[Kyrit]

Friend had tried to go to sleep, honestly, but after such a long day sleep just wasn't coming easy. Perhaps it was his participation in Vasili's declining mental state saying on him. Maybe he was still just having a hard time with having taken down a dragon. Or was it everything that happened afterward? There was too much to think of and so little time to process.

As his eyes opened again and glanced about the dimly lit hut Friend could tell he was not alone in his inability to settle down. Nemissa was soundly sleeping, Arabelle at least seemed to be sleeping, he hadn't heard any muttering from Vasili for some time, but he could see Vala quietly sitting across from him appearing deep in thought.

"Want to go on walk?" His voice broke through the silence in hopefully enough of a whisper so as not to disturb the others. Armory would likely hear at least, but he didn't often invite himself to conversations.

[Kyrit]

Vala had been unable to wind down. After humming her Sylvan lullaby to both of the girls and running her hands through their hair to get them to settle, she found her thoughts lingering on the events of the day. The wyrmlings, the archives, the connection between the feywilds and the Gods. And most importantly: what happened to the child and Vasili’s ring.

Though seeing the mothers give birth to babies certainly had stung her more than she thought it would.

[Kyrit]

Delving deeply, she hadn’t expected anyone else to be awake that she jumped a bit at the sound of Friend’s voice. “Oh! Ah-! Um, y-yes! A walk sounds good.” She sputtered softly after a  quick moment of processing his words.

Gathering her things, she stood up and wrapped her furs about her and looked at Friend of Foe. She didn’t know where she should go at this time of the night but she considered it safe enough to step outside the bear home that had been lended to them first and take a stroll slowly towards the cliffside.

[Kyrit]

He hadn't stopped to think that it might be a bit startling if you thought you were the only one awake and someone suddenly spoke to you, but thankfully it didn't seem either of them woke any of the others. While Vala pulled together her furs and bundled up the best she could he wondered if perhaps just getting the fire restarted outside would be better than a walk.

His paws lifted gingerly from the floor, taking careful steps to remain as quiet as he could - certainly not something they could do if Armory had joined. Once he made it to the door he held it open for her, waiting until she caught up to whisper out, "Can also get the fire going again. Probably even colder out now after all."

[Kyrit]

Vala couldn’t help the shiver that ran down her spine as the fresh cold air entered the cabin. Pulling the furs even tighter about her, she makes a motion with her hand dismissing the notion of a campfire.

“Movement is better than staying still in the cold...” she says quietly, and the softer disposition of Vala hardens for a brief moment in her eyes although she does not meet Friend’s gaze.

“I wasn’t expecting you to be awake,” she starts off, beginning to walk. “What’s on your mind?”

[Kyrit]

No fire, got it. He would have thought sitting by the fire together would be warmer than walking, but Friend could not be a reliable judge since his tabard prevented him from feeling the cold bite of the mountain air. Though perhaps it was more that she didn't want to be close enough to further expose her emotions. Even if Vala was on the surface he was sure Yavis was tightly holding on to her own emotions.

Smartly she didn't give the time for him to prod though, instead asking what was keeping him up.

"Mmm.." He looked to the sky, the faint orange glow a reminder of the day's events. "So many things. Can't see stars right now, but feels like have as many things on mind as there are stars in the sky. Think... biggest concern right now is Vasili. Ring is not actually cursed, yeah? You think it have something to do with why he tried to get to the child?"

[Kyrit]

Walking away from the group instead of a fire was certainly part of the agenda of making sure that ears that weren’t meant to hear their conversation didn’t do so. But mostly it was from experience that she found sitting still made her focus on the cold even more. And with that thought, she summoned up Yavis to hold back those memories so she could focus on Friend.

She couldn’t help the small half smile that formed on her features as he compared his thoughts to stars, however.

[Kyrit]

“Oh, same. We are both swimming in a sea of stars. B-but ah... as for Vasili... I see you saw past my ah, deception.“

She laughs awkwardly then pauses, making sure the man in question was not about to hear her speak.

