They didn’t run into any of the orcs that had left the cavern. Mina was partially happy they hadn’t, but also disappointed. Sure, she was on the quest to figure out more about the arch-devil, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t take out as many orcs as she could while doing so. The more orcs that were dead, the better off the world was.

Renault still wasn’t really speaking except to snap at her for no fucking reason. She was about fed up with it, and if he did it again she was going to light his ass on fire. 

The words he spoke didn’t hurt her feelings or anything, but it was the principle of the matter. It was also a bit unsettling that he was acting like that out of nowhere. She’d thought they’d built a bit of rapport. Had what she told him really changed his opinion of her so drastically? 

She’d spoken to Boris about it, and he hadn’t a clue what was going on either. He did agree that it was strange behavior, even for Renault.

The summit of the mountain was still high above them and it was getting colder with each passing hour. Mina had put the trick that Ariadne taught her to use and she barely felt the chill. She hadn’t even thought of doing something like that, and it was useful. She’d never considered using her power internally as well. It had made the passing night so much more bearable. 

She’d put William’s coat back in her bag two days ago. Pristine white snow covered the ground, only marred with the footprints of animals. She’d always thought the name of the Verdant mountains to be ironic. They were far from green; they had no vegetation on them at all. Not that she’d seen at any rate. 

“Stop.” Renault’s voice came as a forced whisper and he moved behind a large boulder that sat on the side of the path.

Mina glanced at him and then heard the shrill shriek in a language she didn’t understand. She didn’t wait and moved to the boulder further back on the path and on the opposite side, Boris going with her.

Butterflies fluttered around her hands and Boris pulled the device he’d used in the cavern from its resting place on his hip. 

The skittering of a multitude of feet grew closer and the clicks and hisses grew louder. She almost dared to poke her head over the boulder to try to get a better look at whatever it was. Boris shook his head at her and clicked a lever at the back of his device and held a finger to his mouth. 

She gave a curt nod and glanced over, waiting. The sun wasn’t in the right position to get a look at the shadows and try to figure out what the creature, or creatures, were. 

She thought she was prepared for whatever it could be as they came into view. She was sorely mistaken. There were two of them, hundreds of legs between them. Their long, segmented bodies glittered against the sunlight. Giant centipedes.

Mina raised her hand to send butterflies towards the giant insect demons. She was barely able to stop them as Renault leapt from his hiding spot and sliced through the one closest to him like a hot knife through butter.

“Plug your ears,” Boris demanded.

She didn’t have time to do as he instructed. She turned to see why he’d told her to do that when a loud bang echoed through the air and a bright light blazened itself across her eyes, blinding her temporarily.  The ringing from the cavern came back, but left far faster than last time. She shook her head and rubbed at her ears. 

Both the centipedes were dead.

“Fucking bugs,” Renault grumbled. He kicked the hard shell of the one he’d killed.

“What is that thing?” Mina asked, gesturing at the thing that kept deafening her.

“Oh, this?” He held it up so she could see it better. It had a rounded handle made of wood and a long, silver barrel attached. It had two levers, a large one and a small one. The large one was on the top, at the back of the silver part. The smaller one sat on the bottom where the wood and metal met. The top one looked as though it was pulled backwards, as she’d seen him do, and the bottom one appeared as though it needed to be squeezed.

“It’s a firehand.” Boris grinned.

“Firehand?” Mina shook her head. “I suppose it’s better than some of the names you’ve come up with.” She gave him a cheeky smile as he sputtered.

“Is good name!”

“If you say so, I think it’s a little childish,” she teased. She walked over to the bug corpses and poked one with her toe. “Think we could sell their parts?”

“Probably? I don’t want to carry their parts until we find someone willing to buy. We don’t have horses anymore. Left at outpost, remember?” Boris walked up to her.

She scowled and nodded. He was right, it wouldn’t really be prudent to carry around bug parts just on the off chance they’d be able to sell them. “Then we should get going.”

She stepped around the corpses and headed up again. The sun would be setting soon and they’d need to find a place to set up camp. Few people dared to take this route to get to Meskonga, it was too dangerous. There was a lack of food, shelter, and demons seemed to like the area; that’s not even mentioning the rockslides as well. 

They should have gone the Valasti route. Yeah, it would have been slower, but at least it would have been relatively safer. 

They wouldn’t have found out about the outpost if they’d gone that way. Those soldier’s families likely never would have known what happened to them. It was good they’d gone that way.

“We need to start looking for a place to make camp,” Renault said as he walked up behind her.

“I was just thinking that,” Mina agreed. Oh, so now he was talking to her without biting her head off? She was getting tired of the hot and cold treatment from this man. 

“Or, we could walk through the night, get to Meskonga quicker. The sooner I get off this fucking mountain, the better,” the swordsman muttered.

“I do not speak for Mina, but I do not have stamina of mule. I need sleep to retain energy,” Boris said with a frown.

“I don’t have the stamina of a mule either,” Mina agreed. “Sleep would be nice, especially after dealing with those centipedes.”

Renault gave her a droll look. “Aye, because you did so much against them.”

And there was the cold again. She gave up. There was no fucking point. She was tired of it. 

