When Priscilla woke up in the morning, she stared at the ceiling in silence for a long while. She hadn't looked at Sulaiman last night after getting back to the inn, unable to deal with the emotions bubbling inside her. It was easier to just pretend they didn't exist, easier to focus on Illnyea's laughter instead of imagining how her eyes would turn hard when the truth was revealed.

Maybe Sulaiman was right.

Priscilla was a coward afterall.

She combed through her hair quietly, looking into the small hand mirror. She hadn't slept well and it showed in the bags underneath her eyes, a sleep debt from the week of constant nightmares she hadn't been able to pay off.

At least I'm clean, Priscilla thought to herself glumly as she tied her hair up. Illnyea had arranged for them both to take a bath last evening and Priscilla had nearly rubbed her skin raw, hyperfocusing on cleaning so she wouldn't be left alone with her thoughts. She had set out her flower crowns carefully last night, hoping to start the drying process, but they were blooming brightly as ever this morning. So into the spatial pocket they went, and she planned to find somewhere to dry them properly when they were back at Meadowyar.

The sun hadn't even risen yet, so Priscilla pulled out her notebook. She began to sketch out a few embroidery designs for the pourtpuri pouches. She wouldn't have time to make them until they arrived back in Meadowyar, but it was soothing work that didn't require too much thinking. A sleeping fawn for Kavil, a cluster of daisies for Illnyea, and a little red fox for herself. Sulaiman might not appreciate it, but she sketched out a black cat that stared with judgemental yellow eyes.

It didn't take long to gather up the rest of her things once true dawn arrived and she woke up Illnyea to do the same.

"Will you braid my hair?" Illnyea asked, holding up the yellow ribbon with wide, hopeful eyes.

"Do a girl's hair once and she thinks I'm her own personal hairdresser ," Priscilla said, shaking her head in mock annoyance as she reached for the ribbon. "Turn around milady."

Illnyea giggled as she turned and Priscilla relaxed as she lost herself in the routine of braiding hair.

"What do you mean he doesn't have a name yet?" Illnyea asked, reaching out to scratch Prisiclla's horse underneath the scattered white spots along its jaw. It nuzzled back immediately, its black snout leaning into Illnyea's touch.

"I haven't gotten around to naming it," Priscilla said with a shrug.

They had just said their goodbyes to their acquaintances in Aidais' lament, receiving a meal for later that day and the cursed pack of cards, and saddled up their horses. Priscilla had forced herself to say good morning to Sulaiman when she saw him. He had stared at her for a long moment before nodding his head sharply, and briskly responding, "Morning."

It wasn't much, but it made the knot in Priscilla's chest loosen, just a tad.

Illnyea stared at the horse with a thoughtful expression, chewing on her lip as she ran her hand over its mane. She had mentioned that her horse, Sunshine, had been killed by the cultists, and Priscilla knew that Illnyea had a deep bond with the mare. Illnyea was a bonafide horse girl, and was one of the few characters that always went out of her way to make sure she bonded with her mount. Sunshine had meant to live for several more years, and though it won't fill the void, Priscilla had an idea.

"You can name him, 'nyea," Priscilla offered, lacing her fingers behind her back as she stepped forward. "I'm no good at naming things, so anything you come up with is fine."

Illnyea sucked in a breath, but she didn't look away from the horse as her nails brushed against its neck. She had a fragile expression on her face, sadness softening her normally animated features. She tilted her head, eyes roaming over the horse's features as if she was trying to commit them to memory.

Her hand came to rest on the horse's cheek.

"Starlight," Illnyea said. Considering the stallion was mostly black with speckled white spots stretching across the fur, Priscilla liked the name.

"You want to ride with me and Starlight first?" Priscilla asked quietly as to not spook Illnyea, who had just been lost in her own world.

Illnyea blinked a few times, taking a deep breath before she tilted her head, a smile crinkling her eyes.

"Sounds great to me!"

Before they could begin getting into the saddle, there was a flash of movement in Priscilla's peripheral vision.

