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The smell of smoke lingered gently through the house.

Adal had fallen asleep rather quickly after his excursion with Audrey and Peder, but the scent had him waking up with a jolt of adrenaline. The smell of smoke meant fire, and fires were rarely kind-- in his quiet panic, Adal leaned briefly against the bedpost and looked around. It was still night.

Without thinking, the Locos stumbled off of the bed and was immediately sent kneeling on the floor. He hissed and cursed loudly before poking his head out of the window, but his head barely reached the bottom of the window frame-- he couldn't see anything from his vantage point. The smokey smell became stronger, though, from that of a faint wisp to something just noticeable, like a dim candlelight, hovering just over the scent of death looming from inside.

Some small part of him figured it was the house, though he reasoned that the aroma would have been stronger-- but he was in no shape to outrun something like that. Was Audrey asleep? He grabbed at the wall and used it as support to stand. There was no way a human could notice something so faint.

Though, of course, there was the Caedos.

Yes, there was the caedos indeed.

Not more than a few moments after Adal had poked his head out the window, there was a frantic tapping of claw against hard wood as the small creature came bolting into the room. "Hey kid," he called after the Anhelo upon seeing the other plague already up and alert, "I'm guessing you smell that too? Smoke?" Peder had not paused in his scurrying to speak, quickly closing the distance between the two as to clamber up the boy's clothes and leap onto the windowsill. "Do you see anything out there? It can't be in here, can it? It's way too weak to be coming from the house!"

The wolf's demeanor seemed much different from his devil-may-care attitude from earlier in the day. He seemed much more alert, and far more serious than he had presented himself in the past. This change seemed to be driven by a primal fear, though, rather than a sensible reaction to the scent of burning wood in the air. His head bobbed left and right as red eyes scanned the empty, dark whiteheads beyond Audrey's bedroom.

Displeased with a lack of answers and evidence to where this phantom fire was burning, he turned to Adal and barked at him once more. " Where do you think it is? The fire... it has to be fire! It smells too hot to be anything small..."

Adal allowed the Caedos to sprint up to his shoulder to the window. Now that he was standing, he was able to push aside the bundle of curtains. The Locos and Caedos were merely staring out into the bristling wheat fields, and nothing seemed to be amiss.

"I smell it, but I can't see anything out there. I doubt it's from the house, the oil is too sparse to spark anything."

Adal staggered away from the window and stared at the remaining darkness of the bedroom. The smoke smell was flooding in from the small opening from the window, and he briefly recalled the situation from earlier on in the day. He leaned against the wall and stared directly at the opposing wall, as if he were stuck between the two churches again.

"The village," Adal whispered. He looked down at Peder, "It's not the house, you're right-- it's too hot to be anything small. Something this big can't start by itself in the middle of the plains."

Adal knew that even attempting to crawl through the window was futile, but the Caedos was limber enough for now. He knelt down to meet the Plague eye-level. "It has to be something in the village. We may be in trouble if it spreads further, but you need to go see what's going on, if you can reach the roof. Can you do that?"

Peder met the golden gaze of the other plague, for once listening quite intently to his words. "You think it's Stillwater?" Pausing, he considered the possibility, taking another waft of air into himself before looking back toward the window. "I guess that could be it, but how the hell could that torn up town go up in flames? There's nothing to start a spark on its own...!"

When asked if scaling the home would be a feasible task, the caedos returned his full attention to the Anhelo. He momentarily perked up. "Of course I can," he beamed, sharp glowing teeth flashing a confident grin. "Not even a question!" With that, he found his way to the edge of the windowsill, digging one set of claws into the wood before latching on completely to begin his ascent. It only took about a minute for the thing to squirrel his way up the back end of the home, and he was soon clambering onto the rooftop to get his footing. He did not have long to appreciate his achievement, however, as the horizon fell into view his focus was grasped by the tower of amber that burned in the distance.

"Holy s**t...."

Adal opened the window a little more and was able to glance outward at the rooftop, his shoulders hugging either side of the frame. Though he was unable to see the Caedos for much longer-- he had managed to climb up the rooftop quicker than Adal had expected-- Adal was able to gather a better understanding of the wind direction from here. Unfortunately for them, the wind was blowing westward, against the direction Peder was now facing.

If Adal was right, and the village was in flames, that meant the wheat around them had a chance of catching on.

"Tell me what you see," Adal shouted, "Is it the village?"

It was. Out past the expanse of wheat fields the inferno was easily visible, and the plumes of smoke that rose above it were eerily lit by the licking flames as they pushed skyward. Peder stared out at it, oddly captivated by its glow. It wasn't until Adal had shouted up at him, that he took the initiative to report back down to him.

