Van tried to struggle for what felt like hours. “Put me down! I can take care of myself!” he said as he tried to free himself.

Yesi grunted and threw him onto the ground, spinning around with her bow out, ready to fire at a moment's notice.

But they were far from the fighting. Yesi was amazingly fast in the forest, and it would be hard to track her given her skill.

Van felt the Annas die one after the other, his face going pale after each death, his worry growing… especially for Kella, Isa, and Gwen, since they were not soul bound to him like Anna was, meaning if they were to die it would be the end of them for good…

Thankfully, he sensed that they were okay… but it seemed like they may have been captured by the bandits… or lost… hopefully just lost…

“We have to go back! We have to help them!” Van said, getting up.

Yesi put a hand on his chest to stop him from moving. “What we have to do is regroup and head to the fort to ask for reinforcements…” she growled. “And to get you safely to your destination… my job does not entail you throwing yourself into danger…”

“But they have my friends! Maybe even my wife!” Van exclaimed, “they could die!” he immediately froze, now trying to tune himself onto Luna, relaxing with some great relief to sense her alive and well, if not miles in the opposite direction…

“My rangers and your goblins will die to prevent those bandits from following us or your wife. That is their duty…” Yesi said callously. “We can’t risk your life for theirs…”

“How could you say that! What about Yassan! Are you going to leave him behind!?” Van demanded.

Yesi's eyes darkened. “Yassan is a ranger… he’ll survive…” giving Van a slight glare. “Now come on… there's a resource cache somewhere around here, we may have to make use of it…” she then turned and started to walk away.

Van wanted to say something, maybe to stay still stubbornly and see what would happen. But after a while, he realized he was being a bit of a child, and slowly began to follow Yesi through the forest. Though that didn’t change his feelings on the matter, his worry for his friends and family was still on his mind.

Instead, he began asking the important questions, such as what they were going to do now, what was their plan of action, and… who were those black garbed bandits…

“I don’t know…” Yesi grunted as if admitting such a thing annoyed her to no end. “This is the first time I met them. I have heard rumors of a group of people making use of some of the monsters and beasts of the place to help them make money. But this is the first time I heard them luring a bunch of shriekers to a heavily defended caravan… or in such great numbers considering the difficulty of getting those creatures to work together…”

“They also seemed to be well-armed and outfitted… it could well be that someone is funding them… or that whatever they are doing is very… lucrative… There have also been… strange disappearances of adventuring groups lately… but too few and too spaced out for it to raise much suspicion… until now…” Yesi said.

“But even then… to try and raid a heavily armed caravan with a dozen rangers from the rangers guild…” she shook her head. “That’s just plain crazy… but then again… who knows how much money they would have earned from ransoming a bunch of nobles…” she grunted again. “Just another mess caused by those with blue blood…” As if to blame this mess on Van and Luna…

To which Van took great offense at.

“Just what is your deal with nobles! It’s not our fault for this happening! Is it a crime to just exist!” Van demanded to know.

“The problems of the world could all be laid at some noble's feet,” Yesi retorted casually. “All you're really good at is backstabbing each other and trampling down on everyone else that gets in your way.”

“That's not true! I know for a fact that my father and mothers really care for their people, and do whatever they can to be good rulers and help as many people as possible. You can’t seriously judge every noble as the same, especially when you don’t even know them that well!” Van argued.

Yesi gave a snort. “And what exactly would a male know about it? All you have to do is tag along to your parents or wife’s plans… and everything works out… while the women do the real work… just like right now…”

“Oh ya… because tagging along with you really worked out for me, now did it?” Van sarcastically retorted back.

Yesi grunted again and began to cough something fierce, her whole body convulsing as she tried to say something.

“Wha-what’s wrong? Are you okay?” Van asked, his anger monetary lapsing as Yesi doubled over in a coughing fit. “Do you need help?” moving closer to see what’s wrong.

Immediately Yesi pushed him away, covering his mouth and trying to drag him somewhere else.

“What are you!?” Van mumbled through Yesi’s hand, only letting him go when they were a dozen feet or more away as she pushed him against a tree.

Van then craned his neck around to see what he was just dragged away from. And off in the distance was an Eros flower that Yassan told him about. He remembered what Yassan told him, that the flower had a strong aphrodisiac smell that could even affect women, and to stay away from it at all costs. Yesi must have not been paying attention, distracted by him as it were, and walked too close, getting a strong whiff of it.