She turned and saw the purple platypus waddling determinedly towards them. The creature's beady little eyes lingered on Priscilla for a moment before it deliberately looked away, locking onto Illnyea.

Illnyea knelt down, laughing as she said, "I wasn't sure you were going to make it! I wanted to say goodbye."

As Illnyea said goodbye, the platypus gave her an offended look, tilting its head in a way that conveyed, "What type of bullshit are you trying to feed me?"

"You're not taking him with?" Priscilla asked, carefully keeping her tone neutral. She had found a basket and a pillow yesterday, placing it with the rest of their stuff, and it could still be easily left behind. Priscilla knew this eldritch platypus was dangerous, hiding much behind its cute and cuddly exterior, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing when it wanted to keep Illnyea safe.

"I can bring him with?" Illnyea asked, jerking her head up, eyes wide with hopeful disbelief.

Priscilla shrugged a single shoulder as Sulaiman glared at her, probably angry she planted the idea into Illnyea's brain.

"You can't just bring a wild creature home," Sulaiman said, crossing his arms over his chest. "We don't even have a way to transport it safely home – "

Illnyea's head snapped towards the basket, mischievous understanding dawning in her eyes.

"We do!" Illnyea scrambled to hold up the basket triumphantly. "Priscilla got this ready!"

Priscilla opened her mouth as everyone turned to look at her, but closed her mouth as no good defenses came to mind.

She sighed, holding up her hands in surrender.

"I thought the little bastard coming with us was a given," Priscilla said. "It rode here on Illnyea's shoulder all the way from the cannibal's camp."

Sulaiman's stare was withering but Illnyea's smile grew impossibly wider, nodding her head emphatically. Kavil glanced between all of them with a thoughtful expression.

"What's the harm of taking it with us?" Kavil asked.

Sulaiman's head snapped towards him, mouth dropping open in betrayal.

"What?" Kavil said defensively. "I don't think Illnyea is going to let it starve, and it's obviously intelligent, I mean look at what it's doing now!"

They all looked.

The platypus was sitting on its butt, staring up at Sulaiman. The moment he looked at it, the platypus let out a plaintive croon, blinking its eyes. It clacked its beak sorrowfully, tilting its head in a way that maximized its cuteness.

Sulaiman pinched the bridge of his nose, like he was trying to fend off a stress headache from taking hold of his brain. He muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, "They're all morons."

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Sulaiman sighed, giving each one of them an unhappy but resigned look.

"I am not taking care of it," Sulaiman said firmly.

Illnyea let out a cheer as the platypus' beak chattered in excitement as it waddled over to her, examining the basket.

"I blame you," Sulaiman said as he stepped next to Priscilla, glaring at the platypus.

"Fair," Priscilla sighed. "But if we hadn't taken it with us, I think we would have earned ourselves a little platypus stalker that would have waddled its happy ass all the way to Meadowyar to torment us and then we would have to live with its eternal guilt tripping for leaving it behind."

Sulaiman gave her a bombastic side eye.

"Your mind is an odd place," he finally said, his tone restrained like he had stopped himself from saying something far more insulting.

It was clear that he was trying to be civil after the conversation yesterday, but Priscilla chuckled.

"You have no idea," Priscilla said.

While they probably could have bought the single horse left in the village off Ulric, it felt wrong to do so, the plan was to have Illnyea double up on one of their horses. They would switch every few hours so the horses didn't get too exhausted.

Even though they traveled slightly slower, it was still hard to make conversation unless you were willing to risk a fly acquainting itself with the back of your throat. Priscilla didn't enjoy being left alone with her thoughts, but her only distraction was the eldritch platypus strapped to Starlight.

Sighing, she glanced at the ornery little creature. He was curled up in the basket, its small chest rising and falling with its rhythmic breathing. He was quite cute when he wasn't being super scary, but he was also very much asleep.

She sighed and resigned herself to spending at least a little of the time on how to break the news about the cult. There were a couple ways she could approach it, but she would try to stick to the basic facts about the enemies they had already encountered without letting any of her feelings bleed through.

