Val held Tempest's arm still as Elwin bandaged her left shoulder. It hadn't taken long for them to figure out where she'd been hit since the fabric had been ripped to shreds, but wrapping it had been slightly more difficult, especially considering Val's panic at the Neverseen symbol on her arm. Calm down, Val. She told herself as she watched Elwin cover the symbol in bandages, She already showed you it. There's no need to freak out.

"There." Elwin said after what felt like forever, "That should be good for now."

Val let go of Tempest's arm and sighed with relief before turning towards Tam. After they had finally managed to get rid of most of the shadowflux - or whatever the shadows were -  Tam had wanted to leave, but Val had asked to talk with him. So, there he was, standing near the door and waiting for her to be done so they could talk. Slowly, Val walked towards him and motioned for him to follow her out into the hallway.

Foxfire was strangely quiet as the two of them walked through the halls. Apparently lots of elves we're being kept from school because their parents were worried about their safety. The rest of them were told just to stay home because there would be no point in bringing in so many mentors for so few kids. This left only Elwin still working in the Healing Center, just in case someone was injured and needed to be brought in. This also left only Val and Tam to walk through the hallways.

"So..." Tam started, "What did you need to talk about?"

"...Why do you hate Tempest so much?" Val asked slowly.

Tam scowled, "She got Sophie and Dex killed, that's why."

"You sure? From what she told me, it was the Chimera's fault."

Tam laughed grimly, "Of course. Blame it on the monster. How do you know her, anyway?"

"I found her in a forest in the Forbidden Cities. I saved her life."

"Why was she there?"

Val shrugged. "How should I know?" She asked, deciding not to tell him what Tempest had tried to accomplish, "You've obviously met her before. Is she the type of person to tell a complete stranger everything about her life?"

Tam mumbled something that Val couldn't quite understand, but she thought him mention "suprised" and "Hazel" before he spoke up, "Well, she never told me anything, that's for sure. But that's probably because we were both working for... them at the same and didn't trust me."

"A mutual feeling, I'll guess?" Val looked over at Tam when he didn't reply, "Did you read her shadowvapor?"

Tam nodded, "Unlike with pretty much everyone else, I didn't ask her."

"And?"

Tam sighed, "Slightly worse than most people, but normally what I'd still consider trustworthy."

"Is she not a normal case?"

Tam whirled towards her as he stopped walking, "Of course she isn't! This is a Neverseen member we're talking about! None of them are trustworthy!"

"Does that include me?" Val asked.

"No that's not-I-that-you... that was different. You didn't know... It wasn't your choice. "

"It wasn't her choice either. She joined for the same reason you did. Do I trust you?" Val sighed when he said nothing, "She blames herself, too. For their deaths. She thinks it's her fault. When she told me that everyone agreed to that, I thought she was exaggerating. Am I wrong, Tam?"

"Well, Keefe was the one who said that first-"

"Keefe?!?" Val asked, surprised, "Of anyone to accuse first, it was Keefe?!?"

Tam nodded, "And everyone just followed along."

Val felt her eyes widen as she looked at her feet and pushed her hair out of her face. "That seems... really uncharacteristic for Keefe..."

"Well, he did just watch Sophie and Dex die. And, if you want to talk about uncharacteristic, Fitz basically turned into Sophie and stayed in his room for almost a week until Biana had to drag him out."

"Geez, I've missed out on a lot." Val mumbled.

Tam put his hand on her shoulder, causing her to look towards him again. He gave her a half smile before speaking, "Hey, you haven't missed out on that much. But, if you'd like, you can tell me what you've been doing this whole time. You have to have been doing something while you were gone."

Val continued walking, "Well, besides meeting Tempest, I actually haven't been doing much. Some trips between the Forbidden Cities and the Lost Cities, but nothing interesting."

"Well, you showed up here at the right time. What was that about?"

Val smiled at his attempts to change the subject, "So, I just saved Tempest's life about a week ago, and the way she described even life now was a bit different than I remembered it being before, so I came to check it out yesterday. Atlantis was basically the same, so I came to Foxfire today after hearing an unfamiliar elf mention not seeing Elwin."

Tam frowned, "Um, Elwin almost never leaves the Healing Center unless he's tending an injury, especially now."

"Huh." Val thought for a moment, "Well, the woman who said that didn't call him Elwin. Just 'that physician'. Maybe she was talking about someone else and I just got lucky?" Don't lie to yourself, Val. She thought, there's no way you're that lucky.

"What did they look like?"

"Blonde hair, fair skin, sky blue eyes - not Gisela, if that's what you're thinking. Definitely not her."

"And you have no idea who they are?" Tam asked.

Val shook her head, "Not a clue."

"Hmm..." Tam stopped when they saw the door to the healing center again, " Well, I should probably go. Linh is currently with Wylie, but I still would rather be there. "

Val nodded, "Ok. I'll be here until Tempest leaves."

Tam smiled at her before turning and walking out towards Foxfire's front door. When he was out of sight, she sighed, well, that's one way to catch up with a friend. Quickly, she walked back into the Healing Center.

Hey guys! Yep, I'm back! I hit a major writers block so I decided to do an entire Val chapter. Don't worry, we'll be back with Tempest soon. I tried to do the math to see how much longer this story will be.... 5-7 chapters more. Wow.... Way shorter than the last story.....

Also, if you want more about Val's backstory, read Balefire by Cheshire_SK. Val's actually her character.... Surprise? *silence* well, what did I expect? Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see y'all later! Bye!