"It would be nice to sleep at night."
"Sounds good to me. And we got rid of all of those gnoll things, right? I don't want to run into more of them." Nich laughed softly, although he was glancing around warily to make sure they weren't being followed.
"Yeah, of course. And I can still get you the Elixir, too. I'm really good at making those, so there's nothing to worry about there." Finn smiled reassuringly up at Castor. "Gotta make sure you're getting some good rest too."
"No, probably not. They tend to travel together, so the odds of us finding another are very small," Aesir sighed, "Man, Castor wasn't kidding when he said they can be vicious and nasty."
Castor nodded firmly. "I really appreciate it. Just let me know how I can repay you."
He paused for a second.
"Also I'm really really sorry about running into the fray like that. I didn't realize the wards were so closely connected to your body. I never would've used them like that had I known," he said, "I caused a lot of trouble for us."
"Yeah." Nich chuckled again, taking note of his own injuries. They were mostly alright now due to Finn's healing magic, but he definitely still noticed the wounds. "I don't think I've ever run across them before. Someone in the town must've made them mad somehow."
"Don't worry about it! It's fine, you didn't know." Finn insisted, laughing weakly. "A big part of magic is maximizing magic output while trying to minimize the amount of your own energy that you're using. It's just something that's really hard to master, and I don't think you can ever be using none of your own energy… magic is finicky."
"They may not have always lived here," Aesir added, "but I'm also pretty certain that they had to be provoked somehow. We may never find that out, not that it's really important now."
"You can also draw on the energy of other people," Castor added, his voice falling softer, "but generally, I'm not so sure that's a good idea. Is it common practice?"
He wrung his hands together a bit.
"Yeah, it's not like we can exactly ask them why they came here." Nich shrugged and whistled idly to himself as he walked.
"Y-Yeah, um… it's not something that most people do since it's kinda dangerous." Finn replied with a nervous smile. "If you're using your own energy, you know how much you have left, you know? You know how much you can handle. It's dangerous to use someone else's energy since you could go overboard. There's cases of people dying from that sorta thing. I suppose you could draw energy from other living things as well, like plants or animals… using an external source is really difficult and takes a lot of practice."
"No. I wish we could've at least stopped long enough to find that out. But you could've died if we hadn't stepped in. Thank the gods you're alright," Aesir replied, "It's weird that they set up a trap close to humanoid size, though. It's like they were trying to catch people."
Castor bit his lip. "So maybe that's why-"
His throat burned a bit. That had to be what killed his brother.
"I didn't know it was like that."
"Yeah, it's weird… I don't think they normally interact with people if they don't have to. It's unusual for them to be seeking to hurt people specifically from my knowledge." Nich sighed, scratching at his ears again.
"Yeah… you can't really go way too far with yourself. Like you saw with me, most people are going to pass out once they're out of energy, so it's pretty much impossible for someone to die from their own magic. It's always going to be the case of using someone else's energy as fuel. It's used on purpose sometimes, actually… for both those trying to hurt people and those trying to protect against those trying to hurt people."
"They don't," Aesir agreed, "Hopefully nothing like that will happen again. And if it does, we should probably make sure whoever handles it with more… tact."
Castor nodded in understanding. He let out a soft sigh.
"So… um… would you be okay rooming together tonight to make sure all the dream spells and sleep elixir and whatnot work okay?" he asked, "You don't have to, but it may be a good idea."
"Yeah… it was a bit rough." Nich chuckled and looked up to see little bits of the new town showing through the trees.
"Yeah, that's fine! I'll do a little research to get the spell for the dream catcher exactly right. I'll also have to… uh… buy a dream catcher. I'm sure everything will be fine." Finn smiled up at Castor and adjusted his bag on his back. "I'll swap spots in the rooming with Delta."
"Oh, hey, look," Aesir said with a smile, "We're almost there."
Castor's gaze softened up a bit.
"Thank you so much," he said, "I hope it works alright… but I'm sure it can't hurt. Like you said, at worst, nothing will happen."
