The next morning, they met with the blacksmith to discuss how long it would take to remove the shield from Illnyea's arm.

"It'll probably take an hour or two of careful work," Olly said after he had a few minutes of inspection.

Illnyea wilted, shoulders drooping dramatically. Her hair was styled differently than usual, an intricate braid Sulaiman had never seen her wear before, but based on the proud glances Priscilla shot towards it occasionally, he suspected she had something to do with it.

Sulaiman knew Illnyea had trouble sitting still during the best of times and being trapped for several hours without being able to move would be torture for her.

"I'll stay with you," Sulaiman said, stepping forward.

Illnyea perked up like a flower who had sucked sunlight directly into its petals.

"I can too," Priscilla said, and she and Illnyea shared a smile. Sulaiman was glad the two of them were getting along, but he couldn't help the pang of jealousy that went through him. He acknowledged the emotion and then promptly pushed it away because it was irrational and unnecessary – Priscilla was Illnyea's sister, there was no need to be jealous. He was still Illnyea's best friend after all.

Olly coughed, looking bashful when everyone looked at him.

"My forge isn't too large," Olly said, scratching the back of his head, "and it'll be cramped once I start working."

Priscilla sighed, tossing her hair dramatically over her shoulder. She had once again chosen the green hair ribbon to put up her hair and it fluttered in the wind as if to add to Priscilla's dramatics.

"I'm not so gauche to intrude on a best friend bonding session," Priscilla sniffed, "so I'll go explore with Kavil."

She offered out her elbow to Kavil, who immediately looped his arm through with a grin and leaned in closer.

"I think I saw a patch of flowers near the village's edge," Kavil said.

"We can make a bouquet," Priscilla said, green eyes lighting up.

"I was thinking of a potpourri actually," Kavil said.

"We can make matching ones for everyone!"

Priscilla waggled her fingers at Sulaiman and Illnyea over her shoulder as the two of them took off to their flower-filled endeavors.

Sulaiman sighed as he watched them take off. Watching the two of them slot in together naturally, bouncing off each other without hesitation, had reminded him of his unwanted thoughts last night of wondering how he could fit, and he shook his head to get rid of them once more. There was no use lingering on such thoughts, and they were unnecessary distractions.

Illnyea and Sulaiman sat down in two chairs near the entrance of the small forge as Olly began to gather all his tools and stoke the fire.

Sulaiman looked at Illnyea's frantically tapping knee as they waited and then at her face, at the way her teeth chewed on her inner cheek she only did when she was nervous and trying not to think about her nerves.

"How are you holding up?" Sulaiman asked, settling in to finally have a real conversation with Illnyea now that they had a moment of privacy.

Illnyea's tapping knee paused for a moment before redoubling in intensity

"I'm excited to get this shield off my arm," Illnyea said, eyes on the forge. "I know you picked it out for me in the hopes that it'd never break, but that's getting pretty annoying right now."

Sulaiman narrowed his eyes. "You're deflecting."

Illnyea went still before sighing, glaring at him.

"You should be nice and let me."

"If you want me to stop caring about you, I can," Sulaiman said, crossing his arms, "but I recall someone insisting I 'take interest in the world around me' and 'grow a heart,' and needling me endlessly until I agreed."

Illnyea was stubborn as stone, insistent on carving out the change she wanted because she refused to allow the future to develop in any other way. It was one of things Sulaiman admired most in her, even if it was one of the most frustrating aspects of her as well.

Illnyea looked mulish, but Sulaiman kept his face impassive, save for a single raised eyebrow. Though it shouldn't be surprising, as they were full-blooded sisters, Sulaiman was slightly taken aback at how similar Illnyea looked to Priscilla when things didn't go her way. The stubborn set of their jaw, the way their nose wrinkled in displeasure, it was nearly identical down to the way they tilted their head down so they could glare up through their eyelashes.

Eventually, the tried and true tactic of letting someone stew in silence worked, and Illnyea sighed, looking frustrated but resigned, fiddling with her fingers.

"I'm doing a lot better now that I can see the sky again." Illnyea's hands tightened. "I… I missed the sun after… everything."

Sulaiman contemplated on what to say because he was never good at comforting people, but this was Illnyea – she knew what his intentions were even if the words came out wrong.

"How bad did it get?" Sulaiman bumped his knee against hers when she didn't say anything.

"Pretty…" Illnyea swallowed hard, wincing. "Pretty bad. Before Raven caught me, I… I was about to do something stupid."

Sulaiman breathed in and out slowly.

"How stupid?"

Illnyea winced again, and her voice had grown small.

"I was going to take on the camp of cannibals with only Holly to back me up."

Sulaiman closed his eyes and took in a deeper, slower breath. His instinctual reaction was to snap out something biting, but Illnyea had been stranded and isolated in a terrible place, so he could give her some grace.

