Janius crossed his arms and let out a sigh through nose. The uncomfortable silence that took over amongst the uncomfortable shuffling of the warband made him look around at everyone and start tapping his foot.

The one that ended up showing them all some courage was Sabine. She stepped out onto the platform without giving anyone so much as a glance. It was only once she reached the lever that she looked back at everyone with an expectant look.

The silence was turned into a stunned one, but at least the platform seemed stable. Fendros began to speak, "Uh...Sabine, are you sure you want to be...?"

"It will work," Sabine interrupted.

Janius' impatience finally emerged. "Alright, it's no use worrying. This place's machines are far from dilapidated, anyway," Janius said as he stepped out until he was next to Sabine. "Will we go on our own, or does anyone else feel like joining us."

Fendros was not so enthusiastic. He looked to Ahnasha with one eyebrow raised. He needed some encouragement.

[hr]
Gallus had paused, both to listen to Peiter and to wait for him to throw knives. Halfway through his response, he stepped up to the tree to retrieve the knives again. By the time Peiter was finished, Gallus was ready to throw again, but he instead gestured with the knife that he held by the blade in his right hand, expressing his words in reply. "If you really want to defend yourself, that's fine, but you don't need to specialise in that if you don't want to be fighting."

Gallus turned, raised his knife to aim, and threw. He took the next knife and gesticulated similarly to before, tilting his head and waving the handle in circles. "It's sounding like you want to help others with your magic. Healing, enchanting, growing plants...I'm sure that there's plenty to choose from." Gallus straightened his head and brightened his smile. "Is there anything...in particular that you'd like to be able to do? A task? Something you've seen before or...or imagined?"