"Hamond." Edeline's voice, gentle yet questioning, came from behind him.

  He'd expected this to come soon after the two of them had returned to the room they were staying in. Nela and Jylania had gone to the tavern where they'd been working, and Myronel had chosen to follow them. The Witch of Wrath and Ugotlas had both departed to go somewhere on their own respectively.

  All of this left Hamond and Edeline with time to talk. Time to think. Time to face what he'd just said at the meeting.

  The realization he'd made last night was at the heart of the matter. Hamond had lain there shaken and unable to sleep, staring up into the dark of the night and seeing all too clearly what needed to be done. If anything, he wished he had understood it sooner, before he'd let fear and worry for Edeline consume him.

  Not that he didn't still feel that fear.

  "Hamond," Edeline repeated.

  "You want to know why I told them about the Sluice," Hamond said, turning to face her.

  "I was going to ask if you were feeling alright, but I won't deny I was curious about that matter."

  Hamond inwardly winced, wanting to take back those words. "I'm sorry. The past two days haven't gone the way I would have hoped."

  "I believe that is true for all of us," Edeline replied.

  A moment of long silence followed. What they were both thinking was obvious. Even if the Witch of Wrath held to the truce, it would only last so long as Lasfont was in danger. Once the situation with the Sluice was resolved, it was the safest bet that they would have to battle yet again. The question lingered: would they be ready?

  "Well?" Edeline asked.

  Right, she was still expecting his explanation. "Something came to me last night," Hamond began, pacing over to the window. "We had assumed the rest of the Elemental Hex to be in a similar state to the Stormsage. Trapped, isolated, wanting nothing else but to be free."

  "I had not given the matter much thought. Although that would have been my conclusion." Edeline frowned, reaching over and scratching at some itch on her arm. "I cannot see how someone could endure such an imprisonment over so many years without ending up...broken."

  "I won't say I understand myself," Hamond told her, "Regardless, something prompted her to cast that spell. And what's more...the same could happen with the other members of the Elemental Hex."

  "Spells that could threaten entire towns?"

  "Or worse still." The amount of energy the Stormsage had released when she was freed...and yet, Hamond had not put the pieces together. The Elemental Hex could use that energy to empower their spells, creating magic beyond anything anyone could accomplish. If they were not stopped, the devastation the remaining ones could cause would be beyond description.

  "I guess we've found our answer," Edeline said quietly, "We cannot - I cannot - abandon so many to face these spells with no defense. Not with no warning in advance, forced into one day...everyone and everything being swept away in a single moment."

  "I know. And yet..." This was the hardest part for Hamond. "I...I can't help but want to leave it all behind. To keep you safe. The past two months, that fear has lurked, every time I tried to think about it. Even though...it wasn't what I wanted. What either of us wanted. I don't know when it started, but-"

  Darting away from the window, Edeline threw herself at Hamond and kissed him.

  Lips pressed upon lips. Warmth added to warmth. Breath shared between them.

  The world melted away.

  While they'd had a few quiet intimate moments together as they had traveled north, this was nothing like those. Hamond knew this was far more primal, far more urgent. There was a need for Edeline to remind him of what she meant to him, and just as much a need to remind herself of what he meant to her. Something that could never be conveyed with mere words.

  Finally, they stepped apart, the reality of their situation once more settling in around them. "I know you want to keep me safe. But there is something else that we both want. We both seek to find ways to help people with our thaumaturgy, wherever we go."

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  "Edeline," Hamond murmured.

  "It's not fair for you, is it?" Edeline continued, "I spent much of my life with people trying to keep me safe for years, all because of who my mother was, with me knowing nothing of it. And when I find someone who cares enough to try to protect me, and not some imaginary princess they see in me, I feel like I should not need that protection."

  "Perhaps not," Hamond said, "But I made this choice back then to stand by you regardless. Even if I let my terror of the Witch of Wrath blind me these past few hexdays."

  "Blinding both of us," Edeline corrected him. "On the way here, I even thought about what I would say if I agreed we should press forward into Remuat. I hated having to justify abandoning the Elemental Hex to their fate, but if that is what it took...I was willing to do it."

  "You...we would have been miserable."

  "I would have been with you."

  Hamond had no answer for that.

