Arie heard Baro before he saw him.
It wasn't his voice. It was the breathing that was rough. Uneven footwork which was breaking down.
Someone running out of room.
He changed direction.
Baro was exactly where he expected him to be.
Four of the ember creatures had encircled him.
Baro had two under control.
The other two—
Not for long.
He moved without announcing it.
He didn't need to.
The third one dropped before it even registered him.
The fourth turned—
The ground shifted under it. Ash pulled sideways. Just enough.
Genshi finished it in less than five seconds.
Baro stood there breathing hard.
He looked at the bodies. Then at Arie.
"I had that, you know?"
"You had two," Arie said.
A pause.
"I was getting to them."
"In about fifteen seconds," Arie said, "they were getting to you."
Baro didn't answer immediately.
Looked back at the ground again.
Then—
"…yeah."
Quiet.
"Thanks."
Arie shrugged lightly.
"Don't mention it."
"Your gear okay?"
"I'm fine." Baro quickly checked himself. Hands moving automatically. "Yeah. Fine."
He exhaled.
"We should move."
"Northeast."
They moved.
The deeper they went, the worse it got.
There was no break, no plateau, just more and more heat. More ash. Bigger things moving where they couldn't see properly.
Three fights in the first stretch.
Arie kept it clean, controlled but not too clean.
Baro settled after the first one.
That aggression of his—it worked here.
He's good, Arie thought.
Always was.
They walked in silence for a while.
Then Baro started talking.
Small things at first.
About terrain, heat. The way everything here felt slightly wrong.
Arie answered when needed. Nothing more.
"Can I ask you something?"
"You're going to anyway."
Baro huffed a short laugh.
"How long have you been like this?"
Arie glanced at him.
"Like what?"
"You know what I mean." A vague gesture. "This. The way you move. The way you—" he stopped, searching for it, "—see things before they happen."
Twelve years.
Arie didn't say it.
"I've been training a while."
Baro shook his head slightly.
"It's not just that."
"I've been training since I was twelve. I know where I stand."
He stepped over a patch of unstable ground.
"But there's a gap."
Another step.
"And I can't close it."
Arie didn't answer.
"It bothers me," Baro said.
"I look at you and I don't get it."
"You're twenty." Arie said.
Baro frowned. "So?"
"You're measuring yourself against someone who has a different relationship with fighting than you do," Arie said. "Some people find it naturally. Others build it over years. Comparing the result without knowing the process is pointless."
Baro was quiet for a moment. "That's a very diplomatic answer."
"It's an honest one."
"Sometimes it feels like you say things that are true," Baro said, "just not all of it."
"Everyone does that."
Baro accepted it without pushing further.
They kept moving.
The forest changed again. It grew denser and tighter.
Heat was sharper now. It was more fierce and closer.
"Back there," Baro said. "That was the third time."
"Second."
"You were watching the first one?"
"I passed through."
Baro stopped walking.
Arie stopped too.
"I owe you," Baro said.
No hesitation now.
"I mean it."
Arie looked at him.
Really looked this time.
Baro didn't look away.
No guard. No performance.
Just… honest.
He means it.
"You don't owe me anything," Arie said.
"I do."
A pause.
Then Arie exhaled lightly.
"Fix your left side."
It caught Baro off guard.
He laughed.
Actual laugh.
"That's your answer?"
"It keeps coming up."
They started moving again.
Baro kept talking.
Lighter now.
Like he hadn't just said something that mattered.
Arie listened and answered when needed to.
They watched the forest ahead and watched it shift in terrain. It had a darker ground with thicker movement.
Too many things moving where they shouldn't be.
Baro saw it too.
"That looks bad."
"It is."
"How bad?"
Arie looked ahead.
He already knew the answer.
He already knew the place.
"We'll find out."