Virelith stood before Thariel, her eyes said all the Damphir needed to know about how things will go the moment she didn't like what Thariel is saying.

  She wore lustrous silver armor that hurt to look at, Thariel felt herself being weakened just by being in its presence. The sheathed silver sword on her hip radiated malice, speaking whispers that warn Thariel that if she ever comes in front of its edge, her head would leave her body.

  "I can tell you where they are," Thariel said, she held back a wince and kept her gaze locked on the vilinness. She already told her mother yesterday about what she was pnning so the brood should have left by now. Hopefully.

  "Good, I knew you'd come to your senses." Virelith's smile didn't reach her eyes and Thariel's gut warned her that the viliness would betray her the moment she drains Thariel for all her worth. Did the original also have to worry about something like this? Thariel suppressed a shudder and smiled back.

  "Before that... We need to talk- not here." Thariel looked around, Liora's shop was full with guards, both in and out. She scanned Virelith for any sign of suspicion, before she could get anything, the vilinness nodded and gestured deeper into the building.

  The two of them stood around barrels filled with items, the shop's storage is a lot more barren than Thariel expected. She didn't think that they would actually fit inside of such a small space but they somehow did.

  "Spill it." Virelith went straight to the point, her impatience showing in the way she crosses her arms and scowls. "I don't have time for you, truth be told." She admitted, "I'm just entertaining you for the sake of convenience."

  "The crown left your family behind," Thariel gulped, she wasn't sure if this information was actually right. In a sense, it did have some truth to it based on what she knew during canon but what she said may also be false. "You've suspected it for some time now,"

  Virelith didn't say anything, her silence spoke a lot however. It also told Thariel to keep going, an unspoken question about how the Damphir knew about such a thing also lingered in the air but it went unheard.

  "You need to marry into the crown for your family to get aid," Thariel expined the situation in a much more defined manner, "otherwise there would be no knights coming to the frontier to defend."

  "And you have a solution to that?" Virelith scoffed like she already knew what Thariel is going to say. "You're asking me to use vampires as fodder? Save your kin?"

  "No," Thariel shook her head, the brood wouldn't agree to that regardless. If she were to fix this, then she needed to do what the original did, "but I can use my expertise in alchemy to create a poison which will spread across the invading army, it will slow them down."

  "Or kill them all," Virelith smiled, she seemed on board with the idea. And why wouldn't she be? War crimes don't exist in this world and it is common for armies to catapult decaying corpses across fortified walls to spread diseases into the defending popution and break morale.

  "O-or kill them all yes," Thariel stammered, she hoped it wouldn't come to that but maybe she had no choice in the matter. Diseases were unpredictable, even with magic around to help stave it off.

  "If you managed to do that," Virelith paused, thinking. "Then I might actually take you and your friend under my wing." She smiled, "what do you say? Do you wish to make a pgue for me?"

  Thariel stared at the outstretched hand, she knew this is the kind of deal a devil would make to an unsuspecting victim. Over time, she'd come to regret her choices in this moment but...

  "I have knowledge about what's going on across the Kingdom and the locations of a few important artifacts-"

  "I don't care." Virelith cut her off, "you only need to make a pgue for me, that's the deal I want from you." The unnerving smile that she wore made Thariel visibly shudder, Virelith reacted to this in false recognition."I know you want to do it. Eager to, even?"

  Either Virelith's words were a lifeline or she genuinely misenterpreted Thariel's reaction. She wasn't actually excited about the thought of committing mass murder but she shook the viliness' hand despite that. "I am," she lied, "I've always wanted to try my hand with corpses,"

  "And I've been curious about how an alchemist would fiddle with a dead person, so we're both in the same boat." Virelith's welcoming words sounded far more sinister in Thariel's ears; I'll watch what you're doing.

  "I'm..." Thariel nodded, "I'm gd."

  "So am I," for once, Thariel saw Virelith's lips quirk up in genuine joy. No doubt the thought of trapping someone into her scheme, the possibility of beating the crown's own, and a chance for winning the war within her family's territory made the vilinness feel jubint.

  Now that she ensured her survival, Thariel felt it is now time for the other thing, "the vampires are in-"

  She was cut off again, "I don't care." Says the vilinness, she noticed Thariel's silence and expined further, "right as long as that part of the forest is holding a brood then no one will be able to attack from that side."

  "I get it." Thariel replied, it made some sense. Vampires were powerful creatures and if a, let's say, battalion from an invading army encountered them and got killed, who's to say that it wasn't the forest which actually killed them? Who would confirm it? There are a lot of strong creatures there too. Ones which are possibly more dangerous than a lone vampire. All of these added together made it the perfect defense.

  Virelith quickly announced the change in her pns the moment they got back out, "we're leaving in an hour," she said, voice confident enough that no one in the room even thought about defying her orders. "We'll wait for these two to get themselves sorted and then we'll go back to my father's side to tell him we saw nothing."

  Thariel met Sylka's eyes, she smiled and the Kobold smiled back. She didn't tell anyone about her pn of assisting Virelith, but somehow, she thought that Sylka knew about what she did. It didn't sit right with Thariel and a part of her slowly got consumed by her growing guilt.

  She was only slightly thankful that the Kobold didn't say anything to her on the way back to the house.

  "Well?" Clyra didn't bother to greet them when they arrived, she immediately jumped to asking questions. "How was it?"

  Thariel gave her mother a reassuring thumbs up, though it didn't inspire the confidence she thought it would. "We've made it work," somehow, "and now we're going back with Virelith, we're gonna work with her from now on."

  "You could have sacrificed the brood," Clyra suggested, she has been saying it since st night and it took Thariel a lot of time to convince her it was for the best. Reassuring her that they would be unharmed while working with Virelith took even longer. "You still can."

  "No, I don't want to do that." Thariel shook her head in denial, why would she even risk the lives of vampires when she's the one at fault? "I can fix this, too."

  Her mother only nodded, though her expression spoke loudly about how she didn't believe her daughter's words.

  After gathering their things, the two of them went back to Streamwise to meet up with Virelith. They left moments after arriving, marching on with the vilinness' small army back to her home. As she looked back at the shrinking town of Streamwise in the distance, Thariel felt trapped, but also relieved.

  She got to do everything she wanted and the only thing that it cost her was following the original Thariel's path.