"I'm glad you have the sense to see how stupid that was," Sulaiman said.

"Yeah, well it's obvious in hindsight I'd lose but…" Illnyea looked up and Sulaiman was alarmed to see her eyes were watery.

"I thought I was going to die out there, Sul," Illnyea whispered. "They were hunting me and it was only a matter of time before they caught me. I'd rather have died trying to save others instead of dying like a coward that only knew how to run away."

Sulaiman ground his teeth because Illnyea shouldn't have been at risk of dying at all and it was all that bastard Rudy's fault for changing the caravan's travel schedule, but he took another deep breath and reminded himself that Rudy was dead by his own hand and Illnyea was still breathing.

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"So, you can't plan to do anything that stupid again," Sulaiman said firmly and Illnyea opened up her mouth, probably going to argue she was an independent woman that could do what she wanted, and he continued, cutting her off. "You can't start a fight thinking you're going to die, because then you already have one foot in the grave, and if you die, Illnyea, I–"

Sulaiman sucked in a breath, flexing his fingers against his biceps as he fought to bring himself back under control. Imagining a world without Illnyea in it filled Sulaiman with deep set dread, the type that left him feeling cold and empty. It would be a bleak world without her light.

"Your death will not be easily overcome by those who care about you," Sulaiman said through gritted teeth. It would be a scar on Sulaiman's heart that would never heal, haunt him with every breath because it would be one that Illnyea wouldn't take, and he hated thinking about that reality for even a moment.

"If you die for such a stupid reason just to go out in a blaze of glory," Sulaiman said fiercely, "I would never forgive you for leaving me."

Illnyea blinked a few times and sent tears down her cheeks, and she sniffled, mumbling, "I'm sorry."

Sulaiman tried to stay stern but he couldn't help but soften a fraction at the genuine remorse in her voice and reached out to gently squeeze her shuolder.

"If you die, I am morally obligated to pray to the Shade Father and barter my soul," Sulaiman said, raising a judgemental eyebrow, "just so I can get a chance to yell at you for being so fucking stupid to die before me, do you understand?"

Illnyea wiped away some of her tears as she laughed.

"I understand but…" Sulaiman raised an eyebrow as Illnyea's smile grew, deviousness entering her expression that alarmed him and he pulled back his hand.

"When did you start cursing?" Illnyea asked. "The Sulaiman I left refused to say such vulgar things."

Sulaiman was caught off guard by that observation.

He opened and closed his mouth a few times, unsure what to say. He had occasionally swore within his own thoughts, but he had been careful to keep his speech as clean and proper as he could so that others could not find more excuses to hate him. The only thing that had changed since Illnyea left was the fact that Sulaiman had gotten to know Priscilla, whose foul mouth never stopped.

"I have been…" Sulaiman swallowed. "Unfortunately influenced."

"By a certain red-head?" Illnyea said leadingly, smile growing as Sulaiman's face betrayed him and grew hot.

"Shut up," Sulaiman snapped and Illnyea only giggled.

"I thought I was going to need to bribe you with cream puffs for you to give her a chance," Illnyea teased, "but here you are, putting aside a necklace because you thought she might like it and being all embarrassed about it."

Sulaiman was offended that she thought he would be so easily bribed, giving her a flat, unamused stare while ignoring the other part of her statement. He had thought of Priscilla when he saw the necklace because out of everyone, Priscilla was the only one he could imagine wearing it – she liked pretty things and fashion and if she didn't want to keep it, she would be the one most likely to know what to do with it. Illnyea didn't like jewelry, and Sulaiman supposed he hadn't actually asked Kavil if he wanted it but he had been falling asleep against Sulaiman's shoulder, which had been both distracting and vexing and —

Illnyea laughed devilishly at his expression, and while Sulaiman was glad she could still do it after everything that had happened, he disliked that she was laughing at him because it made his cheeks flush even more.

"Ungrateful child," Sulaiman muttered. "See if I offer to keep you company again."

Illnyea snorted, her grin crooked. "I think Priscilla would happily keep me company since I'm so ungrateful."

Sulaiman rolled his eyes, done with this girl.

But she wasn't done with him.

"But I guess you won't mind," Illnyea said slyly, "as I'm sure our genius healer would be happy to spend time with you."

Sulaiman had opened his mouth to tell Illnyea to shut up and snapped it shut at the unexpected comeback. It brought forth Sulaiman's unfortunate realizations that Kavil may be considered, by some people, to be… cute, and insisted on getting close to Sulaiman because the other man had no idea of what counted as a reasonable distance between friends.

"Why did I save you again?" Sulaiman asked, pinching the bridge of his nose in hopes that it might hide his flush from Illnyea. Based on her giggles, it did very little.

