Ophilia was terrified. 

A few short months ago, Ophilia would have called true fear little more than a distant memory. Her recollections of the day Creek fell were hazy at best, and while that day was easily the scariest one she had ever seen, Ophilia could at least put some distance between herself and her terrors through the flow of time. As long as the world kept moving forward, Ophilia would be alright. She just needed to keep her head up and her eyes trained on the horizon. 

Since starting her journey, Ophilia had learned a lot about the world. More specifically, she had learned how terrifying it could be. Every day and every step taught Ophilia something new, and she had to decide in the morning if she would rise to the challenge or let it break her down. Most of the time, Ophilia was glad to choose the former. Even after she killed Morlock, Ophilia wanted to move forward. She refused to stall for any longer than was absolutely necessary. The world was grand, and she yearned for it. 

Perhaps that was her greatest weakness. Ophilia had found the best group of people she could ever hope for, and each day she spent at their sides was a day worth its weight in gold. Ophilia would treasure these priceless memories for the rest of her life, and she would never allow anyone to take it from her. Ophilia loved the travelers more than anything. She had been glad to let their journeys dictate their path for a while, doing all she could to help them move forward even if it meant she was left relatively stagnant. It had been ages since the group's first trip to Saintsbridge for the first stop of the Kindling, and Ophilia hadn't bothered to ask anyone to change course for her. 

But now... Ophilia knew she was going to have to set out for Goldshore. Now that the black market had been resolved--as much as it could be considered resolved given the circumstances--the travelers had no other destinations in mind that required immediate attention. Ophilia was the only one who hadn't tried to further her goals recently, and she knew that would need to change soon. She needed to go to Goldshore, strengthen the second Sacred Flame, and then return home. Her family was waiting for her there. 

That was what Ophilia feared most. When she first set out on her journey, Ophilia had wanted nothing more than to finish the Kindling as soon as possible so she could go back to her sister and father. She finally considered them her family after putting artificial distance between them for fifteen years, and Ophilia didn't want to lose them... But she knew what she had to do. Ophilia had hoped to rush through her journey and then rush just as quickly back into their arms. It was all she could want. 

But that had been before she got attached to the rest of the travelers. Ophilia loved them more than anything, and she had fallen in love with every little part of them and the journey they shared. As horrible as it was to admit, Ophilia was afraid of sparking the flame in Goldshore. That would mean she needed to go back to Flamesgrace, and Ophilia already knew she wouldn't be able to leave her home so easily a second time. Lianna and Josef needed her, and Ophilia couldn't abandon them a second time. 

Ophilia had been thinking more and more about Josef's last words to her in the last few days. Maybe it was because she could sense that she was running out of excuses to stay on the road. Every journey had to come to an end, and Ophilia knew that she was nearing the end of hers. Josef claimed when Ophilia left that he would die soon and that he knew his body better than any other... But Ophilia didn't believe it. The healers believed that he would recover, and Ophilia expected him to be back on his feet when she went back to Flamesgrace. He would welcome her home with a bright smile, and Lianna would draw them both into a hug that Ophilia finally accepted came from a place of familial love rather than pity. Everything would finally be alright again... But the close brush with death would scare Ophilia too much for her to want to get on the road again. What if the next time she left marked the last time she saw the people she loved most? Ophilia couldn't bear that. She didn't know how anyone ever could. 

So she would instead hold off on going to Goldshore for as long as possible. Ophilia knew it was selfish, but she wanted to stay there forever in the perfection her friends had brought her. As long as they were together, they were safe. Even in their darkest of hours, they would find a way to push through as a team. Ophilia admired the travelers more than she could ever hope to describe in words, and she didn't know how she could live without them... But she didn't know how she could leave her family again either. Ophilia's desperate attempts at creating a nonexistent limbo were going to fail her soon, and she knew it, but that wasn't going to stop her from trying. It wasn't healthy, but Ophilia couldn't think of anything else to do with herself these days. 

