Chapter 349: Just Communication

“Y-yeah.” Cold sweat dotted Alex’s brow. “N-nice night for a walk, eh?”

Theresa in no way looked like she thought it was a nice night for a walk. The exact opposite was true.

The death stalker face she was wearing looked more grim reaper, than peacefully strolling hiker. As she nodded to the sapling—its fear spiked.

‘I’m right there with you, little guy,’ Alex thought.

“Well, uh—” He put on his brightest, grandest smile. “—it’s an aeld tree! Surprise! Only took a great big fire, and fighting some Ravener-spawn…and, uhm, some other monsters to get it. Simple.”

He froze.

The silence fell on him, crushing down like a pair of hands choking the breath from him.

“No, no stop thinking like that,” Alex thought. “Why is my mouth going rogue right now?”

“Alex…” Theresa took a soft, careful step toward him. “You’re thinking out loud.”

Alexander Roth, a Hero of Uldar and favourite of the ancient wizard Baelin, barely resisted the urge to scream.

“So…” Theresa said. “You went out…all by yourself…remember when you said that anything could happen, and if the worst did, you wanted me to look after Selina?”

She let the words hang.

“I mean, sure,” Alex said. “If you wanna put it that way, but language is such a varied and…uh…imprecise…subjective tool of communication—jeez, is it getting hot out here or is it just me?” he chuckled nervously, looking at Grimloch. “Am I right?”

“It’s always warm on the surface compared to the deepest trenches of the sea,” Grimloch rumbled.

Silence.

“Grimloch?” Theresa asked, her voice uncharacteristically sweet. “Would you mind giving my boyfriend and me a bit of privacy? Just for a little while.”

“Or…or!” Alex said. “Y-you could chaperone young people who’re alone on a dark night. Haha, protect them from danger.”

“That sounds boring,” Grimloch said. “I already got my fun out of this. I’m getting a snack and going back to bed.” He looked at Theresa. “Kill him quietly.”

“H-hey!” Alex protested.

“What? You deserve it. You knew about a good fight and didn’t share. That’s cold.” Grimloch shook his head like Alex had spit on his ancestors, then he strode off in search of some sort of meat.

Like his neck was a rusted gate hinge, Alex slowly turned to face Theresa…who was advancing on him menacingly.

‘It must be menacing night in Thameland,’ he thought, backing away; straight into Claygon’s immovable form.

Thmp.

“H-hold on now.”

With a single step, Theresa was right in front of him, so close, he could feel her breath on his neck.

“So…” she said quietly. “Tell me. Everything.”

Alex Roth might have been branded a Fool by the god of his land.

But, Alex Roth was not fool enough to lie to the woman who knew him like she knew her own hand.

Taking a deep breath, he told the story, leaving no details out, and adding things he couldn’t tell Professor Jules. In low tones, he told the huntress that the clawed monster in the windmill was kin to the pair they’d fought at Patrizia DePaolo’s ball. She was shocked to hear that it was working with a Hive-queen. He told her about the conclusions he’d come to, and all the questions and suspicions he still had.

Theresa did not interrupt.

She did not snap at him.

She did not blame him.

And, in a way, that was even more unnerving.

It was just the silence, the death stalker face, and those eyes boring deeper into him with his every word. By the end, he would’ve preferred going another round with the Hive-queen.

“And then I met Ripp and we came back home,” he whispered. “And that’s pretty much it.”

For a moment, an apology was making its way to his lips…but he bit it back. He firmly believed he’d done nothing wrong; any apology he gave her would simply be false words to avoid conflict.

And he owed Theresa many things…

…false words weren’t among them.

After what felt like a lifetime that even Baelin might call ‘long’, Theresa let out a long sigh.

“Okay,” she said, then paused, gathering her thoughts.

Alex knew better than to say anything: he just gave her time.

She crossed her arms across her chest. “Alright…I’m not mad at you, Alex.” She paused again. “Okay, I lied. I’m a little mad at you.”

