Despite the entire ordeal of being attacked and nearly drowned by a mysterious foe, Asher had to admit the bath house was still an overall pleasant time. The warm, flowing water washed away the blood on his skin and left him feeling more rejuvenated and relaxed than he'd ever felt after one of his battles.

While he and Brian finished up, he kept an especially close eye on the mark he had on Samantha, prepared to Recall over and help her the instant he noticed her suffer even the slightest injury, propriety be damned. Thankfully, it seemed the assassin had been working alone, or if they had a partner, they'd changed their mind after witnessing him return to the bath completely unharmed and unbothered by the attempted hit. He didn't give Brian the full story, as he didn't want to scare him by revealing just how close he'd come to having his legs bitten off, but he did make it clear that if Brian noticed anyone else's attention on him to let him know immediately. And while Asher was missing his own bracelet, he borrowed Brian's for a moment just to use Permanence on the Awareness skill, something he should have thought to do earlier. He had to give up the magical signature of Theorn's signet ring to do so, but he didn't think he'd need that again in the near future now that the situation with Leighann was dealt with, so it wasn't much of a loss.

Slipping into the provided robe that felt like he was being embraced by a cloud, Asher led Brian back to the waiting room where they snagged two seats and settled in. Samantha was still in the women's bath, but they couldn't exactly go anywhere until their clothes were washed and returned to them anyway. While they waited, he pulled up his notifications he'd received from the failed hit.

Spatial Lock - Lvl 16

Spatial Lock - Lvl 17

Complete Resilience - Lvl 25

Distortion - Lvl 26

Sever the Thread - Lvl 9

Shards: 147,247

Asher did a brief double take when he spotted his new shard total and realized just how many shards the assassin had been holding. Just over forty thousand shards… That guy had to be one of Dormaul's senior assassins. Would explain the dual elements as well.

I really hope the Head didn't decide to make this some sort of competition where whatever assassin manages to kill me gets a promotion and becomes the new Finger in Whikoga…

While Asher wasn't worried about his own safety, he couldn't help but twitch in Brian's direction anytime his new Awareness skill alerted him that somebody had looked at them, ready to throw the twelve-year-old back into his Personal Rift at the drop of a hat. He'd known dealing with the Guild or The Council of Death with Brian in tow was reckless, he'd just thought they would have more time.

"Hey, Brian…" he began, deciding now was as good a time as any to float the idea past him. "...any chance Samantha has spoken with you about what you want to do in the future?"

"Does this have something to do with why you shoved me into your weird room?" Brian asked, frowning at him. "Why won't you tell me what happened? Were we in danger?"

Asher hesitated, wondering if he should wait for Samantha for her to decide just how honest they should be regarding how close Brian had possibly been to being eviscerated. There was every chance that after realizing they were together, the assassin could have grabbed Brian and tried using him as bait instead of going straight after Asher. While he didn't want to scare the poor kid, it was important Brian knew to be vigilant while they were in a city with a hostile Guild.

"Yeah, we were in danger," Asher nodded, earning a slight gasp from Brian as he actually admitted it. "Nothing crazy, as you no doubt figured out seeing as I'm still in one piece, but someone came after us in the bath with the intent to kill. You did good letting me know someone was watching us."

"Where were they? I tried to find them, but I didn't see anyone looking at us!"

"They were under the water. They had to take a moment to melt through the grate at our backs, which is probably when you sensed them watching us."

"Did they have a Water element, like Sam?" Brian asked, looking more curious than scared at this point.

"Pretty sure it was a Shark element," Asher shrugged. "That and one of the metal ones. They melted one of my daggers."

"Good thing you have so many," Brian said matter of factly, and Asher chuckled in response.

"These things don't just grow on trees you know!" he shot back, making a point to stare straight ahead and not look at him as he thought of his living wood dagger. "I just bought these daggers back in Whikoga!"

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"I thought you were rich?"

"Not rich enough," he muttered, narrowing his eyes at the inquisitive twelve-year-old. "We're getting off topic. Did Samantha talk to you about the future, or not?"

"Yeah, Sam asked me some strange stuff last night," Brian nodded, fidgeting with his hands in his lap. "She asked me how I felt about being away from her for a bit. Or if I'd ever thought about trying to get the Bow element and help people with my archery."

"What did you say?"

"I don't know," Brian admitted, suddenly looking a lot younger than his twelve years. "I love archery, and I like the idea of helping people. But being away from Sam? She's always been there for as long as I can remember. I don't think we've ever been away from one another for more than a day or two at a time. Even when we were kidnapped, we were still in the same room. I know we're not going to be together forever, but I always thought I'd at least have until my origin element…"

Brian went quiet, and the two of them sat there, watching the flow of people heading in and out of the bathhouse. Some were in far cleaner shape than they had been, while others looked as though they'd fallen down a mineshaft based on the dust and rocks falling off them. After a few minutes, Asher spoke.

