48. Havald

Sitting down, the group looked at each other and Shi spoke up first. "I propose that we wait for Rys to wake up before we decide anything." Castus thought about it and it made the most sense. The five of them were honestly the closest thing he had to friends at this point and moving forward would definitely need to consider them in what he should do.

The group agreed and the old couple returned to the house. Mary was ecstatic that Shi was awake. "Oh, I'm so glad you woke up dear. Your friends were so worried." As Mary doddled over the group, Havald went to Rys and took a look over the missing leg and put a hand on his forehead. He nodded to Mary. Mary turned excitedly. "Havald says that your friend should make a good recovery and should wake up eventually." This got quite the cheer out of the group. Cerone bowed to Havald then turned to Mary. "Mary, thank you for taking us in, we do not want to be a burnden for you and your husband though. Please tell us what we can do to help out while we wait on our friend to recover."

This caused a chuckle out of Mary and she turned to Havald, speaking in Morden. Havald responded and Mary turned back to the group. "Well, if your so inclined to help us, I need help weeding and Havald could use some help from one of you with repairing some of the structures on the farm." Havald put a hand on Castus' shoulder, claiming him as his helper and the girls went with Mary. The rest of the day was spent laboriously nailing wooden planks to side of a barn to repair some weathered holes as well as fixing fence posts. They finished the day off with a wonderful potato soup that Mary made. Everyone went to sleep after a good day of work and slept.

The next day Rys woke up. While he was quite sad about the missing leg, he was ecstatic to be free and also elated to have escaped the umbral for only the cost of his right leg. Everyone caught him up to speed and Alyssa stayed behind to help him adjust while everyone else went out to help the old couple again. Later that night they reconvened to discuss their future plans.

Sitting on the floor the group of kids looked to be right in their environment. Shi started the conversation off. "So what does everyone want to do? Darius' last message makes me think we should definitely get out of Morden and find somewhere where we won't be hunted."

Most everyone in the group nodded in agreement except for Castus. "I need to make sure my sisters that had left for academy are alright before I can agree to leave. I definitely want to bring them with me if possible. I know I'm technically younger here, but I still feel like I should try to protect them if I can."

Cerone frowned. "Isn't that exactly what the church would expect you to do? I feel like it would be a trap."

"Even if I can't be directly involved with them for now, I need to at least make sure they are alright." Castus sighed. "I think you four should start looking for a way out of Morden for now and I will catch up with everyone once I know which direction you're headed."

The group was hesitant to let Castus leave on his own. "I don't think we can change your mind but someone should definitely go with you." Alyssa prompted. Cerone nodded in agreement. Shi looked over to Cerone and back to Castus.

"Shi should go with you. She is the most mobile and the best for disguise. This would give you the best chance of success." Cerone spoke. Her eyes unconsciously darted to Shi and back to Castus.

At first Castus was going to refuse, but he stopped himself. If this was a trap Shi would definitely be a valuable asset. He nodded wordlessly in agreement, which made Shi very happy. Rys raised a hand then. "I want to get stronger. After my time in the umbral, I've realized that my hesitation to violence and overall weakness isn't going to get me far. I don't want to be left behind."

"Don't worry, I think we all agree that we want to get stronger Rys. I especially. When I was enslaved, I was only a small toddler so I couldn't do anything. I refuse to be helpless again. I also want to get strong enough to go to those ruins Darius spoke about. If he deemed it important enough to waste his last breaths on, it has to be extremely important." Cerone gritted her teeth and balled her hand into a fist. She had been the earliest of everyone to get enslaved and those many years clearly had an impact.

"I would also like to get stronger. I haven't been able to talk about it, but while I blacked out from the umbral, it took something from me. I used to be level thirty two, but now I'm down to twelve. I want to get stronger again so that I can stay with everyone." Shi spoke up.

"I think everyone is in agreement. We will ask Mary and Havald about the layout of the Morden kingdom, then plot a course away from here. Is there anything else anyone wants to do." Alyssa spoke.