“No. It’s not cursed. Not in the least bit. If it was, it couldn’t be removed from his finger as easily as it was, but I didn’t know what else to say.” Vala softly sputters, embarrassed by her own shortcomings.

“It’s a ring to maintain a polymorph spell...”

[Kyrit]

A mental note was made as Vala agreed that they were swimming in stars. So she did have a lot bothering her as well. He wasn't Armory, so he knew it wasn't likely that she would open up to him, but he'd definitely try to remember to ask her if she'd like to talk about anything else after Vasili. For now though, he'd stay on topic.

"Think Vasili not see through it at least." A polymorph spell though.... it certainly made a bit of sense at least, thinking back to when the dragon first hit them with its breath attack. If he'd been rendered unconscious the spell would wear off.

[Kyrit]

But... "Did seem to really not know what ring did though. Wonder if it have anything to do with Razand since he seemed familiar with family."

There were some other thought that came to mind, though he didn't quite want to jump to those yet since Vasili seemed to know nothing. In particular his words about his siblings, about wanting to undo what had been done to them. A brother he couldn't even remember the name of...

[Kyrit]

Vala bit at her lip in stressful thought, listening to Friend speak about Vasili and the ring. She hadn’t really thought to try and read into his sincerity about not knowing what the ring did. But she trusted Friend’s insight to the situation.

“...The ring is also deteriorating his mind with each revival. Which... is not unlike myself,” Vala admits, a warbled and tired smile coming to her face though to Friend it might have looked like more of a grimace.

“But the ring doesn’t give him the ability to come back. It only gives him the ability to maintain his form. So...I can only ask what can’t die here in Barovia... which is the mists and then...” She trials off, not wanting to say the name in fear of summoning him.

[Kyrit]

Vala bit at her lip in stressful thought, listening to Friend speak about Vasili and the ring. She hadn’t really thought to try and read into his sincerity about not knowing what the ring did. But she trusted Friend’s insight to the situation.

“...The ring is also deteriorating his mind with each revival. Which... is not unlike myself,” Vala admits, a warbled and tired smile coming to her face though to Friend it might have looked like more of a grimace.

“But the ring doesn’t give him the ability to come back. It only gives him the ability to maintain his form. So...I can only ask what can’t die here in Barovia... which is the mists and then...” She trials off, not wanting to say the name in fear of summoning him.

[Kyrit]

"Kinda figured mind was our fault. And Razand. But yeah.." There weren't many type of people that came to mind that could come back beyond Strahd himself, which Friend could gather was who Vala implied. There were the revenants, though to their knowledge Godfrey was the last. The only other possibility would be another vampire, perhaps a low ranking vampire spawn sent to keep an eye on them. Strahd would know that with Armory with them the only way to get one of his men close enough to keep an eye on them would be a polymorph spell, and if they knew nothing of their real life they would be less likely to give themselves away. That wouldn't be able to explain Vasili's breakdown in the tomb of the child though.

[Kyrit]

Whereas Vala gave a wavering smile, Friend's lips pulled from side to side as he thought it all over. The only thing that could make sense in the end was Strahd himself, no matter how many different angles he tried to look at it from. "Would also explain where Vasili hear names of dark powers from before. Said he could not find them in his journal, but said he heard names before. And memory mirror thing seemed to help calm him too, even if just little."

[Kyrit]

It wasn't something he wanted to admit, that they'd possibly brought Strahd along with them to a place that was intended to be a guarded secret, but it bothered him even more that Vasili didn't show even the slightest hints of *knowing* that he was Strahd. Would he even have memories of his time as Vasili? Was Vasili his way of getting to pretend to be what his mother had wanted him to be? Did Razand know that he was Strahd, and was that why he enjoyed tormenting him?

Friend's arms now crossed infront of him as he continued to ponder while they walked. "Think.... Maybe is not so bad that it could be him though. Aside from current mental condition. Would mean he actually did want to help us, yeah? Helped get us up here. Maybe thought would be the only way he could help find amber source."