"Hey, Ophilia."

The cleric held back a sharp cry of shock as the door to her room opened. Tressa had returned from her adventures on the town, and she was sporting a few new goods from the Wellspring shops. The merchant winced at Ophilia's show of surprise. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to scare you," Tressa apologized. She set her new wares down on the floor and looked at Ophilia for a long moment before the corners of her lips tipped over the edge to form a frown. "Are you okay? You seem... Sad."

"I'm fine," Ophilia answered quickly. Even if she could have put her indecision to words, Ophilia didn't want to talk about it more than was necessary. Tressa wasn't buying it though, and she glared at Ophilia pointedly, though her eyes lacked any of the bite to prove that she really hated her for it. Ophilia couldn't withstand the pressure for long, and she caved with a heavy sigh and a shake of her head. "I... I'm a bit nervous about the next step of our journey."

Tressa sat down on Ophilia's bed next to her, and the cleric found any excuse she could to not meet her friend's gaze. "Because we're probably going to Goldshore next?" Tressa asked, and Ophilia looked away once more. "Everyone seems to assume that we're going to be headed there for the sake of the Kindling. We got distracted with a lot of things after Saintsbridge, but we've finally got the time to go up there." Tressa paused, twiddling with the strap of her bag. "Why are you so scared of going to Goldshore? Is everything alright?"

"It's just..." Ophilia sighed and shook her head once again, and the childish wish to stop the clock only grew, welling up from the pit of her stomach and threatening to swallow her heart in one foul bite. "I don't want all of this to end."

Tressa watched Ophilia for another long moment before she nodded. "I think I get it," she murmured. "You're going to have to go back home to Flamesgrace to finish out the Kindling after you do the Goldshore part of the ritual, and..." Tressa's fingers clamped down on the strap of her bag. "You don't think you'll be joining us on the road after that."

"I-It's not that I want to leave," Ophilia said quickly. "It's just... I don't think I could leave again after what happened with Father. I trust the healers who say that he'll make a full recovery, but that close brush with sickness... It scared me a lot more than I was able to admit at the time. If I thought that would be the last time I saw them again... I couldn't walk away from Father and Lianna again."

Tressa hummed quietly, her fingers fumbling for a purchase they could not find in her bag's strap. "I understand," she whispered. "If I thought that the last time I saw Ma and Pa was before I got on the road for the gods only know how long... I wouldn't have been able to take it either. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to leave in the first place." Tressa forced herself to loosen her grip. "But... If you really think that's what you have to do, then that's okay."

"But it doesn't feel okay," Ophilia sighed listlessly. "I love being with you and the others more than anything. I don't want to walk away from all of that. Still... It doesn't feel right to leave Father or Lianna after something like that."

Tressa nodded dully before she let out a small but determined breath. "All of us will understand if that's the choice you make," she assured Ophilia. "Sure, it's going to suck if you decide that you want to leave, but... We don't want to make you stay with the rest of us if you're not happy here. Well, I know you're happy with us and that there's really no good outcome to a situation like this, but... If you decide that you want to go back to Flamesgrace, then none of us are going to hold it against you. We'll understand."

Ophilia felt tears rising in her eyes just as a sob pushed its way from her lips. Had she always been this close to crying? "Thank you, Tressa," she forced herself to say. She reached out and took Tressa's hands in her own, and the merchant seemed glad to have something else to focus on than wringing the life out of her poor bag's strap. Ophilia, meanwhile, was glad that she had chosen to take her gloves off. She wanted the most direct touch she could get her hands on. She needed the most human thing she could find. "I... I'm not going to like having to walk away from all of you. I don't know how anyone could like something like that... But I know I need to face it soon enough."