By the time they set up camp for the evening, Priscilla was glad to dismount her horse. She needed to do something more than staring into the distance and thinking about difficult conversations.

They gathered around the fire Sulaiman built, eating the sandwiches that Holly had pressed into their hands before they left, declaring they were the most delicious things ever. They were pretty good, the bread was the same one they had been having with dinner, and Priscilla savored the sauce that had been generously smeared – savory and sweet, like the oil they had, and it brought out the freshness of the lettuce. The little beast slept right through dinner. Illnyea had placed some lettuce in his carrier so it'd have something to eat when it woke up, though Priscilla thought it was more likely it'd go hunt for some bugs.

Priscilla began to slowly stretch out her body, trying to loosen her muscles after being tapped in one position for so long.

"So, are you two going to spar tonight?"

Startled, Priscilla turned towards Kavil, finding that he was glancing in between her and Sulaiman. Priscilla's mind stalled for a moment at the unexpected question, and she wasn't exactly sure what expression she made as she looked at Sulaiman.

Unsure black eyes met hers.

"You know how to fight, Priscilla?" Illnyea asked, leaning forward from where she had been sitting by the fire.

Priscilla forced out a chuckle to hide her nerves. "I've been studying hand-to-hand, so I'm decent at that, but I'm absolutely shit at using an actual weapon."

"Ooooh," Illnyea drew out the sound, fingers tapping against her knees in excitement. "I can't wait to see."

"You can be my fellow referee," Kavil said, patting the ground next to him for Illnyea to sit. Then Kavil turned to look at Priscilla, and something in his gaze felt insistent and demanding, though Priscilla didn't know why.

Priscilla glanced at Sulaiman again, taking in the way his gaze had dropped to the ground. She had lost a lot of her anger towards him when she woke up this morning, and didn't think she'd lash out at him. A spar might be a good way for Sulaiman if he still had frustrations towards her he needed to vent out…

"Well," Priscilla drawled, hooking her thumbs on her pants, "if the youngsters want a show, we can give them one if you're up for it." Kavil and Illnyea made offended sounds at being called youngsters, but Priscilla paid them no mind.

Sulaiman's eyes slowly trailed up, a slight crease between his brows as he studied her. Priscilla forced her body language to remain loose and open as she raised an eyebrow in question.

Slowly, Sulaiman nodded and said, "I'm up for it."

"Give me five minutes to stretch and wrap my wrists," Priscilla said, "and I'll be ready."

Priscilla had just finished wrapping her wrists and explaining to Illnyea the process when Sulaiman was standing in front of them. She opened her mouth, ready to quip that the match hadn't started yet so he should give her space, but paused as she saw what was in his hands.

It was a pair of bandages, the very same that she had lent him the last time they had sparred, and they were being held out to her.

"Will you help me?" Sulaiman asked quietly, the words just loud enough for her to hear.

Wordlessly, Priscilla nodded, reaching out to grasp Sulaiman's wrist between her hands and begin wrapping the bandages around him. His skin was always so warm beneath her fingertips and she wondered if it was a side effect of practicing fire magic.

Priscilla began going over the wrapping process to Illnyea, focusing on the explanation so she didn't think too hard about Sulaiman's skin.

"The score is currently tied one to one," Kavil said, grinning at Illnyea.

Illnyea made an appreciative hum. "So this is the tiebreaker."

"Exactly!" Kavil's eyes gleamed. "The first to three hits wins the match."

"It should be the first to five," Illnyea said. "Three means it can be over so quickly."

Priscilla rolled her eyes at the audacity as Sulaiman gave Illnyea a flat look.

"You're talking an awful lot for someone who will be lazing about," Sulaiman said dryly. "We'll be keeping it at three points, thank you very much."

"We deserve a show," Illnyea complained. But she did glance at Kavil with a clear question in her eyes.

Kavil shook his head quickly, holding up his hands. "I just started learning how to throw a punch! You'd demolish me."

Illnyea looked pleased at his admission, sitting up a little straighter.

