It's a road that never ends (Jaela)

[Anastasia]

"For now I am," she says, "I'll see you after we punish Lixer."

[Corwin]

That works, Jaela muses. And then, probably influenced by Mei, she gives Ellese a hug.

[Anastasia]

The hug's returned with a murmured, "Thank you."

You said you wanted to deal with that Hanna book?

[Corwin]

Yeah. I'll bring it over as a gift.

[Anastasia]

You find Hanna in the infirmary. It's quiet here, no one else around. She's sitting by an empty bedside, stained with golden blood. Her gaze is on it, head slightly bowed, as if she is lost in thought.

"Jaela," she murmurs.

[Corwin]

"You know what?" Jaela says, after staring at the blood-stained bed for a few moments. "We don't want to be here. Come on, let's go to the hot springs."

[Anastasia]

"I know." Hanna says slowly, getting up. "It's out of my hands now. Having faith is easy, but I still worry for that poor girl."

[Corwin]

Jaela snorts. "If anyone's allowed to whine about it it's me. Not only did I fail at the critical moment again and had to have the girl we were all protecting step in and take the hit for me, but I couldn't even help out with the burning thing." She jerks her head in the direction of the door. "Let's get going, have a change of pace. Plus! Got you a gift and everything."

[Anastasia]

Hanna follows to the portals. As you go through and towards the baths, "You did fine," she says, "There's no shame in this, she chose to take the chance knowing full well it was dangerous."

[Corwin]

"Eh, I should've done better. I even practiced with the light ahead of time, but at the most important time when I needed it, it just wouldn't come." Jaela rolls her eye, lacing her hands behind her head. "And if I were whining for real, I'd go on about how it's the story of my life. Instead, I'm going to soak and relax." Glancing sideways at Hanna, she suddenly asks, "Is it just me or do women keep on hitting on me? It's never happened before we found Aurora, you know. Is it that thing, where if you're with someone it just raises your appeal with women astronomically? Because I thought that only worked for guys."

[Anastasia]

Hanna laughs at that, "No, it's usually the fact that some women get jealous or want the attention." As you enter into the changing rooms, Hanna goes to a chest to store her things. "So who was it this time?" She opens the chest and freezes, 27 balled up in there. He meets Hanna's gaze and says, "Love?"

[Corwin]

Jaela just picks a different chest as if nothing was wrong. "Forget I said anything, at least I don't have to deal with frogs that wear their heart on their sleeves."

[Anastasia]

SLAM!

Hanna slams the chest shut, picks it up and marches right out. She returns promptly, going to a different chest. She pauses to exhale massively, "Love? Hardly. More like a strange obsession. Anyway, what happened this time?"

[Corwin]

"No, seriously, this whole 27 thing is way more interesting. And since you keep on letting him do that people talk, you know. And then there's this." A twist of her wrist summons the Hanna book to Jaela's hand, and she tosses it over to her mother.

[Anastasia]

Hanna starts to say something as she catches the book, but she takes one look at the title and sighs. Her eyes close and she silently mouths, "10, 9, 8..." and so on until she reaches 1. "I don't let him do anything. The damn slaad just shows up no matter what I do. Ithea can't keep him in line, either. He's some stupid prophet slaad and apparently that package comes with powers to harass me. Sometimes I think I've gotten an answer out of him, but then he picks it back up."

"But onto lighter news. Who hit on you," Hanna retorts, tucking the book under her arm.