Now Yesi’s eyes looked dazed, like they were swimming around, her body looking a little wobbly. She held onto him now for support, leaning against him, then taking a nice long sniff of Van and shuddering.

Van looked a little worried, but just when he was about to ask once more if she was okay. Yesi flung herself away from him and turned her back.

“N-no more questions… we are leaving.” was all she said, and then began to walk away, taking the long way around the flower.

Van after a while quickly followed.

For the next hour, Van followed Yesi, a mixture of worry and concern. Worry for fear they are now getting lost, and concern for Yesi who didn’t look too well… after a while, he couldn’t hold himself back and had to ask if Yesi was okay.

“Hey… are you… feeling alright?” Van asked after a while.

“I’m fine…” Yesi said tersely. Though her eyes still seemed slightly unfocused.

“Should we have… uh… found this cache of yours by now?” he asked.

Yesi froze in place, giving a few quick blinks, turning her head left and right as if only now realizing where she was headed. She stayed like that for a few minutes…

“We're lost now… aren't’ we…” Van said as the realization dawned on him.

Yesi grunted. “We are not lost…” rejecting the notion outright. “I’m just… a little disoriented… the pollen was far stronger than expected, but once it wears off, I’ll be fine… and we can continue to our destination.”

“Are those Eros flowers common around here?” Van asked, looking around him a little fearfully, worried that just around the corner was one or two of those plants ready to get them.

“No…” Yesi said after some thought. “Eros flowers are extremely rare… they shouldn’t just be growing all over the place.”

“Really? Because Yassan pointed out a few nearby the road.” Van pointed out.

Yesi was quiet after that, looking like she was thinking hard about something. “Eros flowers are extremely rare, and illegal to cultivate without license… but if you can find them in the wild and somehow safely gather them, it could fetch you a pretty Crava…”

“You don’t think…” Van began, saying his thoughts out loud. “That those black-garbed bandits were spreading those Eros flowers out in the forest to collect for later… Do you?”

Yesi thought about it. “Yes… it could explain why there are so many flowers around… if so they are doing something very illegal and dangerous… but… having so many flowers nearby the road… would benefit them should their prey accidentally walk into them… or get distracted by the flowers… allowing them to attack. No doubt they already took countermeasures of their own against the smell and the pollen.”

“If this is the case… we are looking at a group either funded or back by a strong noble, or a group that has been active for a few years now, with a good leader to set themselves up like this… either way, we have to get to the fort as soon as possible and tell them of what happened,” Yesi said, only to double over in another coughing fit.

Van rushed over to try and help her, but she raised a hand to prevent him from coming closer.

“Stay away… I don’t know what I may do if you're too close.” Yesi said, then slowly straightened her back, her eyes narrowed and looking oddly wet as she tried to glare through the forest. “Follow me… I can at least guide us through memory if nothing else…” then began to walk through the forest once more.

Van followed her worriedly and called upon Azra, who was always with him in his shadow. He gently whispered to her some orders. “Azra… spread yourself around and check for any hidden dangers just in case. And if you happen to find some sort of safe space or resource cache, tell me.”

Azra gave a small meow of understanding and disappeared within the shadows once more. Though now Van sensed she was all over the place, rather than just within his shadow…

As Van followed Yesi, he spread out his senses to figure out how everyone else was doing. So far, all the Annas have died… but he did sense Luna with Kella, Isa and Gwen and what felt like a few others, though he could not tell who they were… they could be the surviving rangers with Yassan… or they could be the bandits… either way, it seemed they were just as lost as he was, for they were far within the forest.

“Don’t worry Luna, Kella, Isa, Gwen, and everyone else… I’ll figure out a way to save you… just need a nice quiet and safe place to try and connect with you first. Please be patient…” Van thought, mostly for himself… reminding himself that he could communicate with his loved ones mentally and spiritually. So they were never really far from communication…

Van and Yesi walked through the forest… or perhaps it would be more accurate to say, Van walked, Yesi wobbled… she still seemed to try to take her job seriously, but it was clear to anyone who could see that she was not in the right mind for it…

Their already slow pace went even slower as time went on and Yesi looked like she couldn’t figure out which way was left or right anymore. Thankfully, Azra was able to find a hidden cove of sorts filled with all manner of items that they have apparently been circling for half an hour now…

“Uh… Yesi…” Van began, just about to tell her what Azra had found. But before he could say anything else, Yesi shushed him and brought out her bow, the tip of her arrow glowing.

