>Follow him.
>Glance behind on the way out. Spare a moment to hope that everyone in that room will still be here, intact and alive, when this is over, and we come back.
>Spare another moment to hope that, despite our bravado, we make it back intact and alive. Somehow.
>You start to follow, then pause a moment and look back at the room. A few people are still looking in your direction, some curiously, others dubiously. Merlin smiles and waves a quick goodbye to you. You hope fervently that everything here will still be waiting for your return, and that can you make good on your promise to find a cure for yourself before... before it's too late.
>Then you turn away one last time and follow Koichi out.
>He leads you out of the hall and past the village center at a brisk pace, heading northeast. Though you exchange a few words along the way, it is a quiet trip. Given the weight upon your mind at the moment, perhaps this is not entirely for the best; with nothing else to hold your focus, you can feel yourself ruminating. Despite all that you've said, and despite what you'd even like to think about yourself, it's still... frightening. The thought that, no matter how narrow the chance, this really could be it. It feels somehow different than when you're fighting for your life in the moment, perhaps simply because then you didn't have
time to think. But now?
>You arrive at Koichi's stable and he leads out a dark bay mare and hitches her to a cart. The horse is sterner looking than the one you road to Braston on the other day, though she gives off an impression of being fitter and stronger as well. The cart is still a simple affair, though perhaps smaller than the last, if more finely made.
>"Don't be afraid to push her a little," Koichi says. "'long as she's still in one piece by Braston. You just get that Marisa person here as quick as you can."
