Rem settled onto her bedroll with her back against the wagon wheel, watching Kaisen coax the flames. It was peaceful, actually. After the long day of travelling through the endless white, having a defined space felt almost cozy. Rem found herself relaxing as Altaria emerged from the wagon and joined them, settling down with a soft sigh of relief.
"Long day," Elise commented, passing around portions of dried meat and hard bread from their supplies.
"The fog made it feel longer," Altaria agreed, accepting her share with a grateful nod. "Everything looks the same! It's so hard to tell how far we've actually traveled."
Kaisen poked at the fire, adding another piece of wood. "We made decent progress though. Should be through the worst of it by morning."
Rem took a bite of the dried meat, chewing slowly. The fog would clear by morning, probably. It was just weather, a bank of mist settled in the valley. They'd pass through it and continue on to the capital like nothing had happened. No reason to worry about it.
Except she had been worrying about it. All day, that persistent unease in her gut, her body refusing to relax despite finding no actual threats. But sitting here now, with the fire crackling and her companions around her, that anxiety felt distant. Foolish, even. What had she been so worked up about?
They ate in companionable silence for a while, the only sounds were of the crackling of the fire and their own quiet movements. The temperature was comfortable, not too cold despite the fog. Almost pleasant, really. Rem felt the tension slowly draining from her shoulders, her body finally starting to relax.
"So what's everyone planning to do once we reach the capital?" Kaisen asked, looking around the fire at each of them.
Elise swallowed her mouthful before answering. "Hot bath! Getting to sleep on a real bed? Food that isn't dried or salted to hell and back."
Altaria laughed, the sound light and genuine. "All very important goals."
"Damn right they are," Elise said with feeling. "I haven't had a proper bath in weeks. I probably smell like the inside of a boot."
"Not at all," Kaisen assured her with a grin. "But after the luxuries, what then?"
"You're being generous," Elise said, but she was smiling now "After the luxuries though, I need to get home and start proper training with my mother, she can teach me how to actually control my ice magic instead of just throwing it around and hoping for the best."
"Your control's gotten better," Altaria offered encouragingly.
"Better than when I first manifested it and nearly froze my own feet to the ground, sure," Elise admitted with self-deprecating humor. "But Mother's a master with ice magic and she's been wanting to train me properly for months now, so I guess I'll finally let her have her way and suffer through intensive lessons until I can freeze water without thinking about it."
"Sounds productive," Kaisen said, still watching her with a soft expression that made something twist uncomfortably in Rem's chest for reasons she refused to examine.
"What about you?" Elise turned the question back on him. "Any grand plans for the capital beyond escorting me home?"
Kaisen's expression shifted, becoming more thoughtful as he stared into the flames like they held the answers he was searching for. "Honestly, I don't really know what I want to do yet, just figure things out as I go and maybe learn more about this system that decided to show up in my head one day" He paused, then looked around at all of them with something vulnerable showing through his usual confidence. "But I want to keep you all close, whatever we end up doing."
The words hung in the air between them, weighted with meaning that made Altaria's breath catch and Elise's cheeks flush slightly pink in the firelight while Rem's stomach churned.
"I want to visit the Grand Temple…." Altaria said softly, breaking the moment with gentle determination in her voice. "I've spent my whole life in a small village shrine and I want to see the center of our faith, meet other priestesses who've devoted themselves to the goddess and learn from them." She looked at Kaisen, then at Rem, then back to Kaisen with her copper hair catching the firelight. "But I don't want to go alone, I want to stay with you and keep traveling together, all of us."
"We're not going anywhere," Kaisen said immediately, warmth flooding his voice with certainty.
"What about you, Rem?" Elise asked, turning the conversation's focus onto her "Any plans for when we reach the capital?"
Rem's throat closed for a moment and she couldn't breathe past the sudden panic rising in her chest because what could she possibly say that wouldn't be a lie or reveal things she couldn't afford to reveal. "I don't know," she managed finally, forcing the words past the tightness. "Haven't thought that far ahead yet. Get a shit load of money from you thats for sure"
"Fair enough," Elise chuckled, followed by kaizen and Altaria.
The kindness made it worse somehow, made the guilt sharper because these people genuinely cared about her despite knowing almost nothing about who she really was. She had noted this many times but these werent just characters of a fictional world anymore, they were her friends, her lover, lovers?
'You created this world' a voice whispered in the back of her mind 'You wrote their suffering and called it entertainment, and now you're sitting here pretending you deserve their friendship'
Rem shoved the thought away violently, refusing to spiral into self-loathing again for the mean time, emotion be damned.
"Someone pass the berries," she said, deliberately changing the subject to something safer.
