if you look down and see the stars...

"no i'm not." okay yes he was, but was seth ever going to admit to that? absolutely not. not when he may or may not have been fresh off a job and he was feeling just a touch paranoid. "you also got in my space. like there is a whole myriad of walking trials. why don't you go that way."

"okay, whatever," ellie put her arms up in mock defense. "again, don't care." she looked in the opposite direction and shrugged. now she was just trying to get on his nerves. it was kind of fun. it's been a while since she's just been a little shit. "this way is faster to my apartment."

"I guess you could call me a healer, specifically for brains." She shrugged. As the other woman introduced herself, she smiled. "Vex'ahlia, nice to meet you." She nodded in her direction. "Now that you know I'm a surgeon, what do you do for work?"

"brains? wow." vex had no idea that healing could be specialized or specific. with normal healing like what pike and other clerics did, or the minimal she could do, it just healed the whole body or wherever the wound was. something so specific like just the brain was so incredible. vex nodded back. she then answered the question, "nothing like you...though i do have a little healing magic. i'm a lady. " she gave a nonchalant one-shoulder shrug, "royalty, if you will. though i'm not the leader of my country or anything. just a small city, with my husband."

Perc’ahlia in season 4. (src)

❝ i get it. quite unique, how we are coming from different universes there they were royals ❞ gosh, she cannot imagine how that must've been like. being a royal. everyone knew who you were, but presumably didn't know the real you. it was only a thought that hit her ❝ not what we have seen. not that i know exactly what they looked like in your world. but i do believe dragons can turn into humans, unsure if they can turn back into dragons, if there is any. i have no idea, cannot say for certain because i have not met anyone who has been one in their past life ❞

"it is, isn't it?" vex'ahlia thought the same thing. she was meeting people from so many different places every day. it was so interesting to her. surprisingly, she hadn't met many royals but that was neither here nor there. she cocked her head to the side, "past life? are there dragons in your world? i can say, in exandria that is one of the many abilities dragons can do. and they can easily go back and forth between their dragon form and a human disguise. had to deal with a couple dragons that did that." she really hated thinking about brimsythe and especially raishan.

vex nodded in agreement. she frowned, "it didn't work? that's not a good sign." she was kind of banking on the fact that keyleth would be able to get them home. now they'd have to figure another way. she put a hand on keyleth's shoulder to make her look at her, "we'll think of something. and if we don't, we'll go to percy." she laughed. she nodded again, "yes, i'm sure you'd like to get back to zephrah. and percy and i need to get back to whitestone and our family."

" yeah ? my son, christopher, he's always going around to explore new places with friends. i swear he probably knows his way around more than i do at this point, " eddie chuckles, though it's obvious he's nothing but proud - he loves that his son has so many friends. " but hey, who says your adventuring days has to be behind you ? there's always more to see. " he pauses, realizing he hadn't introduced himself yet, " i'm eddie, by the way. "

she nodded. she couldn't tell if he was just being a gentleman or if he didn't catch that she meant that she was older than she looked. regardless, she was glad he didn't ask her age. a lady must never reveal her age. she chuckled, "oh, believe me, our adventuring days are over. we'll get the group together once or twice a year to do random shit. we actually somewhat recently had to get together for a serious matter and things like that....i'd rather not do." aside from saving her brother, the fight at the maleus key was something she'd rather not repeat. she put her hand out, "vex'ahlia. nice to meet you eddie."

five doesn't necessarily let his guard down, but he lets out a sigh. why is he even bothering to hide it ? " i was trying to get out of this city, but it doesn't seem to be working, " he admits with a shrug. with another blue flash, he disappears only to reappear behind her. no going back now. " it works fine within city limits, but there's not supposed to be a restriction. "

"not....working." ellie was about to ask another question when the same flash happened and he disappeared and quickly was behind her. she took a step forward in surprise. "the fuck?" she knew about magic and powers but seeing them in practice was still strange. "what do you mean restritction?"

yes, she remember most of it. them, what happened to jesse. why ellie left. her brows raised ❝ i do, remember most of it. maybe not every detail, but i remember we went after abby, the little adventure we had. us too, and what happened to jesse. both good and bad ❞ she sighed, wishing some memories could be gone. dina was not angry at ellie, she couldn't be. disappointed, yes, but not angry ❝ must have been. i am not angry at you, i am over it. did you find abby? i am guessing you didn't get your revenge since she is here. i saw her, not sure what to think about it. also guessing, if you went back to our home, i left. i didn't want to live there alone with jj, in case someone or something could happen, and best way to protect him was to go back to jackson ❞ she cared about her son's safety, and she was not certain she would be able to fight on her own while making sure he was okay too.

ellie sighed. she was kind of glad dina remembered everything (or most of it) so that she wouldn't have to explain it, but also wanted to figure out what she didn't know to maybe fill in the gaps. "do you...remember anything after the theater?" where jesse died. she didn't want to say that part out loud. even though it seemed like dina knew that part. her own question was answered as dina continued since she mentioned going after abby and ellie returning to an empty house. that wasn't what surprised her though and made her actually take a step back, "what do you mean abby's here?" she wasn't afraid or anything, just concerned mostly. that was the last person she ever wanted to see again. "are you okay? did she do anything to you?"

"just a little lost, I think," none of this city was familiar to them and being separated from everyone when she was so sure that something bad had happened wasn't putting her at ease. "it's just strange, being seperated from my friends and not knowing where I am,"

"that's alright," vex gave a reassuring smile, "that seems to be a common thing here. people are showing up all the time." she nodded knowingly, "i understand that too. i was also concerned about my friends and family when i first appeared here. luckily my husband's here, and one friend, but i haven't seen anyone else or my family. i go back and forth weather that's a good thing or bad thing."

"well it's not. so you can continue on walking." there was a defensive edge to the way seth spoke. he really was just hoping it would make them keep walking and he could go about his day. "that's what i'm going with because it's the truth." it wasn't but he would never admit to that.

ellie chuckled, "you're getting defensive." she clicked her tongue and shook her head, "it's not. but don't worry, i don't really care." she shrugged, "you're the one that brought attention to yourself. yeah, i looked your way, but if you hadn't said anything to me i would have just kept walking."