Aghet walked as if in a dream. Feet slow moving, legs feeling as if they were stuck in the quicksand that was common in the swampy areas around their village. She could barely get herself moving after a while, and Rin had to shoulder her along with Bek, who had sobered up since last night, but still stayed as chatty as ever. He kept asking if she was okay, and what he could do, but Aghet couldn't get one word past her lips.

Rin's hand was tightly clasped over her own, and Aghet could feel the coolness of her ice mark left over from her attack on the turbak. It was a comforting, familiar presence on her skin. Rin had been the only one to witness one of Aghet's markings, save for Helgit and the old shaman, Numit. It was back when the two of them hated each other with every fiber of their being. At ten years of age, Aghet had gone to get her fire mark. Just to piss her off, Rin had followed, going through the ritual and getting an ice mark on her left palm, as Aghet had her fire mark on her right.

Both of them had banded together once Qrev marked himself twice soon after.

Bastard. Rin had said. Aghet didn't know if she had been more impressed by their mutual thoughts, or Rin's utterance of a curse word usually not tolerated by the adults. Either way, she was glad to have met her.

"Focus, Aghet." Rin called, snapping her fingers in front of her face as Aghet's head drooped. She had temporarily blacked out, and her body was becoming so cold. Constant shivers ran through her, and with a few more steps, the motion was enough to have Aghet curling into herself and vomiting onto the forest floor.

"Rin." Aghet coughed out, spitting a wad of gunk from her mouth and motioning to her, cutting her off as she began to signal to the others ahead of them.

"Don't let....anyone see me." She continued, rolling her head from side to side as it spun, making sure the four others that had circled back to them had heard as well.

"Please." She finished, and Rin nodded, glaring at the others until they did as well.

"We'll go to my hut." Rin said, and Aghet nodded. It was a good choice, seeing how Rin lived on the outskirts of the village, just barely in view of the rest of the huts.

"Wes....tell Qrev." Aghet sputtered, before her head drooped again as a wave of black hit her. When she refocused, she was being completely held up by Bek and Rin, and Aghet grabbed their shoulders, heaving herself forward, nearly falling on the ground at the effort.

"Bek, stay with me. Can you two go and make sure no one's there?" Rin asked, and the remaining patrol, Nact and Ruka, reluctantly departed from the party. They didn't seem to like taking orders from Rin, as most tended to. Bek was the only exception, as the man was pretty laid back about most things. Wes had left, thankfully having listened to her orders.

About halfway there, Aghet fell completely unconscious, and woke only when Rin put her down on the bed. The familiar, earthy scent was a comfort as Aghet felt her body sing with pain. She was so tense that her jaw squeaked whenever she tried to speak, and when she found that she couldn't get a word out, panic made her fingers shake and sweat to coat her skin.

The familiar scent of tree bark washed over her, and Aghet clasped Helgit's hand as she reached down to stuff something into her mouth.

"Eat." Helgit muttered, looking a bit irritated, but not at Aghet. She kept glowering toward the door, where someone was pacing outside. Several people, in fact. Helgit always had the fiercest glower, as she rarely ever got angry. A cool temper and a caring heart were two very good qualities for the village shaman, and Aghet had spotted them very early on. It was why she had chosen Helgit to take over for Numit. It had been one of the first things she had done when she had been chosen as the successor.

Helgit was also an Urik, so she had been well respected.

Mumbling something beneath her breath that sounded like what came close to a swear, Helgit drew two fingers down her healing mark on her forehead, running her hand down Aghet's face. Immediately, Aghet felt a beautiful relief, and she relaxed, letting out a sigh.

"Thank you."

She said softly, and Helgit took her arm, extending it in one quick movement and placing a few fingers on Aghet's traveler's mark.

"What did this?" She asked.

"The turbak's weapon. A chain of some sort."

Helgit was silent, staring down at the mauled mark. Bruises shaped like the chain that had caused it were prominent on the skin there, and Helgit healed those, eyelids fluttering at the strain it put on her body.

"You should go out and meet the others, they are waiting for you." She told Aghet, getting to her feet and pulling Aghet up with her. Aghet winced as the soreness hit her body like a falling tree, stumbling a few steps before straightening herself up. It seemed that Helgit couldn't heal everything.

"How many?" Aghet asked, and Helgit just shook her head, giving a sigh.

"Everyone."

_________________________________

"Look at them, your ancient ancestors! Once a symbol of power, now spat upon and sullied by a woman who ran from her responsibility. She knew the risks!"

Nomi held the Fori close to him, now glad it had fallen into a paralyzed state after being separated from the rixit. It meant that he wouldn't have to constantly worry that it would remove the cloak covering it from view. Nomi hid in the shadows of one of the towers, waiting for the city's warmonger to finish talking so he could sneak past them.

He stood towering over the rest, the blaze of his weapon lighting the area around him so much so that he looked to be a furious god among mortals. The weapon was infused with blue light, in contrast to the green tracks that lined his skin. It was because it was an ancient one, not tied to him but to an original Monarch named Agri, who had dubbed it 'Lefty'.

Lefty, despite it's name, was one of the most powerful weapons in existence. Channeling turbak energy and turning it into a forceful wave of raw power. Agri had strung the Fori's vessel to it's hilt when she had been chosen as the monarch, and it had produced a generation of warriors. One that had birthed Stell himself. He was the only one remaining.

"And now she has broken tradition, she has thrown us all into chaos." Stell growled, his words cemented by the anguished murmurs and cries that filtered through the crowd. Nomi saw many mothers clutching their children close to them, the horror in their eyes not as great as their relief. For they had made it, and their children would live.

"She may return, Stell. We don't know the whole story." A man called out, and from his offensive stance and furious glare, Nomi predicted him to be one with a wife in the pod.

"We must have faith!" Another called out, backing him up, and Stell curled his lip, turning to the colossal monuments that stood behind him and pointing his weapon toward the one newly erected.

"She will not hold a place among the honored, not anymore." He said, and Nomi flinched as there was a wave of heat that hit them all. Stell's green energy met the blue of Lefty's core, and with a powerful swing, Stell hit Kari's statue dead on.

The crowd fell silent as cracks began to split the black stone, and Nomi felt an ache in his chest as the statue began to crumble like the dried mud beneath his feet. Clutching the Fori tightly to him, Nomi sneaked his way past the crowd as the cries began to ring out once again, this time in greater volume. A Monarch's monument had never been destroyed, and Nomi felt as disturbed as the rest to see the giant fall.

He had to hide the Fori, and immediately after, find the rixit. If there was even the slightest chance that she had Kari's essence with her, they still had a chance.