"It is," he called back, attempting to muster the loudest voice his small body could produce, "It looks like one of the buildings caught fire!" That was the strange thing about it, however. As the plague returned his attention to the blaze ahead, it felt apparent that only a small area was burning. Maybe even just a single building near the edge of town....

"It doesn't look like it's spread much...! It probably just got itself started!"

"It must be a building..." Adal's heart sank as he absorbed what Peder had told him, but he listened in silence. He continued to recall the events earlier in the day, the look on Thomas' face as they left the vicinity, what those tradesmen said. He shut his eyes momentarily and swore, quietly. He gripped the window frame tightly.

"Can-- you see what the building looks like? The silhouette of it. Does it look like a church?"

"I don't know," came the barking reply, his voice obviously incredulous, "How the hell am I supposed to tell if a bunch of fire is church-shaped or not! It looks like it might have had one of those tall things on the top of it.... but that could really just be all the fire coming off of the ******** thing." Peder in all honesty couldn't tell if it was in fact a church or not, especially since his attention to architecture was incredibly low. Though after taking one more glance at the fire, he turned back to the edge of the roof, and continued to relay information as he began climbing back down to the window. "It looks close to the edge of town if that makes it more likely for you. Though I'm not seeing how what type of building is all that important here."

Just as the wolf's feet touched upon the wooden frame, the sound of gentle creaking could be heard in the hallway. It was then followed by the bedroom door being pushed further open, and in the doorway stood a dazed figure. She wiped at her eyes, though it could not be told whether this was to remove sleep or in an attempt to soothe them. Against the candlelight she had brought in with her, it was apparent they were red and slightly swollen.

"What are you two making all this noise about? It's got to be past hell's hour...!"

"Of course," Adal muttered, both out of vague exasperation from the wolf's response, and from the fact that he was quite certain his theory was correct. He peeked his head out of the window again, "Come back in. We have to--"

The Caedos had already returned to the window side, however, and Adal swerved his head toward the bedroom entrance. He stifled upon noticing that it was Audrey, who was obviously tired and irritated from the activity.

Adal looked grimly at the blonde. "The merchants set the Obscuvian church on fire. We need to stay awake in case anyone tries to reach this house. Even if they don't, I wouldn't be here for much longer."

"What...," Audrey looked wearily to the plagues, blinking tired eyes at them before pressing her brows," What do you mean the church is on fire? How would you even know that? You're looking in the opposite direction of town...."

"I saw it," Peder retorted, "From the roof! I don't know if it's a church or whatever, but there is a fire!"

"You two have got to be shitting me..." The girl gave an exasperated breath, reaching a hand up to comb through her messy bangs. "Even... even if it is the church, I don't see why some dumbass radical merchant would bother stompin' out here to mess with us... and the river should keep the fire from reaching most of our fields." She swayed slightly, then leaned her side up against the door frame. "Plus the path that leads all the way out here is probably grown over... " Glancing back to the hallway, she considered wither she wanted to make the trip to the front of the home to see if their claims even held any water, and grimaced. " I can go check to see if you're even right about this fire, but even if all of Stillwater is up in flames it isn't our ******** problem..."

"If all of Stillwater is in flames, we have even more of a problem," Adal retorted, "If they choose to light a church on fire, and they saw where we went, they damn well could follow the trail. We can't say for sure what they'll do and if they'll leave us alone until morning comes, if they want to keep schedule with their route."

Adal stared at Audrey-- it was hard to make out if the girl was merely tired or unimpressed by Peder and his findings, but he pressed the matter either way. "If you think the two of us would lie to you, go see for yourself," he walked toward Audrey, supporting himself with the wall, "Come on."

Audrey looked skeptically at the boy as he replied, then made his way across the room to lead Audrey to the front of the house. The mention of her mistrust made the girl pout at him, obviously offended at his remark, but remained silent. She understood that his claim could be very much true, and this was one of the reasons she wanted to avoid further thought on the subject. In her years growing up in Auvinus she did not have many run-ins with other like Thomas and his children, but she had heard stories from her father of a few unruly types he'd met in the past. She did not doubt that the merchant was righteous enough to set the church on fire, however the new threat sent pangs through her already aching skull. Pushing her bangs to the side again, she kept her palm pressed to her forehead in a small attempt to shoo the pain away. It was a mistake to dehydrate and tire herself, even if she could not help it.

When Adal ushered her into the hall, she followed next to him; Peder quickly catching up and climbing to his usual spot on her shoulder. It did not take much for the caedos to reach them, however, as their pace was slow due to the boy's injuries. "Should you even be up," the grimm questioned, glancing down at the plague's feet to make sure the bandages weren't once again dirtied with fresh blood," You're going to just reopen those wounds again."