They eventually found a relatively flat area and had set up their sleeping rolls. There was no way they’d be able to make a fire. There wasn’t anything to burn. 

Mina sat on the ground and leaned her back against the cool stone of a boulder. Her eyes closed and she hummed quietly to herself.

One of her eyes opened slightly when someone sat down next to her. Both opened completely when she realized it was Renault. He didn’t look at her, but he was giving the distinct impression that he wanted to say something, but didn’t know how to say it. She didn’t speak, waiting for him to say the first words. 

She seriously doubted he was here to apologize for the way he’d been acting. That wasn’t really his vibe. He didn’t do that.

They sat in silence for a good ten minutes before he finally spoke. 

“I wanted to say I’m sorry for the way I’ve been acting.”

Mina blinked. He was actually apologizing? She really hadn’t expected that at all. It was the last thing she thought he’d come over to say. “Why have you been acting like that?”

“Seeing Frederick like that…it brought up some memories. Ones that I thought I’d buried a long time ago.” Renault let out a sigh and looked over at her. There was pain in those grey eyes, pain that had never healed.  “My mentor was able to Merge with his Spirit. He saved me life, but died in the process.”

That explained it. So it wasn’t because of her. That made her feel a little bit better. “You deal with grief by lashing out,” she said simply.

“Aye.”

“I’m sorry that you went through that.” She gave him a tight smile. She couldn’t fault him for reacting that way. She did the same. She leaned towards him and took a steadying breath. “Would you like a hug?”

Renault blinked and stared at her before he nodded. He looked just as surprised as she was that he had accepted the offer. She reached over and wrapped her arms tightly around him. She’d done this when Grayson had been upset and it always helped him. It should help him.

Her heart sped up as his skin brushed against hers and he buried his face into her neck. Her shirt began to become wet as his entire body shook. 

She didn’t say anything. What could she say? There wasn’t anything that would take the pain away, that would heal it and make it better. She knew that. She tightened her grip on his shirt and lowered her head to the top of Renault’s. 

She didn’t know how long they sat like that, the moon was high in the sky when Boris came back. She shook her head slightly at him. Renault needed this. He needed the release. She wouldn’t let him be interrupted. 

Boris inclined his head and retreated.

She ran her hands over the swordsman back and closed her eyes. Her heart hurt for him. The sobs still wracked his frame. Had he been able to actually grieve for his mentor or had he shoved it away and locked it in a little box? She understood that all too well. 

He finally pulled away, and the sudden absence of his body warmth caused her to shiver. It had felt nice to have him pressed up against her as he had been. She frowned at the though. No. She wouldn’t think like that. She couldn’t afford it.

“Thank you,” he whispered. He couldn’t look her in the eyes and wiped at his eyes. Red bled into the white. 

“It’s fine, it’s what friends are for,” she responded. 

“Aye, I suppose that’s what we are at this point.” Renault gave a soft chuckle. “I suppose I should stop calling you wench now, and start calling you lass.” He winked at her.

“Or, you could just call me by name like a normal person,” she shot back with a smile. 

“Aye, I could. Where’s the fun in that though?” He rolled his shoulders and stood in one, fluid motion. “I’ll be getting some shut eye now, sleep well, Mina.”

She awoke to the sound of Renault and Boris speaking in hushed voiced. She didn’t sit up, trying to hear what they were saying without alerting them.

They were too far away for her to clearly make out what they were saying. She sighed and sat up, her arms stretched above her head and yawned. 

The two of them looked over at her and stopped talking. She crawled out of her roll and packed it up, hooking it to her bag. She glanced back over at them and arched a brow. “Don’t stop talking on my account.”

Boris moved over next to her and gave her a tight smile. “We didn’t want to wake you. We were trying to decide how we were going to make way through Meskonga, and if where we should wait for Frederick and William.”

“They’d want us to push on, not wait for them. This is kind of time-sensitive, so we don’t really have time to dawdle. They’ll hopefully catch up before we get on the boat to Ashora.”

Renault nodded. He leaned against a boulder, his eyes not wavering fro her. “Aye, that it is. I agree that we should push on. Dickhead here thinks we should wait for them because having them along is apparently better.”

Mina glanced over at Boris and chewed on her bottom lip. “While there are strength in numbers, we’ll move quicker with just the three of us. They’ll catch up, I think, before we even get to the port. Especially if William  uses Jormund again.”

If they didn’t catch up by the time they got to the port city, they’d have to wait regardless. William had the letter of introduction from the prince and none of them had thought to grab it from him before he left. They wouldn’t be able to get the help of the elves without it. 

She didn’t have a clue how Frederick and his father had managed the alliance they had with them, but she also didn’t know shit about elves. She hadn’t cared to learn about them. 

She let out a breath as she began to walk. More heat warmed her extremities as they climbed higher and higher. 

They reached the summit after several days. Mina stopped and stared at the expanse of green that stretched out in front of her. Her breath caught in her throat. Small, fluffy clouds drifted into her vision. She’d never been so high before. Is this what it was like to be a bird? Is this what they saw far up in the sky? She couldn’t blame them for never wanting to be on the ground; it was beautiful.

