"Why aren't we staying to supper?" Kyoka asked, once they had gone farther from the house, "It would be a hot meal."
"Look how many people are still living there. They can't afford to feed two more," Denki said, "That's why I left the village, for goodness sake. Remember? I told you they wouldn't notice if I was gone."
"I don't know how things like this are supposed to go," Kyoka allowed, "but in the tribe we act pleased to see people after they come back from a mission, and we give them a feast.... Is that not the way here?"
"Nope, it's more like, 'oh, you're home, huh?'" Denki said, a bit dejected, "It's not really a big deal, though. Some families just aren't tight knit like that. And when it's that big, what do you expect? You know? Not everyone can get coddled. I'm fine with it. I like being a bard. And I can visit any time I want."
He didn't seem as fine with it as he said, but Kyoka didn't pry into it further. Instead she focused on the problem at hand-- the blight.
Sure enough, they found it. It was as ugly as ever.
Denki and Kyoka stared at the blighted area and where they could see signs of the spell restraining it. Kyoka had gotten used to seeing this on the quest, and it didn't faze her much, but Denki turned pale. "What?" she said, "We've seen blight before."
"Never this close to my home town," Denki said.
Kyoka pictured it coming close to her tribe and started to understand what he meant. "I see."
"This is not good," Denki said, "Is there anyone we know who could get rid of this?"
"It's small," Kyoka said, "just a few farms affected. I think Momo could eradicate it."
"She can do that?" Denki said.
"Of course. The blight is dark magic. You saw how she used the staff against that Dark Mage," Kyoka said, "but she couldn't reverse a lot on her own without the tribe backing her up. But this is not much. She probably could handle this."
"Right, as long as it doesn't get any bigger," Denki said, sounding more hopeful, "We just need to hurry."
"But, Denki..." Kyoka didn't like to say it, but she was a blunt person, "Momo is pretty far away, and we could spend weeks looking for her and not find her. Even if we left right now."
"What are you saying?" Denki frowned. "That we shouldn't try to do something?"
"No no, but maybe there's a better way," Kyoka said, "The tribe itself. Collectively, they might have the power to do it also. It's not as good as a paladin, but it's faster."
"Aren't you forgetting something, Kyoka?" Denki said a bit peevishly, "Your tribe hates men! That's 50% of this village! They aren't going to come help us, not for a small blight like this."
That was a possibility.
"We could ask," Kyoka said.
Denki scowled and started walking away. She followed uncertainly.
"It's just easier for you to go home than to patch things up with Princess Momo," Denki finally said, bitterly.
Kyoka frowned. "That's not true!"
"Yes, it is," Denki said, "You're running away from it, just admit it. You want to go home, and I get it, but just... don't pretend like that's just better for both of us. It's better for you."
"Uh--" Kyoka hesitated. No one had ever made such an accusation to her. She wasn't sure what to say.
"Don't worry, you can go home first. It's not that far from here," Denki went on, sounding a bit defeated, "I'll just look for Momo afterward. I might as well. I've never been that far West before. It'll be a good chance to gather more stories."
