With the beast dead, Xhez turned back toward the direction the adventurers they were chasing had gone.
"Come on," she told Rin. "We have to keep... Ah..."
Xhez fell to her knees, unable to take a single step.
"Whoa, hold on a moment," Rin said, kneeling beside her and placing a hand down gently on the sprite's right shoulder. "You just did a lot back there. You should probably take a moment to rest before-"
"Rest?" Xhez cut her off, looking up at her. "Rin, my mother has been taken! I cannot..."
"Xhez, tell me. If those people were standing in front of us, right now, what would you be able to do? Are you still able to fight?" As Rin posed that question, the sprite looked away, refusing to answer. "I'm not saying we should sit here for an hour. I'm just saying, maybe you should take a moment or two to recharge."
"... I do not think they will wait a moment or two before killing my mother," Xhez said quietly, though she did not move to stand. The sense of imminent grief in her tone struck Rin's core, but she stood firm as she said:
"They already have, haven't they? Going by what Saria showed you in her memories, they could have killed her immediately, but they didn't. It's obvious they want something from her. I don't know how much time we have, but given the state you're in right now, I think we should still take a break. Alright?" Rin asked, as she pulled Xhez's leather back from her belt and held it in front of her friend.
Xhez looked down at it, sighed, and finally nodded, quickly moving to jump inside the thing. As she did, Rin smiled down at her before looking back at the beast's body.
"So, what happened?" Rin asked.
"Hm?" Xhez hummed from within the back, floating at the surface.
"With the monster," Rin elaborated. "I'm not sure what you did back there, but it worked."
"Ah. Well... Do you remember when we first went to those ruins? The one with the curse, where you gained your Spirit Flame ability."
"Yeah."
Xhez's tone took a slightly nostalgic tinge to it as she spoke of her memories. The anxiety she felt from sitting here and waiting while her mother was in potential danger could still be felt, but there was something else now accompanying it.
"I participated in my first fight then, against a skeleton. I tried to cast that Fireball spell you taught me, but, as nervous as I was, my hands shook. As I was drawing the spell, an explosion occurred that pushed me back and pushed me back and sent this odd feeling through my body. When this beast jumped toward me, I wondered what would happen if I was to recreate that effect in front of it."
As Rin realized what Xhez was getting at, her brows were raised high.
"You're saying you failed a spellsign on purpose?"
"I took a risk," Xhez affirmed. "But, it happened to pay off."
It was this moment that let Rin know Xhez's potential as a spellcaster wasn't something she should be holding back. It wasn't a discussion they could have at the moment, but she made a mental note of sitting down with Xhez and talking about just how far she wanted to take her Essence studies.
She'd always respected Xhez and her abilities, but hearing what she just said some of that respect bloomed into admiration.
They waited then for a few minutes. Eventually, Xhez spoke up again.
"Ah..." Xhez stirred in the bag. "This should be enough."
"Are you sure?" Rin quickly asked. She pulled her body back, allowing Xhez to leap out and get back to her original size.
"Yes," Xhez stated. "Even if it is true that they might want to keep my mother alive for some reason, we do not know for how long that will remain the case. We should move."
Despite Rin's concerns, they did just that.
The path they took as a result of Xhez looking through that dead man's memories led them deeper into a forest that grew denser and denser with every step they took. Sounds of human chattering and laughter became more and more audible as Rin followed behind Xhez. Eventually, Rin caught sight of them.
"Hold on," she whispered, taking hold of Xhez by her shoulders and pulling her behind a tree, so they could inspect the situation.
Xhez nodded, and Rin let go of her, allowing both of them to peek out.
The people up ahead seemed to be having a fairly jovial conversation judging by their tones, but Rin couldn't quite make out what they were saying. Between the vegetation around them, however, she did find something.
Her eyes fell on a water sprite tied to a tree in three places. Her hands, which were raised up, her abdomen, and her legs.
Looking down at Xhez, the sprite appeared half-heartbroken and half-relieved. Despite her being in captivity, and probably scared out of her mind, she was still alive.
Perhaps it was because of the swirling emotions inside of her that Xhez looked up at Rin with shimmering blue eyes and asked:
"What should we do?"
That was the platinum varol question, of course, and Xhez left it up to her friend to answer it.
Rin sighed, letting her head rest against the tree for a second. Truthfully, it was hard to say. Going for an upfront fight against these people had a chance of ending terribly, but it was probably safe to say that they weren't going to hand over Vortell peacefully.
In addition, Rin didn't feel too good about the idea of just murdering them.
The people she and Sara had killed at that party were different. Rin had seen the terrible things they had done and were planning to do, firsthand. They were more akin to monsters in her mind than they were humans and so, Rin had no sympathy to spare for them.
These people, however, could just be regular mercenaries, soldiers, or adventurers. They ran into two sprites and, to them, they may as well have been beasts. They might just not know any better.
As sad as it was to consider, if Cara, or even Maria before she learned of Xhez's nature, had been amongst them, they too would have had no problem with what these guys did. If Rin helped kill these people, would it mean they deserved to die as well? It gave her a headache just to consider it.
Not wanting to risk something happening to either of the sprites involved in this situation and with mixed feelings about hurting the humans here, Rin thought of something and decided that it might be the best course of action.
At least, until she acquired more information about these guys.
"Xhez," she said. "I trusted you back there... I'm going to need you to trust me now. Alright?"