Turning to look at Killarney, Rowan took in the vast webbed town that he had escaped from. The last time he had stood outside, he had been sure there was nothing but death inside, and that he would avoid it at all costs.
Watching Gid step through the hole in the silk with Bea on his back, Rowan reconsidered it. Yes he had suffered, and very nearly died, but he had managed to save two people from the spider beast. Bea, who had been trapped inside its lair, and Gid, who would have certainly gone in search of her, with or without Rowan's help.
He had also achieved mastery of his ability, strengthened it through the encounter with the spider's toxin and spiky legs. Though he was in no hurry to throw himself into another fight, he felt a sense of pride in himself that hadn't been there before.
He had originally planned on surviving, simply becoming strong enough to live comfortably, but he already knew that he wouldn't be able to turn away from those who needed help. Was that who he was? Someone who dove into danger for the sake of saving someone he hardly knew?
Though he was questioning it, seeing Gid's relief at escaping the town was something he couldn't ignore. He knew that it would be harder to be a good person than an indifferent one, but what was he supposed to do, leave them to die? Memories of Ben resurfaced, and he finally accepted which he would rather be.
Turning away from the town, Rowan noticed they weren't that far off from a road, leading towards the rising moon. He veered to the side to check his map, trying to figure out where that could meant they might be.
'If that way's east... Then it likely leads to either Cork or Mallow. And even if we do end up at Mallow, there should be a road going south.'
"Alright, let's find a place to sleep, then we're going to follow this road until we get to Cork."
Rowan's stomach grumbled here, and he winced at the reminder that he hadn't eaten in far too long, and after passing out from the toxin, he had no idea how long that might be. He guessed it was only a few hours, but he had no idea how long it took his ability to fight off toxins. For all he knew, he could have lost an entire day in that town.
"A place to sleep? Do we even need to? We could just push all the way to Cork today, and take an extra long rest when we get back."
Rowan hesitated. Was it worth stopping to get their energy back? Rowan felt that he was able to keep moving as he was now, but the question was how long it would take them to get tired, especially carrying around an extra person.
"I guess if we do get tired, we can just find some place on the road... Alright. We won't rest, let's just get going straight to Cork."
Gid grinned, and began leading the way on the path home to Cork, following the road they were on. AS they walked, the moon slowly rose up from the horizon, giving Gid and Rowan a proper chance to get to know each other.
"Oh, you're from the complex? You never would know, given how strong you are! Did someone train you?"
"Not until the induction, no. I got a few words of advice beforehand, but I never got anything in the way of combat training, or how to survive in the wilds."
Gid shook his head, seemingly exasperated at how little training he had gotten.
"So what did you know? I heard there was a public school or something near the complex, did they not teach you anything about how to survive?"
"They mainly taught us pre-Fall topics, like mathematics and English. We also learned some history, but nothing Fall-related. I only barely managed to scrape by the written test using a book I had saved up for. And apparently, that book was considered bare minimum knowledge by one of the people I did the combat test with."
"But you've learnt more now, right? Like you know how to achieve mastery and all that? How the Hell's work?"
Rowan grimaced slightly. He did have an idea of how all of those things worked, but he wouldn't say by any means that he knew anything. Until he got full answers from someone, he wouldn't trust any of the information he had gotten.
"The people in the Hell with me gave me some information, but they seemed not to know a whole lot. They kept on saying things about how they 'didn't know much either' after every bit of information they gave me, so I don't know what I can trust."
"Ah, yeah, our parents have been really secretive about this stuff. My folks kept on saying I needed to complete the induction process before they could tell me anything important, but my uncle was able to give me a bit more information.
"My folks always said that your abilities are based on who you are, but my uncle said it's specifically your fears. And each of the names corresponds to your biggest fear of that type. He also said people don't speak about that part because it's embarrassing, but I don't entirely believe that part."
Rowan raised his eyebrow at Gid, understanding what he meant. Nadia had reacted the same way when he had tried to share his fear of injury, shutting him down before he got the chance to speak.
"I got a similar idea from one of my teammates. I went to share my fear, but she entirely shut me down. It just feels odd, if someone really wanted to figure out your fear, they could just work against your ability. There has to be more of a reason as to why no one talks about the fear aspect."