Lucidity

Chapter Sixteen: Analytical Grieving

"Come on, cheer up, Anwyn! They made us some really nice food!"

The air had been extremely tense ever since the previous day's events, especially after Caitlyn had disappeared. Hjalmar had immediately suspected Oburon and the latter hadn't denied it. In fact, he'd confessed.

"She said she had some urgent business to attend to that might reveal some crucial information. I accepted it," Oburon had said, yet Hjalmar still hadn't been satisfied.

"Come on, Hjaljaljal, she knows what she's doing," Kosa had attempted to reassure him. The soldier frowned. "And what if she dies too, hm? What then? And Yaz gets stabbed by raiders on the way back or maybe Hazhil will just make them all ill! Superb! I'm sure then we'll be able to save Lypera from this mess we're in."

"Anger, stage two of grief," Kosa had mumbled.

"You're way too happy as it is. Let me guess, you were jealous because Dale was stealing your friend and he was better than you and you're just here because this is fun!", Hjalmar had ranted, having raised his voice drastically. Kosa had remained still, her face full of emotions that she hadn't been ready to communicate, or rather, emotions she hadn't wanted to risk Anwyn hearing about. Anwyn needed a supportive friend, Kosa's own mourning process could wait.

Now she sat next to her friend, smiling, though her eyes reflected her breaking heart. Anwyn remained empty, a mere shell of the girl that had once been. She'd even managed to get Nokia upset. The dog was lying on the floor and just staring into space without any sign of happiness. How was Kosa the only one who seemed upset by Anwyn's emotional state, or rather, emotionless state? The others must have sacrificed their hearts for muscles or something.

Eventually, Kosa gave up. She wasn't a miracle worker. She couldn't fix Anwyn, so she might as well leave her alone in the hope that that helped. "How are you two faring?"

Hjalmar and Oburon had seated themselves further away. The former had pointedly been ignoring the latter, which hadn't bothered Oburon in the least. In fact, the lanky male was rather preoccupied with a book.

"These mages have been no help whatsoever! We're still no closer to knowing anything and for all we know, Lypera's in more and more danger!"

"Relax!", Kosa said to Hjalmar, though her usual energy was missing, "There'll be something."

"That's what I'm looking for. This here is Mentirix's journal. So far he's just written notes but there was a story about his mentor that was... Interesting," said Oburon, flicking back a couple of pages. Kosa and Hjalmar both leaned over to read, Hjalmar then let out a frustrated sound and Kosa blushed. "I can't read that."

"I know. It's giving me a killer headache. Anyway, supposedly his mentor, Imperon, trained him in some unusual practices. He wrote here about an incident in which he was taught to try and give a faler permanent telekinesis abilities."

"Urgh, I hate falers," moaned Kosa, "They're such ugly birds."

"That's beside the point. I can't believe you're so happy after every-"

"No fighting infront of Anwyn!", snapped Kosa, crossing her arms. She wasn't going to let Hjalmar upset her more.

"Everybody, calm down. I know it's hard, I know he should still be alive, but remember what Dale said. Lypera's based around balance. Every power must be balanced out with weaknesses or service or something. One faler with an unnatural power could destroy balance," said Oburon with an intense stare.

Hjalmar groaned, "It's just a bird. A bird is not going to destroy Lypera!"

"Not a bird," Oburon sighed, missing how in sync Caitlyn had been with his logic. They'd often leapt to similar conclusions, though Caitlyn tended to be ruder about it, insulting others in the process.