“This view is…wow,” she whispered. Her body didn’t want to move, she’d be content to just stare for the next few hours. 

“Da, is quite the view.” Boris chuckled, but he didn’t stop to admire it. He just began the descent down the steep, narrowing path. 

“Be careful, there is loose walks. Falling would be unpleasant,” He called. He started to slide as the last word left his mouth.

Mina managed to pull her gaze away and couldn’t help but laugh. “We didn’t need a demonstration about how slippery is,” she said. 

“Of course you did,” he said with a laugh as he regained his balance. He’d managed to not fall, but just barely. 

Renault stopped next to her and glanced down. There was something in his eyes that she hadn’t seen there before. Something she didn’t want to even consider or think about. His gaze was soft, almost tender. She arched a brow at him. “What?”

“Nothing.” He shrugged and followed Boris down the path.

She pursed her lips and followed after them. She’d have liked to admire the view for a bit longer, but they did need to get moving. 

Her breaths were deep and fast. The air was thinner this high, and the sooner they reached the bottom the easier it would be for her to breathe properly. How would fire fare this high up? She’d been able to keep herself warm, but that wasn’t an open flame. 

She could test it at another time. Renault and Boris were already a good distance ahead of her. She picked up her pace. It was rather rude of them to not even wait for her.

“Perhaps they believe that you will be able to catch up if you are not following,” Ariadne said.

Mina didn’t even falter in her step this time. She was half-expecting to hear the voice at any given point now. She pursed her lips and crossed her arms. She needed to ask Ariadne some more questions. “We need to talk.”

“Indeed.”

“I’m willing to accept that you’re most likely my Spirit, especially after you showed me a new way of using my powers.” Mina kept far enough back that Renault and Boris wouldn’t be able to easily hear her speaking. 

“Well, that is certainly progress. You do not fully accept that I am your Spirit, however. What would you have me do to prove it to you?”

“I don’t know, show yourself to me?” Mina knew that wasn’t going to happen before the words even left her mouth. If Ariadne was able to do that, she would have done it already.

“You are correct, I would have done so if I was capable. You must first fully accept me in order for me to manifest. As of this moment, even speaking to you like this is difficult. You are incredibly skeptical.”

“I am not.” Okay, maybe she was. She had good reason to be.

“Yes, you are. I am entwined into your very soul. I can see into your mind. I know you better than you know yourself.”

“Well, that’s not weird and creepy at all,” Mina muttered, rubbing her arms.

“It is neither weird nor creepy. It simply is.”

“Look, just because you don’t understand or think something is weird and creepy doesn’t make it any less so, or means I don’t think that.”

Mina frowned when Ariadne didn’t respond. Had she offended her with what she’d said? If that was the case, then perhaps she wasn’t Mina’s Spirit, not if something as simple as that caused her to shut down.

“You said you had questions for me,  yet you have asked none.”

“That is incorrect, I’ve asked two.” Mina smirked. It felt good to get one over on the voice.

The feeling of strong amusement blossomed in her chest, an emotion that she hadn’t been feeling.

“I suppose you are correct. Have you more questions of me?”

She had questions, but Mina couldn’t remember what they were for the life of her. She couldn’t think of what she actually wanted to know. This was the longest conversation she’d actually managed to have with Ariadne. Oh. Right.

“What is your form?” That should help in figuring out if it was actually her Spirit. Mina was almost positive that her Spirit was a butterfly, given that was how her power naturally manifested. She couldn’t think of another reason why it would do that. If she’d had a choice it would have been a dragon or phoenix.

“My form is what you would call a swallowtail butterfly.”

Mina blinked. She hadn’t actually expected something that specific. A swallowtail. She didn’t exactly know what they looked like, but she was pretty sure that was what the vague outline of her fire was. She could ask Boris or Renault about it when she finished this conversation. 

“Alright, I’m definitely leaning more towards you being my Spirit now.” It still wasn’t a done deal, she still had her doubts. There was still that niggling thought in the back of her mind of ‘what-if’? What if she was wrong? What if the voice in pain was her Spirit? What happened then?

“Don’t…Don’t listen to her…I’m…It’s me. I’m your Spirit. She’s suppressing me…she’s trying to convince you…not her. I swear.” 

Mina clenched her jaw. That didn’t help anything. That just confused her more. Ariadne had mentioned she was subduing the other voice, keeping it from contacting her. It wasn’t lying about that. Was it telling the truth about the other things too then?

A sharp flash of annoyance hit her in the stomach. She winced. “Stop that. Stop making me feel what you are.”

She hadn’t a clue which one was which, but she was still leaning towards Ariadne. The other voice hadn’t done anything to prove that’s what it was. She could feel what Ariadne was, she didn’t feel pain when the first voice spoke. Wasn’t that proof enough?

“Both of you be quiet, I need to think.” She waved her hands in the air and crossed her arms. Neither of them spoke up, thankfully, and she waited ten minutes before confirming that they were actually going to stay quiet before she caught up with Renault and Boris. Both of them glanced askance at her, but she didn’t enlighten them and they didn’t ask.