Sulaiman and Priscilla assumed their stances. She had accepted that she'd probably lose this fight if he held even a little bit of a grudge over yesterday.

But she wasn't one to serve Sulaiman a win on a silver platter just because she felt bad. Priscilla still had tricks up her sleeves.

As soon as Kavil said go, Priscilla rushed forward, aiming a roundhouse kick at Sulaiman's thigh, making him stagger. Her leg stung from the impact but it was worth it as Sulaiman glared at her after he regained his footing.

"One," Priscilla said, taunting him just a little. She couldn't help it.

From there, the fight was fast paced and rough. Sulaiman didn't let up for a second and his eyes never shifted away from her as his fist was a blur. She dodged most of the jabs, but ended up getting hit in the forearm and shoulder, hard enough it'd leave deep bruises if Kavil didn't heal her afterward.

Despite the pain, Priscilla's smile didn't slip. Talking was hard and brought up too many emotions she'd rather not focus on but fighting? Fighting was simple.

She had fought Sulaiman enough now that Priscilla had a good grasp of his tells. She just had to wait for an opportunity to go for a big move — ending the fight even if she didn't end up succeeding. It'd be tricky, but she thought she could do it without hurting either of them.

Sulaiman's right fist came for her shoulder, providing her the perfect opportunity. Priscilla caught his wrist with her left hand, redirecting the hit up while she brought her other hand around Sulaiman's neck. She leveraged her full weight and gravity, bringing a very surprised Sulaiman down over her shoulder.

As they fell, Priscilla twisted so when their knees hit the ground, she had her arm wrapped around Sulaiman's neck while she pulled his other arm back.

"I do know how to do a proper pin, you know," Priscilla said softly, then, because she couldn't resist, added, "This ought to count as two hits, don'tcha think?"

Sulaiman turned his head to glare defiantly at her. She responded by gently tugging at his arm to remind him and he sighed.

"I yield," Sulaiman said, sounding bitter.

"Great decision," Priscilla said as she released him, patting him on the shoulder.

"That was so cool!" Illnyea exclaimed, hurrying over with an excited smile. "You'll have to show me the book you learned that from."

Priscilla shrugged casually, about to come up with a deflection to change the subject when Sulaiman spoke.

"I demand a rematch," Sulaiman said stubbornly, rubbing his wrist.

"You're such a needy student," Priscilla said, rolling her eyes as she crossed her arms. "Do you really want to be beaten up again?"

There was a dark glint of humor in Sulaiman's eyes as he tutted.

"I never said I wanted to fight you," Sulaiman said, shaking his head. "You're always so focused on violence."

Priscilla narrowed her eyes, having a bad feeling about what his true suggestion was.

"Let's play a round of Drake's Hoard."

Priscilla groaned as Kavil said, "That's a great idea!"

They played two rounds of Drake's Hoard after Kavil healed up their bruises and Priscilla was utterly thrashed once more. The most of her suit she could gather was three before Sulaiman swooped in and stole them.

Priscilla got fed up with the game and proposed a bastardized version of old maid by taking out a card of each suit to make them even and then removing a random card instead of having a joker, because surely, surely she couldn't keep up her losing streak in a game of pure chance and luck where Sulaiman couldn't screw her over. She made sure to plant herself between Illnyea and Kavil so Sulaiman couldn't steal her luck.

But when all the cards were paired, Priscilla was the only one left with a pixie smiling mockingly at her and she sighed, flopping backwards on the grass in defeat. Kavil and Illnyea were laughing at her and Sulaiman was radiating an aura so smug it nearly gave Priscilla a headache. She wished they had just fought again because then there would be a reason why she had lost.

Even going to sleep didn't bring Priscilla relief from the laughter, as when she laid down, Asha whispered, "Master, why is your luck so atrocious?"

Priscilla groaned, glaring at her traitorous artifact.

"I blame the god of gambling," Priscilla grumbled. "The bastard must have it out for me."

Asha's bright amusement was a nice feeling to fall asleep to, but Priscilla wished it hadn't come at her expense.

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