Decian woke early the next morning. He sat up, rubbing at his tired eyes, and began running his hands through his hair. The others began waking up soon after. First Jedd, then Avaeon, and Ridley… They all felt especially tired, that morning. Especially grumpy. After a while, Decian groaned and got up. He tied his belt, which had all his throwing knives and his sword, around his waist, counting them out of habit. But when his fingers passed over an empty sheath, he frowned. “What…” He muttered to himself, looking around the ground by his feet. Then his eyes flicked over the others, who were busy waking themselves up. Everyone but Isgellian.

“Isgellian’s gone.” Decian said, seeing the place where Isgellian had slept on the ground the night before empty.

“Wha?” Jedd asked, the grogginess of sleep immediately disappearing. He stood and looked around. “Where would he’a gone?”

“I’m not sure… But I have a bad feeling about it.” Decian frowned, putting a hand over his sword and heading in the direction of the lake.

“Hey, hey!” Jedd grabbed his arm. “Ya can’t go, remember? Yer gonna drown yerself.”

Decian furrowed his brows. “I think he’s gone to get the Heart. I can’t hear anyone anywhere nearby, so he obviously didn’t just wander off to relieve himself.” Decian groaned and raked his hands through his hair. “Idiot…” He muttered.

“I’ll go.” Jedd offered. “I was raised ‘round forges, I’m all but deaf. I didn’ hear tha song, either.”

“You might’ve if you’d gone closer.”

Jedd shook his head. “Then I’ll stuff my ears with mud! But someone oughta go make sure he doesn’ get ‘imself killed!”

Decian looked to the others, who were only watching the conversation with wide eyes. “Fine. Just… Be careful, okay?”

Jedd nodded, grabbed his canteen, and took off after the elf. Decian couldn’t do anything but watch him go. After the dwarf was out of sight, Decian sat down next to the dead fire and sighed. No one said anything. No one could. All they could do was wait. Decian felt useless, passing the time staring at the coals. He felt uneasy. Restless. He needed to do something. Help somehow… The elven prince was a horrible, bitter, cruel man, but that didn’t mean that Decian wanted to lose a member of his team so early in the mission. His dream came to mind. His supposed vision of friendship with the elf… That was never going to happen. He refused to be friends with such a racist, despicable man. Especially one who’d been so hypocritical in his attitude toward love. Regardless, he watched the trees where Jedd had disappeared, anxiety unsettling his stomach.

He shut his eyes and whispered a quick prayer to Darkness, wishing both Isgellian and Jedd the strength to return safely.

It felt like an eternity passed before Decian heard something in the trees around them. In all honesty, it had been quite a while; nearly an hour before he heard the footsteps. Heavy ones.

He looked up to see Jedd walking back toward the camp, with Prince Isgellian of the meadow elves in his arms. It was a rather strange sight, the tall man curled up to the dwarf, fists clenched around his shirt, still coughing. Jedd was breathing hard and set Isgellian next to the cold fire. “Can someone… Light it? Tha lake’s fuck’n freezin’.” When Jedd pulled away from Isgellian, their shirt clung to their body. Ridley stared at them with wide eyes. The dwarf, who’d always just seemed like they had a remarkably buff chest… Well…

“You have boobs.” Ridley mumbled.

Jedd glared. “I jus’ about drowned savin’ this imbecile. Shut up an’ light a fire for us ta warm ourselves by.” They glowered.

Decian looked to Isgellian as Ridley started the fire. The elf was soaked to the bone, and groaning in pain, shivering violently, but he wasn’t bleeding from any new wounds. The gash on his arm had opened up again, though. “Let me see that…” Decian mumbled, going over to him and putting a hand on his arm.

Isgellian smacked his hand off immediately, “G—” He coughed, “Get away from me.” He growled. He sounded more pathetic than threatening, though. He looked it, too. He wasn’t even well enough to muster his usual glamours.

“Hey, maybe you should be nicer,” Ridley scowled, “After all your talk about us being useless, you should take a look at who just saved your sorry ass.”

Isgellian sat up carefully, flinching at Ridley’s words. Frowning, he looked over to Jedd. “I… Th-Thank you…”

“And?” Ridley looked ready to throttle the elf.

“Sorry…” Prince Isgellian mumbled. He didn’t look at the dwarf when he said it, but the others considered it as progress.

Everyone was silent as the fire built. Isgellian and Jedd were too busy trying to warm themselves, and the others just… Didn’t know what to say.

“What happened?” Avaeon asked after a while, quietly.

Isgellian sighed, wrapping his arms around his knees. “I went to see if I could find the Heart of Algabor. Everything was going fine, really. I found this… Red gem by the bottom of the dock. It looked exactly like the one in that book… I was about to call it and go back, when the Siren came…” The prince shuddered. “She was… Horrifying. And she was furious that I was there. But she had this… This gem tied to a string around her neck. Amber, and… Glowing. Beating. I-I should have just gone…”

“You think that that one was the Heart, not the red one?” Ridley asked.

Isgellian nodded. “Yes… The way it beat… I just knew. So, I tried to fight the Siren, which is arguably the most foolish thing I have done in my life.” The prince scowled, but then another fit of coughs started up again, and Jedd sighed, patting his back to help get whatever remained of the lake water out.

“I came ‘round then, I think… I don’ really remember what happ’ned. Cow pie ‘ere had ‘is eyes shut an’ tha Siren was tryna drag ‘im away. But… I didn’ see any gem ‘round her neck…”

A small, weak smile crept across the elf’s lips. “No… I managed to cut it off her before she hit me.” His voice was hoarse, and he reached into the little pouch he had around his waist. From it, he pulled two gems. One red, and beautifully cut. The other was amber, slightly smaller than a fist, and incredibly lumpy. But just like Isgellian had said, it glowed with a heartbeat. Brighter, and then duller… When it went duller, Decian could see the thick black mist that surrounded it, just like around Avaeon’s ocarina… He decided not to comment.

“That’s so strange…” Ridley murmured, staring at the gem.

“There’s one more thing.” Jedd frowned. “The siren, I managed ta cut ‘er arm… Her blood was gold.”

“So?” Avaeon asked.

“So, I watched tha cut heal in fronta my eyes before I hightailed outta there. But that ain’ normal. I ain’t never heard ‘f anythin’ but the gods havin’ gold blood…”

“What are you saying? That the siren’s… A goddess? That’s ridiculous.” Ridley leaned in closer.

“I’m sayin’ it’s weird.” Jedd said simply. “But… Maybe? I dunno… All I know is what I saw.”

The five went quiet, watching either the fire, or the pulsing amber gem in Isgellian’s hand.

“So, what now?” Avaeon was the one to timidly break the silence once more.

“We go to Tolndis…” Ridley sighed, picking at a piece of bread he’d taken from his bag.

Decian looked around at the others. Tolndis, the ruins of the gods… At the top of the mountain no one could climb… “How fun…”

Awkward silence reigned for a while longer. Jedd and Isgellian were slowly beginning to dry off.

Only one question remained.

“Why do you have boobs?” Ridley stared over at Jedd, suddenly, loudly breaking the silence.