"So you haven't seen any other humans?"
"No you're the first, but I just got here. Do you expect to find others in the city?"
"Not sure we could find anything with this blighted fog," muttered Atar, rubbing his arms as if cold. Maybe he has low Vitality? Or just not enough meat on his bones. He's pretty spindly.
Wait.
"The what-now?" Felix asked. This wasn't the first time he'd heard mention of it, and even Balfur's memories featured a heavy fog he still hadn't experienced.
Magda looked at him, eyebrow raised. "He said the fog. You should know, being out here so long. It's murder on Perception and fouls even the best tracking."
What fog? he asked. This time, everyone looked at him in varying degrees of confusion. "Wait, is that why you all keep squinting?"
"What do you mean, 'what fog?'" Magda asked, slowly.
"I mean, I didn't see any sort of fog. It's was a clear night out tonight."
Magda rocked back on her heels, face clouded.
Should I have kept that to myself?
Abruptly, terrible howls echoed into the night. The sound pierced from outside, muffled but unmistakable.
"Those sound...big," noted Vessilia, her hand already holding her spear.
Ice crackled, and in the dim light of the wardstones, Felix could see trails of frost begin to form along the ceiling. They gleamed purple-white in his Manasight. Shortly thereafter, the howling faded off into the distance.
"Noctis wept," cursed Magda.
Noctis? God, I'm gonna run out of pages in my notebook for all these questions.
"Hoarhounds," rasped Harn, a grimace crawling across his face.
"Hoarhounds? Here?" Atar gasped, eyes wide in the dim blue light of the wardstones. "First giants and now hoarhounds? What is going on here? Why would they stray so far from the north?"
"Why indeed," Magda mutters, and Felix sees her eyes linger on him for more than a moment. Then she turns back to her bedroll, already laid out, somehow. "Get some rest. Harn'll take first watch, then me, Evie, and then Atar."
"Aw beans," Felix heard Evie mutter, already bundling herself up in her thick woolen blanket. Atar also looked peeved, but didn't say anything, only rolling over with a humph.
Settling back against the softest rock he could find, Felix found himself too worried to be tired. Pit was out there, with what sounded like giant wolves. Wait, no, giant ice wolves. Felix was a worrier by nature, and this grated at his mind.
"He will be safe," said a soft voice.
Felix turned to see Vessilia half sitting on her bedroll, watching him. She was very well lit in his Manasight, the soft blue water Mana of the wardstones underlighting her sharp features.
"Who?"
"Your...friend."
Felix smiled. "Thanks. I'm sure he will, but I can't help but worry." Vessilia laughed, a deep throaty chuckle he didn't expect. "What?"
"You remind me of someone."
"And that's funny?"
"It would be if you knew them." Then she rolled over and, apparently, went to sleep.
Felix sat up for a while longer, mind turning over, not because he had fallen in with aliens from another world or because their leader seemed to distrust him entirely.
Nope.
It was because he wasn't sure if he had just gotten dunked on or not.