"And everything will be fine when you do," Tressa promised even though they both knew it was one vow she wouldn't be able to keep. "You handled the first part of the Kindling perfectly. You even helped out a bunch of kids along the way. I know you'll be able to handle this next part too." She squeezed Ophilia's fingers like she was afraid of letting the cleric go. Ophilia wouldn't have been surprised if that was the truth. "How about you decide what you're going to do after we go to Goldshore?"

Ophilia nodded, not bothering to rub at the tears that were gladly streaming down her cheeks now. "Yes... That sounds like a good idea," she agreed. "I don't want to make any hasty decisions when there's so much on the line. I... I'll think it through more after we finish our business in Goldshore. Maybe I'll have a better idea of what to do after that." Ophilia already knew it wasn't going to be that easy, but if she gave herself more time, maybe the pieces would come falling into place. Putting off the choice for as long as possible seemed like the only thing she could do anymore. She didn't know how much good it would do her, but she had to try. 

"That's a good place to start. There's no point in rushing into anything, especially if it's as big as this," Tressa told her with a smile fueled by relief. Ophilia could see the selfish desire to stay there with the cleric for as long as she could stand behind Tressa's eyes, but she chose to not comment on it. After all, she was being every bit as selfish for wanting to stay with Tressa and the rest of the travelers too. "We've got everything under control. We'll handle whatever happens in Goldshore, and it'll all be great. I promise."

Ophilia nodded once again, but before she could say anything to prove or argue against Tressa's confident declaration, she heard a sharp knock at the door. She glanced up in preparation for someone to walk inside, but it didn't happen. Instead, Alfyn spoke from the other side of the door. "You two doin' okay?" he asked. "We're about to talk to Theri about everythin' that happened today."

Ophilia finally pulled one hand away from Tressa's, though she immediately missed the touch of skin against her fingers. How ironic it was that she was missing the warmth in the middle of the desert. "We're alright," she called out. She rubbed at her eyes as quickly as she could before Tressa passed her a small handkerchief with her own free hand. Ophilia accepted it with a grateful smile before she started to dab at her eyes. "We'll be in there in just a few minutes." Ophilia knew Alfyn nodded from the other side of the door by the shift of his shadow across the door's crack, and he walked away moments later. 

Tressa looked at Ophilia with a muted frown, her eyes a storm of countless emotions that Ophilia didn't know if she even wanted to try and identify. "Are you sure you're ready to talk to them?" she asked. "I don't want you to go in there if you think it's going to make you more upset."

Ophilia shook her head and passed the handkerchief back to Tressa. "I'll be fine. Besides, what good is Therion promising to tell us about Darius if we're not there to hear him out in the first place?" Tressa winced and nodded despite her clear objections to Ophilia going out with such a bold red cast to her cheeks. She tucked the handkerchief away, but her other hand remained locked with Ophilia's even when the cleric spoke once more. "We can talk to everyone about this after we finish our business in Goldshore. I'm sure there will be a time for us to discuss this."

"Alright," Tressa agreed despite the clear hesitation in her eyes and voice. She looked at Ophilia for a pointed second before letting a goofy smile spread across her lips. "If anyone asks about why your face is red, we're going to say that it's because of how hot it is here. You're a Frostlands girl. You're just not used to it."

"You have no idea how true that is," Ophilia cringed. She still remembered just how vulgar she had been internally the day before when the heat first started to wear her down, and she couldn't say she was proud of it. She doubted anyone in the church would be happy to hear that the Flamebringer thought so poorly of one of the lands of the gods... But no one in the church needed to know what happened on the Kindling so long as the rite was carried out. This would stay her secret, and it would not be the only one. "Let's go see the others."

Much to Ophilia's surprise, Tressa didn't let go of her hand even after they stepped out into the hallway and walked down the corridor to Alfyn and Therion's room. Perhaps she was trying to enjoy all the time she could at Ophilia's side before she was forced to part ways with her. Ophilia didn't ask, and Tressa didn't explain. Instead, they simply filed into Alfyn and Therion's room along with the rest of their party. It was a tight fit with eight of them in a room meant for two, but no one said a word about it. They couldn't have had this conversation in a public place even if they wanted to; this was something that they all knew would need to stay between them. Even if they were cramped, they would be willing to deal with it as long as it would help Therion to tell them everything he knew. 