"My parents spoke about something before they found out I was a transplant. They used to have legends about the burrow elves ancestors being incredibly powerful entities and there was a way to restore that power through evolution under certain circumstances. I would like to find some more burrow elf coves and learn more about that." Rys spoke up.

Alyssa nodded and then spoke up herself. "I personally would like to learn more about magic. While I know some basic stuff from you guys, the church never really let me learn much." The group nodded in agreement.

"I agree Alyssa, but I think we should focus on escaping Morden and Ryden first. I think it would be best to work on getting stronger and finding a way out first. After that we can convene again and draw up more plans. If we get too far ahead of ourselves it will get difficult to keep a clear goal in mind." Cerone spoke up. With that everyone agreed on the steps forward for now. There were two goals, move locations and get stronger. Three of the group would stay behind and search for a route out and Castus and Shi would return to the Ryden kingdom to find his sisters.

Everyone went to bed after the meeting. Castus laid awake in his bed. He had remembered the dream from so many months ago. The fire, and that metal box with his father's monocle. He would have to make a pit stop in the Ryden kingdom to look for that. The weight of everything that had happened and the number of times he had nearly died played out in his mind. Castus found it difficult to sleep. Standing up he walked out of the room and onto the front porch. He sad down on the bench and stared up into the night sky.

"It's a quiet night no?" A voice spoke up from the corner of the porch. Castus stood and faced the image of Havald seated on a bench, drinking from a ceramic cup. "Don't act all surprised, unless you don't speak English?" Havald spoke in clear perfect English.

Castus weighed his options. Should he reveal himself or pretend he still didn't understand Havald. Castus gulped and decided to pretend he didn't understand. "I'm sorry sir, I don't understand you." He spoke back in Ryden.

"Listen, I know your transplants. The sigil on that boy's body was something I had never seen before. A blessing I hadn't heard about and unlike what Mary likes to pretend I used to do; I was a damn good doctor before my injuries crippled my mana. I also saw sigil markings on that girlish thing as well. You need to be better about hiding it. So, stop pretending and take a seat next to me." Havald gave Castus an annoyed look. Surprised by Havald's knowledge he took a seat next to him.

"I came to Echon oh, sixty years ago I think. I managed to hide myself pretty well, back then the fear of transplants was much worse you know." He took a sip from his cup. "Anyway I never did anything or made much of myself, but I used to run a very reputable clinic in the capital of Morden. For a while I did well. Too well I would say. The government set me up and found out I was a transplant. Then they hunted me. After that I ran out here to the border and found Mary. I've decided I don't want some grand adventure and I sure as shit won't pretend, I don't want to risk my life. This peaceful existence has been bliss to me. Now I don't mind helping you five out and healing your friends up, but when you leave tell no one of this place. I don't want to many people poking around here. We keep the big organizations out by staying small and keeping to ourselves. I want to keep it that way. Understand?" Havald narrated.

Castus nodded his head in agreement. "Does Mary know your a transplant?" Castus asked.

"No, I won't involve her with the repercussions of that." Havald spoke.

"Why stay here, why not leave and make a new life somewhere else?" Castus asked.

Havald chuckled some. "Mary wanted to stay here. She likes the woods and the nature. To be honest I never had much luck with love in my past life, but Mary was my morning sun. I won't leave if she won't."

Castus looked at Havald. He could understand love. He had had a few girlfriends in past lives, but he had never had real love. "Don't you want to understand why we got dropped here though and what about learning magic and all that?" Castus pushed.

Havald stopped drinking. "That corporation did me a favor. If they were using me for some grand goal I could care less. I'm contempt with my situation and I'll live out the rest of my days here with Mary. When I was in the city, I heard whispers that a lot of transplants end up like me. They just lay low and build a decent life for themselves. There can only be one hero you know." Havald gave Castus a raised eyebrow. "Anyway, it's late and I'm going to sleep. Remember your promise." Havald stood and went inside.