Altaria handed over a small pouch of dried berries they'd gathered earlier in the day or maybe yesterday or whenever they'd last stopped near edible plants, She took one, rolling it between her fingers while an idea formed in her head. A mischievous smile appeared on her beautiful, heavenly face that made Elise's breath stop. Poor girl was sitting right in front of Rem.
"Kaisen," she said sweetly, and his eyes immediately locked onto hers with interest and wariness in equal measure like he sensed she was up to something.
"Yeah?...."
Rem stood in one fluid motion and crossed the distance between them, stepping around the fire with deliberate slowness while Kaisen's eyes tracked her movement and his breath visibly quickened. Before he could react or protest or do anything except sit there looking confused, she settled herself directly onto his lap with her legs straddling his hips and her face inches from his.
"Rem, what are you—" he started, voice cracking slightly, but she pressed one finger against his lips to silence him.
"Open your mouth," she whispered, close enough that her breath ghosted across his skin and made him shiver.
His mouth opened automatically, whether from shock or obedience she wasn't sure and didn't care, Rem leaned in the last few inches to press her lips against his in a kiss that was slow and deliberate, nothing like the quick peck he was probably expecting. She felt him freeze beneath her, his hands hover uncertainly near her waist, and then she pushed the berry past his lips with her tongue , pulling back just far enough to watch his face.
"Chew," she commanded softly. Her hands moved to frame his jaw, holding him in place while his face flushed bright red. His eyes went wide with surprise and want and complete confusion about what was happening.
He chewed automatically, unable to look away from her face this close to his. Rem felt a surge of satisfaction at having completely derailed his brain with one simple move. The berry's juice stained his lips darker. She leaned in again to lick it away slowly, deliberately, making sure he felt every second of contact while his breathing turned ragged. His hands finally settled on her hips with a grip that trembled slightly.
"Such a good boy," she purred against his mouth. Then she pulled back completely, stood up in one smooth motion, leaving him sitting there looking absolutely wrecked. His face was bright red, chest heaving, eyes tracking her movement like he couldn't quite process what had just happened.
Elise burst out laughing from across the fire, the sound bright and delighted. "Oh my gods, Rem! I didn't know you had that in you!"
"That was mean," Kaisen managed after swallowing hard, his voice rougher than usual. He was grinning despite the blush coloring his cheeks all the way down to his neck. "You can't just kiss a guy without warning, then walk away like nothing happened."
"Why not?" Rem asked innocently. She settled back onto her own bedroll, popped another berry into her mouth while making deliberate eye contact. "You seemed to enjoy it."
"I didn't say I didn't enjoy it," he protested. Elise laughed even harder. Altaria covered her mouth to hide her own giggling, her face turning pink.
"You're all terrible," Kaisen declared, but there was no heat in it and he was still blushing hard. Rem's chest feel warm despite the guilt lurking underneath everything. This was a nice feeling
The conversation flowed easier after that, the tension broken by the moment of levity, they talked about random things that had no real importance but filled the comfortable space between them. Elise told a story about a noble party she'd attended where someone's pet bird had escaped and caused absolute chaos, mimicking the scandalized expressions so perfectly that they were all gasping with laughter by the end.
Kaisen countered with a tale from his farming days about a goat that had developed a taste for his mother's laundry and would steal clothes right off the line, forcing him to chase the damn thing all over the property while wearing nothing but his underclothes because it had taken his pants.
"I don't believe you," Elise said through her laughter. "No goat is that smart."
"This one was a demon in goat form," Kaisen insisted with mock seriousness. "I'm convinced it did it just to humiliate me."
Altaria shared a quieter story about Sister Mara teaching her to bake bread, how she'd mixed up salt and sugar the first time and created something so inedible even the birds wouldn't touch it, but Sister Mara had laughed and told her everyone makes mistakes when learning and that's what makes the eventual success so much sweeter.
The fire crackled and popped, sending sparks upward into the fog that swallowed them immediately, Rem found herself genuinely relaxing for the first time in what felt like days or maybe hours.
"You know what I noticed," Elise said suddenly, her eyes sparkling with mischief as she looked between Kaisen and the rest of them. "Kaisen definitely has a type."
Kaisen choked on the water he'd been drinking, coughing and sputtering while Elise continued mercilessly.
"Strong women who can handle themselves in a fight!" Elise listed, ticking points off on her fingers with exaggerated precision. "Competent, capable, not afraid to speak their minds and definitely not the swooning damsel type!" She gestured around the fire at all three of them. "Look at us, we all fit that description perfectly."
"I do NOT have a type," Kaisen protested, his face flushing deeper.
