The kids face danger on the path to the Cursed Caldera, and Viren faces defiance from the captive Runaan as he tries to unlock his mirror's secrets.
Still on the run, the kids hide behind a tree and determine they're safe. Skeptical, Rayla asks how they'll find the healer, and suddenly Ellis and Ava appear.
As she leads them toward the Caldera, Callum awkwardly introduces her to Rayla and explains how they met, though Ezran says they're past it now. Ellis simply says people meet in interesting ways, and tells Rayla she never looked for the miracle healer; the latter found her and Ava when they were in a hollow tree. Rayla scoffs at this being their only lead to go on, but after Callum points out it's the only chance they have, she admits she doesn't have a better idea. Ellis and Ezran stay positive, with the latter mentioning they could have Rayla's hand checked, but she tells him the only thing that currently matters is the egg. The group treks up the dangerous mountain, and after taking the time to admire the sunset, Ellis says it's too bad "the nightmare" is about to begin. They ask what she means, and she explains they'll soon encounter enormous monsters, which will get more dangerous the higher they climb. Callum decides they need a plan, and after Ellis gives unnerving descriptions of the monsters, he makes a bunch of sounds to describe his strategy With the others confused, Callum explains his steps: Ezran will have Bait blind the creatures, Ava will run around them and bark, he'll use Aspiro, and finally Rayla will come in to "slish and slash" with her blades. They joke about him attacking with some wind, and Rayla points out she can only use one hand at the moment, joking it's her "slish" hand, not the "slash" one. Calling Callum a dummy, she suddenly realizes the problem with his lightning spell: he thought Claudia called him a fool when he interrupted, but Rayla believes she was saying "fulminis," the draconic word for lightning. Producing his primal stone, he revises his plan to include "zap" for his part instead of "woosh;" the others roll their eyes and walk away.
Back at the castle, Viren brings a meal to the imprisoned Runaan, who is missing a horn and refuses to eat, callously claiming he's "already dead."
He keeps this up despite Viren's attempts to give him the food, as the latter points out he's obviously still alive even if his hand is damaged, like Rayla's. Viren tries to get him to at least drink berry juice, but he turns away again, so the mage offers a deal: he wants Runaan to look at a magical artifact and tell him what it does; in exchange the elf will be released. Runaan again snarls that he is already dead, and Viren says he's heard of this Moonshadow elf philosophy: resigning oneself to death so they fear nothing. Smirking, he says the elf has given him a challenge to find something he will fear, and leaves. Right outside, Gren requests the Xadian fruit Runaan turned down, but drops his head when Viren ignores him and goes upstairs. Meanwhile, the kids are confused as they walk through the caldera, finding no monsters, and laugh about how they might've gone to a nicer place. Callum is last to say a silly name but gets no laughs, only the chirping of a cricket he found. Saying it's strange they've found nothing, Ellis suddenly yells about seeing a monster, quickly adding that it's dead. Examining it, they find an enormous circular wound, and Rayla realizes something drained the creature of its blood. Just then, a giant leach-like creature appears and snaps at them; Callum reminds them of the plan, but a distracted Bait flashes too early, blinding them. Deciding the plan is a no-go, Callum shouts to split up; Ava takes him and Ellis up a rocky slope while Rayla and Ezran climb a nearby tree. As the creature circles below, they wonder what to do and Callum apologizes for his failed plan; Rayla tries to keep things light after saying it was just flawed execution.
At the castle, Viren again enters Runaan's cell, this time with the covered mirror, demanding that he share everything he knows about the object.
