The next day, Kavil paced himself better as he treated the remaining injuries amongst the survivors so that he didn't spend half the day passed out atop a cheesy throne. When he wasn't checking up on people, Kavil spent the rest of his time sticking to Priscilla's side like glue. He had even found himself a little pad of paper from somewhere to dutifully take notes when Lucilla was speaking and Priscilla found it rather endearing how much effort he was putting into learning.

Sulaiman listened in once he learned of Priscilla's deal, but he didn't add much to the conversation besides an occasional thoughtful hum. He didn't seem uncomfortable around Lucilla, which was something that Priscilla kept an eye out for, and Lucilla didn't seem to treat Sulaiman any differently. Though Lucilla sometimes faltered when explaining a noble house's history when it circled back towards the rebellion, Sulaiman didn't show any outward reaction to the information.

The next night, before Illnyea went to learn from Arnold, Priscilla and her friends sat far enough away from the others that they had a modicum of privacy to go over a debrief of everything about the cult. Perry snoozed in Illnyea's lap, nearly melting under her gentle scratching.

There wasn't much to share about when Priscilla was nearly brainwashed via Asha that hadn't already been revealed (except, of course, the true nature of Asha, but that wasn't her secret to share).

They started with the first proper encounter, which was the attack on the village. Sulaiman and Kavil first shared their experiences to get a rough timeline of the night, and the confrontation with the doppelganger Kopica'a.

"You said that the bandit captain accused you of being sent by a 'duke,' to hunt him down, Priscilla," Sulaiman said, pencil lead hovering above the pad of paper he had found. "Do you remember any other pertinent information that may have slipped during that conversation?"

Priscilla ran a tongue over her teeth, testing the words within her mind. No blood coated her tongue, so she decided to take a risk.

"Well," Priscilla said carefully, "he did insult the gods several times, calling them pathetic."

Kavil's brows furrowed. "Do you think that's just his opinion or one that's shared by the rest of the cult?"

"It's probably safe to assume it's a shared distaste," Sualiman said, scribbling down onto the pad. "Go on."

"Before I killed him," Priscilla said, "Azurin said something about how his king 'doesn't let his warriors go unavenged,' and that the best mercenaries on the continent will hunt me down."

"Mercenaries?" Illnyea repeated, now joining Sulaiman and Kavil in frowning at Priscilla. "Are you certain he said that? I thought he was a bandit."

"I'm sure," Priscilla said.

Illnyea and Sulaiman shared a glance.

"That…" Sulaiman said slowly, tapping the butt of his pencil against the page as he pursed his lips.

"Do you think King Rhys has a private army of mercenaries and sent them off to annoy a duke?" Kavil asked, though judging by his tone, he barely believed in that theory himself.

Illnyea was shaking her head before Kavil was even finished speaking.

"The mercenary guild doesn't allow that sort of thing even if the pay is good," Illnyea said, "because it keeps their assets locked into one place for too long. And besides, the best mercenaries on the continent aren't going to be content to sit around doing nothing — they're men and women of action."

"Well, do you know who those people would be?" Kavil asked.

Illnyea opened her mouth and closed it with a sigh. "No. I'm not really close to any mercenaries, so all I know is mostly secondhand."

Sulaiman suddenly looked up, his black eyes sharp and calculating.

"Priscilla, you spoke with a mercenary before we entered the Emerald Forest with Kavil," Sulaiman said. "She was interested in the crossbow we took from Azurin."

Priscilla nodded, not at all surprised that Sulaiman had been the one to put the puzzle pieces together. She didn't want to direct this conversation, afraid of pushing them too far in an attempt to get them on the right path, and had decided to only speak when asked a question.

"Wait, I don't remember this," Kavil said, cocking his head.

"You stuck your nose in the herb pouch almost immediately," Sulaiman said and Kavil let out a soft noise of understanding.

"The merc's name was Finnley," Priscilla said, "tall with short hair and a scar across her mouth that had her looking like she was always snarling. The troop she was with had been stationed in Barrowton, I think to protect it from monsters. She first remarked on the crossbow being interesting, and given where we had gotten it, I didn't trust her intentions. I lied and said we got it from a bargain bin in Grazda."

Illnyea's eyebrows raised as Kavil snorted, giving Priscilla a look like he could barely believe that worked.

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"I know, I know," Priscilla acknowledged, "not a great lie, but I was able to throw her off as we kept talking. When asked about why we were headed through the forest, I said I was going to become a No-Name if we didn't travel through the forest day, and she became very distracted."

"Did it seem like she knew what was happening with the toads?" Sulaiman asked.

"I don't know," Priscilla said, trying to recall Finnley's exact expression. "I don't think so? We didn't really talk much about the forest after that because I think she really pitied my supposed situation, going so far as to offer me a spot in her mercenary troop, the Timeless Commanders, if I wanted it."

"Why do bad guys keep trying to recruit you?" Kavil asked, his tone half-joking, half-serious. "Between her and the wolf guy, it seems like you're catnip to those folks."

"What can I say?" Priscilla said with a casual shrug. "I'm simply too charming."

Sulaiman wrote Finnley's name down along with the name of the troop under a column he labeled "speculative connections."