Therion's eyes didn't stray far from the door even after Ophilia and Tressa sat down on the floor near Alfyn's bed. H'aanit, Primrose, and Cyrus were all sharing Alfyn's bed while Olberic opted to sit on the floor with Tressa and Ophilia. Alfyn, on the other hand, had taken a seat beside Therion on the thief's bed. Ophilia couldn't help but find the sight sweet. She didn't think the group had been this in sync with one another in a long time. 

It made it all the more miserable that she would have to shatter it soon though. 

"Alright," Therion started slowly, and all eyes wandered over in his direction. He refused to meet any of their gazes. "I guess it's time to get started." He took in a careful breath like he had to remind himself how to breathe before sighing. "Darius... The man we saw today... He was my old partner. We met each other in the prisons beneath Saintsbridge. We had both made mistakes and wound up getting caught for our thievery. We were put in the same cell since the gaol was overly crowded, and I helped him to escape. I picked the lock, and we snuck out together. That was the start of what would be... A partnership of sorts between us."

"What kind of partnership?" Tressa asked anxiously. Her grip on Ophilia's hand tightened, and the cleric realized that she was still holding onto it for dear life. "Sorry if that's intrusive, but with the way he was acting earlier..."

Therion winced, clearly not having expected the subject to stray in such a direction so soon. "At first, we were just there for each other because no one else would be. It's hard to find anyone willing to work with a street rat who's only good for stealing from others," he began. "But with time... Yeah, it evolved into something more. I don't know if you could really call it 'love,' but that's what he said it was."

"Even though he was so much older than you?" Tressa blurted out. She only realized what she had said after all the attention in the room shifted in her direction, and her cheeks went pink. "I-I'm not trying to be mean or anything, I'm just--"

"Shocked?" Therion finished for her, and Tressa nodded. "Yeah, I was too. I guess I got used to it with time, but... He wanted to use me for my skills. That's all I was ever worth to him. If I was helping him, then I was worth keeping around. If I stepped out of line, then he would threaten to leave me for dead. Through some miracle, I never wound up being ditched... Until the last day I saw him before today."

Ophilia's chest tightened. She already knew this was going to end horribly for everyone involved. Therion wouldn't have pushed away the idea of trust so completely after leaving Darius if it hadn't ended poorly. Just what had Darius done? And how soon would she be able to tear him to pieces for it?

Therion let out a shaky breath, and it was only thanks to Alfyn's hand on the small of his back that he remembered to keeping forcing air in and out of his lungs. If not for the apothecary, Therion probably would have slipped into a panic attack ages ago. "A few weeks before this, we had stolen a few things from a bigger thief group based in Riverford. They're defunct now, but... That's not the point. Darius made a deal with them, and everyone decided that they would be better off with me dead. I was too dangerous to keep alive, or so they thought." Therion let out a scoff that he clearly wanted to be a laugh, but he didn't commit enough to make it one. "He pushed me off a cliff. I survived thanks to Aeber intervening before I could die, but... It was a close call. I've been blind in one eye ever since. It's been... An adjustment living without Darius, but I'm making it work. Everything is fine."

Therion had gotten so caught up in trying to explain himself that he didn't notice just how horrified the rest of the travelers were until he finally dared to meet their eyes for the first time that night. He swallowed dryly, but it only barely worked to assuage the desert that had risen in his throat. "Things are better now," he assured everyone, but no one was believing it quite so easily. "I'm glad that I have nothing to do with Darius anymore. You're all much better people for me to place my trust in, and I... I'm not going back to him again. I'm not going to let him ruin me a second time."