Audrey was correct in her assumption-- Adal's injuries weren't faring too well, pain-wise. Still, the Locos maintained his focus and was able to walk relatively neatly down the hall, though his slow pace and stagger was rather debilitating. He was used to moving so quickly that this frustrated him, but the fire at hand was enough for him to want to keep moving. If not for Audrey, Adal also needed to see this fire for himself, to truly confirm that it was the church.

"My feet are fine for now," Adal replied, "And walking is bearable. I'll have to deal with it if I'm going to travel soon-- I don't have time to wait on these injuries."

By the time they reached the room with the front door, Adal was able to walk quickly and unsteadily to the entrance and open it for Audrey. To their misfortune, even without stepping outside, there was a clear orange halo lit the sky around where Stillwater was. Pinpointing where the church was proved to be more difficult without the added elevation of being on the roof.

Adal stepped outside, one hand still pressed against the outer wall of Audrey's home. He furrowed his brows and concentrated his sights on the shadow of a building peaking just beyond the horizon of the wheat field. Given the winds, some flames skirted the edge of the village limits, but none caught onto the wheat stocks.

"Damn that Thomas," Adal whispered, awestruck, "Men like him should never leave Mishkan."

Once the group had exited the Hatch home, Audrey could finally grasp the severity of the situation. The grogginess managed to slip from her as her tired eyes widened against the ashen skyline. She still could not know that is was the church, or had anything to do with the merchant Adal suspected, but as she looked on at the flames that towered in the distance she could not help but feel a pang of fear. The girl had never seen a fire of this size before, and so it felt all the more impressive as it lit the smoke in burning hues. She momentarily stood agape, as the Anhelo beside her muttered his curses.

"Audrey!" There came a tiny bark from below her ear, stirring her senses and bringing her attention to her own plague. She had ignored his nudgings and silent pestering as they'd walked to the front of the house, and did not notice the ones that had followed. The caedos looked to her with pensive brows," See? The fire is real. I don't know if it's as big of a deal as this guy says though..." Peder glanced sideways at Adal, skeptical of the boy's paranoia. " It's just one building. The smoke just startled us. "

"Yeah," she mumbled, turning to the fire once more before speaking up. " You may be right, Adal, but wither you are or you aren't doesn't mean there is anything we can do now..."

Adal stared helplessly at Audrey and Peder. Though he was more than certain that it was the Obscuvian church in flames-- the position matched up perfectly-- there was truly no way to discern if it was Thomas or not. The only way possible was if they found them, or if Adal confronted them himself, neither of which Adal knew were possible at the moment.

He remained firmly grounded in his suspicions nevertheless. "You're right," he contended, then gestured toward the house again. "There isn't anything we can do now. Go back to sleep if you want. I'm watching the house until morning."

Audrey looked to Adal with eyes narrowed, " You plan on staying up all night?" The girl shook her head in exasperation, leaning back to meet the wall. "I know you probably don't have to sleep like I do but... you passed out earlier and have seemed damn exhausted since then. Do you really think that would be a great idea?" It certainly didn't seem like one, and though she had voiced this, the girl could not help but feel as though she'd rather have the boy do as he'd said. She knew she'd feel safer with someone awake, regardless of if there was any threat or not... the place made her uneasy without the fire, and this extra stress did not help. Unfortunately, there was no way she'd just let that happen. "Could you even manage to keep awake?"

"I'm awake enough. I've slept enough for this. You should know the feeling." Adal recalled his first vague encounter with Audrey at Imisus-- if her state there was any indication, she would know what it felt like to run on vigilance and fear. He hobbled back into the house and looked out at the window to continue watching the fire, and the overgrown trail only faintly discernable from the remainder of the wheat field. It was difficult to tell from the amber coloring of the Stillwater sky, but the Locos reasoned it was some time well past midnight.

It was difficult to tell with the Caedos, what with his sudden heightened sense of his surroundings, but the girl seemed tired. The Locos' expression calmed briefly. "If you're tired, go get more rest. There's no use in you keeping watch in that state."

Before Audrey could reply, there was the familiar feeling of claws kneading at her hair. "Don't bother trying to pick another shitty argument with this kid, Audrey," Peder insisted, staring at the girl with a stern expression, "The only thing he's possibly been good for so far is this. Let him stay up and stare all night if he ******** wants to. Just get back to bed." The girl grimaced, but allowed her frown to deflate to a pout as she listened to the small wolf give off a low growl. She knew him well enough to know that he was as annoyed as she was with the bickering, and that beneath his frustration was a worry for her health. Still, this doesn't mean she would be happy about giving this one up. She gave off a heavy sigh.

Fine, fine," she hissed, pivoting herself to begin pacing back into the home and across the main room," Do whatever the hell you two want. I don't ******** care." As Audrey passed Adal, she paused only to grab Peder from off her shoulder and drop him unceremoniously onto the Anhelo's. Without another word she made her way back into the dark of the hallway, and within moments there was the slam of a door.