"You absolutely have a type," Rem agreed, unable to resist joining in on the teasing even though part of her knew she'd literally written him that way. "Every woman in this group could probably kick your ass if we really wanted to."
"I'm not sure I could kick anyone's ass," Altaria said diplomatically with gentle humor. "But I appreciate the vote of confidence."
"The point stands," Elise said with satisfaction. "Kaisen's attracted to women who are strong or powerful, which honestly says good things about his character even if he won't admit it. Gosh kaisen, just how much did you like rem saying your a good boy?"
Kaisen groaned, covering his face with his hands in exaggerated despair. "Can we talk about literally anything else?"
"No," all three women said in perfect unison, and the shared moment of solidarity made them all laugh together.
"Okay fine, maybe I have a type," Kaisen admitted through his fingers, peeking out at them with reluctant amusement. "Is that really so terrible?"
"It's actually kind of sweet," Elise said, her teasing softening "You're attracted to strength instead of helplessness, you could have chosen weak minded women, that says you respect us as equals instead of just pretty things to protect."
The moment stretched between them, charged with something that made Rem's chest tighten uncomfortably, and she found herself looking away from the intimacy of it to stare into the flames instead.
The conversation shifted after that, flowing into easier topics about things they'd need in the capital and whether the market would have decent equipment or if they'd need to visit specialized smiths for the quality gear they were looking for.
Rem listened more than she participated, content to let the voices wash over her in comfortable familiarity while the fire crackled and the fog pressed in around them. the wrongness in her gut got quieter and quieter until it was barely a whisper she could almost ignore.
It was comfortable, she realized with growing unease that tried to surface but couldn't quite break through the pleasant lethargy settling over her thoughts. Too comfortable, like this was where they belonged instead of a temporary camp in hostile territory/
Her body kept trying to relax fully, to sink into the pleasant exhaustion and warmth, but her body pulsed with quiet wrongness that refused to let her fully settle even as her consciousness started to drift.
Something's not right, her instincts whispered, but when she tried to examine what exactly felt off, the thoughts slipped away like water through her fingers and she found herself staring at the flames instead, watching them dance and flicker in a hypnotic patterns that made her eyelids heavy.
"We should sleep soon," Kaisen said, glancing at the sky even though the fog made it impossible to tell what time it actually was or how long they'd been sitting here talking. "Long day tomorrow getting through the rest of this fog."
"Kaisen and I will take first watch," Elise added, standing and stretching, rem could sense the desire from her, the lust she felt, some of it was even directed towards herself? Rem's fuzzy brain couldn't quite process. "You two get some rest."
Rem wanted to protest, wanted to offer to take watch instead because something was wrong and they shouldn't all be sleeping at once, but exhaustion was pulling at her limbs and making her thoughts heavy like she'd been fighting for hours.
When had she gotten so tired?
The question tried to surface but dissolved before she could examine it properly, and she found herself standing automatically and following Altaria toward the wagon where their bedrolls were laid out in the cramped space between supply crates.
"Sleep well," Kaisen called after them with warmth in his voice.
Rem climbed into the wagon and settled onto her bedroll next to Altaria, the priestess already curling up under her blanket, exhaustion written across her face. The wagon was warm somehow despite the cold fog outside, Rem want to close her eyes and drift.
Through the open back she could see Kaisen and Elise sitting by the fire, their silhouettes backlit by orange flames as they talked quietly to each other in voices too low to make out words.
Rem's eyes grew heavy despite her best efforts to stay alert, her body sinking into the bedroll while her mind scattered into fragments that refused to hold together long enough to form coherent thoughts. Sleep pulled at her with insistent fingers and she found herself giving in bit by bit, letting her consciousness slip away.
She dreamed of safety, of belonging, of having a place in this world that didn't come with sex or fighting. She dreamed of her companions' smiles, of Kaisen's laugh, of Elise's warmth, of Altaria's gentle presence, all woven together into a tapestry of contentment that wrapped around her like silk.
The dreams shifted and deepened, showing her futures where the darkness faded and her past didn't matter and everyone she cared about stayed safe and happy without the suffering she'd written into their stories. Worlds where she could keep them protected, keep them whole, and the guilt that haunted her thoughts disappeared into nothing but distant memories she could finally let go.
The dreams wrapped around her consciousness like silk, gentle and absolute, Rem sank into them without resistance because fighting felt impossible. The sweetness promised peace she'd been craving since the moment Aria had torn her life apart and dropped her into this nightmare.
Outside the wagon, beyond her awareness, the fog pressed closer and time slipped forward, The fire never died down, the watchers never changed positions, and the night stretched on without ever reaching morning.
Rem slept, dreaming sweet impossible dreams while something vast and ancient fed on the edges of her consciousness.