"I'm sorry it happened a first time," Primrose chimed in, and Therion's shoulders went stiff all over again. She paused for a long while before letting out a thin breath of her own. "Pardon me for making assumptions, but... You were pushed off a cliff in the Cliftlands, weren't you? That's the reason you were so paranoid when we were in Quarrycrest."

Therion once again tried and failed to let out a laugh, but no one encouraged him to make it real. "Astute as always," he muttered. "I've been wandering from town to town ever since then, and I've been doing my best to ignore Northreach. Darius took over that group of thieves in Riverford, and when he realized he would have no luck with the local authorities around, he decided to tear everything apart and take it up to Northreach. That's where he's been based ever since. I... I tried to not listen to everything people were saying about him, but it was hard to not listen after everything he did."

The room fell silent, and Ophilia suddenly wanted to reach out and close the distance between herself and the thief. She refused to indulge herself, already knowing that touch was likely the last thing Therion wanted or needed right now. "I'm sorry," she told him instead, and Therion's entire body seemed to collapse in on itself. Just as before, the only anchor keeping him somewhat held together was the gentle, ginger touch of Alfyn's hand against his back. "You never should have had to go through that, and... I'm sorry that you did."

Therion couldn't seem to figure out how to respond to that, so he settled instead for staring down at the place where his shoes met the floor. It offered him no meaningful distractions though, so he instead took to clenching and releasing his fingers rhythmically to make the fool's bangle jingle along with them. "Thanks," Therion murmured. "I... I appreciate that." He cleared his throat after a few seconds more of silence, unable to sit with the discomfort of being looked at for so long. As a thief, he was best at diverting attention away from him, not stewing in it during a time of emotional turmoil. "I don't know what to expect when we get up to Northreach, but I can only assume that Darius has the entire town wrapped around his little finger. Northreach was always a small town, so he probably caved it in pretty quickly after settling in."

"We can chart a course for where to go next after we go to Goldshore," Cyrus suggested. "It has been far too long since we last performed a leg of the Kindling, and I believe it would be best for us to head there next. We can figure out where to go after that."

Ophilia did her best to not show just how anxious she was at the suggestion, and she prayed no one could sense the sudden icy chill that had been poured down the back of her neck. "Yes... You're right," she agreed carefully. She had known it was coming, but that didn't make her ready to face it, especially so soon after expressing her fears with Tressa for the first time. "Perhaps we should go and investigate the final shrine location in the morning and then go to Goldshore. I assume that we know where to find the last of the shrines now, yes?"

"Presumably," Cyrus hummed. "There are only a few other markers we have yet to go through. One of them is near Riverford, and the other is set in Hornburg. I believe it would be in our best interests to investigate the Riverford region tomorrow so that we can prepare the Warp Staff to take us there when the time comes to confront Werner."

Ophilia nodded slowly, and that treacherous freeze down her spine from before returned all over again. She probably wouldn't be with the rest of the group by the time they were ready to face Werner. Ophilia would be gone before all of them saw their journeys through to the end. She would finish out the Kindling and return to Flamesgrace, and in doing so, she would miss everything. She wouldn't see Primrose face Simeon, Therion confront Darius, Olberic fight Werner... There was so much Ophilia knew she was going to miss out on, and it left a gaping chasm in her chest that she knew she would never be able to fill. After all, the worst thing to miss in the world was lost time. 

"We should all try to get some rest for now," Alfyn suggested. "We dealt with a lot today, and yesterday was no walk in the park either. We can handle the final shrine battle in the morning, and after that, it'll be off to Goldshore." He pulled Therion in a little bit closer with an arm around the thief's shoulders, and Therion didn't bother with fighting back. Ophilia would even argue that he wanted to be there against Alfyn, and once again, it reminded her of all she was slated to lose. She wouldn't be able to help Therion and Alfyn through the opening stages of what they all knew would be a relationship. Ophilia wouldn't know how any of it went until long after it was over. 