With Runaan silent, Viren produces a jingling bag to "motivate" him, and when the elf scoffs that only humans can be bribed, the mage reveals it's actually a threat. He empties the bag, and though we don't see what's inside, the horrified Runaan calls Viren a monster; Viren replies that he's a pragmatist. Back at the caldera, Ezran cares for the ailing egg, and apologizes to Rayla for messing up the plan; she says everyone messes up sometimes, claiming she always does. She tells the confused boy she feels she would've screwed up her part, but he says she seems awesome at everything. She admits this is so...until it really matters, as thinks too much in the moment, causing her to hesitate and get confused, then fail. Up on the rocks, Ellis gushes about Callum being a mage, though she's surprised by his appearance, detailing a more typical elder wizard as the typical mage. His joking leads her to call him confident, which he disagrees with; he claims all the power and confidence comes from the primal stone, not him. Down in the tree, Rayla tells Ezran about her encounter with the guard from the season's start; he says she felt for him, realizing from his fear he's a person like her. She claims this shouldn't matter, and she's an assassin who's never killed anyone. Ezran counters this is a good thing, and thanks her for not killing him. She says he's worth losing her hand, which he says is the strangest nice thing anyone's ever said about him before; she morbidly jokes that it could be her unlucky hand and her luck will change after it falls off. On the rocks, Ellis says the primal stone needs Callum to function, but he claims he's nothing without it, just a sarcastic kid who can draw. Ellis disagrees, believing he'd be amazing without it, and he is happy when Ava seems to agree, hopping on him and licking his face. Believing the creature is gone, the kids regroup, and Rayla tells the overconfident Ezran they should leave to be sure the monster doesn't return, rather than taunt it. She's right to be fearful, as they're not out of the woods yet, and Runaan's continued defiance against Viren leads to a terrifying bout of magic.
Much of this episode mostly left me more curious about what Viren is dong with Runaan, and what happened to Harrow.
It's likely because I'm just naturally suspicious of these things, but I really like trying to guess at truth behind ambiguous things, and some things in this episode have reinforced my idea while others countered it. The first moments with Runaan this episode, he tells Viren that food means nothing to him because he's "already dead." Obviously this could be like Viren said, that he's just resigned to death, but it could be Harrow saying that to the whole world, he's already dead despite his soul living. Later, I wondered if I might be wrong, because Runaan's response to what he thinks is a bribe is to say that only humans can be bribed. There could be a double meaning to this, but this is the first moment I really doubted my initial thoughts on what Viren did, as it seemed more likely the actual Runaan would react that way, rather than Harrow. By the end of the episode there's yet another possibility for what Viren did to the king, and the process for it is absolutely chilling. We don't get to see the entire process, with much happening while we're with Gren, but the sounds from Runaan's cell are chilling, and Viren is strange upon leaving. This episode showed exactly how scary Viren can really be, and fortunately it was done in a way fitting his personality, focusing on his mind rather than brute force. Whereas some torture prisoners for information by injuring them, Viren hurts Runaan psychologically, and when this doesn't work, turns to dark magic to get the job done. Along with how we see more of this side of his personality, we see more of the main characters, specifically Callum and Rayla, as they admit personal demons. For Callum, it's a fear of being good at nothing, as he believes he's not special and without his primal stone, would be worthless. Meanwhile, Rayla is convinced she can't do anything right, and always freezes up during important moments, leaving her unable to do what an assassin does. What I like about having them talk about this is these issues didn't appear out of nowhere; we've seen them affect the characters throughout the season. Right at the start, Rayla has her encounter with the guard, and her refusal to kill the man leads to Runaan growing angry with her. With such a reaction to her sparing the guard, it's easy to see why she'd start to see herself as a failure, but then there was how she easily accepted the boys, and more recently the attack in the woods where she struggled. At the same time, Callum was trying so desperately to become a great swordsman, and got only constant mockery from the knights whenever he failed. With both characters, there was constant criticism that made them believe they could only possibly be one thing in life, and they were failing at it. This group is therefore actually the perfect thing for each of them, as they're surrounded by more positive influences and get alternate opportunities in life. For Callum, this is in the form of magic, which he'd never even considered, and while Rayla's hasn't been outright stated, I'd say what she's good at is protecting others. She mentions to Ezran that she's an assassin who hasn't ever killed anyone, not seeming to understand she just hates killing for no reason and empathizes easily. While we haven't seen her kill a person at this point, what we have seen is her protecting the boys from all sorts of threats. The idea of one's purpose is definitely important to this episode, as Callum spends time detailing what each person can do for his plan, and Ezran mentions how his job is just to hold Bait, to which Callum responds that every team needs great support. The characters are all trying to figure themselves out and learn what they're good at, and they're helping each other do it together. On the way I'm sure everyone will find something they're great at, and with the group arriving at the proper spot but Ezran dropping a bombshell, they face a new problem.
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