He nodded, leaning in to show that he was fully listening to her.

“Look, I’m not stupid: I know you can handle yourself. I’ve seen it, over and over again. You’re tough,  you’re smart and we haven’t been training with Baelin for nothing. And…” she paused. “…well, maybe I’m the last person who should criticise you for going off into the wilderness on your own, you know…since I basically half-lived in the Coille. And you’re a lot better equipped for dangerous situations than I was back then. So I won’t tear you down for going out there, and besides, you had Claygon with you.”

“Okay, to be fair,” he interrupted her. “When you went into the forest, the worst thing you could’ve met back then was a wild boar or a bear. Or maybe a cerberus? But, like, they're a lot less dangerous than entire dungeons of Ravener-spawn.”

“…Alex. Are you really trying to tell me that what I did was better than what you did? Right now? When I’m trying to help you?”

“Uh…” he murmured.

What the hell was he saying?

“Yeeeeeees?” He offered.

“Oh by the Traveller, Alex,” she said, a pained note in her voice. Uncrossing her arms, she reached down and wound her fingers around the cuff of his shirt. “I…don’t change, okay? Look, I mean it. I’m not mad about you going out there…but why didn’t you wake me up?”

“Uh…” Alex paused. “You were tired from dealing with those Cold Belchers; everyone was, but I have my sleep spell to use, y’know? So I was fresh in no time. I figured it wouldn’t be fair to any of you if I woke you up to possibly end up in some dangerous situation when you weren’t 100%.”

“Alex…that makes sense, but you could’ve just told me. Then I could have said if I was fresh enough or not.”

“You would’ve forced yourself to come with me, or you might’ve…trust me, you really didn’t want to face those bastards when you were tired. They were fast, there were a lot of them, and they were motivated.”

“And I still would’ve wanted to at least know.” She looked up at him. “You’re a big boy, Alex, but…if something happened, then I would never know where to look for you. Never would’ve known what happened to you? You just would’ve been gone. My mother said that to me…and she was right. Never knowing what happened to you would be…unbearable…for life.”

“Yeah…but…” He winced; a dark image rose in his thoughts, and he had to push it aside. “If you’d forced yourself to come with me and then something happened to you because of a situation I dragged you into…I know I couldn’t live with myself.”

She sighed. “Alex. Alex. Alex. This is me. I’m not stupid. I wouldn’t get into something I couldn’t handle: I’ve been in Baelin’s classes too. I know how to measure a fight I can’t win, or a hunt I can’t complete. Even if I’d just hung back to back you up if you got in over your head…or even if I stayed behind, but knew where you were…that’d be a lot better than nothing. Besides, remember that night I walked into your room back in Alric.”

She looked at his shoulder. “I walked with you. Just like you walk with me. Let me keep walking with you. Just tell me. That’s all.”

Alex chewed his lip, imagining if the worst had happened: his body would lay beneath the windmill among the crumbled remains of Claygon. Gwyllain would have disappeared into a hag’s belly, and his body would've followed. By the time surveyors tracked him to the woods, there might’ve been nothing to find but crumbled bits of clay, and maybe some bloodstains.

And then, Theresa, Selina, and Mr. and Mrs. Lu would’ve been left with a cruel hope that he might be alive somewhere. The kind of false hope that shattered people with futile quests and fruitless dreams.

“…okay, yeah…that part wasn’t cool. You deserved to know,” he sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to be sorry just…if you’ve got to do something like that again, tell me where you’re going. I’m not your shepherd or your grandmother: I don’t need to know everywhere you go. …but if you’re going up against a horde of monsters, please tell me. I know you said Gwyllain thought the monsters were probably gone, but he wasn’t sure… ”

“…yeah, okay.” Alex wrapped her in a hug.

She stiffened for a moment, then hugged him so fiercely, he had to exhale. “Welcome back,” she said. “I’m glad you’re in one piece.”