Tressa squeezed at Ophilia's hand to remind the cleric to respond, and Ophilia snapped herself back together. She couldn't despair yet. There was still one stop left on her journey, and after that, she would be able to show everyone around Flamesgrace before seeing them off. She could introduce them to Lianna and Josef. Ophilia knew they would all love one another. It would be better to look forward to that than mourn for everything she wouldn't be able to see. "You're right," Ophilia agreed. "Tomorrow... We go to Goldshore." 

The travelers slowly but surely trickled out of Alfyn and Therion's room from there, but Ophilia was one of the last to get up. Tressa remained ever faithful at her side, and Ophilia was glad she had. She didn't know what she would have done if she had lost Tressa's grip on her hand. When Ophilia finally pushed herself to her feet again, it was with Tressa's help. Her palm was starting to sweat now, but Ophilia couldn't bring herself to care. She needed to enjoy this for as long as she had the time left. Her adventure was almost at its end, and she didn't know what she was meant to do about it. 

Tressa didn't seem to know what to say either, so she instead led Ophilia back to their shared room and pulled the door shut behind her. Tressa hesitated for a second too long before she pulled her hand away from Ophilia's fingers and started to get ready for bed. Ophilia stared down at her suddenly empty palm for a bit too long, doing her best to ignore the threat of tears rising in her eyes. When had time started to pass so quickly? Ophilia had barely been given the chance to reckon with the coming end of her adventure, and it would be there to assault her the following day. She didn't think she had ever hated anything more than this helplessness and the partnered fruitless desire to stay somewhere she knew she could not linger. 

But the rest of the world was calling for her, and Ophilia couldn't ignore its whispers. She needed to finish out the Kindling and then return home. Lianna and Josef would be waiting for her, and so would the rest of Flamesgrace. The Kindling had always been seen as a journey of spiritual understanding just as much as it was an extension of religious authority, but Ophilia couldn't use that as an excuse forever. She couldn't claim that she was doing what was best for her journey for too much longer with the eyes of the world waiting to see what she would do next. 

"Night, Phili."

Tressa's voice cut through Ophilia's thoughts like a knife, and the cleric looked up to see Tressa already laying down to rest for the night. Somehow, Tressa looked exhausted in a way that had nothing to do with the group's failed adventures in the black market. She already missed Ophilia even before she could leave. Guilt pulled at Ophilia's chest, and she almost wished she had never voiced her fears about having to leave in the first place. 

She pushed the thought out as quickly as she could before moving to her own bed. "Goodnight, Tressa." Ophilia didn't comment on Tressa using the same nickname for her that Lianna always had. Ophilia already knew it would only make her poor mood even worse. She needed to stay focused, and she couldn't let her emotions get the better of her yet. The world needed her, and Ophilia needed herself too. 

But most importantly of all, the travelers needed her, and Ophilia had no idea how she would be able to break the news to them. 

That night, Ophilia silently cried herself to sleep. If Tressa noticed, she said nothing, for she was doing the same. 

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Wow... That sure was a bittersweet one. 

Wellspring is something of an interesting town in this story because it marks the best place the travelers have been in a long time. They're finally getting close to completing their character arcs in time for the final chapters and everything beyond, and you can really feel everything coming together. Primrose, Alfyn, and Therion are no longer in their open distress from before, and the pieces are falling into place for the rest of the travelers too... At least for the most part. 

Ophilia has had to take a bit of a backseat recently because of the angst-fest going on with a lot of the other travelers, but she's got her own issues to face too. It's been a long time since Ophilia's last chapter, but we'll be headed to Goldshore next, and that will be... Hoo boy. Wow. 

Right now, the plan is for Ophilia's third chapter to end at either chapter 182 or 183. It really depends on how long everything takes. We'll have to see. But first and foremost, we have a battle with Winnehild to take care of, so that will be our priority for next time. Until then, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Feedback is appreciated as always. Have a nice day, everyone!

-Digital