"That's good…" Nich found that he was growing fatigued more quickly than usual with his injuries, and although his legs didn't usually get tired due to them not being real legs, the prosthetics did make his thighs ache after a while.
"Yeah, of course! Worst that can happen is nothing. It'll be fun for me to try out something new too." Finn hummed softly and looked up at the upcoming town as well.
"You holding up alright?" Aesir asked with a smile, noticing a very slight shift in Nich's gait.
They were always hyper-aware of their surroundings and others' body language. After all, it had saved their skin numerous times.
Castor let out a sigh of relief as they came upon the town. He just wanted to get into the next quest. They were all decent enough company, but it was hard to feel as if he should actually be here. At least he could better understand the bounds of Finn's magic now, and if they had to fight again, it would run more smoothly.
"Yeah, I'm alright. Just a bit tired… and sore from everything." Nich smiled to reassure Aesir. "I'll be fine. We'll be at the town soon anyway, so it doesn't matter. We can rest there."
Finn walked alongside Castor quietly, trying to recall everything that he might need for the sleeping Elixir and the dream catcher spell. He didn't think it was too complicated, but he did want to make sure that he did it right.
"Okay, as long as that's all," Aesir replied with a short nod, "I won't lie, I've been worried about dragging you lot ahead too much, since I wasn't hurt at all."
Castor and Finn's conversation had died down some, but instead of falling behind the group more, Castor kept walking beside Finn, comforted by the other's presence.
"We're alright, I think. You've got a skilled healer on your team." Nich looked back to Finn, who tripped over a root and didn't seem to hear. He managed not to fall, but he did stumble a few steps. "A bit clumsy, evidently, but he's good at what he does."
Finn drew in a sharp breath as he tripped, but sighed in relief when he managed to catch himself. "I'll be glad once we're out of the forest… I feel like I'm in a maze. A maze full of things to trip on."
"Absolutely," Aesir agreed, "I'm glad to have him on our side. I was quite worried when he got knocked the fuck out yesterday. But he seems… fine, I think? I should've done better watching his back, but at least I was there to make sure it wasn't much worse."
Castor instinctively reached out a hand to catch Finn at first, though he didn't end up touching the other at all once he saw he'd caught himself.
"I quite like it here," Castor replied with a shrug, "It's nice and quiet up in these parts. But sure, a little treacherous if you don't watch your step constantly."
"Yeah, it looks like he's alright. I'm sure it would've turned out much worse if you weren't there to guard him when he got hurt." Nich turned his gaze to the ground as the path became a little more hazardous, wanting to make sure he didn't catch his prosthetics on any vines. "Delta wasn't fazed at all, though, so maybe that's normal for him? I dunno."
"Yeah, I guess it's pretty… just tired of trying not to fall." Finn laughed softly and toyed with his hair a bit. He knew he was surprisingly clumsy for someone who was able to do parkour and such. "We'll be to the town soon, and then we can gather our bearings and regroup."
"Perhaps. I'm just glad things didn't turn out way worse," Aesir sighed in relief, "Someone could've been killed had things played out ever so slightly different."
"Fair enough," Castor chuckled, "It would be nice to settle in for the night. I am pretty tired still."
"Yeah… that wouldn't be a very good school assignment if you lost one of your group members." Nich joked to lighten the mood. "Let's just get to town and find something to eat."
At the mention of food, Finn looked up, his stomach growling. He hadn't realized how hungry he was until now. "Yeah, that's a good idea."
"Not a bad idea," Castor agreed, "Is anyone familiar with this town?"
"No, not particularly," Aesir replied, "I've been to and from here, but I'm not overly familiar. Something to eat would be nice, though."
"I've been here a few times, so I know a few places with food, but I don't know my way around perfectly." Nich replied as they came up to the entrance of the town. "I'm sure we'll be able to find something."
"There's also maps available here." Delta said simply, picking up a map to look for a place with food and board.