"Because I'm your best friend," Illnyea said, kicking his boots until he glared at her. She kicked him one more time before the mirth faded from her expression.

"I'm glad you have more friends now," Illnyea said, her smile gaining an edge of old sadness and bitterness. Illnyea had tried for years to introduce Sulaiman to others but it had frequently been a failure, despite her best efforts. Sulaiman knew he wasn't the easiest to get along with on the best of days, but when people spoke down to him, spoke as if he was stupid or volatile, he… he hadn't responded very well, often going silent, which others took as disrespectful or thought he was plotting their downfall. (Which, to be fair, did happen occasionally, but those were plots that never left Sulaiman's mind.)

Sulaiman didn't know how to respond to Illnyea's words without acknowledging how he had failed her, and chose to shift the conversational direction.

"Kavil is a steadfast friend," Sulaiman said, "and Priscilla is… tolerable."

Illnyea snorted, which was what Sulaiman had hoped would happen.

"Priscilla mentioned you had plans to travel together after you returned," Sulaiman continued. "Is that still something you wish to do?"

"I do," Illnyea said quickly, too quickly for Sulaiman's comfort. He narrowed his eyes as she looked away, fiddling with her fingers again. The silence stretched between them before Illnyea hung her head and sighed.

"Promise you won't tell anyone this?" Illnyea asked, finally meeting his gaze again.

"Your secrets are always safe with me."

Illnyea took in a deep breath and steadied her shoulders.

"I was alone out there for so long, starving and battered, so I… I pretended you and Priscilla were there with me, commenting on every dumb decision. And when things got real bad…" Illnyea swallowed hard, face twitching as if she was struggling to keep her face neutral. "I had a lot of time to look back on my life and what I regret – it was the fact I might not see the two of you again that hurt the most, not… not the fact that I wouldn't see my parents again."

Illnyea took another deep, shuddering breath. "Before I left, Priscilla and I… we talked and that talk made me question a lot of things. I don't think I respect my parents anymore and… yeah."

Sulaiman rarely spoke with Cian and Idalah Thornewood, preferring to only interact with the household when he received his salary. Cian didn't seem to think Sulaiman was worth his daughter's attention and rarely acknowledged Sulaiman in passing, but Cian also considered Rudy to be a close friend, so Sulaiman didn't trust the man's opinions. While Idalah was the outwardly kinder of the two, Sulaiman didn't like how whenever she spoke or looked at him, it was tinged with cloying pity that made Sulaiman's skin crawl. After hearing what Idalah had said to Priscilla, Sulaiman's opinion of the woman had soured dramatically.

"Do you want to know something that might…" Sulaiman searched for the words as Illnyea's gaze sharpened. "... hurt you to know but I think you should know?"

"Yes," Illnyea said firmly.

"When we first arrived at the Thornewood manor after returning," Sulaiman said slowly, hoping that it might soften the blow, "we were informed by the butler that your caravan hadn't arrived. Priscilla spoke with your parents about when they were organizing a rescue party and they… they weren't, because they trusted Rudy to return and they had an important guest arriving soon."

Illnyea flinched as if he had struck her, but she gritted her teeth and nodded stubbornly at Sulaiman to continue.

"Priscilla has been disowned by your parents," Sulaiman said and Illnyea's eyes went wide, mouth falling open in disbelief. He continued haltingly, sharing what Priscilla had told them and of the conversation he had overheard between Priscilla and Idalah, emphasizing that he had only been an observer.

When he finished, Illnyea closed her eyes and breathed in shakily.

"That's it," she whispered.

"What's it?"

"I'm running away," Illnyea said as she sat up, her gold eyes gleaming like molten gold, equal parts anger and determination. Sulaiman opened his mouth but she continued, the words coming out in a tangle rush. "I've been thinking about it already, well, it was mostly just a daydream, but with what you told me – I don't think I can be around my parents without screaming at them and I don't want to live in that stupid manor anymore. It's too big and empty and it's only good for parties with stupid people and I've never liked it."

Sulaiman closed his mouth.

He could tell that Illnyea had given this topic a great deal of thought and who was he to tell Illnyea how to feel about her parents when Sulaiman liked to imagine that he had no parents and had just spontaneously appeared in the world?

"You should talk with Priscilla about this," Sulaiman said, deciding that was a safe response.

Before Illnyea could say anything else, Olly arrived, saying, "Alrighty, are you ready?"

Illnyea lit up, her outward anger disappearing in favor of excitement.

"I was born ready," Illnyea said.

As the blacksmith went to work, Sulaiman quietly told Illnyea of his travels with Priscilla to pass the time. He omitted the fight they had because it was shameful, but based on the way Illnyea squinted at him, she knew he was hiding something. But she didn't call him out, so Sulaiman continued his tale of Gorelock Toads, hot springs, and bandits.

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