"Anything else?" he asked.

"I told her that my name was Penny, short of Penelope, and then she gave me the sachet of herbs."

"I think I still have it with my things," Kavil said, "but I don't remember exactly where I put it. I didn't see anything suspicious inside it when I first glanced through it, but I can look again."

"There were also mercenaries inside the Emerald Forest," Sulaiman said after jotting that down, "but from what I could remember, they didn't seem to be related to the toad attacks. Besides what we now know to be a summoning stone, there weren't any other clues left after the toads died."

"It did change temperatures when it was touched," Kavil pointed out. "I thought it was burning hot, Priscilla thought it was warm, and you thought it was cool."

"I can try to touch it," Illnyea said, looking interested, "just to see what happens."

Priscilla had to physically bite her tongue to keep from dismissing the idea out of hand. The only reason she wanted to deny it was because she wanted Illnyea to stay far away from the cult's influence, but it was a good idea. Having more information would be best.

She still hadn't shared the diary that was filled with pages of the same script with the others because there was no way to explain it. If she said she didn't remember writing it, it may make them concerned about just how many holes there were after the cult wiped her memories and maybe lead to them being suspicious of both her and Asha.

Sulaiman narrowed his eyes at Illnyea. "You must be careful — do not keep touching it if it hurts."

"Yes, dad," Illnyea said sincerely, making Sulaiman scowl.

But he still retrieved the stone from his pack and unwrapped it from the cloth. It had surprisingly gone unscathed during the battle with The Starving One, the strange looping lettering still just as weird and indecipherable.

Illnyea squinted at it for a long moment, tilting her head as she took it in.

"Do you recognize the lettering?" Kavil asked. "Like maybe from all your rune research?"

Illnyea slowly shook her head. "I don't, it just… doesn't looking at it make you guys feel weird?"

"What type of weird?" Priscilla asked, trying to keep her hackles from rising. She suddenly wondered if the language had been something related to the Thornewoods or maybe Sunscarre instead of the cult.

"Like when you try to read something while you're in a dream," Illnyea said, "where it's almost familiar but completely wrong as well."

"I don't know if you should touch it," Sulaiman said, starting to pull it away.

Illnyea grabbed Sulaiman's arm, pulling him to a halt as she reached out and put a finger on the surface despite his complaints. She blinked with wide eyes several times, tilting her head before suddenly snatching her hand back. Perry lifted his head, blinking away sleep as he now stared at the stone as well.

"Did it hurt you?" Priscilla asked, leaning forward with concern.

"No, I think," Illnyea said, though she rubbed her fingertip. "It was warm at first, like a mug of tea, and then it got really hot all of sudden, like the tea had spilled over the sides."

Sulaiman glared at the object, placing an accusatory fingertip along its surface, before pulling back with a dissatisfied expression. "It still feels cold to me," he said.

"What does this mean?" Kavil asked, glancing between them.

"I don't know," Priscilla said truthfully. "But there's certainly something fucky going on with it. The cannibal said that it was made by Raven, as it was her 'masterpiece.'"

Illnyea frowned at the stone as Sulaiman wrapped it back in cloth.

"We should show it to Arnold," Illnyea finally said as she began to pet Perry again, though the platypus now looked too keyed up to sleep. "He might know how it was constructed."

"How do we explain where we got it?" Priscilla asked, her fingers tapping against her thighs as she tried to hide how reluctant she was to tell others about the cult. The information would put Arnold in danger just by knowing it.

"We tell him the truth," Illnyea said with a half-shrug. "I can do it by myself so he doesn't ask you questions you can't answer, Priscilla. We've already shown him the evil gems, it can't hurt to show him this too."

Sulaiman tapped the pad with the pencil again, face pensive. "It's not a bad idea, however, we may want to postpone that until we arrive in the capital. Just to ensure that when Arnold inevitably swears up a storm, that you do not have an audience. I can practically feel everyone's staring at us at the moment."

Illnyea winced, glancing over her shoulder and giving a wave as people quickly looked away. "Sounds like a plan. I'll let you guys know what he says if he doesn't want to reexplain himself."

"Can anyone remember anything else regarding our time in the fens?" Sulaiman asked. "It's clear that the operation was a trial run, not meant to sustain itself long term."

They went over what happened, the scarce information they had been able to glean before everything went to shit, but nothing else popped up.

"So to summarize," Sulaiman said, "the monster attacks around the country were likely orchestrated by the cult and is just the first part of a larger plan we do not understand yet. The cult has some sort of ties to mercenaries, though it's unclear exactly how, and that it was likely the 'bandits' who attacked Kavil's home were actually mercenaries. Because we did not manage to capture the doppelganger who stole Frean's identity, you two must be careful as you search for information as we don't know where they fled to."

"If we do meet Kopica'a," Kavil said, glancing at Priscilla with a trace of dark amusement, "I'd be surprised if they didn't try to maul Priscilla outright after the indignity she made them suffer."

"As long as they don't turn into a troll again," Priscilla said, full of bravado, "I can beat them. This time, I won't bother questioning them and just fuck them up."

Kavil's smile implied he'd like to see her do just that, and he'd enjoy every second of it.

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