A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

About half an hour later, Erik, Emma, and Alice were sitting on the couches in the same hotel room they had occupied two days earlier. After mentioning her father's final message to her, it had taken very little effort to convince Alice to wait a little longer for her revenge.

The reason Erik wanted her to wait was based on Elora's recommendation. The fact is that allowing Alice to take revenge now, when her mind is overflowing with fury, might leave her with emotional scars after the deed is done. Currently, Alice is marinating in a mix of loneliness, fury, and loss, which means that killing Victor now would simply be lashing out at the injustice of it all.

Yet, if they showed her Björn's message first, it might allow Alice to find a little closure and ground her emotions, perhaps giving her a sense of continuity and purpose, beyond the immediate rage and desire for revenge.

They didn't expect, or even want, her to give up her desire for revenge. Just to give it a little more purpose, beyond simple venting.

It was just the three of them right now, as Astrid and Emily had both fallen asleep already, while Victor had once again been chained up and dumped in the hallway, much to Alice's glee.

Both Emma and Alice had managed to sleep during the journey, and their physical exertion was far less than that of Emily and Astrid, allowing them to remain awake for a little while longer.

Erik, on the other hand, was tired, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle.

Emma and Alice were sitting on one couch, while Erik was sitting across from them. Emma had insisted on this since she liked Alice and wanted to give her some support.

Alice looked anxiously at Erik. "So? What's this message you couldn't give me out there?" She was a bundle of nerves, as she didn't know what she wanted to hear from her father, or if she wanted to hear anything at all, but she also felt the desire for revenge gnawing at the edges of her mind, giving rise to some impatient annoyance.

Unfortunately, Erik would not allow her anywhere near Victor until she had received her father's message.

Erik held up his hand, and a small light flashed. A small red stone appeared in his hand.

It was the memory stone Elora had given to Björn back in Frostvik.

"A stone?" Alice muttered, with clear skepticism and annoyance in her voice.

Erik didn't mind her tone and smiled indulgently while he nodded. "It's a memory stone. It can record anything, from memories to thoughts to music. Your father's last thoughts are recorded on it."

"Oh…" Alice mumbled, falling silent as she stared at the stone with equal parts fear, apprehension, hope, and desire.

"Here," Erik carefully handed her the stone with a solemn expression.

Alice's small hands trembled a little when she took the stone and stared at it for a while.

Erik and Emma gave her the time she needed, while Emma draped her arm over the girl's shoulders and pulled her a little closer. Something that Alice simply let happen, as Emma's natural aura slightly soothed her chaotic emotions.

Finally, Alice looked up at Erik, "Do you… know what's on it?" she mumbled hesitantly.

Erik shook his head. "It's a message for you, not us. You'll be the first to know what's on it."

Of course, it's not like Erik even had a real moment to rest and check the message between Björn handing it to Elora and now. But even so, he wouldn't have checked what was on it. Not only was it none of his business, but it also didn't really matter to him.

Alice nodded gratefully, "So what do I do?"

Erik figured Alice didn't have much experience with her abilities as a Runebound yet, so he quickly explained to her how she could manipulate the aetherium that was constantly permeating her body.

"When you send that energy into the stone, the message should appear in your mind," he finished his explanation before falling silent.

Alice nodded gratefully again. Yet, instead of following his instruction, she went back to looking at the stone with the same complicated mix of emotions as before.

Emma and Erik simply let her be. Something like this couldn't be rushed. Alice needed to prepare herself, and they would give her as much time as she needed.

Finally, Alice took a deep breath, and conviction appeared in her eyes.

No visual effects appeared, but Erik could feel aetherium flowing from Alice's body into the stone before the young girl closed her eyes. She frowned a little, as if trying to make sense of what was happening.

It didn't take long before the frown disappeared, however. Instead, her facial expression started showing a mixture of surprise, love, and sadness.

Meanwhile, her hand folded around the small red stone into a fist, tightening by the second.

Finally, tears started dripping from her closed eyes, as her shoulders began to tremble.

A few minutes later, she had begun to sob uncontrollably. Her eyes opened again, clearly having seen the entirety of the message, and her gaze was filled with love and loss but also understanding. There was also fury there, but it was greatly tempered by her other emotions.

After her eyes opened, she kept her fist tightly clenched around the stone and dove into Emma's embrace, as she let the young woman's motherly aura wash over and comfort her. Emma looked at Alice with compassion and wrapped her arms around the girl.

Luckily, the maid outfit she was wearing had enchantments to keep it from getting wet.

Alice didn't say anything, and neither did Erik and Emma. They simply chose to let the girl vent her emotions as she cried and sobbed into Emma's shoulder while tightly gripping Emma with her Runebound strength.

It was a little uncomfortable for Emma, but she didn't mind. The girl's grip wasn't tight enough to actually harm her, anyway.

Finally, after ten minutes of crying, it was slowly starting to come to an end, as many of the emotions she had been bottling up from the moment her adoptive parents died had finally gotten an outlet.