It was more or less settled for them now. The majority of the fireplaces were now all put out and mostly everyone had returned to their huts except for Lukas and the rest of the people with him.
A small circle of not so friends were gathered together for their next move. A certain Vampire had a long stick which he poked the ground with and drew little circles. "Okay, let's try to draw a map." Lukas offered.
"We don't have maps here." Nievu replied evenly.
"Fine, let's get through with this without one." Lukas rolled his eyes. "But we're going to scour the forest so at least knowing which territories are theirs and where are untouched ones–"
"The Everglade circle." Ursa interrupted him.
"Huh?"
"Nobody is allowed there." Ursa pursed her lips. She may not have been able to spend a long time with her brother or even her parents, but there was at least a couple of things that she remembered from them.
"Do you guys really think this is a good idea?" Alexei scratched his head. "If it would end up in confrontation, why not just confront them in the first place and avoid all of this searching for something that may or may not exist?"
"Because we're trying to avoid a bloodbath, that's why." Lukas raised a brow. "I assumed that you'd be interested in looking for the Dryad, Alexei. You read so much about dragons–"
"It just sounds more dangerous." Alexei grunted. "We're already in danger, so why put us through even more danger?"
"Well… if we must," Lukas glanced at the Vampire and then at Stacy and Chaerin. "Perhaps we could leave you and some others behind to stay and watch over this area. Does that sound good?"
"Sounds fair." Alexei nodded. "And if you don't come back, we're just gonna leave."
"How reassuring." Lukas grinned tightly. But it did make sense. Between all five of them, only Lukas and Theodore were the real ones who wanted to be here to save Lily so naturally, Alexei was unreceptive to the idea of endangering themselves more.
"We're not going to do that." Stacy gently pushed her brother away and nodded at Lukas. "I want to come with you, but I feel like I'll hold you back so–"
"I'm coming with you." Chaerin firmly said.
"O-okay." Lukas wanted to turn down Chaerin, but he also wanted to respect her wishes. If anything, with Nievu and Ursa around, and not to mention Theodore? It would be an overkill–
"Stay here." Ursa told Nievu.
Nievu looked ready to protest, but then frowned and bowed his head. "I will, but please make sure to return as soon as possible."
Lukas sighed inwardly, but the fewer the better right? Too many people might jeopardize it anyway, and Nievu would keep the village and the two siblings safe.
"That's settled then. Now do we leave right away or do we call it a night and maybe do it when we're a little more refreshed?" Lukas offered with a grin. It was an unimportant thing in the scope of grand things–but if he could have a night with Chaerin?
That wouldn't be so bad and he'd actually call it a win.
"Right away." Ursa said.
"As much as it makes sense to rest, time is not on our hands." Theodore agreed. "The sooner we confirm the existence of the Heart of the Forest, then the faster that we can leave."
"Okay… and what about you, Chaerin?" Lukas asked, still hopeful.
"We should go now." Chaerin nodded determinedly. "Who knows if Cervus' men are still out hunting for us. It's better we move now."
Lukas tried his best to hide his disappointment and also inwardly scolded himself. It was a matter of many people's lives on hand and that was something more important than his repressed libido more than anything.
A no brainer really.
It took them a couple of minutes to prepare before going out. It was mostly Nievu fussing over Ursa, which was quite a sight when the woman practically towered over the guy.
She patted him in the head before turning to Lukas, Chaerin and Theodore.
"Let's go."
"Lead the way," Lukas said.
Ursa stood awkwardly for a second and looked at the thick mist that surrounded them. It was enough to make the three Vampires exchange looks and wonder if this was a good idea.
Theodore especially thought that it was better for Nievu to have come instead, but then Ursa took a deep breath and then pointed towards a direction. "This way."
"Okay, we'll trust you on that." Lukas nodded, but then also put up his dagger as they started walking. Chaerin and Theodore watched him place minor scratches at the trees that they passed through.
It would work well enough as a marker in case that they did get lost.
Every now and then, Ursa paused and then looked around uncertainly. However, whether it was because she didn't want them to lose confidence in her or was too proud to admit it–she'd take a sniff instead and then head off.
"Do you really think this is a good idea?" Theodore hissed at Lukas. "There's respecting an authoritative figure, but there's also not wasting time. She doesn't look like she actually knows where we're supposed to go."
"That's…" Lukas sighed and looked at Ursa, she was glancing around the mist again. She really didn't look convincing enough and it did seem like Nievu was the one who mostly took charge of everything.
But there had to be a reason why he followed the girl right?
"Um, excuse me." Chaerin surprised the two boys by approaching Ursa.
Ursa glanced down at the much smaller and fragile looking girl. "What is it?"
"How do you know we're going the right way?" Chaerin plainly asked.
Lukas wanted to go grab his girlfriend by the arm and maybe apologize to the scary-looking demihuman. He preferred to keep things civil as much as possible and Ursa looked like a ticking time bomb.
"... they smell sweet." Ursa quietly said.
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