There was an odd tension in the air. It would have likely made anyone else uncomfortable, but Sylas stood in silence as though he hadn't noticed anything at all.
He had already felt that something was wrong long ago, he was incredibly sensitive to such things. Honestly, he didn't need such confirmation.
From the moment Gregory appeared, he had already warned Cassarae about him. But there were some things that couldn't be avoided even if you were prepared.
Plus, Sylas still didn't have a full understanding of the situation just yet. Maybe he was still overthinking things. After all, Cassarae wasn't exactly a woman who would be overly cheery all the time.
"Thank you for your hard work, everyone." Cassarae gave them all a curt nod. "Sylas, come with me."
She turned away and left after a swift inspection of things.
...
Sylas took a sit on Cassarae's couch. Looking at the gloominess on her face, he found himself becoming more amused. A small smirk quirked on the corner of his lips, so subtle that most wouldn't notice it at all. But that seemed to be the greatest provocation to this lioness.
"What the hell are you laughing about?!"
Sylas rubbed his nose. It was really only Cassarae and his mother that would pick up on that. "Go ahead, laugh it up. Giggle until glitter comes out your ass, come on!"
"I warned you."
"Thanks, Sherlock," she spoke with a huff, spinning around in her chair so that she wouldn't have to look at Sylas' annoying face. "He was too useful. By the time I felt that something was wrong, it was already too late. Without him, the village would have already collapsed."
"What happened?" Sylas asked.
After an annoyed huff, Cassarae explained the situation.
It seemed that the salt water wasn't the only problem, neither were the portals. It all boiled down to an honest mistake on her part, and something that Sylas had seen coming before she spoke it.
Spawns.
The issue wasn't actually Gregory and Gregory alone, but rather how Cassarae and Olivia had interacted with the spawns.
It was a matter of philosophy and a contradiction of the mind. It was too difficult for them to take the spawns as the living beings that they should.
Cassarae didn't mention any of this in her explanation. She was able to pick up on a lot of the little details, like how no one approached her for a bonfire dance they held two weeks ago, or how most felt more comfortable reporting things to Gregory instead of her... but she hadn't been able to see the big picture.
That was just how things were with Cassarae. She was more of a live-in-the-moment person than Sylas was. As for Sylas, it was difficult for him to not step out of the frame if he didn't have to.
"You know what the problem is?" Sylas said after a long while.
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