"Your sister and I are dealing with some dangerous foes," he said carefully, not wanting to make what they were doing sound that dangerous, despite the fact that it absolutely was. "Not just individuals like the guy who came after us in the bath. But enemies like the demons that attacked your town, or the wizard that kidnapped you in the first place. Samantha loves you more than anything, but that's why she's trying to bring herself to let you go off someplace safe. She just doesn't want to see you get hurt."

"Why can't we all just go somewhere safe together?" Brian shot back. "Why do you guys need to fight? Can't we just all run away together? Find another village somewhere to live, where people don't attack us in the bath?"

"It's not that easy," Asher sighed, scratching the back of his head.

"Is it because of you?" Brian asked point-blank, causing Asher to jump at the lack of expression on his face. "Did Horntho village get attacked because of you? Will the demons follow us wherever you go?"

Asher only hesitated for a moment before admitting the truth, throwing up a quick and remarkably small Spatial Lock that blocked only sound to ensure their conversation wasn't overheard. "...Yes. You know how you mentioned how weird my elements and skills are? How I told you and Samantha I was a realm wanderer the very first day we met? Well, I accidentally absorbed a very important element back in the wizard tower. I didn't know at the time, and I wouldn't have been able to rescue you guys without it, but apparently, it's really rare. To the point where the wizard wants to try and capture me and take it back."

"Wait, you can't take someone's element from them." Brian said, scrunching up his face. "That's impossible."

"Apparently, the wizard has a way," Asher shrugged. "So to answer your question, running will only work for so long. I even picked up scrying resistance to keep the wizard off our trail, but knowing how important the element is to them, I can't imagine that will do more than just buy us some time. I can run, but I can't hide. So rather than spend the rest of my life running, I've decided I'm going to bring the fight to the wizard and his friends, instead of letting them destroy more villages like they did to Horntho and the others on the edge of the forest."

Asher waited with bated breath for Brian to digest everything he'd just told him. He knew he'd all but admitted he was the reason why Brian's village had been attacked, and why Samantha was floating the idea of the two of them splitting up, but he hoped Brian wouldn't decide to start hating him. He'd come to really enjoy Brian's company, and he cared a lot for the kid. Brian was fairly intelligent for his age when he wanted to be, but at the end of the day, he was still a child. Asher had absolutely no idea how he was going to react.

He could almost see the conflicting thoughts bouncing around in his head as Brian sat there, frowning to himself and staring at his hands. After what felt like an eternity, he finally spoke.

"I miss Logan," he said bluntly, causing Asher's heart to sink at the raw emotion as Brian's voice began to waver. "How we'd play with one another and explore the edge of the woods even when Sam told us not to. I miss George and Martha, and how they'd always ask me if I was doing okay and let me sit with them and talk about stuff when Sam and I fought. I miss our cabin, and my room, and knowing where I'd be sleeping each night. I miss it all so much it hurts."

"I know," Asher said, wrapping an arm around him and pulling the sniffling boy in closer. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," Brian hiccupped, wiping his tears on the sleeve of his robe as he leaned into the hug. "You didn't tell the demons where to find you, and you came as fast as you could and saved the two of us from them. You even got your arm ripped off saving Sam, even if you got better. And if we'd never met you at all, I would have had to watch Sam die in that wizard tower, only a few feet away and unable to do anything to help her, so I can't be mad at you for coming into our lives in the first place. I'm mad, but not at you. I'm just mad!"

"Trust me, I get it. I'm mad too." Asher sighed, wondering for a moment how the hell things had turned out like this. Not even two months ago he'd been working as a mortician's apprentice, living alone and only having to care about himself. And now, seemingly out of nowhere, he not only had people he cared about that he needed to protect, he needed to hunt down and kill some of the deadliest people in the entire kingdom to do so.

"I want to grow stronger," Brian sniffled, taking a deep breath and sitting up, looking more determined than Asher had ever seen him. "Strong enough that I can help the next time demons or monsters or whatever attack my new home, wherever that ends up being. I don't like the thought of being away from Sam, but if it means I'll grow up strong and be able to protect her, I'll do it."

"I think Samantha will be proud of your decision," Asher smiled, squeezing his shoulder. "And don't forget, we'll always be a single Recall away. We'll be sure to visit you during your training so you don't get lonely."

"Promise you won't remove your skill, even if you go someplace far away?" Brian asked, looking hesitant.

"I promise," Asher said, ruffling his clean hair that still smelled of mint from the bath. "No matter what, I'll keep an Eternal Mark on you until the day you tell me you don't want it anymore."

"I don't know why I'd ever want that," Brian said, wiping the last of the tears from his face.

"Oh, you just wait," Asher laughed, waving down Samantha as he finally spotted her exiting the women's section of the bathhouse. "Puberty is one hell of a drug."

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