“Thanks…me too,” Alex smiled. “…and…next time, I’ll tell you. As a matter of fact, if you can come, I want you right beside me next time.”

“Next time?” She looked up at him.

“Yeah, I mean…if the aeld tree grants me a nice big branch, then I’ll have the body for my staff. But, I’ll still need to power it. And that means breaking a dungeon, to get its core.”

Theresa paused. “I hope it’s a silence-spider dungeon.”

“Oh? Why?”

She gave a little growl. “Because you got another go at a Hive-queen. I want one too.”

“…I’ll see what I can do.” Alex nodded.

He and Theresa talked for a while before exertion finally caught up with them, dropping their voices to whispers and replacing their words with yawns. Claygon stood patiently in the moonlight, cradling the sapling as Alex and Theresa shared a goodnight kiss, then hand in hand, walked toward Alex’s tent. The golem followed, being as quiet as he could.

No one poked their heads out from any of the sea of tents they walked by, most were likely still deep in sleep.

“Night Claygon. Night little tree,” Alex and Theresa said, crawling into his tent and closing the flap behind them. With Claygon holding the aeld, it wasn’t long before the soft drone of snoring drifted from within. And so, the golem stood beneath the stars, nestling the magical sapling, bathed in its green-golden light. Clouds drifted above. Guards patrolled the walls.

And—under the joined light of moon and aeld—Claygon’s head moved slightly to face the little tree. If Alex had been awake to stand in that light, he might have noticed a wave of surprise rising in the sapling’s aura. Surprise, followed by inquisitiveness. And inquisitiveness followed by a sense of…focus.

If he had been awake and present…

…he might have thought that the golem and sapling were communicating.

###

The next morning found a great commotion among the Generasians.

In the centre of the encampment was the familiar sight of Claygon, holding the decidedly unfamiliar aeld tree. Burlap wrapped its roots in place of Alex’s cloak, and summoned water elementals misted its roots and soil. Mixed with another dose of leasú-todhar dust, the water sank into the wrapped soil, feeding the aeld while the wizards discussed when, if,  and how to plant it…as they waited on some expert help with their decision.

“I’m walking here! I’m walking here!” Professor Salinger’s familiar voice drifted through camp, rising above the crowd as the dark-haired magical botany professor pushed his way through those assembled to witness whatever was going to happen.

When he reached the tree, he dusted himself off as though he’d just rolled through a field of dust.

“Well, look at what we’ve got. This is a treasure! I’ve been briefed: we’ve got to get this lovely in the ground as quickly as we can!”

“Indeed,” Baelin’s deep voice rumbled, and Alex could see his horned head rising above the other Professors’. “I’ve had the wonder of having an aeld tree grow on some property of mine, and I must say, we are most fortunate because it was quite the boon. I agree with Professor Salinger, it should be planted with all haste in a spot where it has plenty of room to grow. We must also give it proper care and attention. Now, where is the scoundrel who wrenched such a prize from the hands of our enemies?”

The professors—as one—looked at Alex from their breakfast table, and Baelin—his eyes twinkling with delight—made his way over to the young wizard.

“Well done, Alex! You left, you saw, and you conquered, just as a Proper Wizard should,” the chancellor said. “And now you feast on the breakfast of champions. Well done.”

“See? You did nothing wrong,” Grimloch grunted at Alex.

“I would not go so far,” Prince Khalik said, buttering a chunk of bread. “You did not share.”

“Oh come on, not you too,” Alex said.

“Now, now,” Baelin cut in. “There are more than enough monsters in this land for everyone. There shall be plenty of opportunities in the future.”

He looked at Alex. “Now, Professor Jules told me a little of what occurred last night. And…showed me a most interesting sight.”

He glanced toward the research tent where specimens from the windmill had been taken. One, was the clawed monster. Alex’s hunter.

Baelin gave him a pointed look. “I do believe you may have more to share with me. And it seems we just might have some planning to do.”