When Lys reached the bottom of the stairs and stepped into the front hall, he found Maya standing near the open doorway, pulling a cloak tighter around her shoulders. Drosha waited just behind her, already halfway out the door.
The low voices from the dining table had quieted down, and Helga was clearing the last of the teacups in the background.
"You two are leaving already?" Lys asked, a little surprised. "I thought you might stay the night."
Maya shook her head. "The strike team has a place ready for all of us near the guild. It makes more sense to stay together tonight since we head out early tomorrow."
Lys nodded slowly, as it made sense to him, too.
Even though the conversation died down, Maya was still standing by the door, not excusing herself. Seeing this, with a confused look, Lys studied Maya's face for a moment, then asked, "So? You need something?"
Maya glanced over at Elara, who still sat at the table. "Miss Elara, would you mind if I speak with Lys for a moment?"
Elara stood up without hesitation. "Of course. I'll head to my room, sweety. Come visit again after this dungeon situation becomes stable, okay?"
She gave Tresta's hand a gentle squeeze as she passed, a small warm gesture that made Lys pause a little. His mother's attitude toward Tresta seemed softer now, which made him wonder what they had talked about while he was upstairs.
Once Elara's footsteps faded up the stairs, Maya turned back to him. "So, how close are you to actually lifting Tresta's curse?"
Tresta spoke up right away from her spot near the table. "Maya. It has only been one day. Give him some room."
Maya kept her eyes on Lys and didn't reply to Tresta.
Lys met her gaze steadily. "I said that, didn't I! I know a way. I can't explain everything yet, but I'm confident it will work. I just need time. You'll have to trust me on this."
Drosha spoke from the doorway, her voice flat and direct. "That's asking a lot, boy. You say you'll fix her, but you won't say how. Why should we trust that?"
Lys knew she was right. He didn't have anything solid to show her. He hadn't demonstrated how the bow doesn't really affect him the way he had shown Maya and Tresta. Without that, his words were just words to Drosha; he understood that.
Before he could find the right response, Maya raised a hand slightly. "Drosha. Leave it. I'll tell you later."
Drosha studied Lys for another second, then gave a short nod. She didn't push any further. The way she listened to Maya reminded Lys that Maya still held real authority as their tribe's leader, even if she didn't always act like it most of the time he saw her.
Maya looked at Lys again, her expression serious but calm. "Okay, I'll keep trusting you, as you asked. But while I'm in that forest, I need to know Tresta is really taken care of here. Not just given a place to sleep. Looked after properly. As you saw by now, she can't really work like that woman(Helga) around your house."
Lys held her eyes. "Yeah, I've got that covered already. Nobody in my house will ask her to do even a single task. They already have more than enough hands to work around the house. You don't have to worry about that."
A quiet moment passed between them. It wasn't warm or friendly exactly, but it carried the weight of two people who clearly understood each other. It was more like just this staring at each other alone carried more meaning than words ever could between.
Maya gave him a small nod. "Good, if you understand." She turned toward Tresta. "Stay safe. We'll be back soon."
Tresta returned the nod. "You too. Both of you."
The two women stepped outside. Lys and Tresta stood in the front hall for a few seconds after the door closed. The house felt quieter again, the night air cool where it slipped in before the latch clicked shut.
"You should get some sleep," Lys said softly, turning to Tresta.
Tresta nodded. "Yeah, you too." She started up the stairs without another word.
Lys turned out the remaining candles downstairs, the warm light fading one by one until only moonlight came through the windows. He followed her up the stairs, the wood creaking under his steps.
When he entered his room, Selene was already in bed. The blanket was pulled up to her shoulders, her eyes closed. Lys stood there for a moment, watching the steady rise and fall of her breathing. It was slow and even.
She really had fallen asleep, as he took too long to come up.
He smiled to himself, careful not to make any noise as he climbed in beside her.
For a while, he lay on his back, staring at the dark ceiling. Thoughts kept turning in his head. He needed to get to the church library soon. He needed to understand what that bow really was and how its curse worked. He needed enough knowledge so that when the system's threshold finally opened, he wouldn't be going in blind, as he did with CorpseSlayer. Plus, he still can't read the language of this world, so he would need Selene's help researching the bow, too.
The thoughts of what he should do and what he shouldn't kept coming one after another. The dungeon break, the strike team leaving at dawn, Tresta's curse, the promise he had just made to Maya. The more he tried to sleep, the more all of it pressed down on him.
Still, Lys closed his eyes. Tomorrow will start very early. So, he needed whatever sleep he could get right now.