  "A true pair of fools, are we not?" Edeline laughed, with a hint of bitterness. "Willing to give up so much for each other, and yet struggling to tell each other that we would."

  "I wasn't giving up that much," Hamond told her, "I was chasing an illusion. I believed - I wanted to believe - that Remuat had to be a better land, because it had no Spellkings and no war. Even though I knew nothing about it."

  "You wanted a home," Edeline said with a nod.

  "I did." With you, the unspoken words hung in the air between them.

  "We will have it in time." Reaching up to wrap her arms around him, Edeline pressed against Hamond. "Besides, this might be another reason to help free the Elemental Hex."

  "What do you mean?" Hamond asked.

  "I have said before I would not be here without the Stormsage's spells. You, in turn, might not be here if it were not for the Zephyr's spells."

  "I'm...not sure that's something to take pride in." After all, Hamond had learned those directly from the Spellking. They obviously played a role in the Spellking's rise to power. He appreciated Edeline's effort, but this wasn't a great source of cheer.

  "I'm sorry," Edeline quickly said, "Normally...you know me. I would normally look to a poem for inspiration, but there's none that quite describe...us."

  No doubt Edeline knew plenty of poems about love, but it was a safe bet few could come close to capturing what had happened to the two of them. "Maybe you should write your own."

  "Maybe I should." Edeline smiled, a warm look that lifted Hamond's spirits. "Though I doubt Myronel would approve of me bringing along the needed paper and ink."

  "Could always claim it was spare food for you," Hamond remarked. Edeline's appetite was something they were all used to at this point. He had wondered more than once if she needed that much to support her natural talent at thaumaturgy. The problem with that theory was that Hamond could not recall the Spellking ever eating all that much at once.

  "That excuse would only last a hexday at most." Edeline chuckled. "And Nela would be making jokes about it for days, if not months."

  "We can't have that," Hamond conceded, smiling himself.

  "It will have to wait until after our journey is done," Edeline declared, before her expression softened. "Although...no, it could not be some other poet. With all that we have witnessed, how could someone who did not see it with their own eyes write about it?"

  "I would've thought some of the poems were the result of that," Hamond said, "People envisioning things far removed from when and where they lived."

  "They were not writing about spells and battles like the ones we have seen," Edeline countered, "That would take a true artisan, one far beyond any I have read."

  "I suppose that would make you stand among the greatest of poets then."

  "I would hope not," Edeline said, before realizing. "Oh. You know I didn't mean it like that. I am hardly going to hold myself above anyone else."

  "If not in poetry, then in thaumaturgy." Hamond met Edeline's gaze with a steady look. "You know as well as I do how much potential you have. You asked me to have faith in it, remember?"

  "Of course you would use my own words against me." Edeline feigned a frown, which vanished as quickly as it appeared. "With that talent, perhaps you should be the poet instead."

  "I would rather not," Hamond said. He was no stranger to taking a quill in hand, but he had left most of that behind when he left the Spellking's court. And what he had written was dry reports on basic theories of spellcraft. It was as far removed from the colorful and vivid language of poetry as one could get.

  "Well, if I am to do it, I will count on you to remind me of the finer details. There is a chance I will forget some of our journey."

  "I don't know if I should hope it to be more memorable than that or not," Hamond said. For the all the right reasons, of course. They didn't need more battles like the one against the Witch of Wrath.

  No, he needed to stop going back to that.

  Aether, it was so hard.

  Edeline saw it, too. "What's wrong?"

  "I'm still worrying too much," Hamond admitted.

  "We do have time to spare," Edeline noted, "Perhaps you could teach me the rules of that card game you like to play."

  Hamond was slightly surprised at first. Edeline had never shown any interest before...oh. She was trying to distract him. A blatant attempt, yes, but Hamond was grateful for her being there all the more for it. It was something that he could try to focus on, instead of...that.

  "Very well," he said, gesturing for Edeline to sit. "Let me get my cards."

  The time traveling meant his set of cards had sunken to the bottom of his bag, so it took some effort to shift things aside for Hamond to pull them out. Loosely bound by a thin cord, they looked even more tattered than before. He might have to think about getting a new set.

  "Alright, here's how it works." Hamond took a seat near Edeline. "The game is called conquest, and the goal of the game is to..."

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