35. Campaign 4- Party Decisions

"I have used this spell to keep back mosquiwasps, which will fly through fire in order to sting and suck the blood of rock trolls." Ernesto looked at his brother who was standing very still, several dozen bees happily crawling along his face. He, meanwhile, was being avoided like the plague. "They must be possessed."

"To only come after me?" Agustin said with a weak smile.

"Maybe they just REALLY like you," he said, shaking his head before going to the fogger. It wasn't best to blow it on his brother but it was better than reducing his face to a swollen mess, even if he had thought ahead and grabbed some of Julieta's cooking AND a few potions Dryft always had at the ready in his puch. "This must wreck havoc with the hives."

"What do you mean?" Agustin asked as he slowly raised his arms. Thanks to the dragonhide gloves his hands were safe but that had just meant that the bees had all migrated to his head.

"You losing a lot of bees," Ernesto told his brother as he began to carefully pump the smoke onto Agustin, the bees lazily letting go and drifting down before flying to the hive. Some though strangely enough made a valiant effort to fly back to Agustin. "I'm surprised the family doesn't have someone else care for them."

"Well, we lose a few bees but that's just normal."

Ernesto frowned at that. "But... when they sting you."

"What do you mean?"

"Honeybees... when they sting they have to rip their stinger out and that kills them. With how often you say you are stung you must go through an entire colony in a month."

"I've never seen any honeybees die after they sting me."

"...really?"

Agustin nodded. "Really! They-OW!" The nod caused a bee near his left ear to sting him and within moments the lobe began to swell. "See?" Agustin said with a grimace. Sure enough the honeybee buzzed back to the hive, looking no worse for wear.

"That... doesn't make any sense," Ernesto said. "I've seen nearly every type of honey bee and they all die if they sting someone. Doesn't matter the size or the variety... they all die. In fact the only ones that don't are kept by Swarmkeepers and they aren't true honeybees."

"Swarmkeepers?" Agustin said, mildly amused even as Ernesto got the last of the bees off of him.

"Rangers that are very gifted in magic will sometimes find nature spirits that take the form of insects. I've seen dark ones bond with wasps or locust, for example. They aren't actual insects but-"

He didn't get to finish as he suddenly hear a muffled sound and turned in time to see Felix walking up to them, Isabella cradled in his arms, her hair covering her face. At once Agustin rushed towards them, lifting his daughter up into his arms even though she was far too big to be held like a child. Still, his brother managed to do just that, whispering softly to her before walking over to a bench to sit down upon.

"What happened?" Ernesto asked Felix softly, setting down the fogger.

"Her and Mirabel had a fight," Felix whispered. "It... was intense."

"How bad?" he pressed, concerned for both of his nieces. He knew that while Mirabel was a loving girl who tried to have the best outlook when it came to the world she still had a temper on her and sometimes she couldn't help but unleash it. if it was against a foe that usually meant that the party had to pull her back before she hurt herself as much as she hurt them. If it was someone that was a potential ally she would rant and rave and cause pain... and then slip into self-incrimination and despair.

As for Isabella... well, he and the others had talked and Ernesto had been trying to think of a way to convince Agustin and Julieta to allow him to take her to one of the major capitals to see a mind healer. The stress the young woman put herself through... she was cracking and all of them worried just what would happen when the facade shattered. She might be rendered an emotional wreck who was reduced to sobs... or she might abandon all grasps on sanity and dive into madness.

'And with her powers,' he thought to himself. Ernesto had known plenty of dark sorceresses and warlords who had started as good people that had been pushed just a touch too far. Despite the bullshit claims about being born under an ill star no child was born evil. Every villain he had fought, be they just a crooked inn keep who stole the nails out of horseshoes up to demented madmen that turned themselves into other world lichlords, could have been good. Just as he could have been a villain, if things had gone a bit differently. Isabella could be a loving keeper of nature... or a spiteful witch who surrounded castles in thorns.

It all depended on those trusted to protect her and guide her.

'Damn you Alma Madrigal,' Ernesto thought to himself.

"This can't continue on," Felix whispered softly. "We can't keep letting the children get hurt like this. All this pressure, all this need to live up to a certain set of expectations..." He smacked a meaty fist into his palm. "Mirabel and Bruno... they've already made my family so happy. Pepa is calmer than she's ever been, able to actually feel without losing control. Camilo's smiles are real again and I'd forgotten what those looked like Dolores... its like she's a butterfly finally emerging from her cocoon. Antonio... he told me he's scared to get his gift because he's seen how it affected his hermano and hermana. He's scared to have magic!"

Ernesto glanced at the man. He and Felix didn't know each other well... despite growing up in the same town the two of them hadn't hung out because Felix liked to party and Ernesto had always prefered to explore. Even at a young age the outside world had called to him. That was why he struggled to just speak to the other man, to tell him what he was thinking. Because if he worded this wrong he'd be shut out. Everyone knew the Madrigals liked to close up ranks-

"We have to do something about Alma," Felix said.

Or the man would actually come out and say it.

"You see it, don't you?" Felix asked and despite how bitter his tone was there was no hiding the fact that it was taking all his strength to say those words. It was like a soldier who had served for decades under a king finally admitting their lord was a tyrant and needed to be overthrown. He desperately needed validation.

"Yes," Ernesto said softly as Agustin hugged Isabella, the girl so far gone in her sobs that she was crying automatically, without thought or reason.

"Tonight. Bureau. Get the kids focused on something, anything. And the rest of us... we fix out how to fix this."