Van paused, wondering if there was any danger he couldn’t sense or if Yesi’s mind was playing tricks on her.

He didn’t have to wait long, for a strange mushroom creature slowly appeared from the brush. About five-four tall, it had glowing sacks on top of its mushroom-like head for light, glowing eyes, and a vicious mouth full of razor teeth. It walked on four legs and had two claw-like arms, clearly used for rendering flesh into tiny pieces…

It then gave a shriek of noise as if to yell. Food! And charge at them, only to explode into violent pieces when Yesi let loose her arrow.

Yesi grunted in satisfaction, as if proud of herself for still being able to do this much despite not being clear-headed. Then turned to Van. “We should not be far from the cache, follow me, it won’t be much longer now…” she said, then turned to lead once more. Away from the cache…

“Umm…” Van said, stopping Yesi in her tracks, making her look back with some annoyance.

“I actually already found the cache…” Van said.

Yesi blinked. And Van explained how his familiar had already found the safe place a while ago.

Yesi just stared at Van for a while, or at least tried to… then finally grunted, clearly unhappy but conceding… “fine…” she said with a sigh. “Lead the way…”

A few minutes later they were at the entrance of a small barrow. Yesi telling Van to get in. Van crawled through the narrow passageway until he hit a surprisingly cozy little cave-like structure filled with emergency items and a bed. The walls were decorated with runes that increased the durability of the walls and provided protection to those inside.

“We’ll be staying here for the night.” Yesi said, “I’ll check to see if there’s a working pulse crystal around here, maybe we can establish communications and tell the fort ahead of time what has happened. Check those crates over there for food, whatever they have, is our dinner for tonight…”

Van did so, rummaging around until he found what appeared to be very old rations that looked like they had seen better days… clearly, this place hasn’t been touched for a few years now if not longer…

“Damn…” Yesi said, looking around. “Doesn’t seem like this place was refilled since the last time this place was in use. A lot of the resources we could have used to help survive in this forest are missing… either that… or it was raided…” now looking around her in suspicion.

After that, Van and Yesi heated up whatever food they could find. Mostly old stuff that looked dusty even several years ago… and tasted as good as it looked… at least it was filling and they had something warm in their stomachs…

Van then took a meditative posture, trying to see if he could communicate with Luna, and much to his relief, he was.

Luna then explained to him that she was lost with Kella, Isa, and Gwen, plus Yassan and a few other rangers and that they were still being chased by the bandits from earlier. Thankfully Yassan and two other rangers were still alive and were helping them right now. They were lost though, and it seemed like every time they tried to get near the fort, the bandits cut them off, already there and waiting for them. Thankfully Yassan led them to a safe area later on, where they could rest for the night.

Van told her to be careful, and that he was fine and with Yesi, hiding in a hole. And to try and survive while they get help.

Van wanted to talk to her all night. But knew that he couldn’t because Luna had to concentrate in order to talk with him, and that meant slowing her down… so with a few last goodbyes and promising to find each other again, they ended the connection.

He then told Yesi of what happened, and that Luna and Yassan were okay.

“You soul bonded with your wife!?” Yesi asked incredulously.

“Of course I did. I love her, and she me.” Van said indignantly. “And I'm only telling you this because it’s an emergency. So…”

Yesi nodded. “I swear I won't tell anyone.” She looked like her impression of him had changed a little. She also looked like she wanted to thank him, for telling her brother was okay… but she shook her head, getting rid of such a weak notion, and instead said. “It’s getting late. You take the bed… I still… have some things to do…” biting her lower lip and looking away.

Van wasn’t fully aware of what was going on in her head, but he had an idea. “If you want…” he began unsure of how to broach this. “I… could help… if only to make sure you fully recover…”

Yesi went red but violently shook her head. “Just go to bed,” she said tersely. Then walked over to her own corner of the cave.

Van watched her with some concern but did his best to go to bed. A difficult thing to do… when his heart was filled with worry for his loved ones…